The Dark City

by awf

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rusty had been hoping they would make it past the living quarters that day, but unfortunately her little group took a wrong turn and had to backtrack, which had delayed them. The good news was that there didn't seem to be any sign of pursuit. The bad news was that Curio's backpack and gear were down in the temple, which meant they had less water than she had planned for. While they rested, Rusty Bones took a quick inventory and calculated they would have enough for the trip back. That brought her to the next problem: Curio Trinket. He hadn't struggled while she had carried him, but now he was sitting uncomfortably with his forelegs tied together behind his back and glaring at her. They would need to give him food and water and Rusty wasn't sure he would cooperate. Off to one side Gustaf was carefully stretching his bandaged wing, but soon gave up and folded it firmly at his side.

"Gustaf? Can you take his gag off?"

It was fiddly work for hooves and Rusty didn't think Winter Shine would be up for it with her magic. During their walk the mare had retreated inward and now she was standing a short distance away and staring into the darkness. Rusty really had to do something before Winter lost her sanity too, but she had her hooves full with the Professor. One problem at a time.

Their griffin guard came closer, glaring all the while at the unicorn who had injured him. "You sure you wanna hear what he has to say?"

"We have to give him water," she explained. She addressed her next statement to Curio: "We'll take the gag out and give you water, understand?"

There was no response, other than that baleful, unnerving stare. His pupils were still completely black. Gustaf figured she wouldn't change her mind and pulled at the knot on the back of Curio's head. The handkerchief fell out with a wet plop and the stallion worked his jaw to loosen it.

Rusty took her half-finished water bag from her pack and showed it to the Professor. "It's just water, okay?"

He didn't make a move, so she uncapped it and held it close to Curio. She wasn't quite sure what she was expecting, but she relaxed when he leaned forward a little. She tipped the bag up until the water trickled slowly into his mouth. Curio didn't swallow, so she took it away. Rusty had a second to wonder what was wrong before Curio spit it all at her. Most of it ended up in her face and she yelped and jumped away. She shook the spittle out of her fur while the stallion laughed.

"Still think that was a good idea?" Gustaf asked. "Let's gag him again. He'll keep a few days. Maybe he'll be more amenable once we're outside. Besides, that means more water for the rest of us."

There was some logic in the griffin's words and the ugly smirk in Curio's face was fanning her own anger, too. "Just what in the bucking- buck is wrong with you?!" she exploded. The strangeness of the past day caught up and Rusty was dimly aware her legs were trembling. She locked her knees in place and pointed an accusing hoof at the Professor. "What's with your eyes?! Why did you- why did you try and kill me down there?!"

There was no immediate reply, but the grin on Curio's muzzle vanished and his ears drooped. He closed his eyes and averted his face. A low, whimpering sound came out of his mouth.

Rusty perked up in a mixture of surprise and tentative hope. Had they reached him? Was he fighting through this madness? "Curio, whatever it is, we're here to help. We're your friends!" She took a small step closer and reached out a hoof to place it on his withers, to give the poor stallion some comfort. His shoulders were shaking badly now. "It's okay. Fight it! We're getting you out of here."

Suddenly Rusty realized that the Professor was not sobbing. He opened his black eyes and the sardonic grin was back. He was laughing at them!

"Bastard!" Gustaf exclaimed and raised his claw to slap the unicorn.

"No, don't!" Rusty ordered.

His claws tightened into fists for a moment, but then the griffin subsided. He looked at her and voiced the question Rusty was unable to utter herself: "Are we sure he even is Curio Trinket still? It doesn't sound like him."

The stallion looked around and his gaze landed on Winter Shine. His rictus of a grin returned and he turned those black eyes back to Rusty. "You are all already dead," he said in a voice which was like gravel. He sounded so certain that it sent a shiver down Rusty Bones' spine. He also kept his gaze on Winter Shine and Rusty realized her mistake. She ran over to Winter Shine, who was still looking off into the darkness.

"Leave her alone!"

Curio spat and a snarl replaced his smirk. "The horn is a doorway in," he whispered and it sounded as he hadn't meant for them to hear those words. The next thing out of his mouth was louder, but in a language Rusty didn't recognize. She reached the other mare and put her forelegs around her. That close, she could hear Winter softly moaning to herself.

