Chapter 47: To Meet in the Jungle
Wicked World Arc
Delia stared into the eyes of the elderly Cassia. Since soon after meeting Cassia she was unsure that the old one had told her the entire truth or even the truth about a few things.
She knew it was a potentially bad idea, bringing it up, but she had to be clear on something, “Cassia… My dad was a doctor. He gave that up when I was very young… after Mom died. Whether he picked it up along the way or he already knew it he was a pretty good hustler. He taught me the art of the swindle and all that came with it… and a lot about medicine—I’m no healer or apothecary but I know a lot. We scammed our way across the continent for a couple years—sometimes leaving to the tune of pitchforks and torches—until we came to Penmaenbach. It took me quite a few years to realize it; to do the things he did… it’s hard to comprehend the desperation he must’ve felt.
“Dad… was no match for the crooks there; he was seriously outclassed. He put us into debt gambling and… he sold me to Melchior in exchange for gold to pay the debt. I had come to hate him already and… I wanted to watch him die for that—I wanted to kill him… Melchior had him on a string; despite selling me… for some reason he couldn’t bring himself to leave. If Dad had wised up and left… I’m sure I’d have died in a fuck-dungeon somewhere, with no reason for Melchior to keep me alive. But Dad didn’t wise up and he ran up even more debt… having been stupid enough to borrow from Melchior. That brought him into servitude. I think he was counting on winning again and… I don’t know after that.
“I hated him even more for being so stupid. But he broke into an ‘honest’ life of a farm laborer. He wound up practically running Melchior’s orchards; he was good at it. It may sound strange—Hell, I know it does—but I grew to love him again… despite all that happened. And… even stranger, I was happy… For the first time I could remember I was actually happy… or at least satisfied. Four years ago… he had an accident and died. I know I shouldn’t laugh about it but it’s a pretty funny story… He literally died laughing.”
The former maid had just realized she was laughing… and crying a little. Cassia looked back evenly, not showing much.
Delia went on, “I was a maid from the time I was 9-years-old, Cassia. I’ve cleaned up everything from vomit to blood-stains to privies to kitchens to unattached testicles. A couple years ago, Melchior… and my best friend elected to make use of my skills—my dad taught me a lot… and I figured out a few things on my own. I suddenly went from ‘going free’ at age 30… to 20, doing some of their dirty work. I only had a couple more years, but I met my new friends. And we wound up here, to summarize things.”
Cassia finally said something, “This ‘best friend’ of yours… I sense something.”
Delia shrugged, choking up again, “Do I love him? Of course… Do I love him…? Dunno. He saved me… in a way I could never answer for… when I made the worst decision of my life.”
Cassia asked a question to which both she and Delia already knew the answer, “What’s all this for?”
Delia sighed, “That’s my life, in a nutshell, Cassia… Do you…? I mean, did you…?”
“Was I telling you the truth? About my family going north?”
Delia nodded, sniffling.
Cassia smiled, “I’ve had quite a life Delia… but that was the truth. I haven’t seen a one of my daughters—or their families—in 15 years, other than over a crystal ball. It’s a different world than it used to be. Ponies go where opportunities arise.”
Delia wasn’t sure why she even said it, “Sorry…”
“For what?” Cassia kneaded her shoulder. “Sure, things could’ve been better for that little filly that never knew where she came from… and knew nothing but sadness and debauchery… But I grew up… I escaped… I met a fine stallion; he knew what I was. I doubt my daughters didn’t figure it out… They’re too smart for that. But they grew up not knowing that life, as did their children and their children’s children.”
Delia nodded, a few tears squeezing from between her eyelids. Cassia jostled her shoulder again.
“And your children… will never know such a life, either. Take heart in that.”
“I’ll try…” Delia managed.
“Dry eyes, Delia… Here comes Dechaa.”
The unicorn maiden was murmuring pleasurably, walking out of the back room and drying herself, “Oh, it’s so nice to be clean…”
Against Delia’s hopes, Cassia greeted her cheerfully, “Good morning, dearie! How are you feeling?”
