Lost Summer

Moonless nights with a stiff breeze were the most natural environment to Diamond Dust. The darkness shrouded her body and the rustling leaves in the wind masked her sound. Tonight’s conditions were mission optimal.

The young Kirin stopped at the treeline of the forest. She crouched behind the bush closest to the castle’s southern rampart. Her black bodysuit covered every bit of her except for one slit for her tail and one for her horn.

Diamond watched a vigilant guard standing atop the parapet in the light of a large flaming brazier. She ducked as a patrol went by slowly on the ground along the castle perimeter, the light of her horn playing over the thick wall of foliage. Once she was out of range, the spy turned her attention back to the posted guard high above. Intel had said that this side was patrols with no sentinels. Whatever the reason, at this moment, that appeared to be inaccurate because this Kirin wasn't moving.

Her eyes scanned back and forth across the parapet looking for an alternative solution to dealing with the guard. This was still the best point of entry for her, she just needed a little distraction.

The helmed stallion turned briefly, not to leave but to move closer to the flickering brazier, seemingly to get warmer from the chill of the gusting wind. Her eyes flicked to the big metal cage and she was struck with inspiration. He was downwind of the flames. The wood inside was charred black and brittle. She didn't need to be up there more than a couple of seconds to get her bearings and move further into the stronghold.

Though it was just barely within her range of sight, she concentrated on one particular piece of emaciated wood at the bottom of the fire and waited for the right time. After a few moments, the guard decided that the fire needed more fuel. He floated a pair of logs into the air and turned toward the brazier.

Seeing her opening, Diamond stirred the dregs with her magic. A burst of sparks spiraled into the guard’s eyes and he recoiled, grunting in pain. Losing concentration he dropped the wood straight on the fire, causing even more sparks to fly into the wind. Diamond seized the moment, teleporting behind him at the far end of the parapet where it joined with a square tower. She quickly looked inward over the courtyard, scanning for another place that was high, dark and unoccupied. Before the guard could even see again, she blinked from the wall to a small, isolated turret where a flagpole towered, flying the Lightning Clan’s crest against the black sky. She peered cautiously out of cover at the complex of buildings that was the keep, deliberating on the best approach and the most likely location of her target.

There was a great covered balcony where one could stand and pontificate to a crowd below. Grandiose with the faint metal glint of two posted sentinels. High security for this hour. That was the princess’ chambers where she was sleeping. Her target would be close by but not within.

Her eyes traced the row of windows which delineated the unseen floor and rooms. The princess' balcony was flanked on both sides by two smaller balconies. One had a single guard posted upon it. The other had none. All at once she knew that the guarded smaller bedroom was her mark. The ungraded balcony would be her point of entry to the keep, if she could pull it off without alerting the guards on the neighboring balcony. Teleporting straight there was risky since the resulting magical flash would light her up right at the focal point of the castle.

Diamond did a quick survey of every guard she could see from her position, taking into account where they were looking at the moment. The upper tier of the keep consisted of two towers coming out of the roof of the lower tier where the bedrooms were. The gap between the towers provided the best cover from most angles and a viable path to her destination.

She licked her lips, unintentionally tasting the cloth of her mask. Then she crouched down, keeping the desired spot in view through the gap of the stone crenel. She aparated to the slanted roof of the keep where she immediately dropped to her barrel and began to slither down the tiles toward the left side. It was precarious and the thought of dislodging a cascade of roof tiles to plummet into the courtyard stayed at the forefront of her mind the whole while but she made it.

Diamond stuck her head down over the edge of the eve to get an upside down glance of the empty balcony. Seeing that the coast was clear, she shimmied over to the corner beam that supported the awning which she laid upon. Silently she spun around and wrapped her hind legs around the wood. Then she slid down and dismounted gracefully onto the floor of the balcony.

That concluded the easy part of the infiltration. She cast a glance at the guards in the neighboring balcony to make sure they were still unaware. Then she tried the right side lever on the double doors but it was stuck fast, locked from the inside. Staying low to the ground, Diamond focused her magic on the lock; it glowed faintly as it grew cold and a sheen of frost began to crystalize. She blasted it continuously for several moments more and then manipulated the lever with her magic. It snapped clean off, brittle from the incredible chill. She pushed her hoof into the remaining part of the lock and felt it crack and crumble away. She carefully cleared the debris from the hole in the door and pulled it open with almost no resistance.

The room on the other side appeared unoccupied just as she had hoped. She crept to the other door with a dimly lit horn. Well, now that she was here, why not just kill the Lightning Clan's princess? She knew why. It was even riskier of a move, it wasn't part of the mission and if she succeeded, her top general would wrest control of the clan and he was even worse than her.

