• Published 28th Feb 2016
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Spear of the Windigos (Daring Do #2) - BookeCypher



Travel back to the start of Daring Do's career as she and Zapapple Tock race to stop Ahuizotl from obtaining an artifact of untold power that could plunge Equestria into an ice age. Book 2 of the Daring Do New Revision series

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Chapter 6

Zapapple and Daring ducked into the nearest bushes before they could be spotted as they watched their mysterious company continue their work. At this range, Daring could just make out the glint of claws underneath the long cloaks the pair in front of the tent were wearing, along with the occasional glimpse of a fur-tipped tail languidly swishing past the hem. “griffons – What are they doing here?”

“Looks like they're looking for something.” Zapapple replied. “Wonder what...” At that moment one of the tent flaps swung open as a stern looking white and tan griffon stomped out, his cloak fastened around his neck with a silver clutch. The two outside snapped to attention as he approached them. “Find anything?”

“No sir!” One of them replied immediately. “It seems the expedition was wiped out before they could reach the temple sir.”

The stern griffon, who Daring was mentally labeling their 'commander' gave a snort. “Good – then the spear might still be in place. Our employer is not paying us to loot an empty temple.” He pulled his cloak tighter around himself. “Too bucking cold up here. Alright – regroup with the others at the main complex. Raptorians - All efforts are to break into that fortress!”

“yes sir!” The two junior griffon's snapped off salutes before launching into the air and flying off across the camp. The two watched them go before Daring whispered to Zapapple. “Think they're military?”

“Can't be.” Zapapple replied. “Sierre Lyone doesn't have any reason to be sneaking around Equestria.”

“Friends spy on friends, Zap.” Daring pointed out.

“Yeah, well.” Zapapple shot back. “This ain't Canterlot. I could understand them pokin' around the capital, but out here? They said they were lookin' for some spear...”

“Maybe that's what the journal was talking about.” Daring suggested.

“Why the blazes would they want something like that?” Zapapple asked. “Especially since it seemed to drive its last owner bonkers.”

Daring was about to reply when a sudden snap had them both snapping around. A griffon in another of those dark cloaks was glaring at his own hind foot before looking back of the pair and braced to pounce as he bit off a curse.

His mistake had cost him his only advantage though. Daring and Zapapple lept out of the bush as the griffon crashed into it. “Sweet Celestia,”

Daring said, wided eyed as she found Zapapple grabbing her by one hoof and dragging her forward. “I think that griffon was trying to-”

Whatever she was going to say as a piercing shriek tore from the bush a moment before the attacking griffon stumbled out glaring daggers at them.
“Think he just called for back-up.” Zapapple informed her friend as they back away from the angry hybrid. “Daring?”

“Yeah?” Daring replied nervously.

“Run.” Daring needed no further encouragement from Zapapple as the pair of ponies turned tail and bolted into the sea of tents. Out the corner of her eye, Daring could just make out the griffon commander staring in their direction, slack-beaked before his feather started to stand on end in a look Daring usually saw when professor Storm Talon was truly enraged.

And then her view was lost as they passed into the maze of abandoned tents. The griffon behind them had taken wing and quickly gaining ground. They weren't going to be able to out-run him. “Zapapple.” Daring shouted to her friend. “Brace yourself.”

“Brace for-” Zapapple started to reply, but she didn't get a chance to finish it as her friend flared a wing, kicking up a massive plume of dust from the barren ground of the campsite as she grabbed Zapapple. The griffon plunged headfirst into the dust cloud and losing sight of everything, before careening out the other side of the cloud just in time to catch Daring's tail vanishing around the side of the tent that was square in front of him.

The pair of ponies had no time to watch their pursuer entangle himself in canvas as they continued their headlong rush into the abandoned camp. “Where are we going Daring!?” Zapapple shouted.

“Anywhere but here!” Daring replied as another pair of griffons appeared ahead of them. She took a sharp turn to the left and continued onward. But as they started to put distance between their first set of pursuers, another pair would appear. After a few sudden turns they had at least six griffons on their tails. “They're everywhere!” Daring shouted as she took another turn.

