Chapter 25 - The Hunt
Sheerwater - The Safe House
Blade looked up from her breakfast as the front door let out a heavy click, the lock disengaging. A moment later the door eased open, early dawn light spilling through the opening as their pegasus guide from the day before pushed his way inside.
“Morning,” Blade said as Books shut the door with a rear hoof, the lock clicking once more. “You’re here early.”
“And you’re up even earlier,” Books said.
“I didn’t actually need a lot of sleep last night,” Blade said as the pegasus crossed the room. “So I got up early, thought I’d fix breakfast. Want some?” she asked, holding up a forkful of omelet as Books sat down.
“No thank you,” the pegasus said. “I already ate this morning.”
“Well, nice job stocking the kitchen for griffons, anyway,” Blade said, dropping her fork to the plate with a metal ring. “H—my friend is in there now fixing himself up something,” she said, catching herself before she used Hain’s name. “We’re probably going to have to send the other two members of our group out for some more pony-favored palate though.”
“Right,” Books said, giving her a nervous grin. “Sorry about that. Like I said, I didn’t know—”
“It’s fine,” she said, shaking her head and picking up her fork once more. “We were going to be out anyway.” There was a rattle from the kitchen area, followed by a sharp, crackling hiss as something made contact with a hot surface.
“So,” she said, her eyes shifting to the pile of papers on books back, as well as his bulging saddlebags. “I assume you’ve got some stuff for us?”
“Um …” The scent of meat frying from the kitchen seemed to have momentarily caught him off-guard, though again Blade wasn’t sure if it was intentional or just a mask the stallion had put on to make her more comfortable.
“Yes,” Books said, shaking his head and turning to pull the pile of papers from his shoulders. “First,” he said, grabbing the rough twine holding the bundle of papers together and tossing the whole stack on the table. “I looked up that airship of yours.” For a moment Blade felt a spike of panic, but then she realized he was talking about the Superiority, not the ship she and the rest of the team had stolen.
“And?” she asked, waiting. Please let us have beaten it here.
“An airship with the name you gave me arrived two days ago as of this morning,” Books said. “It’s still docked inside the city.”
Blade’s sense of elation plummeted, her shoulders slumping even as her wings flared out. “Dang,” she said, dropping her fork down to her plate and scowling. “I was really hoping we’d beaten—” She looked up, catching herself before she said more than Books probably wanted to hear. “Nevermind,” she said, settling her wings back against her back. “Nothing we can’t deal with.”
“Right,” Books said, once again looking a little nervous. “Did you want me to ask around a little bit more about it? I could talk to the dock crew. It’s over at the Stonewell Pillar dock. I could—”
“No,” she said, perhaps a little more sharply than she’d intended. Books flinched in surprise, his ears going flat.
“No,” she said again, this time deliberately keeping the edge in her voice. “Don’t go anywhere near that airship, do you understand me? Don’t ask about it anymore, don’t go to that dock if you can help it, and if anyone else asks after you because you were looking for it, you hide. Are we clear?”
“Are ... Are you serious?” Books asked, his voice slightly shaky.
“Very,” she said. The last thing we need is for someone to tip our hand. Or to get involved in this. If Anubis didn’t kill him … The memory of the behemoth they’d faced in the vault leapt to mind, and she had to force herself to not shudder. “Just trust me. While we want information; you don’t want to get involved in this.”
“Right,” Books said, his eyes darting down towards the stack of newspapers. “Then I won’t!” He let out a nervous laugh. “Anyway, here’s the papers you wanted.”
She reached out and pulled the stack over, one claw easily slicing through the heavy twine. “Quite the stack,” she said, flipping through the pile and glancing at the headlines. It was nice to see her native written language again. Apparently something called the “Crystal Empire” had sprung up in Equestria and the markets were freaking out over it. She made a mental note to look over the stories in more depth later. “How many did you get?” she asked as she neared the bottom of the stack, moving from the thicker, more all-encompassing papers to the smaller, more specific writs.
“Just over a dozen,” Books said. “Some of them are day-olds from other places in the Empire—I wasn’t sure if you just wanted the newest, most important stuff or not.”
“It’s fine,” she said, reaching the bottom and then pushing the papers aside. “I’ve been off the grid for a few weeks anyway. It’ll be nice to get caught up.” Not that it’ll take my mind off of what I’m in the middle of. “What else?”
“Maps of the city,” Books said, flipping a clasp on his saddlebags open and pulling out a small stack of pamphlets. “I grabbed you a dozen of them, just in case you felt like marking a few up.”
“‘Sheerwater Tourism Department,’” Blade read as she saw the front of the folded pamphlets. “Nice.”
“Better than nice, actually,” Books said, holding one of them up. “Full color, bilingual, with two maps of the city, one on each side—one for the highlights, the other your more typical map. Plus a guide of good-to-know locations.”
“Like airship docks?” Blade asked.
“Yes,” Books said, nodding. “Also …” He procured a pen from somewhere among his bags and then made a quick circle on the map. “This is where the safe house is located,” he said, tapping the circle with the edge of his hoof.
“We’re not too far from the city center,” Blade said as she looked down at it. “Only about two miles.”
“It’s a good location for a reason,” Books said. “But now you know where it is, in case you need to mark it for your fellows.”
“Good,” she said, nodding as the pegasus reached for his bags.
“Now,” he said, tugging them over his head and dumping what was left of their contents out onto the table with a series of heavy thuds. “I won’t ask you to pay me back, seeing as I’m just going to file this under ‘work-related costs’ anyway, but here’s the books you asked for. In Equestrian, though. It was easier that way.”
“Ah,” Blade said as she picked up one of the first books on the pile. It was titled A Brief History of the Immortals, though judging from the weight, the only way it was going to be anything close to ‘brief’ were if the text was large enough for a blind griffon to read. “Good.”
