Hunter's Path

by SwordTune

Cry Softly, and Carry A Big Sword

=============================================================

Politics and espionage will never leave civilization, and any good civilization will never be founded by being good. Filling a power vacuum--that's the path. And targeting those on the outskirts of society, that has always been the way to get away with it.

In trusting Thesa Ruse, and giving Aeduard's cause a chance, I left a power vacuum that brought another hunter into Bovinus. And with his contract completed, whether or not he can collect it, will leave a bigger gap of power within the city, and--as it has for ages--the chaos will give rise to a stronger order.

=============================================================

"What are you still doing out here then?"

Fiora sighed over the campfire. Somewhere, about a mile off, Loralae's havoc remained. A disaster so large, Argent and Geiss saw in on their way back from their business.

Geiss played with her new collar. Island Hopper's making, a thin chain of pure black platinum with runes and wards inscribed into its links. It was designed specifically to hold back whatever curse was inside her. And Fiora couldn't stop Holpein from splitting his skull.

"Can't look Lora in the face right now." She didn't know if she could do it, ever.

Argent nodded. "Understandable. You did let that hunter kill him, or at least the vampire equivalent."

Fiora closed her eyes and rewound what happened. Lora had pulled Island Hopper's remains up from the mud and rubble. Even in his state, the night silver that scattered throughout the water still glowed softly, reacting to the magic leaking from his body.

"Enchanted vial, now," she had demanded from Fiora. Her saddlebag had gotten drenched from the flood, but sure enough she had a vial for enchanted potions.

Loralae had taken the vial, her water, and she had taken Island Hopper's magic. Whatever was left inside his body was drawn out by a whispered song. Even with her mutant hearing, there wasn't a chance for Fiora to hear past the veil Lora had put around her words. Whatever the song, it had sentiment and emotion, some unquantifiable ingredient to the spell.

"Hey." Argent nudged Fiora out her thoughts. "Whatever you blame yourself for, you'll be fixing it by going back."

"What do I say?" She stared into the fire. At this rate, the flames had a better chance of showing her an answer.

Geiss took her attention off her chain and tumbled playfully over to Fiora's side. "You don't talk a lot, but I always know what you are thinking."

Fiora smiled at the filly. Her curse was a mystery, but not her mind. She was clever, learned fast from the other hunters, and was by far a better pony than she.

"What did you find on the path?" Fiora asked Argent. He wouldn't have taken Geiss on a contract if unless it was something curiously important.

"Traces of Cyana's warpath," he answered, his tone a mixture of impressed and worried. "Knew it had to be her when I saw the contract on a golheim infestation."

"Infestation?" That caught Fiora's interest. "She managed to make more than one so quickly?"

Argent gave a knowing nod. "Far more than one. Animation magic's her specialty," he said.

"And what did you find?"

"She's getting closer to the High Mountain, that's for certain." He produced a piece of parchment from a pocket on his armor and gave it to Fiora.

Father's fern, jeremejevite crystal, timberwolf's bane, it read, among a slew of other incoherent writing, marred by damage from magic. They were all ingredients found only in the High Mountain Kingdom, right at its capital. Whatever spell she was planning to do with those ingredients was meant for exactly one target.

"You going to track her?" Fiora guessed at Argent's next action. All hunters felt some semblance of community with their own schools, but being outcast mutants made the hunters of Bach Kha'morghen a lot closer together, and none promoted their family more than Argent.

"Soon," he answered, casually picking Geiss up and entertaining her with a back-ride. "She's not very subtle when she wants to act, but she'll take her time planning it. It'll be a while before she does something else."

Fiora got up, the damp spots on her armor now gone. "And Geiss?"

Argent chuckled. "I can play babysitter, Fiora, but you picked this filly up. I don't know how long it'll take to meet up with Cyana, and I can't watch a kid for that long. You on the other hoof, are a different story."

"Right, because my kids had an outstanding childhood," she replied flatly.

"Think of it as another chance," he suggested to her. "I'm sure Geiss would prefer it over being in a stuffy house for who knows how long."

"Well then," she looked at Geiss and levitated her off his back. "I believe we have somewhere to be right now."

