As he and the mercenary continued their travels down the dust-coated road, Black Flag was unsure if he should be excited or worried about the journey. The road ahead was going to be interesting, that was for absolute certain, but it was also gonna be quite dangerous. As if that wasn't obvious enough. After all, it would be a dumb assumption to make that everything was just sunshine, murder, and rainbows. But really, if they were just going to settle some squabble between nobles, how bad could it be? Actually, he never did find out what they were going to do.
"Steel," Black Flag began to speak somewhat quietly. The only response he got was a subtle shift of the Earth pony's eyes in his direction, which kinda unnerved him actually. Steel could have just said something, instead of giving him a look that just gave off the impression he was going to split him in two. Would probably be a lot easier. "are we going to be part of that scuffle between Northern Light and Glistening Gem? I'm just curious about that, is all."
"Yep," Steel replied nonchalantly. He didn't even bother to look in his new underling's general direction. He just kept on making his way down the dusty path without breaking his stride even for a moment.
"Uh, was hoping that you would tell me which side we are taking in the fight." The more that Black Flag began to think about the situation, the more he began to question why those two nobles were even resorting to the use of soldiers for this petty little shenanigan. Couldn't they just settle it with a talk, or by forcing the scrolls down Northern Light's throat until he swore that he would stop telling ponies to send them? Whichever one would have been a fine solution, though Black Flag would have preferred the latter option. Maybe they were just ridiculously evil assholes who got off to the bloodshed of their soldiers. He honestly didn't know.
"Why does it matter to you?" The Earth pony retorted with an annoyed scowl. Black Flag thought it was pretty obvious why he cared; so he didn't wind up fighting for the wrong side of the battle. Though, to be fair, both Northern Light and Glistening Gem where pretty damn dickish, so it wasn't like he was hoping to join either pony's ranks. It was like he said, he was just curious. "We fight for whichever side is paying us more. It's as simple as that. That is the life of a mercenary." That made some sense to Black Flag. It wasn't like they could be too picky about the jobs they took, lest they wind up completely penniless within a week or two.
"Alright, that's fair enough, I guess." Black Flag said before he suddenly went completely silent for a few minutes or so, allowing himself to enjoy the gentle ambience of the world around the two. The soft sound of Shattering Steel's thick cloak brushing along the ground with every step he took. The sweet songs of the birds chirping happily in the trees that flanked the road on either side. A gentle breeze caressing their cheeks soothingly. However, the peaceful silence was suddenly obliterated when Black Flag decided to ask a seemingly harmless and innocent question. And immediately after, he would be wishing he had just kept his damn mouth sealed firmly shut.
"So, Steel. Something I have been wondering for a while now is what happened to your father? The stories and books I have read about you kind of skim over that detail; one day you're fighting by his side and the next you're on your own. Did something happen to him or what?" Almost immediately, Steel stopped dead in his tracks, but he didn't stay still for very long at all. Without any warning, he whirled around and struck the other stallion square in the jaw. With such brute Earth pony strength behind the punch, the unicorn was toppled in that single blow. As pain shot through his mouth, he released his two longswords from his magic's grip, and they skidded across the ground for several seconds.
"Don't you ever mention my father again, or the next blow will be twice as hard. Are we perfectly clear about that?" Steel growled, pure hatred burning brightly in his gaze. Black Flag was in a stupor, unable to so much as groan in pain even as his jawbone felt like somepony had taken a large hammer and slammed it against his jaw as hard as they could. It hurt unlike anything he ever experienced before, but he did not cry. He had screwed up badly enough already, he wasn't going to anger Steel like that ever again. "Are we clear?" Steel shouted, shaking the unicorn from his daze. Black Flag was in too much pain to talk, all he could do was give a small, slow nod.
From high up in the clouds, a certain white Pegasus was watching the events below unfold, and he was absolutely furious. His blood was boiling to a point that it was a miracle it didn't just evaporate into steam. He eyed his crossbow, which he was cradling closely to his chest, and contemplated swooping down there and planting a bolt in between that worthless mercenary's eyes. No, not even between the eyes. It would go through his leg, leaving him a crippled mess. However, he did not give in to the temptation. His logical side took over and rationalized that he hadn't ever used one of these things before in his life, so there was a good chance he would either miss or fumble with the weapon, leaving him wide open to getting sliced open by Shattering Steel's sword. And if that happened, what would stop Steel from beating Black Flag to death? Or...or worse. He shook his head, and turned his gaze away from the two. He was not going to think about that horrible possibility. He would put an end to this before that ever happened. With that horrid thought in his head, he turned around and took off from the fluffy cloud, and began to fly back towards Hawk's Rest. He had work to do.
Black Flag slowly stood up, his legs feeling like they were made of some gelatinous mass. That punch did a real number on him, and he thought it would be best to not talk to Steel for the rest of the journey until they came to a stopping point. It would hurt his jaw less anyways. He picked up his weapons from the ground and hurried to catch up to Steel, who had once again started to leave him behind. Red Ink was right, this whole thing was a mistake.
For not even the briefest moments did Red Ink veer from his course. Even as his body was weighed down by the bolts, he just kept on a straight line towards Concoctions and Wizardry. It was only a fifteen minute trip by flight, but to Red Ink, it felt like it was taking forever. He did reach his destination eventually, however. It was a small hut, decorated with a bright palette of color to an almost painful degree. The owner, Xithicide, may have been a very nice Zebra but he had awful taste in decor. Bleh, whatever.
Ignoring the store owner's terrible style, Red Ink made his way inside. As far as the eye could see, there were potions, spellbooks, and other such magical trinkets. There were even a few pieces of magic armor and artifacts, which he was certain would in no way turn on their users when their magic was unleashed. Nope, no chance of that happening at all.
"Hello Red," came the voice of the owner from the back of the hut. He was a rather slender Zebra, with his limbs covered in medical bandaging. Red Ink never found out why that was. Maybe he was a klutz and spilled random crap all over himself. Red Ink didn't particularly care at the moment. "How may I help you today?"
"Do you happen to have any kind of magic that could make me fly at a faster speed or something like that?" Red inquired as he propped his crossbow against the wall and began to look around the store.
"Yeah, I think I have just the thing for you." The Zebra replied cheerily, trotting over to a suit of armor that glistened in an alluring manner. As he approached the armor, Red Ink could see that it was beautifully crafted. Engravings of feathers lined the armor elegantly, and the metal appeared to be completely untouched. It looked brand new, in fact. It was white as snow, too. It would go wonderfully with his mane and coat. Because hey, just because he planned on crippling a pony with a crossbow and leaving them to rot away in the middle of nowhere didn't mean he couldn't look fashionable while doing it.
"So, uh, how much?" Red Ink asked, fearing that the price was going to be quite hefty. The Zebra examined the armor for a few minutes, weighing out the value.
"I would say about five hundred bits or so would cover the price of the full suit. This is magic armor, after all. Not just some scraps of copper, either." Red Ink sighed. He needed this armor, but he did not have anything close to the price.
"Please drop the price," Red Ink replied, hoping that he would do it out of the good of his heart. Though, he had a sneaking suspicion that Xithicide wasn't going to budge. He was a real stick in the mud when it came to costs. "I need it to save a friend of mine, and I need it fast." Unfortunately, Red's hunch was completely right. The shopkeeper just shook his head.
"Would you drop the price if I...you know," Red replied, his voice taking on a somewhat sultry tone. It had been a long time, but he was willing to do anything to succeed in keeping Black Flag safe, and this could be his only shot. It was time to go back to his roots.
