Age of Kings

by A bag of plums

76 - The Black Beast

The tunnel wound around and went up and down, and more often than not there were small pitfalls that threatened to twist the ankle of the unwary. Fortunately, Emerald and her friends were anything but unwary, and they navigated through the hazards just fine, if slowly because they didn’t know what was out there in the dark.

They soon encountered another fork in the road. This time there were only two tunnels, but one of them was too small to fit through, even for Honeygold.

“Guess we’ll take the big one,” Guard Streak muttered.

As they went through the tunnel, Emerald could have sworn she heard something that sounded like a scream from the small tunnel. She paused, sword in hand. But it didn’t come again and she shrugged it off as her imagining things.

With the shuffling of the humans’ feet and the occasional creaking of their lanterns, the caves sounded as if they were surrounded by distant others. Emerald hated to admit it, but Jewel Pin had been right. It was oppressive down here, and the stale air did nothing to relax her breathing. It was just one patch of rocky darkness after another, and she had lost track of how much time had elapsed since they had gone into the caves.

A small chittering sound made itself known up ahead. Emerald held up her lamp to tell the party to stop and she readied her sword. She took a step forward.

Emerald yelped in surprise as a small swarm of bats flew out of the darkness and past her face. She swatted at them with her weapon, but missed them all. The bats screeched and flew away down the tunnel, causing the rest of the group to cry out and duck for cover.

Someone dropped their lantern, which exploded all over the floor in a splash of oil and fire. There was a moment of brief panic as the spilled oil ignited, causing the people nearby to leap away and fall over. Fortunately, they kept better hold of their lanterns, so the fire didn’t spread.

“Fire fire fire fire!” Guard Streak hopped around like a crazed rabbit, but then tripped on a divot and fell onto the floor, cracking his own lantern and spilling more burning oil around himself.

By now, the fire began eating up the tunnel and signalling her friends, Emerald held her breath and leapt back through the flames to grab at Honeygold and Spectrum, while Golden Nugget pulled Streak up and tossed him through. In no time, the group had gotten as far as they could from the fire, coughing from the smoke in the enclosed tunnel.

“Not a pleasant way to go, suffocating in a cave.” Light Speckle kept her arm over her nose. “Please, no more broken lanterns on the way.”

Nightfall Gleam had picked up the dropped lantern and was in the process of examining it. “It looks mostly undamaged. Just the glass is a little cracked.” She handed the lamp back to its owner. “Let’s just be more cautious from now on.”

Guard Streak added some more oil to his lantern and relit it. He held his dagger tightly, as if it were a lifeline.

Moving faster than before, the party journeyed down the tunnel and came to a bigger cave. This one had four other passageways leading off in different directions. More disturbingly, there were what looked like bones lying on the uneven floor.

“I don’t like this…” Honeygold whispered. She nudged one of the bones with her foot.

There came a scratching noise. It was faint at first, but it got louder quickly. Everyone looked around to see where it was coming from, but it was only when Posey looked up that she shrieked and nocked an arrow to her bow.

Descending from the roof of the cavern was a huge, dark brown spider, the size of a large dog. Its eight red eyes glittered in the lamplight, and its maw glistened with fangs that dripped with a milky white substance.

Without any hesitation, Posey let her arrow fly and it stabbed into the monster’s head. The massive spider screeched and clawed at the arrow with its forelegs. Posey fired again, this time aiming for the abdomen. Dark blood splurted from the wound and the spider retreated back up into the darkness.

But it didn’t last long. More scratching sounds heralded the return of the spider, and this time it was followed by seven even bigger ones, their eyes ruby red with hunger.

“Uh, Em? What do we do?” Spectrum quavered.

In a split second, Emerald weighed their options. They could stand and fight, but she didn’t like the idea of doing so in such an enclosed area. She would also need to put down her lamp, and the former pegasus was loathe to let go of her light.

Or, they could-

“RUN!” Emerald bellowed, her voice magnified by the cave’s acoustics.

She chose a path at random and belted down it, with the rest of her friends hot on her heels.

They sprinted down the tunnel, which led further down, but at that point nobody cared. All they wanted to do was put as much distance between themselves and the spiders as possible.

Emerald looked back and thought she saw that the monstrous arachnids were still following them, so she willed her legs to go faster. They flew through the caves, passing forks in the road and choosing a direction at random until they could no longer hear the scratching noises.

They were safe. The spiders had given up.

