Knights of Ice and Crystal

by Leila Drake

Chapter 13: Scraps off the Table

Coelistine entered the guest room to see if Sombra was gone. He had not turned up for breakfast and Coelistine was not surprised to find an empty bed. The unicorn sighed and snatched a note from the tangled bedsheet. It was scribbled onto the label of a used sports magazine he had left lying around.

Thank you and sorry for the trouble. S.

He huffed and crumpled the note. Better to tidy up before Azalea came home with Bluebell. This was the one quiet hour he had in the day.

---

Darren found the house of Dr. Passiflora after fifteen minutes. He was surprised to discover it was unusually small. The only explanation could be that the doctor lived someplace else. The mustard yellow wooden door was framed by a group of colourful flowerpots. A sign on the door proclaimed in straight letters, "Dr. Passiflora, family doctor and Medical Thaumaturgy." After knocking twice, Darren took a step back and waited.

Muffled hoofsteps grew louder and stopped. An earth pony opened the door.

"It's open, welcome-" She flinched when she looked up at Darren, her blue eyes as wide as saucers.

"I'm here for the 15 o'clock," said Darren calmly to the shivering pony. The honeysuckle and daisies in the pot next to the door withered and died in a sudden cold breeze. "I am a little late. Is Feather Rush here yet?"

"Come in," the mare managed to say. "Your name, S-sir?"

"Darren Houndslayer."

"This way, please," she said in a voice that had risen an octave. The assistant led Darren through the narrow hallway and another, bigger, waiting room to the actual office. The flabbergasted ponies in the waiting room followed the two of them with their eyes. She knocked, then opened the door by a few inches and stuck her head inside.

"Doctor, Mr. Houndslayer is here." Her hoof was trembling ever so slightly.

"Thanks, please let him in," came a calm, professional voice from inside.

The assistant opened the door and stepped aside. Darren entered and saw Feather Rush and Eclipse, who were both sitting on a chair, turning their heads to look at him. Eclipse smiled, Feather almost went there, and the doctor behind the wooden desk paled and dropped the pen she had been holding in her mouth.

"I apologize for my tardiness," said Darren. "The message was delivered a few minutes ago."

"You are Darren Houndslayer?" The physician gaped at him. When she realized she was staring, she quickly closed her mouth and picked the pen up from the ground.

Darren just nodded and pulled a chair over next to Feather and her son. Feather raised her hoof in a half-hearted greeting. Darren bumped it and smiled briefly. She blinked back at him, surprised that he actually knew the pony greeting.

"Ma'am." He sat down and eyed Eclipse. The colt grinned at him widely.

"You look different without armour," he said. "Where is it?"

"I do not need it here, do I?" Darren smirked at Eclipse, quickly hiding his trembling fist.

Dr. Passiflora shuffled around in her notes, trying to order her thoughts.

"You are the... the one who helped Eclipse when he had his episode?" she asked, avoiding his eyes.

"Yes. I drew the magic from his body and absorbed it."

"I already talked to Mrs Rush and Eclipse about the incident. He was emitting a magic that can be described as black smoke?"

Darren nodded. "That is correct."

"How did you absorb it?"

"I put my hands on the boy's forehead and barrel and -" Darren frowned. "I am not sure how to describe it. I... claimed it. I felt the 'black smoke' leave Eclipse and enter me."

"Have you felt any different since you did that?"

"No."

Dr. Passiflora raised her eyes. She looked at Darren, then Eclipse, then Darren again.

"H-have you ever done anything like this before?"

Darren huffed. Was she referring to his glowing eyes?

"Several times. It was... an occupational hazard. However, this type of magic is unknown to me. It might be similar to Void Magic," he added thoughtfully.

"Void Magic?" Feather Rush interrupted them. "I've never heard of that one before."

"Ma'am, I would have been worried if you had. It is dark and dangerous sorcery. Do not worry," he added when he saw Feather cringing, "I am alright and I believe Eclipse is, too. Unless the diagnosis says something else?"

The doctor sighed and made a few notes. She shook her pen a few times; the ink seemed to be stuck. Her ears folded down and she frowned. Then, her features straightened out as she seemed to make a decision.

"I can't find anything wrong with Eclipse. But as long as we don't know where the magic came from, I'd like him to check in once a month. Sir, if the magic returns: Would you be willing to help again? I'm afraid I'm at a loss here."

"Of course," said Darren without hesitation. He turned to Feather Rush. "If the parents permit it."

Feather looked at Eclipse. The colt swallowed and nodded.

"We will," she said quietly. "Thank you."

"I do not know where that magic comes from. All the more reason to stay vigilant. You can call for me anytime, Ma'am."

"We will need your place of residence," said the doctor, readying her pen.

"I am currently staying at the Valiant Prince inn. I will notify both of you once I move someplace else."

