//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Spear of the Windigos (Daring Do #2) // by BookeCypher //------------------------------// “Daring, get out of there.” “No.” Zapapple sighed as the little steamer boat continued up the river. The trip to Vanhoover had been uneventful, save for a small spat with a pushy griffon in a dining car. Now that they were on their way into the wilds, Daring had announced that, if they were going to start adventuring she 'needed to dress the part.' With that, she had gone into the ship. But after a twenty minutes and some indeterminate muttering from inside, Daring had yet to emerge. “Come on, Daring.” Zapapple said through the door. “How bad can it be?” “I look ridiculous.” Daring replied through the door. “But you chose it out.” Zapapple replied. The door opened in front of Zapapple and Daring stepped out. She was now wearing a dark olive shirt, its front festooned with a pair of pockets, though she was more occupied with trying to get her wings through the holes on the back while not tripping over the front sleeves. “I can't making this darn thing fit right.” Zapapple tilted her head as she studied the outfit for a moment. “It looks adjustable.” “It's also water and stain resistant.” Daring replied as she kept fighting with the back. “But its too adjustable! I can't get it to fit right.” She finally gave up and just plopped down onto her rump. “This is impossible.” Oh, stop your whinin' and get over here.” Zapapple replied as she started helping her friend out. “You do realize you're supposed to adjust this before you put it on, right?” Daring let out a small sigh as her wings were finally released from there cloth prison and finally unfurled. “Thank you. Anyway, I thought it would be easier to get it right if I was wearing it while I did it.” With her wings sorted out, she finally turned her attention to the sleeves, rolling them up to jut above her knee before snapping then into place. Finally sorted out, Daring smoothed out her new outfit before turning to her friend. “So, how do I look?” Zapapple studied her for a minute. “Something's missing...” She tapped her her chin until lighting up as an idea struck her. “I got it!” With that, she trotted past Daring and into the boat, stepping back out into the deck after a minute with a box, roughly larger then her head and wrapped in brown paper and parcel string. “Alright – Daring, close your eyes.” “Why?” Daring asked, a look of confusion on her face. Zapapple rolled her eyes. “Just close 'em.” Daring grumbled but complied. All she heard was the rustle of paper being torn and a box being unpacked before, after a brief silence, she felt something settle onto her head. “Alright, now – no, wait.” Zapaaple's voice came from right in front of her. “gimme a minute.” Rapid hoof-falls faded away before after a minute returning. “Okay, now you can open your eyes. Daring opened her eyes and found herself looking at her own image. The olive vest looked good against her tan coat, and gave the pegasus in the mirror an air of preparedness. She looked like somepony you wanted on your expedition, not a new hire to a University Equinelogy department on her first real outing. But what really sold it was the hat. The tan pith helmet sat at an angle on her head, tilted back and out of her field of view, leaving her mane pouring out from under the front rim. Her usual messy mane do simply made her look, to quote her department head, 'unkempt' most of the time. Now though, it worked perfectly. “I dare say that you were made for that hat, Daring.” Zapapple quipped, apparently agreeing with Daring's own line of thought. “Isn't this sort of thing usually for the jungle?” Daring asked, running one hoof around the olive band that wrapped around the helmet. “And why doesn't it have ear holes?” “Your ears stay inside, Daring.” Zapapple replied. Daring adjusted the helmet a little. “I feels...funny.” Zapapple rolled her eyes. “Come on, Daring – it looks good on you!” “This is an expedition, Zap.” Daring replied as she pulled of the hat with one hoof. “Not a fashion show. We need to be practical.” “It is practical.” Zapapple replied. “Where we're goin' is pretty cold. I'm an earth pony so it won't bother me too much, but a light ol' pegasus like you is going to freeze your ears off, fancy flight magic or not.” She shrugged. “Besides, if your ears are inside the helmet, they'll stay safe won't they?” Daring gave Zapapple a flat stare. “You just want me to wear the hat, don't you?” Zapapple grinned. “Yup.” Daring sighed and put the hat back on. “Fine – but only because it's practical.” Outfitting complete, Daring turned to look around at their surrounds. “So, how far are we from landfall?” “Reckon another half hour or so.” Zapapple replied. “I was talkin' to the captain while you were changin'. Say's there was another group up this way not to long ago.” “Let me guess,” Daring replied. “Our mysterious cloaked friends?” “Got it in one.” Zapapple replied. “He said they were travelin' pretty light, but