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Spear of the Windigos (Daring Do #2)

by BookeCypher

Chapter 8: Chapter 7

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Daring and Zapapple found themselves dragged out of the vault and back into the throne room by the griffons as Ahuizotl admired his new prize. Outside, the wind had kicked up into a shrieking howl, whistling through the empty window frames and kicking up the thin coating of dust that had coated the floor. “So, how do you want them handled sir?”

“Well,” Ahuizotl mused calmly. “No need to get our paws dirty. Commander, where did you leave that map of the auxiliary chambers?” The commander barked something, and a moment later one of the other griffons stepped forward and handed passed up a map. Ahuizotl took it with a small nod and unfurled it. “Lets see...Chamber three-one should do nicely, I think.”

The griffons looked at him in confusion for a moment before something seemed to click and they all started clicking their beaks softly. “Hey, what so-hey!” Daring was cut off as she was once again dragged along. With their route across the deadly floor already worked out, they were back in the main hall in short order before they were dragged down a narrower side hall that Daring hadn't noticed before in the gloom. It's wall were less heavily adorned then the main hall, but still showed an astounding level of craftponyship.

“We haven't had much time to study these murals,” Ahuizotl explained as they walked along, “but I am sure you will have time to give them a look where you're going.” The small group came to a stop outside a small stone door, with naught but an aged wooden lever next to it. Ahuizotl gave the lever a length and the door slip open. “Tie them to the column.”

The griffons moved to comply, dragging Daring and Zapapple inside the chamber. Inside, the room was empty save for a towering stone column that reached from the floor all the way up to the room's apex that was surprisingly high above them. Combined with the narrow size of the room, it made Daring think of what you would get if you managed to invert an obelisk.

Daring struggled valiantly against her captures, but it did her little good. Zapapple had a little more luck, one kick finding its way to a griffons sensitive anatomy. A wing to the back of the head put an end to that though – wings, as feathery as they were, were still astoundingly strong. Anypony but an earth pony would have been out cold. As it was, Zapapple was left reeling long enough for them to finish tying her to the column. “Enjoy your new accommodations, my dears.” Ahuizotl said as he pulled the lever again and the door began to slide shut. “You won't be leaving them any time soon.”

The door shut with a resounding thud, and for a minute all Daring and Zapapple could here was their own breathing. After a time, Zapapple broke the silence. “So, any idea what this room is?”

“Some sort of worship chamber maybe?” Daring suggested as she looked around. “The pole looks sort of like poles some villages used to erect for midsummer celebrations – but those were made of wood...”

“Any reason it's indoors?” Zapapple asked as she struggled against their bonds.

On the other side of the pole, Daring just shrugged. “We fairly far north – maybe its just easier to have it indoors due to the weather?”

“Guess that makes sense.” Zapapple replied before she sighed. “The rope ain't budging.”

“Well, it can't get any worse.” Daring said with a shrug. Zapapple glared at her through the pole, but whatever she was about to say was cut off as a heavy crash echoed somewhere above them. “...What was that?” Daring asked.

Zapapple sighed. “Things getting worse. You really had to say that?”

“I've been tied to a pole in some ancient castle by an honest-to-Celestia villain! I didn't really see how it could get worse!”

“you're still breathing!” Zapapple replied. “It can always get wore.”

Another heavy crash echoed from somewhere above them, and both of them looked up. High above, four new beams of light were casting into the gloom above, lighting up the upper reaches of the chamber. “Huh.” Zapapple said. “Looks like they put windows up there.”

Daring stared up at the new windows as she watched something very very small flutter its way down until after a long while it finally settled onto the tip of her nose. “A snowflake?” Daring said aloud as she stared crosseyed at the flake as it melted.

Her ear twitched as another flake landed on it. And then one on her mane. She glanced back up at the new openings to see a flurry of snow blowing in through them twirling about in the draft before settling toward the ground. And the amount of snow was increasing. “No,” Daring said. “Now it has gotten worse.”

Zapapple glanced up as the snow flurry became a cascade. “Sonofa-why does it even have that?”