He must have picked up on the tone in her voice. “Isn’t that what you asked for?”
“I—No, it is,” she said, catching herself. “It just suddenly dawned on me exactly how much reading this is going to be. I’m probably going to spend all day in here looking through this.”
“Looking at what?” Hain asked as he walked into the room, a platter of steaming food held in one claw, still sizzling on the hot stone he’d used to cook it. His eyes darted over the table. “Oh,” he said, settling himself on one of the benches. “Yeah, that’s a lot.”
“And I actually like reading history,” Blade said, picking up another one of the books and glancing at the cover. Mortal Playthings. Missing Legends. The Wars of the Plainslands. “I think I’ll start with this one,” she said, pulling the book on the Plainslands out of the pile and setting it aside. “After I get done with the papers anyway.”
“I’ll help,” Hain said with a glance at the stack of papers. “You’re right, there’s a lot here. And two sets of eyes is better than one.”
“Right,” Blade said, nodding before turning back towards Books. “Thanks,” she said. “Anything else?”
“No,” Books said. “I was sure that was all you asked for. What did I forget?”
“Nothing big,” Blade said. “Unusual news?”
“Oh.”
“Also, if we need a way to contact you—”
“There’s a place you can reach me at in the event you need something else,” Books said, producing a card from somewhere and setting it on the table. “Simply go to this address and give them the message. They’ll know who you’re talking about. And now,” he said, standing and giving his wings a little twitch before tossing his now-empty saddlebags back across his back. “I need to get to work for the day. Best of luck with whatever it is you’re doing.”
“You too,” Blade said as the pegasus began walking towards the door. He passed the stairs as Alchemy trotted down them, the two acknowledging one another with curt nods, and then a moment later he was gone.
“Wow,” Alchemy said as he sat down on the bench that had Books had vacated. “He bring all that to look over?”
“Yep,” Blade said, giving the back of the book she’d been looking at one last glance before leaning down and biting another chunk off of her omelet. “Food’s in the kitchen. Not much for a pony though.”
“That’s fine,” Alchemy said. “I can get some when I’m out.”
“You were already planning on it?” Blade asked.
He nodded. “I was thinking about it, and while you and Hain might blend in from a distance, Frost and I are a bit more distinct. You know, being ponies and all. So I was thinking of maybe getting us something to wear. Maybe pick up a few extra ingredients and brew up a mane dye or something.”
“Good thinking,” Hain said, looking up from his breakfast. “Take Frost with you.”
Alchemy seemed to hesitate. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Hain said before Blade could say anything, and he glanced at her before turning his attention back towards Alchemy. “She needs to get used to the city if we’re going to be here for long. Last night had her looking in every direction and halfway to being overwhelmed. She’ll need to get used to being around so many and in a city so big.”
“And you want me to help her get used to it?” Alchemy said. “I can do that, I think. I can at least show her around.”
“And maybe help her get her mind off of things,” Hain said. “She’s been under a lot of pressure—”
“I can hear you, you know,” Frost said from upstairs, her voice echoing around the room. “This house doesn’t muffle sound too well.”
“And my point still stands,” Hain said as Frost walked down the stairs, her purple eyes cutting across the room. “You need to get used to walking around a city with a half a million sapients living in it. And you need something to get your mind off of everything else it's been on. I’ve seen kits wound tighter than a spring enough times to know that eventually they snap. Now,” he said as Frost took the last bench around the table. “Are you going to disagree? Because if you are I want you to look me in the eye and tell me I’m wrong.”
“No,” Frost said after a moment’s hesitation. “I’ll go with Alchemy.”
“Good,” Hain said, looking back down at his meal. “That’s all I have to say on the matter. Blade?”
“What?” All eyes switched in her direction and she gulped down her latest bite of eggs. “Oh. Yeah, he’s right, Frost. You’re not used to the city.” And a bit of relaxation couldn’t hurt. “Plus you and Al are pretty distinct.”
“What about you, though?” Frost asked. “You’ve got those long talons and the red coloration, and Hain is … well …”
“I’m also old,” Hain said from between bites. “I got a dye job. It just took three decades.”
“Plus, the odds are low that anyone will actually recognize him unless they get a close look,” Blade said. “Same goes for me; red feathers aren’t exactly uncommon.”
“Fine,” Frost said, her expression still frozen. “Maybe a hat.”
Blade shrugged, grabbing the topmost of the newspapers and looking down at the headline. “Whatever you want,” she said. “But a hat is a good idea. It’ll keep your horn covered. Get a dye-job for yourself, and anyone who knows us would have a pretty hard time realizing it was you unless you either told them or gave them a good look.”
“What about you using your name?” Frost asked. “Shouldn’t you not be telling Books who you are? After all, we aren’t letting him know Hain’s name.”
“That’s because Hain’s name is an instant mark of who he is and would see all of us arrested along with him,” Blade said. “In my case, it’s a risk. My name carries weight. But here, it’s a different kind of weight. I’m a wandering claw, and my name might open doors we wouldn’t have otherwise. Your name, however, as well as Alchemy’s … the longer we keep those quiet, the longer chance that someone somewhere won’t repeat them.”
“Besides,” she said, looking back down at the paper. “If my name comes up, all it says is that I’m back in the Empire. It doesn’t say whether I’m here on a job or not.”
Frost didn’t reply, and after a moment Blade heard her rise and walk towards the kitchen. Apparently she was satisfied with the answer. A moment later, Alchemy followed her.
Well, hopefully they find the selection broad enough, Blade thought as she stared down at the headline. Two weeks ago it would have been mind-boggling, an entire city appearing in the middle of the northern reaches of Equestria, full of citizens that, according to the article, had been thrown out of time as the result of a magical battle over a thousand years ago. But now, after awakening an ancient immortal that had been locked away for almost two-thousand years, it just seemed like one more example of the world becoming a wilder place.
