Brothers 'N Antlers

by Elkia Deerling

Chapter fourteen: desperate times

The sun stood high in the sky, letting its hot rays fall upon the furry back of Alces Roameling. He carried Elkia on his back, who was still unconscious from the mighty and desperate blow his own brother had given him. Alces trusted in his own strength, using his broad shoulders to carry the heavy load. His coat was soaked in sweat, and every step was more difficult than the last. Stepping through the blazing sand was even more difficult than stepping through the snow. At least Alces was made for snow, and not for desert. He wished he could open a zipper and let his thick elk-coat behind. But he couldn’t.

The battle of Starlight’s village had commenced at dawn. Right now, the afternoon was drawing to an end, the sun on its way to dip beneath the horizon. Alces had only a vague indication how long he had been walking like that. It must have been quite a few hours. His legs felt like rubber and his shoulders sagged. But he didn’t give up. Neither he nor Elkia had any supplies with them—especially water—so the key was to get to the train station as quickly as he could, before he’d dehydrate himself.

Alces licked his bone-dry lips. He’d give a lot for a sip of water right now. Elks always like to live near water, to bathe and to get away from the mosquitos that plagued them in the summer. No, elks were definitely not made to walk in the desert, with their kin on their backs. It was only a matter of time before Alces would succumb.

And yet Alces was glad. He was glad he finally found his brother. He was glad they were finally together once again. Even though they’d once more shared their differences—and Alces knew for sure that once Elkia would wake up they would have a small fight again—Alces had completed his mission. His objective now lay on his back, breathing slowly, unconscious.

There was a large dune before him. Alces looked upon the wall of sand and felt his strength waver. It was just so far! Gritting his teeth and adjusting his load, he climbed the dune as best as he could. The sand was soft, difficult to walk on. For every three steps he made, he slid one step back. When finally he made it to the top of the dune, Alces had to pause. He couldn’t help it. He bent through his knees, and let Elkia slide off his back onto the warm sand. A second later Alces lay on his back, breathing the hot, stale desert air.

‘Aww… My head.’

And on top of all that, Elkia awakened.

Gingerly he ran a hoof over his face, checking if his muzzle was still attached to his head. It took him three seconds to realize he was not in the same place anymore. With a jolt, Elkia jumped to his hooves. He looked all around himself, and ended his search on the ground next to him. ‘Alces, where are we?’

‘We’re in the desert. Can’t you see?’ Alces said back.

‘But… but where in the desert are we?’

‘I don’t know, somewhere west of Starglim’s village,’ said Alces. He gathered up his last bit of strength and scrambled to his hooves as well. ‘Hopefully not far away from the train station.’

‘The train station? But what about Starlight’s village? What about—’

‘Gone,’ said Alces. ‘We left it behind. Well, I left it behind, with you on my back.’

Elkia stared at his brother. His stare was not an angry one—it was a sad one. ‘Oh Alces, how could you…?’

‘It was the smartest thing to do,’ said Alces. He promised himself not to get angry at Elkia’s naivety, and kept his voice as neutral as he could, which wasn’t that difficult when the desert air had made his mouth as dry as cardboard.

‘But it wasn’t the best thing to do…’ Elkia said, his voice trailing off.

‘Believe me, Elkia, you’re gonna thank me later once we’re alive and well and out of this damn baking oven.’

Elkia sighed. ‘Do you know where we’re going?’

‘Sort of,’ said Alces. ‘I know a general direction. But I’m actually content with our progress. At least we’ve left the village of that unicorn witch far behind.’

Once again scanning his surroundings, Elkia realized his brother was right. No matter how much he peered and shielded his eyes from the sun, he couldn’t spot one single house on the horizon. He couldn’t even spot their own hoofsteps, as a soft, warm wind covered them up with sand. Elkia’s head hung low and his ears drooped down as he understood that going back was not an option anymore. The only thing they could do was go forward.

But then, Elkia realized something else. He had worn the thing for so long that he had actually forgotten about it. He had become so used to the silly bell ringing all the time that his ears had accepted the sound, and he hadn’t even heard it the past couple of days. His eyes went down to the collar Starlight Glimmer had given him. Taking the bell in his hooves, he watched the strange ribbon’s color. It was colored the darkest shade of red.

‘Yes, I was going to ask you about that strange thing around your neck,’ said Alces. ‘That stupid bell sound drove me crazy. Shall I get it off your neck?’