“I think we lost them,” Spectrum gasped, her face shining with sweat. “By the gods, I hate spiders now.”

“You an’ me both,” Apple Bean agreed, leaning on the cave wall to catch her breath.

“Nasty insects,” Nightfall spat. “I didn’t know they could get that big.”

“Technically they’re not insects,” Light Speckle noted. “They’re arachnids.”

“Tis not important. I don’t want to see another giant spider for as long as I live.”

The group slowed to a halt, panting and wheezing with exertion.

Only when they were all back on their feet did someone voice the quintessential question.

“Where are we now?”

---

There was no dancing around the issue. In their haste and rush to escape the spiders, the party had gotten themselves completely and utterly lost. Not only that, they had no clue of where they had even come from. They had passed so many forks in the road that they could’ve been anywhere in the mountain now.

“What are we gonna do?” Honeygold dithered. She clutched her mother’s arm and began hyperventilating. “We’re lost! We’re gonna die down here!”

Her panic was contagious, and even Emerald felt a thorn of fear creep into her heart. She had no way of knowing where they were. They were deep in the heart of a mountain, with limited food, water, and lamp oil. The former pegasus felt the confining walls of the cave close in on her, and she too began to breathe heavily.

“What are we going to do, Emerald?” Nightfall asked nervously. “You have a plan, right?”

“I… I… don’t…” Emerald stammered, at a loss for what to do. “Maybe we should-”

Then she heard it. There was a faint whistling sound echoing through the tunnel. Could it be the wind? Were they close to the exit? Could fate possibly be that kind? The sound came again, and Emerald made up her mind.

Without a word, Emerald stalked off down the tunnel, which sloped down. But that was all right.. With the rest of the crew following close behind, Emerald broke into a jog. She felt a dampness in the air that she chalked up to outside humidity, and smiled. After all this time in these tunnels, some fresh air would be most welcome.

But the tunnel did not rise, nor did it even level out. Emerald held her lantern high and she burst into a huge underground chamber.

It was much, much bigger than any of the other caverns they had been in before. This was almost like someone had hollowed out a Canterlot Castle-sized vestibule in the ground. Sizeable spikes of faintly glowing blue crystal jutted from the walls and ceiling, lending the cavern a tranquil, almost dreamlike air.

As Emerald’s eyes traveled from the crystalline roof downwards, she made out a dark patch of what looked like glass on the floor of the cave. It took the spymaster a couple of moments to realize that it was indeed a subterranean lake surrounded by spikes of crystal and black rock.

Momentarily forgetting that they were lost, Emerald grinned and looked back to her friends, who were just as amazed by the sight, if not more. It was far more beautiful than Emerald could have imagined, and were they not on a desperate quest, she would have liked to sit here for hours and just admire the view.

Emerald took a step toward the lake and heard it again. A whistling, windy sound, louder this time, like a giant breathing in. It seemed to be coming from near the lake.

“Wow,” Honeygold marveled at the scenery. “Ah ain’t never seen nothing like this. Is this what your Crystal Empire looked like, Em?”

“Kind of,” Emerald said quietly. In truth, this huge cavern did remind her a lot about her old home, and she felt nostalgic just walking among the crystal spires. She reached out and touched one, reveling in its cool, hard surface.

She stared at her reflection in the crystal. Her glittering hair and pale face stared back at her. She realized with a pang that she was so used to seeing this face of hers now that if she were to see her pony self, it would most likely be more alien to her than her human guise.

“This place is just divine,” Jewel Pin was saying. “Too bad it is hidden under this dreadful mountain.”

Spectrum tapped her dagger up against one of the crystals. It made a clear, pure, chime that made the squire grin.

“It sounds so nice,” Spectrum said, tapping the crystal in a different spot, and was rewarded with another musical note.

There was a small splash from nearby on the lake’s surface. Ripples spread out, and the whistling was heard again. Only now, it was deeper and sounded like someone snoring.

Guard Streak peeked his head around a tall piece of rock to see where the sound was coming from.

“Oh fiddlesticks,” the squire squeaked, then ran backwards as a dark-furred hand the size of a wagon wheel slammed down where he had just been standing.

Emerald backed away as the sound of hoofsteps grew louder and the owner of that hand came around the corner. It was tall, taller than a cottage and was vaguely man-shaped with cloven hooves and a head that looked like an oversized goat’s head. Huge, curling ram horns grew from its cranium and it had two large fangs jutting out from the top of its mouth.