What’s next, she wondered as she scanned over the rest of the front page. Ancient demons? Ancient armies? Invaders from another world? She glanced over the material that had been pushed to the bottom of the front page by the announcement of the ancient city. There was a bit about how a new trade deal was being reached with the Plainslands, a short blurb about a new company in Equestria that was promising to “revolutionize” industry, with a quick blurb to find the article further inside the paper. A short headline blaring about a break-in at the Imperial Genealogical building with a note that the full story was on page nine.
Nothing interesting or relevant, she thought, opening the paper. At least, not that I can see. She began scanning over the interior of the paper, running her eyes over everything, even the letters to the editor, checking for any sign of something.
There has to be a reason he came here, Blade thought as she ran over a letter complaining about the recent outflux of diamond dog workers. Sheerwater’s been around for twenty-two hundred years, so it was definitely around before he got sealed. Could he have hidden something here? Left something here? It was hard to imagine that in the time that had passed since Anubis had been gone something like that wouldn’t have been found, but still …
Maybe he’s just here because it’s a familiar sight, she thought as she flipped another page, and then another. It’s someplace he’d recognize. Frost and Alchemy came back from the kitchen, low voices passing between them as they sat down once more and began eating something that was sizzling away on another hot stone. She glanced up just long enough to see that they’d raided what looked to be the kitchen’s entire vegetable supply and then turned her attention back to the paper.
They’ll need to get some food while they're out, she thought as she flipped another page. Much of the paper wasn’t proving to be too informative. Most of it seemed to be concerned with the economic impact of Equestria gaining a new city and province almost overnight, and as fascinating as it was, she knew she didn’t have time to waste reading through all of the associated articles.
Still, she thought as she flipped another page, skimming over military and clan-focused news items. If Anubis has been active, there’s bound to be something.
If he hadn’t been active though, and had gone into hiding or skipping out of the city, the only way they’d know would be by finding someone who was willing to talk. And that could be difficult, especially if he kept quiet about it.
If that happened, and they lost his trail, the only option they’d have would be to go back to Equestria and try to explain. Or at the very least send a notice while they moved to hunt Anubis down.
Can we really do that, though? She wondered as she reached the end of the paper. I mean, Ahuizotl has been moving around the world causing trouble since the immortals split, and he’s still kicking. She set the paper aside and grabbed the next one on the stack. Hain picked up the one she’d just abandoned and began to flip through it.
Then again, she thought as she glanced over the front headlines. More of the same, all about the Crystal Empire place. Ahuizotl keeps his profile low deliberately. He doesn’t make waves, doesn’t mess with the high-flyers, and keeps his rivalries bound to short-term, mortal disputes. And he plays by rules.
Anubis though … She flipped the paper open as she gulped down the last of her breakfast. He doesn’t strike me as the type to plan small. Articles and headlines slipped by beneath her eyes, but none of them seemed remotely related. More articles on the effect of a new province in Equestria. Articles debating the latest trade deals with the Plainslands. A minor skirmish in the Minotaur lands over some stolen equipment. Another article discussing the lessening diamond dog numbers and the effect on industry.
Come on. The paper ended, its pages having revealed nothing useful. She grabbed the next one.
More on Equestria. An ad for an airship cruise. Another ad for a new type of armor plating, developed in conjunction with the minotaurs. An announcement of opening bids on a surplus of Equestrian crystal.
Nothing that looked remotely like anything tied to their quarry. Nothing out of the—Wait!
She stopped, her talons halfway through flipping a page over, and folded the thin paper back to the prior page. What was that? Blocks of text stared up at her; small headlines. It was a criminal activity report.
Mausoleum broken into, the report read. Authorities are investigating the apparent entering and desecration of an ancient clan crypt that occurred late last night. The crypt, which stood undisturbed for almost fifteen hundred years, was broken into by unknown individuals for an unknown purpose. The damage was found this morning by the graveyard’s caretaker. There have been rumors that the graves themselves may have been disturbed and bodies taken, but as of this time the Sheerwater guard has not confirmed the rumors, saying only in a release that the crypt itself was opened and that the inside had suffered vandalism in some form. The Imperial Genealogical Society was on claw to—
Hang on, Blade thought, stopping. Wasn’t there a story about them on the front page of the other paper? She looked up to see Hain flipping through it.
—on claw to examine the damage, the article continued. As the mausoleum in question no longer has an attending clan, maintenance and upkeep of the sealed crypt fell to the society following their founding over eight-hundred years—
She jumped ahead, scanning through the rest of the article. This was it. She could feel it. Crypts. Vault. Moving skeletons. A faint tingle of fear began working its way through her insides. I’ll bet they find a number of the skeletons missing in there. He’s doing it again, just like he did in the vault.
The article ended without any conclusive information and she looked up at Hain. “I found something,” she said. Frost and Alchemy came to a sudden stop, their meals halfway eaten.
“What?” Hain asked. She passed the paper to him and tapped the page.
“Someone broke into a crypt,” she said. ‘And they mention something from the front page of the paper you’re reading.”
“What?”
“Pass it here,” she said, taking the paper from him and flipping it back to the first page. “The Imperial Genealogical Society’s main records building was the subject of a break-in last night,” she read. “At this time it is not known what the cause of the break in was or how it was perpetrated, but it was carried out without any of the guards noticing anything amiss until the morning.”
“A genealogical society?” Frost asked, puzzlement on her face.
“And someone breaks into a crypt the same night, one that the society is responsible for,” Hain said, nodding. “That does seem pretty compelling.”
“But why the genealogical society?” Alchemy said.