Here was where things might get hairy. She cracked the door and peered out into the hall. Three posted guards, just like outside, two at the middle door and one at the other door at the opposite end. Unfortunately it looked like she'd have to find a way past all three of them.

She could do a takedown of two guards if she had the element of surprise but the inclusion of a third just down the hall made her doubtful about the outcome. She could temporarily occupy them with a soft assault and a dash through the door but then she'd have just seconds to complete her mission before the whole castle crashed down on her. That sounded good but there was always a chance she had the wrong room. Preferably she wanted a distraction without forfeiting stealth and taking an all or nothing gamble on the mission.

Diamond cracked the door a bit wider to help assess the environment. There was a huge floor to ceiling tapestry on the wall opposite the princess' chamber. It was flanked by a pair of iron floor candelabras holding ten candles a piece. They were decidedly at a safe distance from the very flammable tapestry but could be a fire hazard with a little assistance. Now that would make a nice distraction. Above the princess' door she could just barely make out the edge of a coat of arms, a shield and a pair of crossed swords. The perfect redirection. All the pieces fell together in her brain.

With no one looking up, Diamond was not afraid to wrench the shield from the wall with her magic. She let it plummet to the stone floor right on the princess’ threshold. The resounding crash made the guard on either side jump in surprise. The moment they looked away from the wall ahead she pushed both candelabras inward toward the great tapestry. They clanged on the floor, scattering lit candles across the carpet hallway runner and along the edge of the tapestry.

“What the- Did you just-”

“It's catching! Don't just stand there; put it out,” blurted the second guard, hurrying over to the spreading flames. He began trying to stamp out the largest ignition on the artwork with a forehoof. The other guard lurched into action, pouncing upon the little fires around the other candelabra.

Diamond kept her eyes on the third guard who'd become aware of the situation but hadn't moved yet. Beginning to worry, she looked back at the flailing guards under the tapestry. The tapestry… Her eyes shot to the top of the piece where she found that it was mounted by three cords hanging on bolts in the wall. If this didn't work, she was going to have to resort to combat.

She quickly slipped the tapestry off of all three hooks with her magic, making sure it arched over the guards before collapsing on top of them. They shouted in alarm, now trapped under a giant smoking, smoldering rug. If they kept this up the princess was going to pop her head out the door to berate them for the disturbance.

The third guard facehooved at their circus but quickly left his post to go assist them. This was the moment. Diamond teleported from her hiding spot to behind the guard, just in front of the door. She silently tried the latch with her hoof and was inwardly ecstatic as it opened without issue. She slipped inside the dark room and closed the door behind her.

There was the crib she sought, silhouetted in the faint orange glow of distant fires shining through the thin curtains of the balcony doors. The nanny was still asleep in her bed nearby. She was of no consequence.

Diamond strode silently to the edge of the crib. The little one snored soundly within, nestled in a blanket. There she was. The Princess of the Lightning Clan and next to the throne. Completely unaware. Completely defenseless. What a short life to have.

She magically drew a throwing knife from the belt on her foreleg and floated it into the air. Such an easy mark in concept for a Kirin without morals or honor. Honor was a concept stripped from the mind of every good assassin. Such notions were nothing but stumbling blocks. There was simply mission success or mission failure. Success and unquestioning loyalty to the throne was the closest thing that Diamond would feel to fulfillment. She'd spied, stolen, sabotaged, interrogated and even killed a few ‘enemies of the clan’ as they were called but how was this justifiable? Slitting the throat of a sleeping infant was a new low, in theory, if she was keeping track. It was something viewed as universally despicable, as indefensible an act as they came.

Today a foal, tomorrow a tyrant, she told herself. Spilling the blood of this innocent and planting the telltale ashes of fire magic would start a war between the Ice Clan’s two biggest opponents but for what? Her clan would be positioned to rule the debris pile. The same leadership who’d kill a baby to cause undue bloodshed amongst everyone else. Was that better?

The blue glow of the floating knife strobed softly over the pristine, angelic face of the sleeping foal.

Hesitation will get you killed.

Diamond's mind wandered, suddenly sandbagged with indecision over the games of the rich and the insidiousness of the machine they were trapped in. This child would be ruler someday but right now she was a pawn of the powerful just like her. Suddenly, for the first time, she resented being put in such a situation by a leader that didn't think twice about this beyond if it would be personally advantageous. If she followed orders as usual she'd be committing an atrocity to help a monster consolidate power over the Kirin. But it was her monster. If she went rogue and let the child live, they'd be groomed to become that very same monster. She'd be exiled from her home on top of that.