from the way they talked it sounded like there might have been others ahead of them.” “Well, they still aren't our problem.” Daring replied as she stepped over to the railing. They had long since left the expansive forests behind, and now they were surrounded by the steep rock faces left behind by the river when it cut its way through the mountains. Fog and mist rolled around the ridges up above, curling around what few tree's had manged to grow into the cracks far overhead. “If they're after the same thing as us, we'll just have to get to it first.” “Well, its just two of us.” Zapapple pointed out. “Versus what sounds like a whole lot of these other guys. And, nice outfit or not, this is till your first rodeo.” “Well, that just means we're more mobile!” Daring replied defensively. “If we're small and they're large, then that just means we're fast and they're slow.” “Quoting that eastern philosophy stuff again?” Zapapple replied. “Still, guess you have a point this time...” “Hey!” Daring shot back. “I had a point last time too!” “Some line about chariot fighting has nothing to do with taking a math final, Daring.” Zapapple replied flatly. “It...sort of does...” Daring replied weakly. “...okay, so it mostly doesn't. But it totally works here!” “Agreed.” Zapapple replied as their boat cleared the river gorge and entered into a steep valley. Most of the passes this far north were dusted with a fine layer of snow, but the surrounding rock left this place largely untouched. The boat shuttered as it began to slow as it banked to the left, coming to a lurching stop next to the gravelly beach before lowering its gangway. “Well, looks like we're here.” “Last stop, ladies!” A shout came from the wheel house above them from the captain. “I gotta load of logs to retrieve!” “Well, thanks for the ride then.” Zapapple grumbled as she started down to the beach before leaning closer to Daring. “I swear to Celestia, half of what we paid him was a bribe.” “Pretty sure that's just normal price gouging.” Daring replied, carrying the few things that the earth pony hadn't opted to carry. Both mares were laden down with heavy hiking packs, but Zapapple's seemed positively massive. The burden however, didn't seem to slow her down any had she said as much when Daring asked. “So,” Zapapple asked as they watched their boat steam off. “How long until he comes back?” “A week.” Daring replied as she pulled out the map. “That should give us plenty of time to survey the ruins and get back here. We've got fifteen hundred meters to climb and way more then that to transverse – lets get going.” The only way out of the gorge they had landed in, other then the river, was a narrow crack barely wide enough for one pony. Pushing her way through the tight space, Daring wished that she wasn't with the over-sized bag that was keeping her grounded for the time being. She had least could look forward to being able to fly around the ruins once they made camp. Daring breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the crevice and into a scene from the front of a Hearths Warming Eve card. Tree's stretched out for as far as the eye could see, thinning out only as the ground curved upwards into mountains in the distance, the white-tinged browns and green's of evergreens fading away into the pure white of snow caps and cold gray of raw stone. A gentle breeze whistled softly as it snaked its way among the treetops, sending a sprinkling of snow to the ground to trace its path as it went. The snowfall on the ground was untouched, not even any animal tracks to blemish its appearance. Zapapple let out a whistle as she stepped out from behind Daring. “Well, ain't that a pretty picture.” “Sure is.” Daring agreed as she tentatively tested the ground in front of here. Her leg vanished halfway up to her knee. She stumbled backwards as she recoiled from the cold. “Pretty and really freakin' cold.” “Baby.” Zapapple replied with a smirk as she trotted past her friend and waded into the snow. “It's just snow.” “Oh, laugh it up Zap.” Daring replied as she followed after her friend. “But do you have any idea where you are going?” Zapapple nearly replied before pausing with a frown. “yeah..no.” Daring trudged through the snow past her, sporting a smirk of her own this time. “Didn't think so. The route to the valley is pretty clear, so we should make good time.” “Makes you wonder why the place isn't mapped out if its that easy to find.” Zapapple replied as they pressed through the snow-filled forest. The forest around them remained eerily quiet as they past, none of the usual sounds of life carrying along with the gentle sound of the wind. Even given how subdued things could be in such, there should have been signs of life. “Might have something to do with how downright creepy this place is.” “Maybe they're all hibernating?” Daring suggested, but it sounded like she was trying to convince herself more then Zapapple. “Or maybe we scared them off with all of our noise?” “Still,” Zapapple replied. “I'd expect to hear something