“Bones,” Blade said. “Remember the skeletons we fought in the vault? The report says that it looks like the bodies were disturbed, maybe even missing.”
“So?” Alchemy countered. “He could get bones anywhere. I’m with you on the missing bones thing, but why an old crypt?” The earth pony let the question hang in the air, as if waiting for someone else to come to the same conclusion he had.
“Maybe he was looking for something else,” Frost said, nodding. “How old was that crypt?”
“At least fifteen-hundred years, according to this,” Hain said, setting the paper down. “Been in its current ownership for eight-hundred years.”
“And it sounds like it hadn’t had living owners for some time before that,” Blade said, nodding as her mind made the connection. “You think Anubis is in Sheerwater because he left something here?” she asked, looking at Alchemy.
The earth pony shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe?” It sounded more like an admission that it was possible than an agreement. “There was ancient griffon writing on that key. And around the vault.”
“From sixteen-hundred years ago,” Blade said, frowning. “If the mausoleum is that old—No.” She shook her head.
“No?” Frost asked.
“It's logical, but we’re going on complete theories here,” she said. “We don’t want to jump ahead. We can’t afford to jump ahead. It’s a good thought, Alchemy,” she said, glancing in his direction. “But it doesn’t give us enough to go off of. We need more information.”
“Isn’t that what these are for?” Frost said, one hoof tapping the pile of books in the center of the table.
“Partially,” Blade said, passing the paper back towards Hain and trying to think. “All right, here’s what we need to do. Hain and I will stay here and pour through all of this.” She tapped her talon against the tabletop. “You two head out and get some clothes and whatever ingredients you need for the dye. Take a wrap of reeds with you so you can cover everything. Pick up some food that’ll suit your palate a bit better too. Bring all that stuff back.”
“Okay.”
“And then,” Blade said, “I want you both to go down to the Genealogical Society Headquarters. Don’t try anything overt. But I want to see if you can get some information on the crypt that was broken into. You might not be the first one either. And if it’s around the same age as our prey, see if you can get a list of other tombs flying the same winds. Not that just that old, but that old and abandoned.”
“Abandoned?” Frost asked.
“Clanless,” Blade said, nodding. “It’s what happens when a clan dies out. Sometimes the crypt gets taken over by another clan. Sometimes it’s just left alone.”
“You think that might be part of it?”
“I don’t know,” Blade said, grabbing another paper from the stack and looking at it. “But at this point, we need to go off of whatever we can get.”
“Right,” Frost said, sinking back onto the bench in thought. “Then why don’t I stay here and help with going through all of this?” A purple glow wrapped itself around one of the history books, and it floated into the air, spinning so that its face was towards the mare. “After all,” she said. “Alchemy can handle himself and is more familiar with the city. I would be … distracted.”
Blade glanced at Hain. “Are you sure?” she asked.
“A little distraction might be good for you,” Hain said. “Looking around the city could be pretty unique.”
Frost shook her head as the book opened up. “I disagree,” she said. “At least to the idea that we should do both at the same time.”
“You might not like the clothes I pick for you,” Alchemy said and Frost shook her head.
“Then don’t,” she said. “How about this? You go and get the materials you need, stop by that genealogical society and … whatever else it was that we needed to do.”
“Food,” Alchemy said.
“Right,” she said. “Food. You go get that, and I’ll stay here and help these two research.”
“Okay.”
“Then, after you get everything, you come back and share what you’ve learned, we correlate and then, once I’ve been dyed, you and I go out and I get to see the city and …” Her mouth twisted like the word was foreign to her. “Relax.” She looked up at Blade. “Fair enough?”
Blade shrugged. Makes sense to me. A glance at Hain told her that the old general felt the same way. “All right,” she said, nodding. “That works, and it will make finding some useful information in this pile of history a bit easier. That is,” she said, glancing at Alchemy. “If you think you can handle checking out the society and maybe even the crypt site on your own.”
Alchemy nodded. “As long as I’ve got a map, it shouldn’t be too hard to find either of them. Well, at least the genealogical building.”
“Then it’s settled,” Frost said. “I’ll stay here, and we’ll take care of relaxation after we correlate our information. And then, once we know what’s going on?” A cold grin spread across her face. “Then we catch ourselves an immortal.”
* * *
This is … interesting, Frost thought as she rolled onto her back atop the cargo netting, the history book she’d grabbed from the table clutched in her magic. It was packed with page upon page of thick, tiny text, making use of every inch of the available space. I never knew there was so much history behind … well … everything.
It wasn’t that Aeliana and Barnabas hadn’t educated her. Sure, it had been piecemeal, but they’d done their best to raise her well. They’d taught her to read, write, do math … crud, they’d even left her in the care of some of the teachers when they’d been forced to leave her behind to go on missions, and those teachers had done a pretty good job at filling in the blanks. At the same time …
The world is just so large, she thought as she glanced over at the image on the far side of the page. It was an artist’s conception, since there were no direct examples left of the individual in question’s looks, but the image itself was fairly clear. It was a massive female minotaur, gargantuan in stature and build. She knew who it was, though she’d never actually seen a picture of her before. Asterion, the immortal minotaur. Aeliana had told stories about her once or twice.
But she’d never gone into nearly as much detail as the book contained. There were chapters devoted to the minotaur immortal. Chapters!
She resisted the urge to read the rest of the chapter and instead flipped through the pages, heading towards the number that had been printed in the contents. There’s just so many, she thought as she flipped past the names. Reus. Kyr. Celestia. Luna. Zawati. And so few left.
That event her history education had covered, though not in anything approaching the level of detail that the book she now held did. She knew the basics, however, how the Creator had left the world in the care of the immortals, assigning them the task of watching and caring for the various races and making sure that everyone lived the best they could during their mortal lives, until the Creator returned for them. How the immortals had undergone a falling out, splitting when some of them had decided that it was all a ruse, that the Creator was never coming back. How many of them had struck out on their own, either for power, or glory, or just out of selfish interest, cracking apart some of the early civilizations and warring with one another. An immortal would live forever … provided someone didn’t cut their life short deliberately.
