Chapter 8: My Liege

Artemis played some music off Aroma pipbuck while Lady dabbed a cloth on her cuts.

"Ow fu.. fuggles." Artemis almost cursed but saw the foals sitting in the cart and decided to control herself.

"Sorry Ms. Arrow." Lady said getting another cloth.

"It's okay, and please call me Artemis." She smiled. Lady nodded and the pink mare dabbed the cloth on her face again.

"It's okay Artemis, you can call me Lady Luck. I just usually use Lady though." She returned the smile. "Kids, close your ears please." She asked her two foals. They put their hooves to their ears. Lady sat up by her.

"Hey I know what happened couldn't have been easy. I just want to tell you, if you need a woman to talk to I'm here." She said gently. Artemis searched for the meaning of this conversation. Then her eyes widened.

"Oh no no no no no. I wasn't raped, I got into a fight Lady." Artemis blushed intensely. Lady only nodded not believing her entirely.

"Hey Artemis what is this?" Aroma asked from outside the wagon. Lady finished bandaging her and let her go. Artemis flew outside and up to Aroma who had been walking this entire time. She pointed to a poster of a pink mare with stripes of gray in her mane staring at you. "Pinkie Pie is watching you forever!." It said.

"You don't....know who Pinkie Pie is...was?" Artemis asked. It was odd a Stable pony didn't who Pinkie Pie was. "Didn't you learn about her in school?"

Aroma shook her head. "We weren't taught that much, Stable GoE-EoHS only taught basics then after that they taught you about your role in the Stable."

Artemis would make a note to ask her about her Stable life later tonight.

"Well Pinkie Pie was the head of the Ministry of Morale. Basically they were a massive spy ring that kept eyes on the home front made sure to watch for traitors, saboteurs and anti-war ponies."

"Anti-war ponies? Why did they not want those, wouldn't have been better if the war was ended peacefully?" Aroma asked quizzically.

Artemis brushed her feathers. "Well yeah but, the spoils of war were their fuels as well." Aroma raised an eyebrow, she didn't understand her wording. Artemis rolled her eyes cooly.

"They fought over resources to keep going and the resources they won were used to fight for the other resources. A resource war................."

"You just fucked my mind Artemis, you said resource like four times." Aroma laughed. It was odd hearing her curse like that.

"Aroma, what was Stable GoE-EoHS like?" Artemis asked landing and starting to walk. Aroma lowered her head a little and sighed sadly.

"Lonely, nopony liked me. When my name was chosen in the lottery I knew I would be elected to leave the Stable.

"What is this lottery you keep mentioning?" Artemis asked, expressing her sympathy.

"It's a super computer that every twenty-five years spits out a pony's name and three other names to hunt me. They'll try to kill me and if they bring my head back to Stable GoE-EoHS they get let back inside....so they'll do anything to kill me." Aroma explained. Artemis was assaulted by images of these hunters laying her head on their leader's desk.

"Do you know any of the hunters?" Artemis asked.

Aroma thought about it. "No, not really. Once a name is picked the computer picks three names of people away from my work wing and sleeping quarters. The hunters are trained in assassination and survival and I was handed the clothes on my back and sent out." She said with a tinge of irritation.

"Hmm that's strange. Most Stable's I hear about are already opened or hell bent on staying closed. What does GoE-EoHS stand for anyway?" Artemis asked.

"I don't think anyone knows anymore. Not even the Overmare. But about the door yeah, my Stable's pretty liberal with opening the doors. I always knew the outside wasn't a poisoned oblivion and.....ugh...Artemis can we not talk about home for a while. It makes me homesick." Aroma lowered her head her gait slowed from her melancholy.

Artemis nodded to her. "Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring up.." Aroma smiled sheepishly, Aroma got the message though.

The caravan traveled onward for about ten minutes in total silence. The mark of Cesare' a small flag, flew from the top of the wagon. Deterring any raiders who weren't just full-on batshit crazy. Even with the mark Artemis still couldn't help but feel she was being followed. She kept her famas ready to draw.

