Brothers 'N Antlers

by Elkia Deerling

Chapter twelve: honor

Alces was one with the shadows. He made sure to stay clear of the lantern-lit main streets, and instead moved between the houses in narrow alleys. His eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, and his mind was constantly busy trying to remember the squares and districts and make a mental map. He hadn’t seen much of the city when he’d arrived, and that lack of information was biting him in the tail now. He had reckoned that Scribblers’ City was big, but he realized now it was far bigger than he’d expected.

He had snuck past something that looked like a marketplace, with a main road heading in southern direction. Alces was now following that road, using smaller, darker streets that ran parallel to the big road. He was not going to look for a house with green curtains. However much he wanted some answers, he was not going to find one house amidst the many wooden buildings in this terribly big city. Alces bit his lip. If only he had listened to Sparks the smith some more, he could have known what he was getting himself into and where exactly he was. He was sure that if, by sheer coincidence, he’d find that damn house, he would maybe even learn some more about his brother’s whereabouts.

Of course Alces hadn’t forgotten his brother. In fact, just a few minutes ago, he had felt something strange. He had felt as if he was connected with Elkia Deerling on a spiritual level. It had seemed as if Elkia was right beside him somewhere, but he couldn’t see him and only felt his presence. The moment lasted for just a few seconds, but, thanks to that strange little experience, Alces knew—he just knew—that Elkia was alive. But where he was, he didn’t know.

Yet he found out where he himself was. Looking ahead, Alces saw a big gate. It was closed now, and some guards—three of them—hung around the place. They didn’t look very alert. They looked quite bored, in fact. That made Alces feel good. Brawn had spoken about minor telepathy, but apparently the telepathy wasn’t strong enough to reach this part of town. Maybe it was too far away from the bubble, or maybe Brawn had been lying about it and only wanted to make Alces feel dumb. But Alces didn’t care. The only thing he cared about now was leaving Scribblers’ City behind, and after that find a way to get to his brother.

Somehow…

The gate was made of iron-bound wood, and looked sturdy and impenetrable. Two chains led through some pulleys, and ended at two large reels connected to two enormous treadmills. After a few seconds of peering and studying, Alces reckoned he knew how to open the gate. He only needed to get the treadmills moving, and the gate would open itself.

The only thing was that he was but one elk, and the gate needed at least two ponies to work. That was a problem.

Alces wanted to wait and think and try to come up with a plan, but he knew he was exposed. It would only take one pony to accidentally enter the alley and spot him, and all hell would break loose. Then he would once more be on the run, and Alces was tired of running. If anything, he would enjoy a good fight over flight.

The sound of hoofsteps could be heard. Turning around, Alces saw the source of it. A whole platoon of guards—at least a dozen of them in single file—wearing their blue uniforms and looking stern-faced, was marching on the main road, heading towards the gate. Alces bit his lip. If those ponies were here to reinforce the gate, his chances of escape would become very slim. There was no way he was going to get past all of them.

But apparently, news of his escape hadn’t yet reached this patrol either. They made a curve, saluted the guards that were standing at the gate, and marched on. Alces pressed himself against the wall, but the guards didn’t even cast one single glance at the darkened alley he was in. They all looked forwards, frowns on their faces, dead serious.

They were almost past Alces, when he got an idea. He needed something, a weapon of some sorts, to threaten the guards at the door with. He still had the hoe, but that wasn’t enough. He needed a ranged weapon to threaten the guards at a distance, and make them cooperate. Alces glanced from the hoe in his hooves to the guard patrol. The only thing a hoe was good for was either smashing, or hooking…

Alces shuffled closer to the main street, being careful enough to blend in with the shadows. The guards were almost past him. He looked at the back of the platoon, judging the distance. Then, when the last pony walked past Alces’s hideout, Alces reached out with the hoe, snagged the pony by the collar of his uniform, and jerked him into the shadows.

At least those stupid uniforms are useful for something, Alces thought, as he reeled in his catch like a fisher.

The guard was too surprised to do anything. Before he knew what happened, firm, strong hooves wrapped around his neck and his head. He tried to say something. ‘By order of the guard, I—’

‘Shut up or you’ll be sorry very soon,’ Alces hissed. He shifted his hooves to clamp around the guard’s neck more firmly, reinforcing his threat. He had picked a nice victim. The pony wasn’t heavy, and had a slim chicken-like neck. The perfect victim.

Alces wasted no time. ‘I’m going to ask you a question, and the only thing you’re gonna say is yes or no. If you so much as move too much, I’ll wring you out like a wet tablecloth. Understood?’

The guard tried to nod, but found his head pinned. ‘Yes,’ he said.

‘Good.’ Alces relaxed his grip a little. He wanted the pony to speak, and not suffocate—yet. ‘Do you know how to cast a stun ray?’

‘Y-y-yes, w-w-we all know that sp—’

Alces tightened his grip. ‘I said, yes or no. No stories.’

Wheezing, the guard tried to say something. Alces took that as a yes, and loosened his grip again. ‘Now, do you know magic more powerful? Do you know spells that not only can stun, but also hurt?’

‘Yes,’ wheezed the guard.

‘And kill?’

‘Only elite guards know such—’

‘Dammit!’ Alces cursed, and squeezed the pony in his hooves. He had picked the wrong pony. This one was useless. So what to do now? He couldn’t just let him walk free and warn his friends about the elk in the shadows. Alces sighed. He had never killed before, but he thought he knew how to. Squashy little ponies weren’t hard to kill. Yet, he felt a little weird about it. This wasn’t a fair duel where both contenders matched their strengths. This was an assassination, a cowardly attack in the shadows. Alces sighed once more, and made a decision. ‘I’m sorry.’

The guard felt Alces’s muscles tighten. He couldn’t feel his neck anymore, and could barely breathe. Slowly, Alces squeezed harder, and then the pony realized he was fighting for his life, a fight he couldn’t win. ‘Wait,’ he wheezed.

‘I can’t,’ Alces snapped, ‘but I said I was sorry, so no complaining.’

‘I know how to cast killing magic.’

Was he speaking the truth, or was he just saying that to save his hide? Alces kept his grip tight. ‘Really?’

The pony’s hind hooves spasmed around. With a half-voice laden with panic, he said, ‘I study magic, all kinds of magic. I know how to do it.’

‘Really?’

The pony’s limbs stopped moving around. ‘Pl-pl-please. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll…’ and then he was out of air, and couldn’t finish his sentence.

Alces considered what the pony said. He loosened his grip once again. ‘If you’re lying, then…’

‘Yes, I know,’ said the pony. ‘Pl-pl-please don’t kill me. I have a wife and children.’

‘And I have a brother,’ said Alces. ‘And I made him the promise of coming back for him. But for now, I need to get out of here, and I need a living cannon. Are you going to be my living cannon?’

‘Y-y-yes. Please, anything.’

Alces relaxed his muscles. The pony flopped down on the ground, gasping for air. Alces looked at the scrawny little creature, sneered, and said, ‘Go catch your breath. Show begins in five minutes.’

‘Th-th-thank you,’ the pony said, but Alces wasn’t looking at him anymore. He was watching the gate.

* *

‘Everypony, put your hooves in the air!’ Alces yelled. He jumped out of the shadows, holding the unfortunate guard in his hooves. His one hoof was wrapped around his neck, and his other held him by the waist, carrying him like a living cannon.

The three ponies froze. Two of them stood by the treadmill, while a third one was on the walls. Alces noticed how the third one’s horn began to glow. ‘Extinguish your horn, fella. No magic, or I’ll shoot you all dead!’

‘With what?’ said the third guard. He slowly climbed down the wall, frowning and with his horn still glowing.

Alces squeezed his guard’s neck. ‘Showtime, friend. Do your trick or I’ll make sure you go down first. Maybe a pony shield is more important after all.’

‘N-n-no, please!’

‘Do it!’

The horn of his living cannon glowed too. But where the guard’s horn glowed a glimmering blue, his guard’s horn glowed red.

‘Whoa there, what are you doing?’ Upon seeing the red light, the guard suddenly froze. His eyes went wide. The glow of his horn disappeared. Alces looked from his weapon to the guard and smiled. ‘This is your lucky day,’ he said to his weapon.

The guards who stood close to the treadmills also saw the red glow. They too looked suddenly very pale. They backed off.

Alces didn’t need to get more proof that his plan worked. He got down to business immediately. Pointing his living cannon at the guards at the treadmill, he said, ‘One of you, or two, I don’t care. Run in the treadmill and open the gate.’

They stood still for a moment, and exchanged a glance with the third guard, who was apparently their leader. ‘Do it, for Glimmer’s sake,’ he said. ‘Don’t you see what he’s got in his hooves there? He could kill us all.’

‘I could, I can, and I will,’ said Alces. He took a moment to grin. This felt good. It felt good to have some power back. Briefly, his thoughts went to old Cervidus, who had told him on his dying bed what power can do. He was right. ‘Two of you in the left treadmill and you in the right one, “boss,”’ he said. ‘And if any of you slow down I might decide that only two of you will do the job just fine too.’

The guards did as they were told. Alces glanced from them to his weapon and then back down the street. It was late at night, and no one was going for a nightly stroll and was walking towards the gate. Good. Alces heard the chain pulling, wished that chains were more silent, and then turned his head back to the guards. The gate was already open.

Step by step, Alces neared the open gate. He could smell the fresh air with a hint of pine needles coming from the forest. He didn’t need to go far. While he walked, he kept his living cannon aimed at the guards, but Alces could read the fear from their faces. Apparently, these guards weren’t that brave after all. He went through the gate, and reached the edge of the forest. Then, he abruptly turned around, threw away his “cannon,” and gave him a violent buck for good measure. The pony almost flew all the way back through the gate and into town. The guards charged their horns and shot some magic after Alces, but he had already disappeared between the trees.

