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Freeport Venture: City of Giants

by Ponibius

Chapter 13: Chapter 12

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Puzzle Piece

This one was growing to hate the jungle. No, that was probably understating it; this one already hated the jungle, it’s just that the reasons for hating it were growing. While the thick vegetation was still extremely difficult to move through, the local bugs continued doing their best to eat us alive, and the need to avoid several carnivorous thunder lizards, we were still moving faster now that it was just this one and the Alya-mare. This one might have been able to move faster still if it had been able to fly freely, but that would have meant abandoning the Alya-mare. That would have left this one alone and vulnerable, especially when the Alya-mare was more familiar with the jungle. She had found the animal trail we were now following and knew what could be eaten in the jungle along with how to get water. This one knew a few survival techniques, but she was on an entire other level.

That much became obvious as this one tripped over yet another branch hidden in the undergrowth while the Alya-mare deftly glided through it. She smiled back at this one, and this one could well imagine her mirth. “You have to move with the terrain, not hammer through it.”

“So I gathered,” this one said as it nearly tripped again. “I'm not used to moving through this much underbrush. The Freeport islands’ undergrowth can get bad in some places, but nothing on this scale. It helps that you’re rarely more than a couple days from some sort of civilization, unlike here.” In fact, this one was starting to long for its home, even if it was pretty sure by this point it would never be able to go back. But this one had made its decisions, and needed to concentrate on the present in any event.

“It's not that hard,” the Alya-mare said. “Just watch what I do.” She proceeded to show this one how she did so by example. This one picked up on the technique pretty quickly, in no small part due to its changeling nature. If there was one thing we were good at, it was copying others.

“So where did you learn how to do this?” this one asked. “Did you grow up in the jungle, or did you receive training?”

“Training, specifically from the consortium I’m working for. Training was part of the deal for me coming out all this way to collect their seeds. No sense in sending me to the jungle if I didn’t stand a chance of coming back.” The Alya-mare grinned as she watched this one follow her. “You're a fast learner. Faster than I was learning this.”

This one smiled back. “I like to think I'm quick on the uptake. You could say it’s one of my talents.”

The Alya-mare took a swig of her canteen. “No offense, but you’re not much of a jungle guy are you? Makes me wonder what you’re doing out here in a place this far removed from your comfort zone.”

“The giant equine-eating bugs, diseases, and Thunder Lizards do make the place less appealing than it might be,” this one conceded with a shrug. “It was part of the contract I made with Ephemera. I figured it would be a simple enough job, I’d get a big payoff, and then find work someplace else once I was done. Granted, I didn't expect it to get nearly this bad. I never had the impression Ephemera was the best employer, but she had coin to spare.”

“Yeah.” The Alya-mare wrinkled her nose. “Should've vetted her before you signed up.”

I sighed and nodded. “That much is true.” But then, that was no small part of why this one was in this mess to start with. This one really needed to learn and be much more careful who it worked for in the future. At this rate, this one’s employers were going to get it killed in some messy and spectacular fashion.

“Well, you're in it now,” she pointed out. “So what's the plan?”

“For right now, get back to port and then hopefully get a ship to Zebrica. From there I should be able find other work.” And hopefully stay one step ahead of my pursuers.

The Alya-mare frowned. “I’d like to point out that I haven’t gathered all the seeds I came for. We need to go further inland for them, but since we’ve already come so far already...”

This one shook its head. “As I’ve already said, that’s liable to just get us killed. And we can’t get a payday if we’re dead.”

“Yeah, but crossing the consortium that hired me isn't exactly great for my prospects either,” the Alya-mare pointed out. “They put a lot of money into getting me here and they expect results for their investment.”

This one wondered just how nasty this consortium might be. Regardless, this one felt its chances lay in getting out of the jungle. It could deal with the results after it was out of immediate constant mortal peril, and for that this one needed to convince the Alya-mare to come with it. “You have a point, but your prospects will be even worse if we’re killed by the Dromaed for crossing their lands.”

The Alya-mare grimaced. “So we're in a ton of trouble either way.”

“So we are.” This one shot her a confident grin. “Unless we seek alternatives.”

Her eyebrow raised. “What sort of alternative?”

“With your talents it wouldn’t be too hard to start a new career,” this one pointed out as it ducked under a branch. “We could work together and find new employers. There’s always more work out there to be found, and if we can find enough money to pay off your consortium we can make sure there aren’t any hard feelings about not completely succeeding in your mission.”

The Alya-mare frowned as she thought the proposal over. “Maybe, but I’m not particularly eager to work with someone like Ephemera again.”

This one shook its hoof. “We can find people to work for other than Ephemera. The world is a big sea, and with a little bit of breathing room we can be more selective about who we work with.”

This one’s travel companion let out a long sigh. “Alright, so what's the game plan?”

