The Black Company in Equestria

Grayborn never recovered from his twin defeats at the crater and farther north, under the shadow of the mountains proper. Whether it was the bolt Flick planted in his side or the strain of teleporting into a wizard's duel, we never knew. Perhaps it was a combination of both. Regardless, for the next three weeks the Company tightened its grip on the mountains, unchecked by any magical resistance. We methodically reduced one stronghold after another, gradually forcing Grayborn's forces deeper into the mountains. The extensive tunnels proved more of a deathtrap for them than us, especially after Jackal's gleeful discovery of a powder that would explode into burning clouds of poisonous gas when ignited. Squads of Company brothers armed with canisters of this substance could clear entire cave systems, as long as they were careful to not let the stuff blow back at them.

It was clear that Grayborn was no longer running things. He showed great skill early in the campaign as he parried our attacks, using his superior numbers and familiarity with the area to best advantage. Whatever luckless third-in-command took over after Bonesinger's death and Grayborn's incapacitation had none of his superior's talents. All the better for us. We were closing in.

“Marus!” Lamb pushed aside the tent flap and stuck his head inside. “Captain wants you for a briefing. Our squad's heading out again.”

“Coming.” I paused to shuffle a stack of papers into order, stacked them with the others. Besides recording the current Annals, I was transcribing the Book of Fermen, an older volume that was falling apart.

Outside, the camp was almost quiet. It was noon, which meant that anyone lucky enough to have some shade stayed in it. The sun beat down mercilessly, sucking away any trace of coolness. Ironically, most of our brothers were underground anyway, besieging a massive complex of caves and tunnels which the men had dubbed 'the Anthill'.

“Welcome, brothers.” The Captain faced us from his customary spot across the table. “I believe we are quickly reaching the end of this campaign. As far as we can tell, Grayborn's gate is inside the tunnel complex we are currently besieging. Grayborn's absence from the fight gives us a window of opportunity to break his power. You will infiltrate his lair and scout the gate. We need to know if it can be shut or broken before Grayborn recovers his strength. Your brothers are preparing a distraction for you now, I suggest you gather you strength and be ready by tonight. As before, Jackal will accompany you and provide magical assistance. Succeed, and we can cut Grayborn off from any help and end this campaign for good. Good hunting, brothers.”

We trudged down into the tunnels, the moonlight at at the entrance fading away behind us. We were all packing full kit, although most of that would be stashed away for the actual infiltration. A full pack is a noisy, clumsy thing, something that doesn't matter on the march, but matters very much when trying to sneak past enemy guards. Lamb and Jackal followed close behind our guide, who led the way with a torch in one hand and a crude field map of the tunnels in the other. The rest of us followed their light. Marsuf brought up the rear with another torch.

“I'd hate to live down here.” Priest observed.

“Do tell.” I grumbled, almost tripping over yet another hump in the floor.

“Livin' in the dark like this just isn't natural is all I'm saying.”

“You'd be surprised what people will do to survive. If I had the Company after me, I think I'd crawl into any hole I thought was deep enough.”

“Yeah well this hole still isn't deep enough.” Jacky Boy declared.

“Damn straight.” Flick agreed. “Hey, if we stayed down here long enough, do you think we'd all get pale and ugly like Jacky Boy?”

“Screw you, brown man, my skin is beautiful. Besides, around here it makes me exotic. And let me tell you, the ladies love exotic.”

“Sure, well down here it just makes you stand out, maggot boy. Try rubbing your face on the wall, maybe you'll pick up a more natural skin color.”

“Natural? Don't know if you've noticed, but down here, Egg's the only one with natural looking skin. I'd point him out to you except he's damn near invisible.”

Egg chuckled from behind them. “Only in the right light.”

“In the right light he's not scary.”

“Sure, in the right light Jacky Boy's a well adjusted individual.”

“In the right light Marsuf won't shut up.”

The shadow of a giant middle finger briefly obscured the torch behind us.

“In the right light Lamb doesn't yell at us.”

“Quiet!” Lamb growled. He and the brother acting as our guide were halted in front of a fork in the tunnel. The Company sigil was scrawled on the wall before them. The guide and Jackal had their heads together, discussing something in low voices. After a few minutes we set off down the right hand tunnel.

This tunnel was smaller and narrower than the ones before. We had to walk single file, while Egg had to duck protrusions and irregularities in the low ceiling. It twisted and turned downward in a random fashion, but was obviously artificial; the marks of picks and drills were visible on the walls and ceiling. As we went farther down, we started to pass other tunnels branching off from either side. We still hadn't met anyone, friendly or otherwise.

“So, this tunnel was cleared, right?” I voiced my concern.