The unfamiliar voice jarred Dechaa and she yipped, propelling herself into a wall of pots and pans; the metal fell in a clatter.
Cassia guffawed but Delia hissed, “I just finished drying all those…”
Dechaa, in her birthday-suit—not that it mattered much for a pony—had retreated to a corner; she whined, “Delia… Who’s that?!”
Delia sighed; she’d told Dechaa little about much of anything, wanting to wait for her to “perk up” and have her wits about her, “Relax, Dechaa… This is Cassia; she’s a friend.”
“Where are we…?” Dechaa looked fearful, but her voice showed awareness.
“We’re in a town called Nuinhof,” Delia decided to just tell her about the last day. “Something happened to us in the jungle… You’re fine, now, but you had a seizure. I think Zyra might’ve had one too…”
“A what…?” Dechaa looked scared.
“Like I said, you’re fine now,” Delia tried to keep a level voice. “You teleported us here yesterday by accident when your magic surged.”
“Where is everypony?!”
Delia figured Dechaa wasn’t taking in everything she was saying and tried to go slowly, “The others are fine, Dechaa. Zyra’s fine and so are Ama, Loress, and Wilka. Essenta and Orni are fine, too, outside of all this.”
“Ama?” Dechaa narrowed her gaze; she recalled their tall friend was hanging out back at camp.
“Ama’s in the jungle, leading the three we were foraging with; Essenta gave her command until we get out of here.”
“But where are they?” Dechaa’s panic lessened.
“They’re about a half-of-a-mile away… and like I said, they’re safe. We’ll be seeing them within an hour or two; they’re coming for us.”
Dechaa appeared to relax, some, and turned to the elderly mare, “And your name was…”
“Cassia,” the old one smiled. “Just Cassia. And do we have a few things to tell you.”
Leaving out the “bad” side of things, they explained to Dechaa a filly had been hurt and died in a farm accident, and being a budding psychic, made her anguish known. They were fortunate to “land” so close to their friends, but it was in their best interest to piss off back to where they came from, there being political unrest.
Delia could tell something—and she wasn’t even a unicorn: Cassia was a reasonably powerful unicorn and Dechaa wouldn’t be able to notice anything Cassia didn’t want her to. She was unconcerned with Dechaa examining her, though; she knew Dechaa, as powerful as she was, needed an intimate connection to do more than “read” a pony. Delia spent much of her life doing dirty work; she was good at fibbing.
Dechaa didn’t like it but agreed it best they disappear.
Delia was relieved Dechaa bought it or at least decided to go with the flow; she was more concerned about the others, telling them the half-truths she and Cassia had concocted. Wilka would go along with it, certainly—she wasn’t stupid, but young and afraid. Zyra and Loress would see some ruse, certainly, but would see getting away was the best thing to do and put aside their worries. Ama was the main concern…
Delia reasoned that if Ama made a fuss she could take command and apologize later; they had a couple unicorns and the only creature stronger than Loress in the conceivable vicinity would be a dragon. Essenta had made a good choice, putting Ama in charge—they might’ve needed her uncompromising touch if things had turned out differently. But they were about to be together again and any nonsense about “following orders without hesitation” was out the window. She hoped Ama wouldn’t be foolish—or rather, idealistic enough—to want to dig further into the goings-on or worse, to intervene somehow.
And when all was said and done, and they were “safe” Delia would be able to tell them the truth. Hopefully they’d recognize the lies were for their own good and not be too upset about it.
Delia didn’t want to lie to her friends, but they had to get away quickly. Thankfully, the former maid had a psychic unicorn to help her with her deceit. She figured it was time to contact the others.
“How about that?” Loress had taken point in the jungle. “A sign…”
The sign pointed in their current direction and read the following:
Nuinhof: ½ Mile
“Well, that is simple enough…” Ama nodded.
Zyra voiced from Loress’s back, “Great… just a little longer…”
Wilka, at the rear, worried, “Oh, thank goodness… I guess we just need to watch for the boulder Delia talked about.”
