The hatred of the shadow

The trio walked for days and as they came closer to their goal Tacit began to wonder what Malonexs plan could be. Since he never included her when he and Lock were discussing the plan, she didn't had the smallest clue.

One day Tacit was walking besides Lock while Malonex led the way. Tacit tried to convince Lock to tell her what Malonex plan was. "Come on! I know that you know the plan I heard you two talking about it!"

Lock just grinned a bit. "You still didn't dare to ask him yourself? I have to disappoint you. I don't know much more than you. I know that he is planning to recruit some ponies and perform a ritual but that is all I know."

Tacit began to whisper. "Don't lie to me! I have seen you and Malonex going through some notes. Please tell me what they were about."

Lock raised an eyebrow. "You know that it isn't a good idea to spy on Malonex he doesn't take things like that really well."

Tacit grinned a bit devious. "Tell me what was on the notes or I tell Malonex that you told me to spy on him."

Lock began to talk a bit louder. "What? But I didn't do that!"

Tacit smiled. "Not my problem."

Lock looked at her a little bit annoyed. "You little..."

He was interrupted from Malonex who was still walking right in front of the two. "Are you two arguing again?"

Tacit immediately answered. "No we weren't."

Lock was silence for a while before Tacit hit him in the side and he said with a sigh. "She is right, we were just talking a bit."

Malonex just responded with. "Then be a little bit more quiet. I have to concentrate."

After Malonex was silent for some time, Tacit began whispering again. "Now tell me what he showed you!"

Lock just groaned. "Fine. He showed me the instructions for the ritual he plans to do. That is all I could understand, the rest was too complex for me."

Tacit wasn't satisfied with that answer. "Do you know what the ritual is for?"

Before Lock could answer they were interrupted by Malonex. "I already explained that to you Tacit, it will break the spell that keeps me bound to the light crystal Lock is carrying all the time and if you have any more questions about the plan just ask me and stop bothering Lock with this. Also stop pretending you were a good enough liar to fool me, you aren't."

Tacit waited for a moment before she responded. "You heard everything?"

Malonex nodded. "Yes, it wasn't hard since both of you are really bad at whispering. Could you now please be quiet for a minute? I am trying to find out why we still didn't cross the river we were suppose to see an hour ago."

The rest of the time Lock and Tacit were quiet while Malonex was looking over the map while they walked through the forest. After one hour they reached the river Malonex meant and only a half hour later a tavern came into view. It was a small wooden building.

It didn't look very welcoming. The windows were all shut and curtains were blocking any view to the inside. On the sign that hung over the door was only the picture of two crossed dagger.

Before they went any closer Malonex stopped. "When we are in there I am the only one that will be talking understand?"

Lock and Tacit nodded and Malonex went on. "Lock take your cloak and hide your face under the hood. It is better if nopony in there knows how one of you two looks. Tacit do you have a cloak or something like that?"

She nodded and took out a gray cloak and put it on, even her wings were hidden under it. After Lock took his cloak Tacit looked at Malonex for a moment before she asked him. "What about the hole in your hood Malonex. Doesn't make you horn quiet obvious who you are?" She pointed at his red horn that was sticking through the hole of his hood.

Malonex simply responded. "Yes but the ponies there already know me and will recognize me no matter what I do. Now be quiet and follow me."

Malonex opened the door and they entered the tavern. On the inside it was very dark, only a few candles were lightening the room. The room was filled with a bunch of wooden tables and a bar at the end of the room. There were a few barrels stocked behind the bar and two staircases, one leading up and the other leading down to the basement. The tavern was full of sinister looking ponies and other creatures sitting at every table.

They all looked up as Malonex and his companions entered the tavern. Malonex ignore their glares and walked straight to the bar. While they walked the guests began to turn away again. As they walked through the room Tacit looked closer at a few of the ponies. She spotted some ponies that were making some sort of deal over a strange colored gem. As they noticed Tacit the immediately hide the gem and gave her a angry stare. She also saw a group that was playing poker and another that was throwing knifes at a poster of the princesses that hung on a wall.

As they reached to bar Malonex took a seat on one of the empty seats while Lock and Tacit remained standing. The barkeeper, a dirty looking earthpony, gave Malonex a disapproving glare. "I thought you had agreed that we will never see each other again..."

Malonex grinned a bit. "I reconsidered it after I was attacked by some of your assassins a few years ago. The rest of the group was very talkative about their client after I was done with the first one."

The barkeeper growled a bit. "What do you want this time?"

"I need some information about the position of the group I told you to keep an eye on and I want to hire all ponies here for my plans..."