=============================================================

Fiora didn't know how she would react to seeing the Golden Hills. Much of the city, in fact, felt dead. As Fiora and Geiss walked the streets, they only saw bulls sweeping the streets, cows with baskets of cloth on their backs, and poor colts running from corner to corner, looking to polish horseshoes.

And it was just a day, Fiora realized. She had returned from the north just this morning, and tore through the city throughout the afternoon. It was late. Moon high and stars spanned wide across the sky, whispers on the wind were the opening and closing of shutters and the echoes of wind chimes, but those whispers sounded like music.

No. That wasn't the music. She realized as they turned past a glassblower's shop that the whispers on the wind were just whispers, and the music was the Golden Hills. Loralae's voice flew through the windows and out into the night, and lights and sounds of revelry turned the inn into the brightest star in the night.

"I've been going to the wrong funerals," Fiora told herself as she brought Geiss in.

Nothing seemed out of place. Every stallion, mare, and singer moved through the inn like a tapestry. Lora stood, her magic in full force, gripping at the minds of all the ponies. A dozen singers kept up with her, switching languages on command, but Fiora could feel her sword humming gently in its sheath. The others were singing, but it was with Lora's voice.

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

S'acu gilha mar, entan t'inn y tog

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

Entan t'inn y tog

----

Come my dear, our worlds are torn,

Cross with me, where the stars are born,

Join with me, you'll be whole my love,

This battle will be won.

From the land beyond, through the ancient fog,

You bear these lips as my Aes mark,

Here's my goal: to bring you home

With eternal song

----

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

S'acu gilha mar, entan t'inn y tog

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

Entan t'inn y tog

T'inn y tog, hold on beyond the fog.

T'inn y tog, I'll bring you back from beyond the fog.

Fiora knew Loralae had spotted her. Some stranger, a bull, was the tender at the bar. She looked at Geiss, then at the bottles behind the counter. Geiss's collar held her magic, it didn't take it away. Fiora figured any effect alcohol had on her would be healed away instantly by her curse.

Besides, she was thirsty.

"A bottle of something sweet, and nothing dry," she told the bull. He nodded, slipped a couple glasses onto a tray, and set it on the counter for her.

"I thought you said he needed magic to heal," Geiss looked around, wondering how Island Hopper was going to come back. "Will my curse magic work?"

"Careful, not every pony understands magic," Fiora cautioned Geiss. "You shouldn't mention it around others. Besides, right now there's no one who can heal him but her. These things aren't exactly well documented." They both turned back to the music, this time sung by different voice. Or rather, a different voice Lora chose.

Far away from where you grew,

A voice so pained reaches out to you,

Though it seems like a fallen tale,

Your body, I'll renew.

Stay with me on this distant hill,

We built this life on my sacred field,

Don't run away, but be mine my love

Just be safe and you shall heal.

----

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

S'acu gilha mar, entan t'inn y tog

S'acu gilha mar, scuien ah criva,

Entan t'inn y tog

T'inn y tog, hold on beyond the fog.

T'inn y tog, I'll bring you back from beyond the fog.

"How long will it take?" Geiss asked. She meant the healing for Island Hopper.

Fiora wanted to tell the truth. "I don't know, but it'll feel a lot longer for us than him," she said instead. Even with a Nixe, a few decades was a generous estimation. Fiora couldn't be sure beyond that, but in any case it wouldn't be soon. From the movements of the revelers, the ceremony had just begun.

Wine passed from table to table, and haughty critics were finally swaying their bodies with the compelling force of the music. Fair maidens danced along between the tables, giving plenty to please the eyes as song and music pleased the ears. The time to talk wasn't now. Fiora poured a cup of wine for Geiss.

Her face soured at the taste. "Blech, why do you drink that all the time?"

"Alcohol cleans water, killing the harmful substances inside," she answered, topping up her glass. "Besides, you get used to the taste. And then you might start to like it."

Geiss looked down at the cup, and sipped again. Her face twisted, the wine feeling sharp on her tongue. The only consolation was its sweet, fruity taste, not unlike the candy Argent refused to let her have. Still, Fiora seemed to love it more than candy.

