Descent Into Birthright

by Amber-Citrine Sunset

Unnatural Nature and Ruin's Rot

Act 0, Episode 3/5: Prologue 3 of 4: Unnatural Nature and Ruin's Rot

Prey eats grass. Predators eat prey. Then there are those who eat them all...

Sniff sniff sniff...

Time to hunt.

Sniff sniff sniff...

It wouldn't be long now. One of their scouts had caught sight of a caravan moving toward the larger stone den where ponies with spears and shields often left to patrol the road... a road that belonged to Kavesh's clan. The breaking of the smaller set of dens surrounded by a wooden wall would wait; this caravan was far rich in targets to kill for the thrill as well as kill for the night's meal. Fear made meat tasty, while glory from battle also awaited them. They did not care what the caravan was transporting; the caravan “trade goods” would be simply left to rot unless they found something they could figure out how to use in some way. If what they found was dangerous, it would be destroyed instead.

With a growl, Kavesh motioned at the rest of his pack to prepare for the hunt. Kavesh's clan was made up of creatures known as the Ruined... a distinct mix of animal and pony traits twisted into a mockery of life that would give even the strongest warrior and wisest shaman pause or even fear. They themselves called themselves the Koa, short for “Kin-To-Animals”, and calling them the Ruined to their face was only an invitation for destruction.

Some within this tribe were only single-mixes, such as having twisted antlers, a feline-ish appearance, or wicked predatory claws. These were the lowest caste in the society. Some had two or even three mixes within them, showing off combinations like claws and a bird's beak or reptilian eyes plus a crest of bone or armor plating like an armadillo. They were the standard rank and file, neither shunned nor destined for greatness as Kavesh was.

Kavesh had far more animals blended into his being than the average Ruined. Fully twice the size of a normal adult pony, he had the strength and muzzle shape of a bear, the tail of a porcupine, the mane of a lion, and the claws of a dragon all on a giant frame of what could have been a pony if he instead weren't the end result of a few generations of Ruined. Thus, he was chief of the clan, and led his fellows on their nightly hunt. He'd lost an eye early in life to a battle for dominance, but the loss had been worth it. If he could talk, he would go “You should see the other guy.”

They had recently come into possession of a series of crossbows and at risk to each other had learned to shoot with remarkable accuracy. Tonight, they would lay a clever (to Kavesh) ambush from the trees. Once the archers did their job, Kavesh would come to clean things up by getting directly in the face of any who were foolish to not die immediately. The Ruined had learned that if they got too close to the guards it nullified the reach of their spears, and if they shot at them from a distance, the spears would be thrown and therefore dodged. Remove the spears, remove the problem wielding the spears.

Kavesh barked once, sounding like a cross between a lion and a dog, and his war party consisting of about thirty to forty Ruined fell into a slow, predatory single file while slinking off through the brush of the forest. With him at the front, each step was light on their feet and they tested the ground before committing each step. This saved their energy for the incoming assault on the caravan.

It would take a couple of hours to reach the planned spot for the ambush, but they'd reach it long before the caravan they were targeting would, and other tribes of Ruined in the area had left boulders and fallen trees in their path to slow travelers down.

Their first stop was by a shallow, swift stream flowing through a narrow channel in the ground so they could get hydrated before going to hide in the trees. While some of them lapped up the water with feline tongues, others had reptilian or canine tongues to use to drink and still others pawed at the water trying to catch a fish instead.

Just as Kavesh lowered his head to the water to drink, he felt someone... something push him from behind and with a SPLASH he tumbled into the water having been completely taken off guard. Shaking the water out of his ears he looked up to see one of his tribemates, a lower-class calling himself Nish'k, with a goofy grin on his face and an expression that went “Who, me?” Nish'k only had one “mutation”, that of colorful avian plumage in place of what would have been a mane.

Kavesh growled. He was in no mood for a lower-class upstart trying to make him look like a fool in front of the clan, and he glared heavily at Nish'k with his one eye as he slowly pulled himself out of the water. Figuring his tribe leader was going to roar “What was that for?” in his own way, the younger Ruined's smirk faded when Kavesh charged forward directly at him instead, then leapt over his head and slammed his back hooves against the ground, causing the ground to vibrate.

Kavesh's hooves were almost as solid as a boulder, and struck with about as much force, or possibly more since Kavesh was angry. Those standing near to where they impacted the ground were knocked off their own hooves.

Nish'k backed up with his back now to the river. He was in trouble and he knew it; he'd underestimated how much of a bad mood Kavesh was in. He didn't understand that prey had been sparse lately; this caravan would be the chance for meat lasting many days. He'd taken Kavesh's mind off the prize... and not many did that and lived.