"So uh, since you ask me a lot about my home can I ask you about yours?" Aroma asked shyly.

"Hmm, yeah, sure. It's only fair ask away." She agreed. Aroma began to articulate her question.

"So, where did you grow up?" She asked.

"I hatched in Gryphondale but my father wanted a son and threatened to throw me off Citadel Spire. My mother smuggled me out of there in the drainage ducts. I spent my next few years as a child soldier in a small time merc band that was slowly losing to the Legion. There I learned to shoot, clean and maintain firearms. Around my thirteenth birthday the Legion finally stormed our camp and kill the lot of us and took many prisoner, those who wouldn't join the Legion or work as a slave were crucified." Artemis felt strange by how calloused she sounded.

"How did you survive that?" Aroma asked amazed.

I....I hid. I hid while my band was slaughtered." Artemis said dourly. "And once it was over, I left. To begin again y'know." Artemis added.

"I traveled the coast barely surviving. There were times I was sure I wouldn't wake up, hunger, dehydration, and all around exhaustion almost took me. I met Hans about three years later after I walked the wasteland."

"Who's Hans?"

"Hans was my first real friend. We met when this Dash addict tried to rob me. Good time good times." Artemis concluded. She decided not to detail Hans to much because they would be meeting soon anyway.

"Wow Artemis, that's....incredible. You've survived so much and didn't die." Artemis blushed and pushed her feathers back.

"Well, it's not that big, you survived a .308 to the gut." Artemis countered.

"Only because of you." Aroma countered again and halted Artemis's humbleness.

~Later that night~

Artemis had just finished reliving herself and walked away from a small rock inlet where she did her business. The camp was above her. She had flown do here to have some peace and quiet. She casually fluttered her wings and flew to the camp site.

"Hey everyone what's going on. I am ready to chow down." Artemis said excitedly. Everyone was stone faced even Aroma.

"What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the fear among her caravaners. Then a voice rumbled from behind her.

"Artemis Arrow...." She turned and saw...no it couldn't be.

"You.." She muttered.

From the shadows walked Preensdale his centurion. This couldn't be, Artemis strangled him! How could he have survived!

"You will find I am difficult to kill. If you were smart you would have disemboweled me with my sword." He unsheathed his sword and Artemis grabbed her famas.

"Well. It looks like we're gonna duke it out here, just you and me." Artemis said this time not masking her strength. Preensdale raised an eyebrow.

"But no. You bested me, Legion law makes you my superior, my compatriot." He said flipping his sword and handing it to Artemis by the hilt.

"I feel nothing for the Legion you don't have to do this." Artemis said, still not taking the sword.

"If so then I was bested by a profligate woman, death would be a release from the shame if that were the case." He said holding the hilt.

Artemis didn't trust him. Not by a longshot, he probably had soldiers in the hills watching them. If that were the case then everyone here was already dead. Artemis reached and took the sword. "Rise." She said dubbing the sword over his wings half tempted to slice his head off. He rose.

"You are my superior now. If you stay strong and maintain your dominance I will not challenge or question you. But if I suspect you are weakening or becoming soft I will challenge you for control of your group." He stated. He handed Artemis the sheath to the sword.

"Very well, centurion Preensdale." Artemis said, shouldering his sword.

"Call me Verity." He said in his dark voice.

"Very well, Verity." Artemis said.

The caravaners fell into a uneasy sleep. Hayseed and his family slept somewhat better not suspecting what Artemis imagined. Artemis warned Aroma to watch them in case Verity tried something. Aroma slept in the wagon to watch over the foals. Artemis "slept" in her small tent. she almost wanted Verity in there with her. Not that she wanted him in bed with her but so that she could keep an eye on him. Watch him like a hawk or a griffon whatever worked. But she half slept half watched Verity in a sleeping bag. If there were legionnaires in the hills then they were already dead. But they would strike at dawn. The fight of their lives...was in six hours. Next Chapter: Chapter 9 - At Dawn Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 39 Minutes