"Shut up! Stop it!" Rusty yelled at Curio.

The Professor didn't obey and just went on in that strange, guttural language. It sounded rough and it fit the deep, grinding voice perfectly.

"I'll make him stop," Gustaf said. He put himself between the possessed stallion and Winter Shine. There was a crackle of discharging magic and both the griffin and the unicorn cried out in pain. Only a moment later Curio's litany of words resumed, faster.

Rusty didn't have time to look. Winter Shine was shaking all over and her hoof jerked spasmodically as she lifted it to her head. "N-N-No..." she whimpered, "I wo- I won't. No! Please, p- no..."

"Shut him the buck up!"

There was a loud thud and Curio Trinket fell silent.

In her hooves, Winter Shine nearly collapsed in relief and Rusty barely kept the other mare upright. She was panting and sweat was pouring off her in rivulets. "Ember! Come here!"

The young pegasus was by her side in a flash and he looked extremely worried. "You need to see to Gustaf!" he said urgently.

"I will, I will. Here, take Winter. See if you can calm her down!"

He accepted the gently-sobbing unicorn and held her in a safe cocoon of his wings while Rusty Bones hurried back. The sight was not pretty. Gustaf's face was slightly singed and a few of the feathers had been burned off. He was rubbing his claw and gritting his teeth as he watched the Professor, once more unconscious.

"I told you he was dangerous," the bird almost growled.

"I know! I know! I'm sorry!" It was the best Rusty could answer. It had all happened too quickly. She hadn't expected Curio to be able to possess others like that. "The thing he said! Just before that- that language."

"The horn is a door," Gustaf answered. "It can take control over unicorns. We shouldn't let him wake up again."

For an instant Rusty was tempted. She knew Gustaf would make it quick and as painless as possible. Curio was a liability. Who knew what else he could do, even with his horn out of commission. She looked at the griffin and his charred feathers. "What happened? How? I thought he couldn't use magic."

"I guess you thought wrong," the griffin replied. He touched his face and winced, but only for a moment before his scowl returned.

"Here, let me look at that. Maybe I have something in my first aid kit."

Gustaf stood up and strode away. "Don't bother."

"But I can help-"

"If you want to help, Miss Bones, then bucking listen to my advice when I tell you to-" Luckily he caught himself and fell silent before blurting out his plan to kill the Professor right before his students. Despite what had happened, Rusty stood her ground and caught Gustaf's eye. He threw his arms in the air. "Bah, I need to clear my head!" he barked and strode off into the darkness. Rusty didn't have the energy to stop him right at the moment.

"It was supposed to stop his magic!" she said helplessly.

Ember Clover raised his voice, even while his hooves and wings were still wrapped protectively around his classmate. "It doesn't prevent a unicorn from using magic, it just makes it fizzle and hurts them. The energy still has to go somewhere. I just-" He fell silent and sighed.

"What?"

"I never knew a unicorn who would do that willingly. They say it feels like a bolt gun right into the brain."

"He's not himself," Rusty repeated.

This time it was Winter Shine who answered: "He said it was going to kill us. He said it can kill us whenever it wants to! It- it was in my head! Tendrils of darkness..." Even in the dim light the mare looked incredibly pale. She was just about ready to fall over and Rusty didn't know if she could walk any further right then.

"Okay, we'll rest here for half an hour. Eat something. Drink. Then we'll go on."

"Miss Bones... it said we'll never leave this place," Winter Shine said, but her voice was a question. She wanted to be reassured by someone she saw as authority. "It said it will kill us all."

"Are you going to believe it? I say if it could, it already would have. It's making threats because that's all it can do. It'll get easier to ignore as we get further away."

That last was pure guesswork on her part, but Rusty remembered how Curio's weird madness had become worse the deeper they got. She hoped it was a distance thing, not a time thing. In either case, they had to get out as soon as possible. "We rest, then we keep going. We'll go until we can't anymore, okay? Ember, you're next to carry the Professor, you up for it?"

The stallion stood straighter and Rusty imagined he would salute if he didn't still have his hooves around Winter Shine. "Yes, miss. I can do it."

"Good. I'll go find Gustaf and tell him."

