Age of Kings

by A bag of plums

88 - Flee for Your Lives

Faint explosions and shouting assailed Emerald Edge’s ears as she and Hollow Wish sprinted through the maze-like streets of Masyaf and toward the western gate. Saddle Arabians watched them blur past them, still unaware that their city was under attack.

Emerald’s hair whipped around her face as she ran. She had a million questions to ask her savior, but she kept her focus on running for now. If that was indeed Morn Dread attacking, she couldn’t afford to be caught by him, not when they had come so far.

“This way, Emerald!” Hollow Wish dashed off down an alley. Emerald altered her course to follow, dodging around some empty wooden boxes and leaping over a beggar in the process.

Hollow Wish had said that Emerald’s friends would be mustering at the western gate. Just how and why they had listened to her was a mystery, but as before, now was not the time for questions.

In their path, Emerald saw someone dressed in silver plate armor step out and raise an arm. The former pegasus ducked instinctively and felt the wind of something like an arrow streak past the top of her head, embedding itself up to the fletchings in one of the stone buildings behind.

The knight began to reload his strange weapon, which looked like a crossbow that was strapped to his arm. Before he could fit another bolt to the string, Hollow Wish had leapt on top of the knight and thrown them both to the ground. The masked woman drew a dagger from her belt and thrust it into the eye hole of the knight’s helm, who thrashed around a bit before going still, blood pooling around his head. Saddle Arabians close by screamed and scattered at the display of violence.

Hollow Wish shook the blood off her weapon and resheathed it. “Make haste, Emerald. The city has fallen, but you must not be captured. You carry the hopes of many on your shoulders.”

And they took off running once more. Two Saddle Arabian guards stood at the next corner, their weapons drawn. Emerald wouldn’t have paid much attention to them, but something was off. They stood there still as boulders and their eyes were emitting a golden glow.

Horseapples, he’s got the people here too.

“Look out!” Emerald tackled Hollow Wish to the ground as an arrow was let loose from one of their bows. It just narrowly missed them and impaled itself in the wall beside them.

Hollow Wish got up and rushed them with incredible speed, sidestepping away from another arrow as she thrust her dagger into the first guard’s chest. He went down without a gasp of pain, but before she could do more, there was another thwang of a bowstring and an arrow pierced her side, knocking her to one knee.

“No!” Emerald ran ahead while the guard grabbed another arrow from his quiver. With a hidden blade, she first slid behind him and slashed at his left leg, crippling the guard. When he was down, she reached up and stabbed him through the neck.

“We must get you to a mage.” Emerald ran to her new ally and tried to help her up. “I do not know what magic you Saddle Arabians use, but Canterlot magic is strong. It can heal you.”

Hollow Wish waved her off. "My safety is less important than yours, Emerald Edge. I will survive, but you will not if Morn and his men get a hold of you."

"But you are injured!" Emerald exclaimed. "Let me help you-"

"I will be fine," Hollow Wish snapped. "But it is true I will need time to recover. The western gate is about five streets over yonder," She pointed at a section of the towering Masyaf wall. "Your friends are waiting there. Go on."

"I can't just leave you!"

A trio of mind controlled Saddle Arabian archers came out of a building behind them, bows already in hand, their eyes set right on Emerald and Hollow Wish.

"You can and you will," Hollow Wish said with a steely demeanor. "Don't make me say it again. Get out of this city and get what you came here to get. I shall slow them down.”

Emerald wanted to ask how she knew about their plans, but right now wasn’t the time to think. She eyed the archers as they readied themselves. Hollow Wish was a capable fighter. Perhaps she would still be able to face them.

As the spymaster ran on, she looked back once more to see Hollow Wish scurrying through a window and disappearing from sight. Perhaps she was even better at hiding. But for now, she could only hope that her mysterious friend would make it away safely.

---

Prince Sombra maneuvered himself around a fallen pillar as he tried to get away from the throne room as quietly as possible. After the fight between that King Morn Dread and his father, much of the palace had become unstable and something had knocked over one of the braziers and it had began spreading across the palace grounds, consuming anything it could. Thankfully, the walls were made of stone, but unfortunately, the palace grounds had plenty of cloth to burn.

Servants and minor nobles alike ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, paying little attention to Sombra as he made his way through the palace in a daze. He had witnessed many of them being slaughtered by the Canterlotian king. It seemed he had no need for officials in his new world order.

Sombra’s eyes were watering, but not from the smoke. After what Morn had done to his father, he swore vengeance. He was not going to rest until he held his severed head in his hands. He was going to make Morn pay for what he had done.

But Sombra also knew that he was no match for the king of Canterlot. If his father, the greatest warrior he knew could not defeat him then he, Prince Sombra, would stand even less of a chance.

At least, as he was now.

King Aldilu's last order echoed in Sombra's head.

If for whatever reason I fall here, remember what I told you. Find the djinn. Claim your birthright. Now go.

Prince Sombra wiped the moisture from his eyes and squared his shoulders. As a citizen of Saddle Arabia, he was bound to follow the word of his king, doubly more because he was a prince. There would be time to mourn for his father later. Right now, he had to do what was necessary to save the kingdom from a hostile takeover.