Alces didn’t look back, but raced through the forest. His tactic was to put as many miles between him and Scribblers’ City as he could. He didn’t feel tired at all, and the strength had remained in his new legs. Grinning, Alces reckoned he could run for hours, far longer than any of those cowardly guards could. Yes, Alces knew that this time, he was really free.

As he galloped and jumped over the earth covered in pine needles, smelling the sweet, nightly air, Alces’s mind went to his brother. Now that he was free, it was time to think about freeing Elkia. While this plan had gone smoothly—with some minor panic-made improvisations here and there—now it was time to make a new plan. Now it was time to try and find his brother and get him out of trouble. Little did Alces know that many miles of forests, mountains, and sand separated him from his kin. But even if he had known that, Alces would surely not have given up. If anything, it would only have made him more determined.

How long had he been running? It wasn’t that long, but Alces had the feeling that he had put quite some distance between him and the city. At least a couple of miles. He looked back, but saw nothing except trees. That was a mistake.

Pine needles rustled. Alces’s legs got caught in something, and it made him trip. A moment later, he felt himself being lifted off the ground. He cursed and growled as he hung in mid-air, caught in a skillfully crafted net.

‘I don’t think so,’ Alces said. He shook the surprise off, grabbed a piece of rope, and moved his head towards it.

Only then did he realize that he had lost his antlers.

Biting it was. Alces gnawed on the rope until it snapped. He grabbed another strand and bit into it, muttering curses under his breath as he worked. He was so busy freeing himself, that he didn’t notice how he slowly became surrounded. Only when there were creatures all around him did Alces pause. He froze, screwed up his eyes, and met the gaze of someone he’d never thought to see again.

‘Moussa!’

The king of the elks, deer, and reindeer stood before Alces, but he could hardly recognize him. Green energy sprouted from him, draping like a cloak around the elk’s shoulders. The green fire held together his limbs, which were made partly of flesh, and partly of wood. A crown of green flames was upon his head, and his eyes looked dangerous and wise at the same time. ‘Can someone please get him down?’ he said. Even his voice was warped. It still had the haughty timbre of a king, but there was a strange and uncanny undertone to it. It was as if there were two elks speaking at the same time.

As Alces looked around, he saw many other elks, deer, and reindeer all around him. Some looked normal, but the vast majority of them was composed of the same mystical forces as Moussa. Some of them looked more wood than elk, and bore antlers flaming with green fire. Alces felt the rope jerking back and forth. Then suddenly it snapped, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

In a split-second, he was back on his hooves, facing Moussa. But Moussa wasn’t looking at him. He stood with his back to Alces, and observed his subjects. ‘I expected to catch a pony in there, but alas,’ he said.

Growling, Alces cocked his head and snorted. ‘Is that how you treat someone of your own kin?’

‘That is how we treat those that can perhaps not be trusted,’ Moussa said.

‘Can’t be trusted? How?’ Alces said, his voice high with anger and confusion mixed in.

‘Because I know for certain that you didn’t stay and defend the Shimmering Eye with the rest of us. Otherwise I would have found your body in the woods. And instead I find you here. A strange coincidence.’

Alces shook himself to get the pine needles out of his fur. ‘I saw how you fell, Moussa. I saw how all of you fell during that terrible night. Hay, I even know Aeltha fell.’

‘We all lost someone that night,’ Moussa said. ‘But I found something too.’

Before Alces could ask what, Moussa turned around. His cloak changed from green to red fire, his crown became twice as big, and his eyes glared. ‘I am Moussa, regenerated! Bow before your new leader, your new seer, your new master of the essence and the savior of the tribe!’

Despite his anger, Alces felt himself falling to his knees. Before this new, great and terrible king, he felt but small—a feeling he hadn’t often felt, and a feeling which he didn’t like at all. ‘What the hay happened to you all?’ he whispered.

Moussa’s appearance changed back to his normal, green-flamed self. ‘A just question, Alces Roameling, son of the seer. Listen closely to what I say, so you understand everything your king wants you to hear.’

‘I will. Just… just tell me why you’re all alive and why you’re here, of all places.’

Moussa snorted. His eyes and mind drifted off, back to that dramatic night nearly a year ago. ‘The timber wolves thought they had defeated me, but they were sadly mistaken. Little did they know that I too, was a student of Aeltha the seer. During our many divination sessions, she had been busy teaching me about the essence, saying that a day of judgement would come when a mightier king was needed. A mightier king with a mightier soul, yet in the same body.’

Alces had never understood his mother’s magical talks, yet he listened attentively to the king’s words.

‘When I lay on the ground, bleeding to death, I reached out for the power of the essence. The essence listened to me, and I managed to come to a deal with it. The end of it was that I got resurrected into a newer, more powerful form, bearing the same power the timber wolves used.’

‘But…’ Alces thought he understood what Moussa said. ‘But the timber wolves are made of dark essence. Do you mean you used—’

‘I had to,’ Moussa said, eyes twinkling. ‘There was no other way. I needed a powerful force to get me back on my hooves again, and only dark essence was at hand. Yes, I admit it. I made a deal with the Dark Elk. But remember that I wasn’t selfish, for I shared my power with everyone here.’ He waved his wooden hoof around, offering Alces yet another glance at his new people. They stood, half-wood half-flesh, listening to their king and looking at Alces in the middle.

‘So did you kill the timber wolves?’

Moussa snorted. Steam came from his nostrils. ‘The wolves were long gone before I managed to stand on my own hooves again. But once I stood up and looked around me, I saw that I was alone. Everyone had succumbed to those horrible creatures. That’s when I started sharing my power.’ Moussa reared. His voice grew in volume. ‘Every elk, deer, and reindeer that was still in one piece, I was able to resurrect. I shared my power with many that night, and managed to recruit many strong souls to the new herd.’

Alces gasped. ‘Did you manage to save Aeltha? Did you manage to save my mother?’

‘I searched for her, Alces Roameling. Don’t think that I left her alone. I searched many days and many nights, but I was unable to find her lifeless body anywhere. I concluded that the wolves had probably devoured her.’

‘But she could be alive, right?’ For a moment, Alces pushed the fact that Elkia had said Aeltha was dead aside. He saw now that death was apparently cheatable. He had the faint hope that perhaps…

‘Aeltha is dead, Alces Roameling,’ Moussa said. ‘I don’t want you to believe in “maybe” or “perhaps.” Aeltha the seer knew that death would come for her that evening. She had seen how everything ended, and had revealed part of the outcome of the battle to me. Grieve when you are ready, little elk, because your mother is dead.’

Alces snorted. His knees felt weak. He started jumping and yelling, fighting to regain control of himself. ‘No! No! It cannot be true,’ he shouted with rage in his voice.

‘Enough!’ Moussa roared. He slammed his wooden hoof on the ground, and a circle of green fire erupted around it.

‘No, not enough!’ Alces shouted back. ‘I still don’t know what happened that night, or why and how you’re even here. It just doesn’t make sense!’

‘Then be quiet and listen, if you want to know the truth,’ Moussa said sternly, as if he were talking to an impatient young calf. ‘After I regenerated everyone that could be saved, the new herd and I spent many days and nights hunting down the wolves. And yes, once we finally found them, we destroyed every single one of them.’

‘Good,’ Alces said.

‘Necessary,’ Moussa said. ‘The Shimmering Eye was ours once more, and we once more got a chance to guard it with our lives, wiser we all are now. Why we are here is another story. I had often heard from ponies that there was a mysterious settlement somewhere in the Bugbear Territory. Unfortunately, I never had a chance to search for it myself. But now that we are twice as powerful as before—three times even, I dared to leave some of my kin behind, and venture far into the woods with this faithful platoon at my side.’

‘So, you’re just here to check on rumors?’ Alces said.

‘You don’t see the big picture, Roameling, for which you can be excused. You are no leader, after all. After the timber wolf attack I realized that we were not alone in this forest after all. I knew I had to remap the place in my mind, and the rumors were my guide. Eventually, we did reach this place. We’ve been here for nearly a day now, scouting it out, walking around and around it. They truly have mighty walls, which will be hard to conquer. But then I realized something else. Why not forge an alliance, and make this a diplomatic mission? If we can get in contact with these ponies, perhaps we can come to some arrangement, and perhaps we might learn to build walls ourselves. It may even be—’

‘Don’t go there,’ Alces said. His eyes searched for Moussa’s, but became lost in the fire.

‘How dare you interrupt your king like that?’ Moussa said with his terrible new voice.

Alces tried not to wince. ‘I’ve been in there as a prisoner. They reduced me to a slave. They made me work hard in the fields and gave me little food and water. It is terrible, absolutely terrible. And there are more. There are many more ponies living in slavery and misery. There’s no talking with the ponies of Scribblers’ City.’ He paused and looked around at the other elks, deer, and reindeer, before his gaze once more settled on Moussa. ‘These ponies are evil. I know they have dark essence in them. Believe me, King Moussa. These ponies are our enemies.’

Even though he didn’t show it, Moussa was apparently listening to Alces, as he remained silent for a while. His wooden hoof reached up and stroked his flame-bound goatee. ‘If it is true what you say then we should tread carefully. Yet, I cannot simply abandon my perfect and glorious plans for the future based on one child’s accusation.’

The word “child” set Alces’s heart in flames. ‘Do you want some more proof? Why not look at this! Look what they gave me as a souvenir!’ Alces turned around, and showed the scars of his flank to Moussa.

Moussa did a step back. ‘Once again you’re insulting me, young elk. How dare you turn your back on your king? I wish I could give you the punishment you deserve, but I have more important things to do. Go away and leave us to our plans.’