The griffin had wandered off, but she remembered the vague direction he took. Rusty picked up one of their lanterns and went to follow. He probably hadn't gotten far. She soon came to the end of the tunnel, or perhaps she could call it a street. She hadn't found Gustaf and realized he must have gone into one of the dwellings.

"Damn that bird," she mused.

He had been professional and stoic, so Rusty had been completely unprepared for what seemed like a temper tantrum. She began making her way back and shone her light into each entrance as she passed them.

She quickly found Gustaf. "Hey."

He was sitting in one of the 'houses', on a stone bench under a window. Well, at least Rusty assumed it was a window, since it was approximately waist high and was beside the entrance. "I still think he's too dangerous. We shouldn't risk bringing him with us. You certainly shouldn't have left him alone with the young ones."

"I know, but I had to find you. We're resting half hour, then we're going. We'll sleep when we can't walk any more."

"Agreed."

He would do exactly what she said, Rusty knew, but he was unhappy. "Talk to me, Gustaf," she prompted.

"I said what I wanted to, boss."

"Celestia blast it, we're not killing Curio. Before you ask, we're not leaving him behind either. He's one of us and I'm responsible to bring him back alive."

The bird stared at her, then said quietly: "Are you sure it's him you're bringing back? Rusty, he took my sword and would have run me over without a moment's hesitation. The only reason I'm alive is because whatever that is, it wasn't familiar with a sword, or with a unicorn's magic." His claw went to the bandage around his wing while Rusty sat down on the ledge beside him.

"I know. I get it, I really do. I know he's dangerous. He damn nearly took over Winter Shine just by talking in that weird voice! But-"

He interrupted her by jabbing a claw in her barrel. "You are paying me to keep you safe! You should bucking let me do my job. Curio is dead! Accept it, cut your losses, and let me get the rest of you out!"

"I don't believe that! Whatever's gotten into him, they can get it out. We just have to bring him out alive!"

They glared at one another and Gustaf was the first one to look away. He gave a grunt of grudging respect. "You ponies don't leave one another behind. Ever. You know, I always thought of it as a weakness." Gustaf glanced back and Rusty saw a faint, wry smile on his beak.

"I take it griffins don't think that way?"

Gustaf shook his head. "Nope. Member of the pride starts acting that way, we put them down and call it a mercy."

"Well, what'd you say if it were Ember who was possessed like that?"

Gustaf controlled himself exceptionally well, but Rusty had been watching and she saw the slight widening of his eyes and the involuntary opening of his beak. It was only momentary and then the griffin had himself under control again. "Same answer."

"That's a lie."

Gustaf groaned and put his face in his claws. "Okay, fine. I'd at least try to save him, but that's only because he has more honour than the rest of you put together." Rusty just quirked up her eyebrow and the bird quickly amended: "Well, except for you, of course. You're sensible." That flew in the face of what he had said a few moments ago, so Gustaf corrected himself a third time: "Well, usually you're sensible!"

She tried to glare, but a quirk of her mouth betrayed her and they both chuckled. "Look, if he attacks us and we have to defend ourselves- well, I'd understand. But as long as he's tied up and gagged we're taking him back. We have unicorns who specialize in mind magic. I'm sure they can save him." She slid from the ledge and picked up the lantern in her mouth again. "Leff 'o!"

Rusty led the way out of the building and looked down the tunnel to where a faint glow betrayed the rest of the group. The layout of the dwellings looked familiar and she realized that just opposite the dwelling Gustaf had picked was the... other one. The one with the family. Part of her wanted to go in and maybe say a few words. Pay her respects. She looked longingly at the dark entrance.

Did she have time? She could take a minute. She put the light down to talk. "Go ahead. I need to- to take a look at something. I'll be right behind you."

Gustaf looked at her, then at the distant glow. He seemed torn between staying near her and going to make sure no mischief was happening with the youngsters and the Professor. They had left them alone for too long as it were. It only took Gustaf a second to decide, then he reached over to pat Rusty's back and strode off. He glanced back and his eyes gleamed like polished golden rings in the dim light. Rusty looked back at the family dwelling and hesitated for a few more seconds. Then she retrieved her lantern and went in.