The foal jolted reflexively in her sleep as the nursery door swung open with a crash.

“Intruder,” bellowed a guard in the doorway.

Diamond whirled around and sent the knife flying straight as an arrow. She scored a glancing but deep blow on his neck. The guard cried out and dropped his blade to the rug as blood spurted from the slice just beneath the skirt of his helm.

It was her last moment to make a decision. She looked back into the crib where the princess was beginning to stir, then at the balcony doors. With a blast of magic she threw them open.

“Halt,” shouted the surprised guard on the balcony, brandishing his halberd in the doorway.

Diamond launched a barrage of little smoke bombs. They detonated at the guard's hooves, sending up a billowing cloud of gas that stung his eyes and sent him into a coughing fit. He dropped his weapon with a clang as he staggered out of the miasma. The nanny, now awake and aware, let out a shriek.

The spy floated the stirring foal into the air, tiny blanket and all. She dashed for the hazy balcony with held breath just as the alarm bell began to clang. There arose excited shouting from the courtyard as guards began to mobilize. Lit horns bobbed and traced to light torches and seal the exits.

From the railing Diamond zeroed in on the gatehouse roof at the far opposite end of the castle. She blinked there, leapfrogging the building to beyond the wall and into town. She flashed from roof to roof. Then to the ground where she vanished with her quarry into the forest. - - -

“Well, now what do we do?” she muttered under the foal’s wailing. She fussed on her blanket on the ground. Diamond emptied out her unused glass vial of ash and sulfur, washing it out in the nearby babbling brook.

She'd run as far as she could for as long as she could under cover of darkness and she was exhausted. By this point they must have been miles from anywhere occupied. She only had the vaguest idea where she was from following the stars through the treetops. There were no roads connecting Kirin territory with whatever was beyond it.

“You know, I'm beginning to think this might have been a rash decision. I don't even know what’s out here. If I get you or both of us killed I might seriously regret not just ending you as you slept.”

She corked the vial again and shook it until the powdered extract had dissolved in the water. She cradled the child in her magic and brought the open flask to her mouth. “It's not quite milk but it will at least keep you alive if you drink it.”

It was unclear what the direct result of this transgression would be in the Lightning Clan. Who would they blame for the loss of their princess? It was reasonable to believe it was the work of a highly skilled spy operating on behalf of a foreign adversary. She’d failed to plant the evidence to frame the Fire Clan but also she hadn’t been witnessed using any ice magic during the escape so it was anyone’s guess who she really was. Things might get hot back home but they wouldn’t look for an abducted princess all the way out here, at least not immediately. They'd made a clean escape and she’d put significant distance between them and any pursuers for now.

“I guess I made you my responsibility when I took you. Despite what the Kirin nobles say, you can’t be wishy washy about having a moral compass. If I’m going to grow one, it has to be now, otherwise what was the point?”

Unlike everything else in her life, she hadn't thought about the logistics of what would happen after liberating a child from their tyrannical family. Someone should raise her better than that was the prevailing axiom of the hour. Could that someone be her though? The last time any such idea passed through her brain she was playing pretend with dolls. They couldn’t go back to the Kirin. Could they build a life out here? How? There must be something beyond the wilderness.

Surprisingly the little one greedily drank all there was and appeared satiated. Diamond set her down again and stripped the black camo from her body, making sure to toss all her gear in a pile. She fluffed the short but sweat-dampened mane around her neck and exhaled. It felt great to finally get that off. She'd better save it though. Might need it for diapers. She turned back to the child who wriggled on the ground.

“Not the best idea to leave you looking like that I suppose.” She placed a hoof on the foal’s horn. “Summer Storm,” she uttered.

The foal’s body glowed with her own innate but unrefined magic. Her rounded, curved horn grew straight and pointed. Her coat turned from a pale tan to snow white. Her short but wolly mane turned silken and migrated to the back of her neck.

Diamond cocked her head to the side with intrigue. “Hmm… I'm jealous. Your animus form makes for a better disguise than mine.” She touched her own horn. “Diamond Dust.” She felt the change sweep over her body, her coat pinkening, her mane becoming loose and bouncy. She looked down at the child whose eyes were growing heavy again. “Well? Do I look like I could be your mother?”

Their appearances might have still looked suspicious as most Kirin didn't spend much time as animuses but at least Summer Storm wasn't a dead giveaway straight off of a missing poster.

Diamond sighed. Despite her desire to just collapse here, she knew better; water attracted too many wild animals. She slipped her gear back on, gathered up the child and pushed onward.