The Masyaf palace was slowly being overrun with enemy knights. Soldiers rushed to the throne room, but Sombra didn’t think much of their chances. Instead he ran downstairs and toward a tunnel that he knew led to the royal stables. As he arrived at the bottom, he spotted a body by the side. It was Sunlight Kadir and he had blood running down from a wound in his chest and by the looks of it, he had been long dead.

Sombra retrieved his scimitar and he took his next few steps carefully and as quietly as he could. Morn’s men had been down here and they might still be here. The prince held his naked sword in front of him and stayed in the shadows.

It was just as well that he did, for not a moment after, there came the sound of footsteps. Light and rhythmic; it might be a scout. Sombra tensed his muscles, ready to strike with his sword.

The footsteps came around the corner and Sombra jumped out, brandishing his scimitar threateningly.

“Arrghh!” He shouted as he leapt from his hiding place.

“Eeek!” Came a feminine voice. There was a flash of pink hair and someone slammed into Sombra and knocked them both to the ground.

Sombra was the first to recover, sitting up on the ground. He looked over; it was one of the dancing girls from his father’s court, lying on the ground with spirals for eyes.

“I am sorry!” Sombra exclaimed, moving over to the dancer and helping her up. “I thought you were one of the enemy king’s men. Are you all right, uh...”

“Parisa Pie, your highness,” The dancing girl got to her feet and bowed to the prince. “I was trying to get away from the invaders, so I thought I would come hide down here.”

Sombra shook his head. “The time for hiding has long since passed. I have to go to find the djinn in the desert,” the prince said solemnly.

“Djinn? Parisa put a finger to her lips. “I’ve never seen one before.”

“Well, you wouldn’t,” Sombra amended. “They live out in the White Desert. Their location is a secret that the Saddle Arabian royal family has passed down for generations.”

Parisa looked about nervously. “So are you going there to wish the invaders away? That is what djinn do, right, grant wishes?”

“Er… something like that,” Sombra said evasively. In truth, he was not sure what the djinn would do for him. But they shared a special bond with Sombra’s bloodline, and he was sure that if he went to find them, they would be of some help. A sudden thrill of an idea seized him.

“Come with me,” Sombra said, taking hold of Parisa’s upper arm. “I would not leave you here with these savage invaders, and the whole city will soon be under their control. We must away before they tighten the net around Masyaf completely.”

“A-Are you sure?” Parisa looked hesitant. “Won’t I just slow you down?”

“Nay, for my steed Stormchaser is the fleetest and strongest horse in the land. One so light as yourself will not bother him.”

Parisa still looked unsure, but the sound of clanking metal footfalls coming from the direction of the palace steeled her resolve. Parisa nodded and the two Sadde Arabians made their way to the horses.

Not bothering with the usual ornamental tack and harness, Sombra quickly dressed Stormchaser with a saddle and reins. Thankfully there were some other horses belonging to some palace guards who had just come in a few hours before, so Sombra took the food and water from their saddlebags and transferred them over to his own steed. Then he climbed into the saddle and pulled Parisa on in front of him.

Sombra looked around himself, taking in the sight of his home one last time.

Then he touched his spurs to Stormchaser’s sides and they shot off into the afternoon sun like a stone from a sling.

---

It was with great relief that Emerald broke through the winding streets and burst out into the open area that preceded the western gate of Masyaf. She quickly ducked behind an empty fruit stand, peeking around for her friends.

There was some kind of commotion going on at the gates. A handful of knights seemed to be trying to close them, but they were not having much luck doing so. They pushed against the huge double doors, but they refused to budge. Another knight hammered on the door to the gatehouse, but the ironbound door did not yield.

Looks like someone’s still keeping up the fight. Emerald thought thankfully. She continued scanning around for her friends.

Finally, she saw a familiar flash of rainbow hair just outside the gates, behind one of the farmhouses.

“Spectrum Song,” Emerald breathed. Now that she knew where her friends were, it was just a matter of escaping the city. Too bad that meant getting past the knights who were in the way. There was no way she could sneak by them, and the wall was too sheer to scale unassisted. Once again Emerald missed her wings.

The gates were putting up a good fight, but every now and then there would be a grinding sound and the two massive wooden doors would inch a little closer to their frame. She had to escape Masyaf now, or there might not be a way out later.

Her eyes traced around her surroundings, looking for something, anything that might help.

There! There was a pile of wooden crates that had been knocked down beside the gate, having fallen from a wagon with a broken wheel. The gates were still open wide enough that Emerald might be able to slip through the top.

“Now or never,” Emerald gritted her teeth and ran out from behind her hiding place. The knights were so focused on closing the gate that they did not hear her footsteps coming until she was almost on top of them.

By the time one of them turned around, Emerald had leapt off the pile of crates, sending wooden boxes everywhere. She then leapt onto the nearest knight’s head, and using the momentum from his straightening up in surprise, was launched up over the gate and landed outside the city walls in a crouch and roll.