That’s the kind of being you’re facing right now, she reminded herself as the pages flipped to the chapter she was looking for. The kind of being who was alive for all of that, participated in it, and yet survived—somehow—until today.
A shiver ran through her body. The list was short indeed of beings that had survived those times. Celestia. Luna. Discord. A few others—some missing, perhaps dead; others hiding.
And you’re facing down one of the survivors. A survivor that killed your brother. She felt the familiar hollow start to build in her chest, but it was … well, not easy, but certainly doable, to push it back, to let it metamorphose and change into a burning drive to learn everything she could about her foe.
I will keep your promise, Barns, she thought as her vision blurred slightly, obscuring her view of the pages. I will.
She blinked a few times, clearing her eyes and getting a good look at the chapter she’d opened to. A fierce, dangerous looking jackal face stared up at her from the pages, slightly different from the one that had been fixed in her mind for the last week or two, but it was close enough.
Anubis, she read. Immortal of the Jackal race. A shrewd and dangerous being who was feared for his ruthless disposability of those he considered beneath him and his contempt for those mortal. Like many immortals who have long since passed, it is hard to separate truth from fiction when it comes to accounts of his capabilities and power ...
She read on, plowing through the brief introduction and then moving into a historical record—which, the text warned her, was largely unconfirmed. Anubis had been known for hiding in the shadows and only moving when he felt the need, which meant that he had a tendency to disappear from the historical record for decades at a time before making a grand appearance when the time was right.
But the appearances … she read through the account with mounting horror. He hadn’t just killed sapients … he’d toppled nations—even his own.
By building up his reputation as a “god of death” among the jackal monarchy, the book read, Anubis was able to sway the country towards war with the then peaceful Plainslands, who were still reeling from the death of Zawati some two-hundred years earlier. Anubis drove the jackal nation to an almost fever pitch, using his ability to animate the bones of the dead to bolster their army and spread terror far and wide. The rest of the immortals, occupied with their own battles, were too busy to step in, and Anubis may have calculated on taking the Plainslands as the first step of a larger victory. The war bit deeply in the zebra territories, several times threatening the capital itself.
However, it was not to be. After holding out for almost thirty years, the zebra army rallied, making a series of critical victories on the battlefield that left the jackal army scattered and weakened. Anubis refused surrender and pressed onward, according to legend slaying those who dared dispute his orders. He even took to the battlefield himself, killing hundreds and adding their skeletons to his macabre army of bones. But the zebras had been pushed too far, and even Anubis himself could not turn the fallen tide of the war. He fled, leaving the zebra nation to burn the jackal capital behind him as the last of his cultists fought to the death.
Well, she thought. That certainly explains why you don’t see many jackals anymore. There was a sidenote that she glanced at, one dedicated to her exact thoughts, and she skimmed over it, coming to the summary at the bottom that some were worried the jackal species might die out in another few centuries.
Anubis broke them, Frost thought as she turned the page. Completely. Their culture. Their lives. Everything.
She let her eyes slide down the next column, the words flying past. Anubis’s disappearance after the fall of the jackals, theories on his next two decades as he appeared here and there—She paused, her eyes widening as she read the text.
Bingo, she thought as she reread the line. That’s why he’s here! That’s what he’s looking for! It wasn’t much, just a single line before the history moved on to his defeat at the hooves of Celestia and Luna.
“Blade!” she said, her voice echoing through the open space. “I found it!”
“Found what?” Blade called.
“What Anubis might be looking for,” she said, rolling onto her hooves and using her magic to steady the wide netting as she made her way back to the upper level stairs. “It’s right here.”
“Well, what is it?” Blade was sitting in the same place she had been that morning, a pile of books spread out in front of her. Hain was gone, probably in his room or enjoying the burning hot sun up on the roof. Insanity.
“Followers,” Frost said, pushing the thought of how hot it was outside from her mind and holding the book out in front of her. “According to this book, after he abandoned the jackals, Anubis went around setting up ‘death cults.’ Followers that were completely devoted to him.”
“What is it with ancient villains and cults?” Blade muttered as she plucked the book out of the air. “Is it too much for them to just rely on a standard command structure like normal mortals?”
Frost didn’t offer an answer. The tone in the griffon’s voice had made it entirely clear that the question wasn’t intended to have one.
“Rumored to have established death cults in several nations, including Saddle Arabia, the minotaur marauders of the Talmoss and …” Blade shook her head as she read the last lines. “—among the griffon clans. Thunderheads.” She dropped the book and looked up at Frost. “I guess he wasn’t just speaking for effect when he said that griffons had built him the vault.”
“It would explain the the ancient writing on the vault,” Frost said. “It was Griffon.”
“Yeah, well I was hoping that was just for convenience,” Blade said. “Or that maybe they’d built it to seal him and Anubis was just trying to mess with us. Throw us off balance. But if he was founding cults ...” She let her words trail off, the full implications sinking in.
“Maybe they betrayed him after they realized what he was up to,” Frost said, shrugging. “Maybe it was all a trap. Which could make him coming here a revenge scheme, although to be honest it doesn’t feel like that. It didn’t even feel like he was that upset about being locked away to start with.”
Blade nodded. “Fair point. All right then. Griffon death cult theory.” She tapped the table with one claw. “Let’s check the other books, see if there’s anything more on it.”
“Right,” Frost said, nodding as she picked up several of the other texts with her magic, opening all of them simultaneously and flipping to the index. Or at least, what most of them had as an index; some of them were pitifully small.