“Well, they have to run out of bodies eventually.” Zapapple replied, still hanging in Daring's grip. “How are you doing?”

“I can manage.” Daring replied, but her body told the truth. Her breathing was coming in short gasps, and even in the cold weather sweat was beading across her fur. “We just need to get to the woods. We can lose them there.” Zapapple wasn't sure if her friend could, but a moment later it became a moot point.

A massive brown wing suddenly unfurled in front of them, and Daring had no time to react as it swung into them and sent them cartwheeling. They hit the ground hard, tumbling head over tail until they collided with one of the tents. All Daring could do was groan as the world spun around her and her lungs decided that they weren't interested in air intake at the moment. She managed to get her eyes to cooperate at least as the sound of foot falls drew closer, looking up two see dual images of that griffon commander leering above them. He studied her for a second before turning to somebody else. “Tie them up and take them two the temple. Our employer will no doubt want to see them.” The griffon turned back to Daring as she tried to get her hooves under her. The last thing she saw was him curling a claw into a fist and bringing it down on her.

And then nothing.

The next time Daring awoke, she found herself laying on cold stone. A groan escaped her lips as she tried to bring a hoof up to rub at her aching head, but found she couldn't move them. Her head wasn't cooperating either, but she eventually managed to look down to see that she was hog tied.

A groan to her side made her look over to see Zapapple in a very similar position. “Zap?” She finally managed after a minute.

“Oh, my head...” Zapapple winced as her own headache hit her with its full force. “Daring? What happened?”

“We got caught.” Daring replied as she looked around the room. Her headache was thankfully retreating, and she could finally take in where they were. It looked like an entry hall of some sort, like what you would expect in a castle – if a little smaller. It was barely wider then one of the University's hallways and not much longer. The entire space was the same blueish-gray stone, the walls decorated with worn reliefs Daring couldn't make out in the gloom. The only light sources was the light from the doorway behind them, and a torch ahead of them held by....something.

The creature had its back to them as it studied the wall at the far end of the hall, and it seemed to be holding the torch with tail. It was maybe twice as tall as Daring and covered in purple fur. Next to Daring, Zapapple gasped as she caught sight of the thing at the far end of the room and that was enough to draw its attention. Daring found herself mimicking her friend as she saw the creatures head. It looked vaguely feline, or maybe canine – Daring wasn't sure. Its head was elongated, but where its nostrils should have been, and a grin that looked like it might wrap itself around its head slowly grew on its face as it saw they were awake. “Ah, how good of you to join us.” It's voice had a decidedly masculine lilt to it, and he spoke Equestrian with an accent that Daring was having trouble placing thanks to her headache – maybe horsepanic? He crouched down to Daring's eye level. “I go by Ahuizotl. Who might you be, my little pony?”
Daring gulped. “Daring. My name is Daring Do.”

His gaze slid over to Zapapple. “And you?”

“Z-Zapapple Tock.” She stammered.

Ahuizotl nodded as he rose back to his full height and turned back to the far wall. “It is fortunate that you could join us today, Miss Do, Miss Tock. Today is an auspicious day! For today, we rediscover one of Equestria's lost relics!”

“So, what do you need us for?” Daring managed to ask.

Ahuizotl glanced back at them an grinned. “Oh, do not fret my dear. You are most important.” he turned and gestured to the wall he had been studying. “It seems that whatever pony built this place was not keen on sharing – only a pony may open the way into the inner sanctum.” He gestured at the ground with his torch, and in the light Daring could make out a set of indentations in the floor that could have been hoofprints. “So, you will help us get inside – and past any other little obstacles that may have been left for us.” His elongated ears flicked around as the sound of others entering the chamber echoed behind them, but otherwise he didn't visibly react. “Ah, commander – I trust your people didn't find any other... surprises?”

“No sir.” The gravelly voice of the griffon commander sounded somewhere a few steps behind Daring, out of view. “We located their camp near the tree line – they barely had enough supplies for themselves, and no indication of back-up.”