The rest of the group by now could see that something was wrong. And that was before the colossal beast decided to roar, causing the crystals to vibrate with the noise.

Posey fitted an arrow to her bow and fired at the creature. It lifted its right arm to keep the arrow from striking it in the face. Then it glared at Posey and roared again.

Emerald was at a loss for words. After all they had been through today, there was some kind of goat monster they had to deal with?

The monster charged at Emerald, who dived to the side to avoid the deadly horns. The creature missed her and rammed into a crystal formation, shattering the mineral with a crash. The spymaster skidded on the rocky ground, cracking a rock under her foot.

That struck her as strange and she looked down, much to her shock. What she had thought was rock earlier was actually bone. From the looks of it, mostly human bone. The entire cavern floor was strewn with them. That would’ve been a warning sign, had they seen it earlier.

Posey loosed two more arrows into the monster’s back, but it did not seem to notice them at all.

By now the goat-thing had recovered from its charge and was now thundering towards Posey and the rest of the group. The party scattered, with Posey sliding under the monster’s legs and cutting at the two furry columns with her hidden blade.

“I don’t think I’m hurting it very much!” Posey exclaimed as she rolled to a stop next to Emerald.

Emerald took in her surroundings. It was mostly dark stone with chunks of glowing blue crystal, neither of which gave her any ideas about how to fight this thing. She did remember something that her predecessor had taught her back in Equestria, though.

“If you have to pick a fight with something that’s bigger than you and has longer reach, you want to stay on the move. Minotaurs and some dragon varieties will try to rush you and trample you, so remember to use your wings. If you can’t, then just keep in mind that you should never attack such a foe from the front. That’s where they’re strongest. Get around them and strike from the side or behind.”

Emerald set her teeth and watched the goat-monster, standing her ground as it turned around to face her. It growled and lumbered forward, its arms outstretched. It made a grab for Emerald, but she swiftly rolled under it and sliced it across the flank. Dark blood sprayed from the cut and stained her sword and the beast howled in pain.

Posey leapt off a crystal formation and fired her bow, her arrow biting deep into the creature’s back. She landed on the beast’s shoulder and unsheathed her hidden blade, stabbing it into the furry flesh.

The monster flailed and tried to grab Posey, until Emerald plunged her own sword into its right foot. Distracted, it clawed at Emerald, but the spymaster’s armor deflected the claws on its hand.

Posey stood up on the monster’s shoulder, readied another arrow, and fired it into the nape of its neck, while Emerald jabbed her sword under its ribs, thrusting it deep in, spilling black blood over her weapon and arm.

The monster screamed, a sound that Emerald had not thought it was capable of making. The crystals around it cracked and splintered from the sonic assault, then the monster fell down onto the floor, unmoving.

Panting, Posey climbed down off the creature’s back and set her feet back on the cavern floor.

“Well.” Emerald said, shaking her sword to rid it of the monster’s blood. “That was terrifying.”

“What was that thing?” Spectrum asked, coming out from behind a sheet of rock. “What do you think they’re playing at, keeping a monster like that down here?”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Nightfall Gleam asked.

“Whoever runs this darn stupid tunnel network!” Spectrum threw her hands up into the air. “How are people supposed to cross from one side of the mountain to another if there’s a dirty great, uh…”

“Chort,” Honeygold supplied speedily.

“A what?” Apple Bean looked at her child quizzically.

“A chort,” Honeygold said. “That’s what this monster is. Ah saw a picture of it in a book once. Didn’t think it would be quite so big, though.”

Emerald Edge swallowed and looked back at the dead beast. A chort was something she had dreaded to encounter, but in the end, it wasn’t all that scary. A little tough, but manageable.

“Well, big or not, it’s dead now,” Jewel Pin said in relief. “So maybe we should look for a way back to the surface before another one comes along?”

“Chorts’re tell-ut-oriul,” Honeygold recited. “Ah don’t think there’ll be another one.”

“The way our day’s been going, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another one,” Jewel Pin sniffed. “And I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.” Posey groused. “You already ate the whole carriage before we started the climb. The whole carriage.”

Leaving the archer and the seamstress to bicker, Emerald prodded the chort with her sword, just to make sure it really was slain. Then she went over to the opening that it had come from and peeked around the corner, keeping her blade ready if anything else jumped out at her.

Nothing did. However, the former pegasus did see something that made her stomach churn.

Littered all around the area where the chort had come from were more bones, shredded cloth, and various other items that must have belonged to other people who had run into this cavern and been… she grimaced. Eaten. But there were no other creatures that she could see, which was good.