other then the wind...” As if in response, something in the far distance chose that moment to let out a long, piercing howl. It was a high-pitched sound, nearly a whistle, that seemed to blend into the wind as it went on, echoing from what seemed like every direction. It was a sound that sent a shiver down Daring and Zapapple's spines, ears pinned back as their eyes scanned the skies above in a vain attempt to figure out where it had come from. “Okay.” Zapapple said shakily after the howl had tapered off and finally faded away. “I take it back – I'm fine with just the wind.” “W-what was that?” Daring asked with a gulp. “Timberwolves?” “Didn't think they got this far north.” Zapapple replied. “And that sounded nothing like 'em.” “Diamond Dogs maybe?” Daring suggested. “Maybe the one's in the cloaks were...” “Once again,” Zapapple replied. “wrong sound. To be frank...” “Don't say it...” Daring groaned. “...I don't know what that was.” Zapapple finished. Daring dropped onto her stomach and into the snow, throwing her forehooves over her face. “You said it. Why did you have to say it? Now this is gonna turn into one of my father's old stories except we aren't him and we're going to get eaten and...” “It was probably just the wind, Daring.” Zapapple replied, but she sounded about as confident as a candle in a twister. “...probably.” “You don't believe that, do you?” Daring replied as the two stared at each other. “Not at all.” Zapapple answered flatly. “How far until we get somewhere that isn't completely wide open?” Daring fumbled with the map for a moment. “uh...maybe half a kilometer? This forest is a lot denser then I was expecting.” “Then lets get moving.” Zapapple said as she started forward through the snow again, picking up the pace in the face of possible mystery monster presence. Daring deferred to her friend, who had far more field experience, and quickly followed behind her. “Well, at least we know why its so quite.” Daring quipped as she found herself glancing around. “Right?” “Not helping Daring.” Zapapple replied without taking her eyes off of what was ahead of her. “Just make sure we're goin' the right direction.” A slight shift the their right and about forty minutes of wading through snow and the pair finally reached the far side of the forest and found themselves face-to-face with a stony hill slope. “Interesting.” Daring said, leaning over to examine one of the nearby stones as she flipped it over with a hoof. “It looks like a scree.” “A what?” Zapapple asked. “Basically a pile of rocks.” Daring replied. “Specifically a pile of rocks formed when the rock face collapsed.” Daring looked up from her geological sample, scanning the cliff face above them before pointing to one side. “See, it's mantled over there – perfect way to get over.” “Is this, uh, stable, Daring?” Zapapple asked as she nudged one of the nearby rocks. “Sure.” Daring nodded as she starting picking her way up the rocks. “Most of these boulders are probably larger then we are and they've all settled by now. It'll be fine.” After a moment of hesitation Zapapple followed after her friend, and soon found herself cursing as she tried to follow Daring's path up. “Would you slow down already?” She finally shouted after nearly falling on her rump for the third time. Daring, a fair distance ahead, paused as she looked back at her friend. “Whats the problem?” “The problem,” Zapapple replied as she carefully took her next step. “Is that not all of us have that pegasus agility to keep us from fallin' over.” Daring chuckled sheepishly. “Sorry – got carried away. My bad.” Daring gave Zapapple a minute to catch up, taking the chance to examine more of the rocks as the earth pony mare picked her way over the stones. “Think we could find some fossils in these?” “Depends,” Zapapple managed, giving her friend a low-level glare. The hill wasn't too steep, but those rocks weren't nearly as stable as Daring made them. The pegasus had made the climb look annoyingly easy. Daring wasn't even winded. “Do you want to carry them all the way up this mountain and then all the way back after a week?” Daring glanced up the hill before glancing back at the rock she had been studying and kicking it away with a sigh. “Not really. So, you ready to go?” “Sure am.” Zapapple said with a nod. “How much further do we have anyway?” “After this ridge?” Daring replied. “Not far. Its almost entirely downhill from there.” “Good.” Zapapple said as she adjusted her pack. “I'm getting tired of these rocks.” They covered the rest of the way to the top in short order, and took a moment to take in the landscape before them. A long valley stretched out before them, the snow-dusted trees coating the bottom spreading out along the valley floor before vanishing around a curve. “I should have brought a camera.” Daring said in awe. “We'll be back.” Zapapple replied as she started down the slope. “Take a picture then. Which way are we goin'?” “That curve in the valley.” Daring replied as she followed her friend. “That should put us right at