“If by 'cleared', you mean scouted and bypassed, then yes.” Lamb's voice filtered back to me past Jackal, Flick, and Priest.

“Jackal, I'll let you field this one.” My voice was starting to rise. “Why are we walking down a tunnel that could charitably be described as 'ambush friendly', and which no one physically cleared?”

“I'm hurt, Marus.” Jackal's voice floated back to me on a thick layer of smug. “Surely you don't think that we threw this plan together at the last minute? This tunnel was carefully scouted and then avoided in order to encourage our enemy to forget about it. It also happens to lead behind the enemy lines, rather than ending in an antechamber like the others. Also,” he struck a dramatic pose which was ruined by Flick prodding him in the kidneys, “we are currently the only living things in the area.”

“That you can sense.”

He got indignant. “That are here. My skills-”

Our guide cut him off. “We're here.” he hissed, dousing his torch. Marsuf followed suit, plunging us into complete darkness.

“Jackal, eyes.” Lamb prompted.

“Give me a moment...ah.”

My eyes prickled for a second before the tunnel brightened into visibility. It now had a noticeably bluish cast, probably a side effect of Jackal compensating for the lack of natural light.

“Forward, no sounds.” Lamb breathed.

We crept forward. After a few dozen yards the tunnel made a hairpin turn back to the right, opening into a small chamber. Our guide slipped up to the opening, peered inside. Satisfied, he waved us forward.

The cavern proved to be quite small, with a jagged ceiling that sloped down to meet the floor about five yards from the entrance.

“Stow your packs and gear here.” our guide whispered. “The enemy doesn't know about this cave, but everything beyond here is their turf.” He pointed to the far corner of the room where the wall, floor, and ceiling all met. “Hole's over there. It's about a ten foot drop, puts you right in a corner of the main cavern. If you hug the wall, you can make it around to the back of the place, but that's as far as we've gotten. Did look like there was an entrance or two back there, but we couldn't stick around to find out.”

Lamb nodded, considering the information. “Thanks, we'll take it from here.”

“Good hunting to you.” The guide rose and vanished back into the tunnel.

“Alright boys,” Lamb whispered. “drop your packs and check your weapons. I want essential gear only going in and gods help you if I hear something jingle. Jacky Boy, get a rope down the hole. Jackal, what can you sense?”

My vision went streaky for a moment.

“We remain undetected for now.” Jackal reported, fingertips pressed dramatically to his temples. “The cavern is quite large and full of men, but they are otherwise occupied. Many of them appear to be in pain, perhaps their field hospital is down there. I sense no Talent among them, nor much vigilance at all. They believe themselves safe down here.”

“Let's keep it that way.” Lamb whispered. He slithered over to the edge of the hole while Jacky Boy finished tying off the rope around a nearby knob of rock.

“Set.”

“Go.”

Jacky Boy got a good hold on the rope and slid down out of sight. After a minute the rope went slack, then there were two sharp tugs on it.

“Alright.” Lamb lowered himself down. “One at at time, and move slow.”

The cavern was enormous. The entire Company could have camped inside with room to stretch out. The walls soared up in great arches towards a distant ceiling that not even my augmented vision could see. It was like someone had hollowed out a whole mountain. At the moment, though, I was less concerned with the scenery than with the contents. The cave was packed with Grayborn's men. Torches, braziers, and campfires stretched off into the distance like a carpet of flame. The place stank too. Not the usual dank, moldy cave smell but the overpowering stench of unwashed men, filth, and death. Jackal's guess about the field hospital was right, too. I could see it from where we crouched: rows of cots and tables filled with bandaged, bloody men. Clusters of doctors were working on a steady stream of new arrivals. Our brothers must have begun their attack. Whole companies of the enemy were in motion, streaming off into four large openings wreathed in torches. Also fortunately for us, the noise of their marching echoed and reverberated through the cavern like a constant roll of thunder. I doubted whether anyone could have heard us if we were shouting at the top of our voices. Best not to make the experiment, though.

Egg tapped me on the shoulder. We moved forward in single file, hugging the cavern wall to our left. The nearest enemies were maybe sixty feet away, ragged groups of robed warriors clumped together around their fires. Lucky to be tucked away in the corner, or maybe not trusted enough to be given a spot near an exit. We slid around them, kept going.

After about a hundred yards, the wall started curving more sharply to the right. As far as I could tell, we were nearly opposite the far entrances through which a two-way stream of enemies was still flowing. By now we were inside the enemy camp, although the vast unorganized sprawl hardly seemed worthy of the name. If our camp looked like this, Lamb would have a heart attack on the spot.

