Through Desert Sand and Forest Storm

I turned around slowly, not sure what to expect. Hopefully, it would be just another mind trick, just an empty doorway. That was not the case.

“I mean really, all the places here to hide and you picked my bathroom? Please tell me you had some sort of logic behind that.” Sky Lily. Just who I wanted to see right now.

“Most people wouldn't expect it, and I have an advantage in close quarters. Really, they're great places for ambush.” She was still in the doorway, so I edged closer to the roof opening.

“Ambush, eh? Trying to end the game early? And here I thought you were enjoying yourself.” She saw me moving, that much I could tell, but I really didn't want to be in the same room as her.

“You're assuming that was my only reason. And now you're taking that sentence into account and assuming it's not. Would you like me to continue?”

That made her pause for a minute. “You're a lot smarter than most gators. What's your secret? Are you really related to him?” She pointed at the flame-eyed sandgator.

“No secret, I've always been like this. And as for any relation to that one, I actually don't know. I probably could be, but I wouldn't be the person you'd ask about that.” Made me wonder where Zireahl got this body from. I hope he didn't steal it from somewhere.

“Oh?” She stepped into the room now, heading around her desk. “Who would I ask then, if you happen to know?”

“Nobody you can get in touch with, it would take a god to reach him if he didn't want to be found. But what makes you think I'm related?” I asked.

“Other than your name?” Oh, it was a picture of Stormjaw. No wonder people were surprised I'd accepted that name. Probably should've figured that out earlier. “The sundering. He was the only non-magical creature in history able to do it. And you just used it less than an hour ago. Magic runs through Bloodlines, as I'm sure you know.”

“Well then, I suppose I'll have to leave my answer as probably, and take my leave.” I began walking towards the door, hoping to god she wasn't about to toss some terrifying mind-rape spell my way.

“And what makes you think I'll let you?” She asked casually.

Shit, shit, give me something good brain. “Because you're not the kind to bury someone, you're the kind who'll trick them into burying themselves.” Holy shit, thanks brain.

She let out a short laugh. “True enough, true enough. Just remember, don't try and leave the compound.”

“I know, I know. Don't wait up.” I walked out of the room and closed the door, noting that the guards in the hallway weren't paying any attention to me other than a quick glance. Guess I was allowed up here?

I searched around for a few minutes, and found the building all the slaves were kept in. It was smaller than the rest of the buildings, only two stories, and had a fence around it. Figures.

I walked into the building, and recognized about half of the slaves in there. Oddly, I could only sense the ones who'd come here with me, even though all of them seemed awake and alert. The older ones seemed surprised that I was out and roaming, as apparently Sky usually kept the others “somewhere safe.” I informed him that safe was boring, so I left, and Sky was quite aware of it.

Salheen wasn't in the building at the moment, and no one knew exactly where she was, so I settled down in the commons room of the slave quarters to wait for her, idly chatting with a few of the other slaves. Apparently, Sky really was a good master. She treated her slaves very well, gave them plenty of space and freedom and only expected minimal work from them. They were just supposed to maintain the hills and rivers around the estate, something that was really easy for herbivores.

"Except," one of them said, "that sometimes some really odd plants crop up, and anyone who even touches those ones dissapeares. Not right away, but sometime in the next few days they're gone. Also, people who spend too much time playing around the water vanish too. Never more than three or four a month, but it happens, and it happens regularly. Makes a pony think Sky might be up to something else in here, although, of course, you didn't hear about any of that from me."

"What's the plant look like?" I asked, "and do you know of anywhere else someone could find it?"

"It's a dark green, almost black, with bright blue flowers. It's really easy to tell apart from everything else in here. And as for finding it, I haven't heard about it anywhere other than here, although some of the more shady apothocaries down in the outer city could probably get it for you. Not that I'd want any, damn plant looks creepy enough even without everybody who touches it getting grabbed by something."