Ama allowed a little smile, “As some say, ‘We should not count our chickens until they hatch’, but I am quite glad things have gone smoothly… Delia has again contacted us, and they are presently setting out to meet us.”
“Don’t jinx it…” Loress whined.
Ama snorked, “Bah! Superstition and bunkum!”
Zyra complained, “Everypony just please shut up… I’m getting nauseous again… The noise doesn’t help…”
Ama soothed her, “Just try to doze a few moments… Perhaps when you awaken our friends will be with us again.”
“Fine…” Zyra sighed. “Somepony get me a little mint please…”
Wilka found a sprig, calming the demons of nausea in Zyra, and the four mares continued the schlep towards Nuinhof.
Dechaa and Delia followed Cassia through town, towards the edge. Each young mare had empty-looking sacks to give evidence they weren’t up to no good, as part of Cassia’s plan. In reality each bag had the materials Delia had purchased for the journey back across the desert.
The old mare motioned to a building direction and spoke quietly, “That’s townhall, Delia, but you know that already, right? It’s fortunate you didn’t wind up trying to break in. It’s guarded 24-7…”
Delia was glad the geriatric psychic had “happened” upon her before she did something stupid; they’d not landed in any ordinary situation where one could casually sneak into a local government building so easily.
Dechaa didn’t like how quiet it was, given it was morning in a city of size, “This is weird… Shouldn’t ponies be out working or going to the market…?”
The healer had been fussing, but thankfully wasn’t asking too many questions.
Delia was happy to let Cassia explain her worries away. But it was awfully quiet… It was quite eerie, the streets almost empty.
“We’re not violating any curfew or anything, being out here,” Cassia said casually. “It just takes a while for things to liven up because we do have one… Plus, the harvest is just now over; they indulge in sleep, some.”
Delia was impressed with Cassia’s ability to quell Dechaa’s qualms with the situation, but the unicorn mare didn’t seem overly curious to begin with; she knew something was wrong and chose to keep her mouth closed more than she might. She shuddered to think of how Dechaa—and the others—would later respond, learning some little filly and her family had been put to death on the opposite edge of town. It was a small blessing their needed direction was to the west and not the east.
Cassia yawned, “What we’re doing is very normal and many ponies around here do it. It’s easier for the “troublemakers” to let us do it than force us to buy everything from the market or them or supply it for us. We’re just going into the forest to pick a few spices, tubers, and fruit… maybe a few mushrooms to supplement my supplies.”
“And ‘smuggle out’ a couple of young mares…” Delia glanced about; ponies weren’t even at their windows.
“I fully intend to do both, dear…” Cassia stated. “I do this most mornings… visiting the jungle, that is.”
After a short jaunt, the three mares found themselves reaching the western city-limits. The two young ones noticed a stallion posted on the path into the jungle. They tried to relax and trust Cassia, not that they had much choice as far as trust went.
Cassia whispered sideways, “This isn’t one of the troublemakers… he’s just a kindly police officer relegated to watching the city limits in the mornings. I’ll handle this.”
The two nodded and would let her do whatever she wanted.
Delia was surprised Dechaa had “fallen for” the story about the stallions “keeping an eye on things” were a bunch of inept bullies that were lazy and liked to sleep in. Cassia had explained to Delia the stallions were lazy but “the squealer” was probably lurking around. Still, even that little cocksucker—as Cassia occasionally referred to “the squealer”—didn’t know everypony in the city by sight. Cassia hadn’t said anything to Dechaa about “the squealer” and it was just as well; she was skeeved enough already without knowing some little weasel could be watching them.
Delia knew if they played it cool, they’d likely be fine. For the moment they had to rely on the old mare she’d fallen in with.
Cassia paddled up to the stallion, “Good morning, Officer.”
He looked up; the girls could see a sad weariness in his face but also a warmness, “Oh, Cassia… Hello.”
“How are you today?”
The officer rolled his shoulders, “I’ve been out here since dusk; I’m tired.”
“Well, I’ll get out of your mane quickly, Officer,” Cassia said. “We’re going out to pick a few things… maybe find some sugarcane.”