We wove our way through the empty camp for another fifty or sixty yards before we encountered our first major setback. Jackal doubled up mid-stride and went down, clutching his head and hissing in pain. Our magically augmented vision winked out, leaving us blinded except for the flickering light of a few nearby braziers. We went to ground, weapons ready, sure we'd just walked into the world's most elaborate ambush.

Lamb rolled the wizard over. “Jackal, what's wrong?”

Jackal coughed and tried to sit up, rubbing at his eyes. “I'm okay.” he managed. “Just...give me a minute here. Wow.” He shook his head like a man who just walked headfirst into a brick wall. “Good news guys, I found the gate. Damn, I think my ears just popped.”

He noticed the fiery semi-darkness that surrounded us. “Oh, right. One moment.” He made a few quick passes with his hands and our vision brightened again.

“So you found the gate?” Lamb prompted him.

“Right over there.” Lamb whispered, getting to his feet. He pointed to a large pillar jutting out of the wall about fifteen yards away. “There's a tunnel right on the other side of that column. The gate's a little way down the tunnel.”

“Right.” Lamb was back in charge of the situation. “Grayborn won't leave the gate unguarded. Flick, Marsuf, you're on point. Egg, Jacky Boy, rearguard. Jackal, cover us and try not to fall on your ass again.”

“I wasn't prepared for it. It will not happen again.” Jackal retorted with wounded pride.

We moved forward. The camp ran right up to the mouth of the tunnel, giving us ample cover from which to survey our goal. The tunnel was wide and low, running straight for about twenty yards before curving left. As far as Jackal could pinpoint it, the gate was just around the bend. Now all we had to do was get there.

The first line of defense was a low barricade just inside the mouth of the tunnel. We waited for Jackal's silencing spells to creep into place before we shot down the guards with a sudden flurry of bolts. Slipping past like shadows, we entered the tunnel itself. My eyes scanned the passage ahead of us as we crept down it. Surely Grayborn would have some last defense guarding his prize artifact. As we edged forward, I spotted some kind of structure just before the bend in the tunnel. It looked like a stone hut or guardhouse for a gate, but there was no gate attached to it. As I strained to make out further details, Jackal tensed up and raised a fist in the air. We halted, fingers on the triggers of our crossbows.

“Enemies?” Lamb whispered.

Jackal seemed confused. “There's...something in the hut. Not human though. I don't know what it is.”

“Shit.” Jacky Boy's whisper was nearly inaudible but heartfelt.

I grasped my crossbow a little tighter. 'Not human' was never a good thing. Ever.

Lamb flashed orders via hand signals. We fanned out and crept closer.

As we neared the structure, I heard something clink and scrape across the stone inside. There were footfalls, heavy but soft, like a giant cat.

We were almost to the hut now. My entire body was tense, straining to catch any movement inside.

Something huge and tawny shot out of the door at us.

Jackal cut loose.

My ears popped as his heaviest silence spell enveloped us.

The big furry whatever-it-was stopped dead in its tracks. Glowing amber threads had sprouted from the floor, wrapping themselves around its feet and legs. They writhed like vines, clambering up its body.

It let loose a deafening roar.

I vaguely realized I was halfway through reloading my crossbow. Most of my mind was off in another place, staring at the creature struggling with Jackal's spell. It looked like someone had crossed a lion with an elephant, then topped the whole thing off with an enormous pair of bat wings and a scorpion tail.

And it was pissed.

This was brought into sharp focus as it let loose with another bellowing roar, straining to break free from Jackal's entanglement. Its open maw was level with my head, and looked big enough to swallow it without chewing.

I emptied my crossbow down its throat.

It yowled and lashed out with its scorpion tail.

I narrowly dodged the barb, but the massive thing still grazed me, knocking me back.

I took the opportunity to drop my bow and draw my sword.

“Go for the damn eyes!” Jackal barked. He was visibly straining to hold the thing back.

We encircled it, hacking away. Marsuf and Lamb came in low from the sides, slashing at the monster's belly. Egg shattered one of its forelegs with a single blow from his club. Priest had his sword buried between the segments of the thing's tail, desperately trying to keep it pinned to the ground.

Even with all eight of us hacking at it, the thing still refused to die. Clawing and straining at the ground, it started to break free of Jackal's tendrils. Bracing itself on its good forepaw, it lunged for the wizard. Jackal was quicker. He dodged out of the way, flinging up a hand as he did so. Like a conjuring trick, an ebony serpent launched itself from his sleeve, burying its fangs in the monster's nose. Even that wasn't enough to stop it. It was only after Jacky Boy slipped in and buried his knives in the thing's throat that it finally died.