This one smiled, for it looked like this one had convinced her to go along. “As I said, get back to port and take a ship to anywhere that isn't here. From there, we look for work to make some more coin.”

“Okay. So how do we get there?”

This one looked about the jungle and the trees that towered over us, unusually quiet for once. “Walking, unfortunately.”

“Right...” The Alya-mare pulled out a compass to check it. “I’d feel better about that if we didn’t have so far to go.”

“One step at a time,” this one advised. “We’ll make it work if we can just make it back to civilization, and I'll be happy to put this jungle behind us.”

“Yeah, same here.” The Alya-mare continued leading the way as this one followed in her hoofsteps. “I just wanna be sure we make it out of here in one piece.”

“I’ll do my best,” this one assured her. “I’m not about to let myself die in this accursed jungle if I can at all help it.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her face. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask about something that happened earlier.”

This one instinctively became suspicious. “What about?”

When the Alya-mare spoke it was with a cautious tone. “When we were in the water you ... transformed.”

This one smiled and used a ready-made lie. “Ah, that. I have a magical item that let me transform into something a little better at swimming. It’s part of why I felt confident jumping into the river to start with. When you live on an island nation it often pays to have a means to get back to shore in the event something happens to your ship.”

This one had considered telling the Alya-mare the truth, but it didn’t seem like a good time. Not when this one needed to have her trust. Suddenly revealing this one was a love-sucking bug was a good way to snap those already taut strands of trust. At the very least she would look at this one with more suspicion, no doubt worrying if this one was just keeping her around as emergency rations, and that type of distrust could get us both killed during a time like this. No, if this one was going to tell her it needed to be under much calmer circumstances, when we could part amicably if she found this one’s true nature not to her liking. True, keeping secrets had its own risks, but keeping secrets was something this one was good at.

“Okay then.” The Alya-mare shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I was just wondering. It came as a surprise earlier, is all.”

This one patted her back. “It’s quite alright. Let’s just concentrate on—” This one stopped as it felt the ground tremble slightly. “Do you know if this jungle is prone to earthquakes?”

“Not that I've heard, though the continent's not all that well mapped.” She shrugged. “In truth, not much is known about the interior of the jungle beyond some generalities, and even then some of what we know is wrong or contradictory.”

Before this one could inquire further something burst out of the underbrush, and a bipedal thunder lizard a little larger than a pony ran full-tilt towards us. This one flapped its wings and darted to the side as the thunder lizard shot past it. This one pivoted to face the thunder lizard, expecting it to continue its attack, but it barreled on through the jungle as though this one hadn’t even been there. It wasn’t the only one; the rumble under this one’s hooves grew enough to shake the earth as dozens of thunder lizards and other animals of all types and sizes ran past us, none paying us the least mind. It would have been amazing sight if not for the implications.

“That’s extremely foreboding,” this one called out over cries of the thunder lizards and the rumble of their footsteps.

The Alya-mare nodded as her head snapped back and forth between thunder lizards passing on both sides. “If the locals are running, maybe we should be too.”

“I always was inclined to abandon ship alongside the rats.” This one waved for us to go, and we started running.

It wasn’t long before this one got the sense of something very big behind us before a loud growl rolled up from behind. This one glanced over its shoulder and immediately didn’t like what it saw: a tyrant lizard. Standing as tall as a building, it moved on three-toed legs and possessed a pair of almost comically small arms. Its long body swept down to its long tail.

It was the head with its large jaw full of far too many long, sharp teeth that concerned this one the most.


Kukri squealed and jumped up and down. “You actually got to see a tyrant lizard?! This one’s so jealous!”

Puzzle snorted. “You wouldn’t be so jealous if you had been there in person. This one was terrified. It doesn’t like to see anything that big and carnivorous running up behind it.”

“You do seem to have all the luck,” Daring teased as she fished through the cooler for a beer. “Though a lot of it seems self-inflicted. Just saying, if you hadn’t teamed up with Ephemera you probably wouldn’t have gotten into this situation.”

I narrowed my eyes as I studied Puzzle. “Not your best move. Admittedly, I wouldn’t have expected you to work with someone like her.”

Puzzle shrugged. “It wasn’t the best time of this one’s life. But anyways...”


“This just keeps getting better and better!” This one picked up speed and ran as fast as it could.

The Alya-mare must have seen it too, because she broke into a full gallop. “Must go faster! Must! Go! Faster!”

But even running at our fastest wasn’t enough as the tyrant lizard closed in. It caught up with one of the smaller animals and almost effortlessly snatched it up. With a violent shake of its head it broke the prey’s neck and threw it back between its jaws, all while barely missing a step.

The Alya-mare glanced back. “Does he look like he wants to eat us?”

“It looks like he's just going for targets of opportunity,” this one guessed.

“So ... hide until he moves on?” she asked through labored breath.

“Sounds good!” This one spotted some advantageous ground, and when we got past a tree with some thick underbrush it grabbed the Alya-mare and dragged us into cover. We hit the dirt and crawled under the brush.