“Cassia… I’ve been meaning to say… you can just call me ‘Toca’… It’s odd that everypony’s de facto grandma calls a young stallion like me ‘Officer’…”
Cassia giggled at the fellow, “And you know that as long as you’re in uniform, you’re ‘Officer Toca’. Catch me sometime when you’re not and you’ll get the old ‘grandma treatment’; I’m planning a batch of gingersnaps later and you’ll get your allotment.”
The stallion held out a hoof as if regretting his action; he was there for business after all, “Papers.”
Dechaa and Delia had heard of no “papers”; they were afraid a moment, but Cassia forked over a few sheets, “The two here gave me theirs… They’ll need empty pockets on top of their bags if my feeling proves right.”
The stallion was going through the “identification” papers—though Cassia’s were real, “You do seem to be successful when you go out there.”
Cassia beamed, “It saves me quite a bit of silver.”
The stallion nodded sympathetically, “It’s getting more expensive for us all… Who are these two?”
Cassia saw he’d reached the mares’ ‘papers’, “Just a couple girls I know from across town… I suppose you might not recognize them. We decided they wouldn’t make curfew, so they stayed with me last night. We pooled our groceries and had curry.”
Dechaa and Delia were sure they saw the stallion’s eyes glaze over as he scanned the documents.
The stallion smiled and chuckled absently as he hoofed through the papers, “My, that sounds lovely… It certainly explains why you might go out now for extra pickings… Well, everything appears to be in order. Be careful out in the jungle; a tiger was spotted two days ago.”
“I heard about it, but thank you,” Cassia took back the sheets and moved past him.
“Stay close by…” the officer advised, looking ill-at-ease. “They’re keeping a closer eye on things today…”
“I hear you…” Cassia said back, reflecting his woe.
Glad things worked out, the younger mares followed.
Delia asked, “What did you do to him?”
“I just modified his memory some…” Cassia smirked. “Your ‘papers’ were blank, actually. He won’t remember a thing about you two. I’ll come back alone with a bag of pickings and that’s how he’ll remember it.”
Delia was cautious, “He seems a decent fellow…”
Cassia looked sad, “Toca is a marvelous fellow. I’ve known him since he was a foal. I’ve known just about all the ponies in town since they were foals. But with things the way they are… he does as much as he must in order to keep his position. We’d be worse off if he wasn’t still on the force.”
Dechaa nodded, ignorant of things.
Delia felt her heart seize up. She thought of that “marvelous fellow” and the pain in his eyes… She thought of the filly and her family and what good ponies must have been going through, just trying to keep on living… in fear.
Noticing her eyes were heating up, Delia tried to focus, “Let’s move.”
The three mares entered the jungle.
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I guess plan to drop the truth in their laps next time.
9365189
That's not even a proper sentence. But, yes, the girls begin to notice something fishy.
9367117
You ain’t answering my texts! You out moving snow? My dad roped me into driving a plow for his company today. I was hoping to just sleep but I want money. I am done working but using vacation now so double pay!
Hmmm that was a nice little somethinge. Just right to get off the christmas time, now I'll just have to, oh wait, we germans don't get snow until february, if any...
Well, time to just stare at my dead pc, watch anime and laugh at anyone trying to buy stuff for new years celebrations on the 31st.
Have fun with your snow!
Oh and of course, have some Baumkuchen, Grog, tea, coffee and hot chocolate! Beer is out, we only have mead and rum lef.
9370199
We're sure getting snow in my part of the world. A full-blown blizzard.
9369865
Like you, I was out plowing snow this morning. Probably tomorrow morning too if this system stops.
What's funny is you probably make more money moving snow than you did trying to knit broken families back together.
9370358
Heh, good thing we don't have it...yet.
Though I could do with some actual winter here... 7-10°C is rather on the warm side for me.
Well for you, I just suggest eating more Baumkuchen and drinking grog.
9370393
I'm in for the day. Pizza, beer, and Red Dead Redemption II is in my near future.