"Sorry to drag you into this again," muttered Feather.

"I suggest you go to the hospital to get a second opinion," said Dr. Passiflora. "Until then..." she stood up. "Eclipse should eat and drink normally, make sure to do his exercises at school and stay away from any kind of medication. And please keep this confidential."

"Yes, of course. Thank you, doctor," said Feather.

"Thanks," muttered Eclipse.

Everyone stood up. Feather, with her foreleg around Eclipse, left the room, followed by Darren. He cast a last look back at the doctor. She quickly averted her eyes and took great interest in her notes.

"Mom, what does 'confidential' mean?" asked Eclipse.

"It means that it's a secret. You can talk to me and Dad about it but nopony else, okay?"

"Not even Darren?"

Feather chuckled and eyed the knight.

"That's fine, he already knows."

"Oh, good. And Peridot?"

"Please don't talk to her about it, honey."

Eclipse's ears went down and he sighed, disappointed. They left the hallway and stepped outside. Feather turned to Darren. She dug at the ground, opening and closing her mouth, chewing on unsaid words.

"Thank you," she said eventually. "After all the trouble-"

"It's alright," Darren interrupted her. "Just take care."

"Where are you going?" complained Eclipse. "Can't you come with us?"

"I have business to attend to," said Darren carefully. "Goodbye, Eclipse. Ma'am." He faked a smile, then hurried around a street corner.

As he exhaled, Darren raised his shivering hands. His head still hurt but al least it was less bad than a few minutes ago when he had used all of his concentration not to freeze the office, or worse, the ponies inside. The last thing he needed was to hurt a pony or even raise suspicion. He watched the bush next to him crumble to a wiry ball. The last time, food had helped. Maybe he should postpone the job search until tomorrow and pray that the hunger would subside in the meantime.

Darren wondered when he had last felt such a strong urge to kill. Maybe it was two years ago in the Plaguelands.

---

The caravan was slow. It had been raining for four days in a row and everyone was in a bad mood. Clayton tugged at his hood, shifting under the heavy cloak. Everything was brown - the trees, the ground, even the sky was tinted in a sickly reddish tone as if it was infected, too.

"I so hate the Plaguelands," he muttered to himself.

"Two more days until the Chapel," said Evergreen, giving him a tired smile.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah, sorry." Her smile widened into a grin. "You weren't as quiet as you thought."

"Two days. We'll be drowned in two more days," sighed Clayton. His armour clinked as he turned his head. "They okay back there?"

"We should have brought more men," said Evergreen, worry creeping into her voice. "The way we are right now, we couldn't..." she hesitated, shook her head and fell silent.

"Right. I'll tell Frazzleclack to feed the horses."

Darren watched the conversation from a nearby bush. Crouching down deeply so he would not be seen, he spotted twelve men and women, including three Night Elves, a dwarf and two gnomes. Too many. He cursed under his breath and retreated.

The wildlife had fled the rain and cold, surprised by the bad weather in June. Even the maggots could not enjoy the humidity. Darren had seen a pile of deceased worms, all of them the size of dogs, their yellow bodies half decomposed. The only upside to this was that his stench was hidden - the downside, of course, was that he had to find his prey elsewere.

Harming the Crusaders was out of the question. But what about the horses?

The next morning, Evergreen's shocked shout woke Clayton up. As he stumbled over to her, still half asleep, she grabbed his arm and pointed frantically at something dark on the ground.

"The horses! Light, they're-" She gagged and turned to the side, only closely missing Clayton's boots with her vomit.

Clayton could understand why. Two of their horses were a tangled heap on the floor, badly cut and barely recognizable. Their innards were still there but the poor creatures were most definitely dead and had been for at least an hour. Flies flew away when Clayton stepped closer, holding his nose. The ravens would not be far.

There was still a bit of ice melting away and he would bet that the horses had been completely covered by it not too long ago.

"Dammit," he cursed. "Come on, quickly."

Evergreen nodded and they both ran over to the rest of the group.

"What's going on, what happened?" asked one of the Elves, nocking an arrow.

"Scourge," said Evergreen, still breathing heavily. "Must have snuck up on the horses and killed them when we didn't look. I only noticed just now."

"We have to be extra careful," said Clayton. "We don't know how many there are. Might be a random ghoul, might be a death knight or a lich. Either way, we must burn the carcasses. Don't want to give them free mounts." He spat on the ground.

Darren watched the caravan move on, the smoldering carcasses left behind at the side of the road. He wished he could tell them that they were not in immediate danger. But if he had, they would not believe him. The alliance between the Argent Crusade and the Ebon Blade was still new and fragile and many crusaders still viewed the free death knights as members of the Scourge. It did not matter whether someone had done it of their own choice or not; murder was murder. Darren could not help but agree with the crusaders. That was why he would never find forgiveness, even from himself.