‘Eh…’ Elkia said. He was unsure whether to take just a single step farther away from Starlight’s village. Her words of warning echoed through his mind.

‘Boy, am I glad you can walk on your own four hooves again,’ said Alces. ‘That will save me a lot of energy once we hit the road again. Or, well, sand, in this case.’ Alces threw a hoof around Elkia’s neck and nudged him forwards. ‘Come on, let’s go. And in the meantime, we can tell each other all about what happened when we got separated. Maybe we should make a story about it, hmm? I know how much you like—’

One more step was enough. Sound exploded in Elkia’s head. The bell sound had completely returned, and got amplified a thousand times. It felt as if Elkia was standing inside a hall with nothing but bells, clanging and ringing in an unending cacophony. Elkia let out a yell, as the pain of the wall of sound slammed through his ears, through his head, and through his entire body.

‘Whoa, Elkia, what’s going on?’ Alces said. He stared at his brother, who covered his ears with his hooves and trembled from head to hoof. The only thing Alces could see was the bell on his brother’s collar ringing annoyingly.

Elkia couldn’t understand a word of what Alces was saying. The bells got accompanied by shrill whistles, which forced their way into Elkia’s ears and made his bones rattle. He screamed once again, as blood ran down his ears. Jamming his hooves to his ears didn’t help one single bit. The sound was in his mind, scrambling up his brains and echoing through his entire body. There truly was powerful magic at work.

And Alces realized that too. He saw how Elkia fell down and squirmed and rolled in the sand, tears in his eyes and his hooves spasming. Yet, all Alces could hear was one single little bell ringing. Something was definitely wrong, and the collar was the source.

‘Hold still,’ Alces said, as he drew his sword. But Elkia couldn’t do anything but roll around as if he were on fire. Finally, Alces locked Elkia in a tight grip, a dueling maneuver, putting his all his weight upon him to keep him still. He carefully stuck the sword through the collar’s dark red ribbon and moved it up and down. But no matter how much or how quickly he sawed, the collar didn’t show even the slightest hint of a tear. It felt as if Alces was trying to saw through an iron chain.

Once again Elkia let out a horrible scream, as the bells rang in his mind. ‘Alces! Make it stop!’

One particularly wild spasm threw Alces off Elkia’s body. The sword flew out of his hoof. ‘I’m trying. I just don’t know how.’ Alces cursed. Any enemy he could challenge to a duel, but magic was an enemy he knew nothing about. He realized that he hated magic maybe even more than sneaking.

Alces got to his hooves again and reached for his sword. He was about to try again, when Elkia suddenly stopped screaming. That wasn’t good. Turning around, Alces saw his brother’s prone form lying in the sand, trails of blood seeping through his ears.

‘Elkia, no!’ He reached for the collar again and sliced and cut and sawed. The collar didn’t budge. Giving up, Alces put his head upon his brother’s belly and listened. Yes, he was breathing, but his chest barely rose and fell. Alces realized that the situation was critical now.

‘Oh no,’ he said, growling as he spoke. ‘Oh no, oh no, OH NO!’ Standing up, he grabbed Elkia’s prone body and flung it over his shoulders once more. ‘I’m NOT leaving you behind! You’re gonna come with me and you’re gonna LIVE!’ Alces worked himself up in his anger. The anger turned into energy, spreading throughout his whole body like the rejuvenation potion he had drunk in Scribblers’ City. If there was one thing Alces could trust on, it was his strength, and now he needed that strength more than ever.

So he moved on, twice as motivated as before. He didn’t look back, but kept marching through the sand to the west, where hopefully the train station was. He huffed and puffed as he walked, trying to keep his shoulders level so that Elkia wouldn’t slide off. He walked like that for the rest of the day. But even Alces Roameling had limits. When at last darkness fell over the desert, he couldn’t take it anymore. He did one last wobbling step, and then fell down. So he slept through the night, with Elkia by his side, still breathing dangerously shallow.

* *

As soon as the sun woke him up, Alces moved again. He draped his brother over his shoulder and resumed his march. Sleep had overwhelmed him, and he had many disturbing dreams, but he whisked them away with a shake of his head. Dreams were not important now. Elkia was.

A flock of big black birds accompanied him all day as he trudged through the sand. They were carrion birds, waiting for the elks to die to feast on their flesh. Alces cursed them and waved his hoof in the air. ‘Go away! I’m not dead, and neither is the elk on my back!’ But the birds didn’t listen, for they knew better.