“Maybe its just a side effect?” Daring suggested. “They could just be windows and in the intervening centuries the snow piled up to the top of the structure and...”

“Not now, Daring!” Zapapple replied as she redoubled her efforts to escape. “Now try and help me find a way out before we turn into pony-sicles!” The rate of snow pouring in had continued to increase, and was now a constant low rumble in the background.

“We won't actually turn into popsicles.” Daring replied. “You see, snow doesn't-”

“Daring!” Zapapple snapped. “Ropes! Escape! Now!”

“Right! Sorry!” Daring replied quickly as she joined her friend in fighting against the ropes. The snow was soon up to their knees and it was obvious they were making no progress. “Zap, this isn't working! We need something to cut the rope!”

“Well, how are we supposed to do that if we can't move!?” Zapapple replied.

“We can work that out after we get it.” Daring replied as she started to scan the small room. There were a few chains hung between the walls and the pole, their anchors in chamber walls surrounded by a spiderweb of cracks. “There! Water must have seeped in and refroze. But how to get it down...”

“What about your hat?” Zapapple suggested, and Daring glanced up to see the brim of her hat hanging just above her eyes.

“Huh.” She had completely forgotten that she had been wearing it. She had half expected that it had fallen off somewhere between the chase and their capture. “Well, that might work.” Daring gave her head a quick shake, sliding the pith helmet down until she could flip it off her head with a flick and grabbed it with her teeth. She turned to try and pass it off, but found the pole in her way. “Ey cn't giv et too you!” Daring managed around a mouth for a hat brim.

“Then throw it!” Zapapple replied quickly. The snow was starting to climb up past their flanks.

Daring gave her friend one last glance. Their lives were on the line, and who was the one who had to make the throw? The bookworm, not the actual adventurer. If Daring didn't have a hat stuck in her mouth, she would have sighed. They were probably going to die – what did she have to lose?

Daring threw the hat has hard as she could, sending it arcing through the air toward the wall. It twisted in flight, nearly vertical when it careened off the wall and bounced upward before launching upward and ricocheting off the pole and toward the anchor of one of the chains.
The hat crashed into the anchor with a spray of stone chips as the anchor came lose. The pith helmet continued on its new trajectory as the anchor pulled free and swung toward them, sharp chunks of stone cutting through the rope as it collided with the pole. “It worked!” Zapapple exclaimed as the ropes fell from around them. She pulled her self free of the snow before jumping up and snatching the hat out of the air as it circled back around before she set it back onto Daring's head. “Nice throw.”

“Thanks,” Daring managed as Zapapple helped pull her out of the snow that was half way to her forelegs. “Though we're still in here.”

“So how do we escape a locked room filling with snow?” Zapapple asked. As she looked at the snow underhoof.

“Well, if we wait the snow will fill all the way up to the top of the roof.” Daring suggested just as a chunk of snow founds its way straight down her collar.

“Or you could just carry us up,” Zapapple suggested. “since you're, you know, a pegasus.”

“O-One problem,” Daring replied through chattering teeth as she pointed skyward with one wing. “The snow is coming through the windows too fast. It be like trying to swim up a waterfall, only harder.”

“Right...” Zapapple replied as she stared up at the windows. “Well, any chance we won't freeze to death before we get further up?”

“Not really.” Daring replied. “So – new plan?”

“We never had an old plan, Daring.” Zapapple replied.

“The hat thing was a plan!” Daring defended.

“'plan' indicates it was pre-prepared,” Zapapple replied. “That was, at best a ploy.”

“Then we need another ploy.” Daring said as she started toward one of the walls. “Maybe there's a secret door or something...”

“Why would there be a door this far up the walls?” Zapapple asked as she sidestepped as a pile of snow collapsed.

“I don't know!” Daring replied. “It's not like we can just...” Daring's voice trailed off as she stared up at the pole they had been tied to.

Zapapple arched an eyebrow. “Daring?”

Daring pushed her way through the snow to the pole. “I have an idea. How much do you think this pole weighs?”