The tyrant lizard’s feet boomed as it ran past us, much to this one’s relief. For a moment this one thought the hunter was going to keep right on running after the rest of its prey, but then it caught up with a four-legged beast. Its jaws snapped out and caught the animal by the neck, and the two of them slid along as the tyrant lizard dug in its heels to drag its prey down to the ground. There was a crash as the thunder lizard landed far too close to us, and the tyrant lizard wrenched its head to break its prey’s neck. The tyrant lizard was still too close for this one’s comfort, and it didn’t look like it was going anywhere fast as it ripped into its meal. It hadn’t noticed us yet, but this one wasn’t keen on waiting around until it did.

This one grimaced as it thought of how to get us out of this predicament. “I don't suppose you have a potion to help us out here?” this one asked as quietly as it could.

The Alya-mare frowned as her hoof went to her bags. “I could try invisibility, but that thing could probably still hunt us by sound and scent.”

As if to prove her point, the tyrant lizard briefly raised its head to sniff at the air before returning to its kill.

“Isn't that a comforting thought?” This one let out a sigh as it moved through a list of increasingly desperate plans. Staying still wasn’t much of an option if it could smell us, and this one wasn’t willing to risk that it would be too full to want to come after us once it was done with its latest victim. That meant we had to get away, one way or another. “Maybe we should try to slowly sneak away. It might be too busy with its meal to notice us, and might not even bother as long as it’s still eating.”

She nodded. “Sounds good to me. Better than waiting here, at least.”

The two of us slowly stood and started moving away, being careful not to disrupt the vegetation too much as we progressed. As the tyrant lizard continued its meal, all we needed to do was break line of sight with the monster and then get some distance between us. Everything was working out just fine until there was a loud crack that echoed through the jungle far more than it should have, and then a thunder lizard jolted past us. The tyrant lizard’s head snapped in our direction, gore dripping from its jaws, its eyes focusing on us as a low growl reverberated from it. The way it turned its immense frame our way suggested it hadn’t been completely satisfied with its latest meal and wanted a second helping.

“Damn.” The Alya-mare sufficely described the situation.

“Run!” The two of us bolted, not that it did us much good. The tyrant lizard’s predatory instincts had been triggered by our flight, and it was after us.

The Alya-mare glanced behind her shoulder and then pushed her legs to run faster. “It’s faster than us!”

“I noticed!” This one felt each of the tyrant lizard’s steps grow stronger as it caught up with us. Considering our rapidly depleting options, this one decided it might be best for us to split up. At least one of us might get away, and if the tyrant lizard followed this one it might be able to fly up and out of the monster’s reach. The Alya-mare in turn might be able to use one of her potions to get away as well. It wasn’t a perfect solution, and it might result in us getting permanently separated, but some chance of survival was better than none.

This one opened its mouth to make the suggestion when we broke out into a clearing in the forest. The river cut through the route ahead of us, but something more curious caught this one’s attention: walking along the riverbank was a mixed group of ponies and Dromaed of about a couple dozen individuals. Not what this one was expecting, but it offered potentially life-saving opportunities—or the promise of death, considering our first encounter with the Dromaed. But certain death was behind this one, and that made the mere possibility of death ahead of this one a more attractive prospect. There was the little matter of who these people were and why they were here, but those questions could wait until after this one wasn’t about to be eaten by a tyrant lizard.

The Alya-mare must have read this one’s thoughts. “Any port in a storm!” We ran for the convoy, the tyrant lizard closer than this one liked to think about as its jaws opened.

Admittedly, this one half-expected the people in the convoy to panic when they saw what was now coming at them, but the Dromaed deployed themselves with practiced efficiency and formed a semi-circle around the convoy, spears projected outwards and archers standing behind them. Though what surprised this one was when a dark yellow pegasus streaked past us toward the tyrant lizard. A corner of this one’s mind realized that it was actually the Do-mare, and she was on a collision course with quite possibly the most dangerous creature in this jungle.

Being little more than a giant eating machine, the tyrant lizard wasn’t the least bit perturbed by its meal coming to it for once, and it snapped its jaws at the Do-mare. She dodged to the side as razor sharp teeth passed a hair’s breadth away from her. The Do-mare shot past the monster, flipped to reverse her momentum and flew at the back of the tyrant lizard. She outstretched a rear hoof in a flying kick to the base of the neck of her colossal opponent. Her hoof slammed into the tyrant lizard with a dull fleshy thump, suggesting she might as well not have bothered. The tyrant lizard jerked in surprise at the attack, like someone who had been suddenly flicked with a small pebble, but otherwise the Do-mare bounced off without having done any apparent damage. Thus the tyrant lizard went right back to snapping at the Do-mare as she dodged, trying to stay out of the range of those biting jaws and getting in more, largely ineffective, attacks.