“How fortunate then,” Ahuizotl replied. “That we will not be interrupted while we work. Get them up.”

Daring found herself roughly pulled back onto her hooves. “Do we need both of them, sir?”

Ahuizotl shrugged. “If a trap kills one, it will be nice to have a spare. Besides, if both are still alive at the end we can simply kill them then. Get the pegasus into position.” Daring was dragged forward by a pair of rough claws, the Ahuizotl creature side-stepping to let the griffon drag her into place. Her efforts to fight it were useless as another pair of griffons soon joined their friend in rough-handling her. After a few minutes of her struggling, one of the griffons had enough and socked her across the face. Daring felt her entire body tense at the hit before she went limp. The hit hadn't been enough to knock her out but it had been enough to knock her, quite literally, senseless.

With her no longer struggling, the griffons had little trouble planting her hooves in the waiting floor marks. As her last hoof slid into place and her full weight was settled onto the indentations, something underhoof triggered with a heavy thunk before the wall before them began to swing downward like a draw bridge. “Ah! Excellent – get them up. No reason to waste time laying about.” Daring found herself dragged back onto her hooves as they started forward. “Bring the earth mare up front – no reason to make the pegasus do all the work, hmm?”

Zapapple had apparently decided that fighting would do her no good for the moment as she glowered at the griffon dragging her forward as they passed Daring. Ahuizotl gave her his best friendly smile – which, considering just how many sharp teeth it displayed, wasn't too friendly.

“Miss Tock, you're cooperation is most appreciated.” He turned to the commander. “Leave one guard at the door – no reason to be caught off guard now.”

One griffon fell back as the rest of them continued forward. Soon, the only light was from Ahuizotl's torch until at some unseen signal the other griffon's not otherwise occupied by prisoners pulled out and lit torches of their own. Under the new light, the murals and writings on the wall popped out in contrasting shadows. “It's quite the story, you know.” Ahuizotl said casually as lead the way, keeping Zapapple a few paces in front of him. “Well, the story up front was. A stallion in the times before your hearth's warming traded everything for the chance to be spared from the storm – and he got exactly what he wished for.”

“I'm sensing a 'but' in there.” Zapapple said from up ahead.

“But,” Ahuizotl continued. “He couldn't control it. So he locked up in here for safekeeping until he could. Guess he never got back around to it.”
“So, what?” Daring asked. “This is some sort of weapon?”

“It is much more then that!” Ahuizotl stopped as he spun to face Daring. A wide, almost manic grin had spread across his long face. “Imagine it – control over the very powers that once threatened to destroy the world! Power that even the Princess couldn't hope to match!”

Daring found herself trying to back up from the manic creature, only to run into her griffon escort. “Why would you want something like that?”

Ahuizotl arched an eyebrow as he leaned back from Daring. “Why wouldn't you? The creatures of this world are judged by how much power they can accumulate. It is the way of things – the strong defeat the weak. You ponies value athleticism and knowledge, even wealth – all forms of power. Why shirk away from another?”

“The last guy who had this...whatever it is,” Daring replied as she found herself prodded along. “couldn't control it – what makes you think you can?”

“Simple.” Ahuizotl said with a shrug. “I am not a pony.”

“What the hay are you, anyway?” Zapapple asked, voicing a question that had been on both her and Daring's mind for a while.

Ahuizotl just smiled. “I am unique. Now, keep going – I'd like to claim my prize before night falls. Disposing of your bodies in the dark would be extremely troublesome.”

“Not really a good way to get us moving, you kn-” Zapapple started to say before she found a blue-furred hand wrapped around her neck.

Ahuizotl looked her in the eyes, his gaze as cold as the snow caps on the mountians outside. “Whould you prefer I end your torment and just kill you now?” Zapapple gasped for breath as she shook her head. Ahuizotl released her, letting her slump to the ground as she caught her breath. “I thought so. Now – continue.”