Zapapple looked up at the pole. It was nearly as thick as a pony, but it was still pretty ridiculously thin for its height. “Quite a bit, why?”

Daring pointed up at the three remaining chains. Zapapple notice for the first time that they seemed to have shifted since their escape. “There's no way this thing could stay upright on its own – not under its own weight. Those chains helped keep it vertical – Like the support lines for an airship mooring. If we take out the chains-”

“The whole column comes down.” Zapapple finished as she rushed over to Daring. “Daring, you're a genius. Gimme your hat.”
“With pleasure.” Daring replied, flipping the hat off her head and handing it to Zapapple.

From outside the chamber, there was a low groan. If there was anything alive in that passage, it would have noticed the wall starting to bow out – a behavior not usually associated with stone block walls.

A split-second later the wall buckled and a wall of white powder rushed around the sheared end of the column that jutted through and down the hall, a tan blob rushing by followed closely by a similar blue one.

As the hall opened onto other chambers, the wall of snow spread out and slowed down. It was still, however, moving at a fair clip when a blue hoof shot out of the torrent of snow, catching on a doorway before hauling its owner out.

Zapapple pulled herself from the snow flow, dragging Daring behind her as they both collapsed onto the stone floor. Zapapple spared enough energy to glance back at through to door in time to see the snow flow beginning to die down before collapsing onto her back. “Well, that sucked.”

“Stop whining,” Daring managed between heavy breathes. “It worked.”

“Shut up.” Zapapple replied, equally winded. “whining proves I'm still alive.”

“This trip is turning into a great way to fix that.” Daring said as she managed to bring a hoof up to dust snow off her hat that had just barely made it back onto her head before their little ride. “I mean thats what, six near death experiences since this morning?”

“I haven't been counting.” Zapapple replied without moving. “One is more then enough for me.”

“So, any idea where we are?” Daring asked as she looked around. The room they were in was dimly lit, but lit none the less. The only source of light seemed to be a narrow window along the top of the back wall that let in just enough light to refract off the crystals embedded in the ceiling.

“Forgot my map,” Zapapple replied sarcastically as she finally turned over and started onto her hooves. “I think I left it somewhere between the creepy ghost camp and the murder attempt.”

Daring ignored her friend's snark and focused on their surroundings. “These walls look like they're engraved.”

“Well, that makes no sense.” Zapapple replied and moved closer to the wall Daring was looking at. “This room is too far from the main chambers. Most civilizations from around this period would only decorate walls in a chamber like this-”

“If its a tomb, yes.” Daring finished for her. “But if it was a tomb, this is the sort of room where they'd keep the deceased's possessions. Since we aren't tripping over urns...”

“You think its something else.” Zapapple concluded as her friend studied the wall. “So, any guesses?”

“I think,” Daring replied with a frown, “I think it's a journal.”

Zapapple blinked. “A what now?”

“A journal.” Daring repeated. “I think somepony wrote some sort of record on the walls.” Daring ran a hoof over the worn engravings. “They wanted ponies to remember this.”

“And what is this, exactly?” Zapapple asked.

“You know the stories about the three tribes?” Daring asked her. “Before they migrated to Equestria?”

Zapapple nodded. “Yeah – big blizzard that froze everything. Why?”

“This seems like some sort of, I dunno,” Daring explained, “an account of a pony who had lived through that.”

“Daring, that was centuries ago.” Zapapple replied. “That would make this place one of the – if not the – oldest settlement in modern Equestria.”

“I know, its insane.” Daring replied. “But I'm just telling you what I'm reading. And what I'm reading is about some poor pony trying to prevent his family from freezing to death.”

“How can you even read any of that?” Zapapple asked as she squinted at the stone in the half-dark gloom. “I can barely see, let alone translate something.”

Daring shrugged. “Perk of being a pegasus. There are some old engravings here, but also a lot of pictorials.”

“Fully illustrated, huh?” Zapapple said with a small smirk. “Guess he wanted to make sure language wasn't a barrier.”