Geiss simply tipped the glass and licked off the wine that touched her lips. "I hope Lora doesn't sing for too long."

=============================================================

They waited up in Lora's room. Downstairs, her magic still made a captivated audience out of the ponies, and upstairs her room still had Island Hopper's scent. Her songs now slowed, calming the crowd as much as it had excited them earlier in the night. Until finally a silence so loud it made Fiora's ears ring.

Applause and hoof-beating on the floor met the end of the performance as glasses clinked to finish off the night. Geiss moved back and forth around the room, practicing her hoof-work and balance for a new sword flourish Argent had shown her. She moved awkwardly, Fiora noticed. The technique was meant for a winged-mutant, who could find extra balance with their wings. Nevertheless, she slowly made improvements.

Fiora could hear Lora walking up the stairs, but in an instant she was through the door, locking it behind her.

"No reason beating around the bush," she sated bluntly as she reached for a stack of papers from her bedside drawer. "I want you to kill Stranglethorn. I have details on he businesses that can help you find her."

Fiora reeled back from the proposition. She expected to be blamed for failing to save Island Hopper. Was she not partly responsible, for leaving, for letting him die? Though, she supposed Stranglethorn deserved the most blame in the end. Still, Fiora shook her head.

"Can't take a contract on a pony."

"Can't, or won't?" Loralae hissed. "The reason we met was thanks to the bounty on Island Hopper's head. It's the reason he died. This isn't any different. Even her name says it all; the way she kills her victims makes her more of a monster than Island Hopper ever was."

"Anger won't bring him back," Fiora told her. "I came to see what I could do to help in the restoration process, but right now I'm not understanding any of it. Tonight didn't really seem like a funeral ceremony."

Lora scowled. "What would you know about restoring a higher vampire?" She shook her head. "It doesn't matter, I can handle it myself. Every vampire needs magic to regenerate their bodies, but how they get it is crucial. Island Hopper didn't want his own memory celebrated, he wanted the Golden Hills to be. Every performance I sing a spell that draws on the magic of every listener, and as the Golden Hills prospers, Island Hopper will heal."

Fiora tilted her head, thinking on the songs she heard. "Didn't hear any spell or incantation in all that singing."

"Good," she replied. "No pony's meant to hear it. It's magic more ancient than the dirt this city was built on, summoning power from the vampire's homeland."

"Which is?" Fiora dug deeper, her curiosity growing.

Lora's eyes shot dagger so sharp it almost seemed like she was about to flood the entire city. "Did you just come here for a lesson on monsters? I don't know where they came from, just the spell that Island Hopper taught me. If you're not going to help, at least keep quiet so I can think of something else you can do."

She tossed aside her papers, scattering them over the desk. Her turned to a page that had fallen on the floor, a copy of a monster contract signed by one of Stranglethorn's underlings.

"I don't just want her dead," Lora muttered. "Her network of evil, her stifling control on this city, I want it gone. I want her destroyed."

She snatched up the page and a dozen others and showed them to Fiora. "Stranglethorn thinks she can take our business by getting rid of Island Hopper. I'll show her different. But if I'm going to own her businesses, their problems have to go away first."

Fiora took the contracts. They weren't big ones, not like the ones Stranglethorn gave personally, but there were a lot of them. Corpse eaters defiling a cemetery, a puca destroying crops, and rumors about a pack of drukivacs wandering along caravan roads.

"And what will you do?" She asked Lora.

"Begin by ordering shipments of steel," she answered. "Island Hopper chose his name as a pony thanks to the many places he enjoys to visit offshore. I know for a fact at least one of those have steel I can import at a competitively low price."

"Without her ironworks outside of the city," Fiora prodded at her plan, "I suppose you'll be the only supplier for the city's blacksmiths?"

"Exactly so," Lora nodded, then turned to a ledger on the desk. She looked at its pages as if she could envision her success. "Once I control the city's steel, it won't be hard to manipulate the manufacturing sector; textile and smithing trades will be under my control."

"Alright, easy there," Fiora slowed her down. "No point telling us. Geiss doesn't get it, at least I don't think, and I always find myself short on gold."