He yanked Bane's reins around and the undead griffin flapped his bony wings. As they ascended and flew in the opposite direction as the caravan, Darren swore to find an area that was more populated - preferably by blighthounds. They had so much energy that it would take longer until the next wave of bloodlust.

---

Sombra walked along a narrow alley, clutching the bag with fruit and a bit of bread he had taken from Coelistine's breakfast table. When the wife had looked another way he had grabbed the food and run outside, ignoring the surprised and worried calls from her.

He finally arrived at the park. It was already getting dark and the last visitors were young couples, taking walks and whispering sweet things to each other. The park was big enough to hide in, that much he remembered from his last visit. The trees were old, at least sixty years, and their and the bushes' leaves would provide lots of cover. Sombra trotted on a path parallel to the regular roads, trying to avoid other ponies. For once in his life, his dark grey coat was doing him a favour - it concealed him well in the shadows. He sat down between two large bushes and found some space under one of them, enough to stretch his limbs. Good thing it did not look like rain.

He opened the bag and ate an apple and the bread. Chewing slowly, Sombra watched a couple walk by at a few yards distance. If he did not snore nopony would suspect he was here.

It was unlikely he would be able to sleep anyway. At Coelistine's, he had hardly had a shut-eye, the memory of his so-called mother rejecting him replaying in his head over and over. The contempt with which the teacher had looked at him had convinced Sombra to keep his story short. After a few sentences, Coelistine had been satisfied and showed Sombra the guest room. Sombra suspected that he was not really interested in his tale and just let him in because it was the decent thing to do. They had even set a plate for him. But he had seen the suspicion in the mare's eyes and she would have connected the dots soon enough.

Sombra squeezed his eyes shut. He did not want to run. He wanted a fresh start. He wanted a life. But who was brave enough to take him in? Give him work? He could not go to a shelter, either. Most ponies would report him immediately. Or run away. Or even try to kill him, again. To them, he was not just some bad guy. He was a monster, the idea of evil. They remembered him as a dark cloud of fear that strangled the Empire. And he had shattered the Princess. He suspected that nopony but Hope knew that. She had been outside the Empire when he had cursed it and made it disappear so she was dead. She had been for almost a thousand years. Only the stars knew where in the Frozen North she had perished. And even if, against all odds, she had made it to a village, she was still long long gone.

The memory of her choked him. Hope, his only and best friend who had never given him up. And he had thrown her friendship back into her face for the lies of a dumb crystal. They could have figured his powers out. But he had blown that chance. Now he was truly alone. Sombra curled up in a fetal position and sobbed silently.

---

He woke up to the gentle sound of wind blowing through the trees. Sombra blinked rapidly, trying to remember where he was. So he had been able to sleep after all. He stretched his limbs and yawned. Wow, he felt not so bad. Almost rested. He let his hooves slide scross the dirt, looking for his food bag. Ah, there it was... and it was empty. Crap. Some critters must have stolen his food in the night.

He sat up and sighed. There was an inn across the street, the Valiant Prince, maybe he could snatch something there.

---

"By the stars," whispered Sombra, wiping a rogue leaf off his muzzle. "How in the world can a single creature eat that much?"

As he had expected, the inn's guests liked to have breakfast in the morning sun. And, to his surprise, the pale human knight was also there. He was sitting alone at a table for two. And he had been eating for an entire hour. Plates and cups were brought and taken by the bewildered waitress and the human still kept ordering food. He looked better than the first time Sombra had seen him; his mane was combed and he was wearing some kind of shirt, waistcoat and pants combination, along with the same heavy boots Sombra had seen as part of the armour. Sombra's eyes widened as Darren had his eighth piece of bread, along with the third egg and a gigantic pot of coffee. The knight's eyes still unnerved Sombra, their icy blue glow keeping the other inn guests from sitting closer than two tables away. He sighed silently, feeling a pang of sympathy for the human. But as long as he sat there, Sombra did not want to risk sneaking over to the leftovers at the neighboring tables. He rubbed his neck, still remembering the grip of the knight tightening around it. What should he do?

Of course, he still had his magic. Sombra concentrated his will on an abandoned half-eaten croissant. The croissant trembled in his weak green magical field and fell back onto the plate.

Sombra huffed, wiping sweat from his forehead. It was probably the cloth. He took the rag he had wrapped around his horn and shoved it into his improvised food pouch. Now he could try again.

Slowly, slowly... he carefully lifted the croissant into the air and, as soon as nopony was looking, he let it float over to the bushes he was hinding in. Sombra frowned, hoping that the inn guest was healthy, and devoured the croissant.

It was Prench, it was buttered, it was bliss. Sombra closed his eyes and smiled. But he was still hungry. He needed more. There, a family of three had left their table and their foal had declined most of her food. Jackpot. Sombra grinned and cast the levitation spell again.