The Equine Scrolls: SkyFiM

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 23: Cloverdust

Chapter XXIII: Cloverdust
“We love you Sage, thank you for your kindness.”

According to Jarl Stormcloud, the Hall of the Vigilant was located in the south of The Pale, Dawnstar’s hold. It was already late when I had returned to Windhorn, and the Hall was several hours travel away, so I stayed over the night and departed for the mountain lodge in the morning.

A light snow was falling as I neared the Hall of the Vigilant. Up the rolling hills I climbed until I neared the rustic lodge. From the outside, it appeared to be no more than a large inn, nearly identical to other ones I’d seen in Horizon. Before I could enter the building, I had to pass by an imposing statue of Steedarr, the Equine of mercy. I was in the right place, all right.

“Welcome traveler,” a cream-colored unicorn stallion in pale blue robes approached me, “May I help you?”

“Yes, I’d like to enter the Hall of the Vigilant,” I answered.

“You would like to become a member?” he asked.

“No, I just need to enter.”

“Well, I’m afraid only those who have pledged themselves to Steedarr, and have pledged to uphold justice and mercy, and wipe out the unnatural blights that plague our land may enter. You are, of course, welcome to pray at Steedarr’s shrine for guidance, as many a pilgrim has.”

“Thank you,” I told him, “But I just need to speak to one pony who I believe is here. Perhaps if I cannot enter, you could send him out?”

“Who is it you wish to speak with?”

“A foal named Cloverdust. I understand he was taken here a few days ago.”

“And what business do you have with him?” the Vigilant asked, growing suddenly wary of me, “Are you perhaps in league with the dark curse he performed.”

“No,” I said, “I just wanted to speak with him.”

“It can’t be done,” he proclaimed, “He is charged with performing the Black Sacrament and will be punished as he deserves. You will leave now if you don’t wish to join him.”

I could see his horn had begun to glow, along with the weapon nearly concealed beneath his robes. I took his advice and left, but I wouldn’t give up on getting into this place. Approaching the front door was just my first plan. Being denied entry, it was now time to enact the second.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

After heading down the path and out of sight, I carefully began to climb the rocky heights alongside it. Slowly and steadily, I navigated the mountains, keeping the Hall of the Vigilant in sight until I was right above it. Cautiously, I made my way down the cliff face behind the Hall, careful to not be seen.

Once I dropped to the level of the cliff the Hall was built on, I quickly darted behind one of the several pines sprouting up behind the lodge. Taking a peek around the trunk, I could see a small garden stretched between me and the Hall of the Vigilant. A few Vigilants were tending it, shrouded in their robes, but armed nonetheless.

It would be near impossible to cross while the Vigilants were still there without attracting attention. If only there was some way I could turn myself invisible. I could Shout myself into a spectral form, but I had no idea if ghosts were considered unnatural or not. In the end, I settled on trying out the “Conjure Flame Atronach” spell I had learned in Fort Trotsdown.

It sapped a great deal of my magical energy, but I was able to cast the spell, directing it a little ways away from me. At the point I had focused on, a dervish of flame suddenly sprang up, throwing sparks in all directions. From the firestorm, a creature with the distinct shape of a pony sprang up, though it was composed entirely of flame.

Fire burned up the whole of its body, a dull red but for a jet of yellow for a tail and flickering range of orange for a mane. The center of its face seemed carved out, and there the flames were less stable, flickering back and forth without a set shape. The fire within the gap in its face burned brighter as it faced the Vigilants before trotting off.

The two ponies tending the garden looked up at my atronach in amazement before jumping to their hooves and drawing their swords. Charging across the carefully tended rows of vegetables, they began to pursue the creature I’d summoned. As if it knew what my intentions were for it, the flame creature led the Vigilants on a chase away from the door, not striking back, only leading them away.

With the garden clear, I was easily able to cross to the Hall and its back door. With a single lockpick I was able to unlock the door. Slowly, I pushed it open, peering through the crack to make sure no Vigilants were nearby. When I was sure the coast was clear I slipped in.

Before making my way through the mountains, I had removed my steel armor, hiding it in some scraggly bushes. Now I was wearing the leather armor the Thieves Guild had given me. Besides being lightweight and making next to no noise, it was enchanted to soften the sound of my hoofsteps, making me an unheard phantom.

Carefully, I crept through the halls. I had no idea where Cloverdust was, but I suspected it was nowhere nice, the dungeons perhaps, if the Hall of the Vigilant had them. As I trotted deeper into the Hall, a door opened suddenly next to me, and a robed earth pony mare emerged.

In a moment she would see me. Thinking quickly, I knocked her over the head with the butt of my war axe. I barely caught her as she fell over unconscious. Looking through the door she had emerged from, I saw it led to a bedroom. I dragged her body in, laying her in bed. She should be safe here, and when she awoke, maybe she would think it was just a dream.

