• Published 11th May 2015
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Myths and Birthrights: Anthologiae - Tundara



Anthology containing stories set in various periods of Ioka from Myths and Birthrights.

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The Moon on the Sword: Act Three (Dark, Gore)

8

Summerset stood alone on a low ridge, her gaze fixed as it had been for some hours on the distant beach camp. Her aura played with the clasp of her sword, unbinding it then fastening it once more over and over in rote motions as she contemplated the monsters that had invaded her home. As if the griffons had not been enough of a pox, killing and maiming hundreds before fleeing back to their ships with hundreds of stolen foals.

What horrors the griffons planned for the foals drove tremors of rage up Summerset’s spine to contemplate.

There was little she could do about the griffons. Not while Luna was missing. Every thought, every fibre of her being was tuned towards the singular goal of protecting her littlest sister.

No pony on Coltsica, or perhaps the entire disc, was as important as Luna.

Summerset closed her eyes and recalled the day she’d first set eyes on Luna. The newborn filly, so tiny and dark in her swaddling, gurgled from within the depths of a simple basket that belied the importance of her birth.

She recalled drifting out of a deep slumber to hear the voices of her mothers and father as they spoke to a guest. Eyes flickering open, Summerset lifted her head from the table and wondered why she’d gone to sleep while at dinner. Near everypony else at the table was similarly lost to dreams, all except her parents.

A sliver of awe stabbed Summerset on seeing who it was her parents spoke with so freely; Faust Invictus, The Goddess of Fate.

The goddess stood with her back to Summerset, so tall and majestic in a burgundy gown. She was a giant among ponies, both in stature and in energy. An electric current filled the air, power flowing from Faust in almost visible waves that left Summerset speechless. It was next to the goddess that the basket holding Luna sat. Little hooves wiggled up towards Summerset, Luna offering a little happy giggle.

“Do not worry,” Faust said, “I’ve already seen to it that nopony will question from whence she came. A spell, far from simple, but one that will keep anypony from wondering. To all on Coltsica they will assume that Luna is your daughter, Princess Jinxy. That there were no announcements will be brushed aside. Such are the ways of ponies. None think to question their own ideas and beliefs closely, I’ve found. Even those given to them through magic.”

Faust turned, and Luna began to cry. Sorrow flashed across Faust’s eyes, and crystal tears clung to her cheeks. Summerset had never seen a pony so sad before, or since. Greater are the joys of the goddesses, but so too are their pains far more profound. The Queen of All Ponies did not waver, and she walked away from her daughter, only to stop next to Summerset.

“I know that no matter what trials await her, my daughter will be safe with you as her sister,” Faust said, and then she’d laid a wingtip to Summerset’s withers. “Watch over her, I beg of you.”

And then Faust was gone, and nopony on the disc had seen her since.

Several times Summerset went over that long-ago encounter and thought to march down on the camp, alone, but hesitated each time. Until she was certain Luna was in their clutches, Summerset would not risk antagonizing the soulless. At the same time, in her heart of hearts, Summerset knew Luna was down on that beach.

It was too much of a coincidence for the griffons and the soulless to come to Coltsica at the same time.

The actions of both groups were wrong. They were searching for something, and the only thing on Coltsica of any value was Luna. The island was not a bastion of wealth and gold. There were no hidden jewels or treasures waiting to be uncovered. Only Luna.

Summerset ran a hoof over her tangled, unwashed mane and then stood to return to her own camp.

It was not far to the cave claimed by the survivors of Dreamsong Castle Summerset had gathered. More of a shallow indent near the base of the mountain, a bare dozen ponies huddled around a pair of campfires, rubbing warmth into the legs as the night grew damp and chilly. Of them only she and Sir Sydney were unicorns and trained knights. The rest were comprised of a pegasus family that had managed to flee inland from the town, a couple other stragglers, and five earth pony guards.

And Dirge.

