Age of Kings

by A bag of plums

75 - Into the Abyss

After bidding farewell to Moon Tide and her long procession of horses, Emerald and the rest of the questors set their sights on the next obstacle before them. The Coltcasus Mountains loomed over them, casting the party in deep shadow.

They had taken the path Spectrum Song had pointed out earlier, with the squire playing them a Kievan tune on her acquired lute along the way. The path went up along the mountain’s side, but it soon got steeper and steeper until it was almost no longer a walk.

“This is some path,” Golden Nugget huffed as he gripped his quarterstaff, which he was now using as a walking stick. “Ya sure we didn’t miss another trail somewhere?”

“Gabriel says this is the smoothest path,” Posey panted. “But even he says that he can’t see a clear way over to the other side.”

“There must be a way over…” Light Speckle insisted. “Otherwise how could the druids get those asps, or Golden Nugget’s grandfather get those seeds?”

They trekked onwards, Emerald privately wishing she had her wings so that she could simply fly over these blasted mountains.

They continued like this for what felt like hours. Just when they thought they had reached the summit, there would be another crag of rock that stretched higher. It was, frankly, very annoying. As if the mountain was taunting them. By now the sky was getting dark, but on a cliffside like that, there was no way they could make camp. They would need to get somewhere flatter.

“I’m tired!” Jewel Pin wailed. “I’m hungry. I miss home. I miss High Rise!”

In the light of the setting sun, Emerald could see that most of her friends shared the sentiment, bent over and weary from climbing up the mountain all day. She, too, was beginning to feel the strain, and her heavy pack of food and supplies wasn’t helping.

“Just a bit further, everyone,” Emerald wheedled. “I think I can see a place to set up camp up ahead.”

There was indeed a cave opening up ahead in the side of the mountain, with a tree growing next to it. Hopefully they could take a break there. Emerald didn’t want to admit it, not even to herself, but she was feeling worn out as well; she was not used to ascending without her wings.

Almost half an hour later, the group collapsed in front of the cave mouth, which was grown over with tree roots, plant life, and even humongous spider webs. There was a small flat landing outside the cave that they stood on, weighing whether it was a good idea to head inside.

“This might lead through the mountains.” Nightfall Gleam tapped the sides of the cave mouth with a tool she brought. “If luck shines upon us this day.”

“Food. We need food! We must eat!” Jewel Pin set down her heavy pack and pulled out a loaf of bread.

“I am going to investigate the inside,” Posey decided. “Caves in the mountains are seldom unoccupied.”

The archer nocked an arrow to her bow and cautiously crept into the cave. They heard her footsteps redece, then there was a loud crunching sound, like a lot of branches being simultaneously broken. The footsteps came back.

“It is not a very big cave,” Posey reported, coming out. “But it is empty, if you don’t mind the remains of another traveler in there.”

“Wait, what?” Spectrum did a double take. “There’s a dead man in there?”

“Yes,” Posey said blandly. “I didn’t want to disturb the bones, but it seems that someone else was camping in here before us.”

“Any signs of how he might’ve died?” Emerald placed her pack down and walked to the cave entrance.

“See for yourself,” Posey waved a hand at the cave.

Emerald, Spectrum, and Guard Streak went inside, their eyes getting adjusted to the darkness. As Posey had said, it was not a big cave, only about the size of Emerald’s old cottage in Canterlot. There, in the far corner of the cave, was a skeleton. It was lying under a boulder that had seemingly crushed it underneath. Then Emerald looked closer. None of the bones seemed broken. Meaning that this poor soul had most likely starved or suffocated to death instead of being quickly finished off by the stone’s weight.

“What a terrible way to go,” Guard Streak said at last.

Spectrum nodded. “Yes. Yes, it is. Tis a good thing we have plenty of food, yes?”

“Where did this boulder even come from?” Guard Streak asked, looking around. “Tis not the nature of stones to roll around on their own.”

Emerald looked up at the ceiling. It seemed secure enough, and rocks falling did not seem to be an issue here. Besides, the boulder that had killed the traveler was a different kind of rock than the kind that this cave was made out of.

“How odd.” Emerald rubbed her jaw. “Still, this cave would make an excellent resting ground for the night. But we should still keep watch.”

“I shall take first watch.” Spectrum raised her hand.

“Y-Yes. And so will I,” Guard Streak quickly added on.

“Right. Then we better get our camp set up before the darkness comes.”

---

As Emerald and the rest lay asleep in the cave, Spectrum Song and Guard Streak sat about at the mouth of the cave, looking up into the starry night sky, and then to anything that made even the slightest noise out in the dark.

“Do you think what Honeygold says is true?” Streak asked. “About the almas. What if that rock inside was placed there by one?”

“I don’t know if they are real or not. The vodyanoi weren’t really there, were they?”