After checking to make sure the hall was clear, I snuck back out of the room. After slinking down the passage, I was forced to stop at the end as a horde of Vigilants passed by the final doorway. After they had passed, I snuck through and followed them.

By the time I caught up, they had entered a large central room in the Hall, one where the entire second floor had been removed to make room for the massive statue that dominated the room. The Equine Steedarr stood, his wings outstretched and a sword grasped in his magic. His targets stood across the room, statues of the three things the Vigilants hated most.

First was a vampire, a snarling pony with dripping fangs and piercing eyes, wings sprouting from its back much like a bat-pony’s. Second was a Draconequus, one of the many and varied serpent-like creatures with unimaginable power that ruled the Beyond. Lastly was a werewolf in mid-form, the pony still recognizable as matted fur grew from its back and sharp teeth protruded from a muzzle resembling the nose of a wolf more than that of a pony.

The Vigilants had laid down mats in front of the shrine to Steedarr and were bowing before it as I entered the room. Swiftly I passed through, careful not to interrupt their ceremony nor draw attention to myself. I took one last look at the grotesque statues pressed against the wall before moving on.

Down another short passage, I found myself standing outside the Hall of the Vigilant’s kitchens. Two Vigilants were cleaning up after the midday meal, blocking my progress. While their backs were turned, I quickly crawled into the room, keeping low to the floor. I pressed myself up against a counter, out of their sight before they could notice my presence.

I kept my war axe ready, and as one of them passed my hiding spot, I hit him over the head. Before he even hit the floor, I jumped up quickly and focused my magic. Across the kitchen, the other Vigilant found one of her pans turn against her, knocking her unconscious. Locking them both up in the pantry, I moved on, silent as a mouse.

I was passing down the hall beyond the kitchens when two Vigilants suddenly turned the corner up ahead. A nearby door was open, and I ducked inside before they could see me.

Inside the room was an assortment of weapons arranged neatly on racks, along with a table stacked with pamphlets. In its center was a map of Horizon, tiny colored flags marking who knew what. As the voices of the two Vigilants grew closer, I ducked under the table, hiding in the shadows.

“You should have arrested her when you had the chance,” I heard the fist pony say as she entered.

I got a good look at her as she neared the table, a blood red pegasus in more elaborate robes than the rest of the Vigilants. Her companion was the cream-colored unicorn I had spoken to outside.

“I don’t think she means to be a threat,” he said, “We can’t assume her intentions in wanting to speak to him were ignoble.”

“Our job is to put an end to anything evil, for Steedarr’s glory,” the mare responded, “We can’t assume she’s innocent either. I want you to find her and bring her in for questioning.”

“But she could be anywhere by now,” the unicorn protested.

“She can’t have gone far. Round up some of the new acolytes and search the valley from the Hjaaltrot swamps to Winterhorn. Don’t return until she is found.”

“Yes ma’am,” the unicorn replied, leaving the room.

The pegasus stood around for a while, looking through some of the books arranged neatly on the shelves lining the walls. After making a few notes in one, she too left the room. I waited a minute to make sure she wasn’t coming back before crawling out from under the table.

Now I had a totally new problem. There was no doubt in my mind that the conversation I had just overheard had to do with me. Having Vigilants searching for me wasn’t at all what I needed right now. But I had other matters to deal with first.

Since I was already in this room, I decided to have a look around. Most of the books on the shelves were just journals, records of the deeds the Vigilants had done over their time here. Many were also notes on ponies throughout Horizon they were watching for suspected crimes.

The maces set in racks along each wall were interesting, especially because they were all inscribed with a set of fancy runes and the symbol of Steedarr. A nearby note told me they were sanctified weapons specially made for dealing damage to the Draconequi and their foul Changeling servants.

Another door was set into the wall across from the entrance door. The lock was hard to pick, but after a few tries, I got it. Opening it revealed a flight of stairs. As quietly as I could, I climbed down them, shutting the door softly behind me.

Down I went, until the walls turned from wood to stone. Taking a turn at the bottom, I found myself looking down a hallway with prison cells set into the walls on either side. They were mostly empty, though a few prisoners sat in the cells. All were currently sleeping, so I passed through easily, though I watched my step to avoid making unnecessary noises that could wake them.

At the end of the hall was a large, wide open room with doorways leading to cells all around its perimeter. The room itself was filled with torture devices of all shapes and sizes. Some even looked as though they had been used recently. My stomach turned as I thought of what was being done here. Steeling myself, I carried on. I still had a job to finish here.