Or did they? As the day drew to an end and the light began to dwindle, something strange appeared in the sand, and Alces walked towards it. When he reached it, he saw it was a little drabbled green shrub.

But shrubs needed water

Water.

Water…

Where there’s water there’s life!

Was Alces close? In any case, he nibbled at the shrub’s sinewy stalks to do a pathetic attempt at stilling his hunger or quenching his thirst. Then he continued his trek. Every muscle in his entire body was sore, and his hoofsteps grew smaller and smaller. If the train station was close, Alces knew he was not going to reach it today. Night came, fresh and cool but windy. When at last Alces fell to his knees again, he checked on his brother. He could barely feel the warm puffs of breath escaping between his lips. Alces put a hoof on his chest to feel for a pulse. What color was left drained from his face as he felt that that too, was weakening. But he was even too tired to worry about that for long, because sleep overcame him. He could do nothing but curl up in the sand and fall asleep.

* *

Day number three. Or was it four? To Alces, it felt like the thousandth. With Elkia on his back he resumed his death-march through the desert. He truly hoped that he was close now.

All day long he trudged on. His attention was so focused on his sore hooves that he barely noticed what was in front of him. He didn’t want to pause, for he felt that if he did, he would lose all the motivation he had to move on. And as evening came, he hardly could see anything in front of him, as the light flowed away from the desert.

That’s why he didn’t spot the shrub.

As he was descending a dune, he stumbled into the little green bush, tripped, and tumbled all the way down, losing Elkia and letting him roll alongside him. Alces wanted to curse, but felt his mouth too dry to form nasty words. When he came to a standstill, he walked back, grabbed Elkia, and turned his head to the west again.

Was this a fata morgana? In the distance, shimmering in the hot air, he saw a few brown specks. Alces wanted to be sure of what he saw, and waited a bit. They could be anything from hills to dunes to mountains. Then, when the light was almost gone and replaced by darkness, specks of yellow light began dancing among the specks of brown.

Light meant others creatures.

Other creatures meant civilization.

Civilization meant salvation.

‘Hey!’ Alces shouted, waving his hooves in the air. ‘HEY!’

But of course, he was much too far away.

Alces wanted to shout again, but his parched throat didn’t let him. As quick as he could he scooped up Elkia and walked closer, taking one wobbly step after the other. He needed to watch his footing as he moved, even though he wanted to look ahead instead. Sometimes he did pause and look ahead. And, much to his relief, the brown and yellow specks grew bigger.

By the light of the moon, Alces continued his way. Already the brown and yellow specks were as big as his own hooves. Alces wanted to take another step, but he couldn’t do it. All the energy was almost gone. He fell to his knees. Whatever, then I’ll crawl if I must, he thought. He had come so far, and he was not going to give up before he crossed the finish line of this death-race.

So he shuffled on his knees. Inch by inch, he shuffled closer. Elkia was still unconscious on his back, and his hooves scraped over the sand. Alces was so close. He knew he was so close. Looking up, he strained his eyes to see something in the moonlight. He saw new specks, colored specks, moving around in the light of torches. Alces swallowed.

‘Help!’ he called out. ‘HELP! Anyone!’ He wanted to shout more things, but had to swallow first. His breath rasped through his throat as he shouted as loud as he could. ‘I have a wounded one! For the Light Elk’s sake, just HELP us!’

That was the last of Alces’s energy. His head hung down low, his neck not able to endure the stress anymore. He saw only sand now. Knowing that these may very well be his last words, he let Elkia slide off his back onto the sand.

‘At least we’ll die together.’

But then Alces’s ear twitched, as he heard a sound. It sounded like voices, shouts. He summoned up the energy to raise his head. Through cloudy eyes, he threw one final gaze at the train station up ahead.

The colored shapes were much bigger now. And, to his amazement, they were coming towards him.

Alces knew he had done it. ‘Elkia, we have done it! We’re saved!’

But Elkia said nothing back. He still lay in the sand, unmoving.

Alces could only hope and pray he was not too late.

* *

‘Grab that bed and move it to the middle of the room. I need space to work!’

The doctor was an elderly unicorn pony wearing glasses and a moustache which gave him a smart and intelligent look. But now, his look was more one of controlled stress as he issued the command.