“Surprisingly far-sighted of him.” Daring quipped as she kept scanning the wall. “It looks like his village got subsumed by the blizzard, but they kept trying to live their any way.” Daring walked along the wall as she read the ancient narrative. “Other ponies kept leaving, but he stuck around with his family.”

“Well, that's bonkers.” Zapapple said as she watched her friend. “Any reason why?”

“Let's see...” Daring followed the wall, but a fr0wn steadily grew as she circled the room. “hrm...its not in here. The rest of it is just a history of his village.”

“Well, that's annoying.” Zapapple muttered. “I hate it when a book jumps between narratives like that.”

“Then lets go find where it picks back up.” Daring replied as she started toward the door, climbing her way up the bank of snow that had settled there. “Besides, I don't want to be around if the Ahuizotl thing comes looking around to make sure we're dead.”

“I figured you would have read enough books to know this, Daring.” Zapapple replied as she followed after her. “The bad guys never go looking for the body.”

The pair worked their way through the snow-logged hall, stopping now and then to examine the other chambers that they passed. Some of them seemed to be short chronicles of the maker's village. Others seemed to be records of older stories – memories of better times. None of them seemed to be what they were looking for though. “So, are we looking for more clues or are we trying to get out of here?” Zapapple asked after they stopped to check a seventh chamber.

“A bit of both.” Daring replied as she walked out of the chamber. It had been different from the other ones, and that had gotten her hopes up. In turned out to be nothing but genealogies. “No reason we can't take our time getting out.”

“Keep saying stuff like that and you're going to jinx us again.” Zapapple warned. “Besides, I don't know about you but I'm hungry and I haven't seen so much as moss in this place.” Zapapple sighed. “There were some really good looking wildflowers back near our camp too...”

“Please don't talk about food right now...” Daring whined. “I've been running on nothing but adrenaline for the last few hours and I'm trying to keep that crash at bay as long as I can.”

“Well, it's gonna hit sooner or later.” Zapapple replied as she started down the hall again. “So might as well spend the meantime looking for something to snack on.”

Daring followed after Zapapple as she tried to ignore the growling in her stomach that was deciding to make itself known. The hallway ended a short distance later, and the scene they found left them stunned.

It must have been a hot spring, Daring thought. That was the only way to explain the lush spread of vegetation that filled the wide chamber before her. It was as if somebody had built an amphitheater and then filled it with plants. Vines, flowers and small tree's spilled town the stepped ledges, filling the entire space with aromas that were leaving Daring's mouth watering. And after so long in the cold dry mountain air, the warm mugginess of the chamber was like a slap to the face. “This seems to good to be true...” Daring muttered.

“What did I tell you about jinxing things?” Zapapple murmured back as she stepped into the chamber. Along the edge of the roof above, a series of massive skylights let light pour into the room. “Just enjoy it and have a bite to eat.” She didn't wait for Daring to reply before she trotted down the steps and toward what looked like a massive krinkleberry bush.

Daring followed after her, albeit much more slowly, as she stared around the chamber. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting to find up here, but a little slice of the tropics wasn't it. Somewhere in the background he could hear the gentle babble of water, which gave credence to her 'hot spring' theory.

She continued down the steps, past where Zapapple had busied herself stripping the bush of its edible fruit, stopping as she came to the edge of a pool that was where the stage would have been in a normal theater. “This is amazing.”

“I know,” Zapapple said as she wiped her mouth with the back of one hoof while she made her way over to Daring. “You think a theater got overgrown or something?” She nodded back toward the steps they had come down as she asked.

Daring shook her head. “No – this is deliberate. Some of these plants are from hundreds of miles away – and none of them are native to this biome. Somepony planted all of these here on purpose.”

“Can't say that I blame them,” Zapapple said with a shrug. “Given the usual weather outside and how gloomy the rest of this place has been.”
“But that's what doesn't make sense.” Daring replied. “Some of this place seems like a temple – the expected some form of traffic. Other parts are more like a tomb and are built to last even if they were forgotten. But this...” Daring gestured to the foliage around them. “This is the sort of thing you'd expect in a palace or something – some sort of residence. Not a crypt.”