The conversation moved on to other topics after that, nightmares and boogeymen, or boogeyponies, as they said here, guess that pun got through, but my mind stayed on that plant for a long time. I wondered if it was the cause of the mind-numbing, or if it was something else entirely. Eventually, I rejoined the conversation, making a mental note to find out more about that mysterious plant the first chance I got.

~o0O0o~

It was late afternoon when I got to the slaves' quarters, but it wasn't until after nightfall that I started to get worried for Salheen. She still hadn't shown up, and the image of the blank, unthinking ponies was starting to come back to my mind.

“Do any of you happen to know where a Salheen is? She's a zebra, kinda skittish,” I asked, adding the description for those who hadn't just been bought this morning. Most of them just shrugged, but one got a thought full expression on his face.

“She came in with you this morning, right? I thought I saw her by one of the rivers, looking around for something.” he gave me directions, and I walked out.

I got to the river, and began looking around. No Salheen, as far as I could see. Just a blank river running through the hills. The river was slow, shallow, and wide, with vegetation covering the bottom. I hopped in and started searching farther along it, hoping to find her, or at least some sign of where she'd gone.

I wasn't able to find anything though, and after half an hour of searching I gave up and started to head back. She'd probably gone someplace else, or was even waiting for me in the slaves' quarters right now.

“Are you sure you didn't miss something?” Zireahl's voice echoed in my head.

“Well, did I?” I mentally shot back.

“Actually answering that would break the rules. Just go take a look, and remember that there are no coincidences in matters even remotely related to Sky Lily.” I turned back to the river, and began searching through it again, looking for anything odd.

I found it by accident, a thin vine near the bank opposite the manor. I stepped on it before I saw it, which was clearly the intent of whoever had put it there. Roots shot out of the ground from around the vine, wrapping around the ankle of that leg. I could have easily ripped my leg away, but I chose not too, wondering if whoever had placed that fine would come check it if it got tripped.

Fifteen minutes later, I got my answer. Water Vine walked into my view, and I realized how obvious that was. No coincidences indeed. We took one look at each other, and I jumped away from him as hard as I could. And not a moment too soon, more vines tore out of the ground as soon as I left, searching vainly for a victim to entwine.

I landed a good ways away, because holy shit can sandgators jump, and started sprinting sideways. His magic had range, and that gave him the upper hand as long as he knew where I was, so I needed to get lost, and quickly.

I darted between hills, keeping low to the ground. After I few minutes I started to double back, taking a different path through the hills and hoping he'd follow my original course. I went back till I got to the river, and looked around. He wasn't there, good.

I jumped over the river, and began making my way to the manor. Hopefully, he'd have less of an advantage on the sandy ground. I reached the manor with no difficulty and, with the help of one of the servants, located his quarters, which were across the compound from Sky Lily's. I approached the front door, then paused. He'd already proven he could set traps, so he would probably trap his rooms. Hell, he had a whole building to himself, he probably trapped every single room in the damn place.

Instead of walking straight into his building, I decided to get in the same way I'd gotten into Sky Lily's rooms; from the roof. I went through the building next to his, a two story building full of what appeared to be various grains, although I didn't look very hard.

From the roof of the storage building, I wondered if I could make the jump. Unlike Sky Lily's, which had the four story servants quarters next to it, I'd have to be jumping up a story here, and I wasn't sure if I could. I thought about asking Zireahl, but decided against it. He probably wouldn't be able to help, and I needed to find out the physical limits of this body sometime. I took a few steps back to get a running start, charged, and jumped, hoping to god I could make it.

I slammed into the edge of the roof, half on it and half dangling. Thankfully, I was able to pull myself up, and head to the roof door. It led into a room full of strange plants, covered in thorns and odd looking flowers. I hurried out of that room, and started looking for Salheen.

It didn't take me long to find her, although after walking into the room she was held in, it felt like hours too long. She was in a cage, one barely big enough to fit her, and seemed unconscious. I took one look at the lock on the cage before deciding to ignore it and just ripping open the door, which startled her awake.

“Stormjaw. . .?” She asked, like she almost couldn't believe it.