Kavesh stood on his front hooves then slammed the ground with his rear ones again in a warning not to cross him, and Nish'k backed up a few paces more, almost slipping into the river himself. He'd seen with his own eyes what those rear hooves could do to another creature several times in his life, be it wild miniature dragon, Ruined, or pony, and he did not want to be on the receiving end of them. He turned his head to the side, trying to avoid Kavesh's gaze.

Kavesh snorted, pawing the ground and debating whether to charge and knock him into the water in a “Let's see how he'd like it!” moment.

Instead Nish'k lowered himself to his knees then rolled over in a sign of submission, and continued to look away.

Kavesh jumped, doing a flip and landing next to Nish'k as his rear hooves smashed the ground at the end of the flip, leaving cracks in a large stone as a final reminder not to anger him.

Nish'k whimpered, but kept his stance and didn't move. If he angered his tribe leader any more, he'd be dead and that would accomplish nothing.

Satisfied he'd put Nish'k in his place, Kavesh turned away and went to the river to drink, completely ignoring him. The rest of the war party gave Nish'k a series of looks, ranging from “are you crazy, is that your problem” to a little bit of awe to a “you've got guts but you're also completely stupid”. A couple of the youngest female members seemed to study him for a moment before they turned back to the waters to drink.

Several minutes later with the clan all watered up, the clan slowly left in single file again to head for their preferred ambush point, moving slightly faster than normal since the incident with Nish'k had delayed them. Kavesh kept his eye on Nish'k the whole way for even the slightest slip-up, but the younger Ruined knew not to antagonize him even more than he already had.

They moved slower the closer they got, in case the caravan was smart and had sent scouts up to watch the road ahead. Kavesh's war party would only get one shot at surprise and if the caravan guards could hold the line thanks to early warning, their prizes would would be denied and any meat and glory would be lost, leaving them laughingstocks to the other Ruined in the aras. Such a loss in battle would reflect badly on Kavesh and would likely cause some of the other hot shots in the clan to attempt to remove him from power and he was in no way going to have that. These were real threats to him, where Nish'k, was more a goofball that constantly made bad political decisions.

Finally, they reached the ambush's chosen location with a good two hours to spare and Kavesh assigned duties to those around him, pointing to various locations while snarling or growling. Many of the clan members climbed into the trees with a small supply of crossbow bolts carved from wood, although the quality of their bolts was so poor that basic leather armor could stop them.

Those whose hooves had claws suited to digging went back along the road to dig a narrow yet deep trench to prevent retreat; this would be concealed by wooden boards covered with dirt that would be removed after the wagon had passed by. While the trench could be leapt, it would take time to line up a good jump and by then anypony giving chase would catch up to them.

Some Ruined were scouts headed towards the bigger stone den where the nasty ponies with weapons came out occasionally to pick fights with them, and Kavesh himself knelt down behind a boulder that was half-buried in the ground between two trees but still within sight of the road. The rest of the Ruined began to set up their little “We've got you now!” sign, a set of four fallen trees with one of their totems in the center.

Then, it was all a matter of waiting.

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“Be on the lookout. The Ruined infest this road, colts and fillies.” said Swift Waters, who was the leader of the wagon's guards. He was addressing his assembled troops. “We need to get these supplies to the base. We're already late thanks to the supplies getting here late, so let's double time it. I don't want to be caught out on the road after the moon has fully risen.”

“Yes sir.” The leader's second in command replied. Behind him were several other guards, all armed with spears, leather armor, and one or two crossbows. The caravan had one wagon filled with trade goods, several villagers who were looking to see their stallions and mares in uniform, an older knight with a bad leg who was to perform some sort of memorial ceremony at the base, and several small children no one was able to find a babysitter for. It was this last situation that had Swift Waters muttering under his breath; foals had no reason to be out on this road!

They didn't pay him enough to watch over little foals while at the same time keeping awareness of his surroundings while watching for the Ruined while watching for traps and dangerous animals.

He still would do his job, though. “Everyone here? All right, listen up!” He called out. “I want the noncombatants close to the wagon. Guards, you spread out at a distance of ten hooves for the inner ring, twenty for the outer ring. Someone help Old Stallion Neckbreaker into the wagon; I don't want him getting hurt. Each of you take sight of one or two of the foals. I don't want them breaching the outer ring. No scouts up ahead; we got sniped the last time and I want us to be able to tighten our rings at the first sign of trouble. They'll have to get through us to get to the wagon.”