Alces was with him. He would be damned to leave his brother like this. After taking a few gulps of water he felt much better, and was ready to give whatever assistance he could. He grabbed one of the beds and shoved it where the doctor wanted it. Slowly the doctor lowered Elkia on the bed, dispelling his field of levitation magic.

‘Step aside, everyone,’ he said. ‘You, other elk, what can you tell me about this thing around his neck?’

Alces proceeded to tell him everything he knew. ‘I have no idea what it is, but Elkia rolled around, screaming in pain and reaching for his ears. He seemed to hear something that I didn’t. And when I tried to cut it with my sword it didn’t budge.’

The doctor stroked his moustache as he thought. ‘Hmm…’ Concentrating, he let his horn glow and moved closer to Elkia, scanning his entire body. When he reached the collar, his horn glowed a brighter green than before. ‘There’s definitely magic in this collar.’

Why did everything go so slow? Alces growled and snorted. ‘Of course there’s magic in it. Can you take it off?’

‘Hold on…’ The doctor moved the collar until he could see the bell. Another scan with his horn revealed to him what he needed to know. ‘This bell here functions as a magical lock too. It certainly is a powerful piece of magic.’

‘But can you open it?’

‘That’s what I want to know too.’ The doctor spread his hooves. ‘Give me some space. I need to focus.’

Alces reluctantly did a few steps back, but kept his eye on the pony and his brother as if he could help them both just by staring. He wished it was that easy.

Once again the doctor’s horn glowed a bright green as he moved towards the bell. Suddenly, a bright spark connected his horn and the bell, sizzling and popping with energy. Sweat pearled off the doctor’s brow as he tried to reach inside the magical mechanics. Even Alces, standing some distance away, could hear the pony groan with effort. The magical energy grew brighter and louder, illuminating the operation room in a clear, green light. Alces wondered if this was the safest thing to be doing. He was just about to ask the doctor how far he’d gotten when the lightning flashed all around in wild magical spikes. After a blast and a puff of smoke, the doctor yelled and recoiled from the collar to fall right into Alces’s hooves.

Wondering whether or not to let the doctor fall, Alces said, ‘It didn’t work?!’

‘This is quite powerful,’ the doctor said. Scrambling up and wiping the soot from his glasses. ‘I need my students to help me.’

‘Well, then go get them! We’re not gonna leave him like this!’

‘Yes, right.’ The doctor snatched up his coat and went outside. The door slammed shut and Alces was alone with his brother.

Stepping towards him, he stroked Elkia’s dust and sand-covered fur with his hooves. ‘You’re not gonna die, Elkia,’ he whispered, his voice coarse, holding back the emotions. ‘After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve survived… everything we’ve braved together… No, you’re not gonna die. You can’t die. This story needs a happy ending, an ending where both protagonists survive.’ He paused, taking in the silence around him. It was almost too much to handle, but Alces stayed strong. Now he had to—for both his brother and himself. ‘It’s a damn shame now that you need me the most, there’s nothing I can do…’

A few minutes later, the door opened, and this time four ponies stepped inside: the doctor and three other, serious-looking unicorns. They gathered around Elkia, and the doctor positioned himself at his head. ‘Alright everypony, as I said, this lock has four tumblers. I want each of you to concentrate on one tumbler, making your magic as tiny as possible and reach inside the lock. Use force if you need to, but not too much. It’s all about balancing this properly.’ He shook his head and blinked. ‘Try your best everyone. When we’re all inside the lock, we’ll push all tumblers down together.’

The unicorns all bore the same grave expression on their faces. They nodded simultaneously. ‘Let’s do this.’

Once again Alces stepped back, feeling powerless and useless, to let the unicorns do their work. After a collective sigh, the room got illuminated by four different rays of light, all centered around Elkia’s bell collar. Alces still had no idea what they were doing, and could only watch as the four ponies worked together. They all huffed and puffed with strain and effort. Whatever they were doing pushed every single one of them to his or her limit. The light once again grew in intensity with every passing second. Every second was an eternity.

Then, as one, the ponies’ magic disappeared and they all did a few steps back. But there was no explosion this time. Was that good? Alces shoved them aside and looked at their work. ‘Did you do it?’

‘Well, we certainly did something,’ said the doctor.

