# Ponyfinder: Roots of Stone

## by David Silver

### 11 - Let Our People Go

Fast hurried up the stairs. Her metal shoes struck against the stone, giving away their position, but it was more important to be past the stairs, and she shoved out into the hallway just in time for the Lord to come down the very same hallway, sword drawn. It was too narrow to make effective use of her lance so she reared up onto her hind legs. With a flick of her forehooves, she revealed long, dagger-like blades that had been concealed in each shoe.

He sneered at her. "They said you didn't stop fighting until they had you in the box. They should have put you down like the rabid animal you are."

She stepped towards him carefully. Though she was born a quadruped, she stood confidently on two legs and appeared ready to battle. "You would call me an animal, you, who treat your own kind so poorly? You didn't have the balls to come find an 'animal' like me on your own. Let's see if you can do better now."

He held up his free hand and clenched it to a fist before suddenly stepping aside.

Two men behind him let loose a pair of crossbow bolts with the loud twang of their launchers, catching a surprised Fast Shadow in her chest and side. He chuckled softly as he took his place in the center of the hallway. "Animals don't know a thing of tactics. Feel that pain? It's inferiority, beast."

Fast staggered back from the blows a step before she righted herself. "Bastard. Whatever remains of your family will weep over your body today. The world will be improved for your absence." She closed the distance in a charge, knocking his sword off balance with one hoof as the other drove its blade painfully into his shoulder. Both had been bloodied, dripping to the floor in the shared ritual of warriors.

A surprised sound caught the lord's attention as Maud fell upon his soldiers from behind. She slammed into one, knocking him into the other and sending both to the ground before she moved in to finish the job as silently as she had come up on them. He refocused his attention on Fast Shadow. "So you have your allies as well, do you?"

Fast cracked a smile. "I couldn't ask for better." She reared to her full height, her hoof claws at the ready. "Not too late to step aside and let us leave in peace."

"As if I would concede to a petty mare. You need to be broken in like any horse." He suddenly drew a vial from his pouch and tossed it directly at her midsection, where it exploded in a great ball of goop that bound her to the ground and made her movements stiff and slow. "Worth every coin." As she struggled to cut herself free of the device, he put his back to the wall, which swiveled abruptly. He was gone.

"Damn it!" roared Fast Shadow as she ripped herself free, though the stuff still clung to her, making her movements slower than she'd like. "Falling for a tanglefoot bag, I must be losing my touch. Maud, got them covered?"

Maud kicked one of their prone forms over before trotting over to Fast Shadow, looking ready.

Fast Shadow pointed to the wall. "He went this way."

Maud took a slow breath before she began to beat at the wall with an intense focus. Her hooves rained down on it in an unending tidal wave of destruction and it began to buckle and cave before her. The wood had no chance against her, and about twenty seconds later, she thrust a hoof right through it. She grabbed the handle from the other end, and the secret door swung open for them. "I'll go first." Maud vanished into the tunnel, leading the way.

Though Fast would have been loathe to admit it, she was in no condition to lead. Slowed and stuck with bolts, the fight had taken a lot out of her. "And I had to go give away my healing potion, damn..." She walked after Maud with a deep scowl, ready to assist, if not rushing to take the lead again.

Flint picked up a fallen crossbow and snatched up the scattered bolts before loading one into the weapon. Paul followed after him nervously. "I thought you used bows?"

Flint shrugged. "I've used either, dependin' on the situation. Huntin's funny like that. Never thought I'd be huntin' a noble before." He raised the crossbow and looked down the sight a moment. "Let's go."

Maud ran up the stairs up onto the roof of the house to spot the lord kicking over a ladder that led back down to the side of the manor. On seeing her, he seemed to abort the idea of climbing down. "You damned horses. You don't give up."

She approached slowly and surely across the steep slope of the roof. She could hear and feel the wind rush past her. This was far from an ideal fighting place, but she wasn't going to back down. "Give up."

He frowned at her. "I called you worth having around, once. That hasn't changed. You know how to fight, and how to not run your lips. I can appreciate that, horse." He drew his sword from where he had sheathed it on his belt. "I pay well. A far bit better than being dead."

"No thank you." She approached at that steady pace, her eyes locked on him and limbs ready for motion. She was prepared, and he knew it.

He hurled a flask at her, for her to swat it aside. It crashed to the roof fifteen feet from her and burst violently into flames. "Give up."

Fast burst out onto the roof and skidded a little, finding her footing after a moment.

The lord smirked. "Your friend looks like they're ready to take a little spill. They should really be more careful." He drew another potion and threw his arm in an arc, spraying the roof between himself and Maud in slippery oil as he backed away from her.

Maud ignored it entirely and stepped forward. Drawn by the power of the earth itself, she remained upright and stable. No oil would disrupt her tie to it so easily. "Last chance."

The lord surveyed the situation, caught on a roof, nearly cornered. There was vanishingly little space to withdraw to. "Very well, I yield." He dropped his sword, which slid off the roof to the ground below.

