From the Land of Ice and Snow

The fortress was far from silent, yet to the denizens, it was as close to silence as could be expected.  The howling winds of the winter storm were kept at bay by thick stone walls, but thin cracks gave way to a tiny fraction of the gale, allowing a mild whine to persist throughout the halls.  In the distance, well removed from the sleeping quarters, a sneeze sounded out, and moments later, from a separate part of the castle came an echoey response.  None paid it any heed, the toils of the day having left all but a select few too exhausted to do anything but sleep.

Among that select few were the guards on duty, their hooves silently carrying them through the halls, ever vigilant for threats that would likely never show.  Still, they walked with pride, knowing that should disaster strike, they would be there to keep it at bay.  A select pair of guards, well versed in the ways of war, stood outside of a thick oaken door, their eyes taking in everything, and making sure to spot anything that shouldn’t be there.

Behind that door were two beings, each important in their own respect.  One, a gryphon, slept soundly.  She was the commander of the fortress, safeguarding it with her wisdom and, when needed, valor in combat.  What few knew was that her wisdom was not her own, and much of her vaunted valor was not self-taught, as she proclaimed, but handed down to her by the other resident in the room.

Hunched over a desk, fighting fatigue, sat a rather unique being.  Not only was he unique amongst the beings of the fort, and, truly, the world at large, he was different even from his own kind.  The quill, once grasped firmly, slipped slowly from his hand, forming a small blotch on the page.  The man paid it no mind, a flash of pain shooting up his other arm.  He stifled much of the gasp that escaped him, but it was still just loud enough to rouse the gryphon.

“Tycho?”  There was a cautious edge to the voice, and it was quickly replaced with irritation.  “What are you still doing up?  The reports can wait until the morning.”  As she lifted her head enough to look at the human, her irritation vanished, replaced by concern.  “Another pang?  I thought you were taking suppressants for that.”

The man turned, a forced smile on his face.  “I am.  But I can’t take too many, or it’ll deaden the magic that lets me keep what’s left of my hand.”  He nursed his arm for a moment longer, and then, as the pain faded to a dull throb, and then to a mild tingle, he held up the skeletal hand that was what remained.  “I’d miss Righty too much to let him go.  And, besides, it makes me look all the more intimidating.”

“Only to the ponies that don’t know you.”  The gryphon adjusted her position in bed, and stretched languidly before looking at the human again.  “Really, Tycho, it’s about time you got some rest.”

Nodding, the human pinched the candle’s flame, dousing it instantly, and plunging the room into darkness.  His eyes adjusted quickly, though, and in moments he could see as clearly as in the day.  “I suppose you’re right.  The call of sleep is growing harder and harder to resist.”  With a low groan, the human stood, using the desk to push himself up.  A glance out the window, one of the few dotting the walls of the bastion, he noted the guards circling the walls.  However, his gaze lingered for a moment on one pair, and he noted that they weren’t moving, despite orders that they were to remain in motion at all times, as much for their safety as to keep them vigilant.

Noting her mate’s stillness, the gryphon sat up, her gaze hardening.  “Tycho?”

“We might have a problem.”  He looked at the other patrols on the walls, that he could see, and he noticed that several were stationary.  “Scratch that, we do have a problem.  Rouse the guard.”  Without pause, the human moved to the footlocker at the end of the bed, popping it open and removing the first piece of his gear.  “Be wary of infiltrators.  Be silent, and swift.  Start with Clover and Shadow.  They’re the closest, and best rested.  Sweep and clear the fort, and then we’ll have to ready for a siege.”

Already in motion, the gryphon paused at the door, her ear resting against it for a moment, before she looked to Tycho.  “Don’t...”

“I’ll be fine, Kari.  Now, go.  I’ll head across the square, and see to Longbow and Twitch.”  Tycho heard the door close a moment later, and he resumed his work, quickly donning his armor, and pulling his blade from the container, quickly connecting it to his belt.  As a last step, the human pulled his shield down from its wall mounting, sliding it onto his arm, and grasping it firmly with his skeletal hand.  A tingle ran up his arm as he felt the magic of the shield permeate his being.