Lora gather up the papers she scattered across the floor, picking out the other contracts and giving them to Fiora. "You have to take care of these contracts. Stranglethorn won't be away forever, and from what you've told me, her niece seemed prepared to carry out every order blindly. I can't manage the businesses and deal with monsters the way she does, not yet at least."

Before Fiora could say anything, Geiss jumped between them and grabbed the pages. "Yes!" she cheered. "Argent wouldn't let me anywhere near Cyana's monsters. But you'll let me hunt with you, right?"

Fiora caught Lora staring at her, eyes wide and perplexed. "Hey," she said. "what did you expect? I don't know how else to raise a child, alright?"

Loralae shrugged. "As long as she's happy, and the contracts are finished, I won't judge."

Fiora picked Geiss and planted the filly her her back, levitating the contracts from her grasp. There were many more, but none too dangerous. All simple, straightforward for the most part. Some were a little farther off, in the countryside. Sleeping bags, starry nights, they were aplenty now, and Geiss would be there for all of it.

"Alright," Fiora said. "High time we got back on the path."

=============================================================

"Speed up," Fiora cautioned Geiss. "You're not supposed to react to it, you need to anticipate it. Move before it does."

If anything wrong happened, they were on a major road that connected Bovinus to all the villages and towns on the northern half of Midshore. Herbalists and a safe inn was less than an hour away. And in any case, there wasn't anything this monster could do that Geiss couldn't heal from.

Geiss ducked down, tumbling on the ground as the drukivac sailed over her in a vicious, fang-ridden lunge. It was similar in size and shape to a medium dog, only with an arched back. Its fur was black all over, and so were its eyes. Only the fangs it barred were white, and glistened with a hallucinogenic venom. It hissed, and Geiss side stepped.

Endless farmsteads with pigs in mud fields and tall grasses for hay stretched on both sides of the road, giving Geiss all the space she needed to move, and more.

She swung her sword, a gift from Argent when he heard Fiora would be taking her on more contracts. It was an old one, his first one, in fact. It seemed fitting to make it Geiss's first too.

"Moved to soon," commented Fiora. She pointed to her eyes. "They can see you too, and won't let you get away so easily."

"Was it this hard for you?" Geiss grunted as she jumped back, keeping out of the monster's reach.

"Worse," Fiora smirked. "I had Master Stonewood and Guerrier to train me. They would remind me to space my hooves evenly if they saw hoof-work like that."

Geiss laughed, but only for a moment. Geiss raised her sword level with the ground as the drukivac lunged, cutting it across the jaw before it got anywhere near her. It flinched from the wound, scrambling on the ground to find its footing. It only needed a moment to get up, but Geiss needed less than that to drive her blade through its back.

She wrapped her foreleg around the handle and pulled. It was a mutant's sword, with a long handle for horn or wing to use, not a piece to lock tightly with a horseshoe. For any other pony, it would have been too short to grab like a spear, but she was smaller.

"Could use improvement, right?" she breathed heavily as Fiora came around to inspect it.

Fiora nodded approvingly. "Not bad, actually. Reaction time's slower, and judging by the shearing on the jaw, you could practice your edge alignment for a cleaner cut, but it's good considering your experience."

"So what's next?" asked Geiss, eager to read the next contract.

"Now we collect the gold," Fiora replied bluntly. "You did it. Killed one of every monster on these contracts. Only thing left to do is get paid and head out."

"Head out? You mean leave?" Geiss suddenly seemed to question her desire to hunt monsters. "But Loralae, and Island Hopper?"

"Lora has every blacksmith in Bovinus eating out her hoof right now," Fiora replied. "And it only took a week and a half. And from the comments I've heard from all the merchants, Stranglethorn is on her way back as we speak. She'll probably arrive tomorrow evening, at the latest. And when she gets here, I don't want us getting caught in a war between Loralae and Stranglethorn."

"But she killed Island Hopper" Geiss said sternly. She pointed down the road, back the way they came. "They're still in Bovinus."

"The other hunter carried it out," Fiora tried to explain, already knew it would fall on deaf ears. "Besides, it's not just her fault. She's the head of an organization, with her husband as the criminal-in-chief. On top of that, it's likely that dozens of merchant lords, council ponies, and guild masters were, and still are, in support of Stranglethorn's agenda. We can't fight them all."