Maud paused a moment, surprised, but recovered quickly and nodded. "I accept." She moved with a sudden burst of speed, pulled him to the ground and drew his arms behind his back, pinning him there. "You will not be hurt."

The shot of a crossbow going off came across the roof. Flint was already reloading as the bolt flew. The Lord got out a choked gurgle as it struck him dead in the throat, and he slumped in Maud's grasp.

"F-flint! You killed him!" Paul had his hands at his head.

Flint frowned at his friend. "Are you daft? Either he died, or we'd be hunted forever."

Fast trotted up as Maud released him to flop against the roof. "I'm sor--" She hit the oiled spot of the roof and fared less well than Maud had, suddenly slamming into the roof, barrel first, then starting to slide dangerously quickly towards the edge.

Forgetting about her killed captive, Maud hurled herself at Fast, catching her in her teeth by the scruff of her neck and digging her hooves into the roof. Tiles flew in every direction as they came uprooted in Maud's efforts to slow their slide. Fast recovered from her surprise and dug in her hooves as well, driving the pointed daggers of her hoof claws into the roof. Together, they slowed to a gentle stop, mere inches from the edge.

Maud released Fast, nodding once before she turned and trotted purposefully towards Flint, her eyes set on him as squarely as she had in her approach to the lord. "You made me a liar."

Paul threw up his hands. "It tweren't my idea! I swear!"

Flint tossed the crossbow back inside the hatch they had emerged from. "He deserved it. I don't have no regrets."

Maud stood before him with the faintest of frowns. "He gave up. He was helpless. I won."

"So?"

"I promised him he would be safe."

Flint leaned forward. "That there was yer mistake. That wasn't yer promise to ma--"

Maud suddenly jumped up and spun around, connecting her hoof with Flint's face with the side of it, knocking him flat. "Think. He is the master of this area. Now he is dead. Someone else will seize this land, violently. Do you think your neighbors will thank you? Do you think this moment of revenge is worth it? He may not have been good to us, but he kept the town working. Think." She spoke with her same flat tones, but her ire was clear to everyone there. "You are a monster. You are the animal he thought Fast, Tree, and I were."

Paul fell to his knees. "Truly, it wasn't my idea. I don't know how to fight like that, Miss Pie."

Maud turned to look at Paul a moment, then simply nodded.

Fast walked over slowly, clearly in pain, but intact. "I didn't know you had such strong convictions, to say nothing of common sense."

Maud looked Fast over. "You're hurt."

Fast laughed. "I'm hurt, she says. Yes, yes I am, hmm, Sister of Stone, as Druid Hugger would say. I know you didn't plan on it, but his things are yours, Maud. Go take what you want. I'm going inside." She stepped past Maud and the two humans and vanished into the ownerless manor.

Flint pushed up to a seated position. "It ain't gonna be that bad, is it?"

Maud raised a brow at him, then turned and began trotting towards the fallen body. "You've been here longer than I have. You tell me." As she rooted across his body, then turned to go inside, she paused. Flint was looking quite frustrated, and Paul was trying to calm him down. It looked private. She walked past them inside.

The ponies all met each other in the same hallway the duel had occurred in. Tree Hugger frowned with concern at Fast Shadow and began tending to her wounds as best she could without magic. "Did you win?"

Maud stepped in. "It's over."

Fast nodded to Maud. "That it is. This entire area's going to descend into chaos. We should get going. If the lord's back, he's probably got his horses tied up. They're ours now."

Tree Hugger frowned a little. "What, why?"

Maud pointed up. "Flint killed the lord."

Tree Hugger put a hoof in front of her mouth. "I thought they were innocents..."

Maud licked over her lips before shaking her head. "Paul wasn't involved."

The footfalls of the two humans drew their attention as they emerged from the secret passage. Flint put up his hands. "I admit it. I shoulda... Look, I ain't usually in this kinda situation. I'm sorry, alright?"

Paul pointed between himself and Flint. "Not my idea! We're still friends, right?"

Tree Hugger held up a hoof. "Like, don't be that way, man. Flint's your friend. Even if he made a mistake, you owe it to him to help." Paul had the sense to look shamed, and Tree gently smiled. "Flint, what did you do wrong?"

Flint shrugged. "I... Damn it all... Sometimes I guess what's 'obvious' ain't, alright? I shoulda let Maud handle it. She had it under control. I saw a chance for revenge and I took it... I shouldn't have."

Maud nodded lightly. "Don't do it again." She trotted past them towards the front, paused, and looked over her shoulder. "We should go."

Paul pointed at himself. "Me too?"

Tree Hugger tilted her head. "You are our friends, even if you have made a mistake. Like, we all deserve a chance to learn and grow."

With the matter put to rest for the moment, the party left the manor. The horses were waiting outside, and soon were bearing them away, pony and human alike. Maud's calm demeanor and steady posture seemed to please her mount, and she easily coaxed the animal to riding well and surely for her, with Tree Hugger having the hardest time simply holding on and whispering little pleas for her horse to not drop a 'fellow equine'.

Adventure awaited.