Shattered Pentacle

by Starscribe

Chapter 22

She didn't have far to fly before she saw the first flutters of motion underneath. Lyra blinked, focusing her attention on a single patch of forest distinct from the others. Not just movement, but purpose. She felt the order that came from sapient creatures, imposed on a world that did not always welcome their intrusion.

Someone was alive on this mountain. It could be almost anyone, if they weren't in the middle of an awful storm after all the roads and highways out of Canterlot were totally locked down.

As if that wasn't guide enough, she felt the faint light of spells another second later, though she couldn't tell exactly which. But she didn't have to know—her enemy had gone to the peak, but this wasn't the peak.

She dropped into a dive, wrapping her arms more tightly around her familiar. The night had shown her Capper could return even if his cat body died. But somehow she got the feeling the process cost him dearly. The last thing she needed was to risk losing him a second time.

“Bring them quickly. These Seers are unusually willing to risk paradox. She may decide to teleport up the mountain instead of driving.”

And even if Tempest drove most of the way, how much longer did Lyra have? Their battle happened the better part of halfway up the mountain.

She flared both wings as she passed through the trees, arresting her flight as best she could. Then she hit the mud, scattering it in all directions. If she hadn't already abandoned all hope of staying remotely clean...

A small group of people waited under the trees, huddled around the light of a small fire. Except that this one burned without apparent fuel, and remained vibrant despite the piercing wind and battering rain.

One by one, Lyra's cabal looked up. They were all here—Akiko with the skin of her hands blackened and scorched, Starlight with little twigs stuck in her skin, Tabitha looking intact but miserable. Then there was Reagan, resting one arm around Akiko and occasionally squeezing her shoulder gently for reassurance.

“Lyra.” Starlight looked her over, from her face to the powerful wings emerging from her shoulders, then the armor. She alone seemed to see it clearly. “You're alive?”

She lowered both arms, helping Capper out onto the muddy ground. This new cat didn't seem to mind the dirt and the storm, at least not like the black one had. He was a wilder breed, used to weathering the storm. He circled around the group, sniffing at each of them in turn, but always remaining out of reach.

“Still growing,” Lyra said. She opened one wing awkwardly, then the other. “Growing kinda... nervous to throw so much magic around, right now. But it was that or let Tempest walk away with the diadem.”

There were other concerns, of course. Her living sight showed her what she needed to know about their health—but she could just as easily have guessed it given how ragged they all looked. They were barely alive, crushed by the weight of physical and spiritual exhaustion alike.

“Diadem?” Akiko asked. When she moved, bits of burned hair flaked away from her head. “What are you talking about?”

“That thing you were charging—the Emperor's Diadem. Tempest has it, and I think she plans on killing my girlfriend to finish powering it. Needs a sleepwalker offering, that's why she was still alive.”

Lyra stopped beside the fire, then pulled out her broken magical tool. “Not sure how much mana I have left. But I should be able to get everyone back on their feet. Just means I won't have much juice left for when we get up there.”

“When we get up there,” Tabitha repeated. “Harper, I don't think there will be a when. We're defeated. It's as plain as the rain or the lightning. Tempest is too strong.”

Lyra ignored the protest for now, instead tracing her knife through the air. As she did, she raised her voice instead of lowering it, speaking the Atlantean with confidence. “The mighty warriors stumble in their pursuit, collapsing to the stone. The hooves of their enemy retreated into the night, fading far into the distance. The earth beneath them refused to yield. Its strength became theirs, returned in kindness for every night they had suffered to protect it. Pain fled them, nightmares faded, and the broken thing became new. They would not surrender yet.”

She spoke it, and it was so. Bloody twigs tumbled out of Starlight's arms. Akiko's skin turned pale again, burned sections peeling away in scarred sheets. Even her hair returned, though only on one side. That was about when Lyra's mana ran out.

That would leave their bruises behind, it would leave their minor scrapes and bumps. But compared to the way she found them, her friends might as well be new people.

“I could... do more, but I don’t think I should.” She straightened, then circled once around the nervous group. These girls were battered bloody—a fight like that had taken its toll on them.

Poor Reagan looked the worst, her eyes haunted and unfocused. No matter how cold she seemed in the moment, taking life was never easy. In a strange way, she found that detail comforting. Killing with magic like that was a monstrous thing, but Reagan was no monster. Yet.

“This doesn’t change anything,” Starlight said. She brushed herself off, and wasn’t sagging anymore. But her eyes were still downcast. “I’m out of juice, out of luck, and the future isn’t speaking to me right now. We can’t go up there.”

Tabitha nodded her agreement. “We’re thrilled to see you, Lyra. Now we can flee this mountain knowing that none from our cabal were killed in this awful mess.”

Lyra looked around the fire, and saw similar pain on every face. These girls all wanted to give up, even Akiko. The words of her healing spell might fix their patterns, but they couldn’t change the minds of her friends. Even if she somehow wielded that power, she could never use it.

“Akiko—listen. If Tempest gives the artifact to her king, he’ll use it to wipe out the Pentacle here in Canterlot—maybe much further, I don’t know. What hunters did trying to track us down will feel like a joke. I don’t know how many they found—but the Usurpers won’t miss any, including us. If we leave, it’s just to die somewhere else. And...” She lowered her voice then, no longer looking so brave. “She’s gonna kill my girlfriend in the ritual. I don’t know why, but it seemed important. Even when she realized who her captive was, Tempest didn’t hurt her to get to me. She needs Bonnie.”