Cults, cults, cult … okay, she thought as she eyed the rather lengthy entries in each of the tomes, Blade’s prior question ringing through her mind. Maybe cults, death?
One of the four books had a hit. Not too surprising, since it was the largest of the four she’d grabbed. She flipped the book to the proper page, setting the others down with their indexes still open. After the defeat of the jackal monarchy at the hooves of the zebra … she read, her eyes skimming over the text. She reached the end of the paragraph and shook her head.
Nothing new, she thought, pushing the book away and turning her attention to the others. Maybe if there wasn’t anything under “cults, death,” there would be something under “death, cults of?”
Nothing. She flipped a page or two back, finding the heading for “Anubis,” and checked under that. “Anubis, cults of,” came up empty, and the brief sense of elation that arose with “Anubis, followers of” faded when she opened two of the books to their pages and found nothing but a discussion of the jackal kingdom.
Come on, she thought as she skimmed over the page, her eyes scanning every word just in case there was some mention that was relevant. Surely someone dug into who those other cults might have been made up of? She reached the end of the page, flipped it, and …
Nothing. The chapter went right into a discussion of some of the varied accounts and theories concerning the disappearance and assumed death of Anubis after Celestia and Luna had set their sights on him. She skimmed over the accounts, mostly noting that the Princesses themselves were fairly tight-lipped on the matter and much of the various theories put forth seemed to be largely speculation.
Come on, she thought as she reached the end of the chapter. That can’t be it!
But it was. The next chapter was about Discord and his rule over Equestria. There was nothing in it concerning Anubis. She snapped the book shut and pushed it away, Blade looking up at her at the sharp sound.
“Nothing?” she asked.
“Not in that one,” Frost said, giving the book a scowl for good measure. “You’d think somepony would have bothered to look into something like that.”
“Well, most of these are pretty general history books,” Blade said, her head tilting back down towards the book she had been looking at. “Something like that is more likely to be an academic study.”
“Academic? You’re referring to a college, correct?” Frost asked. “An institute of higher learning?”
Blade nodded. “They’re the types that research the sort of stuff that goes into these books, but they get really into it. They’ve probably got whole papers and much more stuffy books dedicated to things like that last battle between the jackals and the zebras.”
“Why not get a bunch of those then?” Frost asked, reaching out and grabbing the first book, the one she’d set aside. Maybe she’d missed something when she’d poured over it.
“They’re expensive for one thing,” Blade said. “Also, not usually for sale. We’d have to go to a university. But it is a good idea.”
“Especially if it gives us any clues as to what Anubis might be doing here,” Frost said, reaching the end of the section in disappointment. Nothing.
“That or we find out on our own,” Blade said, frowning. “I’d rather not take that last one. Maybe I should make a stop at one of the universities this evening.”
“One?” Frost paused, her magic halfway through turning the page. The way Barns and Aeliana had spoken about them, it had always seemed that they were rare things. “There’s more than one?”
“Here in Sheerwater? Of course,” Blade said. “Culturally we’re more reliant on apprenticeships for a lot of jobs, but there’s still a place for academic research and study.”
“I thought universities were rare,” she said.
“Well … they are,” Blade said. “But we’re in the capital city of the Griffon Empire. The Empire itself covers almost seven million square kilometers. Sheerwater itself has something like six-hundred thousand griffons living in it.” Frost felt her jaw drop in shock. Her magic winked out, the book she’d been holding with its pages half-turned falling to the table.
“Sorry,” Blade said, shaking her head as if it was something to apologize for. “I keep forgetting that you grew up on the Ocean.”
“No, I …” She wasn’t sure how to put what she was thinking into words. “I knew the Griffon Empire was large, and that the Ocean wasn’t that big, but …”
“I know,” Blade said, nodding. “It just takes a bit to sink in. Trust me, I boggled a bit when I first arrived here too.”
“It didn’t feel that big,” she said, shaking her head. “I mean, it did, but …”
“It’s easy for a big city to feel small when you’re shooting through it on a train,” Blade said, shrugging.
“Yes.” An out. She would take it. “I just hadn’t realized …” She shook her head. “Regardless of my lack of familiarity or experience … How many universities does Sheerwater have?”
“Two,” Blade said. “Unless they opened another since the last time I was here. One is funded by the ruling clan and attached to the Empire National Museum, the other is funded by another clan. I can’t remember which one.”
“The museum is probably the best bet,” Frost said. “That sounds a bit more historical.” She reached out and picked up the book she’d dropped, her magic sliding across the open pages.
“It’s also a bit more public,” Blade said. “And the Caretaker Clan is one of the few places full of historians who would recognize Hain and myself in a heartbeat. Him before me, actually,” she added. “Though either of us would be a poor choice. The last time they saw me, they had … words—not nice ones—about how I handled a job for them.”
“So, in other words, Alchemy or I would be better suited to contacting them,” Frost said, glancing down at the book she’d set aside. “If it comes to that, I—one moment.”
“Find something?” Blade asked as Frost tugged the book closer, eyeing the page. From the number, it was several pages after the excerpt she’d read on the fall of the jackal kingdom. Quite a few pages, actually. The leftmost page was detailing one of the accounts surrounding the immortal’s disappearance, but the other page ...
“I think I did,” she said as she read the page, her eyes widening. It was a small entry, only—she flipped the page to check—less than half a column, but it was there.
“The followers of Anubis?” she read, flipping back to the first page. “The question is part of the heading.”
“Right,” Blade said. “What’s it say?”
“It is interesting to note,” Frost read, “that following his disappearance, rumors continued to persist that members of his ‘death cults’ existed in secret, patiently awaiting their leader’s return.”
“Again with the whole cult thing,” Blade said, and Frost could see the griffon shaking her head. “The Order wasn’t exactly unique, was it?”