We stood around the thing, panting and clutching our weapons as we stared at it. Even in death, the massive beast still twitched and shuddered. Jacky Boy was giggling hysterically as Marsuf and Egg dragged him out from under the corpse.

“Biggest damn thing I ever saw.” Priest was staring at it in awe.

“What the hell is it?” Flick asked.

“It's a manticore.” The words felt unreal as I said them, like I was a spectator watching myself step into a mythical story. “I never thought they were real.”

“Real enough for me.” Marsuf poked at its side.

“Stories have to come from somewhere, hey Marus?” Priest forced a laugh.

My hands were shaking as I wiped off my sword. “Yeah, well from here on the stories can keep their monsters. I'll just take their word on it.”

“Everyone alright?” Lamb demanded. “Egg? Jackal?”

“I am unhurt, sergeant.” Egg said.

“I'm fine.” Jackal hurried past us, vanished into the thing's hut.

I stared after him. “Jackal, what the hell are you doing?”

“I got a trophy!” Jacky Boy announced triumphantly. He held up one of the manticore's massive canines, oblivious to the blood dripping from it.

“I'd leave that alone if I were you.” Priest advised. “Manticore blood could be poisonous for all we know.”

Jackal emerged, looking disappointed. “Only a chain. How prosaic.”

“Jacky Boy, wipe that off.” Lamb ordered. “Jackal, we still silent?”

“As a shadow.”

“Good. Let's get to this damn gate before something else jumps us. Fall in.”

We moved forward, still jumpy from the fight. We paused at the bend while Jackal felt things out. When he was satisfied there were no traps between us and the gate, we rounded the curve and found...nothing. An ordinary tunnel stretched before us.

“Uh, Jackal, the gate?”

“Here it is.” Jackal's voice was almost reverent. He strode forward five or ten paces, then knelt, one hand touching the floor in front of him. “Look, all of you.”

We gathered behind him, staring at the gate.

I have to admit, it wasn't what I was expecting. Just in front of Jackal's fingertips, a perfect groove about an inch deep was cut into the stone. The groove ran all the way around the tunnel and was, as near as I could tell, perfectly straight and exact. It was like a seam joining two pieces of stonework. Running off at right angles to the groove were countless smaller channels that branched and split like tree limbs, getting narrower and shallower as they got farther from the gate until they eventually blended into the surface of the tunnel. These smaller grooves split off from each side of the gate and covered the rock around it, with the exception of a wide path down the middle of the tunnel.

“So, this is it?” Lamb eyed the forest of branching lines that scored the walls and ceiling.

“Unquestionably.” Jackal was running his hands along the groove like he was feeling for something.

“I was expecting something a little flashier.” I said. “Is it on?”

“As far as I can ascertain, there is no on or off.” Jackal replied. “It simply is. Quite amazing.”

“And is knocked you on your ass?”

“When you are expecting a fountain, the pool is an abyss.” Jackal replied with injured pride.

“And if words were gold, beggars would ride.” I retorted. “So how old is this thing anyway?”

“There is no way to know.” Jackal said. “Centuries. Perhaps ages.”

“Wait, so Grayborn didn't put it here?” Priest asked.

Jackal snorted. “If Grayborn could build a thing like this, he could have beaten the Company ten times over. I'd wager we couldn't find a wizard anywhere in the world that could create a thing of beauty like this.”

“Well, I hate to break your heart, but we're here to smash this thing, not play with it.” Lamb said. “So, what do you say, can we stop Grayborn from using it?

Jackal was feeling his way up the wall, following the groove. “I don't know.”

“What do you mean?”

Jackal sighed and turned to face Lamb. “This is like nothing I've ever seen before. If I had a few decades to study it I might, and I stress the might, be able to find a way to render it inoperative. For now, know that I cannot turn it off, and unless I'm wrong, you'll find it quite impervious to physical damage.”

“So we go back and get some engineers.” I said.

“No way we could sneak a company of engineers down here.” Priest objected. “I say we go-”

“Everyone be quiet.” Lamb interrupted. “We've gotten this far, we're not going to fail now. Flick, head back down the tunnel and keep watch. Everyone else, huddle up. Now, what are our options?”

Our options, as it turned out, were few. True to Jackal's prediction, the grooves resisted our efforts to chip or even scratch them. With no way to deactivate it magically or destroy it physically, the best plan of attack seemed to be collapsing the tunnel around it. After a few tests, we determined that the stone walls a few feet away from the grooves could be chipped away with no more than ordinary difficulty. With this established, I suggested we return and report our findings to the Captain. After all, our mission was to scout the gate and determine if it was breakable, and we had done exactly that. Some of the others were starting to get different ideas, though. Priest suggested we sneak back into Grayborn's camp, steal some mining equipment, and collapse the tunnel ourselves. Jackal disagreed, but only because he wanted to lace the area with traps. Jacky Boy and Marsuf, in a temporary fit of solidarity, proposed going through the gate to see what was on the other side.