"Lora thinks she can," Geiss countered.

"She's a Nixe. That alone is more than what we can do," Fiora added. "Not to mention all of Island Hopper's assets that she has access to. Inns are the perfect place to tap into business networks. At least, for a hunter, they're the most reliable place for a contract."

"But we can stay and do more," Geiss insisted.

Fiora sighed. "Being on the path means knowing when to leave and when to stick around, Geiss. Most of the monsters around here are cleared out. There won't be much to do for a while. So we'll go, but that doesn't mean we can't come back."

Geiss cleaned her sword and returned it to its sheath. "Fine. But only on one condition."

"Oh really?" Fiora raised a brow. "What is it?"

"I get to choose the next contract."

=============================================================

Everything in Bovinus moved so fast. To take the place of her aunt while she was away, Thesa had moved back from the mills outside the city walls and into a manse in the center of the city, becoming a neighbor to powerful members of its council.

Thesa's was the last of the contracts Fiora wanted to complete, but Loralae insisted. She wanted to strike at the heart of Stranglethorn's business, and at the moment that was controlled by her niece. Though it was at the heart of the city and smaller than Stranglethorn's own home, there were still servants moving in and out of the house, bulls and cows carrying crates of apples, oranges, and linens.

"Must be nice," Fiora commented as she passed neatly trimmed hedges and maids sweeping the cobbled walkway into the manse. She half wished she had agreed to let Geiss tag along, but Sharp Tone and Argent insisted the filly had some time away from hunter work. For as reluctant as Argent was about taking her as a hunter in training, he was surprisingly eager to pamper her like her was an uncle.

Fiora trotted to the door and knocked, and was greeted by the manse's majordomo, a middle-aged stallion dressed in white with blue leaves and flowers hemmed into his cloth.

"Ah, the hunter, I presume?" His speech was nobly accented. Fiora recognized it from the numerous court messengers that the Southern king would send to Bach Kha'morghen to request aid against a monster.

He stepped aside and beckoned her in. "Lady Thesa has been expecting you. She insisted I welcome you her estate with a tour, as she's currently away at a dinner party."

Fiora looked up at the sky. It had only just begin to turn to a pinkish orange. "A little early for that, don't you think?" She entered the manse.

"Perhaps," the majordomo acknowledged, "but such things to tend to take up a great deal of time. But, we shouldn't tarry long. Her lady's estate still has much to see."

"Look, uh, what's you're name?"

"Sauffos, Master Hunter," he answered.

"Alright Sauffos, I'm not an aristocrat, and I'm definitely not used to all," Fiora waved her hooves at the carved and lacquered wood railing on the stairs, "this."

"What are you suggesting?" he inquired.

"Maybe we can just skip the tour?"

The majordomo shook his head in vigorous refusal. "Absolutely not! Apart from disobeying the wishes of Lady Thesa, which would be highly irregular, it would be an affront on the artwork behind organizing and furnishing this masterpiece of a manse. Surely you can appreciate good crafts, and the effort ponies put into it."

"When it's a sword, or maybe a piece of armor," Fiora replied.

Before she could say anything else, Sauffos was already guiding her through the next door. "Then you will have your breath taken when you see the dining decorum."

=============================================================

"...in 896 A.O., this very piece of furniture was commissioned by the Regent of the Tundra as a gift to the prime council member of Bovinus. It has now fallen into obscurity, unfortunately."

Fiora sat in the exorbitantly cushioned chair Sauffos couldn't stop talking about, sipping wine made at the start of the first war between the Far Coast and High Mountain Kingdom, wearing an orchid robe over her armor that was tailored by the first cow to become a fashion designer.

"We finally made it to the study," Fiora groaned. "You can stop the tour now, Sauffos."

"But the wall adornments-"

"-will just have to wait for the next guest," Fiora finished his sentence.

"Sauffos," Thesa's voice ringed as they both heard her hooves tapping up the stairs. "The chef has a question about tomorrow night's dishes." She turned through the door of the study just then.

