Mending Light

by Kiromancer

44 - Mercy

The mountain loomed ever taller as we approached, its shadow falling over everything. The north road continued to show signs of use, of subtle repair. We chose to follow the advice of our unwilling informant and moved off that road to the east, following what Bellerophon described to be an old hunting trail.

The closer we got, the more on edge everyone became. Starshadow was barely restrained, more impatient and worried than I'd ever seen her before. Dusky seemed to take on the task of being the lead lookout, keeping her eyes moving to search out any signs of ambush. We'd spotted the distant shapes of pegasi near the north entrance, if they spotted us on this old eastern trail, it could certainly have raised some suspicions that our alibi of attending the hunt might not have covered.

As Star predicted, we reached the eastern gate as the sun crept just below the horizon. It was a large tunnel entrance with a metal portcullis sealing it shut. We halted our progress, just about to plan our next move, when an old pegasus in a thick cloak walked out the gate. He carried a pole on which hung three lanterns, dimly lighting his path as he moved stiffly through the gate. Once outside, he set two of the lanterns upon hooks set on either side of the entrance, then began to meander back into the mountain. We watched him go about his work, and as he began to head inside, we made our move.

Dusky put a hoof against Star's side and whispered. "Carefully."

Star nodded, then took the lead, approaching the gatekeeper from behind. She cleared her throat. "Sir?"

"Eh?" The pegasus swung the pole with his last remaining lantern like a staff, prepared to smash it across the head of any would-be intruders. In the low light, his coat appeared to be a faded blue. Despite his age, he certainly seemed limber enough. Like the scouts we'd encountered before, his armor appeared to be barely bound scraps, hardly what one would expect from freshly arrived warriors. "You there! Halt!"

Star raised a hoof to placate him. "Easy, sir. We are here under orders to enter the Forge through the eastern tunnel."

"Through the east—why, that's here!" He eyed each of us carefully, swinging the lantern from face to face. "You certainly look like one o' them. Buncha thoroughbred know-it-alls and green-blooded foals."

I looked over at the others, raising an eyebrow. It was hardly the reception I'd expected. I wondered if it was some kind of test, if there was something else we were missing here.

The gatekeeper, Old Ed if our information was accurate, made his way through, then waved us in. "Well, hurry up. Quit standing there swatting flies and come in so I can close the gate!"

Star glanced back at us and nodded, whispering back. "Be ready."

If this is a trap, we are likely already dead.

I swallowed hard at Bellerophon's words, but nodded back to Star nonetheless.

Stepping into the tunnel, the old timer moved slowly ahead of us, reaching a winch set into the wall. He cranked the gate closed behind us, the metal clang of its hard iron teeth dropping into the stone below it echoed through the tunnel. There would be no going back now.

"Well? Go on, then. Get going!" The gatekeeper was clearly done with us, and our captive’s comments about him going off to nap seemed fairly likely. The faster we were away, the faster we'd be forgotten.

"Thank you, sir." Star bowed her head briefly, then began to move down the dim tunnel.

It was all dark stone brick, with lanterns mounted often enough to provide waypoints through the darkened corridor. The brick facing was broken and loose throughout, the shattered angles reflected in the flickering lantern light, giving the whole tunnel a feeling of decay, and imminent collapse. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on edge.

The tunnel continued to slope downward, and after at least an hour of travel, it opened from a simple hallway into the entrance to a vast concourse. As deep underground as it seemed we were, I would have expected to feel more claustrophobic. Instead, the chamber was vast enough that it didn't feel confined at all. It should have been dark, but a dim blue glow suffusing everything, and torches were set at what appeared to be key points. The whole cavern sloped downward, like a great bowl.

Deeper into the bowl were many buildings. They were an odd mixture of designs, some were large, natural looking structures, great towers of stone with openings carved into them. Others were more what I would expect, homes built from stone or sometimes wood. They were numerous in number, and the city could easily accommodate several thousand ponies, and yet only a tiny fraction of them showed signs of life. The blue glow revealed many unlit buildings, and it appeared that a good deal of these structures were collapsed, and even those which were lit showed obvious signs of disrepair, even from this distance.

