I was getting to the City of Giants, and nothing was gonna stop me. I hadn’t come this far just to be told no. What’s more, Ephemera was still out there, and I needed to stop her. It was my responsibility to make sure she didn’t steal anything or hurt anyone else. The only reason she’d even come here was because I’d been planning to go to Zihlius and she thought it’d be a great idea to steal more artifacts to sell. Maybe the hristak could stop her, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I’d been told by the Powers That Be in other places they could protect whatever it was they were protecting, but then Ephemera would find some way to steal what she was looking for anyway—or as happened half the time, destroy what she sought.

Also, I really wanted to see the City of Giants. Sure, the Dromaed said the place was evil and that the Quinametzin’s empire was all big and bad, but thus far all I had as proof of that was the word of the Dromaed. That wasn’t good enough for quality historical and archeological research. Word of mouth had its place, but I needed to know the truth. I needed to see the city for myself. Of course, the issue was how to get out of Szuszushlui and back into the jungle without getting caught. But I’d managed crazier escapes in the past, and I knew I could do it again.

Thus I was checking my gear and packs within the room I’d been given in Szuszushlui’s pyramid, making sure everything was ready. The room wasn’t much to speak about; there was a window that let the moonlight in and a moss filled mattress, but it was enough for a short stay and had enough room to let me to pull everything together. The key to a good expedition was proper preparation. I couldn’t say how many times it’d saved my rear to have the right piece of equipment, and I wasn’t about to get lazy now. As I was repacking everything, I heard a knock at the door.

I bit back my irritation at being interrupted. “Come in.”

Capital opened the door, smiling like he always was as his eyes flicked over my bags. “Planning to head out so soon?”

I stiffened and turned my back to him, pretending to concentrate on my gear. “I was just getting everything ready. No sense hanging out here if the Dromaed are just gonna escort us back to the coast. There’s stuff I can do elsewhere if I can’t do my work here.”

Capital let out a long sigh. “Daring, please.”

I turned to face him so I could glower at him. “What?”

“I know what you're planning.” He slapped his own full pack.

I sniffed and raised my chin. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“I think we both know you do.”

My ear twitched. This was not the discussion I wanted be having. “You're not coming.”

Capital raised an eyebrow. “And why wouldn't I?”

“Because it's too dangerous!” I stomped a hoof. “I promised your parents I'd keep you safe, and sticking with me is the opposite of safe. Especially when I'm going out to try and stop Ephemera, and double especially when the Dromaed will be on my tail the whole way! I can move faster on my own, and whatever happens will fall on my head. And I’m okay with facing the consequences of my own actions, but what I’m not okay with is other people getting hurt because of me.”

“And I don't think you'll be very safe on your own out in the middle of the jungle,” Capital said without wavering. “We’ve gotten lucky thus far, but we both know that one of the last things anyone should be doing is going out in the jungle alone.”

“I've done it before,” I told him. “I've been to dozens of dangerous places people said I'd never come back from, and here I am doing it again.”

“But you'll do it better with someone to watch your back.” Capital placed a hoof on my shoulder. “I can handle the risk.”

I groaned and ran a hoof down my face as I felt my resolve wavering. “Do you have any idea what you're signing up for?”

“A jungle full of dangerous wild animals, Dromaed troops trying to capture or kill us, and at the end of it all a fight with a dangerous madmare, near-certainty of death, and miniscule chances of success?” Capital grinned and patted my shoulder. “When do we start?!”

I let out a louder, longer groan. “I can't talk you out of this, can I?”

“I should bloody well think not.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I’m in this for the long haul. I’m going to be here all the way to the end, right by your side.”

I sighed. I knew this was a bad idea, but I didn’t know what else to do when the big goof was so insistent on coming with me. I’d just be being as stubborn as he was if I refused to acknowledge that he was following me all the way to Zihlius. “Fine, you can come! But you gotta keep up, no whining, and all you're taking is what you can carry.” I poked his nose. “Got it?”

Capital grinned and nodded. “Jolly good.”

I started tossing the last of my things in my bags. “You good to go? No sense waiting while there's good darkness to sneak away in.”

He slapped his full pack again.

“Right, so we've got to sneak out of here without being seen.” I threw on my saddlebags and latched them into place. “The front door's out, but this window looks big enough to climb out of if we drop our packs out separately. I can go first, you give me the bags, and then you drop down. From there we make our way beyond the settlement and into the jungle. We move as quickly as we can, use those totems we got to block any tracking magic, and get as much distance from this place and the Dromaed as possible. That sound good?”

Capital hummed as he rubbed his chin. “Yes, though perhaps we could use a bit more help.”