Meanwhile, this one and the Alya-mare reached the convoy. Our arrival was less than happily received as we were met by the upraised spears of the Dromaed.

“Whoa!” The Alya-mare held up her hooves to appear as non-threatening as possible. “We're friendly. I mean, we're not your enemies. We just don't want the monster to eat us!”

A familiar-looking Dromaed stepped forward to speak to us. It was the same Dromaed that had demanded our surrender at the bridge, or at least one that looked remarkably similar. His eyes narrowed at us as he gestured for the others to surround us. “That is no monster. I will deal with this.” He stepped past us to approach the massive hunter.

The tyrant lizard, apparently growing tired of an annoying prey it couldn’t actually get into its mouth, turned to go back to charging the convoy. The leader Dromaed stood right in its path, looking calm despite the danger. He held up a talon and said but a single word that somehow carried a greater weight than what a mere word ever could. “Stop.”

Despite all rationale saying that the tyrant lizard should have kept right on going towards a veritable buffet, it did indeed come to a slow stop in front of the Dromaed. Its nostrils flared as it growled deeply, its head tilting this way and that as it studied the thing that had put itself between it and its next meal.

“No,” the Dromaed stated firmly, as though speaking with a misbehaving child instead of a creature that could have gobbled him up in a single bite. “Go back into the jungle and find food there. We are not food.”

The tyrant lizard growled again, but then—amazingly—turned and stomped back the way it came. That had to be some form of magic. No way a beast like that would listen to just anyone. Such an ability would help explain how the Dromaed could survive in their hazardous jungle. This Dromaed might be one of the hristak, or greenseers, this one had heard about.

First, this one needed to concentrate on the little matter of surviving. This one was being held up at speartip, after all, so it flashed them the friendliest smile it could manage. Best to appear friendly and thankful.

“Thank you for saving us!” this one said to the leader as he returned to the group. “That tyrant lizard nearly had us. I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for you.” Instead of the friendly reception this one hoped for, he glowered at this one. “You’re friends, right?”

One of the Dromaed warriors butted me in the face with his spear, and went dark.


“So not friends, then?” I asked with a grin.

Puzzle sighed and shook his head. “No, not friends.”

Daring poked him in the side. “What did you expect to happen when you invaded their territory? That they’d welcome you with open arms and declare you their god?”

“Maybe not get clubbed into unconsciousness when this one wasn’t resisting them?” Puzzle suggested. “That would have been a good start.”

“I thought the part where the Do-mare fought the tyrant lizard was really cool,” Kukri said with a wide smile.

“You bet it was.” Daring patted Kukri on the head. “Not that I’d recommend trying it yourself. I nearly broke my leg trying to kick that big bastard, and it didn’t seem to do anything to it.”

“You would have figured out something,” Kukri said, not letting inconvenient facts get in the way of her hero worship. “You always do.”

“Yeah, probably.” Daring grinned. “There’s always a way forward, if you can figure it out.”

“So you obviously weren’t killed, Puzzle. What happened next?” I asked.


Daring Do

Puzzle was tied to one of the Dromaed’s platebacks after they knocked him senseless, and Alya was tied to the thunder lizard to prevent her own escape. Stass, the Dromaed’s hristak leader, questioned her as we got moving again. I wasn’t allowed close enough to overhear whatever they were talking about, but after a couple of hours Stass finished his interrogation and returned to leading the convoy further up the river.

We didn’t go more than a few steps before Puzzle started groaning and rubbed his head. It was somewhat of a surprise to see him again, but not that much. The surprising part was seeing him away from Ephemera. I guessed that she’d sent him away on some mission and it had ended how most of them did: in some sort of disaster. Certainly Puzzle hadn’t been enjoying getting run down by tyrant lizard. Though I was pretty eager to find out what my nemesis was up to, if I could get Puzzle to talk.

“Hey, you alive there?” I asked as I stepped up beside him.

Puzzle blinked blurrily as he took in the sights around him. “Not based on thi—my headache.”

“The guards were somewhat overenthusiastic,” Stass said as approached us. “Though with how many outsiders insist on invading us, who can blame them?”

Puzzle groaned again as he rubbed his head with his tied-up hooves. “Just for the record, I was trying to get out of this jungle, not keep invading it. I’ve had quite enough of this adventure.”

“So you say.” Stass looked him up and down. “An easy enough story to change to after you're captured. Outsiders lie as easily as they breathe. Do you think you're the first to come lusting after treasure and forbidden knowledge, only to claim innocence?”

I was with Stass on that one. Obviously Ephemera and Puzzle were up to no good. He was probably just lying about trying to escape the jungle to try and save his own butt now that he’d been caught.


Puzzle raised his hoof. “This one would like to note that it was telling the truth. It was quite done with the dangerous jungle that had tried to kill it multiple times by this point.”

