Carmino

The log house in the Voltera Forest was warmer then the damp, cold night outside. The two mares Pea Gravel and Dew Berry sat next to the fireplace along with Oza. Joe sat in the main room where the light barely illuminated. Their host Mumal sat cross legged going through some of the books in his small collection, his long spider-like fingers flipping through the yellowed pages. His eight opal eyes glimmered in the fire light with an understanding, more or less, of the books' contents. The Ettercap had gone through the handful of books he owned as most of his guest dozed off in the fire's warmth, until a realization struck him.

"Hey, hey pony," he whispered," What do you want from the big book walls? What is you and friendlies looking for?"

Pea blinked sleepily," What, Spider Face," she yawned," Oh...I'm to tired to talk now...maybe tomorrow big guy."

The grey mare dozed off to sleep, her peach colored muzzle with a happy grin.  Mumal blinked his many eyes with a frustrated look on his face. The large humanoid sat hunched next to the fire contemplating with his primitive brain. He almost jumped when he heard Joe's voice from behind.

"Sorry, Mr. Mumal," he said quietly," I didn't mean to frighten ya..."

"Oh muscly pony boy!," the Ettercap whispered severely,"Don't be a scaring the host. Me heat is beating like little drum!"

"Did I really scare you that much?" Joe asked indignantly.

"Nah, Mumal just playing. Blue Pony doesn't scare big Ettercap like me."

Joe chuckled lightly as he ventured closer to the fire place. The peat moss floor cushioned his wide hooves. The blue mule sat down similarly to Mumal and folded his forearms, the Ettercap paused for a moment and folded his arms as well.

"I take it that you want to know what Ms. Gravel is after?"

Mumal nodded excitedly.

"Well...I can't say that I know for sure exactly what  it is...or where it is. None of us do actually," Joe said rubbing his forehead. Mumal threw his arms in the air with frustration.

"If silly little filly doesn't know know where or what she is looking for...and her friendlies don't either," he scrunched his face and placed his long finger tips either side of his arachnid face. " Thats stupid! Little pony goes out not knowing what she is doing and could get lost, hurt or....me not want to think of nasty things!"

The Ettercap seemed to be borderline hysterical in worrying over the mares' safety. Joe tried to comfort him bit Mumal smacked his hoof away. Joe went from a welcoming disposition to defensive one as the Ettercap stood up.

"Youse the oldest in this circle, me can tell by look in your eyes," he waved his finger at Joe like a father scolding his child," Theys little and pretty...this big, big world we live in is full with bunches of monsters and meanness. You can't let them be out is this unsafeful world."

Joe lowered his eyebrows, creating a menacing look in the dim light," You may be right Mumal, but you have no idea what the've been through...You wanna know big guy?"

Mumal towered over him, an unconvinced look in his four sets of eyes,"Me listening..."

"These mares," continued Joe," are some of the bravest souls I know...I myself have been shot and stabbed many times in 'mah short, miserable life. I've done things that Ah should be in the deepest pits of hell for but you know what makes me not run toward death any chance I get?"

Mumal tried to keep a ridged look about him, but began to quiver out of sheer pity toward the mule.

"Pea Gravel an' little Dew Berry," Joe's menacing expression too softened up, but he was on the verge of tears," They picked me up when I was at 'mah lowest, they gave me another reason to live! They faced lord only knows getting me out of that hellish city even after knowin' what I've done...'this world to big and scary' you say? No Mumal...they can tackle this world...and that mare Pea...she's got a spirit of fire ah've never seen."

Joe sniffed and felt relieved letting out that weight on his chest and Mumal fell on the ground causing a low thump. Joe wiped the wetness from his eye and looked at the whimpering Ettercap. He laid out flat on his slopping back and covered his face with his thin, spidery hands. Joe couldn't help but smile reassuringly as he looked back over to the dying fire.

"You want me to get some more fuel for the fire?" Joe asked, Mumal ignored his question. He simply sat there sobbing.

"Me never heard...me didn't know!" Mumal bawled.

"Oh don't be such a cry baby," Joe teased," A big guy like you upset? Come on that just ain't right!"

"Joe were crying too!" the Ettercap said wiping his eyes.

The mule rose up to add some more light to the fire. Mumal did his best to sit up but was still a bit shaken up. Joe came back and after he tossed some heft logs in he laid out comfortably near the hearth, but away from everyone else. Mumal got up and headed toward the darker recesses of the house.

"Where ya goin? Aren't you gonna sleep over by the fire? " Joe called after him.