“So what are you getting at?” Zapapple asked.

“I'm not getting at anything!” Daring replied. “This place makes zero sense. It's as if-” Daring cut herself off as her ear's swiveled around. “Did you hear that?”

Zapapple perked her ears, straining to hear what her pegasus friend was speaking of. “It sounds like...whistling?”

“Or howling.” As Daring replied, a cold breeze curled through the chamber, all the more noticeable when contrasted to the muggy heat of the garden. Back up the steps, something that looks like mist or maybe fog was curling around the plants nearest to the outer wall.
Daring found herself squinting as she tried to make out what was going on, only for her eyes to shoot open wide when she finally did.
Where ever the mist touched, frost coated almost instantly. Plants froze solid in the blink of an eye as the fog enveloped them. “What the-”

“Stop staring at it and run!” Zapapple gave Daring's tail a yank as she got the pegasus to start running away from the freezing fog. With the pool in front of them and the mist behind them, they were forced sideways. The creeping coating of ice made its way down the steps, seemingly making a beeline toward them. The pool froze over in an instant, freezing mid-slosh before spilling over the edge as it chased after them.

“How is it doing that!?” Daring asked as they darted toward the only door in sight. Behind them, the cold snap was chasing behind them as it continued to consume the garden. Great blooming flowers, once such vivid shades of color, withered as they froze before shattering under the force of the wind that was steadily building in the tight space. Whatever force drove the ice seemed to sense that its prey was about to escape as the encroaching cold seemed to redouble its speed with a shriek of wind.

Its efforts would end in vain as Daring and Zapapple all but dived through the waiting door before Zapapple kicked it shut. The door kicked under her hooves, and Daring quickly moved to help her brace it. For a minute it was like a cyclone was attacking the other side. Soon though, the attack died down before finally coming to stop. The two mares collapsed to the floor, now out of apparent danger, as Zapapple turned to Daring. “So, any idea what that was?”

“Not a clue.” Daring replied. “But I don't think we should hang around to see if it can figure out how to open a door.”

“Right.” Zapapple said with a nod. They made it half a step from the door before Zapapple glanced back and, after a moment of consideration, gave a decorative column next to the door a swift kick at the base. It promptly collapsed into a pile blocking the door. “There, that should by us some time.”

They grinned at each other for a moment before Daring noticed a thin coating of frost spreading across the door, emanating from to door handle. “My not us much as we thought.” Daring said as she back-stepped slowly.

“Right.” Zapapple replied as she matched her friend. “I think we should be somewhere else.” The two continued to back up slowly as they watched the door slowly become encased in ice before they both turned and bolted down the hall.

The two only let up their pace when they found themselves in a familiar looking set of tunnels. “Hey, Daring,” Zapapple said as she looked around. “Is it just me or does this look like where we started?”

“You mean where we were tied up?” Daring asked.

“No!” Zapapple replied. “I mean when we first got to this moon-cursed place. I think we might be near that front hall again.” She made her way forward and sure enough they found themselves back where they started, not ten paces from where they had first woken up. The entrance at the far end was blocked, a pair of heavy wooden doors closed over the large archway. “Well, looks like we aren't getting out that way, are we Daring.” She turned to her friend, but Zapapple found her across the hall staring at the wall. “Daring?”

“Zap, come check this out.” Daring gestured for her friend to come closer. “I think I found something.”

Zapapple trotted over to her friend and took a look at the wall she seemed so interested in. “Looks like more of those engravings you found down in those chambers.”

“But these one's are different.” Daring replied as she ran a hoof over the worn etchings. “If I'm reading these right, then I know why this place is so strange.”

“Care to enlighten us?” Zapapple asked.