“While rumors of these death cults continued to exist for centuries and evidence has come forward to show that there were at least some who were, at one point or another, followers of the immortal,” Frost continued, “little conclusive evidence has been found to substantiate that the stories of an entire clan devoted to the return of the immortal was more than kit’s tales told to young fledglings.”
“However,” she continued, “legends and stories persist even to this day, showing that a clear mark has been left on griffon culture by the ancient immortal. Many modern day myths may have had a root in the rumored ancient followers of Anubis, such as the legend of the Lost City of Turuncu.”
“Wait, what?” Blade asked, her head jerking back in surprise. Frost looked up at her in surprise. “The lost city? How does that tie in?”
“I …” Frost glanced back down at the text. “It doesn’t say. The rest of the text just says that the matter is a continuing area of study.” She looked back up at Blade. “What’s the lost city?”
“The Lost City of Turuncu is an old kit’s tale,” Blade said. “From back before the Founding. According to the story, or what I can remember of it anyway, when King Tallcliff set about unifying all the clans into the Empire, one of the clans that disagreed chose to leave the Empire’s borders rather than submit or fight. They traveled deep into the Turuncu desert, found an oasis, and founded a city right at a prime trade spot between the new Griffon Empire, the Plainslands, and the eastern nations. The story goes on to say that they became a fountain of wealth and prosperity.”
Interesting. “So what about the ‘lost’ part?”
Blade shrugged. “Accounts differ. Depends on who’s telling it. Sometimes the city’s refusal to join with the Empire gets them in trouble with Reus or Kyr—maybe both—who command the desert storms to swallow the city. In other stories it’s the Creator seeking vengeance for something. Sometimes the oasis dries up. Like I said, it varies. Every kit’s probably heard a different version of it. But in the end either way they all get swallowed up by the desert. Sometimes a few griffons survive to limp back to the Empire and admit the error of their ways in betraying the honor of their species.”
“Sounds a bit like a cautionary tale,” Frost said, thinking back on some of the stories she’d been told as a filly. “Kind of like the mare in the moon. Or ice wolves.”
“That first one turned out to be real though,” Blade said before frowning in confusion. “Ice wolves?”
Frost nodded. She could remember the first time Aeliana—no, her parents … could she really think back that far?—had told her the familiar tale. “It’s to keep kids on the Ocean from playing around the ice,” she said. “Touch the ice and the ice wolves will come for you. That kind of thing.”
Blade let out a faint laugh. “Nice. Scare some respect into them,” she said, grinning.
“Yes,” Frost said. “It was a little … different … for me. Though it certainly scared me as a filly.”
“I can imagine.”
“Yes, well,” she said, smirking. “After I got my cutie mark, Barnabas suggested that I pitch in using my … talents … in making the story come alive for some of the younger kids around Cragtooth Heights.” That smile he had on his face when he saw that group of kids come tearing off the docks screaming … She let out a satisfied sigh. Almost as amazing as his own scream of horror when Aeliana caught up to him.
“Huh,” Blade said, jerking her away from her thoughts. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile since B—actually,” she said, covering her obvious catch. “Ever?”
“There wasn’t much to smile about on the Ocean,” she said, feeling a sudden pang inside her chest. “Anyway, the lost city?”
“Right,” Blade said, tilting her head from one side to the other. “Not much else to it. City is abandoned, lost to the sands and bam! Lost city of Turuncu.”
“Has anyone ever gone looking for it?”
“Of course,” Blade said. “Probably dozens of expeditions over the years. None of them ever found anything, though.” She leaned back, her wings spreading slightly as she clicked her beak together. “I wonder how that ties in with the stories of Anubis’s followers, though?”
Frost shrugged. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “Maybe something to do with griffons who were against the Empire?”
“I don’t know,” Blade said. “Maybe they’re just connected in the way that your ice wolf story is: Cautionary tales.” Her eyes darted to the book. “Then again, maybe there’s someone we could ask about it at the University. Any mention of who wrote that section of the book?”
“Ah …” She glanced down at the pages in puzzlement. Where do the authors sign their name on a history book?
“Here,” Blade said, reaching across the table and checking something at the top of the page before flipping to the back. “We’re in luck,” she said as she looked down at the page. “The author of that article is a professor at the Empire National Museum. Probably a member of the Caretaker clan.”
“So we can go ask.”
“Yep,” Blade said, passing the book back. “In fact, that might be something you and Alchemy can do later, once he gets back with all his stuff. Again, Hain’s not an option, and I’m going to be busy elsewhere.”
“Doing what?”
“Sleeping,” Blade said. “I’m staking out the Superiority tonight. I want to see if Anubis is still using it as his base of operations of if he’s hiding somewhere in the city.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“I’ll be careful,” Blade said. “And I’m not getting close to that airship. I’m just going to keep an eye on it from a distance.”
She nodded. “Alchemy and I should be able to go speak with this … Professor Stoneweather then. Or at least leave a note.”
“It’s a start,” Blade said. “An old griffon death cult would be a plausible reason for Anubis coming here. Maybe.”
“I don’t get the impression that he would care much for his followers,” Frost said.
“A good point,” Blade said, nodding. “I don’t either. But nice work, all the same. I’m sure it’s something worth looking into. And who knows? Maybe this Stoneweather can tell you a bit more about what these cults were rumored to be up to, or at least go into a bit more detail about who they were.”
“Alchemy and I are getting quite a list of things to look at for our first day here,” Frost said as she rose, the books clutched in her magic. “Clothes, the genealogical society, a crypt, and now a museum.”
“Hey, that last one’s pretty cool,” Blade said as she picked her own book up again. “Museums have some nifty stuff in them, and this one’s no exception.”
“As long as it has something that will help us catch Anubis,” Frost said as she turned for the stairs. Then it’ll all be worth it.