The room was just as she remembered, of course. The broken table, the scattered cutlery and broken dishes. The sad remains. Except- were there fewer bones than Rusty remembered? She thought furiously back to her previous visit. She knew there were three ponies around the table; the parents and a foal. She could see the larger skulls, but not the smaller one. Had she remembered wrong? Maybe she had only imagined it? A sense of dread filled the mare and she laid her ears flat down. She suddenly wanted out of there, but in her state she missed the door and walked into the bedroom.

There were the missing bones. The scattered bits of wood could have been a crib, if Rusty applied her imagination, and the notion was further strengthened by the tiny skeleton mixed in the rubble. The mare shook her head and forced herself to take a breath. It was alright. She had probably seen the foal in the bedroom and then mixed it up. It was never at the table. When she thought about it for a few seconds it made sense. The past couple of days had been filled with strangeness, fear, panic. Was it any wonder that her memory was warped in places? Especially where strong emotion was concerned. Rusty swung her light around the room, but there was nothing out of place. The metal frame of the master bed was still recognizable, even if most of the wood and the mattress had rotten away. There was a large wardrobe, still mostly intact. She didn't want to touch it. Past experience told her it was liable to fall over at the slightest disturbance. Nothing useful, but that wasn't why she had gone into the dwelling in the first place. Rusty went back into the dining room and looked at the long-dead ponies. She put the light down to free her mouth.

"I- I'm sorry. I don't know who you were, but at least I know you were here. You and your foal. It wasn't right what happened here, but- just- I'm sorry."

It sounded lame even to her ears, but it was the best she could come up with at short notice. A faint sound caught her ear and Rusty glanced back. Her first thought was that she had disturbed a bit of rubble and it had shifted.

Her blood froze in her veins and her breath caught.

It was staring back at her.

A skull, looking out from the darkness of the bedroom. An infant skull. There was a faint, red glow in the dead eye sockets. The jaw moved as the mouth opened. Rusty Bones opened her mouth to yell, but there was no strength in her lungs to move the air, no control in her larynx to shape the sound. Her legs refused to budge. It felt like a dream, one where she was powerless to act. She kept her eyes locked with the dead pony's. As long as she kept it in her sight it couldn't come on her from behind.

"haa- staf..." It had come out as barely a breath, but it was the best she could do. She tried again. "Gustaf."

This time it was no more than a low whisper. She thought about running, but a single hoofstep would end with her collapsed in a heap. The dead foal wasn't doing anything, it was just staring. The door seemed like a solid black curtain and Rusty couldn't see anything past it. It was as if her light just stopped at that boundary.

It had moved!

She hadn't misremembered. The thought was faint and skittered around the edge of her growing panic, but she was aware of it. The foal had been at the table and it had moved to the bedroom. Now it was looking back.

"W- Wha- Waa-", Rusty tried, but her mouth was dry and her tongue refused to work properly. "Wha- you- what do you wa-want?"

The tiny skull leaned to one side, as if in curiosity. Then the corpse of the foal took a step forward. Its foreleg emerged from the darkness.

Rusty's nerveless hind end nearly buckled under her weight. 'Run!' she thought to herself. 'Get the buck out of here!' Her legs refused to move. All she could do was keep staring at the apparition. It took all of her strength of will to fight the blind, maddening panic which was threatening to overwhelm her sanity.

Something grabbed her withers! Something sharp and clawed and rough. "AAAAAH!"

With all of her remaining strength Rusty tried to buck with her hind legs, to kick her attacker off, but her muscles failed her and the best she managed was to make her hind hooves slide out form under her. She collapsed and hit her jaw on the stone floor.

The claws grabbed her and pulled her upright. She looked into Gustaf's burnished-gold eyes. "Rusty! What's wrong?!"

The foal!

"D-D-Dead," she managed to breathe out.

The griffon looked at her strangely. "Dead? What do you mean?"

"Th-There... Dead wal-walking."

This time he looked around in fear, but soon settled back down. "I don't see anything. Where? What's going on?"

His assurance helped and Rusty was able to move. She looked at at the bedroom door. It was dark, but empty. The apparition had gone. Maybe the sound of Gustaf's living voice had driven it away. Rusty swallowed a lump and tried to stand, but her knees wouldn't hold her and she stumbled.