“This place,” Daring gestured at their surroundings. “Was all built by one pony. He was a craftspony – a skilled one. But with the blizzard it was all he could do to keep feeding his family. One day, after everpony else in the village had been gone, he wandered out into the middle of the storm. He pleaded with the storm, he offered it anything – in exchange for a way to save his family. The storm responded by presenting him with a spear imbued with power over the storm. He used the spear to ward his family's farm, to keep the storm at bay. For a while, they were safe.”

“I'm sensing a 'but' here, Daring.” Zapapple said.

“But,” Daring continued. “Other ponies took notice of the little patch of green in the sea of white. They came and tried to take his farm. He used the spear to fight them off. But more kept coming and the fighting grew worse and worse. The fighting destroyed his crops and destroyed his house. When the fighting finally claimed his family, he just...gave up. He tossed the spear back into the storm and went back to the ruins of his life. But the spear was waiting for him. He tossed it away again, but it kept returning. He pleaded with the storm, asking what it wanted to take back the spear. They said they wanted a home. So he built them a palace. A grand castle to live in. But he knew that they would just give the spear to somepony else. So he tricked them – he locked the spear away and made sure that nopony would ever be able to get to it again. Then he just walked into the blizzard and...vanished.”

“Just like that?” Zapapple asked.

“Well, that's what I'm guessing.” Daring replied as she gestured to part of the wall. “This is all written from his perspective. This part here – 'the beasts of wind believe themselves so much more then us, but I have fooled them. They will lay beneath this castle for all days, their spear unable to ever tempt another. Now I can finally be with my family.' Then it just...ends.”

“Do you think he's the one that wrote in the journal?” Zapapple asked.

Daring shook her head. “this is older than the journal, let alone the writing. What I think is that somepony else managed to stumble across this during the migration to Equestria, And realized just how dangerous this was. I think he wrote in the journal because that was what was on hoof – maybe he planned on writing it into something else, maybe it was supposed to be a message to somepony in particular. Whatever it was, I think he realized it was better off locked away – and that was how it ended up in the old library.”

“But why would the windigos give a weapon to a pony?” Zapapple asked as she studied the engravings.

“They feed on unrest,” Daring gestured at the wall again. “And creating a patch of green in that horrible blizard created plenty of it. It cost dozens – maybe hundred's of ponies – their lives. Most ponies would have broken under that.”

“Or would have kept fighting.” Zapapple suggested. “No matter what was letting them do it, most ponies aren't too keen on just rolling over and dying.”

“He managed to figure out a way to make sure they couldn't ensnare another pony again.” Daring said. “If he hadn't...then that spear might have doomed Equestria.”

“And now that Ahuizotl guy has it.” Zapapple pointed out. “That can't end well.”

Daring nodded. “We need to get it back.”

“We?” Zapapple echoed. “There is no we in this, Daring. The only thing we need to do is get off this stupid mountain and call in the cavalry.
You're clever, but you can't make up everything as you go.”

Daring shrugged. “It's worked so far.”

“And what happens when it doesn't?” Zapapple replied as she laid a hoof on her friend's shoulder. “We didn't come up here to save the world.

We came here looking for your dad. Now, I haven't had much of a chance to poke around much but I'm pretty sure that whatever you're looking for ain't up here. So lets get out of here and leave this to ponies who know what they're doing.”

Daring looked at her friend for a moment before nodding with a sigh. “You're...you're right. Guess I just got excited.”

“More like you started remembering your dad's stories,” Zapapple replied as she gave Daring's hat a little flick. “I swear, I dress you the part an you suddenly think you're some sort of adventurer.”

“I thought that was going to be your thing?” Daring replied with a grin as she hopped back a step and started down the hall. “Come on – I think I saw a window over this way. I can fly us out.”

The two trotted down the hall until they reached one of the tall windows they had seen when they first past through. The scene though was very, very different.

Snow was piling into the hall, the weight of it occasionally triggering the pitfall traps laid out across the hall. Outside, the wind howled as a blizzard roared, turning the view into nearly solid white. “What in the world...?” Zapapple asked as she stared at the sight.

“Oh sweet Celestia,” Daring said as she realized what was going on. “we released the Windigos.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 8 Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 46 Minutes
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