Skyquestria: The Pony Scrolls V

Escape

Zekai and Yugvar walked down the stairs and found their way into the interrogation room. Most of its cages were empty, save for the occasional skeleton or charred mess. The halls twisted around, leading to the center of the whole complex, where the interrogator was working on three Stormhoof prisoners, each tied to their own table.

"What are you two doing here? Talk to the general if you want to add more prisoners, I'm in the middle of very important work." The interrogator splashed some water on the center stallion to wake him up.

Yugvar stepped in front the interrogator and said, "Don't you know what's happening old man? Can't you here it? A dragon's tearing down the whole town as we speak!"

He pushed Yugvar aside and scoffed at him. "Ha! what have you soldiers been drinking up there? As if something from a bedtime story could take down this stable." Next to the prisoners were an assortment of daggers and knives. The assistant was carefully heating each of the weapons until they were bright red with heat. He was about to add something, but an arrow to his throat managed to interrupt his speech.

Before the assistant hit the floor, five Stormhoof survivors stormed the room and attacked the interrogator. One of the rebels split off to help cut loose their comrades. Yugvar was distracting two large stallions, leading them away from the interrogator, who was frantically slashing at a younger rebel. Zekai wasn't interested in the conflict, but one of the Stormhooves turned his attention on him anyway. Unlike the others, this one was a zebra. His weapons were much sharper and lighter, which didn't really make Zekai any happier.

Zekai blocked a strike from both swords with his ax, parrying to the right. The zebra then assaulted him from a crouched stance, thrusting the blades upwards and past Zekai's ax. Both cut open his prison rags and left a painful red "x" on his chest. Anticipating another attack, Zekai put up his guard, but he was still unfamiliar with fighting with hooves. His anticipation served no good to him, however. The zebra switched stances again and this time fainted to Zekai's left foreleg and then struck from the top with the second sword.

Attack after attack the zebra would change his guard stance, and each strategy was different than the last. Zekai only managed to avoid the cuts by backing up out of the zebra's shorter range. He had hoped Yugvar could help him, but both him and the interrogator were cornered by the seven other Stormhooves, three of them the freed prisoners. Zekai finally got pressured by the Zebra and broke his guard. Zekai had to duck under both the swords, but his ax was pummeled by the constant blocking.

To his surprise, and the zebra's, Zekai's fear led him to perform a spell he could never do as a filly. Zekai cast the flame spell from his horn strait into the face of the zebra, turning his black and white features into just black.

He turned to the scuffle between the rest of the rebels. He focus again and channeled the feeling of the flames through his horn and set three Stormhooves ablaze. The distraction gave the other two enough time to cut down the rest of the rebels. Zekai observed his work with great pride, but then realized he was bleeding from the "x" that was cut in his chest.

Yugvar noticed the wound and said, "You need to get that patched up. Interrogator, do you have any potions, even or healing wraps?"

"Does this look like a apothecary to you?" The interrogator shared an intense stare with Yugvar, but finally gave in. "Fine, I had a prisoner in the west wing who had some potions. The key went down the drain months before he died though, so there's no way to get to it."

Zekai ignored the old man and headed down the west wing. "A lot can be done if you just use your head." The cage the interrogator mentioned was tainted with the stench of a rotting corpse. Needless to say, it wasn't hard to find.

Zekai prodded the body with his horn, displacing it enough to reveal two health potions in a satchel, and pulled out the potions with telekinesis. It was dull with age, but when he uncorked it and drank the contents something in it rushed to the wound and repaired his chest.

The rest of the stable was barren after that, only being disturbed by the occasional roar of a dragon. As the three went down to the lowest floor, candles became scarcer and scarcer. Zekai's fire did little to break through the darkness of the old prisons, and certainly didn't make the stale air any better.

Fortunately, a small gust of wind gave Yugvar the way out. "Guys, come feel this, a breeze is coming from this crack in the ground. Zekai, could you light it up a little?"

Zekai sprayed a weak flame along the roof of the hallway, glimmering on an old stone shelf. "There must be something behind it." He wedged his hoof into a gap and gave it a push. "C'mon, help me out here you two."

Yugvar bent down and lifted the bottom with his mouth, while the interrogator pushed the shelf to the left. The shelf shook and crawled slowly across the floor. Behind it was a small tunnel, barely wide enough for a stallion.

The interrogator wiped some dust from his hooves and then looked in the tunnel. "No way in hell am I squeezing in there. I might not get out." But Yugvar picked up a pebble and tossed it into the tunnel.