Not a word had Dirge spoken since Summerset rescued her from the griffons' clutches. Worry twisted in Summerset’s guts, but there was little she could do to soothe Dirge’s heart. The deep claw marks on her sister’s flanks and withers were another matter, and Summerset sat down next to her sister in order to change her bandages.

A hissed intake of breath was the only reaction Dirge gave as the soiled cloth was removed and clean ones applied, along with a spell to prevent infection. It was such times Summerset wished she knew proper healing spells, rather than mere first aid. Once done, Summerset placed the old bandages in a pot to be boiled clean, kissed Dirge on the forehead, and whispered, “Just rest. Everything will get better, I promise.”

“You shouldn’t make oaths you can not be certain to keep,” Sir Sydney commented when Summerset joined her at the campfire.

Rolling her shoulders in a shrug, Summerset began to place provisions into a small bag, and tightened the straps of her belt. “I need you to get these ponies to Port Spei. Commandeer a boat or get a villager to transport you to the mainland. Queen Crescendo of Trotalonia will give you shelter, and if not, then go to Dame Unicornia and explain what has happened. But, I doubt it will come to that.”

“I am hardly going to go running off to Dirge’s grand dame with my tail between my legs and leave you here!” Sir Sydney protested, her jaw set to withstand whatever arguments Summerset chose to use in counter. “You are the rightful queen of Coltsica now, and my place is by your side.”

“Your place is heeding my commands, Sir Sydney, or must I strip you of that knighthood my mother bestowed upon you?” Summerset’s eyes flashed with danger as she rounded on her fillyhood friend. “I have no use for a knight that ignores her queen.”

“Except, you’re not my queen, yet.” Sir Sydney smirked, then sighed. “But I understand. You feel you have to do this alone to make up for failing Bellicosa, Luna, and the rest of the island. But, that is foolish pride on your part. And you know what the Book of Names says of Pride…”

“‘She with too much Pride will see only their own actions as justified’,” Summerset quoted at once without inflection or care. “That hardly counters my orders, Sydney. This isn’t pride, but duty. Faust tasked me with protecting Luna, and I must do so.”

Sir Sydney grabbed Summerset roughly, twisting her around until they were face to face. “Faust does not get involved in such a manner with mortals. Not unless you believe yourself to be one of her mythical Elements of Harmony. If that were the case I’d call you twice a damn fool and wonder whence such delusions originated.”

With a sharp slap, Summerset disrupted Sir Sydney’s aura.

“The Elements are bedtime stories, and no more. I am not a fool, nor am I overcome with idolised romanticism. Faust…” Summerset bit her tongue and shook her head violently. “I can not say how I know, only that I am as certain that it is my appointed duty to protect Luna as I am that the sun will rise in the east, and the tides shift in tune to the moon. Trust me, I would not be doing this if I did not believe in my heart that it wasn’t necessary.”

Sir Sydney searched her face, and Summerset wished with all her might that the knight would just do as commanded. Her body trembled with the fear of her chosen path, and that which lay in wait, hidden like serpents in darkened crags, ready to dart out and ensnare the unwary. Too many had died and suffered already, and they’d only narrowly managed to avoid the thanes’ touch so far through luck. At any moment her resolve could break, and leave her prostrate on the ground, torn in half by warring duties and emotions.

“Throwing yourself into death’s waiting hooves will not serve anypony, nor will it assuage your guilt, princess. But, if I can’t stop you from going, then neither can you stop me from accompanying you,” Sir Sydney responded.

“Or us from accompanying you, Your Highness,” spoke one of the pegasi.

Summerset glanced over and winced. Everypony stared hard at her and Sir Sydney, even Dirge, and she could see in their expressions that they were all as determined as she herself. An argument rose up in her throat, ready to tell them as she had Sir Sydney to head westward over the mountain, but it sputtered and died unsaid. She shrugged again, and instead said, “If things turn violent—as I am certain they will—then grab the fillies and fly as fast and far as your wings or hooves will carry you. Hopefully, we’ll appear intimidating enough that they’ll at least parley.”