The barkeeper smiled a bit. "That will cost you many bits."

Malonex took a bag of bits out without a word and placed it on the table, loud enough to be heard by every pony in the room. They all looked up by the sound of bits.

The barkeeper looked at the bags for a moment and then began to laugh. "Well I think we can come to an agreement. The last rumors about the group told me that they have their camp five days towards south from here. And about the other order..." As he said that nearly the whole room stood up at the same time. "I think I can arrange a large group in one hour."

Malonex nodded and gave the barkeeper a hoof full of bits and took the rest of the bits with him again. They left the bar without any more words and the barkeeper began to talk with his guests. They walked through the tavern and Tacit heard a few ponies talking and laughing about the, what they thought, easy earned money.

As they reached the outside Tacit began to ask Malonex questions that bothered her since she saw all the bits he carried. "Wasn't that a bit much money for just helping with a ritual? I mean I noticed that you have a lot with you but that was still a bit much."

Malonex grinned a bit. "I will get the money back after the ritual is finished. Now let's go and make the needed preparations."

They walked a bit away from the tavern and Malonex gave them a note with a picture of the needed rune. They all began to draw the lines on the ground and Tacit began to wonder what for he needed to recruit all these ponies. After they finished the last line Malonex told Lock to place the light crystal in the middle of the rune and walked into the center of one of the circles.

There he sat down and closed his eyes. "You tow should go back to the river we crossed. You will wait there for two hours and then come back here."

Lock already turned around to go as Tacit stopped and asked. "Wait what? Why that?"

Malonex groaned. "Because I don't need two ponies distracting me from the ritual and I don't think you want to be affected by the ritual after you saw what exactly it does."

Lock simply nodded and walked away and Tacit followed him. On their was Tacit asked Lock about what is going on. "Why did he sent us away? I thought he needs the help of other ponies for that ritual so why did he sent us away?"

Lock shrugged. "I bet I could tell if I had understood what the ritual does but for now we just have the believe that he knows what he does and as far as I know is that the case most of the time."

Malonex was waiting as he heard a big group of ponies coming closer to the rune. He stood up and looked at the group. Before they could say anything he started to give instructions." Everypony goes to one of the circles and just stays there. When the ritual starts you will no longer be able to leave so don't even try to run away."

Before they followed his instructions one of them stepped forward. "Before we do anything we want the payment!"

Malonex nodded and threw a bag of bits towards them. He noticed their disappointment as they realized that it was only half filled. "You will get the rest when the ritual is finished."

They all growled a bit but each one of them walked to a circle. Malonex began to concentrate.

First the lines began to glow red dark smoke began to spread over the ground. Malonex eyes began to glow green and purple mist came from the corner of his eyes. The circles began to glow brighter and over each pony, except Malonex, began a small dome of magical energy to form. From each dome began a beam of energy to shoot at Malonex.

The lines on the ground began to glow brighter and everything that was close to the ritual began to whiter. The trees lost their leaves and the wood began to lose their color. The grass in the area began to turn gray. This process began to spread till it created a from the air noticeable gray area in the forest. Red fog quickly began to cover the area.

The ponies in the red domes began to panic as they realized what kind of magic this was but they couldn't escape and were trapped under the domes. Malonex began to looked at the magic auras of the ponies. He saw how the spell grabbed their auras and slowly dragged them away from their bodies. As their magic and live was drained away their bodies they began to disintegrate till under each dome was nothing left but a pile of bones.

The screams of fear and pain echoed through Malonex head as he absorbed their live and he began to chuckled.

Malonex felt how the magic was transferred to him and he began to concentrate on the light crystal in front of him. Then he canalized all the magic he got from the now dead ponies and cast the spell on the crystal. Since he had his eyes closed now he could only hear the crystal shatter.

He felt that the ritual stopped and opened his eyes. He saw that the entire area around the rune was colorless and gray. The dead piles of bones show no sign of being alive a short while ago. He felt that his magical began power began to regenerate a his normal rate.

Before he could do anything else he heard ponies coming in his direction. As they came into view he saw that it only were Tacit and Lock.

As they saw what happened here Lock just stopped for a moment but then just walked straight towards Malonex. "Well I hope your ritual worked because this will soon draw attention to us and I don't think we can escape them again."

Malonex nodded and looked at Tacit who was staring at the piles of bones that were lying in the dead grass. "What is it Tacit?"

She just stared for another few seconds before she responded. "I am sorry I am just a bit surprised. I thought you just needed a bit help and then you would sent them away again."