There was a long, painful silence then, broken only by the occasional rumble of thunder, and the crackle of wood in the circle.

It was Akiko who stepped forward in the end, resting one hand on her shoulder. “That word you used... it’s Atlantean. I’ve seen it in some ancient texts, but never heard the translation before. What does it mean?”

After all that, and you’re interested in a silly word? Lyra resisted her anger, though. Her friend wouldn’t be the same girl if she thought any differently. “It means...” She glanced to the side, where Capper trailed beside her leg. “How would you explain it?”

“Betrayal that came from deep within the high court. Those who knew no thrones would ever wait for them. Those who would slay the great dragon and climb to heaven on his back. The word you use—Exarch—gives them glory they do not deserve. They are usurpers.”

“The Exarchs,” Lyra said in English. “How Atlanteans thought about them.”

“The odds are looking a little better,” Starlight said. “There’s only Tempest up there, she must be as spent as us. No zombies, no help.”

“Spent as the rest of you,” Akiko said. She drew something from her jacket, a rod of metal wrapped in wire. The tool caught the light and began to glow, with a radiance of no earthly matter. Akiko’s magical tool was something else. “I didn’t cast anything, remember? If I hadn’t been in that ritual circle...”

Her other hand closed into a fist. “The Emperor’s Diadem, you called it? It would be quite the shame for a mage like Tempest to get her hands on it. All power, no discipline. Given new information about the artifact, I say we go. Any disagreement?”

It was far from unanimous, at least in their faces. But no one argued the point. One by one, they joined Lyra and Akiko by the fire.

Your friends aren’t trying to use you to feed their ambition—they’ll risk their lives to protect you, just like you did for them. No lie casts a shadow dark enough to swallow the truth.

“Can you send us to the top, Reagan?” Akiko asked. “One last jump?”

She looked like Akiko had asked her to take them all the way to Atlantis. “With a portal, maybe. But that would be too slow. I think maybe... two, neither of which is me. I’ll be wrung out like a sponge after this, barely thinking straight.

“Me, obviously,” Akiko began. “And Lyra...”

“No.” Lyra stepped back, opening both wings to full size. “I can get up there. If we only get two, send someone else.”

“Me,” Starlight said. “Time doesn’t always work right around the Seers—but I doubt Tempest will be hiding her future very well if she’s activating an artifact. Could be an edge.”

“And I will secure our safe egress,” Tabitha said. “When you’re inevitably victorious, of course. I’ll have something up to you by dawn. Deal with the Seer by then, if you would.”

Lyra couldn’t stick around to listen any longer. Without the teleport, she had a mountain to climb—the old-fashioned way. She scooped her familiar up into her arms, then moved to her friends one last time. “See you up there.”

They watched her go. She was probably imagining things, but Lyra saw awe on their faces.

“We will have some difficulty when this is over,” her familiar said. He spoke directly into her mind, otherwise she never could’ve heard him over the constant roar of air and occasional thunder of the storm.

“Why?” She kept her attention on flying, staying just above the trees as she ascended. Not just because of the lightning—but if Tempest saw her, she would make for a defenseless target. She couldn’t save the world if she was dead.

“The Obrimos—I’ve seen that look before. She’s a mage who will not stop digging once she has the smell of mystery on her nose. If she probes too close, I will need to leave you.”

That got her attention. Lyra tensed, drooping in her flight. She fell enough that her toes brushed against the treetops before she realized what she was doing, and accelerated upward again.

“No! You can’t leave! We’re...”

She trailed off. Not just from the exertion, but the obvious absurdity of it. Was she still pretending she thought Capper was just a familiar?

“I am not finished instructing you, young mage,” the cat said. “I suggest you find a way to distract her. You could lie, but others in your cabal will know, even if Akiko does not. You will drive a wedge between those who should be your closest allies.”

She could only hope she lived long enough to worry about solving that problem.

Lyra didn’t know exactly where Tempest would be conducting her ritual. The weather didn’t make it easy to find out, with clouds gathering around the peak. But however dark it looked, no clouds could hide the explosions of magic coming from inside.

Lyra accelerated, no longer caring if that got her seen. Her lungs burned, and muscles that she had never before experienced were now aching with the incredible effort. She flew on anyway, with the same kind of willpower she might use during a run. Every spell she had prepared to increase that strength and endurance now aided her here, lifting her as high as any eagle.

I’m coming Bonnie! Hold on a little longer!

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Yeah, distracting Akiko with other, less uncomfortable truths may be the way to go. Certainly better than some of the alternatives. But they all need to survive the night first. Still, three on one is pretty good odds, especially with Akiko relatively fresh... though there is Bonnie to consider. We'll see how it goes from here.

[Diamondized]

Mmm. That's dangerous, but it's either this or rely on the Seers' infighting later. Might still have to go with Plan B™ though. We'll see.

[undead_wanderer]

Not entirely sure I caught what exactly Capper was referring to about Akiko's inquiries (I'm gonna try to take note when I'll re-read the chapter), but I agree that it's definitely a good idea to start throwing her off the trail just in case. Capper is definitely good at what he does and makes all possible precautions (How did he become a cat-hopping soul however...? And what's his actual agenda....? I really want to root for him but I'm a bit cautious of that because of the lack of information). How would they mislead her without outright lying however is a different question, but I'm not even remotely as clever as Capper (or even Lyra who while naïve and not planning ahead enough is still uhh aware enough) so yeah.