The Duke Abides

by GrassAndClouds2

A Loyal Servant

Notary glanced down. The next roof was below her, not too far but not a safe jump either. Dropping from this height would hurt, but being blasted by Lightning and falling off the castle would probably hurt a lot more.

“Your boss cost me my career. I lost everything I cared about thanks to his machinations.” Lightning grinned, horn crackling and sparking. “And you helped him. You deserve this!”

He shot a massive blast of electricity at her just as Notary let go. She was trying to catch on to the wall a few blocks down, so she could then drop from a lower height, but she missed and fell to the roof below. Pain shot through her side as she hit. But nothing was broken, and Lightning was still coming, so she forced herself to her hooves and began running across the roof.

“Get back here!” She heard Lightning begin to climb down the wall, and dodged another blast of electricity that slammed into the roof beneath her hooves. “I won’t let you get away a second time!”

Lightning’s a soldier. He’s more physically fit than I am. Notary grimaced. This was going to hurt. She wished the Guards would show up – she’d have to escape from them, but she’d probably have an easier time dealing with ponies who wanted to arrest her than one who wanted to obliterate her, and they wouldn’t let Lightning toast her – but of course most of them were at the party for Cadenza, acting as security. This part of the castle exterior was deserted. No Guards would intervene.

And then there was no more time for thought. Lightning reached her level and began chasing her, shooting blasts of, well, lightning at her. Notary did her best to dodge, but she was hampered both by Lightning’s position behind her, and by her difficulty in not running off the rooftop and plummeting to the courtyard in the dark.

Greengrass had me memorize the castle’s architectural plans. This roof should connect with another, lower one just over there— She heard a blast and threw herself flat, feeling a few minor sparks as the lightning touched a couple errant hairs on her mane but otherwise shot harmlessly overhead. She got back up and resumed running —So if I can get to the edge of the roof and jump down, then I’m on that other one and that leads to a thin balcony that goes around the Hall of Portraits. The window—

The next blast singed her, and Notary couldn’t hold back a yelp of pain. Lightning’s shots hurt.

Lightning cried out something behind her, but Notary ignored him. She couldn’t run like this for much longer; she was already starting to feel a stitch in her side. But she couldn’t stop and hide for too long, because once the party started, the CCPS would attack and then she and Greengrass would be ruined. She’d just have to push on.

The next roof was up ahead. She jumped for it a few moments early, trying to avoid Lightning’s next blast. She dodged the shot, but almost missed the roof and only barely grabbed on to the edge with her forehooves. She felt a sudden sense of nausea as the rest of her body swung below, dangling freely over the empty courtyard.

Come on!

She pulled herself to her hooves and quickly ducked behind a small architectural flourish, a pile of stones half her height that had probably never served any practical purpose until that moment. She tried to breath as quietly as she could, and listened.

It’s dark, he’s got to be having trouble seeing me—

She heard a zap, and leapt out from cover just before Lightning blasted it to pieces.

Glancing at him, she saw that his eyes had taken on a reddish tinge. She recognized this as the sign of a basic see-in-the-dark spell; most of the soldier and Guard unicorns knew it. Evidently, the USF knew it too. But she didn’t have time to think on it more, because she had to run.

Lightning’s blasts burned her twice more, the second one almost knocking her off the roof. He was getting closer too, gaining on her as her strength began to flag. She narrowed her eyes at the wall she was rapidly approaching. If she could just get into the room, she might be able to hide well enough to slip away. She was almost there, she was at the balcony running around the building, she was at the unlocked window and opening it –

Lightning’s blast hit her directly in the back.

If she wasn’t an earth pony, if she didn’t have the constitution and stamina of an earth pony, she’d have been knocked out immediately. As it was, she was only sent tumbling through the window and sprawling onto the stone floor of the Hall of Portraits.

For a moment, she couldn’t get up. She hurt all over; her back had been blasted and her front had slammed into the ground. She was starting to feel dizzy. And she could still hear Lightning approaching, rapidly nearing the room. He’d get inside, and it would all be over.

I have to keep trying. I won’t let my ambition and dreams be destroyed by one unicorn with a few spells. I’m capable. I can get out of this.

She somehow managed to drag herself into a dark corner of the deserted room – of course, the Hall of Portraits was mostly used by the highest levels of the nobility to show off their personal art collections; they would all be getting ready for the party. That was too bad, but she couldn’t do anything about it now.

“Hey, Notary.” It was Lightning, hopping nimbly through the window and landing lightly on his hooves. “Surrender now and I’ll go easy on you. Promise.”

Does he really think I’ll fall for that?

Notary began to slip along the wall. The door she wanted was across the hall, and it was even open, which was a welcome stroke of luck. If she could get there without being seen, she’d have a chance.

Lightning began looking around, his eyes still glowing that strange red color. Notary saw a book somepony had left behind, and quickly picked it up and bucked it across the room. It slapped against the opposing wall, distracting Lightning long enough for Notary to make it several more feet.

“I’m done with this,” hissed Lightning. “Notary, I’m finishing this now!” His horn blazed, a bright, almost blinding glow .”I’m—“

Notary guessed that he couldn’t shoot while he was charging his spell. She took off at a dead run for the door, running through it and slamming it behind her. She put on a burst of speed; this straight hallway would be a problem if Lightning got a clear shot at her.

The door behind her exploded off its hinges.

Notary threw herself down, again, but this time her luck ran out, and a piece of the door slammed into her head. She saw stars.

There – a door to her left. She couldn’t remember where it went, but she knew she couldn’t last in the straight hallway. She took it, hearing Lightning running up behind her. The door led to a small conference room, and –

And many ponies were there; at least twenty ponies in a room that could comfortably seat perhaps twelve. They were milling around, a few holding drinks. It looked like a meeting that had just broken so ponies could get coffee and snacks.