The rest of the guards nodded or gave their understanding of their orders, and the wagon slowly began to move out. The road from the village of Waterlock to the Iron Stone Stallion Base was a rocky one, sometimes filled with fallen trees and boulders that the local... troublemakers had put into place. Multiple times the village had asked the base for a garrison or constant patrols, but each time they were told there wasn't enough ponies to go around. “War is brewing in a far land,” they were told, and until then they just had to exercise caution in traveling the roads.

This was of course, where the guards came in.

The sun began to set seemingly quicker than normal as the caravan moved out. The ground seemed unusually hard and uncomfortable to walk on this night, as if the road was trying to repel them or warn them off. As the wagon reached the first of several large boulders placed in their path, lanterns were brought out and the children brought closer to the wagon as they tried to stray out to the nearby bushes to explore.

“Sir, these boulders were placed...” One of the more inexperienced guards said.

“I'm aware of that.” Swift Waters replied. “Even now, I bet we're being watched and prodded for signs of weakness. Just be thankful the Ruined can't use magic. They don't even have unicorns.”

“Who would do such a thing in the first place?” asked another guard before turning and chasing down a filly who had breached both rings.

Swift Waters put a hoof to his face at the ineptness of the outer ring before responding quietly under his breath. “Someone with little to gain in their dark insanity and less to lose.”

A few minutes later the first boulder was bucked to gravel, and they moved on to the second one, and then the third. The going was slow and a cold wind began to spring up as they reached the first of a few fallen trees that had been arranged in a square pattern. Set into the center of the square was a small pillar of rocks with a pony skull balanced on top painted with blood and one unseeing eye still in its socket.

“Get these trees moved out of the way, fast!” Swift Waters called out. “Everyone on guard! We're being watched for sure!”

“We should turn back, sir!” Another guard called out, as the foals saw what was up ahead and knew better than to leave the safety of the guards now.

Swift Waters shook his head. “No. These supplies are late and the base needs them as soon as possible. We need to keep moving! Double pay out of my own saddle bags if we make it before moonset! Get going!”

The guards quickened their pace, focusing first on one tree and then on the next, as a practiced, well oiled group. Three guards were left shielding the group of now-clustered foals, and the tension in the air was thickening. From inside the wagon one could hear Old Man Neckbreaker ask for a battle axe and then be hushed by another, gentler female voice; from behind the wagon the guards that were watching their back were nervously looking at each other and gripping their spears tightly in their teeth. They'd heard the tales of the Ruined, and they didn't want to meet one up close.

“We're down to the last tree, then it should be clear for a while, the road ahead is too hard to dig into and the trees are too thick to be cut down!” Swift Waters called back. “Keep at it! We're almost there!”

From in the shadows of the trees a crimson pony wearing a jester's mask grinned, then leapt out of the trees and silently flew away with only the quiet clicking gears of the clockwork wings attached to his backpack making a sound.

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Kavesh looked around at the carnage and destruction. The guards never had a chance once those with crossbows in the trees had aimed for the foals instead. When the guards had tightened their little defensive rings, the rest of the Ruined had attacked from both sides slowly crushing them and surrounding them in order to heighten the tension and fear. Corpses lay everywhere, weapons were strewn about, the wagon had been overturned and the old man inside had been ripped apart piece by piece, and several of the Ruined were pulling some of the corpses away to serve as the night's meals. Ruined had fast metabolisms, and they had to eat constantly to keep their energy up.

He stopped by the body of Nish'k, who'd been one of the first to fall, slain in battle vs what appeared to be the leader of the wagon guards. He had taunted the guards into attacking him and a trio of smaller Ruined, in order to look like a weak target. When the guards attacked, the Ruined to either side of the road pounced and flanked the guards from behind. This pressed them forward in order to leave an opening for other Ruined to assault from the front. The fact Nish'k had actually proven useful made him feel a little bit guilty about having picked on him earlier over his harmless pranks, and Kavesh mentally noted that he was going to raise a small totem in the goofball's honor later.

He walked around the remains of the wagon, itself being bucked and bitten into pieces small enough to carry off to use in the building of their makeshift, shoddy dens that would make most animals ashamed of them. Pausing by the trade goods, he stopped to briefly examine them. First he poked a box with a hoof, then sniffed at a series of bottles whose scent made his eyes water and himself sneeze. He kicked over a marble bust he thought was ugly, where it shattered on the ground into four pieces.