"Mumal is an Ettercap, Joe. We's like little bitty spiders, can't stand lotta light," He waved and disapered into the blackness,"Imma goin' back her with my little ones, you all sleepsy good now."

Joe nodded of at his spot next to the fire. The doorless opening not to far away glowed with the light of a bright moon and frosty air crept in. Joe shivered and inched closer to the fire, he bumped into Dew accidentally and held his breath incase he woke her up. She stirred slightly, her brow tightened for a moment almost like she was in distress. Dew then yawned and stretched he slender arms and unconsciously  snuggled up to the mule. Joe's eyes widened and his face turned red slightly. He tried rolling her over to where she was but she kept coming back. Joe groaned quietly and accepted this. The mule drowsed off into a dreamless sleep.

The sun's early morning rays left the ground of the Voltera's Woods in night-like darkness. The birds and other small creatures that dwelled in the cold forest shook of the frosty dew from their backs and the daily struggle began. The massive spider Bubsy was weaving a web in the clearing over the Ettercap's log house to catch any daring bird who came by. Meanwhile inside, the crew were beginning to start their day. The fire place had the remnants of last night's fire and the forest's frost air crept further inside. Oza tossed almost half a dozen logs in the crude brick fireplace and promptly lit them on fire. Pea was walking around Mumal's home in curiosity, flipping through some of the books Mumal had gone through the night before. Joe and Dew were still asleep much to the grey mare's surprise.

"Hey, sleepy head!" she called to Joe," get up! We've got a big day ahead of us."

She tossed a book about gold smithing at the sleeping mule. It landed square on his broad muzzle and woke him up with a start. Joe jerked up which caused Dew to roll over groggily. Joe was about to yell back at Pea, then he remembered who was next to him.

"Wha?" Dew asked drowsily," GHAA! Joe, what are you doing?"

"I didn't do 'nutin!," the mule said sourly," You curled up to me last night, not teh other way 'round."

"Sure," Dew said cynically," I snuggled up to the brick head."

"Deeeew," Pea groaned," Stop being so mean and get ready, we've got to get to the castle...thing."

The ponies gathered the supplies given by Mumal and stowed them away in their bags. Joe was the first to stick his head out the door and jumped back inside. He pulled out one of the wool blankets they had and wrapped it around him in a rush. Pea giggled and put on her poncho, Dew rolled her eyes. The red mare put a wool blanket over the poncho she already had on and looked rather silly with just her eyes visible. The ponies and Oza were now prepared to go back into the woods, Oza however called out something which made them stop.

"Where Mumal, Oza not see him all morning...you see him?"

"No," Pea said," is he still asleep?"

"Its alright guys," said Joe,"I'll check, you hang tight now."

The mule headed to the dark recesses of the hovel, the dim morning light barely lit a third of the room. The walls became mossier and damp, a thick smell of mildew hung in the air. The hovel led underground and there were several damp passages that were close to the dragon's head. He pushed the masses of cobwebs there and almost jumped when he stepped on something hard. It was a horse skull. His eyes widened and his heart began to flutter, where was the Ettercap? He heard a scuffle and in the almost pitch black space he saw a hunched figure shuffle past him. Joe jumped to the chase, so did the creature he was chasing. It ran fast through the passages unlike Joe who bumped into the wall and lost ground. He almost grabbed it but it swung it's head around and bit his hoof.  Whatever it was, it didn't seem like Mumal. It had an air of malice to it.

The creature's bite had some sort of venom in it, it kept him off his guard. Now he was desperate, he had become lost in the strange catacomb and searched frantically to get back to his friends. He heard a scratching and the sound of dirt moving. The mule froze, his heart stopped and the whole place was quiet. Suddenly from above him the creature he was after exploded from the tunnel ceiling. It's stubby arms ended in spade shaped claws. The creature barely missed Joe and smashed into the dirt nest to him. He tried kicking at its stocky, corse haired body. The sub terrain animal jerked around quickly then bit onto his leg. He tried punching it's thick head but in his state it didn't matter. He swung his leg against the tunnel wall and it hit a tree root, it seemed stunned. Joe smacked it off and scampered off quickly. Thats when he heard a ghastly squeal. He looked to see if it was Pea or Dew who had come down looking for him, but neither of them were there. He did see, however, the hunched shape of Mumal crouched over where the digging animal was.

"Mumal...that you?" Joe asked nervously.