They pressed on, until the stone gallery they had been in finally showed signs of ending. As Zapapple stepped out through the final doorway, she came to a sudden stop. Ahuizotl nearly tripped over her and started preparing to berate her when he too suddenly fell silent.

When Daring and her escort finally caught up, she could see why.

Even with countless centuries of neglect, the grand hall they had stepped into nearly put the Royal Throne Room to shame. Vaulted ceilings arched overhead high enough that Daring figured she could use it for flight practice without worrying about altitude. Every column was intricately carved, designs of ponies and griffons and dragons were intermixed with curving trees and flowers – all inlaid with precious and semiprecious stones. The result was a gallery of twisting murals whose colors hadn't faded under the passage of time. Overhead, a treasuries worth of gem's was embedded into the ceiling to create a shining star-scape. The only piece of décor that had suffered for age were the windows along either wall – all that remained of the towering windows was now the skeletal remains of their frames, leaving a stiff breeze whistling through the room and little between them and what, as far as Daring could see, was a sheer cliff drop just beyond. “Sweet Celestia...” Zapapple whispered.

“Magnificent!” Ahuizotl rubbed his forepaws together in obvious glee. “These will make for an excellent bonus prize.”

“Compared to what?” Daring asked a she tore her gaze from the ceiling.

Ahuizotl replied by simply pointing across the room to the far side. There, where one would expect the dais with the throne in any other castle, was instead a towering stretch of wall decorated with a complex pattern of gems. “The real prize. This is not some simple castle, young mare. Residing within-”

“Is a weapon of great power.” Zapapple finished with a roll of her eyes. “Yeah, yeah – you said that already. Care to share what it is?”

Ahuizotl shrugged. “Not particularity. Now walk.”

Zapapple glared at Ahuizotl again before turning back to face the room ahead of her. She didn't even get as far as her first step before Daring put a hoof in front of her. “Its a trap.”

“Undoubtedly.” Ahuizotl replied nonchalantly. “That is why she goes first, you silly little pegasus.”

It was Daring's turn to glare at Ahuizotl. “Well, if there's more then two traps you're going to run out of ponies real fast.”

“If you can think of a better way,” Ahuizotl waved at the room ahead. “Be my guest. I will wait here.”

Daring turned back to the floor ahead of her. Like the walls and roof, it was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, but more closely resembled the abstract designs of the fall wall then the murals of the columns. It was a dizzying array of tiles, a mixture of blues and grays and black and white. Some were squares, others were triangles. None of tiles seemed to border the same color, and the result made the entire floor look like an abstraction of the surface of a rolling sea.

Daring studied the pattern of tiles closely, especially there surfaces. “Hey, Zap.” She asked as she nudged her friend. “Is it just me or do some of those tiles look less dusty then the rest?” Zapapple stared at where her friend was pointing and nodded. It was only on a few, and only near the front, but several of the larger black tiles had a notably thinner coating of dust on them then their neighbors.

Daring decided to play a hunch, scooping up a nearby loose stone and tossing it across the room. It hit the nearest of the black tiles with a heavy thunk.

Almost instantly the tile dropped away, swinging down like a trap door and dropping the stone into an abyss below. It was just close enough that Daring could see, if she stood on her toetips, the faint sheen of sharpened spikes rising from the bottom. “Who actually has those?” Daring asked to nopony in particular.

Next to her, Zapapple risked edging a little closer to peer down into the bottom of the pit. She felt her mouth go dry as she noted the rather sizable collection of skeletons at the bottom. “A-Apparently the pony who built this place. You think all the black tiles are like this?”
Daring nodded. “based on the state of the others near the front few rows.” she pointed at a few black tiles further out. “There's no way across that doesn't intersect a title – no straight way across, at least.”

“Why not go around them?” Zapapple suggested. “I mean, you figured it out.”

“Only because I got lucky with that dust.” Daring replied. “If it had been long enough since the last...visitors, they'd have all looked the same and we'd be skewered right now.” Daring shuddered. “We'd have just walked right into them...”

“But now we won't.” Zapapple replied. “Though, I have to wonder – why only the ones in front?”