"Oh, you did come," she said when she saw Fiora, and then turned to her majordomo. "There seems to be a problem involving the cauliflower. Could you see what it is?"

Sauffos bowed his head. "Of course." He gave a smaller bow to Fiora and then left for his next task.

Thesa took her seat across from Fiora, picking up the bottle of wine Sauffos had opened to accompany the tour. She poured half a glass without speaking, wafted the scent, and smiled as she drank.

"I always did like studying the wars we ponies get ourselves into," she said in a gentle, matter-of-fact voice. "Father protested every lesson of course, thought it unbecoming of a lady, but my mother believed a good wife was one who was informed, so she made me study."

Thesa gestured around the room. The rest of the manse was spacious, but the study felt stuffy and cramped. Every book, quill, and parchment was no more than two steps away from the desk, and to Fiora it looked more like the libraries from her first fortress, Bach Tor'al, where hunters would spend days reading old manuscripts on blade work.

"The countryside didn't suit me," Thesa said. "This place is a lot more like home. I picked out as many copies of my favorites as a filly as I could find."

She reached to her left and pulled a thin, leather-bound journal from a bookshelf on the wall. "The scribe made some interpretations on Dopar's writing that I don't agree with, but this copy is more or less true to his writing on the second war with the High Mountain."

"Read about it myself," Fiora commented, "though mostly on how battalions of soldiers would encounter dens of demons while they scouted the South Coast."

Thesa opened the journal, barely registering what Fiora said. "When I was young, I loved reading everything Dopar heard and noticed about espionage. Commanding spies, paying off leaders and military officers," she stopped halfway through and smiled, "and manipulating businesses."

She slid the book across the desk and showed it to Fiora, pointing to a specific line of text. Circled in dark black ink, the journal read: ...assassins made company of fortune, using the meeting of generals for them to kill.

She eyed Thesa. "I'm guessing you didn't carry my pay all by yourself. That's a lot gold."

"Certainly so," she nodded back. "Servants should be bringing it this very moment."

Fiora honed her hearing in on the hallways outside. The manse was filled with bulls and cows cleaning and sweeping, but of the four servants outside the study, only two swept a path strait to the door. Fiora could listen closer still, hearing daggers being drawn from false brooms.

She stood and rushed at the door. One assassin jumped back from the eruption of movement, but the other was committed to his attack. He rushed Fiora and yelled, "The King of Thieves sends-" before Fiora grabbed his head with her wing and slammed him to the ground.

The other assassin regained his stance as quickly as Fiora drew her sword. She thrust her sword, he parried with the dagger. She gripped his shoulder with her wing and spun him around with the flow of his motion, slashing his back before he could recover.

"King of Thieves sounded like a stallion with better assassins." Fiora sheathed her sword and turned to Thesa. "Thanks for the heads up, but isn't that taking a risk?"

"Well I owe you still," she said, leaving the study room with a key around her neck. "I have your pay for all those contracts locked up in a safe below the manse. No pony knows about it. I paid the bulls who carried the safe for me to move out of Bovinus."

"Don't want Stranglethorn to find out?"

"Karam Bit, more like," Thesa corrected. "You destroyed his ironwork, and now your friend's on a crusade to take everything they've worked to acquire."

"Which begs the question: why help me?" The two of them walked pass a couple maids dusting the walls. Fiora could hear Sauffos in the kitchen, shouting something about wrong shipments. And even though she had seen nearly every corner of the manse, Thesa was right about how well hidden her safe was.

The living room was empty, already swept clean by the staff, but the safe was still perfectly hidden. Thesa kicked the wood out of the fireplace and reached into a compartment Fiora could barely see. She heard the click, however, and watched as Thesa opened the false back of the fireplace. Inside were diamonds and books and, as promised, a sack of gold coins.

"Aunt Stranglethorn said to manage her businesses, not defend it from a hostile takeover." Thesa grabbed the sack, put everything back in its place, and tossed the hefty bag of coins to Fiora. "Besides, I wouldn't be here without you."

Fiora levitated the gold into a satchel on her saddle. "Those assassins, they weren't the only ones, were they?"