She skidded to a halt before anypony noticed her and immediate assumed her best ‘professional servant’ look (or as good a look as she could with her various new bruises). Then she ducked behind a stout pegasus, who was expounding on her wonderful investment strategies, and began sneaking across the room.

Lightning skidded into the room. “Hey! You—“

Everypony turned to stare at him.

He hesitated, his eyes losing their red glow. “I apologize,” he said, stiffly. “I’m looking for a white-coated earth pony, off-white mane, cutie mark of scrolls. Has she been in here?”

The other ponies shook their heads, clearly not paying him much attention. Notary was all too familiar with the ponies in the room, the rich and powerful who rarely saw servants unless some task had not been completed correctly. She was practically invisible to them.

She collected a tray and picked up a few dishes, making sure to keep as many ponies as she could between her and Lightning. The door at the other end of the room, she recalled, led to a servant’s passage, and then a staircase that would take her back up to the noble quarters. If she could get there, she could start figuring out the next part of the problem, how to unlock Fisher’s door and get Greengrass out.

She was very close to the door, the tray of dirty dishes balanced on her back, when the crowd unexpectedly parted between her and Lightning. She glanced in his direction just in time to see him look her way. He paused, then grinned.

Notary opened the door and exited, then hastily put the tray down and ran off.

###

Through the servant’s passage. Up the stairs, into the noble quarters. Then she had to climb still higher on different staircases, moving from the Lords and Baronets to the Duchesses and Countesses and finally reaching the level for Archdukes.

A blast zipped over her shoulder, digging a furrow into the stone wall.

Gasping and panting for air, Notary staggered to Archduke Fisher’s door. Her hopes that the door would be easier to open on this side were quickly dashed – the lock was shining with some kind of magical spell; she wouldn’t be able to pick it even if Lightning wasn’t pursuing her. There were no ponies around that she could use as witnesses to stop Lightning from zapping her; they were all heading to the party.

No. I can’t fail now. I can’t fail myself and Greengrass. There wasn’t much panic in her thoughts, just a simple dictum stipulating that she could not fail. It simply wasn’t an option. Her job was to serve Greengrass, to serve him loyally and well; to fail now would be to fail her most fundamental duty.

I worked all my life to acquire the skills to be useful in almost any situation. I have to know something that will get us out of this…

Lightning chuckled. “Time’s up, Notary.”

Notary backed against Fisher’s door, the inklings of a plan forming in her head. That thing Greengrass did, just a few minutes ago… yes… She wasn’t good at politics, she wasn’t good at manipulation, but she would need to use those skills to survive the next two minutes. “You really hate us, don’t you? For costing you your commission.”

“More than you can imagine.”

“Then how can you work for Fisher? All those ponies in the CCPS, whose lives are about to be over, they’d never have done any of it if he hadn’t funded them. If he hadn’t founded the group.”

“That’s different. They’re responsible for joining.” Lightning grinned.

“Okay, what about the Shadowbolt spies?”

Lightning flinched, and Notary knew that her guess was correct. “He knew about the spies," she continued. "I figured out that message I delivered to Mango was about them. Fisher knew that the Shadowbolts were getting ready to bust the group, so he tried to get Mango to stop them first.”

“That’s – that’s different.” Lightning’s grin was gone; he looked furious. “The USF is essential for the nation.”

“What do you think will happen to those spies now? They failed to take down a mango farmer. They needed Duke Greengrass’s help to stay alive – meaning they're indebited to him, and me. There’s no use in a secret agent who owes favors.” Notary shrugged. “Their careers are as gone as yours is.”

“Shut up!”

“And you support that kind of thing now. I guess it’s different when—“

Lightning’s horn glowed. “All I know is that Fisher is right. That you and Greengrass are depraved and need to be removed from the Court – by any means necessary. We would have settled for having you arrested, for going down with the CCPS, but now? Now I’ll remove you permanently!”

Notary watched his horn glow. The first part of her plan, angering Lightning into blasting her – while she stood in front of Fisher’s warded door – had worked. Now she had to enact the second step, surviving the forthcoming blast. It had taken him about six seconds to cast the spell earlier – she had a highly accurate sense of time, another of her many skills -- and she counted them off in her head. She would have to time this perfectly.

He fired.

She flung herself flat.

The spell slammed into Fisher’s door and blasted it to pieces, sending wooden splinters flying everywhere. Notary cried out as a large splinter struck her rear right leg.

A crackle of energy announced the anti-thief spells on the door. They formed into blasts of energy, and shot at Lightning—

Whose horn glowed. The energy blasts dispersed.

“Nice try. But Fisher trusts me, because unlike a rat like you, I’m worthy of trust. He gave me the keys to the place, as it were.” Lightning approached Notary, who couldn’t get up; she was out of energy. “Now what? How does it feel to be in my position from a year ago, Notary? Helpless against some force you can’t possibly stop?”

“I’m not helpless,” she managed.

“Oh?”

“I remember something that I think you forgot.”

“What—“

And then Duke Greengrass barreled out of Fisher’s office, bodily slamming Lightning into the wall. Lightning was a soldier, but even he was stunned by the sharp impact. He fell to the ground, and a few bucks knocked him out.

Greengrass hurried over to Notary. “Are you all right?” He sounded worried… almost afraid.

Notary smiled slightly. “Fine. But, sir…”

“What?”

“When you rehire me, I want hazard pay.”

Greengrass couldn’t help but laugh as he got Notary on to his back. “When I hire you back, I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

Comments

[Talon and Thorn]

Go Notary actionpony, she certainly gets bashed up a lot here doesn't she.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Who should I cheer for, here?