They gathered their things just before dawn, such as they’d managed to scrape together in their hurried flight from their homes, and began the final journey towards the beach and the soulless.

9

Dawn’s golden rays slanted down that morning to find Luna at peace and content. She slept nestled between Marian and Yasmina, an arm stretched over her in a protective shield. Pleasant dreams were interrupted by a nearby squak, a shriek, and then the running of sandaled feet through the pebbly shore.

Rubbing the crusts of sleep from her eyes, Luna sat up slowly, and around a yawn asked, “What’s going on?”

“It sounded like a griffon being caught in one of the snares,” Yasmina mumbled. “Foolish beasts,” she yawned, “but their pelts are so comfortable, and their meat delicious.”

They’d only begun to settle back down when a new noise flowed over the camp, this one a horn similar to that which had announced Heyreddin’s return. Sleep well banished, Luna poked her nose out of the tent, peering in the direction which the men congregated.

A further shout drew her from the tent, and a knicker that could only be from a pony brought her into a cantor. She spied Sopha ahead, at the edge of a cluster of men. Luna suspected they slept in their armour, for she had yet to see them take a single bracer or greeve off.

On reaching Sopha, Luna was elated to see a group of ponies lead by her sister. They stood, staring at the ring of humans around them, ears flicking this way and that, bodies tense.

Taking a step forward, Summerset announced herself, and concluded by saying, “I am here to parley with your chief. There is no need for conflict.”

“Summerset! You’re alive!” Luna shouted in joy and started to run towards her sister, only to be halted by a spear thrust in her path.

“Contain the filly, Sopha,” Heyreddin growled, the tenor of his voice sending ripples of dread down Luna’s back and making her heart sink. He stepped forth, his pace slow, gaze taking Summerset’s measure. His beard broke into a fierce grin, and fingers tightened on the haft of his spear. “It would have been wiser of you to take those ponies and escape into the hills, unicorn, rather than so boldly trot into my camp.”

He gestured with a sweep of his free hand to his men in their neat lines, shields at their sides, spears at the ready, and a hungry gleam in their eyes. Summerset grimaced, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as she considered the seventy-eight men, each a trained killer and brute.

She set her shoulders, and did not waver. “I do not seek a fight, simply a trade.”

Summerset’s words dimmed Heyreddin’s grin, and he clicked his teeth together in thought. “A trade?” he replied. “You wish to trade yourself for the filly, no doubt, but why? It seems foolish to hurl yourself into a den of wolves such as I keep for the sake of a filly.”

“Would not you do the same if an enemy had taken your little sister?” Summerset countered without pause.

“No.” Heyreddin answered equally as fast, his expression growing sterner. “But my brothers are all spineless curs that grovel and lick our father’s boots, desperate for his favour so they may be named the next king. Thrice I’ve gutted a brother who has tried to sink their dagger in my back. Then again, I see from the shock on your face that you’d never consider such deeds.”

He laughed, and the pitt in Luna’s stomach grew. She could see the battle about to happen, and given their sheer numbers, Luna saw no way Summerset could overcome the soulless. A throbbing pulse hit Luna at the base of the horn, jolting her, making her legs almost give out. She couldn’t watch another sister die.

Heyreddin then surprised them all by waving for Summerset to follow and barked out, “Settle down lads, and keep an eye for those griffons. I do not like how dogged their scouts have grown.” He then made his way to his stool and commanded benches or cushions be provided for Summerset and the other ponies. “Bring us some wine,” he added as he leaned back on his make-shift throne.

Cautious of a trick, Summerset followed slowly, and only after being told to sit a second time did she settle across from Heyreddin.

“You’re offer is intriguing, I’ll grant you that much, princess…?”

“Summerset.”