Daring shrugged. “They probably spread out to search for traps – when they found them, they panicked and rushed forward.”

“That is...” Zapapple paled slightly. “...highly unsettling.”

“Tell me about it.” Daring shuddered again. “Lets just get across this already.” Carefully, the pegaus started to pick her way across the tiles.

Zapapple was right behind her, followed closely by Ahuizotl and his griffons. There was no rhyme or reason to the tile layout, meaning that what should have been a short walk across the room became more akin to navigating a minefield. “Not really much of a trap,” Zapapple quipped as they toed there way around another pitfall. “I mean, once you know which one's are deadly...”

“That assumes they are the only trap.” Daring replied as she worked out their next move. “Which it probably isn't.”

Zapapple glanced down at Daring before glancing down at her hooves like the floor was suddenly at risk of catching fire. “How do we find those traps?”

“Carefully.” Daring replied.

“That's not very comforting.” Zapapple said nervously.

Daring continued forward. “It wasn't supposed to be.”

Luckily, for everyponies health, they didn't find any other booby traps hiding in the floor and managed to reach the far side intact. The small group crowded onto the dais, everyone eager to get off the potentially lethal floor as soon as possible. Most of the griffon's were eying their surroundings nervously, but Ahuizotl and Zapapple were both staring up at the same thing as Daring – the massive stone monolith that occupied the chamber's back wall. “This looks almost like one of the Royal Vaults in Canterlot...” Daring mused as she studied the stone.

“Because you're SO familiar with those...” Zapappl said sarcasticly as the pegasus took wing to study the top of the stone.

“There was a chapter about them in Unturned's 'Castle on a Hill – a History of the Equestrian Capital.'” Daring replied. “Apparently the designs for some of the ceremonial vaults date back to the founding.”

“Wait, Unturned?” Zapapple replied. “As in Stone Unturned? I got assigned one of his books for my Foreign Relations classes – it darn near put me to sleep mid-class. How did you get through it!?”

“A lot of coffee.” Daring replied. “And he wasn't that bad.”

“The professor fell asleep mid-class while reading from it.” Zapapple replied. “You can't be serious.”

“yeah, yeah...” Daring ignored her friend as she studied the stone. “You know, if this is a vault like the one's in Canterlot, its been modified.” Daring paused before adding. “or, the one's in Canterlot were modified versions of this one...”

“What are you talking about Daring?” Zapapple said, cutting off her friend before she could get going.

“The vaults in Canterlot are designed to be opened by unicorns.” Daring explained, gesturing at the wall with a hoof. “But this one doesn't have a socket for a horn. Whatever unlocks it is something else.”

“Okay.” Zapapple said with a nod. “Any idea what?”

“Not a clue.” Daring replied. “Maybe the right sequence of gems? It could be tied into some of the tiles out there for all we know.” She gestured at the floor behind them. “There are literally a million possibilities. There is no way we'll be able to figure out which one its supposed to be in any sort of reasonable time.”

“I suspected this might happen.” Ahuizotl interrupted the pairs conversation before turning to one of the griffons. “Prepare the charges. Do try to keep it neat.” The griffon's went to work almost immediately, a few that had been bringing up the rear unloading their packs. Inside where a series of large brown cylinders, about the size of Daring's lower leg and each trailing a long fuse. The griffons brushed past them and began placing them around the vault's edge at regular intervals, tying and stringing the fuses together as they go. Ahuizotl watched the griffons work for a moment before turning to Daring and Zapapple. “Best to step back if you wish to live a little longer.”

“Don't you plan on killing us anyway?” Daring asked as she none-the-less took a few steps back. The griffons did much the same as one of them wired the fuse line into a small box with a plunger on top.

“Well, not by blowing you up.” Ahuizotl replied. “What do you think I am, a monster?”

Daring decided not to answer that, lest her demise be moved up the schedule. Instead she took another step back, slipping behind one of the griffons and coming to stand next to Zapapple. “Is it just me, or is this guy slightly...”

“Insane?” Zapapple finished for her.

“I was going to say 'unstable' actually.” Daring replied.