The city abruptly ended against a sheer stone wall. There were more lights concentrated there as well, and the layout of the city, combined with the activity present, all led to one location. A large tunnel, bigger than any other visible in the cavern, opened up, leading down deeper into the mountain.

Bellerophon focused upon it immediately. There. That tunnel leads to the Forge itself, closer to the heart of the volcano.

I pointed a hoof to the tunnel, whispering to the others. "Bellerophon says that's where we need to go."

Starshadow nodded. "A good deal of the city seems abandoned. This should help our efforts to sneak through."

"At least until we get closer to that entrance." Dusky pondered. "Then, we'll have to hope we can learn enough to convince them we belong in there."

The tremendous size of the cavern served us well, as we were able to move quickly and quietly into the city, keeping parallel to the main path. At one point, Dusky picked up the sound of a patrol, and we were able to move out of sight. As the sound moved past our position, Star peeked over the stones to watch the patrol for as long as she dared.

"This makes no sense," she whispered to us. "Their armor, their weapons, none of it would be seen as fit for a fresh recruit, let alone a seasoned knight. If this rebellion has truly been this long in the planning, why is it so ill-equipped?"

Dusky frowned. "Maybe they're not as powerful as we feared?" She glanced towards the great hallway. "Or they're keeping their best forces in reserve."

Star chewed on that idea a moment, then shook her head. "It does not seem right. There is something more going on here."

I glanced up at the stone spires, the faint lights within those caves, and it struck me. "They live here..."

Star tilted her head. "The traitors?"

"I... I guess?" I pointed upwards. "This place was a city, right? It used to have ponies living in it. What if they never left?"

Bellerophon's disdain was evident. Impossible. The Forge was abandoned when the truce was signed. I told you, I saw it shut down myself.

Dusky looked further into the cavern towards the city. "It might mean we have a better chance of finding Merri and getting out of here."

"We can only hope. There is an ill sense to this place." Starshadow stood from our hiding spot and motioned us forward, deeper into the city.

---

The dilapidated ruins did much to help our approach. We kept clear of the main street; Dusky insisted we do so to avoid any risk of detection by the patrols that came out this far. The collapsed and abandoned buildings gave us plenty of places to avoid unwanted eyes, and the rare patrols seemed to have no interest in examining the rubble.

We begun to notice some patterns in the patrols as we moved through the city. Despite their ramshackle appearance, and the general sense of desperation, the patrols came at regular intervals. They marched together, disciplined, without the kind of chatter that Dusky said she'd expect from untrained militia. My theory that they'd been living here seemed to be proving correct. These were hard people, living in hard conditions.

As that point seemed to solidify in our minds, we found ourselves facing the other side of the problem. A different kind of patrol approached. They were conversing loudly, their voices carrying far enough to easily forewarn their approach. We ducked into one of the crumbled buildings and listened to them talk about old kills. Instead of the usual groupings of undergeared ponies we'd encountered, we found this patrol to be smaller, and made up of ponies in the brightly colored armor we'd come to recognize as Ostfriesen.

Starshadow leaned in as they passed, frowning. "Those were most certainly reinforcements. They swagger as if they own this place. The typical arrogance of an experienced hunter."

Dusky nodded in agreement. "They're completely different from the previous ones. I have to wonder: how many are there compared to the natives?"

"And I wonder, which is the greater cause for concern?" Star pursed her lips.

“Depends on whether or not we have to fight.”

We were several hours deep into the city, and exhaustion was beginning to take a toll. We'd arrived at the gate into the Forge as the sun was setting, and now it had to be well past dusk. The moon would be high overhead, if we could see the sky. Out of necessity, we needed to find someplace safe to get rest before we could continue. Star was reluctant to stop our march forward, so close to our goal, but even she was feeling the drag of exhaustion.

Once we found a suitable building, there wasn't much to do to set up, we couldn't risk lightning a fire here. Dusky and Star examined the impromptu shelter to be sure it was stable enough, and I let my eyes wander. This had once been some pony's home. It had been more than just stone walls, cracked and broken.

I walked through an old doorway, examining the dusty remains. It was once a large home, the front room lead to a hallway, breaking off into several side rooms. It was impossible to tell what those rooms had once been, as any signs of habitation were long gone. I stood in that large room, keeping guard while Dusky and Star went in deeper to be sure it was safe.