‘What?! But… but…’

Turning around, Moussa was going to walk away, but, upon hearing Alces’s voice once more, he seemed to remember something. ‘Alces Roameling, would you still serve the herd?’

That was an easy question. ‘Of course, King Moussa. I belong to the herd.’

‘We’ll see about that,’ Moussa said. ‘Instead of punishment, I give you a test.’

‘Anything,’ Alces said.

‘You claim to have been in this settlement, and if that’s true, then you might be an asset to us after all. Perhaps you can still be of use to us.’

‘Of course I’m useful,’ Alces said with a snort. ‘What’s the plan anyway?’

‘Our first plan was to catch somepony with our traps and interrogate him or her.’ Moussa shook his head. ‘But our traps—other than the one you foolishly galloped into—have been empty all along. Apparently these ponies do not often leave the safety of their walls behind. I can’t blame them.’

‘So what’s up next?’ Alces was dying for some action, and ready to reclaim his place in the herd. Maybe they could even help him search for Elkia, or maybe he’d have a chance to discover the house with the green curtains after all. However much he disliked going into Scribblers’ City again, with Moussa and this new, essence-infused army of elks, deer, and reindeer at his side, he wasn’t afraid.

‘”Up next” is a plan I have constructed myself. I want to speak with the leader of these ponies, and have a talk leader-to-leader. My plan is but simple. I want to appear at the gate with the herd behind my back, and ask for a meeting with the leader of this settlement.’

‘And? That can’t be everything, right?’

‘No, there is more,’ Moussa said. ‘My scouts have discovered that this settlement has two gates, one in the north and one in the south. I myself will appear at the north gate, but I will need a platoon of warriors at the ready at the south gate, so that they won’t have the opportunity of a surprise attack. I still don’t believe they are hostile, but I’m not going to let the safety of my people be ignored.’

Alces was silent for two seconds, thinking about the plan. He didn’t like the plan at all, and not just because there wasn’t enough action in it. Revenge still crossed his mind. ‘But they are hostile,’ he said. ‘They will definitely attack you if you’re not careful. We should be the one to attack first. We have to strike them down and be merciless, and—’

‘Enough!’ shouted Moussa. ‘I will not have some calf tell me what to do and what not to do. As long as they haven’t shot or stabbed or bit me, I consider them safe to talk to. Go live your fantasy somewhere else.’

Alces gritted his teeth. He stabbed at the ground with his hoof. ‘But—’

‘No more buts,’ said King Moussa. ‘You will be with the group that keeps watch. You know about their fortifications, where they are and how far they can see. Make yourself useful and go with the watch. Leave the talking to the leaders.’

Wanting to say something back, Alces drew in a breath. But then he realized to whom he was talking. He was talking to King Moussa, the strongest and stubbornest of the elks, deer, and reindeer. Whatever he was going to say, it was not going to work. The king would have it his way, however much he’d try to convince him. Alces sighed and said, ‘Very well, King Moussa.’

‘Why the sigh? You’re going to be a part of a glorious plan, crafted by the king himself.’

‘Where’s the group?’ Alces said, not answering his king’s question. Insulting him was not going to get him back into the herd.

King Moussa proceeded to dividing his herd in two. After a few minutes, they started to move. Alces felt much better once his group passed Moussa’s and headed for the south gate. The other elks, deer, and reindeer followed Alces dutifully, and Alces felt a little bit better. He felt like a general, leading his troops into glorious battle. The only thing was that there would be no battle, and that the soldiers were loyal to Moussa first, and him second. Alces couldn’t blame them. If Moussa hadn’t exaggerated and had really resurrected them all from the dead, then they had a solid reason to be loyal to him.

Alces knew they were getting close. The trees became scarcer and scarcer. Soon enough, Alces could see torches burning in the distance. The gate was just a few yards away. Alces stopped, and so did the herd.

‘We’re going to stay hidden in the edge of the forest, so they won’t see us,’ he said. ‘Especially with all the, well, glowy things.’

Some elks looked at themselves and at the others, as if they noticed the flames and the swirling green magical energy coursing through their reanimated bodies for the first time. They shuffled on their hooves, but not because they were afraid. They made way for a moose, big, but bent double, as old age got into his bones. He had a long, grey goatee, and wooden tiles covered his neck like a piece of armor. He strode slowly towards his favorite pupil, who looked at him almost as shocked as when he saw Moussa the first time.

‘Old Cervidus!’

‘Indeed,’ said the old elk with a smile. Once he reached Alces, he caught him in an embrace. ‘Sorry for the sentimental feeling, Alces, but I lost all my children and grandchildren that night, and they couldn’t be revived. You are the closest thing to a grandson I have.’

‘I don’t mind,’ said Alces, and he really didn’t. He wasn’t the hug-loving kind of elk, but some affection, even a little bit, after everything he had gone through was more than welcome at that moment.

‘Oh my! By the Dark Elk! What has happened with your cutie mark?!’

Alces turned around and showed his scarred flank to Cervidus. ‘They did it.’

Cervidus stepped closer and regarded Alces’s terrible wounds with his fading eyes. ‘I thought my eyes betrayed me when I saw you talking to Moussa, but indeed, it is worse than I thought.’

‘It doesn’t hurt anymore,’ said Alces.

‘Of course it does,’ said Cervidus. ‘It must hurt you here.’ He tapped Alces’s chest with his split hoof.

A few seconds of awful memories from Scribblers’ City was enough to make Alces growl. ‘If you mean it like that, then yes. It hurts a lot.’

It was as if Cervidus read his mind. ‘Then you must want revenge on whomever did this to you. No, you don’t want revenge, you deserve revenge.’

‘Yes,’ Alces said. ‘I do. But I don’t think I’ll get much revenge with Moussa’s “plan.”’

Cervidus shook his head. His neck creaked. ‘I’m not a big fan of Moussa and his “plans” either.’

‘Huh?’ Alces cocked his head. ‘But didn’t he raise you all from the dead?’

Old Cervidus wrapped a hoof around Alces, and pushed him away from the rest of the elks, deer, and reindeer. In a hushed voice, he said, ‘Don’t be fooled. It may seem that Moussa gave us something, but I can feel, deep down inside, that he took something too. It may seem that we got a second chance at life, but it will be a life without much freedom.’

‘What do you mean?’ said Alces, also whispering now.

‘I think he took a little slice of our souls, and keeps them safe underneath that wood-bound chest of his. He owns us, Alces. He truly is an absolute king now. I’m not sure, but I think he might be able to bend us to his will somehow.’

‘That’s… interesting,’ Alces said.

‘Oh, I know that look on your face,’ said Cervidus, grinning as he spoke. ‘You’re thinking of your own woes as you listen to the woes of others.’

‘I’m sorry about that,’ Alces said, a bit embarrassed.

‘No. I’m sure you have been through a lot inside those damn walls,’ said Cervidus. ‘And I also have the feeling that what you told Moussa was just the tip of the pine tree, wasn’t it?’

‘It was,’ said Alces.

‘Then why not tell me all about your misadventures while we wait. You and I both know there will be no action tonight, for ponies are cowards.’

Now Alces grinned too. ‘You are old and wise, Cervidus.’

An so they waited. Every elk, deer, and reindeer stood his or her ground and fanned out, keeping the wall in their sights. They saw how the guards walked to and from on the wall, doing their nightly rounds, and occasionally looked at the forest. There were quite a few of them around, mostly unicorns in blue uniforms, and they were definitely alert. Little did the other elks, deer, and reindeer know that Alces had broken out of that gate just a few hours ago.

Only Cervidus soon found out that Alces had done just that. He listened with undying interest at the escape of Elkia. He scowled and grunted as he heard how the guards tortured Alces until he was broken and battered and damaged beyond repair. Then he almost cheered out loud when Alces told him about his escape with the help of Sparks the blacksmith.

‘Looks like you’ve been to the Dark Lands and back,’ Cervidus said, when Alces concluded his tale.

‘More or less,’ said Alces.

‘But in the end, you didn’t get your revenge. That’s a shame, isn’t it?’

‘It is, Cervidus. It is…’

Together they sat in silence for a while, also observing the wall. Alces tried to estimate how long they had been sitting there like that, doing absolutely nothing. He thought it must surely be an hour or two. Then he thought about Moussa, and if he’d been able to gain an audience at the leader of Scribblers’ City. No matter how long they sat and waited, nothing happened. Alces became restless, and shuffled on his hooves. Cervidus took note of that, and nodded, as if he’d made a decision. And in reality, he certainly had.

Suddenly, the old elk stood up and walked towards the rest. ‘Gather round, everyone. I have something to say.’

Some elks moved closer to him, but most of them held their grounds and didn’t do anything.

‘He said listen, wood-heads!’ Alces barked to the elks. Technically, Moussa had appointed Alces to be the scoutmaster, so this time the elks, deer, and reindeer did as they were told, and scooted closer.

Cervidus winked at Alces, and Alces winked back. ‘It’s all about the right words,’ Cervidus whispered. Then, he took the time to look at everyone in turn, scanning their reformed heads and the green light of their eyes. After a brief pause, he said, ‘Have we forgotten what honor is?’

No one answered.

Cervidus pointed at the elks. His voice rose in strength. ‘Yes, sure, pretend that you think your honor is secure, or perhaps you think we are honorable creatures after all. For a minute, I thought we actually were honorable enough, as we chased away, hunted down, and killed the timber wolves who defiled our most holy sanctuary. Yes, we did reclaim our honor that way.’

A few murmurs went through the crowd. Some nodded their heads.

‘So, thanks to this amazing feat of strength and brutality, we reclaimed our honor through revenge. Doesn’t that feel sweet? Doesn’t that feel absolutely satisfying?