“Yeah, but the problem is that you’re kinda hard to trust,” Daring pointed out. “We all know you can lie through your teeth if you want to and make it sound damn convincing. I’ve seen you weave a pretty elaborate lie a couple times, to the point that it made me wonder what the real truth was even when I knew it. It can make a pony pretty cautious around you.”

Puzzle shrugged. “That seems to be this one’s curse.”

I had to agree with Daring. Even though I was pretty sure I could trust Puzzle, there was always a pang of doubt in the back of my mind whenever I talked with him. It didn’t help that I knew he was indeed a very good liar, and very much capable of playing the long game by doing things like telling a thousand truths just so that you’d be ready to believe the one critical lie he really wanted you to believe. He could be a frustratingly practical guy like that, so while I was pretty sure he was on my side, I could never be one-hundred percent sure.


In any event, I hadn’t liked how Stass had looked at me out of the corner of his eye when talking about people coming in and stealing artifacts. I glowered at the hristak. “Hey, I told you, I'm not here to steal a bunch of treasure for myself. I'm here to preserve historical artifacts.”

“By taking them away from us,” Stass growled back. “They are not for you.”

“It’s not for me, it’s for everyone,” I countered. “I’m trying to preserve history for everyone. Ponies, Dromaed, zebras—everyone. Doesn’t matter who they are.”

Stass shrugged. “You can make your case to the greenseers. They will be the ones to decide your fates.”

“And they're what exactly, to you?” Puzzle asked as he tested the strength of his bonds. It was a good thing the Dromaed had stripped him of his gear and thoroughly checked him.

“They guide us and ensure we never fall into the old ways again.”

“And what are those?” Puzzle pressed.

I raised an eyebrow. “Don't you know anything about the Dromaed? Didn’t you do any research before coming here?”

Puzzle shrugged. “This was a rather impromptu visit. Something I’ve been rather regretting, and not a mistake I plan on repeating if I can help it in the future.”

Stass tightened his grip on his spear as he glowered at Puzzle. “Doubtless you thought us nothing but primitives whose ancient treasures were all too easily stolen.”

Puzzle shot him a flat glower. “Considering how few manage to survive your jungle, I’d hardly call the prospect easy. Your ambush of Ephemera’s party certainly showed you know what you’re doing.”

Stass smiled faintly, showing some fangs as Puzzle complimented him.

That made me wonder what exactly happened to Ephemera. Stass had taken a bunch of his fellow Dromaed to take out Ephemera after I’d told him about her. He must have used some of his magic to find her, since it didn’t feel like he was just wandering off at random. Either that or his scouts had found Ephemera’s party too. Either way, he and his warband had returned later, though they hadn’t seemed all that happy. I’d questioned him on what happened, but he’d been tight-lipped about everything. That was frustrating to say the least, though maybe Puzzle could offer some insight into what happened.

“So what happened to Ephemera and all her goons?” I asked.

“They all got ambushed when we were trying to cross a rope bridge over the river,” Puzzle told me. “Seeing how bad things were about to go, Alya and I decided our chances would be better in the river and we jumped for it. From there we ended up getting chased by that tyrant lizard, and that’s how we got here. As for what ended up happening to Ephemera and her party, you would have to ask him.” He gave Stass a significant look, but Stass didn't reply.

Since Stass was going to keep his silence, I went into a different topic. “This is why we wanted to meet with the Dromaed instead of sneaking into their territory like you. We didn’t want to get wiped out by the Dromaed the second they thought we were intruders. Now we’re gonna convince the greenseers to let us continue our archeological expedition.”

Stass hissed under his breath. “I do not know if the Greenseers will accept such an offer, but that you at least thought to ask speaks well of you.”

I frowned at his negative attitude. If these greenseers were as wise as he said, they were then they should understand that what we wanted to do was a good thing. “We'll convince them, you'll see.”

“Yes, we will see.” I wasn’t familiar enough with Dromaed tones and body language to really be able to say whether Stass was agreeing or disagreeing with me, or to what degree. Whatever the case, he then turned to glower at Puzzle. “And what do you want?”

“Right now, to leave in peace and never return.” Puzzle sighed and stared up at the jungle canopy. “Coming here seems like more and more like a huge mistake with each passing day.”

Stass looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “You seem to know him. What do you think of him?”

“I don’t trust him,” I said bluntly. “At best he’s some merc that Ephemera hired, but I’m pretty sure he’s an assassin too, and has been up to some pretty shady stuff in the past. You’d have to have some pretty loose morals to work for Ephemera:”

“I’ll mention that I don’t work for Ephemera any more,” Puzzle countered. “I thought it best to quit her employ before she ended up getting me killed for some stupid reason. And in my defense, I didn’t know exactly how bad she would be when I first started working for her.”

I scoffed. “Just because you’ve got more brains than most of the goons she hires doesn’t mean we should trust you. I’m pretty sure you’re crooked too.”