“Looks all clear,” Emerald called back to her friends. “No more chorts or anything.”

She hoped with the appearance of one of the monsters she had hoped was not real, she wouldn’t encounter a leshy next.

“Ugh…” Spectrum said as she picked her way along through the boneyard. “What a horrible way to go.”

They picked a winding path through the remains, occasionally stopping to pull a rock or crystal chunk out of the way. Emerald noticed how many of the bones had been cracked open for marrow or had teeth marks on them. She shook her head to clear it of such morbid thoughts. The chort was dead. No more travelers would fall prey to it any longer.

“Hey, Em,” Honeygold piped up from behind. “What’s that?”

Emerald looked to where the girl was pointing. Wedged between two rocks was a sort of tube, possibly made out of leather. It looked distinctly out of place, so she walked over to it and pulled it from its resting place.

As Emerald was turning the tube over in her hands, something slipped out of one end of it with a slithering noise.

The former pegasus looked down to see what had fallen out. It appeared to be a rolled up sheet of vellum. She bent down and picked it up, unrolling it. Her face morphed into an expression of confusion, then surprise, then relief.

“It’s a map,” Emerald said, going back to her friends to show them. “I think it’s a map of the tunnels, well, maybe.”

“Ah reckon you’re right,” Golden Nugget nodded. The map was done in colored inks and painfully detailed. “Ah think that big cave is where we are now. But it don’t show the tunnels we came in through,” he pointed out.

“That’s probably because whoever made this map came in from the opposite end of the mountain,” Light Speckle surmised. “Do you realize what we’ve found? This map shows the way out of here to the Saddle Arabian side!”

There was a small outburst of cheering.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Spectrum grinned. “Let’s hightail it out of here!”

---

Following the map was indeed a good idea. Emerald breathed a silent thank you to the cartographer, who had probably ended up as the chort’s dinner. They took a tunnel at the far end of the crystal caves that led upwards, always referring back to the map whenever they ran into forks in the path. The map even pointed out where there were pitfalls and other hazards, and even though it was penned in a different language, there were helpful pictures sketched in as well. They made a steady pace and, even with the extra baggage of supplies, Emerald and company began to feel their spirits lift.

“I can feel a breeze,” Posey said happily. “We must be near the way out.”

Emerald scanned the map and nodded. “We should be in the last tunnel before it opens up,” she said. In spite of herself, Emerald allowed herself a smile. They were almost to Saddle Arabia, and they were far ahead of Morn and his army of pursuers. If they could find the last artifact quickly, then they might be able to end this whole thing in a couple of weeks.

The tunnel sloped upwards for a couple hundred meters, then leveled out. After a few twists and turns, Emerald saw something that made her heart soar.

Sunlight.

“Look!” Honeygold gleefully exclaimed. “The way out!”

The group picked up speed, and it was agreed by all that they had never experienced anything quite as luxuriating nor relieving as finally bursting out of the gloomy caves and into the natural glow of daylight.

“We did it!” Jewel Pin squealed, grabbing Apple Bean and hugging her. “We are out! I never want to go into another cave for as long as I live!”

Grinning along with the rest of her friends, Emerald carefully rolled up the map and stashed it in her pack. If they had to return through the same route, they would do well to hold on to such a valuable treasure.

The place they had emerged into was shrouded by tall, broad-leafed trees, and soft green springy grass grew underfoot. Somewhere close by, Emerald could hear the trickling of a stream. There were bushes with berries growing on them and the air was pleasantly cool. Beyond that was a large expanse of sand, further than her eyes could see.

“We made it,” Emerald sighed, then sat down on the grass, watching the sunset. They had spent nearly the whole day in the caves, but now that they were past them, they could start the next leg of their journey.

But first they would make camp and rest.

Emerald looked back at her friends, who were still marveling at their surroundings. It felt so reassuring, so fundamentally good to have friends to share this moment of triumph with, she thought. And she hoped that they would be there to share in their victory when they finally saved Canterlot.

---

Comments

[Marcthelightspark2004]

Descending from the roof of the cavern was a huge, dark brown spider, the size of a large dog. Its eight red eyes glittered in the lamplight, and its maw glistened with fangs that dripped with a milky white substance.

Oooooooof course its a giant spider! Of course!

Coulda been worse. Coulda been an Ungol.

[MoonlightRift]

Better then expected huh, things are going too well. Something bad gotta happen soon, right?