"I don't know the details beyond this manse," Thesa said, "but I know what he's like. The King of Thieves loves to surround his targets, pressure them by giving them no way out. If he hasn't prepared a back up already, he will the moment he realizes those two haven't returned."

"Which means I need to leave," Fiora said. More specifically, she had to track down Sharp Tone and Argent to get Geiss. She needed to be far away from Bovinus before a war for the city broke out completely. Loralae and Stranglethorn would were likely to tear the city apart before either of them gave up.

"I don't think I can make up a lie good enough to buy you time," Thesa admitted sadly. "You'd best hurry."

=============================================================

The three stood just a few miles away on a stumpy hill. They could still see the walls of Bovinus, and all the watermills and farmland around it.

"I was sure you wouldn't find us," Geiss pouted as Fiora clambered up the hill to catch up to Argent and Sharp Tone.

"Almost lost me," Fiora rubbed her mane. "Almost."

Argent laughed. "Fastest learner I've ever seen. I would be surprised, but I honestly have no idea what to expect from her."

"As far as curses go, she lucked out," Sharp Tone added in agreement.

"It's a good thing too," Fiora replied, hoisting the filly up on top of her saddle. "We need to leave the area, start looking for new places."

"Didn't go so well?" Sharp Tone asked. "No gold?"

"Thesa kept her side, and more." She opened her pouch and flashed the gleaming coins. "She gave a warning when some assassins sent by the King of Thieves approached. Risked her standing with them just to make sure I knew they were there."

"They caught on so soon?" Argent scratched his head in amazement. "Lora's barely made a dent in their businesses from what I've heard around the city."

"Well, neither Stranglethorn nor her husband seem the kind of ponies to let little changes slip by," Fiora reasoned, while Geiss tried braiding her mane. "Which means bad news for us."

"And more work for me," Sharp Tone grumbled.

Fiora raised a brow. "You're hanging around? For how long? I thought you still had a plan to take back our fortress."

"I do," he replied firmly, strutting across the hill top to get a wider view of the city. "A revenge like that takes money. I've already heard talk from southern traders. Open fighting broke out after Bach Kha'morghen was taken, and now the southern most end of the Far Coast is completely taken by the High Mountain Kingdom."

"Working with Lora? Smart choice, stable income," Fiora said.

"More importantly Bovinus is a major city, with plenty of ways to find, or buy, friends to help take back our fortress." Sharp Tone added. He sat down and laid back on the grass, watching the orange sea rolling in the sky, the clouds sea foam in the expansive oceanic sky. "Nice scenery too, once you get away from the city."

"I'm glad you're staying," Argent sat by Sharp. "I got word from an old friend in the High Mountain Kingdom that he saw some magic anomalies, the kind that only Cyana could create."

"Guess you have your own adventure, then," Sharp said. They both turned to Fiora, watching her play with Geiss. "Sounds easier than that adventure though. Got no idea what'll come next."

Argent chuckled. "For Fiora's sake, I hope she doesn't grow up to be like Cyana when she joined Bach Kha'morghen. Her adolescence was some tough years for all of us."

"Very funny," Fiora responded while spitting grass from her mouth. She had let Geiss wrestle her to the ground. "But at least I've been a parent before, and since she can't be trained in Bovinus, and certainly not in Bach Kha'morghen, I'll take her to somewhere I know she'll be happy."

"Care to give the address?" Argent asked. "If I find Cyana perhaps we'll teleport there together."

"Somewhere northwest, beyond anything in Equestria," Fiora answered.

Argent furrowed his brow, pulling a memory from what was only a few months ago. "You mean that place your grandchild mentioned? You have no idea where it could be."

Fiora shrugged. "I've tracked harder things. In any case, it'll be away from Equestria, safe from the war and the chaos between kings and lords. That's where she can be raised without her curse drawing attention."

"Sounds fun, as long as we get to come back and visit," Geiss said, reminding Fiora that she still enjoyed her time in Bovinus.

"First thing's first Geiss," Fiora said, turning off the ground and picking up Geiss to watch the winking sun behind the horizon. "We have a long walk ahead of us."

Comments

[SwordTune]

Inspiration for T'inn y tog