Suitably armored, he moved out of his room, moving down the halls as quickly as he could while remaining quiet.  There was no need, just yet, for the attackers to know that the element of surprise was gone.

Kari slowed to a stop as she reached the first garrison hall.  Buried beneath the fortress proper, it was guarded against the weather and the temperature was a bit higher.  Normally left closed during the night, the gryphon noted that one of the doors was ajar, and she approached with care, making sure that none of her claws made a sound against the stone floor.  She glanced inside cautiously, using her keen sight to spy the interior.  What she saw shot a spike of adrenaline into her body, nearly forcing her to abandon her stealth to attack the invaders.  The ponies within, her friends and men at arms, were all dead.  Standing in the center of the room, seemingly pleased with themselves, were a trio of black clad ponies.  Save for their eyes, nothing was visible on their frames.  Drawing a deep breath, the gryphon stepped back from the door, and entered the room on the opposite side of the hall, hoping that the denizens within were still among the living.

Her luck held, and the sleeping ponies were all content in their sleep, blissfully unconcerned, for the moment, with the tribulations of the wakeful.  With care, Kari moved to the bed that she knew would have Clover.  The unicorn would be able to work on rousing the rest of her group while Kari moved to the next room down.  Upon finding the unicorn, Kari couldn’t fight back the small grin that came to her face when she saw that the unicorn was sharing her bed with another pony.  One whom Clover had been after for quite some time.  Perhaps later Kari would berate the guard for her inappropriate behavior, but now was not the time.

Gently, the gryphon shook the unicorn, rousing her.  Motioning for silence, the gryphon waited until the guard was fully awake before explaining, briefly what was going on.  Nodding her understanding, the unicorn set to work rousing the rest of the room.  Satisfied, Kari made for the door, pressing her ear to it, before easing it open.  The door across the hall was closed, once more, but the next room down on the same side was open.  Unwilling to allow the slaughter of yet more guards, Kari approached the door, and looked inside just in time to see the first swipe of a knife across the throat of a guard.

After taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kari pushed open the door, and used all of her impressive strength to leap at the nearest hostile, a silent scream escaping her beak.

Tycho closed the door to the courtyard, shaking off some snow, before lowering himself into a crouch, and starting down the hall.  His leather boots, well oiled and properly cared for, made not a sound as he padded along.  He passed the kitchen, and after checking it, and finding it empty, he continued along the hallway, checking each room he passed for intruders.  A tiny tingle in Tycho’s back was just enough warning for the warrior to turn in place, presenting his shield just in time to stop the blow that would have been his end.  The pony, clearly surprised by the reaction, hesitated for a moment before leaping backwards, dropping the dagger in favor of a longer, but still needle thin, stiletto.

Tycho quickly drew his own blade, lowering himself into a comfortable stance.  The pony dropped into its own stance, and after a heartbeat, seemed to put more pressure on one hoof, before lunging to the side opposite what was expected, closing the gap in the blink of an eye, getting just past the man’s guard, thrusting sharply with the blade.  Tycho just barely moved the blade to the side, allowing his armor to do the rest of the work.  With a swift swing of his arm, he brought the shield across the pony’s face, but a crackling shock ran through him as the image of the pony vanished in a flash of magic.  Expecting the pony to launch a new attack, the human quickly turned in place, hoping to spot his assailant before another attack could be made.

When there was none forthcoming, the human began inching down the hall, still making for his initial destination.  When, after a full minute, there was no attack, the human increased his pace, until he was running through the halls, all thought of stealth abandoned.  Had the fight ended with the death of that pony, there was a chance that stealth could’ve been preserved, but as it is, the silent assailant was likely informing any allies.  Just a couple minutes after the fight, Tycho reached the section where Twitch’s ponies resided.  Without hesitating, Tycho burst into the room where Twitch slept, and the human let out a pained groan as he saw he was too late.

However, the three ponies in the room, clad all in black, looked at him with no small amount of surprise in their eyes.  With a shout, Tycho roused the few living guards, Twitch included, and he dove into the fight, revenge foremost in his mind.

Kari fought back a gasp as Clover pulled the broken remnants of the knife from her shoulder.  “We need to rouse the rest of the guard.  And a dispatch must be sent to Canterlot.”