"Sounds like it get really big after a few feet. Can't be too hard to fit through something like that." Yugvar put his right hoof in, then his left, and soon is body was following into the small hole. He wiggled his body slowly down the tunnel, finally reaching a small cavern at the end. "There's enough space at the end. Come on Zekai, get the old timer."

"No," the interrogator replied, "we passed a lot of floors on our way down here. I need to tell the others about this way out. Go on your own, I'll be fine."

"Suit yourself. Zekai, I'm sure you can fit easily. I can see some light ahead so hurry up. I'll scout around meet you at the cavern exit."

Zekai let the interrogator go back up the stable and climbed into the tunnel. "Yugvar was right, it's much easier for me to fit through." He took two minutes to get himself through into the cavern, which was less than half the time Yugvar took. The cavern was small but it was long, with many mushrooms to give it light.

Yugvar was no where to be seen, so Zekai took his time and looked around every crack and crevice in case anything useful was laying around. He walked along the side of the cavern, slowly making his way over to where Yugvar said to wait. The gaps in the walls sometimes held insects, other times it had the remains of somepony who died ages ago. Zekai entertained himself for about ten minutes until Yugvar returned, with very good news.

"The exit is in a cave at the end of this tunnel. It's not far, but there are a few problem I found along the way, and they have eight legs." Yugvar was covered in the juices from the spiders, but was not badly injured.

"Well, that's great. At least I can study their venom afterwards." Zekai followed Yugvar into the tunnel, which was much bigger than the entrance and could fit a whole line of stallions. In just a few short minutes they came to the cave, and sure enough there was a breeze from the exit.

Zekai crouched down and began to sneak around the web of cave spiders. Though they were far away, Zekai could already tell that some were almost as big as he was, which do anything to help ease his fear. Yugvar had done the same as Zekai, only going around the opposite, safer, way.

Halfway across the cave, Zekai glanced at his damaged ax, prepare to use it in case he was caught. Fortunately, he crawled close enough to the exit to bolt out without being seen, and shortly after him came Yugvar. "Oh gods, the fresh air. I thought we'd never escape that place."

In the distance, the dragon finally left the fresh hell he had created. Zekai looked at Yugvar, who was enjoying the sweet spring air once again. He was a good stallion, but Zekai new he couldn't stick with him any longer. There much work to be done.

The forest was fairly dense, but the of the rapids penetrated the thick evergreens. Zekai clung to a short branch, staying out of sight from the bandits he tracked down last night. The Lord's gold would certainly help him find a fruitful city to settle down in. Their camp was in a deep valley, where they had made a clearing in the woods. Instead of goats or cows adorned as effigies, the bandits displayed the corpses of the forest's dryads, who defended their home to the last dying breath.

"They're disgusting. They don't even show a shred of respect for the land they live on." Zekai slid off the tree he was in and crawled into the cover of some moss and bushes. He sneaked over to a tree four meters away from their clearing, keeping an eye on the bandit chopping firewood. He was the closest one. He waited behind the tree for almost half an hour before two of the bandits left to hunt.

Only the logger was left at the camp, preparing some kind of apple stew. For a bandit, he was very skilled in the art of cooking. Zekai noticed he had all his ingredients ready, and in a mere minute the stew was mixed and boiling. The scent tempted Zekai's stomach to growl, given his last meal was two days ago, but he had to bring down the bandit quietly so his friends wouldn't hear his death.

Zekai ambled over to the tree closest to the clearing. He was sure he was out of the bandit's sight, and cautiously closed their distance. He felt exposed in the clearing, and felt as if he needed to rush his attack. Keep to your training he thought to himself as he drew on the lessons his father had taught him.

He was half a step away from the bandit when his foot cracked an old snail shell. The bandit paused in his cooking, then reached for his steel ax on the floor. He didn't get the chance to touch it, however. Zekai had sprung from his crouched position and launched himself onto the bandit. He brought down his iron ax onto the head of the bandit, the repairs he made to the ax holding tight. The force of the blow snapped the bandit's neck and collapsed his windpipe, just as Zekai had hoped.

Zekai nervously glanced around, making sure he wasn't watched, and then dragged the bandit into a tent and closed it. He quickly cleaned up the bloody mess in the grass and refueled the fire so that it seemed that nothing had happened. Once he finished, he looked at a bowl of stew the bandit had poured for himself.