The Ettercap had his fangs sunk into the creature, Joe could hear the blood being drained from where he stood. The mule cringed. Mumal rose to his feet and turned his blood soaked spider face towards Joe. The Ettercap stared silently and menacingly at him for a few moments, then picked up his victim and turned away.  His hunched frame grazed the top of the tunnel as he walked, Joe trailing behind.

"What is this place? Did you dig all of this?" the mule asked.

Mumal sighed and wiped the blood from his fangs with his free hand," Little pony boy, you should've gone with out Mumal...its bad down here," Mumal chuckled,"No, no Mumal didn't dig this, he can't even scoop dirt, Ganooks made tunnel."

"What is a Ganook?" Joe asked, his eyes darting around for more of the vicious things.

"Mean little animals," Mumal said bluntly," They has been digging under me house for awhile now...some nasty things use em for dinging traps an teh like."

Joe's senses began to return, the rancid smell of the Ganook assaulted his nose. He noticed the smell grew stronger, the Ettercap motioned him stop with his free hand. Joe waited as Mumal shambled into a gap in the tunnel, there were voices from inside.

"Geeahk, Mumal! Why bring another? Is nothing else in the forest?" A gurgled voice said, like another Ettercap.

"We come to eat and this is all Mumal has...old Ganook meat!" said another, more gruff voice. A resounding smack echoed in the cramped tunnel.

"P-please!" Mumal's voice whimpered out," Don't hit poor, little Mumal! Youse asked fo meat an did is-" another smack and a pitiful croak from Mumal.

Joe was tempted to go inside but when he caught a glimpse of the interior his stomach churned and held back a wave of disgust. The cavern-like hole's walls were covred in archaic runes and skulls of many kinds in holes in them. There were at least a dozen dead Ganooks, five Gnolls, a shiny black Ettercap and Mumal.  statuette of a horse with ram's horns and a tail ending in a scythe was at the end of the room, some Gnolls semmed to be praying to it. nearest Gnoll, like Pea had described but this one was especially awful. He had a mangled muzzle with scars and missing teeth. One of his ears was completely gone along with several fingers. He wore a tunic with chain-mail and horse leather. A rusty mace hung at his hip with a few long knives. Next to the Gnoll was an Ettercap, but this one was more of a black widow then a wolf spider like Mumal.

The shiny black Ettercap held a hand ready to strike Mumal, who was curled up on the ground. The Gnoll spat in the huddled Ettercap's face and walked heavily over to the far side of the room and resumed eating the stacks of Ganooks. The black ettercap kicked Mumal and followed the Gnoll. Mumal heaved his weight up and shuffled out of the chamber limply.

Joe pulled himself away from the room on his belly and the tunnel's dank, stale air seemed like a fresh breeze compared to the room he was just in. He laid out on the dirt floor for a moment and he heard a feint chant form inside the chamber. Soon after the Ettercap drug his weight back out and glared his dark eyes at the mule. Joe couldn't decide to strike at him or run away. Mumal lifted him up to his feet and lead him toward the surface.

"Little pony boy," the Ettercap said. His voice was low,"These woods are home to many scary creatures, not allah dem like they seemes..."

Joe was practically dragged back to the surface and wasn't sure what to say when he saw the cheery, unaware faces of his friends. Should he tell them that their host prayed to a dark god amidst the dead? What would they do, what would he do?

"There you two are!" Pea said with glee," come on Mumal, you gotta lead us the way to that castle."

"Slow down pony girl," Mumal said with a warm tone, as if the events underground never happened," We has all day, no need to be rushy."

The crew and their guide left the log house into the frosty forest. The sun was higher and the floor seemed a little warmer the it was earlier and the path the Ettercap led them along was rather clear. It seemed to have cobblestone in some areas and even rectangular, mossy rocks with writing of some kind on them. It was an ancient road, that was for sure. Pea was chomping at the bit to go faster, but Mumal stopped every once an awhile to regain his bearings, (it was actually because his muscles were sore from his beating underground)  had been years since he was in this neck of the woods. One of these rest stops Joe walked close to Oza as quietly as he could and spoke in a hushed whisper.

"Oza...this Mumal guy, I think he's trouble..."

"Why Joe say that?"

"Well, theres these weird mole things under his house and their apparently a problem," he hesitated," but he's not just killing them...he got 'em stacked up and was praying or something around their dead bodies....not to mention theres some more freaky ass monsters down there!"

"That....is odd..." Oza said quietly. He looked at Mumal again, but in a different light.

"Oza and Joe keep an eye on this guy," the dragon continued," He may be up to no good..." Joe nodded in silent agreement.