‘Yes,’ said some elks.

Cervidus tapped his chest with his hoof. ‘Honor is important for us, and we would rather die than be dishonored in some way, wouldn’t we?’

Alces saw what Cervidus was doing. He stood by his side.

A large deer separated himself from the rest of the herd. ‘What are you trying to say, old Cervidus?’

Cervidus licked his lips. ‘I’m just stating a fact, a tradition nestled deeply in our great culture. I want you all to be aware of ourselves. We live and breathe honor.’

‘Yes, we know that,’ said the deer. ‘Why are you bothering to tell us and grab our attention when we should actually focus ourselves on the gate?’

‘Because…’ Cervidus paused for dramatic effect. ‘Because I have here someone who has lost his honor, and I keep wondering if you and I and everyone else actually want to help him.’

‘Whom are you talking about?’

Suddenly, without any warning, Cervidus picked up Alces from the ground. The old elk proved to be stronger than he looked, as he held Alces in his hooves. ‘This poor creature has something to show and to tell. Look at this!’ he flipped Alces around, so that his scarred cutie mark was visible to everyone. Cervidus could look in Alces’s eyes, and he winked.

In the ghostly green light which emanated from the elks, Alces’s scars were clearly visible. A loud gasp went through the crowd, traveling from the middle of the group all the way to the end. The silent recon squad became not so silent anymore. The elks, deer, and reindeer craned their necks, wanting to see if it was really as bad as it looked. They all got a horrifying view of Alces’s lost cutie mark, which seemed to throb and pulse in the shifting light and shadow.

‘Oh my! That’s terrible!’

‘Does it hurt?’

‘Where is your cutie mark?’

‘Will you ever get the cutie mark back?’

‘Those scars… horrible!’

‘How did this happen?’

‘Who did this?’

And many more questions were asked. The elks barely remembered to be silent, caught up in this moment of misery.

‘I believe it is time to let Alces take the word,’ Cervidus said. He put Alces down and stepped aside.

Alces remained silent and turned around. He made sure to look in all the elk, deer, and reindeer eyes. He could feel the compassion flowing from creature to creature, and he knew he now had to play his crowd like a drum; not too hard, but powerful enough to leave a lasting expression.

‘In answer to your questions, I got the scars from in there.’ He pointed behind him at the wall.

‘But why?’ said a deer.

‘Because… because… I was an elk!’ Alces blurted out.

Another string of gasps went through the crowd. Some stomped their hooves. Alces saw that and smiled. He had to get them angry, that was the key which unlocked the door to his revenge… maybe.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ he said. ‘They sawed off my antlers and made my cutie mark disappear in a pool of boiling skin and a heap of blisters only because I was an elk. Now, this puts question marks at Moussa’s plan, doesn’t it? Do we really want to ally ourselves with ponies—beasts—who treat elks like this?’

Murmurs. Some elks, deer, and reindeer spoke silently to one another. Alces could swear the green lights of their eyes grew in intensity. That was what he wanted.

‘A plan has grown inside my head, and I’m willing to share it with you all.’ Alces used his voice as if he were telling the crowd a very sensitive thing. With a small smirk he reckoned Elkia would be proud of him for his theater play and speech. ‘We can stay here, doing nothing, while King Moussa, on behalf of the whole herd, tries to befriend these ponies who would never even deserve to be called friends of the herd, a plan which I highly doubt will even be possible.’

Alces paused until the crowd was silent. ‘Or…?’ an elk said.

‘Or we charge!’ Alces slammed his hoof on the ground. ‘We charge and take matters into our own hooves. It might be hard for you all to believe, but horrible things are going on behind this wall. Behind this wall, ponies are being treated as slaves, as was I. We should put an end to the horrible things that happen in this horrible “city.” We should fight. Who’s with me!’

The crowd rustled. Many hooves went into the air, as many elks, deer, and reindeer got inflamed by Alces’s speech. Alces looked at the others who hadn’t yet raised their hooves. One deer stepped forward. ‘But what about Moussa? Shouldn’t we be loyal to him and do what he said we should do? Surely he had the right intentions.’

‘You’re missing the point!’ old Cervidus suddenly shouted. He shoved Alces aside to face the deer. ‘Yes, Moussa is a great leader. Yes, he gave us our lives back. But he didn’t turn us into mindless slaves. We have information. Alces Roameling knows what horrible things are going on in this city, and Moussa doesn’t. The fact that Moussa doesn’t want to listen to what Alces Roameling, son of Aeltha the seer, has to say doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t.’ Cervidus took the time to collect his breath and shaped his words into powerful tools. ‘In fact, we have already heard what Alces said, and I think he has explained everything clear enough. These ponies are elk-haters. These ponies are our enemies.’

‘How so?’

‘The fact that these monsters scorched away Alces’s cutie mark already proves that they are our enemies. If you won’t charge for yourself, then charge for Alces. They have taken away his pride and his honor. Alces deserves to have his honor restored, and these ponies deserve to know what happens with those that stand against us.’

The crowd produced some growls and moans. More hooves got raised into the air. But still, there were some who held back. Including the deer.

Cervidus noticed that. ‘What can we do to prove this?’ he said. ‘How can we prove we are speaking the truth?’

‘Show it to me,’ the deer said.

‘I beg your pardon?’

The deer planted his hooves firmly on the ground. ‘I still don’t know if we should ignore what Moussa ordered us to do.’ He looked down at Alces. ‘I challenge you, Alces. Walk out of the forest and towards the wall.’

‘And then what?’ Cervidus said. ‘I think his scars are proof enough.’

But the deer shook his head. ‘Walk towards the gate and then we’ll see what happens. If they talk, we talk. But if they attack, then’—he looked behind himself at the army of elks, deer, and reindeer—‘then we charge. Does that sound like a deal?’

The others backed the deer up.

‘Yes!’

‘Good idea!’

‘Let’s do that!’

‘It’s a deal!’

‘Go Alces!’

Alces exchanged a glance with Cervidus as the crowd answered. He expected Cervidus to say something witty, something that would turn the tide. But Cervidus’s gaze was as blank at Alces’s. Apparently, they had reached an ultimatum.

‘Fine!’ Alces growled. He breathed in deep, turned around, and walked with powerful, sure steps towards the gate.

Behind him, the group of elks, deer, and reindeer watched as Alces moved forwards. He had reached the end of the tree line already.

Slowly but steadily, Alces moved closer to the gate. He could already see some blue uniforms. The only thing the guards had to do was look down, and they would spot him.

And that was exactly what happened.

One guard glanced down, and saw him. Then the guard glanced again, not believing his eyes. He shouted, ‘Everyone! It’s the elk!’

‘Fire at will!’ a voice shouted from somewhere.

Alces swallowed, and braced himself for the pain.

A bolt of magical energy flew through the air and hit its mark. The magic sizzled and sparked as it entered Alces’s body, traveling at lightning speed and releasing pain in his nerves. Alces rocked once, twice, and then fell down on the ground. He couldn’t even twitch his ears anymore.

‘I got him! I got him!’ the guard yelled. ‘Open the gate, then we’ll haul him in.’

‘Roger that.’

Despite his numbness and the pain, Alces couldn’t resist smiling. They were opening the gate, and couldn’t have chosen to do anything stupider. If Cervidus hadn’t sit still and had put them all into position, ready for the charge, then—

With a thud, the gate opened. A small platoon of four guards marched towards him, completely oblivious of the approaching army.

‘ATTACK!’

Alces heard how the elks, deer, and reindeer charged from the forest. He felt their thundering hooves upon the ground, a sweet sound to his ears. The four guardponies looked in front of them. Then their eyes became as big as saucers, they forgot about Alces, and they turned around to run back at the gate.

‘Close the gate! Close it!’

But it was too late. Already some swift deer had reached the entrance to Scribblers’ City. They were busy chasing the guards away, and waited by the gate so it stayed open.

Something cold and spikey touched down on Alces. A strange vibration went through his body, activating his muscles and almost forcing himself to stand up.

Cervidus stood next to him, smiling. ‘A little gift from the Dark Elk. Let the dark essence flow through your body, and use it well. Use it for revenge.’

When Alces looked back, he saw how the rest of the herd followed suit. He wasted no time. ‘Elks up front! Elks up front! Try to block the magic with your antlers!’ he shouted. To his satisfaction, the position of the animals changed, until the big, strong elks with their wide, broad antlers took the lead. Alces smiled. Tonight was going to be a good night.

He chose to gallop up front, with Cervidus next to him. After they all ran through the gate, Alces kept giving orders. With him in the lead, they veered off towards the magical bubble.

‘To the bubble! That’s the source of the misery!’ Alces shouted.

There were a few guards out and about, who had at first walked casually through town, knowing that nothing extraordinary would happen. But now, they realized how wrong they were. They tried to shoot magical missiles, but those easily rebounded on the antlers of the stormtroopers at the front. Then they executed a wiser strategy—the one where they ran.

The horde reached the magical bubble. The elks, deer, and reindeer overpowered the guards, and squeezed themselves through the entrance. Once inside, Alces took a small moment to regroup, see if everyone was present, and give orders.

‘Attack the ponies in blue uniforms. Trample right over them if you want. I don’t care. Get them running and steer them towards some marketplace or a central square. I want to have them all there nicely packed together.’ Alces paused to look the plantations over, and spotted the buildings. ‘And if you find yourself without anything to do, then just demolish somethings or set fire to whatever wooden structure you can find. It’s all improvisation from here.’

As an answer, a roaring battle cry came from the elks, deer, and reindeer who made up the crowd, which promptly got turned into an army by Alces. After a shouted ‘GO!’ they did as they were ordered.