Even though their magics were gone, the bell kept glowing with a strange and unnerving glimmer. But it was still attached to the collar, and the collar was still attached to Elkia. One by one, Alces threw the unicorns a vicious stare. ‘You couldn’t do it, could you?!’

‘I’m afraid there is one element that eludes us,’ said the doctor, ignoring the elk’s gruff tone. He knew he was desperate, with good reason. ‘We cracked the lock, but there is one final thing needed to dispel the enchantment.’

‘Which is…’ Alces said through clenched teeth.

Sighing, the doctor stroked his moustache. ‘It could be anything. Most unicorns choose something difficult, something very hard to obtain like certain feelings. Or perhaps it’s something physical like a talisman.’

Well, if it was anger, Alces had enough of it. He strode away from the bed, pacing around the room and stomping his hooves. ‘No, no, no!’ It can’t end like this!’

‘I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do,’ said the doctor slowly, not really daring to say such things aloud to the stampeding elk behind him.

‘But it simply CAN’T end like this,’ Alces shouted, once more stepping inside the ring of doctors. ‘You have no idea what we’ve all been through! We’ve survived the worst Equestria can throw at us together. Our story—Elkia’s story—can’t end with some witch’s magical torture tool! Elkia’s LIFE can’t end with a bit of pesky magic!’ He bent over his brother. ‘Look at him, poor Elkia, too good for this world.’ He swallowed hard. ‘Dying…’

‘I’m really sorry, Mister Elk,’ said the doctor, not sure if throwing a hoof around his massive and quivering shoulders seemed like a wise thing to do.

And then, something strange and utterly unique happened. Alces cried.

No matter how hard he fell when he was just a calf, no matter how many duels he’d lost—and borne the shame that came with them—,no matter how many of his friends and family died, and no matter what the cruel world had in store for him, Alces never shed a single tear. Not even once. But now, something was different. The whole situation felt otherworldly, as if Alces wasn’t really there. It felt as if one of the heroic tales he loved so much got to a point where the brave hero died. Alces always wanted a heroic death, yet now that Elkia lay on his back on the bed, eyes closed and hardly breathing, he saw that death was never as heroic as in the stories. Death was just death. Black, cold, and deceiving.

Alces saw the world through a film of water and blinked, letting the tears roll down his cheeks. Crying felt strange. It hurt him physically, as if he had received a blow which rattled his bones. Even with the desert trek just hours in the past, he knew he had never felt this weak, both physically and mentally. He grabbed Elkia’s head and let their foreheads touch each other, a duelist’s sign of respect. ‘Oh, Elkia.’ The feeling of powerlessness no longer made Alces angry. It made him utterly sad. He didn’t care that there were four ponies in the room with him, who could all see him cry. This was his moment.

More tears glistened in the corners of his eyes. They traveled down his cheeks to stain Elkia’s fur. Alces’s shoulders shocked, as sobs overcame his iron will.

The unicorns let Alces have this moment. Perhaps some of them had lost somepony too, and knew how that felt. They turned around in silence, and grouped together at Elkia’s hind hooves. The silence was so absolute, so thick and laden with emotions, that the sound that filled it was so loud that every single one of them could hear it. All ears twitched at the sharp, mechanical sound that sprung into the silence.

CLICK!

Could it be…

Letting go of his brother, Alces’s eyes shot to the collar. It was open. Grabbing the infernal ribbon between his teeth, Alces flung it away. He looked at all the unicorns in turn.

‘Interesting,’ said the doctor. ‘Perhaps the key was sorrow or sadness.’

‘No,’ said Alces. He later scolded himself for his sappiness, but now it was the right thing to say. ‘I think it was something else. I think it was brotherly love, or maybe even friendship.’

The doctor sent his helpers away, and proceeded to treat Elkia’s other injuries. He was dehydrated, and his ears proved to have taken a massive blow. After the doctor was done with Elkia, he said that some good, old-fashioned rest was what he needed now. Alces wanted to stay with his brother during the night, to be with him and talk to him, telling whispered words of kindness in the black of the late night. But the doctor pointed out that Alces too, was in bad shape, something the big elk couldn’t deny. The doctor and his wife prepared a guest bedroom upstairs, but they took their time so that Alces could spend at least one half hour more with his brother. Their kindness knew no bounds, as they even offered a late dinner to this complete stranger. Once Alces had eaten something, he fell asleep and had many strange and uncomfortable dreams, even though he knew that his and Elkia’s ordeals were long over.