The good news was that Emerald had managed to escape the city’s confines. The bad news was that she had now caught the attention of four of Morn’s knights, and they all spotted her out in the open. Swords were drawn from scabbards.

“Ah, horseapples,” Emerald breathed. She had her own sword, of course, and her armor. But she still didn’t think she could take on four men at once. She considered running, but leading them to her friends, most of whom had little fighting experience, didn’t appeal to her either.

Emerald drew her sword and stood up, facing the knights as they left the gates and began to run toward her. She was just about to rush them when something whipped past her left side and ricocheted off one of the knights’ pauldrons, leaving a smear of iron on the polished steel.

“We’re here, Emerald!” Posey’s voice came from behind the former pegasus. Emerald turned to look and Posey loosed a second arrow from her bow, this time managing to get it between two of the left-hand knight’s armor plates. The shaft struck deep into his knee, bringing him falling down onto the ground in a cloud of dirt.

The remaining three knights raised their shields, approaching slower now that they had lost one of their comrades. Then a glass vial full of red liquid sailed past Emerald’s right and shattered onto the middle knight. The liquid reacted with the air and burst into flames; not even Morn’s brainwashing was enough to keep the knight calm. Though silent, he dropped his sword and shield and flailed around before running towards a nearby well and falling in with a splash.

“You can do it, Em!” Nightfall Gleam’s voice came from a short distance away.

Emerald took advantage of the last two knights’ distracted faces to rush them with her sword, prepared to duel them. Her first swing was blocked by a shield, but she lodged her sword in the metal and grabbed the knight around the throat before activating her hidden blade, the steel puncturing the exposed mail and skin. It wasn’t deep enough to kill him, but it was all she could do before the knight kicked her away.

Emerald rolled on the ground and jumped back onto her feet. Her sword was still stuck in the knight’s shield, which would weigh it down. But now she was weaponless except for her hidden blades.

Posey was battling the other knight. She used her superior agility and acrobatics to keep from behind it, while looking for an opening with her knife and hidden blade. Eventually she managed to get in a strike in the knight’s underarm, where there was only chain mail. The knife punched through the metal rings and the knight’s entire arm went limp.

With one opponent left to her, Emerald ran at the knight. He raised his sword for a horizontal slash, but Emerald slid under the attack at the last minute and scooped up a sword in her hands. Before the knight could turn around, she got back up and kicked him over like a turtle. The armor might have been an advantage in fighting, but now it was only weighing him down. Emerald found the spot where the helmet met the breastplate and thrust the sword into the gap, severing the spine and killing the knight instantly.

A yell from the side caught the spymaster’s attention. Posey had fired an arrow at point blank range right into her opponent’s visor slot. The fletchings on the rear half of the arrow stuck out like a flag from the fallen knight’s face.

“Well,” Emerald panted as she staggered over to Posey. “That was a little closer than I would have liked. Thank you, Posey.”

Nightfall Gleam scurried over to them, a vial of flame magic in her hand. “We did it!” The mage cheered. “Where’s Hollow Wish?” She looked around. “She’s the one who told us to wait for you here.”

Emerald pinched a scabbard from one of the dead knights and buckled it to her belt, then slid her sword into it. “She stayed behind. Is it true? Morn has taken over Masyaf?”

Behind Emerald, the knight who had been shot in the knee slowly rose up onto one leg, holding out his left arm. A pair of crossbow arms flicked out from a heavy device on his wrist. There was a click as the bowstring was drawn into firing position.

“Emerald, watch out!” Posey cried out, pushing the former pegasus out of the way and drawing back her own bowstring just as the knight fired his weapon.

Emerald watched as if in slow motion as both arrows passed each other in the air. Posey let out a gasp, but the archer’s aim had been true. The knight was speared through the eye hole of his helmet by Posey’s shot and fell back, dead.

Posey stood there, slumped over. The barbed bolt from the knight’s wrist crossbow was stuck in her abdomen, the point of the arrow sticking out the back of Posey’s tunic. Bright red blood dripped onto the Saddle Arabian soil and ran in cherry-colored rivulets.

“Posey!” Emerald shouted, as distraught as if she had been the one who had been shot. She scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the archer. She was wearing a brave face, but it was obvious she was in a lot of pain.

“I’ll be alright,” Posey grunted, holding the site of the injury gingerly. “Just need… to get the arrow out…”

“We can help with that,” Nightfall said quickly. “But we can’t stay here. Look.”

The gates to Masyaf had finally swung shut. On the top of the wall, ranks of golden-eyed archers began to fire on the three women.

There was no choice but to move, wounded Posey or not. And that was no choice at all.

---

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

How many chapters long will this story be?

[A bag of plums]

10404950
While we don't have an exact number of chapters in mind, this story is going to be a longer one. We hope you'll stick around to the end, though!

[MixMassBasher]

This is a very action pack and tense chapter. Nicely done!

It will be interesting if the chapters are separated to show Sombra and Pinkie's ancestor and Em's group in their search for the genie.

Also, is Hollow Wish you know who in disguise?

[MoonlightRift]

Fuck, please be alright Posey.

Also is Hollow Wish Psithyra? 🤔