“But the Baba Yaga was real,” Streak pointed out. “She kidnapped you.”

“But you lot came to save me.” Spectrum laughed. “If not for all of you, perhaps I wouldn’t be here. Hay, if not for Emerald, we wouldn’t be here, definitely. Would you have imagined ever going on a heroic adventure like this, Streak? To save Canterlot?”

“N-No. Not really...” Guard Streak wrapped his arms around his body. “I wish we could light a fire. It’s kind of cold up here.”

“We’re too high up and exposed to risk lighting a fire,” Spectrum explained. “If we make one, people from all around will know we are here.”

“Right…”

“You know, I’m not sure why we even need a watch,” Spectrum yawned and leaned back against the mountainside, interlocking her fingers behind the back of her head. “It’s not like we won’t hear someone coming a mile away if they try coming up the mountain, right?”

Streak shrugged. “I guess. But what if something sneaks up on us from above? We don’t know what is further up the mountain.”

Spectrum stretched and gazed up at the stars. “Y’know, the constellations are different here. Did you notice?”

“Uh, not really?”

“Yes. Look there,” Spectrum pointed skywards. “There’s the North Star in the same place as usual, but the ones around it are in different places.”

Guard Streak followed her finger. “If you say so, Spectrum.”

Spectrum lowered her arm and sighed, taking a drink from her waterskin.

“I hope ma and pa are doing fine.” Spectrum deflated a little and flicked a small pebble off the mountainside. It clicked and clacked as it bounced down to the bottom. “I didn’t get the chance to tell them where I was going.”

“Yes. Me neither.” Streak shuffled himself over next to Spectrum, who glanced over without comment. “I hope they’re alright.”

“Yes…” Spectrum yawned again, her eyelids drooping lower and lower. “I hope we can find that artifact quickly… before anything else bad happens to Canterlot… yes…” There was a light snore as Spectrum nodded off.

---

The group had set off early the next morning, going higher up the mountain, hoping to find another path they could use that would ease their vertical travel. However, about two hours into the hike, the trail abruptly stopped at the threshold of another hole in the face of the mountain.

Emerald and the rest of her friends found themselves staring into the mouth of a yawning cave in the mountainside. This one led further in than just a dead end. This one was a tunnel that spanned into darkness ahead.

“So…” Spectrum said slowly. “This is the only way forward?”

“It must be,” Light Speckle nodded grimly. “The path ends here. The way through must be inside these caves.” She gulped. “I must admit I find the idea of going inside a little… daunting.”

There was a general muttering of agreement. However, Emerald was not about to balk just because she had to go into a cave. Everyone back in Canterlot was counting on her to succeed, and the promise she had made to Posey’s mother echoed in her head.

“We have to go,” Emerald decided. “There is no other way across this mountain range.”

“It’s so scary, though…” Honeygold shuddered.

“And who knows what kind of nasties might be lurking inside?” Jewel Pin added. “Perhaps we should turn back. See if there’s another path.”

The group began muttering amongst themselves. Emerald, Nightfall Gleam, Posey, and Light Speckle were in favor of going into the caves. The rest of them were not.

“What if it's a dead end and we get lost and never find our way out?” Honeygold wondered timidly. “Ah don’t want to die like that.”

“Gabriel says there are no other paths that he can see from the skies,” Posey reported as her eagle touched down on her arm. “Like it or not, these caves are our best option.”

“Ooh…” Jewel Pin looked even paler than normal, if that was indeed possible. “I am not sure I can do this…”

“You can,” Light Speckle said, patting the seamstress on the shoulder. “We didn’t brave those spectres, the Baba Yaga, and swamp monsters just to turn back when faced with a cave. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We get lost blundering in the dark forever?” Spectrum offered.

“Nonsense.” Nightfall said. “We have lamps and oil. It won’t be that dark in there.”

“Still…” Guard Streak scuffed his boot against the ground. He was clearly torn between doing the courageous and noble thing and going into the caves, and listening to his instincts, which were telling him to stay out of them. “N-Not that I’m scared of the dark or anything. It’s just that… Tis… dark. Perhaps we should just look for another way? One day shouldn’t put us back too far.”

“That’s a good idea,” Golden Nugget nodded. “We can spend the rest of the daylight lookin’ for another way around. What do you say, Emerald?”

The former pegasus sighed, but clearly saw the logic in their statements. “Fine. We’ll look for another path until sundown, then we’ll set up camp again. But if there is no other way, we’re going into the caves first thing tomorrow.”

Everyone agreed that it was a good plan, so they turned around and went back down the way they had come. Posey loosed Gabriel into the sky and told him to keep watch for anything unusual.

