Ombra della Lama

by Vedavyasa

Follia

I was quick to find the next Sanctuary. I spent three weeks constantly searching Canterlot, both above ground and the sewers. When I found the gate, I called the mercenari to me with a promise of battle. Thirty answered my call, all strong pegasi stallions well versed in the art of combat. I told these stallions of the Cults actions, of what they had done both to ponies as a whole and to me personally. I could see the ira del sole in their eyes, they wanted to cleanse their home of this wretched infestation.

I led this group through the gate and in to the caverns. We were the fuoco dell'inferno that would scorch clean the festering wound the Cult had opened. When our hooves touched ground, we found the first cavern empty. I walked forward, thirty mercenari at my back, through the short tunnel that opened in to the main living area for the Cult. The gryphons sighted us, and the silence was an oppressive force against my ears, before one foolish Cultist screamed and charged at me, his small dagger aimed for my throat. I simply stood there as one of the mercenari shot him with a crossbow, I watched as the gryphon crumpled and skid before my feet.

The silence broken, the battle began. The old and infirm rushed to escape the cavern as the warriors among them desperately fought to give them time. I still walked through the cavern, observing the fear and hatred in the gryphon’s eyes. I could feel the animosity radiating from them, searing my third eye. I turned my glance to the mercenari, locked in combat with our enemies. I saw one of them fall, his throat torn from his body by the beak of a gryphon. That was when I joined battle.

The mercenari later told me I had cried as I fought, but I did not realise it at the time. I remember very little of that battle, only what the mercenari told me later. They told me that I tore through ranks of gryphons as if I were a whirlwind, shrieking like a demon from the inferno itself. They told me how I found the gryphons who had run from the main cavern, and killed them as well. Between my sete di sangue and the anger of the mercenari, no gryphons survived the attack.

Three mercenari fell in the battle. I can still remember their names. Bright Heart, Cieli Rabbia, and Astuta Volpe. When we emerged from the odd gate, we carried the bodies of these three brave stallions to their families before so much as cleaning the blood from our faces.

My debt against the Cult repaid, I began to wonder. I had felt confusion among the anger and hatred the gryphons felt, it was as if they did not know why I was attacking their home. I could not understand this. The Cult of Artemis ate ponies, yet they wondered why I hunted them. They planned to drive us from our home, and they did not expect to be met with resistance. I spent many days and nights pondering this, struggling with the sensation that I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

In order to solve this small mystery, I began to search for a single member of the Cult to question. It took me several weeks, but I eventually found a Cultist preparing for a hunt. He attacked me, but it was a simple matter to disarm him and knock him unconscious. By the time he woke, his wings and legs were tied to a wall so he could not escape.

He knew of me, this much was obvious, but he did not fear me. He called me Skygge, which means shadow in the gryphon tongue. I spent hours with him before he would answer my questions, and I fear that I cannot speak of what I did to him during that time. He told me of how the Cultists were all born into the Cult, taught from birth that ponies were inferior to the gryphons, that we were a weak species that would not resist their strength. He told me of the training they received, taught to fight with their claws and beaks. He taught me how to make the poison the Cult used, and also how to cure it.

Eventually, I felt my questions had been answered. I granted him the mercy of a quick death, and began to search for the next Sanctuary.

---

Translations

Follia- Madness, or Insanity

ira del sole - wrath of the sun

fuoco dell'inferno - Hellfire

sete di sangue - bloodlust

Cieli Rabbia - Heavens Rage

Astuta Volpe - Cunning Fox

Comments

[Mr Foster]

Eeyup. Coming along nicely.

[Ulteelectrom]

Is the language Spanish or Italian? I cant tell.

[Vedavyasa]

880333

Italian.

[Pr1nce55 Lun4]

Ok, I lied in the fourth chapter, I NEED MOAR RIGHT NOW!

[kris664]

I heard about Skygge before it's from my birth language danish and funny enough i love griffons ha you good sir/madam are simply awesome