She retreated back to the comfort of the cargo netting, relishing the feel of the wide-spaced net beneath her back. I should sleep here tonight, she thought as she lifted her book above her head. The netting did feel comfortable. It was sort of like sleeping in a hammock, like the one Barnabas and Aeliana had made her when she was—
The hollow feeling swelled inside her chest once more, like a void crying out that she couldn’t ignore it, and for a moment she closed her eyes, pushing back at it. I’m doing what he asked, she thought. I’m doing exactly what he would have wanted. She pushed the empty feeling away, taking in a deep breath as her vision stabilized. I’m keeping focused. I’m fulfilling his last request.
I will kill Anubis.
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Welp, there goes the Dead City.
So now it's coming down to a race to catch them before they head off to the excavation site. What could possibly drive Anubis to wreck his own people though? Insanity? Whatever he's got planned, he's certainly building an army to carry with him.
~<3~ Frost and Alchemy are going on a date at the museum ~<3~
Books is acting a bit shifty though. Something tells me he's reporting to another party. Not Anubis per se, but probably someone in the Griffon government.
Anubis is in the city for Griffonimotep
-Equinox_
At least we know know why the City of the Dead is called that, it's for Anubis' army.
This must have been an off day for blade
No laws or property broken
Can't they test Al's potion with Blade's spell copy ability? I mean she hasn't been exposed to magic since she escaped has she?
Connection to the desert dig established. Also, Crystal Kingdom happened at the same time? Wow, must suck to be the Order right now, right time wrong frozen wasteland. If only they hadn't been chasing a red herring in the Frozen Sea.
But would Sombra with the backing of a massive cult been any better? The Mane 6 would have been in serious trouble.
But earlier it says:
Also, it's quite funny how there's "nothing interesting or relevant" in the paper when all the news articles seem like foreshadowing.
The mention of an entire clan that was devoted to following Anubis is interesting. I was wondering if that clan could possibly still exist, and be the one funding Dusty and Stal's expedition, but it says in the prologue they're being jointly funded by the Caretaker Clan and Canterlot Museum. I imagine the ponies wanting to discover things for the sake of discovery, and perhaps the Caretaker Clan is like that too--but if the Caretaker Clan is the descendants of the Clan devoted to Anubis, and they're either the ruling clan, involved with the ruling clan, or are an otherwise big-deal clan on their own (I wasn't terribly clear on that), that's going to result in the conflict getting really big. On the other hand, maybe Stal is a remnant of the Clan devoted to Anubis, and that's why the researchers know of the Necropolis to be looking for it. In the Interlude it mentioned the light storms all passing over the location of the Necropolis (which it's clear is the Lost City of Turuncu--though why do none of the legends Blade mentions call it a city of the dead?) and maybe one of the gods/immortals Blade mentioned was involved with that! I want to know about all the immortals mentioned in this chapter, but I especially want to know about Reus, followed by Kyr. The author mentioned Reus in a comment a chapter or two ago... I'm thoroughly hooked. If the Necropolis was deliberately buried by those who had no love for Anubis, well then, it's certainly bad luck it's been uncovered the same time he's been released...
I also am itching to know what's going on with the Diamond Dogs. When I read the mentions in this chapter of them leaving the Empire, I wondered if they were going off to the dig site--but rereading the Interlude indicated that Dogs have left the dig site, too. This is going to be important. I wonder if it has anything to do with the jackals, who we have yet to encounter (the mortal versions)?
6357322
At long last some of the threads start to pull together a little bit.
Of course, there are definitely still questions. Can't have everything this early!
6357364
And I expect if anyone says that to Frost, they'll wind up with a case of "ice cream headache" on a level they've never forget ... and without the ice cream.
6357433
We're reaching fanart level with Griffimhotep.
6357670
ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51sbUglEpzL.jpg
Maybe?
6357809
Amazingly enough, she can be discrete!
6358053
No she hasn't been, but she also needs heavy enough exposure in the first place for her system to "switch over" to the new magic. In prior accounts, her body resisted for a time before adapting and being able to absorb whatever magic it was faced with. Anubis's attack, however, came in two short bursts, and Blade never adapted enough to feel any absorption.
Even if she had, like Alchemy said, her own body adapts the magic she absorbs, so whatever she had would be fundamentally different from what Anubis used.
6358303
Technically, not a red herring. A red herring is something of no real significance, and that definitely does not fit an ancient, insidious immortal.
As far as the timing and return of the Crystal Empire, though, yes, the Order really messed things up, and it must be eating at them.
6358418
Thanks. That's a screw-up holdover from the rewrite, and I missed it. Should be fixed now. Luckily, it's a small detail.
And as far as nothing interesting ... well, it is advantageous to be the reader!
6360498
6361154
♪ Gonna have to catch me first after the Immediate embarrassment wears off. ♪
*Dives into crowd*
6361154 Ah, I figured that her 'condition' was going to lead up to that being what let them be able to counteract his magics.
6361154
Don't dead, open inside? The heck is that supposed to mean?
Now that is something I want to see in the contest.
After seeing Ahuizotl mentioned in Rise, I've been curious if this is the same Ahuizotl seen on Season 4 of the show.
Coincidentally, I read about the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur (aka Asterion) in Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes yesterday.
6365542
It says, "Don't open, dead inside."
Edit: I just double commented, didn't I?
"a new company in Equestria that was promising to “revolutionize” industry"
First I thought that the news came from other fanfics, this one from the steam technology from Fancy Pants firm on The Flight of the Alicorn. But that's about Sky Bolt's Crystal technology isn't it?
Breaking into a genealogical society combined with grave robbing suggests that he doesn't want bones, he wants some particular bones. Maybe someone who knows something or has some ability or artifact he needs.