I frowned at the idea. “Like who? No offense, but most of your porters and scholars don't have the type of skills we'll really need. They’re not going to be handy in a fight, and a run through the forest would be brutal on them, especially when we need to keep light and move fast.”

Capital shook his head. “No, not them. I was thinking of getting the help of the one who's been rather consistently close to your equal all through this journey.”

I tried thinking who the hay he was talking about, and then scowled at the only possible individual. “You can't possibly be thinking to get Puzzle's help! He was working for Ephemera, and he still might be!”

Capital waggled his hoof. “Was. Not still is.”

“You can't know that,” I insisted. “You've seen him. You have to know you can’t trust anything he says. He's the type that could tell you he's a purple polka-dotted platypus with a straight face and make it sound believable.”

“But I don’t think he is lying now. Like you said, Ephemera has a rather disagreeable personality that doesn’t engender loyalty. Besides, he could be a lot of help.” Capital crossed his arms. “And really, who else do we have? You know how many followers Ephemera has. That’s a lot of hired muscle for just the two of us to take on alone, not to mention this mysterious patron of hers we need to worry about. I’d feel a lot better recruiting Puzzle and hopefully Alya to our cause. That would even the odds at least a little bit.”

I started pacing around the room as I thought it over. It was risky, but Capital had a point; if Puzzle could be convinced to help us that would help even the odds. He was tough, smart, and knew how to take care of himself. The problem was the question of whether we could really trust him. But he sounded like he was willing to work with the Dromaed against Ephemera. Granted, it was a do-or-die situation he was in, but... “I can't believe you're talking me into this.”

“I'm very persuasive,” Capital said. “Besides, I don’t think you want to see Puzzle and Alya executed by the Dromaed. The Dromaed haven’t said they were going to do that, but I have a bad feeling about it, and I’m sure you do too. Yes, it might be wrong for them to come into the Dromaed’s lands without permission, but I think killing them for it is going too far. Don’t you agree?”

I let out a huff and nodded. “Yeah, that seems like a bit much.” I rubbed the sides of my temple. “I just know this is going to bite me in the rear somehow, but I’m not comfortable leaving those two here to hang. But we’re gonna need a plan to get them out of there.”

“Those do usually help, yes.”

I pressed my lips together as I considered our options. “Right, so how does this idea sound?”

Thankfully we had enough freedom to move about the pyramid that we could get to the dungeons they had set up in the basement. Of course, there was the problem of the guard standing in our way. Beyond him lay the cells with the prisoners we wanted to free, even if we couldn’t get a good look inside from where we were. Go figure, they didn’t want just anyone waltzing into their dungeon to cause trouble. But this wasn’t my first dungeon, and definitely not my first time dealing with troublesome guards.

I approached him and gave him my best friendly smile. “Hey, we wanted to see the prisoners.”

The guard growled at me. “No.”

I scowled at him. “But the greenseer said we could see them.”

“I have heard of no such thing.”

Ugh, I hated it when guards got stubborn about this type of thing. “Okay, fine, I guess you didn’t get the memo.” I sighed and muttered under my breath. “Hate when I have to break this one out.”

I cleared my throat and changed my posture. I cocked my hips and batted my eyes at the guard. “Okay, okay you got me. I was just ... well, I've never seen a Dromaed before, and I was kinda curious and wondering if maybe we could sneak off for a little ... ‘private time’.” I tossed my mane and gave him a suggestive smile.

Instead of acting the way I’d hoped, the guard leaned his head back and narrowed his eyes. “I think it is time you go before I toss you into a free cell.”

I glowered at him. Normally I could put the moves on some bored guard. Now I was just insulted.

Puzzle chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, this one thinks you’re a very attractive mare.”

Daring smiled. “Good to hear someone appreciates beauty, thank you.”

“Careful there, Puzzle,” I warned, unable to resist teasing him a bit. “You might not want Strumming to hear you talking that way about another mare.”

Puzzle cleared his throat. “This one is speaking purely academically, of course.”

“Sure, I believe you.” It was Daring’s turn to chuckle. “But thanks regardless.”

I sighed and turned to go, then quickly bucked out my rear hoof to hit his helmeted head. He fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Capital stepped up, checking the guard over to make sure he wasn’t hurt too badly. “I would've thought you would have a few more plays for getting past a suspicious guard.”

I snorted. “Well if you're so good at it...”

Before Capital could respond, there was a call of another Dromaed in their native tongue. When there wasn’t a response from the guard I’d just knocked out, a new pair of guards stepped into view. They saw the scene before them and brought up their spears. One of them snapped out a few more words in dromish that I didn’t understand.

