Magic and Memory

by Summer Knight

Chapter 5

Gibbous and I slept for most of the day. The sun had passed its highest point and was beginning to sink toward the other horizon before we left the room again. I felt well-rested and much better for it, while Gibbous kept rubbing her eyes and complaining about the bed.

As I'd expected, beds were all this town was good for. The griffons inhabiting it were completely ignorant of history and magic, and suspicious of strangers. The entire settlement—Seahawk's Landing, it was called—only existed so that ships would have a place to dock before setting out farther east.

We stayed until the sky was fully dark, then took off for the next island in the chain.

---

I'd thought the two guards we met at the docks at Seahawk's Landing were just awful griffons, but it turned out that most of them were like that. As we hopped from town to town and island to island, practically everygriff met us with distrust if not outright hostility. I also noticed that as we got farther west—farther from Mount Enyo—fewer and fewer griffons had ever seen a batpony before. Eventually we agreed that Grogar keeping his batpony illusion was a waste of magic.

If the whole world was like this, then I never wanted to leave my colony again.

Now, a couple of weeks later, we stood at the western edge of the Griffish Isles and looked across the sea. Somewhere over there was Equestria and, hopefully, the answers that Grogar was looking for.

"It's a long flight," I said. Much longer than the island-hopping we'd been doing.

"It is our only option," Grogar replied.

That was true. We'd tried to find a ship sailing west, but they'd only take creatures who could work or who could pay. Neither of us had any experience with boats, and of course we didn't have any money, and even Grogar couldn't keep a whole ship's worth of griffons hypnotized long enough to get us to Equestria. We could have stolen some money, but that was farther than I was willing to go. Which left us with flying.

"Right." I swallowed my misgivings. "You'll catch me if I start to drop, right?" My stamina had grown by leaps and bounds during the weeks of travel, but I still wasn't sure about a trip that would take us all night and then some.

"Of course." Then, lest that make me feel too warm inside, he added, "I will need you to translate their writings for me."

"Naturally," I replied flatly. Grogar wasn't a bad guy, but by the moon and stars, he was dense!

"Come." Grogar wreathed himself in magic and lifted off the ground. I spread my wings and leaped out over the water.

We were on our way.

---

I kept an eye on Waxing Gibbous as requested, ready to snare her with my telekinesis if she began to fall. However, my help was not necessary; she glided easily on the air currents above the ocean. We kept a slow but steady pace all through the night.

After many hours, the sun began to rise. Even though it was behind us, Gibbous hissed in displeasure.

"It's reflecting off the water," she explained when I asked what was wrong. "It'll blind me if it gets any brighter!"

I glanced behind us. The sun was barely over the horizon; the day would get much brighter indeed.

"Can't you do something with your magic?"

"Of course." I focused, and an orb of energy shot out of my horns. The ball rose into the sky, spread out, and turned completely black to block the sun. It was dark again—darker even than the night, for there was no moon either. "It is done."

"Aah!" Gibbous squealed. "No no no, I meant like... protect my eyes, not blot out the sun!"

"Oh." Why hadn't she said so in the first place? I cast another spell to put a semi-opaque film over Gibbous's eyes, then recalled my eclipse spell. "Is that more suitable?"

Gibbous sighed in relief. "Yes. Much."

We flew in silence a while longer.

"Grogar," she finally said.

"Hm?"

"You're really powerful, aren't you?"

I shrugged. I had nothing to compare my power to.

"I mean it," she insisted. "I know you said you couldn't blow up Mount Enyo on your own, but what do you think you could do? Like, what's the most powerful spell you could cast?"

"Hmm." I thought about it for a moment. If I weren't already tired, and I completely exhausted my reserves... "Seahawk's Landing. I could destroy Seahawk's Landing."

Gibbous's flight grew erratic for a moment as she stiffened in midair, then caught herself. "A whole town?!"

"A small town," I pointed out.

"But still! You're talking about killing hundreds of griffons!"

"I did not say that I was going to, only that I could." I had no reason to destroy Seahawk's Landing, nor any other settlement.

Silence fell again, and this one lasted for a very long time.

---

The sun was almost directly over us when we finally came within sight of land. I was exhausted, starving, and I could feel my wings cooking right on my back. Those shadows on the horizon were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

We drew closer, and I nearly fell out of the sky not from fatigue, but from shock. We were on a course straight toward a city that would have dwarfed all the griffon towns we'd visited put together. Buildings crowded right up against the coastline and sprawled out for miles. Farther inland, on top of a hill, were even more buildings—enormous ones—with smooth stone paths linking it all together. Even Grogar grunted in surprise.

"What is it?" I whispered, awed.

"I... do not know," Grogar admitted. "I do not remember much, and yet I'm sure I have never seen such a place."

"Look there." I pointed to a hill near us, overlooking the sea. The broken remains of a building sat on top of it, and the meadow beyond was torn apart.

"A battlefield," Grogar rumbled.

"Is it safe?"

"The battle is long over," Grogar answered, "and I do not see anyone nearby. It is safe."

We landed near the ruined building and I collapsed gratefully into the grass. I didn't even care that I could still feel the daylight baking my skin, I just desperately needed to sleep. And eat. And then sleep some more.

"Come, we will take shelter inside," Grogar said. "We will go down to the city after resting."

"Fine... by me," I panted. I forced myself upright and with slow, aching steps I headed toward the broken stones of whatever this had once been. We—by which I mean Grogar—shifted aside some stones to make a small entrance, and I immediately searched out a stable-looking beam to hang from. It was no cave, with grooves in the stone that my hooves fit into to as if they were made for one another, but wrapping my legs around a sturdy branch was still a whole lot better than a flat bed.

"Hm," Grogar grunted as I got settled. "This appears to have been someone's home."

"Why would you put your home right next to a battlefield?" I mumbled sleepily. My snores drowned out his answer.