Alces joined the army as it traveled uphill towards the guard barracks. They encountered a guard or two, who got completely overrun and fled down towards the entrance. Alces took the time to look into their eyes, and saw the fear and terror. Unfortunately, he didn’t find the one face he was looking for.

At the top of the hill, the guardhouse came into view. Some guards stood at the entrance but, watching the elks storm on, hunkered down inside.

Not for long.

After a quick command, the elks who had been the pupils of Aeltha the seer made their magic work. They commanded the destructive forces of nature, focused the essence into their antlers, and set fire to the building,

One by one, coughing and covering their eyes against the smoke, the guards trickled out of the building. They immediately surrendered when they saw how painfully surrounded they were. Not even bothering to shoot, knowing it would only anger the insane horde in front of them, they let themselves be steered down the hill and out of the bubble by a group of elks which detached itself from the main horde.

When all the guards were out of the guardhouse, Alces and his army made one final sweep through the plantations. There were a few guards who were hiding, but the army soon got them moving. As Alces and the army headed towards the exit of the bubble, Alces paused at a very familiar house. He bashed in the door and stepped inside. Sparks was home, watching the chaos through his window.

‘What the hay is going on out there?’ he said.

In the flickering candlelight, Alces’s smile looked all but demonic. ‘Revenge, my friend. Revenge and salvation.’

‘You are mad!’ said Sparks. ‘How did you even find that many elks and deer and whatever antlered monsters you have there?’

‘Luck—or bad luck, perhaps,’ Alces said. ‘Doesn’t matter. What matters now is that you’re free.’

Sparks left the window alone and walked to Alces. He stuck out a hoof, which Alces shook. ‘I honestly would have preferred a less violent method.’

‘Freedom is freedom,’ Alces said.

‘That’s true.’ Sparks managed a tense smile. ‘I guess I’d better go check with the workers, to see if they’re okay.’

‘Yes, you should do that,’ said Alces. ‘Lead them if you must. Saves me the trouble of rescuing them one by one.’

‘Of course… I’ll do that.’

Alces turned around and was going to step outside, when Sparks called his name. ‘Alces.’

Alces paused, but didn’t turn around.

‘Good luck.’

‘Tonight has nothing to do with luck,’ said Alces.

‘With what then?’ asked Sparks.

‘With strength, strength in numbers.’

And with those words hanging in the air, Alces left the blacksmith’s house.

He was almost the only one left. Quickly, Alces sprinted towards the gate, now devoid of any blue-uniformed ponies, and entered the city once more. It only took him a few seconds to locate the rest of his army. He galloped back to the front, where he got to see something truly satisfying. Running, fleeing, a whole platoon of guards galloped in front of them, herded like sheep dogs. Alces had them exactly where he wanted them to have.

The sounds of yells and screams were in the air. When Alces followed them, he saw exactly why. Six or seven small groups of Aeltha’s pupils had separated themselves from the main herd. They were busy sowing flames and making the buildings burn. They were smart enough to start their fires upwind, and in no time, several buildings were burning in the night. Hay, they had almost lain a whole district into ashes. Alces grinned as he saw the grisly spectacle before his eyes. Honestly, he didn’t mind a bit of collateral damage.

But still there was no square or marketplace. Alces saw that they were now galloping through a residential district. The few ponies that were out and about quickly retreated into small alleys or inside houses, trying to shield themselves from the thundering horde. Children cried, mares wailed, and stallions shouted. The sound was music to Alces’s ears. For a moment, he truly felt like a conqueror. He wanted them all to scream and see that their pretty little village was not as safe as it seemed. He wanted them all to scream his name in pure terror.

‘ALCES!’

‘ALCES!’

‘ALCES!’

For a moment Alces was confused. Did his daydream come true already? He tried to find the source of the shouts, to find whoever called him. After a bit of glancing around, he discovered something truly interesting.

There was a mare, standing in the doorway of her house. She didn’t look afraid at all. Instead, she waved at him and called out his name through the rumble of the hooves, the roaring of the flames and the crying of children. Alces could have ignored her easily, but he didn’t, because he saw something he had kind of been looking for.

Green curtains.

‘Cervidus, you take the lead for a while,’ said Alces to his mentor. ‘Do as I said, and drive those sadistic guardponies towards some kind of market square. I’ll join you soon.’

Cervidus nodded. ‘What are you going to do, then?’

‘Something I should have done in the first place.’ And with that, Alces left the army alone, and headed for the door.

The pony retreated inside as soon as she saw Alces was coming too. When Alces entered the house and shut the door, the pony was standing opposite of him, watching him as if he were a stray cat that had found its way home after many years. ‘It really is you,’ she said. ‘I can see that the potion did the trick.’

Alces narrowed his eyes. In front of him stood a pony with a light brown hide, and with a mane that wasn’t quite blond and wasn’t quite red. ‘Wait, I know you…’

‘Yes,’ Strawberry Blonde said. ‘We had a brief talk when we took you in, and before I became off put by your… well… verbal abuse.’

Two long strides brought Alces close to the pony. ‘It’s strange isn’t it? Back then I might even have been angry after your guards caught me and knocked me out.’

‘Haha, this is no time for sarcasm, Alces,’ said Strawberry. She kept her poise, and refused to be intimidated by the elk who was at least a head taller than her. ‘Your brother and I knew each other well, and—’

‘So you were the one he fell in love with?!’ Alces said. ‘You were the one who clouded his vision and kept this whole slavery thing a secret? Were you the one who thought of that ridiculous guard-disguise plan too?’

Strawberry took a deep breath, staying calm in front of the snorting and flaring elk, a furry ball of anger. ‘Yes, he and I shared our moments together. Yes, I kept everything a secret—something I still regret—and no, I didn’t come up with that plan. Syntax did, another friend of Elkia’s.’

‘Tell me where he is and I’ll make sure he regrets that insane, idiotic, and stupid plan of his,’ said Alces, growling as he spoke.

‘I won’t,’ said Strawberry. ‘Instead, I’ll tell you something that might help you. I talked with Elkia before he disappeared and he told me to craft a plan together with Syntax to get you out of that magical bubble.’

‘I’m not gonna thank you,’ said Alces.

‘You don’t have to,’ Strawberry retorted. She paused, walked towards her window, and looked outside. ‘From the looks of it you have given your own twist to the plan.’

‘I stumbled upon an army. Might as well use it,’ said Alces.

But Strawberry wasn’t listening. She sniffed the air, and then opened the window. ‘Is that… smoke? Fire?’

‘Yes,’ said Alces with a smile. ‘With a little luck and favorable winds, we’ll burn this place to the ground.’

‘WHAT?!’ Now Strawberry Blonde was the one who turned around and jumped towards Alces. ‘You can’t do that! You can’t—’

‘DON’T tell me what I CAN and CANNOT do, Missy.’ Alces shouted. He towered over her. ‘I have an army, and you don’t!’

‘But there are ponies living here. Innocent ponies who have done nothing wrong!’ Strawberry said. She had done a step back at the sudden shout, but she kept her balance. ‘These are ponies who also didn’t even know there were… bad things happening underneath that bubble. You can’t just—I mean, it would be evil to burn their houses down.’

‘I didn’t come here to be scrutinized by some sugarplum schoolteacher,’ Alces said, ‘I came here for Elkia.’

There was a small silence. Strawberry Blonde adjusted her pose, thinking something over.

‘If you have nothing more to say, I’ll leave you and this stupid plan of yours behind. There is revenge to be done,’ Alces said. He turned around and headed for the door.

‘Wait!’ Strawberry shouted. ‘I have information that will help you track down Elkia.’

In one fluent motion, Alces turned around and retook his position opposite the pony, staring her down. ‘Tell me.’

‘I’ll only tell you if you stop your army from burning down the town,’ Strawberry said. She forced her voice to be strong, which didn’t even take her that much effort.

‘Tell me!’ Alces repeated.

‘No. First you stop the house burnings.’

‘TELL ME!’ Alces shouted, right into Strawberry’s face.

‘No.’

‘TELL ME NOW!’ Alces jumped up, and punched the ground with his hoof. As Strawberry followed the movement, she saw how Alces’s powerful blow created a large dent and a crack in the wooden floor. She swallowed, but didn’t budge. She knew that she had to be strong.

‘My offer still stands.’

‘RAAAGH!’ Alces turned away from the pony. He bucked around the room in frustration, knocking over some chairs and destroying Strawberry’s cabinet with her glass figurines. Although it pained her to see them get trampled, she kept silent.

Alces thrashed about for a minute or two, venting his anger on anything that came into view, before he finally found some kind of calmness and stopped.

‘Better now?’ Strawberry purred.

Alces’s blood boiled and sizzled for a moment longer after Strawberry’s words. Then, with a jerk, he moved towards the door. Opening it, he looked outside and called for the nearest elk he could find. He exchanged some quick words in Elkish and then closed the door once more. Turning around, his eyes met Strawberry’s. ‘There. Done. No more fire. Now tell me what you know.’

‘You’re such an angry animal,’ Strawberry said, more to herself than to Alces. ‘And that language sounds terrifying. I didn’t even know there was something like a language for the elks. Elkia never told me…’

‘Quit your blabbering and tell me what you know.’

‘Very well.’ Stepping over the shattered glass figurines, Strawberry walked towards a closet. There she got out a map and a pencil. Heading over to her table, she unrolled the map, and motioned for Alces to come closer, which he grudgingly did.

Strawberry cleared her throat. ‘Very well. After a quick talk with Syntax, the pony from the guard-dress-up-plan, I figured out that Elkia is probably here.’ She pointed at a symbol on the map, two horizontal bars against a sandy white background.

‘Where is there?’