Bellerophon sighed. This was my legacy. A thousand years, and it's all but gone. It should have been something special, something glorious, and instead it's all in ruin.

Nothing lasts forever… There was nothing I could say that would console him. The thought of everything I'd known or loved being a thousand years gone was almost more than my heart could take. I looked back towards the other room where Dusky and Star had slipped away and frowned.

My ears perked up at the sound of something clattering about outside, like rocks falling. I turned to call back to others when the blade flashed in front of my throat. A mare's voice, hard and unforgiving, came to my ear. "Shout and you're dead. Don't move, don't speak, do nothing without my permission. Understand?"

I froze, barely managing to nod my head. I tried to glance down without moving my head, her blade was perilously close to my neck. It was a wing blade, not unlike Dusky's, and it sat perched upon pale purple feathers.

"Good. Now step forward. Slowly. Too fast and my wing might slip." We moved out towards the back, standing in the doorway to the central room, where Dusky and Star now turned to look in mixed expressions of worry and horror.

"Let him go!" Star glared at the pony behind me, hoof moving to brandish her own blade.

"None of that!" The mare called. "No weapons, no movement, or your friend dies. I don't know who you are, or why you're sneaking around my city, but it ends now, so just come along quietly."

Star growled, but slowly released her grip on the hoofblade.

Dusky tried not to let any emotion show, but the pain in her face was obvious as she slumped in place. I frowned.

"Excellent. There's no need for bloodshed. Lord Firetail will have some questions for you. Now move." She pointed her free wing towards the door.

It was a simple mistake that would cost her everything. For just a split second, her attention was shifted away from the blade at my throat. That was all it took to give Bellerophon his opening.

He took control before I could react, pivoting to throw my head to the side and into our assailant. She'd been standing besides me, just behind my line of sight, with her wing out and the blade poised, and Bellerophon knew right where she'd be. His head slammed into her face.

I got a good look at her as she stepped back, a light purple mare with her mane tied back into intricate braiding. She wore a full set of barding, unpainted, but in much better repair than the other ponies we'd seen. I watched from above as Bellerophon moved quickly to subdue her.

Bellerophon rushed her, slamming her against the wall first, then not letting up as his hind legs bucked into her, letting her drop forward to the ground. Kicking off her wingblade, Bellerophon knocked it across the ground towards Dusky and Star. Then, he summoned his hoofblade.

"Now, then." He kicked the guard mare over onto her side, moving his blade towards her throat as he stepped up onto her side. "I believe the phrase is, as you said, move and you're dead. Solanum, ask your questions. I feel quite sure our friend here will be most obliged to answer."

I watched Bellerophon hold the hoofblade to her with my body. You can't just torture her, not again.

Starshadow actually appeared taken off guard, managing to pull herself together once Bellerophon addressed her. She moved up to this new prisoner and lowered her head. "Excellent. We seek a red unicorn who came into this way, possibly taken captive. Tell us what you know of her, and everything you know about Lord Firetail."

She spit in Star's face. "Filth! You'd best kill me as quickly as you can. When King Bellerophon is reborn, he will return Olymponis to its rightful place."

Bellerophon kicked her once more, hissing. "King Bellerophon wants nothing to do with this farce." He placed his hoof on her again, moving the hoofblade forward to show her the bracer from his old armor. "If this Firetail wishes to use my name to further his lies, then I will ensure he begs for death before the end. If you have nothing else to tell us, then you shall at least have your swift death."

Something had shaken her, but she quickly regained some composure, snarling from behind the blade. "You know nothing. You think some stolen artifact will sway me to your lies? My family has awaited the return of our King for over a millennium. You will get nothing from me."

"Hmph. So be it." He slid the bracer away from her face, positioning the blade back at her throat.

I struggled against him. No! You can't just kill her!

I will do as I please. Bellerophon's face turned to a snarl, but his hoof wavered, and I continued to push back.

Look at her! Look at this place! She's half-starved, there's no more fight there, not after what you said. I tried to exert myself back into my body, I was determined not to allow anymore unnecessary death. Maybe Firetail is lying to them, but they don't deserve death! If... if anything, they deserve pity...