“Yeah, I'm here.” I helped her get out, then scanned the other cages for living inhabitants. There weren't any, so we started to leave.

Salheen was in no condition to make the jump to the storage building, so we went down to the front door. It was trapped, thorny vines draped all around the main room, but from the inside I was able to nudge them aside and open the door without any complications. I took Salheen to the servants quarters, and handed her over to the nurses there. I also asked them where Water Vines could usually be found this time of night, and they gave me directions.

“Don't. . . get hurt. . .” Salheen coughed at me. Her injuries didn't show, but I could tell something had hurt her in there.

“Don't worry, I'll be fine.” I walked out of the building, heading towards the east fields. As I was walking past Vine's building, however, I felt someone walking around inside. I didn't know if it was him or not, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Considering he'd probably reset the traps, I decided to go in with a measure of caution. By which I mean I bucked the door of it's hinges and let the vines flail at it instead of at me. Then I stepped into the building, waiting in the front room for Vines.

I could feel him running down, and when he walked into the room I didn't give him time to make a move. I charged, slamming into him like a freight train on steroids, and I heard several bones snap just from that first impact. He hit the wall, and fell to the ground unconscious. Good. I wasn't trying to be cruel here.

I moved over to his body, and snapped his neck.

I walked back to the servants quarters much slower than when I'd left. I felt worse than I thought I would. After all, he'd deserved it. I'd thought I'd gotten over that with the slaver attack, but it still hurt. I wondered, briefly, if this was still part of the "test of the Holy Rage" one of the sandgators in that group had mentioned. I supposed I was still passing, if I was still disgusted by the death I caused.

When I got back, the nurses told me that while they'd done what they could for Salheen, and now what she needed most was to rest. I asked them if they had any sleds for carrying ponies around in. They said yes, and gave me one.

"It'd really be best if you and her stayed here. We can keep an eye on her, and Lady Sky will hunt you down if you leave," one of the nurses warned me.

"I'm sure she will, but I'm rather hard to find when I don't want to be. Thanks for the help." I loaded the slumbering Salheen into the sled, harnessed myself, and began walking towards the gate to the compound. The guards seemed mildly surprised, but let me through. I wondered what orders she gave out about the sandgators, or about me in particular, but didn't think on it too long. I had to get out of the inner city and find somewhere to hole up for a little while, and hopefully someone who could help me get on my way. A caravan heading north, or something. I didn't really know, didn't have much of a plan beyond survive the night, but I'd started my escape, and goddamit I was going to finish it.

~o0O0o~

Bruiser was nervous. Really nervous. Sky had been staring at her brother for nearly an hour, not moving, not talking, just staring. No one had told her about it until the morning, when she'd gone looking for him. No one knew what she would do. She was never predictable, but she'd never been in this situation before. Would she snap? Would she kill him for not being there? Vines had asked him to leave, said he wanted some alone time with his new toy. And when he'd come back. . . well. . .

"Bruiser?" Sky asked softly, "there's a book on my desk, top left drawer. Could you go get it for me?"

"Yes ma'm." He got it quickly, running to get there and back, not wanting to anger her right now.

She took the book, and opened it to a marked page near the middle. Bruiser looked at the book as well, his curiosity getting the better of him. It was written in a language he hadn't seen before, which was odd because he could read just about any language written today. Of course, that didn't include old languages, dead languages where they spoke of heathen gods and legends and things like that. But what would Sky be doing with a book like that?

Then, to his astonishment, the letters and words began to move, re-arranging themselves into an entirely new pattern and order. It looked almost like a new language now. Bruiser shook his head and looked back at Sky, not wanting to think about the book anymore.

Except Sky was still looking at the book, reading each line slowly, a smile forming on her face. Bruiser suddenly wasn't sure whether to be excited that she wasn't going to kill him, since he'd never seen her smile during a kill, or very, very terrified.

~o0O0o~

"Wait," Sunny had a look on his face like he'd been hit in the back of his head with a stick. Hard. "He killed her brother, and she freed him?"