Puzzle scowled at me, and a hint of anger broke through his perpetually calm mask. “Could you please not cast me in a light that’s liable to get me killed? Believe it or not, I really do just want to get out of this jungle, get onto a ship and then sail far, far away from here.”

“And why should we spare you, invader?” Strass hissed.

Puzzle was quick to answer. “Because I can help you. Based on what you’ve said, Ephemera’s still alive, which means she’s still a problem for you. I know what Ephemera is planning and where she’s going. What’s more, I know how she thinks, what resources she has available, and other pertinent information.”

“Assuming you're telling the truth about no longer working for Ephemera,” I pointed out. “You could be lying about that.”

Stass nodded. “It is easy to call yourself our friend.”

Puzzle offered his arms in a pleading gesture. “Alright, is there anything I can do that would prove I am a friend?”

Stass frowned as he drummed his talons along his spear and then looked to me. “You claim this Ephemera is our true enemy.”

“Yeah, of course she is,” I said. “She's bad news, and one of the most evil people I know. All she wants to do is steal your artifacts and sell them to a bunch of shady ponies back in Equestria, and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt to get what she wants.”

“Yes, the outlander obsession with little pieces of gold.” Stass’ tail swished back and forth as he thought. “She is persistent?”

I nodded. “Extremely. I've beaten her a dozen times, but she's still messing with me. She just doesn’t know when to quit. Probably because that part of her brain is damaged.”

“And that’s not all,” Puzzle added. “She mentioned something about working for someone. I’m not sure who it is, but this patron hired her to help get him a compass to get into the City of Giants, and she’s trying to meet up with him.”

Stass stiffened and his head snapped to Puzzle. “You know this for certain?”

Puzzle frowned slightly. “She was pretty tight-lipped about most things, but that was one of the things she was pretty adamant about. It’s what she hired me to help her with, and I didn’t sense she was lying.”

Stass growled and scratch his jawline. “The greenseers will want to hear about this.”

Something about his reaction seemed peculiar. Was it something to do with the compasses? The City of Giants was supposed to be pretty important to the hristak, so that might be it.

Stass poked Puzzle in the side with the butt of his spear. “Tell me everything you know, outsider. And I mean everything—talk like your life depends on it.” His eyes narrowed. “Because it does.”

Puzzle sang like a bird.


“Now that is a bit of an exaggeration,” Puzzle said in his defense. “It wasn’t like this one was rushing to say everything all at once.”

Daring grinned and nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. “You were pretty quick to tell Stass what he wanted to know.”

“Holding back information would have been a very good way to get this one and the Alya-mare killed,” Puzzle countered. “It’s not like this one had much reason to be loyal to the Ephemera-mare anyways.”

“Good point,” Daring said. “Ephemera isn’t worth any kind of loyalty.”


The next day we finally reached Szuszushlui. I couldn’t help but smile as I got to see our first big destination: at the center of the city was a pyramid rising into the jungle canopy, its steps covered by vegetation. Surrounding the structure were a series of fenced-in gardens and pens for the domesticated thunder lizards the Dromaed used. We passed by a ring of stone markers with arcane sigils on them—some sort of warding stones, if I had to guess.

Stass led us to one of the gardens, but told us to stop while he went to speak to another Dromaed. There was an older Dromaed who seemed busy weeding his garden. He had bright green feathers in a variety of hues and talismans of gold and wood hanging from his neck. Stass spoke with the elderly Dromaed in a rapid back-and-forth exchange in a language that I couldn’t follow. I’d learned quite a bit about ancient Dromaed, but it only had a few words and syntax in common with the modern iteration.

Capital leaned in to whisper to me. “Wish I knew what they were talking about. I’d cast a translation spell, but I worry they would be offended by us listening in on them.”

“They’re probably talking about us,” I told him. “Don't know what else they'd want to talk about, other than Ephemera. That’s probably one of their greenseers there.”

“That is most likely true.” Capital glanced back to a couple of his porters carrying some chests. “I do hope they like our gifts. I want to make a good first impression on these chaps.”

“I think we’re about to find out.” Meeting out in some garden for such an important conversation wasn’t what I had expected, but the location didn’t matter all that much. What did matter was the substance of that conversation.

Stass turned back to us and spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “This is the great seer of the green, Sapiearl.”

Capital bowed politely. “A pleasure to meet you. I am Lord Capital Idea, and this here is Daring Do, the head archeologist of our expedition.”

Sapiearl dusted himself off before looking at us with piercing green eyes. “We rarely receive visitors. I would say it's a pleasure, but you were not invited.” He locked his gaze on Puzzle and Alya. “Especially you two.”

Stass motioned to the warriors behind Puzzle and Alya, and they pushed the two of them forward so that they stood directly in front of the greenseer. “What shall we do with them, honored one?”

Sapiearl stroked his cheek as he considered them. “We will hold them for now. I will consult the stars to decide their fate. They might be of use until we capture the other interlopers into our land.”