the entrance to the valley we want.” “Any suggestions on a route that doesn't leave us out in the open again?” Zapappled asked as she scanned the terrain. “Best bet would along the tree-line.” Daring replied, pointing with one hoof to where the forest growth petered out. “Between the occasional rockfalls and glacial actions there should be plenty of places to hide if we need to.” “And the tree's will give us some cover.” Zapapple added as she started for the narrow band where dull green met harsh gray. “Cover from what?” Daring asked. “I thought you said you didn't know what it was.” “I don't.” Zapapple replied. “Right now I'm just assuming its Nightmare Moon or something.” “Didn't Nightmare Moon nearly conquer all of Equestria?” Daring asked. “Yup.” Zapapple replied. “So,” Daring said as she continued her train of thought. “If it really is Nightmare Moon, aren't we kind of hosed?” “Well, if its not her then we should be alright, right?” Zapapple said back. “Expect the worst and all of that.” “Not sure if planning to be eaten by a evil Alicorn Moon Monster is what they meant by that.” Daring replied as the ground leveled out a little beneath them, the stone giving way to proper dirt. “Might be better to assume something more likely.” “Sure, why not.” Zapapple said with a shrug and a grin. “So, which would you prefer – dragon or hydra? My bit's are on a dragon.” “Thats just as bad!” Daring yelled back. “We would still just get eaten or something.” “Well, tell me if you think of something better while we walk.” Zapapple replied. With their destination before them, Zapapple took the lead again and picked her way through the underbrush, keeping the wide open of the mountain side to their right. Zapapple made her way over and around low branches, tree roots, and the various other hazards with the smooth ease that only comes with experience. Daring was fairing less well. It wasn't her fault, really – most pegasus just fly over such obstacles. It had nothing to do with her almost complete lack of field experience, she assured herself. It wouldn't have changed anything, she was sure of it. Zapapple couldn't help but chuckle when she finally took notice of how far behind her friend was falling. “Need a hoof, Daring?” “No!” Daring replied as she finally managed to free herself of a branch that had snagged on some part of her pack. “I'm good.” Zapapple looked unconvinced. “Don't push yourself too hard. You get hurt out here, ain't nopony comin' to rescue you.” “I've got you, don't I?” Daring replied as she finally managed to catch up to Zapapple. “Some things even I couldn't help you out of.” Zapapple replied with a chuckle. “Lets just not do anything stupid, okay?” “We're in the middle of nowhere and trusting our lives to a map from a smuggler.” Daring replied. “Most ponies would say that is already something stupid.” “Then lets not do anything else that's stupid.” Zapapple replied. “Now, come on – I'd like to get a camp set up before the sun goes down.” The walk across the valley was long and, thanks to the specter of their mystery monster, not exactly enjoyable. But, despite constantly keeping one eye on the nearest cave in case of sudden monster attack, the made it to the bend without incident. What was waiting for them on the other side was nothing they were expecting. The valley widened out, leaving wide stony clearings and terraces lining up the sides of the mountain. Daring was almost certain they were artificial. What held the true focus of their attention was the encampment just down the hill from where they now stood. A collection of canvas tents of various sizes, ranging from small one-pony affairs to one that looks more like an old Royal Guard field hospital. All of the tents – a few dozen, at least – were torn and slumming, wind flapping through holes in there sides, the gentle clinking of metal in the wind as abandoned personal effects hung listlessly. Crates, some smashed, lay tossed about the site. A tall pole leaned off-kilter in what seemed to be the center of the camp, a wind-torn Equestrian flag flapping in the breeze. Zapapple's eyes widened as she took in the seen. “What by the Sun...” “Come on.” Daring said as she started down the hillside toward the camp. “We've got to check it out.” “No.” Zapapple replied. “No we do not. Something took out this camp, Daring!” “And we might be able to find out what.” Daring replied. “This might be one of the missing expeditions – we've got to see what they found.” “Daring!” Zapapple shouted after her friend, but to no avail – Daring was already half-way down the hill and making a bee-line for the nearest tent. “Sonofa- Daring, wait!” Zapapple started down the hill after her, only making up the distance as Daring began to slow down once she drew closer to the first tent. “It doesn't look like they were attacked.” Daring said, poking around the tent. “It's like they all just...upped and left.” “Well, that isn't creepy at all.” Zapapple deadpanned. “But something must have chased them off...” “Well, we haven't seen the