Most of the day consisted of traveling, they were all surprised at the sheer volume of the forest. Near the 'road' were the skeletons of stone houses from a time long ago, overgrown with trees and shrubbery. Pretty soon the trees canopy became sparse and the ruined path lead to a massive clearing. The Castle Voltera stood before them.

The castle's size was a sight to behold, even though some of the spires had collapsed on parts of the palace, most remained in amazingly good condition. The stone was a blue grey, with spiral designs running up pillars along the walls. Remnants of green banners hung from the rounded ramparts, and brazens for torches stood ridged and rusty. The gate house had a broken drawbridge that was submerged into the swollen moat around Voltera's Castle, its dark green waters were thick with lilly pads and loose stone. The walls had trees growing at their basses and even on top of the ramparts as long vines clung around the blue stone.

"Hey Mumal?" Pea asked, stilled awed by the ancient castle," Do you know your way around this place?"

"Sorta...we should go in da night time, allah ghouls will be outside of stone house then."

"Are the things in there like what we saw the other night?" Dew asked.

Mumal folded his long arms," No...that one was a lonely type...they feed fo demselves. The ones in big stone house are lots smaller."

Oza popped his knuckles and walked toward the draw bridge," Hey Joe, you and Oza gonna fight dem ghoul things, lets go."

Joe seemed to question the idea for a moment, then trotted up beside Oza," Alright, whats the plan?"

"Mumal?" Oza called back as he walked to the moat," Wheres library in castle?"

"Me dunno, its been long time..."

Oza rolled his eyes. The dragon jumped across a stretch of the moat onto the old drawbridge. Once there he used a telekinetic spell on some of the rocks in the moat and made a makeshift bridge for the rest of the party. Joe hurried along behind him, along with the two mares. Mumal took his time entering the castle walls, he was on edge about the whole trip and the occasional noise from the forest didn't help either.

Oza stood in the castle court yard, filled with trees and ruined buildings. A long and reather well , monolithic fort stood at the center. Mumal said that was where the library was. Oza turned around with a smile on his face, his legs bent , ready for a run.

"Try to keep up!" he said, then bolted toward the fort. The rest had no choice but to run along behind.

Two ghouls crawled out of the stone houses and chased Oza. The caught up pretty fast and tried to bite at him as the ran closer, he jumped backward causing a loss of several meters. The ghouls didn't have enough time to react before Oza blasted them with a kind of magic blast which sent them tumbling to the grassy ground in crumpled heaps. More came from the ruined houses and targeted the mares, Joe sprang into action. The first was rammed by the mule head on sending  its magenta body to the side. The next two ran up and tried to stop as Joe jumped into the air and landed onto them, they tried to bite him but his grip was too strong. He punched the first one and tossed the nest into a tree.

The mares were close to Oza by now and Mumal trailed behind. Joe smacked the the remaining Ghouls a bit and called to Mumal as he sped onward. Oza reached the door of the central fortress. It stretched almost fifty feet in the air and still looked strong after its long life, the dragon sped faster and burst the them open. A grand hall that never saw sunlight for centuries is what Oza slowed his pace into. Several Ghouls growled at him from the rafters and around the smashed furniture in the now lit room. Oza used a spell he attempted at Big Apple. He counted the ghouls while chanting to himself and snapped his fingers, almost all of the scrappy monsters fell to the floor unconscious and the rest fled into the darker halls. The rest of the party arrived and were relived to find most of the work done.

"Really Mumal?" Pea smirked," This was what we should've been worried about?"

"Tsk...me guess so," Mumal wheezed, still out of breath.

The crew ventured inside with torches made of the wood they found inside. There were tapestries with dazzling designs and statues of heroic looking ponies of old. The castle was surprisingly warm and dry compared to the jungle outside. They were completely unaware of the curious eyes that had been following them the past few days. It was the dog creature from the encounter with the Gnolls. Her features were in full view as she crouched next to the opened doors. Her coat was in short hair over her supple figure. Her fur was a light brown that was darker around her muzzle and paws. Her bright blue eyes darted around carefully. Her ears were half bent and a small braid ending small glass beads was next to her left ear. She wore a leather vest with crude bone buttons and small iron plates at the shoulders. Over her back was a small satchel, a quiver of short javelins and a club. Around her neck was the neckless that Oza had fixed, she clenched it tightly. She wasn't sure if she should tell her chief that the castle doors were open...for the ponies' sake.

TO BE CONTINUED...