‘It is the village of our great leader Starlight Glimmer. Once every few months, an airship from Griffonstone makes a circle.’ And to illustrate her words, she drew a circle on the map. ‘They fly from Griffonstone to Scribblers’ City, pick up books and art, and deliver them, together with some other supplies, at Starlight’s village. Then they stop at Manehattan, do some trading, and head back home to Griffonstone.’

‘So they took Elkia to Starglim’s village with the airship?’

‘Starlight Glimmer, and yes.’ Strawberry Blonde reached for her heart, and swallowed hard. ‘That’s where he is. You see, Syntax told me that sometimes our great leader Starlight Glimmer chooses from among us ponies of incredible talent, and takes them to the village to supervise their training or use them for certain purposes…’ Once again, Strawberry swallowed hard, and blinked. ‘So, whatever your worries are, know that Elkia is in good hooves.’

‘I don’t care how good the hooves are,’ Alces grumbled. ‘He’s still with the enemy, and I’m gonna get him out of there. I promised him.’

For a moment, just a tiny moment, Strawberry Blonde looked at Alces as if she just met him. ‘I can see that you really are brothers and friends, however different you are.’

‘Yes… We are brothers, friends maybe too,’ Alces said. Then he blinked, and his face contorted into his warrior’s frown again. ‘No sentimental nonsense now. How do I get to him?’

‘You have to go to Griffonstone,’ said Strawberry, pointing to a strange tree on a rock. ‘I have no idea when the next zeppelin will fly to Scribblers’ City, but I’m sure you can find many different zeppelins which will at least fly over Starlight Glimmer’s village.’

‘Where are we now?’ asked Alces.

‘We are now here.’ Strawberry Blonde drew a circle on the map, somewhere inside the Bugbear Territory. ‘You’ll have to travel south from here, cross the Guto River, and go through the forest until you reach Griffonstone.’

Alces scrutinized the map. His frown deepened. ‘I never liked cartography or navigating by the stars. But I suppose you’re coming along, right?’

Stepping back from the map and the table, Strawberry Blonde sighed, and her ears drooped down. ‘I… I wish I could, but—’

‘We’re gonna save the love of your life and you are not even coming along?’ Alces said, although he had trouble speaking out the words “love of your life.”

She knew she had to be strong, but even Strawberry Blonde, skillful as she was at steeling her face and hiding her emotions, let a tear fall. ‘I… I can’t.’

‘Why? Give me one good reason.’

‘The ponies here, they are scared.’ She paused and threw a hard look at Alces. ‘They are scared and they need somepony to turn to. I occupy a very high function in Scribblers’ City’s government. These ponies are my responsibility, and my home is here in Scribblers’ City. I can calm them down, say things that will make them feel better in these strange times. Maybe… hay, maybe I could even try and abolish the whole forced labor thing.’

‘I hope you can,’ Alces said, ‘or else my efforts have been for next to nothing, although the revenge will taste sweet in my mouth.’

Ignoring him, Strawberry continued her monologue. ‘However much…’ She had to start over again. ‘However much I want to see Elkia again, I know that my place is here. The only thing I wanted is for Elkia to be here with me, so I have my home, my people, and my love all in one place. But sadly, it is not meant to be…’

‘So you choose these pathetic ponies over my brother? What, isn’t he good enough for you?’

Now Strawberry was the one who got angry. She stomped on the ground. Then, with tear-struck eyes, she grabbed the map, rolled it up quickly and messily, and threw it at Alces. ‘Here’s your map and here’s your plan. The rest you’ll have to figure out on your own. Now go.’

Alces took the map and put it away. When he looked at Strawberry Blonde he saw that she had turned her back on him. Her shoulders shocked a bit, and he could hear her sobs. Yet, his heart didn’t melt. She was just a pony, a pony who had been unfair and who had kept things hidden. She was no better than the slave drivers. Turning around, Alces walked back to the door. Yet, he couldn’t walk out like that. Even though he knew it meant nothing to him or to Strawberry Blonde, he said, ‘Thank you.’

Strawberry said nothing back, so Alces left her be.

Back outside, Alces took a moment to orient himself. There were barely any elks or deer or reindeer around, but Alces could see where they went by the gigantic collection of hoofprints on the ground. He shook a strange feeling away from him, a souvenir from his visit to Strawberry Blonde, and followed the tracks. They took him through some streets which grew broader by the yard. Then he could see his army, standing with their backs towards him. Alces cleared his throat and snorted. The deer noticed him and let him through. When Alces finally reached the front of the crowd, he saw something truly beautiful.

All the guards were there, more than a hundred, on their knees on the ground like a giant blue cloud. A ring of elks with their big antlers stood around them, blocking the way with their half-wood and half-flesh bodies. Behind those the rest of the army stood, observing the guards with heavy frowns on their faces. They hadn’t forgotten Alces’s speech.

Alces saw him. In the middle of the group was one guard, big and burly, with a beard on his muzzle. His eyes flashed around, and Alces wondered if he was afraid or if he was observing his enemy, looking for a way out. He truly hoped it was case number one. He wanted him to be afraid. He wanted him to feel overwhelmed and powerless. And on top of it all, he wanted him to cry and scream, preferably in pain and shame.

Scanning the crowd, Alces picked out Cervidus. ‘You see that guard with the beard over there?’

Cervidus looked. ‘Is he the one?’

‘He’s the one.’

‘Very well.’ Cervidus disappeared between the other elks, deer, and reindeer. He marched all around them, giving specific orders. The formation changed. Like a spear tip, Alces’s army sliced through the group of guards, chasing them this way and that. They moved with surgical precision, and made sure that the bearded guard soon found himself alone. The rest of the guards were pinned to the side, and a second ring was formed like an arena. That was exactly what Alces wanted.

When the guards once again sat down on the ground, pinned down by elks more than a head taller than they, everyone turned his or her attention to the inner circle.

Alces stepped forwards and into the battle arena. His eyes locked Brawn’s. Brawn’s expression was unreadable. ‘So, you brought some friends, hmm? I guess you feel pretty tough now that mommy and daddy and all your little forest-crawling brothers got your back.’

‘They don’t,’ Alces said. He paced around Brawn, making a large circle around his prey, shooting as many nasty glares at him as he could. ‘In the circle of honor, it is just you and me and no one else.’

The rest of the elks, deer, and reindeer got their cue. Slowly, al together, they hummed a few words. ‘The circle of honor. The circle of honor. The circle of honor.’ Over and over again in a deep, droning sound. It was a shame they didn’t have any drums to accompany themselves, but they tried to get the same effect by stomping their hooves on the ground.

However much he tried to hide it, Alces saw Brawn swallowing something away. He smiled a cold, vengeful smile.

‘So this is it then?’ Brawn said. ‘It’s a shame we can’t be friends. I mean, forgiveness is magic, right?’

‘Not in my culture,’ Alces hissed.

‘Very well.’ Brawn shook his head, and planted his hooves firmly on the ground. ‘Let’s do this.’

‘Wait!’ someone shouted. Alces turned around.

It was old Cervidus, but not quite. His head was bald now, as he carried his antlers in his hooves, offering them to his favorite pupil. ‘No duel should be fought without weapons. It is the elken way.’

Alces looked from the antlers to his mentor. ‘But… your antlers?’

‘Antlers grow back,’ Cervidus said, ‘but right now you need them more than I do.’ He turned towards the army. ‘Rope!’

In a matter of minutes, Cervidus’s big, half-wood half-bone antlers were attached to Alces’s head. They were a lot bigger than his usual antlers, and heavy, but nothing Alces couldn’t handle. He swung his head from side to side, testing the weight and the balance. Then he looked at Brawn. ‘Yes, yes this will work.’

‘Whoa there, friend,’ Brawn said, gazing at the enormous antlers, big and strong and sharp as blades. Suddenly, his voice lost some of its tone, growing higher. ‘But what about me? I should get a weapon too, you know, or else this fight is unfair, and we want to do this traditionally, of course.’ He threw a desperate glance at the army around him. ‘I know how much you all like tradition, apparently…’

‘Very well, pony scum,’ Cervidus said. ‘You can have this!’

Something long landed near Brawn’s hooves. He took it and looked at the tip. ‘A hoe? A hoe is no weapon.’

Alces couldn’t help but chuckle, but a second later, his face grew hard again. ‘A true duelist can use everything as a weapon. Take it or leave it.’

Brawn too, tested his weapon, and turned it around in his hooves. He frowned, gritted his teeth, and hissed, ‘Fine.’

‘The ceremonial duel of honor shall begin!’ Cervidus shouted. As one, the crowd threw their hooves in the air and shouted along. ‘Honor! Honor! Honor!’

Alces brought his head down low. Slowly, he circled around Brawn, who held the hoe in his hooves, looking lost. The tension rose. Brawn kept his eyes on the menacing antlers in front of him, and Alces waited for the best moment to strike. This moment was as good as any moment. He scraped his hooves on the ground like a bull, aimed for the guardpony, and charged.

WHAM! Bone met wood. At the last moment Brawn had put his hoe in the air, trying desperately to block Alces’s attack. The force of it made him stumble backwards. His hooves grated over the soil as Alces pushed him farther and farther away. Finally, he couldn’t go any further, and bounced against the pointy antlers of an elk from the army. Brawn felt the branches of the antler stab him in the back and yelled in pain. A nasty scrape marked his back, accompanied by trickling drops of blood.

Alces drew his antlers back and turned his back to his enemy. He threw his hooves in the air, and so did the rest of his herd. They all shouted his name. ‘Alces Roameling! Alces Roameling! Alces Roameling!’

Brawn got shoved back in the middle of the arena. Alces still had his back turned toward him. Cowardly though, as it was, Brawn pressed the attack. He charged towards Alces, with the tip of the hoe shimmering in the light.