other tents yet.” Daring replied as she peered through a hole in the tent to examine its interior. She couldn't make anything out in the darkened interior though. “They might have ended up in there...” Daring paused as she realized what she had just said, turning to her friend whose expression closely mirrored her own. “What if we do find 'em Daring?” “They're probably long gone by now.” Daring tried to reassure her. “These tents look pretty old.” “So they just vanished.” Zapapple said with a shudder. “I think that might me worse.” “Well, since we're here we might as well poke around.” Daring stuck her head through the flap of the tent before slipping inside entirely. Zapapple sighed and followed her in. In the gloom, they could make out the tables and chairs that filled the room. “Huh,” Daring said as she poked around one of the tables, blowing away the fine layer of dust that had collected on its surface and revealing a yellowed map underneath. “This looks like it was a planning room – or, well, one of them.” Daring ran a hoof over the table, tracing it across the map as Zapapple poked around the rest of the room. Smaller tables were overturned as were several folding chairs around the edge of the room. The tables that weren't flipped were still covered in notebooks and pencils, many of them still flipped open to pages where somepony had been transcribing notes or sketching out some feature of the surrounding landscape. “I think this was for their geological team, maybe?” “I think I agree.” Zapapple replied as she skimmed a passage of notes identifying striation in the nearby cliffs, all written in the crisp twirling script of a unicorn's magic. “Anything useful on the maps?” “Some better topographs of the valley.” Daring replied as she rolled up one of the maps, shoving it into her bag. “According to one of them, there's a nice cave nearby. Let's ditch our gear before we search the rest of this place.” The cliff was just up the hill opposite the way they had come in, tucked in near the treeline and looking over the abandoned camp. It was a massive, sprawling thing – more akin to a small village then a camp. “Who do you think it was?” Zapapple asked as they finished pitching their tent. “We'll find out soon enough.” Daring replied as she struggled with a knot. “We've still got a little bit of daylight left. We can poke around a few of the tents near the edge at least.” Daring didn't bother waiting for Zapapple's reply before stretching out her wings and flying off toward the camp. Earth-bound, Zapapple took a moment to dig out a lantern as she let her friend survey the camp and stretch her wings. Above the camp, Daring finally had a chance to take in the whole scene. With her newly gained altitude she could make out the far edge of the camp, butting up against a creek that flowed down from one of the nearby mountains before snaking its way further into the valley. The dozens upon dozens of tents stretched out in a rough circle a couple of hoofball fields across that was only interrupted when they ran into some piece of geography – the forest to one side, the cliffs on another and the creek on a third. It was an impressively massive operation – and that just made it worse. Two or three ponies vanishing in the middle of nowhere? Not a problem – as much as nopony liked to talk about it, ponies in this line of work vanished every year. It was an occupational hazard. But this many ponies? An expedition of dozens, if not hundreds? Zapapple was right – it just made it worse. Daring tried to push the unsettling thought aside as she focused on the tents nearest to their own camp. Most of them were small affairs, probably for sleeping, but every now and then there was a larger one – maybe for cooking, or medical or a lab like the first one they found. Daring focused in on one such tent, not far from their camp and nestled under a small bluff where the mountain side and the forest converged with the field the camp was occupying. Daring resisted the urge to make a beeline for the tent, instead turning around and swooping down before flaring her wings to land next to Zapapple. “Found us a tent to check.” Zapapple arched an eyebrow. “What's wrong with these ones?” She tilted her head toward the nearby smaller tents. “Those are literally small fry.” Daring replied with a wave of a hoof. “This is one of the big ones.” Daring hopped back up into the air, circling above her friend. “Besides, if we want clues, are best bet is going to be their notes or something, right?” Zapapple couldn't find any real faults with Daring's point, so the earth pony mare simply went along with the pegasus's idea as they headed toward the tent in question. As they approached though, something seemed amiss. “Daring,” Zapapple yelled up to her airborne friend. “Are you seeing what I'm seeing?” Daring landed next to her friend as the two came to a stop. “Yeah.” Just up ahead, the tent was coming into view – along with the pair of cloaked figures digging around the crates outside it. We have company.”