Clover nodded as she worked a small healing spell on the wound, hoping that she’d be able to better treat the wound later.  “Of course.  My first concern, though, is our well being.  We need to bring ourselves back to fighting strength.  And after the past few days of blizzards and limited supplies?  We’re going to have to work through this intelligently.  And we’ll have to hope the supply train still makes it on time.”

“Game over, guys, game over!  Not even Shadow’s spells could keep them out, what chance do we have?”

“Are you still alive?”  Clover approached the panicking guard, her resolve showing.  “Do you still draw breath?”  The guard nodded, and Clover looked at the other assembled guards.  “Then, so long as you draw breath, as long as you still live, you will uphold your oath to the Diarchy.  You stand as a bastion so that the ponies of Equestria might live in peace.  Now, we’re going to rally together, and beat back these black clad bastards.”

Kari, still numb to some of the pain in her shoulder, moved to the most intact body among the assailants.  The black cloth was mostly ripped from the dead stallion’s body, and the fur beneath was a shade of green a bit darker than summer grass.  The most telling feature, though, was the fact that the tongue of the would be assassin was cut out.  “They’re not the main force.”  Kari quickly explained her findings.  “They can’t break their silence as easily, without tongues.  They probably never speak to each other, so sound, for them, is not the first thought of way to communicate.”

“So, unspeaking black clad assassins are here to take the fort?”  Kari nodded at Clover.  “Well, This’ll be more fun than Advisor Tycho’s bug hunt training.  Because, this time, they’re really out to kill us, and we get to kill them when we find them.”

Kari noted the concern present on the faces of many of the guards, but it lessened as Kari explained what she had found in the other room, and what Tycho had seen on the walls.  With such a closed community friendships blossomed quickly, so every guard here had lost a friend, if not many, in the past twenty minutes.  “Ivory, take ten ponies, and head for Longbow and Twitch.  Tycho is already heading there, so I want you to support him.  Clover, you and five of your best will be joining me to go and find Shadow.  I suspect that she’ll already be aware of the infiltration, and will be taking steps.”  Kari looked over the remaining guards.  “I want the rest of you to work a methodical sweep.  Breaker, Shield, Oracle, I want the three of you organizing the patrols.  Have the fortress cleared in ten minutes, or less.  I suspect that we’ll have more forces on our doorstep before too long.”  Kari looked at the assembled guards for several moments before she turned and started for the door.

“What are we to do with prisoners?”  The gryphon turned to look at the pony that had spoken.  The speaker, still relatively new to the unit, was apart from the rest by a few steps.  “Do we take prisoners, or...”

“Bind them, collar them, and put an iron ring around their horn if they’re a unicorn.  Put them in the dungeon.  I hope that not all are tongueless drones.  We’ll figure out what to do with them from there.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Now, Clover, gather your best.  We make for Shadow.  I hope that his magic will be able to keep these attackers at bay while we arrange our defenses.”

“Lord Tycho?”  The pony raised a hoof, but before she could make it to the hunched over human, he stood, abruptly, pulling the dagger from his shoulder, biting back a sharp gasp.  “By Celestia, Tycho, are you alright?”  The pony pranced around the human, desperate to put her healing magics to work.

“Leave him be, Cross.”  An olive colored pony stepped up to the human, nudging aside the medic.  “He’s dealt with worse, and his body will take care of that scratch quickly enough.”  True enough, the wound was visibly closing, scar tissue forming faster than even a healing spell could work.  “So, Lord, what is our plan?  I trust that Commander Kari is hard at work with the other guards?”

The human nodded, and then sat himself down on one of the beds.  “Kari is on the other end of the fort, rousing Clover and Shadow.  I came here, to get you and Longbow.”  Wiping some of the blood off of his sword, the human replaced it in its sheathe.  “I fear what we might encounter when we go to see Longbow, but we won’t know till we get there.”  Twitch nodded, and made for his chest of belongings.  Cross tried, pathetically, to bring some measure of order back to the bloody room.  Her efforts slowed, and, after just a few moments, they came to a stop.

“Lord Tycho?”  The human looked at her, and then gave her a small smile.  “What are we going to do?  What if they got to Longbow first?”