I had no sooner entered the room than I was forced to duck back out. Two Vigilants emerged from the doors to the right and left, conducting their rounds. As they moved on to trot down the next set of passages, I jumped out and snuck over to the nearest one. Hitting her over the head, I turned around and snuck up on the other one before knocking her out as well.

Running up and down the passages, I searched for Cloverdust until I finally found an orange-coated earth pony colt locked in a cell. At first he cowered away as I neared his cell, but then he looked closer with a puzzled expression.

“Are you Cloverdust?” I asked him quietly through the bars.

“Yeah,” he exclaimed with joy, a little too loud for my comfort, “You actually came!”

“Quiet, kid,” I told him as I pulled out my lockpicks and began to work on his cell door.

“Nopony believed me, but I knew you’d come,” he continued talking, regardless of my warning, “So, does this mean you’ll take the job?”

“We’ll talk more later,” I promised him as the door squeaked open, “Right now we need to get out of here. Do you think you can run fast enough to keep up with me?”

“I don’t think so,” he said, hobbling out, “They broke my leg.”

I thought for a moment before picking him up with my magic and depositing him on my back.

“Hold on tight,” I told him, but added as an afterthought, “Just don’t pull my mane.”

Once he had looped his forelegs around my neck, I made my way back to the torture chamber. Cloverdust shuddered and hid behind me as we passed through; no doubt remembering what had been done to him here. Carefully I climbed the stairs and entered the room above.

As I trotted out into the hallway I bumped right into a Vigilant, sending him reeling. I knocked him over the head before he could get up, but I hadn’t noticed the other robed pony standing down the hall.

“Intruder!” he yelled, rushing off to warn the other Vigilants, “Escaping prisoners!”

I ran in the opposite direction. Frantically I galloped down the halls as Cloverdust held on for dear life. Whenever I ran into a Vigilant, I turned the other way. I certainly had no plans to kill anypony here, and there was no way I could do nonlethal takedowns with so many and a foal on my back.

I had lost all sense of where I was by the time I galloped into a large room filled with tables. At the other end was a set of doors I had seen the other side of in my first attempt to get in. It was the exit. Unfortunately, a dozen or more Vigilants stood in front of it, their weapons drawn.

<<<FUS~RO~DAH!!!>>> I knocked them out of the way.

Pushing the doors open with my magic, I galloped out into the open air, snow falling around me. Widening the distance between myself and the Vigilants, I galloped past the statue of Steedarr and down the mountain path, stopping only to grab my heavy armor. Pursued by perhaps a hundred ponies, I galloped away from the Hall of the Vigilant, Cloverdust clinging tightly to my back.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

By nightfall, I had reached Whitetrot, and the Vigilants seemed to have given up pursuit. Once we were safe in Breezehome, I bandaged up the colt’s leg the best I could before questioning him.

“Why did the Vigilants take you?” I asked him, initiating the conversation.

“I performed the Black Sacrament, and now you’re here!” he answered.

“Why did you do it?”

“To summon the Dark Brotherhoof. Looks like I did it right after all. I was worried for a minute.”

“How do you contact the Brotherhoof?” I asked him, not getting the answers I wanted.

“Like I said, the Black Sacrament. The Nightmare must’ve heard my plea, and now you can perform my assassination.”

“Assassination?” I asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” he said, yawning and curling up on the floor, “On that nasty orphanage mother Sage in Splitten.”

“I’m not with the Brotherhoof,” I tried to explain to him as he nodded off, “I’m just trying to find them.”

Any further prods to get answers were useless. The colt was sound asleep. Giving a sigh, I headed off to my room. It was apparent he knew absolutely nothing about finding the Brotherhoof, but at least he had given me some information that might help. He’d called assassins to kill the orphanage mother in Splitten. Maybe I could head them off there before they killed her. For the night, however, I slept, intent on fleshing out my plan in the morning.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

The next day, Cloverdust woke me up, wondering if I had killed Sage yet. As best I could I explained the situation to him. I would go to Splitten, and he would come with me, but not all the way. I had an idea of where to leave him where he’d be in good hooves.

Before leaving Whitetrot, I headed over to Warmare’s to give my armor much-needed repairs. I figured there was no way the Brotherhoof would attempt to kill Sage during the day anyway, so I still had a few hours. I also had to travel much more slowly with Cloverdust along with me, especially since he kept getting distracted all the time. Finally we made it to Riverwood, where I dropped him off with Calciar and Eruthar at the Riverwood Trader.

After that, I was able to make my way swiftly to Splitten, arriving in the late afternoon. The orphanage was locked when I found it, but I didn’t intend to just walk through the front door anyway. I would need a place to hide if I was going to catch these assassins.

Sneaking around the back, I was able to climb the rampant ivy growing up the wall. From the roof I had a view across Splitten, the keep towering up at one end of the city, a temple nearby also poking above the houses. Wooden buildings in need of good repairs stretched between the rugged stone walls, the waterway splitting right through the center.