Puzzle raised an eyebrow. “Consulting the stars seems like an ... esoteric way to determine judgement.”

Stass growled at Puzzle. “You would be wise to respect the wisdom of the greenseers.”

Puzzle inclined his head to the hristak. “I don’t mean to offend, but in my experience it's best not to trust blindly.”

“But you have no experience with us,” Stass said.

Puzzle looked down at his legs, which were still bound together by rope. “That is part of the problem, yes.”

“And yet you presume to be wiser than the Greenseers.” Stass swiped his spear. “This is not a debate. You will be held until the Greenseer decides your fate.”

Puzzle frowned. “Alright, but once again, I’ll mention that I can help you. Ephemera is dangerous, and I’m willing to bet she’ll cause all sorts of trouble before she’s caught.”

Sapiearl snorted. “Do you abandon your loyalties so quickly?”

“Based on what I learned about her, she didn’t deserve my loyalty,” Puzzle answered. “She’s petty, small-minded, vicious, short-sighted to the extreme, and cares nothing for those that work for her. She thinks nothing of hurting those who stand in her way and will do whatever she thinks benefits her in the short-term.”

“The fact you chose to follow her and then so quickly abandon her only to offer your services to another says much about you.” Sapiearl pulled a weed out of the garden soil and presented it to Puzzle. “You are like a plant with shallow roots: easily uprooted and transferred elsewhere. You do not believe in your master’s cause; you merely seek a patron who will benefit you. I do not think we need the help of one such as you.”

He tossed the root into a nearby compost heap and then stepped up to Alya. “And you were caught with several seeds of this land. Did you think to take them back home, interloper?”

Alya gulped and nodded. “Th-the consortium I’m working for wanted some seeds to grow back up north. They think they could help zebras back home.”

Sapiearl’s lips peeled back to reveal his teeth. “In other words, you wanted to steal the wealth of our land, only your trinkets are what grows out of our soil instead of what was mined from our mountains.” Alya didn’t reply to that, and the Greenseer turned his back on her. “My judgment has not changed. You will be held until the other invaders have been dealt with.”

Puzzle’s face became a stony mask. “Very well then.”

For once, I wasn’t sure what to say. There was a good chance Puzzle and Alya were going to be executed by the Dromaed, which wasn’t an idea I was wild about, but they had thrown in with Ephemera in the first place. I couldn’t see how they thought that would turn out well. In the end that decision had caught up with them, and now they were in the hooves—claws of the local authorities. And me speaking up on their behalf might mess up my chances to go to the City of Giants. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t see how I could help them without messing up everything I’d been working the last year for. Besides, Puzzle and Alya has dug their own grave here, and there was still a chance the Dromaed would go easy on them.

“And what about us?” I asked. “Can we continue to the City of Giants?”

Sapiearl’s eyes narrowed at me. “While you came under less evil intentions, you are still interlopers. We did not ask you to come here.”

Capital flashed a smile and stepped forward. “Now we understand that, and while I do not wish to be rude, you do make it a bit difficult to communicate with your people. You don’t keep any embassies anywhere, or keep up any other means by which to communicate with you. The only way we could contact you was to come out into the jungle and find you.”

Sapiearl crossed his arms over his chest. “Perhaps you should have realized that we were hard to contact because we did not wish for contact with outsiders.”

I glowered at the high-and-mighty attitude. “Just because you don't want to be talked to doesn't mean you can stick your heads in the sand and ignore everyone else. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, there’s a whole world out there, and it’s not just going to ignore you because you want to be left alone.”

Sapiearl turned his head to me. “And who are you to tell us how we should live in our own homeland?”

Capital cleared his throat and flashed a smile that looked a bit more brittle than before. “Let us restart, shall we? Our point is that we very dearly wished to speak with you, and we consider our mission here to be worthy of your time.”

The greenseer stared at Capital for a long moment before answering. “Very well then. I will hear what it is you wish to say.”

I took a quick breath to steady myself before launching into it. “Right, we want to go to Zihlius for an archeological expedition. We want to collect historical artifacts where we can and take them back home to put into museums in order to preserve history, and help educate others with what we discover from the past.”

Sapiearl frowned deeply. “No.”

I blinked. “No? What do you mean 'no'?”

“That is the word, is it not?” Stass mocked. “We do not get to practice the zebra tongue much, but we have used the word correctly—no? Negative? Negation. We will not allow it.”

Not liking his tone, I got close enough that I was nearly muzzle to muzzle with Stass. “But why not? What's wrong with us going on an archeological expedition?”