"I'd hate to waste such a fine meal," Zekai said as he stirred it with a spoon. Though it could give him away, he had to stay fed to fight. Zekai tried to reassure himself while he drank the stew. The bandits would have me dead if I were malnourished, right?

After the sun had set and Zekai had set his trap, the two hunting bandits returned with a dead dryad and a bag of fruits. Zekai had never seen one recently killed, so he was shocked to see that it was more like a changeling rather than warped wood with eyes. It's skin glowed with green stripes like a zebra, and its horn split at the base and grew like the horns of a deer.

One of the bandits called out to their comrade. "Nahiir! Is the stew ready? We found this new decoration keeping our desert from us." Both of them stopped when no answer came.

The second bandit, a bison, yelled at the trees, "We're hungry! This is no time for jokes." But nothing but a crow replied to his noise. Zekai shifted nervously, waiting to burn the bandits once they stepped a little closer to the pot. But instead, they became suspicious and looked inside their tents, walking farther away from the fire. They circled the camp until they found their cook dead on his sleeping bag, jumping back at the sight.

Zekai adjusted his plan and revealed himself to the bandits, standing on the opposite side of their camp. His only remark to them was, "Whoops."

They drew their battle axes and fumbled over to Zekai. With both hooves locked onto the grip of their weapon, neither the bison or the earth pony could moved well. To Zekai their movement looked as if they only had tree legs, but he let them get closer. When they closed in on the center of the camp, where their fire was situated, Zekai released his flame spell on them. The pig fats he had dumped into the fire pit erupted violently, scorching both bandits into ashes. He searched their charred bodies and found the signature "Raid bands" that their clan wore. He plucked them off from each dead bandit and headed for the river that would lead him back to Whitemane Hold.

Even returning for the fifth time didn't take away the awe that filled Zekai when he approached Whitemane. It wasn't just the extravagant palace at the top of the hill, or the gorgeous morning dew covering the endless fields. It was the great walls that were erected around Whitemane's hills that took his breath away. Two rings of solid stone and steel shielded the city, both watch by a hundred archer towers.

It was more than just a great military feat, it displayed murals and mosaics one would expect to see in the Emperor's Hall of Art, it had a fresco so long it was sometimes seen as part of the background, and the bricks were cut in such a way that a strong breeze would whistle a peaceful tune as the wind passed over the etchings. Zekai had never seen anything like it, and hoped one day he could buy a farm outside the city just so he could spend every morning basking in its glory.

Enjoying the view, Zekai leisurely walked past the grand gates of the first wall, nodding to the guards as he flashed an entrance permit in their faces. The inside wasn't as magnificent as the outside walls. Merchants were yelling, and dozens fillies could be heard crying as parents struggled to get them across town.

"... cotton for sale, buy now before winter hits..." He heard somepony say. "Special prices, books strait from Dawnfields!" "Half off on jewelry when you spend over a hundred bits!" "Fresh flowers for next week's festival!" Everypony was shouting, advertising their wares. But further down the streets was the familiar sight of the beggars dotted across the streets and fishing out of the wells. One of them had caught a fish, Zekai figured it to be about six inches long, sprinted to sell it to a beast tamer, only to get robbed by another group of beggars.

As always, Zekai used the gold he took off the bandits and bought a basket of apples. As he handed an apple to each beggar he walked by on his way to the Noble District. The Noble District was protected by the second city wall, and it was adorned by various family crests within it. The two most prominent symbols was the Applehall family's coat of arms, a red shield decorated with hounds, feasts, and magic symbols, and the Axes of the Headhunter clan. Their flag was made of rough blue cotton, and two battle axes were painted out of gold, making an X as they crossed.

Two mares in guard uniform stood at the gate . "Halt," the taller one said, "identification and entrance permit."

"Good morning to you too, Anne." Zekai replied with a smile. The two guards were on this shift almost every time he returned to collect a bounty. "And to you too, Deji. How's your brother doing with his alchemy apprenticeship?"

Deji and Anne glanced at each other, then Deji replied, "We've talked about this Zekai, we're on duty. We can talk later," she paused to think then continued, "and he's learning quick, thanks for asking."

Zekai grinned and handed them his passage documents. "That's what I like to hear." He looked up as the steel gate was pulled up by a complex system of pulleys. Anne returned his papers and gave him a quick smile, not trying to hide her irritation from the young unicorn's antics.

Zekai slipped his documents back into his bag, but he noticed there was an extra envelope in between them. He would have to look at it later, the stairs to the Dragon Palace was never easy to climb.