As fate would have it, none of our plans mattered anyway.

Jackal was winning Lamb over to his 'booby trap, then run' plan when Flick appeared up behind them and tapped Lamb on the shoulder.

“Sir, the relief shift for the tunnel guards arrived a minute ago. I killed most of them before they could raise the alarm, but I think one might have gotten away.”

“That tears it.” Lamb growled. “We're heading back now. No Jackal, you may not have a moment to set a few traps. Now move!”

We reached the bend in the tunnel about the same time as the enemy reinforcements reached the entrance.

“Well shit.” I said, staring at the torch-studded wall of enemies bearing down on us. “Any pithy last words you guys want recorded for the Annals?”

“Retreat!” Lamb bellowed. “Back to the gate!”

“I've heard better!” I shouted at him as we sprinted back towards the gate.

“We're going exploring!” I heard Priest yell from up ahead. “Hey Jacky Boy, five dinar says I'm the first one through the gate!”

“You're on!”

I didn't see who was first through the gate because Flick and I were facing the other way, trying to pick off a few especially fleet-footed enemies closing the gap between us. It's hard to accurately fire a crossbow and run backwards at the same time, but the threat of imminent death is an amazing motivator.

We made it to the gate. I didn't feel anything strange as I crossed the threshold into another world; it might have been just a crack in the stone for all I felt. It had a definite effect on our enemies, though. The front ranks skidded to a stop before the gate like the crack was a gaping chasm. I grinned even as I hauled ass out of there. I could reflect on the irony of Grayborn's paranoia saving our necks later.

We jogged up the tunnel as it twisted and turned, rising towards the surface. It was a long way to go, although I estimated it was only half as far as we had traveled going down. This tunnel was a much more direct route to the surface.

After a long, winding hike upwards, we finally sighted the exit. A pale archway of light beckoned to us from the top of a gentle slope. We approached it warily, although my muscles ached at the thought of another fight. Amazingly, it proved to be unguarded. We emerged into the pale cool light of a waning moon. I looked around. Jackal's seeing spell, augmented by the moonlight, allowed me to see almost as well as in the daylight. And from what I could see, this world was nothing like the place we had come from. Behind us was a low ridge of jagged hills, partially covered in scrubby conifers. The entrance to the tunnel was at the base of one of these hills, neatly hidden in a jumble of boulders. Before us, a dirt track wound down a gentle grassy slope, curving away to the left and disappearing into a thick stand of trees. Farther beyond that, the land sloped away to a great tangled forest. The stars shone overhead like gems set in strange and wonderful constellations. The moon hung low in the sky like a great arc of silver. A cool breeze stirred the air. I felt like an intruder in paradise, standing there in the cool green freshness with the dust and sweat and blood of the night's work upon me. I think the others felt the same way. Jacky Boy and Priest were side by side, identical expressions of awe on their faces. Jackal stared up at the stars, his face slowly turning from horizon to horizon. Egg was on his knees, his hands buried deep in the thick, sweet grass. Gods, I didn't even know grass could smell sweet.

It was a good five minutes before Lamb pulled himself together.

“Alright, enough gawking.” he finally said. “We've got enemies behind us, probably before us, and no idea where in the hells we are.”

Jackal was still entranced by the scenery. “This is incredible.” he murmured.

“Admire the scenery later.” Lamb advised. “Right now we need to find a place to hole up until morning. We'll rest up and get our bearings, then try to find a way back to the Company.”

“I advise we head along this ridge and try to find a safe spot there.” I pointed to our left, down the ridge line.

Lamb nodded, then suddenly chuckled. “Hells, that's as good a suggestion as any. We've got no idea what this place is like. Unless our wizard could-”

“In the morning, perhaps.” Jackal interrupted. “It will take me some time to get the lay of the land. And sleep would be nice.”

“Hear hear!” Priest quietly cheered from the back of the group.

After about half an hour's walk, we stumbled across a small stream flowing out of a narrow canyon in the hills. A minute's hike upstream brought us to a thick grove of evergreens, where we made camp for what was left of the night. Although deprived of our bedrolls, which were safely stowed back in the caves with the rest of our gear, the thick carpet of pine needles felt like a feather bed to our exhausted bodies. The last thing I saw before sleep took me was Jacky Boy shaking a somnolent Priest's shoulder.

“Here.” he said, passing him some coins. “That was worth it.”