Sapiearl held up a claw to the both of us to stop fighting. “Zihlius is best left forgotten. It once served as the capital of the Quinametzin, and they were an evil people who enslaved the Dromaed. Their empire stretched over the continent and beyond as they used magics too foul to mention. Eventually the Quinametzin’s evil caused them to turn on each other, and they waged a terrible war among themselves for power. The gods and spirits struck them down for their hubris, but fragments of their evil still remain. The blood from their foul magics has seeped into the very stones of Zihlius, and now its only purpose is to test the spirits of those who wish to become hristak, and to teach them of the dangers of our past. It is not for outsiders to gawk at.”

I clenched my teeth together. “So it’s dangerous? Well I’m not scared. I’ve gone to plenty of haunted and cursed places, and I’ve come out the other side. Whatever’s in Zihlius, I can handle it.”

Sapiearl shook his head. “More than mere bravery is required to survive Zihlius. The hristak are specially prepared for the dangers of that evil place, but not all return. What is more, we know what outsiders would do with the dark secrets of that city. That is why the one called Ephemera seeks it.”

I crossed my arms over my chest as a few facts clicked into place. Sure, I’d read the City of Giants had a bad rep, but that was true of a lot of ruins that ended up perfectly mundane. Though from the sounds of it Zihlius was legitimately bad news, and if that was true... “Then what's there that she's so interested in? Is she looking to steal some of the Quinametzin’s magical artifacts?”

Sapiearl growled as he returned to weeding his garden. “Things best left forgotten. We are not about to let you go there and then leave to spread such evil secrets around the world. Our trouble with outsiders would only multiply if such things were allowed. If even a taste of the power of the Quinametzin were to escape, it would only addict the evils of the world and they would flock here in ever greater numbers. That is something we cannot allow.”

“Being all mysterious isn't exactly keeping people from wanting to see what's there,” I pointed out. “Ephemera’s on her way there right now.”

“And we have found solutions to that problem,” Sapiearl countered. “The jungle sees to those who intrude, and if that is not sufficient, we have the hristak.”

I snorted derisively. “That so? Last I heard Ephemera’s still out there getting closer to Zihlius.”

Sapiearl shook his head as he pulled up a particularly difficult weed. “She will not reach the city.”

“Yeah, I've heard that before.” I jabbed a hoof in his direction. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve been told that some place can’t be broken into or that something was unstealable, only for Ephemera to come up with some way to pull it off anyway? It’s happened a lot. A whole lot.” I slapped a hoof to my chest. “Look, I can stop her. I’ve always done so in the past. Let me help, and we can stop her together.”

Sapiearl let out a long sigh. “You do not know the jungle or the city, and you do not respect our ways. Our answer is no.”

Capital stepped forward as he tried to play diplomat. “Perhaps there's a way you could teach us your ways? We certainly don't mean to offend—we're merely scholars here to learn.”

“Yes, but even ignorance can be dangerous.” Sapiearl stood up with a bucket full of weeds. “Perhaps we could discuss teaching you in time, but you will not go to Zihlius.”

My ear twitched. “So, what? This whole trip was for nothing?”

Sapiearl dumped his bucket onto a compost heap. “Our lands and history are not for you to plunder. If you respect our ways and we see that respect, perhaps we could teach you. But for now, you may show respect by not intruding upon us any longer. You are to leave our lands, and if the stars align, then we will see.”

“I can't believe this.” I started pacing up a storm. “We went through all this trouble, offered to help, and now we’re supposed to just turn the other way and go?” I noticed Stass scowling at me out of the corner of my eye. “What? You want to say something?”

Stass lips peeled back to show his fangs. “You have no respect for us and our ways and are no better than any other plunderer. You simply try to dress it up with nicer words.”

I stomped my hoof. “I'm trying to preserve your history and traditions! You're the ones making that impossible.”

Sapiearl frowned. “You presume we need or want you preserving our history, or that we are incapable of doing so on our own. Arrogance.”

“I don't exactly see any museums around here.” I waved to the old, decaying pyramid looming over us. “Just a bunch of decaying buildings at least hundreds of years old, and most of the artifacts in them nearly gone.”

“We preserve our history in our own way,” Sapiearl stated firmly.

I snorted. “Yeah? And what ways are those?”

Stass’s hold on his club tightened. “The greenseer does not need to explain himself to you, outsider.”

Sapiearl held up a talon to forestall Stass. “We have our own ways. And some of our history is better left forgotten. As I said, if you respect our ways there may be possibilities in the future. Leave our lands for now, and when the stars align you may return.”

So that was that. The Dromaed weren’t going to let me go to Zihlius. Nothing I could say was going to convince them to let me do what I wanted. I’d been stonewalled. “Right, I think I understand now.”

“Good.” Sapireal gave me a serene smile.

I understood alright. If I was going to get to Zihlius and stop Ephemera, I was going to have to do things my way.

Author's Notes:

Thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath and Comma-Kazie for all their help, and to my pre-readers Brony Writer, wolfstorm56, Trinary, 621Chopsuey, Rodinga, PoisonClaw, and Swiftest for their hard work editing.

Next Chapter: Chapter 13 Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 20 Minutes
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