“Hey,” Zapapple said with a shrug. “If it keeps us alive...”

“Wonder how long that will last...” Daring replied, slumping a little. Ahead of her, the griffons had finished their work placing the charges, backing away from the wall before one bellowed a 'fire in the hole!' and depressed the plunger.

The thundering crack of the charges reverberated through the room as the charges detonated in sequence, working their way around the door clockwise until the last one detonated. Dust hung in the air, tossed up as the explosives rendered the ancient stone into powder, but it slowly settled to the ground. As their vision returned, Daring found herself slowly leaning forward along with the griffons and Ahuizotl as they all tried to get a look at their results.

Slowly, the shape of the stone slab began to reveal itself in the dust. They all held their breath as they stared at the slab. It stood solemnly for a moment before, slowly, it keeled over with a low groan before crashing into the floor beyond the doorway with a heavy crash. Around Daring and Zapapple, the griffons all gave a resounding cheer, patting each other on the back before Ahuizotl shot them all a glare, after which they quickly regained their decorum. “Now,” Ahuizotl said as he turned and started through the doorway. “it is time to finally collect my reward.”

Daring and Zapapple found themselves pushed along again as they stepped through the doorway and into the vault itself. The air inside seemed to drop in temperature almost immediately, and Daring found herself shivering in seconds. The room was walled in dark, almost black, stone with the only illumination coming from a series of gems studded into the floor like running lights that marked out their path. A thin layer of frost covered the corners and edges of the room, glinting an eerie blue in the gem light.

Other then the lights along their path, the only illumination came from the structure in the center of the room. Two massive pieces of stone stretched from the floor and ceiling, like intricately carved stalactite and stalagmite. They met in what seemed to be the exact center of the room, a series of circular steps leading up from the floor to the gap that hung between them.

And hanging there, suspended mid-air and lit by the pale blue glow of two massive gems above and below it, slowly spun a spear. It was maybe three meters long, and was a uniform blue the shade of a glacier. It's entire length was engraved with twisting and turning embellishments, swirls and lines that reminded Daring of a storm. The only part that was unadorned was the leaf-shaped blade tip, a smooth and uniform pale blue that seemed honed to a wickedly sharp edge.

“So the legends are true.” Ahuizotl nearly whispered as he padded up the step until he could peer at the weapon. “The power of Winter bound into a single weapon. A boon granted from those that feed and flourished in the discord of you ponies squabbling.”

“Zapapple,” Daring whispered to her friend as she tugged on her tail. “We shouldn't be here! This is a bad place.”

“I think that chicken's already flown the coop, Daring,” Zapapple replied as she watched Ahuizotl. “As much as I agree with ya.”

“The very powers that nearly destroyed the three tribes...” Ahuizotl tentatively reached out with one paw, magic crackling around his hand as he reached into whatever field kept the weapon suspended. “...is now mine!”

There was sharp crack as Ahuizotl took hold of the polearm and the magical field around it collapsed. Daring and the griffons flinched back from the altar, and when they turned back Ahuizotl was standing above them, his newly gained prize held out in front of him. “Behold! The Spear of the Windigos!”

Around them, the lights pulsed in the darkness as the stone centerpieces slowly retracted into the floor and ceiling. The castle rumbled around the party as they started out of the vault, long dormant mechanisms groaning to life after centuries of laying idle as they awaited the chance to serve their purpose.

And somewhere, buried deep in the caves of that lost valley, creatures stirred for the first time in ages. Chilling winds howled as they gathered their power, wispy forms of wind and ice that slowly coalesced into more equine forms. Someone had answered their summons – a claimant to their gift. A dozen pairs of eyes, glowing blue stars in the darkness, flickered to life as their slumber was broken.

A ghostly hoof came down on the stony cave floor, ice and frost spiderwebbing out from where it landed. The herd gathered in the cave's center, deep down in the cold and the dark, and turned their gazes upward. Up through the stone, through the castle, and to the nexus of their power as they felt the hate and malice flow through it.

And they howled.