Malonex looked serious at her. "I hope you aren't afraid to kill because you will see much more death on this journey."

Tacit looked around again and gulped shortly. "That is not the problem. I already assassinated a few ponies in my life but I never saw something this extreme."

Lock walked to the sack of bits that was still lying in the middle of the rune and took it. "I must say that I am very impressed. I know that you once were a high mage but I never could imagine what a high mage can do with his magic."

Malonex nodded a bit. "Well I have to say that I didn't created this spell. This credit belongs to my father."

Lock nodded and laughed a bit. "Just remind me to never bother you when you have a bad day."

Malonex wanted to respond before he heard the barkeeper shouting from the distance. "What have you done? You know how many hunters will now come here to investigate? I have to give up my tavern because of you! You are going to pay for this!"

The barkeeper ran towards them with a dagger in his hoof but before he could come any closer Tacit turned into a smoke cloud and flew at the barkeeper with high speed and without any noises. She flew right through him and he stopped running. For a moment it looked like nothing happened and Malonex got ready to kill him but suddenly blood began to leave the throat of the barkeeper through a thin but deep wound.

The barkeeper sunk to the ground and his blood began to spread over the dead grass. Tacit turned to her normal form again and Malonex saw that she held a thin knife in one of her hooves.

For a moment they just stared at Tacit without saying anything. She on the other side was a bit confused by their surprised expression. "What? I told you a few seconds ago that I already killed a few ponies. Did you thought my father didn't taught me about fighting and killing?"

Malonex began to smile a bit. "Good to see that you are prepared for our journey. That means Lock is the only one of us that has no fighting experience."

Tacit smiled proudly and followed Malonex as he began to lead the way. One second later Lock got his mind back together and ran after them. "Hey! I can fight! I was a security guard once!"

They went back to the tavern and entered it. It was now completely empty and Malonex began to looked around. "We have to hurry. It is only a matter of time till magic hunters will come to investigate the ritual. Search for everything we could use and that is easily to transport. Food and drinks have priority, but nothing alcoholic."

They nodded and began to search around. Lock quickly found the storeroom in the basement and collected everything the he thought would stay edible for at least a week.

Tacit searched around though the main room while Malonex went upstairs. There he found a room that looked like it was the place where the barkeeper lived. It was a small room with only a bed and a desk in it and nothing else.

Malonex walked to the desk, a scroll was lying on it. Malonex began to read it . The scroll was a report from a scout According to the date it was written one day ago.

Still following the H. Managed to hide for now. Position is three day north of the tavern. Will sent this scroll after H. build their camp. I listened to their scouts and they said they would reach their goal in a half day. They then plan to change their location again after two weeks it nothing unexpected happens.

End report.

Malonex growled a bit. 'That barkeeper should be grateful to be already dead.' He took the scroll and put it in his bag.

After he found nothing else interesting he walked back down where Tacit and Lock were already waiting for him. He nodded to them and they left the tavern together.

As they arrived at the outside Tacit and Lock both looked at Malonex. Tacit was the first who spoke. "So, where are we going next."

Malonex took out the map and looked over it. "We are heading north to meet with our allies."

Lock and Tacit both raised an eyebrow. "I thought that they had their camp in the south."

Malonex gave them the scroll from the scout. They looked over it and nodded and Malonex told them their next steps. "We have to leave and get as much space between us and the ritual place as possible. Soon the magic hunters will come and search for me. It will take a few days till I regain my full power and as long as you don't want to fight them without my help, we have to avoid fighting them till then."

Tacit and Lock both nodded and Malonex and they began to walk towards their next goal. After a while of walking the sun began to set and they began to prepare themselves to rest. as they were eating their dinner Tacit began to wonder. "Do these allies know that we will come."

Malonex shock his head. "Not really. They don't even know that they going to be our allies neither will they be happy about this idea but I think I will be able to convince them."

The others nodded and they began to eat but after a while Lock began to talk again. "You know. I thought about what you said earlier about me and not being able to fight and I wanted to ask if one of you could teach me."

Tacit immediately shook her head. "I sure can't. I am not very good at teaching and even I know that it would be better if a unicorn trains you."

Lock now looked at Malonex who began to think. "I think I could train you a bit. I already trained a few ponies but I think this has to wait till we reached the Crystal Empire. Till then I could only teach you a bit about spell that could be useful and other standard information about combat."

Lock smiled a bit. "Thank you, but I have to warn you. My magic is not the strongest neither am I the fastest learner."

Malonex smiled a bit at that statement. "Don't worry I am used to slow learner."