He cried out in frustration as he jabbed the blade forward, but rather than slicing open her throat, the hoofblade struck the stone besides her head. "Very well. King Bellerophon grants you your life. Expect nothing else." He turned and walked away from the stunned mare.

She seemed completely off-balance now, having just stared death in the face. Unable to keep the tremble from her voice, she only barely managed to whisper. "What are you?"

Bellerophon did not look back. He looked up at the ceiling of the hovel and frowned. "I was the Aegis Insontis, First Knight of Tapioca's Court, Justicar Bellerophon, once known as Swift Wing."

Something in her expression changed, fear replaced by awe, or more likely a mix of both. "Swift Wing… no one should know that name."

He snorted, dark thoughts storming through his mind. “None would, now. Wiped from the pages of history. Just as I was. Just as you all will be.”

She was pale, but stared after as Bellerophon walked away. "I, uh, I’m Amethyst, M'Lord." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Amethyst Vein. I am the Regis of the ponies of Olymponis. The Oracle said you'd return. When the mare in the moon disappeared, he said, it was a sign that Tapioca's dynasty was over, and that we would return to our rightful throne in Ostfriesen. We've been waiting a thousand years for you."

Bellerophon turned. "I am not your Lord. I am not your savior. Tapioca had every right to that throne, and so do her children. You've waited on false hope."

Amethyst's head dropped back to the floor, her voice broken. “No, you can’t mean that.”

I have no purpose here. I thought returning to this place, I could find something. Peace, or solace, but this place reeks of decay, a relic long past its time. Just like me.

I gained control of my body once more, feeling a dull throbbing in my head from the impact in combat. It... it's still full of life. Maybe they're misguided, been lied to, and clinging to false hope, but... they're still alive.

I turned back to look at Amethyst. Whatever that false hope had been, it was gone now.

She had curled up on herself, Dusky and Star watching her carefully.

Dusky's eyes met mine, and I couldn't be sure who she was addressing. "It's for the best we keep the bloodshed to a minimum. That sort of thing just feeds into itself."

I looked away, nodding. "I... I couldn't let him. We can't just kill anypony who gets in our way."

She smiled, relief crossing her face. "Well, good. I wouldn't want to see him stain your hooves with anymore lives."

"Y-yeah. Me neither." The image of White Riot flashed through my mind and I suppressed a shudder. I walked towards the mare on the ground, Starshadow standing over her. "Amethyst? I'm... I'm sorry. It's complicated, but we're not here to stop you, or to stop Firetail or whoever is running things. We're just here to save our friend."

She shook her head, carefully pulling herself up. "I was a fool. We waited here for a thousand years for you. The Oracle told my ancestors, and their ancestors, that you'd return. We were supposed to see it in our lifetime, and instead, we've invited the enemy into our home. Lord Firetail has brought in his reinforcements, Ostfriesen nobles that have taken over Olymponis. They sit in the Forge and laugh and plot. They're using us, using my people, and I've turned a blind eye. All because they gave us hope you'd return. That you'd be something special." She glared at me, or more specifically, at Bellerophon.

Starshadow watched her carefully, subtly shifting between Amethyst and I. "This is not even Bellerophon. He is long dead, but his spirit remains, bound to the bracer upon the forehoof. He could not lead you even if he desired to. I simply wish to save my sister, Amethyst."

Amethyst sighed. "Then you oppose Firetail. Because the red unicorn can only be the prisoner captured by Firetail's loyalists." She glanced at me once again. "She is a special prisoner, selected to become the vessel for King Bellerophon's return."

"V-vessel?" I tensed. Wh-what does that even me? They want to make her like me?

That would only make sense if they were still in possession of my bracer.

Dusky stepped forward. "Amethyst Vein, we're not going to hurt you, or your people, if we don't have to. But we have to save that prisoner. Please tell us what you know."

"Firetail's lies have held the people of Olymponis down long enough." Amethyst glanced between us, and a fire returned to her eyes. "I swore an oath to serve Bellerophon, as has every leader of Olymponis since his departure. I will help you."

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

Just when you think things can't escalate any further....