Chapter 14. Return to Civilization
The expedition reached the flatter forest floor but the cart did not get that much easier to manage. The forest near to cultivated lands was thicker and brushier than the more open wild forest. That was the result of generations of wood cutting. Trees felled for firewood created openings in the forest canopy.
The deep penetration of daylight allowed both smaller trees and brush to flourish, making their travel more difficult. They followed their own old tracks which did help quite a bit. They emerged onto the turn-around at the end of the lane leading to the Baronial Road.
Glancing casually about, Daring Do took out her rifle and loaded a twenty round magazine. She returned the rifle, ready for action, to the cart.
Grata raised her crest in a silent question.
It was Rahak who pointed up, but low, where a pair of Gryphons in flight were keeping them under surveillance. Grata nodded quiet understanding.
The changeling saw them too. She continued her self imposed duty to her precious eggs. She worked herself over next to Daring Do and offered her horn. Daring Do laid her forehead against it.
Sadly the changeling stated, “Failed nymphs. They are not like Grata and Rahak. That makes I/me sad. Their bodies live but their hearts have failed. They have no love.”
Their cart, pulled by Grata, reached the main Baronial Road. The coarse, poorly laid gravel crunched and rumbled under the wheels. Grata stopped and offered, “My friend, shall we make you another fire to strengthen the warmth for your eggs?”
The changeling nodded happily. A soft wisp of her green magic went up. Several Eagles promptly flew into it! They immediately flew off. It was not long before they returned.
They dropped claw loads of small dry twigs and slightly larger branches that were all dry and dead. It was clear that the Eagles had found a dead snag and looted it for firewood!
Grata’s crest rippled in Gryphon laughter. Even as she sketched the scene, Daring Do was chuckling. “How am I ever going to write this up? No pony will believe it!”
Rahak, crest rippling his amusement, gathered the twigs for kindling and set up the branches in a tepee over it. He struck fire from a tinder box and quickly got a nice small blaze going.
The changeling’s soft green magic settled about the fire. In seconds, it blazed up, falling entirely to ash, not a coal left. The changeling trotted happily over to the cart and began turning her eggs and letting her delicate magic soak into each one.
“I/we/you go now. My/our precious eggs are all safe.” She trotted up to Grata, still in harness, and rubbed her head against Grata’s feathered neck in serene companionship. Then she returned to behind the cart, where she could tend the eggs of the Eagles circling overhead.
They all got back underway.
It was not long before they came to the end of the Royal Road. Grata’s crest flipped up into a Gryphon’s smile. “What a difference a quality road makes! It just got so much easier to pull! They rounded a bend and encountered the first houses of the town of Eagle’s Perch.
Rahak noted, “I wonder why there is so little activity around these houses?”
Daring Do pointed ahead to the town square. There was a substantial crowd gathered there. Some had pitchforks or long handled pruning hooks.
Standing in front of the mob was the Baron of Eagle’s Perch. Next to him was a pudgy Gryphon wearing the pectoral necklace of a senior priest of the Twin Flames of Creation.
The changeling slitted her eyes as she saw the number of unicorns, including the baron, in the crowd. Soft, nearly invisible tendrils of the palest green magic radiated out. It flowed almost like a ground level mist, infiltrating the mass of ponies. She paused, watching Grata and Daring Do for clues about what to do.
Grata noticed the changeling’s preparations and her crest smiled approval.
It was the Gryphon who spoke first. Crest set nearly dripping sarcasm he demanded, “How the mighty are fallen! What has caused Grata, The Left Wing of the Imperial Throne, to be pulling a mundane cart?”
Grata, crest signaling a pure put down, retorted, “Something that seems totally lacking in you, Krayard. Common sense. For one, those who will not do for themselves what is needed when it is needed, are not fit to rule. For the other, my pulling the cart has freed my combat effectives for instant action!”
Taking their cues from Grata’s comment, Daring Do pulled her rifle from the cart and ostentatiously worked the action to put a live round in the chamber. Rahak pulled his big combat knife.
The Gryphon priest demanded, “I shall inspect all that is in the cart! All blasphemous things shall be destroyed. You can take what is left to your pitiful museum of Last Creation. What do you have? You did not go to the ruin, we know that!”
Grata pointed out, crest sharp, “No. You do not have that right, even in the Empire! What is in this this cart belongs to the Princesses of Equestria and the Empress, only.”
Contemptuous of the rifle and knife, the Baron began to gather his brown magic at his horn. “You should know better than to try facing down a UNICORN with mere physical weapons!”
While he was commenting and concentrating on the threat in front of him, the Baron was hit from the side and above by three power diving Eagles! Each striking with enough force to break the back of smaller prey, they drove the shocked Baron from his feet! His magic miscarried, the blast of it striking the Gryphon, knocking him from his feet!
`Seemingly from the ground itself, bars of brilliant, solid green magic pinned them both! The Baron’s dangerous horn was encased by a sheath of the glowing green. Even as they were squalling in outrage, up above, Eagles were harrying the two Gryphon spies from the sky!
Over the square, two Eagles snagged the right pinion of each of the Gryphons, tipping them into a fluttering fall to the cobbles of the square!
The changeling stepped out from behind the cart, into plain view. Several in the mob yelled, “Changeling! Destroy it!”
As the crowd surged forward, green magic snapped up, capping the horns of the unicorns! It snatched the pitchforks and pruning hooks, binding them to the cobbles! The leading ranks fell, feet bound to the ground! The rest of the surging mob tripped over the fallen, making a huge tangle of struggling ponies!
Grata, crest rippling in Gryphon laughter, guided the cart about the mess of entangled ponies and they trotted on down the Royal Road, leaving Eagle’s Perch in their dust!