But Alces was faster. He whirled around and caught the hoe in mid-air. With a flick of his head, he jerked the tool out of the pony’s hooves. Flabbergasted, Brawn hesitated for a second. That was a big mistake. Alces kept spinning around, and delivered a wicked buck right into the guardpony’s stomach, sending him flying back.

Once more a cheer came from the audience. Brawn had a little trouble getting up as dust found its way into his wound. But he did it. He stood up. When he watched Alces again he saw how he threw him the hoe. It fell on the ground with a thud. Alces waited until his enemy had picked up his weapon before he went for another charge.

Brawn did manage to block it, and now he knew what to expect. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he threw his full weight into the battle. He got shoved backwards slower and slower, until he stood still. Both animals pushed against one another, trying to win this round. Yet, Alces opened his eyes wide for a second, as he discovered that now he was the one who got shoved away.

The pony used his weight and his muscles to deliver a powerful feat of strength. Alces had to back down. With a shift of his weight and a nudge of his head, he sidestepped the pony. Brawn kept pushing, but found there was no one to push. He tripped and fell into the crowd.

The crowd threw jeers and insults at him, and promptly tossed him back into the ring. He still clutched the hoe. It was all he could do.

‘Enough toying around, Alces,’ Cervidus shouted from the crowd. ‘Do what you want to do and do it quick!’

‘Very well,’ said Alces. He was already in position. He didn’t go for a charge this time, but walked slowly towards Brawn.

Brawn didn’t like that one bit. His ears rang with the silent threats and insults Alces threw at him. He knew things were getting serious this time. Life or death serious. With the last drop of self-respect he had, he moved towards his enemy too.

‘We have traded blows the elken way,’ said Alces, growling low and nostrils flaring. ‘And now it is time to fight my way.’

Help! Please no! Brawn thought. ‘Do your worst,’ Brawn said.

They reached the middle of the circle simultaneously. Alces went for the kill. He swung his head and his new antlers towards his enemy. Brawn blocked with the hoe, but that was what Alces had expected. Nudging his head, Alces directed the hoe out of his way, creating a hole in his enemy’s defense. He reared on his hind legs and punched with both front legs at the pony. The blow connected with his belly, and Alces swore he could hear the satisfying sound of something breaking.

Brawn let out a scream, and fell to the side. Using the hoe, he managed to stand up, and reached for his stomach. He wheezed and gasped, trying to catch his breath. When he got it at last, he forced his mind into battle modus. He couldn’t let the elk hit him. Not again. Standing up, he swung the hoe in front of him and slowly advanced. ‘You’re not going to get me like that!’

But in the flurry of wood and steel, Elkia saw an opening. He jabbed with his antlers, and caught the hoe. Brawn tried to swing the other way, but he was stuck. With an easy flick of his head, Alces broke the head off the hoe.

Brawn, weaponless and out of ideas, backed off.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Alces, as he closed in on the pony. ‘I’m not going to skewer you on my antlers. That would be too merciful. Let’s fight the earth pony way, stallion to stallion. Put them up!’

So he did. The two animals met each other on the battlefield once more. Brawn tried to jab at Alces, but he evaded. Then he tried to turn around and buck, but Alces caught his swinging hooves in the air and blocked the blow. Brawn was a bully, but not a duelist. Not like Alces.

‘Now it’s my turn!’

Alces twirled around and swiped the big pony’s hooves from under him. Taken by surprise, Brawn fell to the ground, but quickly stood up, ready to receive another blow. He staggered back, while Alces kept punching him. Face, belly, hooves, legs, face again. Wherever it hurt most. Alces smashed and smashed, screaming as he attacked. All the rage flowed freely through his body, powering his muscles to deliver deadly blows. All the frustration, shame, and vengeful thoughts coalesced into his mind, throwing a red filter over his vision.

Suddenly, Alces stopped and stepped back, eyeing his handiwork.

Red bruises and blood stained the blue suit of Brawn. His left eye was swollen and closed, some teeth were missing, and his jaw sat at a strange angle. A couple of broken bones tried desperately to keep the pony upright, shaking and rattling as he moved. But, despite his injuries, he still managed to stand up—if only barely. That was not what Alces wanted. Readying his antlers, he charged a third time.

Brawn was too weak to even begin countering the attack. He screamed as the pointy tips of the antlers cut through his hooves, through his belly, and through his hind legs. At one point, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and carried somewhere. Hard wood smashed into his back, as Alces skewered the pony with his antlers, and left him hanging from a tree.

‘Oops, I guess I changed my mind,’ Alces said.

Wheezing, Brawn spit a gobbet of red onto the ground. ‘But now you’re stuck with your antlers in the tree. You are as stuck as me.’

‘Not exactly.’

Alces twisted, the ropes snapped, and the crown of antlers came loose. Bearing a smile on his lips, Alces walked away and looked at the piece of violent art he had created: a visual representation of pain.

Twisting and turning, Brawn tried to get himself loose, but discovered the hard way that the more he moved, the more the antlers dug into his flesh. He could do nothing but watch.

Alces Roameling walked towards where the head of the hoe had fallen off. There was still a bit of wood attached to the metal head. He took it in his mouth and walked back towards the pony. Searching, he found a pupil of his mother, and motioned for him to come along.

As the two elks advanced, Brawn grew genuinely desperate. He knew he had lost the fight, and he could only guess at what the elks were going to do to him now.

‘Fire,’ Alces said.

The elk that accompanied him lowered his antlers. Between them, a ball of swirling green fire sprouted like a flower. Alces held the head of the hoe into the fire. ‘So it seems we have some time to talk before this gadget of mine reaches the right temperature.’

‘What… what do you want to talk about then?’ said Brawn, struggling to talk with his missing teeth and the taste of blood in his mouth.

‘About revenge,’ Alces said. ‘I want every single one of you to see that whoever has power can do what he or she wants. Whoever has power can think that he or she is better than anyone else.’

‘That’s the way power works,’ said Brawn. The antlers creaked as he shifted his position. Blood flowed freely from his wounds. He grew a bit pale. ‘But I liked our friendship better when I stood with many and you were alone.’

Alces watched his hoe. It was almost done. ‘Strength sometimes comes in numbers, and with strength comes power.’

‘And we can do with power what we want,’ said Brawn.

‘Exactly,’ said Alces. He took the hoe, red-hot and glowing, from the flame, and waved it in front of Brawn’s eyes. ‘The Dark Elk granted me this power, and now I will bend this power to my will.’

‘Do what you want to do,’ Brawn spat.

Shaking his head, Alces said, ‘No. I will do what I need to do.’

‘Revenge?’

‘Revenge,’ Alces said, narrowing his eyes.

‘I hope you’ll choke on it, if you get your fill,’ Brawn said.

‘Oh, I’ll get my fill, and you’ll get what you deserve. Now… by the Dark Elk, it is time for some sweet, scalding REVENGE!’

And with that, Alces thrust the glowing metal head of the hoe against Brawn’s flank. Brawn squealed and shouted as the pain overwhelmed him. Alces just laughed like a maniac, bathing in every single second he got to play executioner. The hoe sizzled as the skin underneath it turned to crisp, and a fine ring of blisters exploded like volcanoes around it. Smoke curled around the grievous wound. When at last Alces thought the hoe had cooled down too much, he jerked it back. A piece of skin stuck to it, and Alces tore a big, bleeding wound in Brawn’s side. Lucky for him, Brawn had already fainted, as some higher power apparently got merciful. As the blood flowed and boiled, Alces just watched, and dropped the hoe on the ground.

When the smoke receded, it revealed a third bar on Brawns flank, a diagonal line through the equal sign cutie mark. Alces had turned the equal sign into an unequal sign.

But he wasn’t done yet. Alces demanded another flame, and started heating up the hoe a second time. A pony had two cutie marks, after all. This time he had nopony to talk to, but he didn’t care. Every single second of anticipation grew into the sweetest candy he had ever tasted. Looking around, Alces could see that all the other elks, deer, and reindeer were watching him. Yet, their expressions weren’t the same as Alces’s mask of horror. They looked quite blank. Alces knew he had lost some of their support. Had he gone too far?

No. Alces shook his head. Just one more “correction” and then he would be done. Just once more that sweetly sickening sound of roasted flesh and then he had his fill. The hoe had reached proper temperature again. Alces looked up at the elk whose fire he’d borrowed. ‘Can you cast a spell to revive the pony? I want him to see and feel the last part of my verdict.’

‘Stand aside and let us through!’

That wasn’t Brawn’s voice, but a voice much deeper, a voice bearing much more weight and responsibility than any other elk, deer, or reindeer could ever bear. As if on cue, the ranks of elks, deer, and reindeer split, creating a path for their king. Moussa walked slowly into the arena, with a stallion, black as the night with a white mane and tail, next to him, barely able to keep up with the king’s mighty strides.

‘What is going on here, Alces Roameling?’ King Moussa said. His voice was strict and stark and demanding. He gazed from the skewered pony to Alces, to the hoe and to the crowd, and then back at Alces. ‘I think you have a lot to explain, so you might as well start now.’

It was too late to hide anything. But then again, what was there to hide? Alces didn’t feel like he got caught in some criminal act at all. His voice didn’t waver, and his stance didn’t shrink. ‘It was a battle of honor, King Moussa.’ He tried but failed to hide his smirk. ‘A battle I’ve won.’

‘A battle of honor?’ Moussa said, almost choking with bridled fury. ‘A battle of honor?! Your only task was to wait at the southern gate, yet here you are, with your part of my army, in the middle of the city, fighting a battle of honor?!’