Figuring I’d done enough sightseeing, I climbed across the thatched roof, keeping out of sight of both townsponies and patrolling guards. Finding a window, I was able to pop it open and climb into a dusty attic. There was barely enough space to fit between the roof and the first floor’s ceiling, but I managed, worming my way through until I reached a place where the attic stopped and the room below was visible.

Nothing was going on at the moment, and there were no assassins in sight, so I settled down to wait. As time dragged on, I wondered if the assassins would be showing up today at all. Sage was alive at the moment, I had checked to make sure, but it never occurred to me that perhaps I would have to wait days for the assassins to make an attempt at killing her.

I was broken out of my musings by the sound of pots and pans crashing across the floor. I looked down to see a little filly struggling to pick them up with her magic.

“What is the meaning of this?” I heard an older voice say, accompanied by the sound of hoofsteps entering the room.

“Why, you clumsy little oaf!” the elderly earth pony mare revealed herself, storming into the room, “What have you done?”

“I-I’m sorry Sage,” the filly stuttered, still trying to pick the pots back up, “It was an a-accident.”

“You are an accident,” Sage yelled, “You’ll get an extra beating tonight for this.”

Reaching into her cloak, the elderly mare produced a thick wooden block with a padded handle for her to hold in her mouth. The filly who had dropped the pans gave up on picking them back up and cowered to the ground, trying to slink away. I watched in horror as the orphanage mother brought the beating stick down on the defenseless foal. Again and again she beat her into the ground, until I heard bones crack.

At this moment, I would really not have cared if the assassins got away with killing this miserable old mare. But no assassins appeared, and the foal was getting seriously injured. I couldn’t just stand by and let this happen, so I crawled out of my hiding place and dropped to the floor below.

“Stop it!” I yelled at Sage, ripping the beating stick from her grasp with my magic.

“I don’t know how you got in here,” the elderly mare said, turning to face me, “But this is none of your business. Get out of here.”

“No,” I said, “I’m not going to let you do this to little foals. You’re not going to get away with this.”

“Do you think so?” she laughed, “I’m a close friend of the Jarl; she’ll do nothing to me.”

“Then I’ll find someone else who cares.”

“Well, we can’t have that, now can we?” she said, drawing a knife on me.

I was so caught off guard, I barely had time to draw my sword before she attacked me. As she jabbed her knife at me, I knocked it away with Calcion’s Cleaver. I similarly swatted away her next slash with my sword. The next one I wasn’t so lucky on, and she stabbed me in the shoulder.

Instinctively, I stabbed my sword up into her body. Her grip on her knife refused to release and it pulled out of my shoulder as she slumped over dead. Repulsed, I pulled my sword out of her.

“You – you killed her,” the little filly said, staggering to her hooves.

“I-I . . .” I tried to explain, but no words came out.

“Cloverdust really did it,” she exclaimed, running up to hug my leg, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“What’s going on in here?” another mare asked, trotting into the room, though she seemed more frightened than angry.

She gasped as she saw Sage lying dead at my hooves.

“Murder!” she yelled, running away, “There’s been a murder!”

Quickly, I shook the filly off my leg and darted out of the orphanage. Through Splitten’s streets I galloped, trying to avoid the guards. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief as I left the city and nopony had caught me. Still, I had no doubt they’d be after me soon, so I kept moving.

◊◊◊ ◊◊◊ ◊◊◊

I’d had no luck catching the Dark Brotherhoof assassin, and there was no way they’d come to do their job now that I’d done it for them. The only idea I had now was to return to Windhorn and see what it was Cloverdust had done in his home to summon the Brotherhoof in the first place. The sun was beginning to set as I left Splitten, so I decided to stop in the tiny town of Shor’s Stone on my way. As I was renting a room in the only inn in town, a breathless courier ran up to me.

“Got a letter for you,” she said, passing a slip of paper to me before rushing off.

“Thanks,” I called as she left.

In my room, after I had taken my armor off for the night, I opened the letter. There was nothing on the parchment except a hoofmark of black ink and two words: “We know.” I turned it over and over in the air, but there was no mark to indicate who it was from. Perplexed, I set the mysterious letter aside and went to sleep. I would figure things out in the morning.

Level Up
Health: 180 Stamina: 180 Magicka: 170
New Perk: Light on Your Hooves [Sneak] -- When sneaking your hoofsteps are silent and you will never set off pressure plates.
New Quest: Brothers of Darkness -- Locate the Dark Brotherhoof and enlist their help in finding Mephalda.

Comments

[Constellation]

Wow that is a pretty good chapter, but I thought that the Blackwings said that she only had one fort night? Its been like four now.