“I got this one,” I whispered to Capital. I quickly scooped the unconscious guard’s head up and cradled it in the crook of my leg. “Go get help!” I pleaded. “Some weirdo just knocked this guy out and ran off! You gotta stop him!”

One of the guards said something to the other and motioned to their downed fellow guard. The guard that seemed to be in charge kneeled down while the other one moved to step past us. I took my shot when it presented itself. My hooves snapped out to grab the kneeling guard by the head and slammed it into the wall with a loud bang. His eyes rolled back as he also collapsed to the floor. Seeing they had been tricked, the third guard brought his spear to bear, but Capital was already casting a spell. A stun bolt struck the guard in the side and he went flying into the wall.

I swiveled my ears and looked around carefully, but no more guards showed themselves and the alarm didn’t seem like it'd been raised. “Good enough. Now let’s dump these guys in one of their cells and free who we came for.” I started patting the guards.

“Sounds good to me.” Capital levitated one of the guards, and I found a ring of keys and promptly unlocked a free cell. We tossed them inside and closed the door.

I tossed Capital the keys and grabbed another set from the wall. “Okay, let's get them out of their cells.” I frowned at Puzzle’s cell. “You get Alya, I’ll deal with the other one.”

“Sounds good,” Capital said as he went to Alya’s cell.

“Here we go...” I wanted to make sure Puzzle was going to play nice, since I still wasn’t completely sold this was a smart idea. But I’d come this far, might as well go all the way.

Puzzle was lying on his back in his cell. When he didn’t react to me standing there I banged on the bars. “Hey, wake up! It’s a prison break! Up and at’em!”

He turned his head and cocked an eyebrow at me. “So, you're making your escape then. I admit, I didn't think you'd be adding a jailbreak to that.”

“Yeah, well, neither did I.” I turned the key in the lock and opened the door.

Instead of jumping up and getting out of the cell like I’d expected, he just lay there on his mattress. “You actually want me to join you?”

I shrugged. “I need some backup, and the Dromaed don't seem interested.”

Puzzle laid his head back down. “Probably because they're going to deal with Ephemera, one way or another. They seemed confident enough about it, and not for unjustified reasons.”

“S'what they think, but they don't know Ephemera like I do,” I told him. “Or I guess like you do. You know how dangerous she is, and what she’s willing to do to get what she wants. You also know she’s too stupid to realize when something’s too dangerous to do, and that makes her unpredictable. She’s surprised plenty of people with what she’s willing to do, and I’m not confident they’ll actually stop her.”

Puzzle let out a long sigh. “Not sure why I should care. The Dromaed say it's their responsibility. Let them take care of it, it's their forsaken ruined city.”

I leaned against the bars. “And what if they can't pull it off?”

Puzzle crossed his arms over his chest. “That depends on what's in Zihlius. If it's just a bunch of crumbling ruins, probably nothing major will come out of it outside of finding some gold trinkets. Worst case... They find something dangerous. Could be a lot of things. She could accidentally unleash some monster or uncover some forbidden knowledge or artifact. If one of those things were to happen then things could get interesting.”

“And let's say she or whoever she's working for does get something nasty,” I said. “Something they can use for evil. Who do you figure is first on the chopping block?”

“You.”

Okay, now he was just being a smartass. “Not just me. You know how Ephemera deals with anyone she thinks backstabbed her.”

Puzzle sighed and sat up. “That is a point. Of course, that depends on her pulling that off, where the Dromaed are much more likely to kill me during an escape.”

“Oh, they'll kill you regardless,” I pointed out. “So why not run for it?”

“They might show me mercy.”

I grinned, because I knew I had him. “Wanna bet your life on that?”

Puzzle huffed and stood up. “No, I don't.”

I pushed off the bars and turned my back to him. “Then get your flank in gear before I leave you behind.”

Puzzle stepped out of the cell and started looking around. “Just one problem: the Dromaed are most likely going to be waiting outside for us.”

I pointed at the cell where we’d dumped the guards. “I doubt it. We took out all the guards nice and quiet. The alarm hasn’t been raised, and no one knows what we’re up to.”

Puzzle waggled his hoof in front of my face. “I guessed you were going to try and make a break for it, and I’d bet good money that the greenseer knows you're going to try something like this as well. I saw it in his eyes; he has you pegged. If I was him I’d be waiting outside for you with his hristak. From there they’ll have all the justification they’ll need to execute you.”

I scowled at the mercenary. “I’m not that transparent.”