Alces bit his lip, as he realized he had, in fact, gone against a direct order from his king. Yet, he tried to make it right. ‘Yes, my king. Yet, as I told you, I had an unsettled debt of honor with this pony, where I was the one stripped of honor. I merely supplemented your original plan with my own battle tactics, making it greater and better than it was before. This was just a little detail of the plan, a dual fought the elken way.’

‘The elken way?!’ Moussa stepped forwards. The flames in his crown pulsed and danced and grew larger by the minute. He gestured towards the skewered guardpony. ‘Do you call this the elken way? We are proud creatures, fierce in battle and wise and hardened survivors. We aren’t torturers!’ He grabbed both antlers in his mouth, jerked them loose, and threw them away in one single, powerful motion. Brawn slid to the ground, still unconscious and still bleeding.

‘By our sweet Starlight, what has happened with you?!’ said the dark pony. He trotted over to Brawn, yet stepped back as a pool of blood grew in front of his hooves. He shuffled over to Brawn’s head, but saw that his eyes were closed. When he reckoned he was not going to get answers from the guardpony himself, he looked at Alces and Moussa in turn. ‘Do you call yourself fierce and wise and survivors? Looking at this poor stallion here, I’d say you are nothing but foul beasts, not worthy of being in my city! I knew this was a bad plan the moment you walked through my gate, Moussa. I never liked you, and now I see my gut feeling was right.’

Moussa let out a loud snort. His piercing green eyes glared at Alces. ‘And there goes my plan for peaceful coexistence.’

Alces shook his head. ‘Wait, that actually worked? I thought you would be unsuccessful. I thought the gates would remain closed. I thought—’

‘You’d have done better to think more before you acted,’ Moussa retorted, his voice full of wrath. ‘And you should think before insulting your king and his grandiose plans like that. I met with this Charcoal pony, and everything went nicely. He even invited me for tea. Only once we received news from a guard who managed to run away from your “one-elk war” and learned of your deeds did our peace negotiations get disturbed. And now, thanks to you, they are completely SHATTERED!’

Charcoal, the black pony, still stood and gazed open-mouthed at the prone body of Brawn. Yet, something else demanded his attention. He craned his neck and sniffed the air. ‘Is that… fire I’m smelling?’

‘We started burning down your village and you didn’t even notice?’ Alces said. That was not the smartest thing to say.

‘Why of course not,’ Charcoal said. ‘I live in the northern quarters, far away from the commoners. I hardly noticed.’ Despite his black coat, a red blush of anger appeared visibly on his cheeks. ‘This is absolutely outrageous! Here I am having tea with the self-proclaimed “king of the elks,” and in the meantime his soldiers set fire to my home and torture my guards! I… I have no words for this.’

But somepony else had. Suddenly, Brawn opened his eyes, so suddenly it startled Charcoal and made him jump. Brawn tried to sit up, but his broken body wouldn’t let him. Then he tried to say something, but only a garbled sound came from his mouth. His eyes flashed around taking in his surroundings, and he coughed a few times. Yet, when at last Alces appeared in his vision, he moved. ‘Get back from him! Back from him!’ he shouted, biting through the pain and forcing his body to crawl away from Alces. ‘He’s a monster! A monster! That’s no elk you’re talking to. He’s a demon! A demon from the lowest depths of Mount Tartarus!’

‘Oh, so now you’re playing the drama queen?’ Alces said, rolling his eyes at Brawn’s display.

‘That’s it! I’ve seen enough!’ Charcoal said. Ignoring Brawn, he turned on his heels and flashed a stare at Alces, and finally at King Moussa. ‘A king who has this little control over his subjects, who offers peace but delivers war has lost my interest entirely.’ He talked through gritted teeth, so that each word was a growl. ‘I will not have peace with a race of creatures that has already declared open hostility. King Moussa, from this day forth we are enemies. I demand you release my guards and make your way back into the deep, dark forest from whence you came. And if you or any other of your race ever shows himself at my front gates, then expect no warning shot.’

Moussa had no words left. He knew he had failed in his mission. The only thing he could do now was to make his retreat at least somewhat dignified. ‘Elks, deer, reindeer, let go of the guards.’

As one, the elks all did a step back, offering the guards a way out. Like beaten puppies, the entire Scribblers’ City guard force shuffled on their hooves, until they created something that at least looked like a formation behind their mayor Charcoal.

Charcoal turned to Moussa one last time. ‘We will retreat now and leave you here. After exactly one hour we will return and open fire at any elk, deer, moose, reindeer, and whatever more snake-breed creatures you have in your army. This, at least, is an understanding I can live with. Do you accept it?’

Moussa’s crown of antlers and fire shrunk in size, until the flames were but a hoof long. ‘I accept your judgement, unfortunately.’

‘Unfortunately for you, not for us,’ Charcoal said. ‘Guards, grab your wounded stallion and reassemble yourselves orderly at your stations. Triple the guard on the walls, and enlist as many new recruits as you can’—Charcoal had already turned around, but didn’t give Moussa the honor of a goodbye hoofshake—‘because we will need them in the future.’

And so Charcoal disappeared, followed by the army of guards, and the elks, deer, and reindeer were left alone. Immediately, Moussa turned to Alces, crown and flames crackling with rage. ‘Alces Roameling. I could never have predicted the trouble and disaster you would bring upon us when I discovered you in that net. I should have left you hanging and ignore you. You have disobeyed my order, the order of your king, and declared war, all by yourself, on these ponies, completely overthrowing the peace negotiations which could and should have been a reality.’

Alces stared at the ground. He knew he was in deep trouble now. The fire of revenge was gone in his heart, but he didn’t feel resentment. He was still content with that he had achieved. Now, however, his victory over Brawn the guardpony and the restoration of his honor felt unimportant in the face of his angry and terrifying king. He could only say, ‘Yes, my king.’

King Moussa snorted. Flames and smoke escaped his nostrils. ‘For your first sin alone you should have received the death penalty, according to the ancient ways…’

Suddenly, a new actor jumped onstage. It was Cervidus, who saw where this was going. ‘No, my king. It was not entirely Alces’s idea.’

‘Explain yourself!’ roared the king.

‘I helped nourishing the flame of revenge in Alces Roameling’s heart. Don’t impose your judgement upon the little one, however just it may be,’ Cervidus said, keeping his head down and his gaze to the ground. ‘Instead, take this old elk’s flesh and bones, and satisfy yourself by killing me instead.’

‘WHAT?!’ King Moussa reared on his hind legs. ‘You truly insult me thinking I would impose the old ways on Alces Roameling, old Cervidus. The old ways are in the past, buried with far too many of our kindred. I am the new king, you all are my new servants, an advanced breed of elks, deer, and reindeer. With a new king comes new rules.’

Both Cervidus and Alces remained silent, daring not to speak to their enraged monarch.

‘No more will the blood of elks, deer, or reindeer be shed. No more shall our kindred die before our own eyes. The death penalty is gone, and, after today, so is the debt of honor. You understand now how much it pains me to see the old traditions turning on me and biting me in the tail.’

‘I understand, King Moussa,’ said Cervidus, although he still had no idea what the verdict would be.

‘And besides that,’ the king continued, ‘you are far too valuable to me, old Cervidus. You know of the dark essence, the very energy that keeps us standing. No, I need you and your teachings. It is Alces Roameling, son of Aeltha the seer, whom I should get rid of.’

Cervidus did one last attempt to have Alces’s back. ‘But, my King—’

‘Too late, old Cervidus, for I have made up my mind.’ King Moussa’s flaming eyes turned towards Alces. ‘Alces Roameling, from now on you are no longer a member of the herd. From now on we will cast you out. You will live without a herd, all by yourself, and fight your own battles without the strength of the herd helping you. No one will care about you and no one will be looking for you. And if you are looking for us, you will never find one single member of the herd. Such is the curse you’ll have to bear until your coat turns grey and your antlers brittle. Such is the curse you’ll have to bear until your eyes turn cloudy and your legs stiff and worn. Such is the curse you’ll have to bear until your dying day.’

Now the taste of sweet revenge left Alces’s mouth completely. Instead, a bitter aftertaste filled his mouth like bile upon hearing King Moussa’s words. As soon as the words left the king’s muzzle, Alces already felt alone. He already felt the stares of every elk, deer, and reindeer in his back, judging him silently. The curse took effect, and it felt absolutely horrible. Alces felt exactly the same as during that merciless winter, a year ago, when Elkia had told him their mother was dead. He felt alone, abandoned, as if everyone he knew and cared about was dead, while in reality they were alive; they had just turned their backs on him.

And that was exactly what happened. Moussa barked a few commands in Elkish, and strode away. The herd silently followed, as he headed in the direction of the northern gateway. ‘Come,’ Moussa said, ‘let’s leave this lost soul behind. I will have a word in private with every single elk, deer, and reindeer who took part in this affair, but for now, I just want to get to the forest and rethink my plans. Go everyone. Go, follow me, and no one else.’

Alces was alone. Even old Cervidus wasn’t able to stay with him, bound as he was by Moussa’s magic. Cervidus was the last one to follow, and stroked Alces’s fur as he walked past him. ‘Find us, Alces. Prove the curse has no effect. Prove that Moussa isn’t as powerful as he thinks he is. Find us.’ And with that, Cervidus melted into the rest of the herd, and soon he couldn’t be seen anymore.

Alces kept staring at the herd, retreating farther and farther away, until he couldn’t spot a single elk, deer, or reindeer anymore. Then he looked at the tree, at the blood on the ground, and at the hoe. Had it all been worth it? He kept musing on that single question, as he walked away towards the southern gate. Crossing the arena, he found old Cervidus’s antlers on the ground. He picked them up, intending to take them with him. Yet, as soon as he held the two weapons in his hooves, they dissolved into a fine cloud of ash and soot, which immediately scattered in the wind.

The curse had already taken effect.