Heyreddin rolled the strange syllables around his mouth a couple times, the magic used to translate her words leaving them untouched, then grunted and continued. “Truth is that your sister is a far greater prize. She is young and can be broken, while you have a headstrong, independent gleam in your eye. You may give a hundred oaths not to run, and keep to them, but never would you accept a master. Oh no, not you. Luna, however?”

He shrugged and Luna did not care at all for the glance he shot her way, nestled between Sopha and Yasmina on the outskirts of the ring. Heyreddin’s fingers drummed against his knee, and he leaned forward.

“Besides, there is a prize far greater that concerns me on this island. The soothsayers and mystics have for months been making prophecies and thrown into visions of a relic appearing out here in the west. The Jewel of Selene they call it, and that any who holds it will possess dominion over the moon and night.”

“There is no such artifact on Coltsica, unless some dragon has it hidden beneath the mountain in its horde.” For just an instant, before she spoke, Summerset’s eyes darted to Luna. It was a look that did not go unnoticed by those present.

“Is there not, indeed? The gods have played all the disc for fools once again? While that would be like Kull, to lay down a challenge and see who rises up to meet it, it is not his soothsayers that have been babbling prophecy, but those of Artim, and it is well known that he sends only truthful knowledge to his devoted supplicants. You know something about this Jewel.” Heyreddin let out a weary growl and stood. “But enough of this. I could claim you all easy enough. Four unicorns, a gaggle of pegasi; you’ll fetch a pretty coin in Parmeria’s markets. I have no use for common ponies, though.”

Luna’s head throbbed again, hard enough for her to hiss in surprise, though there was no pain. It was more like a heavy stone was shifting in the back of her head.

Sopha’s hand tightened on Luna’s withers, though whether she meant to provide comfort or keep her in place, Luna was not certain.

Her trust in the soulless was entirely shaken, head swimming with conflicting emotions. They’d been so kind to her the day before, and now they acted as if she were a mere thing.

Whatever Summerset’s response to Heyreddin, it as subsumed beneath the blast of a nearby horn and the shouts of men.

Everyone reacted at once, with a speed that could only be attained through a life of training and battle. Heyreddin and Summerset both leapt to the ready at the same time, glares leveled not on each other, but on the sky. There, from the hills and ocean, flew hundreds of griffons. The winged monsters shrieked and clacked their claws, or smacked weapons to shields.

Sandaled feet rushing through the loose pebbles, the soulless formed their ranks into tight rings, shields set into a wall and spears thrusting out like the deadly spines of a porcupine. Luna herself was lifted up by Sopha and carried into the heart of the nearest such group. Around Luna and Sopha stood a handful of archers, their faces stoic masks hiding whether they felt elation or fear.

“Stay here, and you will be safe,” Sopha promised as she, Yasmina, and Marian snatched up bows.

Outside the rings, the ponies scampered and looked for cover, uncertain whether to fight or run.

All except Summerset. She twisted towards Sir Sydney and barked, “get them to safety!” before she met the first of the griffons, plucking from a stand one of the soulless’ spears and hurling it into his path. The spear caught the griffon in the chest with a wet thunk, twisting his dive into a helpless plummet. He hit the rocks just to Summerset’s left, where she placed a hoof to his twitching body and yanked the weapon free as she drew her own sword.

An iron laugh lit Summerset’s eyes as she stood alone among the thronging griffons. She fought like she were demon-possessed, twisting and hacking, cutting her sworn enemies down in swaths. In her berserk passion she did not miss a stroke, and added weapon after weapon to those that darted about her. First five, then eight, now a dozen felled until their bodies were heaped beneath her hooves.

Even the Adharjoon took notice, shouting out encouragement in their heavy voices as they drove off the swarming beasts, firing their arrows to strike those attempting to get at the princess’ back.

Bedlam and chaos were everywhere. Screams of blood and death clawed at Luna’s ears. The throbbing in her head grew louder, and in it she made out a voice.

“Wait for me,” the voice commanded, “I am coming!”