“You wear your heart on your sleeve,” Puzzle countered. “You’re highly independent, prone to diving head-first into a problem, and don’t like authority figures telling you what to do. It’s pretty obvious you’re the type to defy the Greenseer’s word and sneak off to Zihlius, and the Greenseer struck me as a sharp one. He’ll know what you’re up to, and he’s going to give you enough rope to hang yourselves by letting you prove you’re trouble.”

It was annoying, but he had a point. Capital had guessed what I was up to, and Puzzle claimed he had known I was going to try to sneak past the Dromaed too. Maybe it was possible the Dromaed could have guessed what we were up to, which would be a big problem. “Well even if that's true they'll kill you too, so you might as well help.”

“Agreed.” Puzzle picked up a helmet from one of the downed guards. “Thankfully, I have a plan. Helps when all I could do in that cell was think to myself. Would you mind using those keys to open that chest there, and then the door to their armory? They put our gear in the chest, and I need one of their sets of armor.”

“Why do you want some of their armor?” I asked as I tried different keys in the chest. “You’re not thinking to try and pass yourself off as a Dromaed, are you? Because I know a thing or two about disguises, and there’s no way they’re going to buy that you’re one of them by just putting on some armor.”

Puzzle’s lips spread in a grin. “Let’s just say I’ve got a couple tricks up my sleeve.”

I opened the chest and then scowled at Puzzle. Now I was really suspicious about what he was up to. “You know if you screw me over you'll be dead too, right?”

His grin didn’t waver. “Of course. I'm hardly going to make it out of this jungle by myself. Not with the Dromaed and the jungle itself trying to kill me. And if I got the ‘clever’ idea of going to the Dromaed and betraying all of you in the hopes of getting leniency, well, I don’t think that would work. The Dromaed don’t strike me as the types to respect a backstabber.”

Puzzle wasn’t stupid, I had to give him that. That was saying a lot more than some of the people I’d worked with in the past. There had been plenty of times someone had backstabbed me in order to try and run away with whatever artifact we were trying to recover only to fall afoul of some curse, trap, unhappy locals, or something equally lethal as they ran for it. Though I did have to worry that Puzzle was playing the long game for a really good betrayal later, instead of something stupid and short-sighted now. I was going to have to trust that Capital knew what he was talking about and hope this wasn’t going to bite me in the rear later.

“So what is your big fancy plan?”

After this one got all that it needed it headed out of the dungeon, got out of sight, and then transformed into an exact copy of one of the Dromaed guards. This one then quickly put on the armor it had relieved from its captors and then made its way to the main door of the pyramid. Admittedly, this one wasn’t entirely sure it would be able to pull things off, but it was the best it could come up with. This one had been serious about the greenseer knowing what the Do-mare was up to, even if he might not know the specifics of her plan. It had been too easy to read her motivations and see what type of person she was when she spoke with the greenseer. That meant the Dromaed were going to be waiting outside to ambush us on the way out.

Successfully disguising itself as a Dromaed was the first big hurdle this one would have to get over in order to complete its plan. This one could look like a Dromaed, but there was still the matter of their language and mannerisms. This one had carefully studied the Dromaed since its capture, and it had gotten a measure of their body language as well as a few words from their language. One of the advantages to being a Free Mind is that we’re natural polyglots in addition to being masters of physical disguise. After all, in order to be successful at infiltrating you need to be able to perfectly mimic those you intended to interact with. This one had to walk, talk, and act like a Dromaed. A difficult proposition when this one couldn’t even speak their language.

But this wasn’t the first time this one had to improvise, and acting nervous would only attract everyone’s attention. As such, this one walked like it belonged in the pyramid, keeping its head down, and swishing its tail in the same manner it’d seen from other irritated-looking Dromaed. This one walked by one of the guards within the pyramid, with us only exchanging a quick nod to one another. So far, so good; it helped that there weren’t many Dromaed out and about at this late hour.

This one reached the open gate and crossed the threshold. There were a pair of guards flanking the entrance who appeared bored, as most guards did given the long hours where little to nothing happened.

Unfortunately, one of them called out to this one as it passed. “What are something something something?” he asked in his native tongue.

This one only caught part of his query.“Food. Sleep,” this one grunted, trying to sound like it’s just finished a long day at work and just wanted to get home. It must have worked, because they let this one pass without further comment.

It was an effort not to let out a sigh of relief, and this one kept walking at a casual pace. One barrier crossed, just a couple more to go.

At first it didn’t seem like there was anyone outside, but then there was a shimmer in the air, and this one suddenly found itself walking by Greenseer Sapiearl, Stass, and a couple other Dromaed. Judging by how they were wearing necklaces with strips of inscribed gold and obsidian like those Stass worse, they were probably hristak as well. The greenseer was sitting on a chair that had been brought out for him, and the the hristak were all chatting with him in hushed tones.