Gustaf deftly caught her and lifted her to her hooves. "Hey, easy. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I- I- I think I have," she whispered. "Let's get out of here. S-Stay with me, please."

"What are you talking about? There's nothing here."

She managed to lift a badly shaking hoof. "Skull- walking. D-Dead foal. In there."

Before Rusty could stop him, Gustaf walked over and put his head in the bedroom. He was silent for a long while and she began to fear the monster had done something to him. Just as she was opening her mouth to call his name, the griffin looked back. "Very sad," he commented, "but it happened millennia ago. Don't tell me an infant corpse was enough to make you- like that?"

Rusty shook her head. His calm, self-assured voice was doing wonders for her own sanity. She found she was able to move her legs. The paralyzing dread was draining out of her in the face of the solid griffin warrior. He wouldn't even blink in the face of that horror, Rusty knew. He would attack it. "I saw it- that thing. It stood in the doorway and looked out at me. Just- just the skull. It was watching me."

Gustaf looked back into the bedroom once more, then came closer to put his claw on her neck again. "Well, it's mixed in with I guess the crib. The skull is under a few bits of wood. I really don't think it moved in thousands of years."

"I saw it!" Rusty insisted and stomped a hoof.

There was an uncomfortable silence before the griffin broke it: "Um, are you sure it wasn't just- you know."

"Hallucination? N-" Come to think of it, she wasn't sure. She remembered her previous visit and seized onto the detail. "I came in here on our way down! The foal was sitting at the table with the parents. I distinctly remember thinking they died as a family at dinner time! I'm sure I didn't go into the bedroom that time!"

Gustaf was silent.

"I know what I saw! M-Maybe that thing, whatever it is, can bring dead ponies back to life?"

"Maybe it can make ponies think it has."

It sounded reasonable, but Rusty wasn't ready to believe it. She had seen the foal at the table, she was sure of it now. It had moved to the bedroom, and then it had stood in the doorway! "Buck, we have to get out of here!"

"That's what I came to tell you. We've waited for you and I went back when you didn't show up."

"What?! You were gone like five minutes!"

Gustaf shook his head. "Rusty, we waited for over half an hour for you."

It sounded familiar and her breath caught. "Just l-l-like the Professor. In the library!"

Was the madness starting to consume her as well? Rusty quickly calculated how much time after the library episode was Curio possessed. It must have happened in the night when she and Gustaf had found him wandering that staircase. He had probably been down in the temple. That was when she had noticed his eyes had changed color! About thirty hours. It sent a chill down her spine.

"Crap. Crap crap crap, we have to move!" She cast one last glance at the bedroom, but the strange wall of darkness was gone and there was no sign of a walking pony skeleton. Rusty put it out of her mind and ran out to the street.

Gustaf grabbed the light and followed her.

"Gustaf, if anything happens-"

"Hush, nothing is gonna happen. We got out of that altar room and we have the Professor under control."

"Promise- you'll get us out. The youngsters. If y-you- if there's no way-" She sighed and tried to find a way to say it. "If you have to choose, choose them. Promise!"

"Fine. I promise."

It helped and Rusty concentrated on the faint glow up ahead, where the others were waiting. Once more she prayed the distance would help. Maybe if they got far enough away, the evil wouldn't be able to take her, or at least it might be slowed. She looked at Gustaf, who was running beside her, at his sword. "If- If I get like Curio-" She didn't know how to finish that sentence and bit her lip with indecision.

Gustaf solved her dilemma for her: "If that happens, I'll tie you up and we'll take you out. We'll leave him."

"But-"

"No argument! We'll leave him some food and water and we'll get you out. We can get help and come back for him!"

A small, guilty part of her was relieved. "Thanks."

They were almost with the others. Gustaf still had his bags slung on his back, but Rusty had left hers behind when she had gone after him.

"Help Ember with Curio. I'll grab my pack. You know the way?"

He silently shook his head.

Rusty decided quickly: "I'll take lead. We need to get to the Bazaar. We have to take the same route back, there may be traps when we come near the barracks again."

"Agreed. Rusty?"

She gave him a silent, questioning look and saw that Gustaf was smiling. It looked a little forced, but he ha made the effort. "We'll get out of here. It's gonna be fine!"

Rusty Bones really hoped so.