She fell to her knees in the broken rocks, breaths short and ragged, sweat running thick down her face and stinging her eyes.

Without the training or shields of the adharjoon, the ponies were easy pickings for the blood frenzied griffons. Dirge coward underneath Sir Sydney, and the others did their best to fend off attacks, but their efforts were entirely futile against such numbers. A scream tore from one of the earth ponies, then ended in a weak gurgle.

“Help them,” Luna pleaded the men around her, hooves clutching at her head to stymy the throbbing.

Sopha, Yasmina, and Marian looked to each other, and came to an instant agreement. Out of the protective shell Sopha leapt closely followed by the other two. They landed among the ponies and Sopha threw out her hands. Magic danced between the rings on her fingers and stretched outward, forming a dome of shimmering blue under which the startled ponies huddled.

Yasmina and Marian’s aim proved far truer than even that of the men, both placing their arrows through the eyes of darting and swooping griffons at a distance of a dozen yards. First surprised, than thankful, Sir Sydney added her own magic to reinforce the spell cast by Sopha.

Not to be outdone by Summerset, a few of the men had yet to join one of the rings, Heyreddin and the minotaur Thraxe among them, and instead roamed and bounded around the beach, thrusting and cutting with spear and sword. Heyreddin drove his spear into an exposed belly, even as a grim laugh echoed from his lips.

So caught in the battle, no one noticed the moon rise above the mountain in the west, flying backwards along her usual course.

“I am almost there, my precious little jewel, just a moment more and you will be safe. I promise,” boomed the otherworldly voice in Luna’s head.

Crawling on her knees, Luna lurched out between the feet of the soulless towards Summerset.

Seeing her sister, Summerset shouted, “Luna, stay back!” Pressed hard on all sides, she could not reach Luna, and instead was driven further away.

Luna crossed only half the distance, heedless of her sister’s warning, when Scalane came out of the sky like a stone cast by a catapult. Pebbles skittered around his talons, and he loomed large over Luna, tongue wetting his beak.

Talons reached for Luna, only to dart back as Heyreddin’s finely crafted spear sank into the ground on which Scalane had stood. Roaring like a bear, Heyreddin charged, flinging foe and ally alike out of his way, a sword and axe appearing in his huge hands. With a mighty chop he swung the axe at Scalane’s head, and the griffon survived only by a beat of his broad wings springing him back. Another griffon tried to get at the human’s back, but his instincts were keener. Heyreddin ducked, pivoted on his heel, and met the beast with a slash of his sword across an exposed belly, spilling his attacker’s entrails across the rocks. Seeing the human open, Scalane lunged low then sprang high when Heyreddin thrust with his sword. Talons swept across upper arm and face, scraping across bone and leaving ghastly wounds in their passing. Blinded, Heyreddin staggered back with a terrible roar, and clapped a hand to hold up the flaps of skin torn from his face. Blood gushed down his face, but the wound served only to enrage him further, so lost was he to battle-lust.

Before Heyreddin could lunge again, Scalane grabbed Luna by the throat. Luna could let out little more than a choked yelp as she was hefted close to Scalane’s twisted face. “The Jewel of Selene! I have her at last!” Scalane cackled, his foul breath washing over Luna as he carried her into the air.

They flew over the battlefield and towards the north, Scalane’s laughter growing with every beat of his wings. Just as rocky beach gave way to scraggly rolling hills he gave out a shriek, and tumbled out of the sky. Unseen by either, Sopha had flung out her hand and sent a ball of green flame chasing after the pair that had clipped Scalane’s wing, searing away feathers and flesh. The disc rolled, as did Luna’s stomach, all sense of direction lost as they plummeted. She closed her eyes and tensed.

Hitting the ground first, Scalane acted as a cushion for Luna, sparing her from any substantial harm. She rolled at once to get away from the griffon’s thrashing limbs and deadly talons.

Trembling with terror and horror, Luna lay paralysed as Scalane rose up over her. The last vestiges of sanity drained his face, eyes hollow, empty things devoid of all but the gleam of madness.