This one very carefully kept walking and didn’t look directly at the group. The last thing this one wanted to do was bring attention to itself at that moment and get asked all sorts of questions it wouldn’t even be able to understand. That would end this one’s plan in a rather premature and unpleasant manner, so this one kept walking like everything was normal. Out of this one's periphery, it saw other guards and hristak standing near the pyramid. They were all watching the exits attentively. This one felt a mite of self-satisfaction over correctly guessing the Dromaed’s actions, but that feeling was tempered by the fact that one misstep would probably get us all killed.

In truth, this one didn’t like our chances no matter what happened here. The odds were badly stacked against us, but at the end of the day even a one percent chance of survival was better than none.

Soon this one was before one of the animal pens, though ‘pen’ was almost an insufficient word for the size of the holding area for the Dromaed’s range of mounts, warbeasts, and livestock. It was enormous, unsurprisingly, given the thunder lizards inside. The animals before this one were a wonder to see; the Dromaed had successfully domesticated a variety of thunder lizards for their purposes, most of which were asleep at this late hour. It almost seemed comical that the pony-high wood fence could keep the thunder lizards inside, but there was a reason for the livestock’s passivity.

Dotted around the pen were a series of small boulders covered in magical sigils. While this one wasn’t an expert in magic, it knew enough to identify the nature of the boulders. Their sigils created an aura of passivity for the thunder lizards inside and discouraged them from going beyond the boundary of the fence. It was intricately, almost lovingly made.

It was a genuine shame to destroy it.

This one pulled out a pair of the Alya-mare’s potions and threw them against two of the wardstones. The glass broke and the stones started hissing as the acid started melting the sigils. It wouldn’t destroy the aura outright, but it should weaken the complex network enough for this one’s intentions.

This one was opening one of the gates when the harsh cries of one of the Dromaed called out. He was running at this one, barking out a question too quickly for this one to understand, but the meaning was clear enough: he wanted to know what in Tartarus this one was doing damaging the wardstones and opening the pen in the middle of the night.

This one decided to show him when it pulled out a pair of the Alya-mare’s vials from out of the bag at its waist. This one sent one vial after another soaring into the pen where they landed amongst the sleeping thunder lizards, breaking and releasing noxious green vapors. It followed the vials up with its last thunderflash stone, which exploded in a violent flash of light and sound, forcing the thunder lizards into a cacophony of panicked cries. The Dromaed guard raced towards this one, but slid to a stop when he saw a herd of charging thunder lizards pounding towards the weakened section of the pen. His eyes widened and he scrambled to get out of the way. This one didn’t waste any time; the alarm now raised, and it would be only a matter of time until the area was swarming with Dromaed. That, and this one was going to get itself turned into a pancake if it stood still.

This one snatched up the next potion the Alya-mare had been so kind to gift this one and drank it, then felt as much as saw itself shimmer as it turned invisible.

Now that this one was hidden, it quickly shrugged off the armor it’d been wearing and transformed into its zony form. This one took to the air just in time to avoid getting trampled.

The best distractions are ones that your opponent can’t bring themself to ignore. As confirmed by the fact the Dromaed were largely abandoning their ring around the pyramid, the thunder lizards were such a distraction. In addition to the destruction they were causing while stampeding, they were a valuable resource to the Dromaed. As was usually the case with domesticated animals, they made up a large portion of the Dromaed’s food, transportation, and even entertainment. Considering the significant time and energy it must have taken to domesticate and keep such creatures, their loss could not be easily borne by their owners.

Its mission complete, this one headed north and landed beyond the Dromaed’s settlement. Within half an hour the Do-mare and the others joined this one. The Do-mare grinned at this one and tossed it half of the tracking gem duo it.

“That worked out pretty well,” she said. “Not quite sure how you pulled it off, but the Dromaed went scrambling when they saw their thunder lizards stomping around.”

This one grinned back at her. “I do need to keep some of my secrets.”

The Idea-stallion nodded and smiled at the Alya-mare. “Alya’s invisibility potions did the trick. Near as we can tell, the Dromaed didn’t even see our escape.”

“Even if we did nearly get run over by some of the thunder lizards,” Alya groused as she gave this one its saddlebags. “But at least we’re out of there.”

“And if we want to stay that way we’d better get moving,” this one said. “It’s only a matter of time until the Dromaed get their act together and come after us. I’m not eager to go running off into the jungle at night, but right now we need distance from here.”

Daring nodded and snapped open her magic compass, its green arrow lit up the small clearing. “Follow me.”

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.