They descended down the side of the mountain, crossing the ravines and crevasses carefully. Every now and then, they would stop to look around for an alternate path. But these would soon turn into either dead ends or end up leading off a cliff. Finally, as the sun touched down on the western horizon, the group admitted defeat.

“Guess there really is no other way but through the caves,” Spectrum said glumly as they set up camp for the night. They put their things down and got out their sleeping rolls. After a brief but tasty dinner, they turned in for the night, with Golden Nugget taking first watch.

One by one, each of the members of the group drifted off to sleep, hoping that the caves would be a lot more inviting than they were making it out to be.

---

As the sun’s first rays began creeping over the land, Posey roused everyone from their slumber, as she had taken the last watch. They rolled up their sleeping bags and ate breakfast in relative silence, each of them stewing over what was to come.

They hiked back up to the cave mouth, where they stood in a group, glancing left and right nervously.

“So…” Spectrum said after a couple of minutes. “Who wants to go down the dark scary tunnel in the mountain side first?”

“I’ll go first,” Emerald volunteered. “If we meet anything unpleasant, it would be best if someone who knows how to fight were there to meet it.”

“That’s a good idea,” Light Speckle said. “I will follow close behind, then. I don’t suppose it matters in what order the rest of us go in.”

“Does everyone have a lantern?” Nightfall asked, waving hers around. “Remember to keep the flame turned down low to conserve oil. We have no idea how long the trip through these caves will take, and we don’t want to run out of oil partway through.”

“We’ve got plenty of oil,” Light Speckle said calmly. “But just in case, keep your lamplight dim. Conserving fuel isn’t the only reason.”

Emerald held out her lantern in her left hand and her sword in her right. She took a deep breath and slowly entered the dark underworld of the mountain.

It was quite easy at first. The sunlight coming in from the mouth reached a good ways in. She turned around and grinned, as if to say ‘see, this isn’t so bad!’.

The others hesitantly followed, holding their lanterns close and trying to put on a brave face as they advanced into the cave.

However, soon they left the sunlight behind and it grew cold. Their footsteps echoed through the tunnel, and they could only see a couple of paces ahead, even with their lamps. Nobody spoke or otherwise intentionally made a sound. In the distance, perhaps amplified by the stone chambers, there were small noises that Emerald could hear. She could not tell what was making them, and she privately didn’t want to find out.

How long they journeyed like this was impossible to tell. It could have been only a few minutes or more than an hour. For the longest time, all they could hear was their own footsteps and the occasional crackle of their lantern flames.

Eventually, however, they met their first dilemma. The tunnel split into three forks, each one just as uninviting as the other.

Emerald stopped, holding her lantern high to see if there was anything she could see inside the tunnels. There wasn’t.

“Okay…” Emerald said, turning back to face her friends. “Which way should we go?”

Posey stepped forward. She had left Gabriel outside, telling the eagle to look for a potential exit on the other side of the mountains and to wait for them there.

The archer peered into the dark passageways, squinting. Then she licked the tip of her finger and held it up in each of the tunnels, as if she was trying to determine which way the wind was blowing.

Finally Posey went back to Emerald. “There’s a breeze coming from the left tunnel,” she reported. “That usually means it leads back to the surface. Whether it goes to the Saddle Arabian side is unknown.”

“We haven’t been walking long enough to have made it all the way through,” Nightfall pointed out. “Finding a way out this early seems… wrong. I think we should try either the right or center tunnels.”

“You mean we have to spend more time in there horrible caves?” Jewel Pin trembled. She was holding her sharp tailoring scissors in the hand that didn’t have a lamp in it, and the shears were shivering slightly.

“It’s not that bad-” Posey began.

“Not that bad!?” Jewel Pin gasped. “It’s so oppressive in here! I cannot breathe properly and I can hear awful things all around us! I...I…” Jewel Pin’s eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped over, with Apple Bean catching her before she could hit her head on the ground.

“Ah’m not going to faint,” Apple Bean said as she helped up the seamstress. “But Ah don’t like it down here neither. Give me a nice open field any day.”

Spectrum placed a hand on her lute, as if to tell herself to remain calm. “So if we’re not going left, I say we go right.”

“Why?” Honeygold asked.

“Because,” Spectrum said. “Any baddie would expect us to go center. It’s the most obvious choice, so therefore, if we go right, we won’t fall into his trap.”

“That’s… not very good reasoning…” Nightfall Gleam frowned. “But I don’t have any better ideas, so if you want to go right, then right it is.” She hefted her lamp and put on a brave face.

Emerald shrugged. “Very well, then. We’ll go right.”

And right they went.

---

Comments

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Wow, this has really moved along since I last looked at it. There's a lot going on, but I just hope Emerald and her friends can put the kingdom back together after all this. It's going to be tough, and they haven't even gotten to Saddle Arabia yet!

[MoonlightRift]

This can only end well :)