At that moment Summerset appeared, a jump carrying her high, and then landing but a short dash from her sister and the maddened griffon. Scalane turned as Summerset’s shadow fell over his back, fury growing at the persistence of his enemies. Summerset crashed into Scalane’s side and sent both sprawling. A back-handed blow across the muzzle knocked her senses astray for a precious moment, breaking her grip on her sword and sending it clattering to Luna’s hooves. Summerset reacted like panther, but he moved faster still, pinning her to the ground, talons digging into the flesh of her shoulder and flank and drawing a pained yell from the unicorn. With a twist of her head, Summerset drove her horn into one of Scalane’s eyes, bursting the orb and sending the griffon into renewed spasms. Summerset struggled to her hooves, her strength at last flagging. Blood ran in thick streams down her legs, mane matted to her neck, and the fiercest grin yet seen that day on her face.

Barely able to stand, Summerset couldn’t dodge when the mad griffon readied a final attack.

Heart hammering in her chest, Luna picked up Summerset’s sword, the blade trembling in her aura. Her legs shook with such force she wondered if perhaps it wasn’t the disc itself that quaked. All Luna knew for certain was that she had to protect her sister and those who’d shown her such kindness. So many had rushed to protect her, given their lives to keep her safe. She couldn’t allow another to die.

Tears prickled along the edges of Luna’s eyes, and she whispered, “I’m not afraid.”

Overhead there came a tremendous crack, like ten thousand whips snapping through the heavens at once, as the ancient sigil formed to keep the sun and moon always opposite reached the breaking point and shattered. Sheets of iridescent aetherial fire blossomed in lines and circles all across the disc, drawing every eye skyward in wonder and fear.

It was at that moment that Luna saw Selene’s reflection upon the sword, a silver crescent like the moon were herself a scythe. Brilliant flares of silvery-blue sheathing her surface, Selene flew across the daylit sky.

Luna turned towards the moon. The throbbing in her head reached a crescendo, sparking a song in her soul that awakened a vast ocean of dormant silvery light; swirling, churning, and beautiful.

Head tossed back, Luna unleashed the light in a defiant blast that consumed Scalane, and flung Summerset away. Summerset bounced and rolled to a stop just beyond the light’s edge.

“Dear Faust, no,” Summerset hissed, trying but unable to get to her hooves.

Higher and higher the magic stretched, pouring from Luna’s hidden depths, until it touched the very edges of the heavens and then beyond. Through the magic luna could feel herself touch Sol and spread out amongst the sleeping stars. The sun shrugged off Luna’s advance, billowing rage forming a shield of plasma.

“You are not my Shepherd!” Sol roared in defiance, coronal ejections forming into the arms of a colossal octopus that writhed from her surface and dominated the sky. “Begon! This is the day, and the time of my dominion. You no longer belong here!”

Luna tried to shrink back from the sun, her mind burnt where the impossibly heavy voice entered her thoughts, but her grip on the magic pouring through her was tenuous and weak. She could no more stem the flood than she could halt a river with her hoof. Yet, the magic did not hurt, it soothed. It felt good and Luna did not know if she wanted the rush to end.

“She is mine, sister,” called Selene, the moon racing across the blue day. Unlike Sol, Selene’s voice was gentle for all the reverberations that followed her words. It was a tempered, ghostly strength that flowed from the moon; a voice of serenity, grace, and comfort, yet also one of immense power.

The moon did not slow in her flight until she’d interposed herself between Luna and Sol. Her silver surface turned black as tar, around which silver and gold flames formed a ring.

Across the disc, everyone gazed in wonder and fear at the eclipse and accompanying auroras as day was plunged into sudden night. Most prostrated themselves at once and issued fervent prayers to their deity of choice. Many fled indoors in blind panic, certain that the end of days had come. Some tried to enact spells or rites to placate either the sun, moon, or both. All fruitless endeavours.