“We’ll see to it that they pay us back.  I can’t bring any of the lost back.  But I can make sure that they didn’t die in vain.”  With a small groan, the man stood, and walked over to Twitch.  The earth pony handed the human a small piece of chalk, and Tycho began writing on the wall.  His missive was short, and in code, but Cross could identify many of the human’s letters mixed in.  Tycho’s presence was a boon to the Equestrian military, as his characters were so foreign that using it for letters and messages made them indecipherable.  Every pony within the halls of the fort knew them, though.

Cross read the message over, twice, before commenting.  “How could you know Kari will send somepony here?”

“I know her.  She’ll send somepony.  If the come here first, I want them to know where we went, and that this wasn’t our mess, and that we aren’t dead.”  He finished, and crushed what was left of the chalk in his hand, and then he pressed it to the wall, leaving it as a signature, of sorts.  “Now, you two, let’s go see to Longbow.”

Quickly, the trio made for the hallway, and then they started down it, walking in silence through the halls they knew so well.  Several minutes passed in tense silence before they found their first sign of intruders.  A single window was open, several shards of glass on the floor acting as a testament to their entry.  Just a couple minutes later, and they found the hall where Longbow slept.  Tycho poked his head into each room, and returned to the duo with grim news, his face a mask of anguish.  “Kari’s ponies will know...  We’re heading to Shadow, now.  Perhaps there we can find some measure of solace.”

/\***/\

Kari, Shadow, Twitch, and Tycho stood around a round table, a map pinned down by a dagger at each corner.  None spoke as they looked at the aged parchment.  A knock came from the door, and Tycho made to answer it.  Standing there, shivering, was one of the sentries from the outer wall.  Of the dozen that were on the outer wall, he was one of only three survivors.  He’d been found by one of Kari’s arranged groups, and he’d been warming up by one of the fireplaces for the past half hour.

“Can you tell us anything, Harvest?  Anything at all?”  Her voice, carefully modulated, carried just enough of an edge that Tycho could pick up on it.  Not one of the guards they’d spoken to had been able to provide any information.  This guard, Harvest, was their only chance.  “Did any of your attackers speak?”

“Aye, Commander.  I heard them speak.  These, that attacked us, are the forefront.  A small patrol.  More will come with the day.  Noon, if their words bear any truth.”

Tycho swore in his native tongue, while Twitch and Shadow turned back to the map, already moving small pieces into place.  “Did you hear anything of numbers?  Forces?  Anything beyond what you’ve told us already?”

“No, Kari.  Nothing.  Only that much.  I had a hard time keeping grasp of the waking world.  I’d been dealt a harsh blow to the head, and I was lying facedown in the snow.  Took all my training and concentration to keep from moving any part of myself.”

“We must inform the Princesses.”

“So that they might do what, exactly?”  Kari rounded on Twitch, her eyes narrowing.  “They’re a tenday flight from here.  We only have three pegasi still alive, and only one could hope to make that flight.  But, I must ask, what then?”  Tycho shook his head, but the gryphon didn’t see it.  “Your royalty’s best forces would be here in a moon, at best.  Perhaps if they sent a forward detachment, we might see some pegasi in a tenday, but that’s still twenty days from now.  We have till noon to figure something out.  And that’s if what we’ve heard is true.”  The gryphon took a step closer to the earth pony.  “So, tell me, Sergeant, what would that accomplish?”

“He’s right.”  Kari turned to face Tycho, her anger vanishing.  “We can’t hope to hold them forever.  The Princesses need to be told.  Send Arrow.  We weather the attack on the morrow, but we also make plans to leave.  Your military has trained rigorously for a very specific type of warfare.  Humans, though, we grew adept at adapting.”  Tycho approached the table, and looked at it for several moments.  “You two, and you, Kari, are looking at this from your own very narrow views of combat.  Allow me to plan this, and I think that you’ll be much better off.”

“Can we win?”

The human frowned, and looked to the map again, walking around it to get it from several different angles.  “Maybe.  It depends on how determined they are to win.”  After completing a lap about the table, Tycho stopped, and grabbed one of the knives off the table, and he jabbed it into the map.  “That is where we strike.  And then, we fight as the Founding Fathers did.”