Picking up a long box and placing it on a couple of the dead bodies, he dipped his claws into their blood and began painting runes on the box in order to leave a reminder to those that found this scene that “We were here”. It was a sort of calling card to inspire fear and tales by those who would encounter this circle of destruction; the runes had little meaning other than markings of ownership, and Kavesh didn't even want the box anyway. Hopefully this carnage would be enough so future groups from the big stone den would leave them alone to harass the village.

As he turned to leave the scene of the battle, his ears perked up. There were more ponies coming up the path... approaching from the direction of the big stone den! He barked a command for those still around to hide, and he himself climbed a tree in order to get ready to ambush.

Hiding safely in the trees, a few minutes later Kavesh saw three ponies emerge into the scene of the battle. This made him pause... why were there only three? Most of the groups from the bigger stone den contained four times that many. Sniffing the air, he tensed his legs and prepared to leap, not about to let good fortune pass him by.

Kavesh watched as the largest of the three ponies, a gray stallion with dark black hair, talk in the sounds the ponies of the bigger stone den liked to use. He seemed to be disappointed in them, and he noticed that one of the three was cross-eyed. This was a flaw that would have earned a foal a swift death were it discovered in his tribe, and it made him pause a second time and relax his legs. The bigger stone den was sending out its weak to be slaughtered, so that its strong would be stronger? This was... troubling... they never did this before. They must be preparing for something. A march on the tribes of the Ruined?

The gray stallion showed the other two the box that Kavesh had marked, and more sounds were exchanged. Kavesh bristled a little bit; the sounds were flowing and soft, making the ponies themselves seem soft. Barks and growls were all one needed... these truly were the weak of the stone den and they needed to die.

Kavesh's attention was diverted when he heard a rustling from the other side of the road, and a younger pony, a light-colored mare, emerged. She was dragging a large miniature dragon on the end of a rope or leash, and sounded like she was growling loudly at it. The dragon wasn't moving; it'd sat down stubbornly. More good fortune for his clan!

Grinning to himself, Kavesh tensed again, preparing to leap.

The gray stallion barely had a chance to shout a warning before Kavesh landed between them, snarling and whipping his tail back and forth. The Ruined who had hung back to assist their tribe leader began to advance from the shadows, and those in the trees fired another volley. The dark blue colt was struck in the back of the head dead on, and staggered forward before falling lifelessly over from the direct hit to the back of his skull.

The gray stallion leapt to the light-colored mare's protection, blocking some shots with a round metal object while the rest of the shots had been aimed poorly and landed in the dirt in front of them. To Kavesh's shock the dragon the mare had been dragging behind her suddenly broke loose and began to attack the Ruined in the trees, bouncing from tree to tree and slashing with claw and fang. Some Ruined fell, others slipped and managed to climb quickly down, and still others had the misfortune of landing on their backs or necks. Some survived paralyzed, while most did not.

While one of the ponies that was left began to swing a metal-studded stick, the other two bolted back toward the ambush trench. Kavesh snarled and gave chase, with several of the other Ruined splitting into two groups. One group went to beat the metal-stick pony into the ground, and the other group followed Kavesh to pursue the two other ponies. When the prey saw they were cornered, Kavesh lowered his head and stared them down with his single eye, snarling as he took in his eventual victory. The dragon that had been with the mare landed and snarled a challenge back at him, but Kavesh was confident that he could take the dragon down on his own.

The light-colored mare undid her hair, and Kavesh saw that the hair had been woven into a thick pair of ropes. The mare launched her head forward trying to seem impressive, and the thick ropes slapped the ground with a pair of thumping sounds.

Kavesh snorted, unimpressed. Those took too long to wind up for a strike, by which time he'd be directly on top of her...

But before he could strike, a flash of light filled his vision and another pony was standing directly in front of them, growling and covered in metal and wood that seemed to move on its own. Kavesh recognized this pony as a warrior, due to the spike in her forehead that showed she was higher ranking in the prey's society. Unsurprisingly this new pony scowled and stood tall, trying to look very threatening. Kavesh backed off for a brief moment to assess her more before looking back at his assembled tribemates; while he could take the dragon down he might have problems with this warrior. He was fearless, but not stupid. He knew when to back off.

Usually.

The warrior pony growled something in their language, and Kavesh could sense the malice behind her words. Still, he was not about to show weakness to his assembled tribe, and those behind him could back him up if somehow he needed help. Whether he did it on his own or he relied on the assistance of his tribemates, the Ruined would not lose this night to defeat!

Kavesh charged full force, roaring.

Author's Note:

One more main character to go... this deus ex machina that showed up out of nowhere better be a good one, or Kavesh'll end things before they begin!