Between Selene and Luna the magic flowed higher, rebounding between them in a cascading dance, entwining into the other to create a symphony. Lightning crackled around the pillar, wild spells bursting like fireworks at a celebration. Snow fell in clumps, caught in the hot, muggy wind so it was whipped into the staring face of pony and man. Starlings burst in tittering flocks out of the storm, pulled from places distant and near. Frost and fire in equal parts flowed in snaking lines from where Luna sat, transfixed by Selene.

Blind to the disc outside the comforting light of her magic, yet able to see the entire world at once from on high, Luna turned her head this way and that.

The griffons that survived fled, their numbers reduced to but a fraction. With a great heave, Summerset forced herself up, then lowered her head and shoulder, using her own magic to form a buffer as she attempted to reach her sister.

Appearing out of the tattered, wind blown camp with Sopha at his side, Heyreddin peered at the wild magic in wonder with his remaining eye. A bandage covered the ravaged side of his face, and he tossed up an arm as a further shield. Resting on one knee, he grabbed Sopha by the waist so she wouldn’t be blown back by the stinging wind.

“Kull! What sorcery is this? No unicorn could cause such havoc.” On seeing Summerset take another step closer to the pillar, he shouted, “She will kill you, princess, turn back!”

“Luna will not harm me,” Summerset shouted in defiance, her voice barely audible over the shrieking wind and crackling magic.

Head pressed low, Summerset forged her way into the heart of the light. There she found Luna, eyes wide and bursting with blue aether, little body rocking back and forth. On Luna’s face there was a smile, one that twitched and jittered every few seconds and was then followed by a convulsion of her body and another burst of lightning up the column’s length.

“I can hear her, Summerset. I can hear the moon, and I can see the entire disc,” Luna said through clenched teeth. “I have to protect them. There is so much evil, and I can stop it.”

Summerset leaned forward and wrapped her hooves around Luna, pulling her sister close. “Not today though, Luna. You’ve done enough for today.”

Protests readied themselves, but went unsaid. The twitches faded, the column of light parted, and the disc became calm as Luna fell into a deep sleep wrapped in the safety of her sister’s hooves. Exhausted beyond measure, and with the danger of the griffons and magic-surge past, Summerset was overcome by her own wounds and slumped against Luna.

Raising himself slowly, Hayreddin looked over the beach. The rest of his men and the few remaining ponies slowly advanced, their gazes wide with awe and grips tight on their weapons. Sopha brushed off Heyreddin’s grip and darted to Summerset’s side.

“Bring me my herbs and poultices, at once,” she barked to the nearest onlooker, her voice shaking him from his reverent stupor.

Movements slow and sluggish, Hayreddin walked to where the sisters lay. Next to them, seared into stones where he had fallen was a black shadow marking the spot of Scalane’s demise. His gaze was drawn from the scarred stones to Luna, where it settled on her flank and the nebulous patch of pitch black fur around a crescent moon. Overhead, Selene mirrored the mark’s shape, a deadly curve of silver in the blue sky while Sol sailed onwards towards the western edge.

With a shake of his head, Hayreddin said, “You are no mere princess, Luna Lullaby. Lullaby? Ha! You are an Invictus! Ol’ Firemane, what games you play with us mere mortals that you would send your daughter among us. Is this just for her benefit, or is it for ours as well?”

No answers came, of course, and after bending down to gently lift the small filly while Sopha tended to Summerset, Hayreddin turned to his men. They fell to their knees unbidden, heads low in reverence. Each knew that they had just witnessed the arrival of a goddess, and they raised their voices to Ol’ Firemane, Kull, Ishata, Parhemane, and Artim.

“Thraxe, bring the other princesses. The rest of you, treat the wounded, especially the ponies, and ready the ship,” Hayreddin commanded, then he marched towards the galley with a shout of, “and bring us a flagon of wine! By Ol’ Firemane, today has been thirsty work.”