Faded Shadows
Chapter 9
Azure Phoenix walked down the dimly lit hallway with his head down in thought. What Agliss had said earlier about giving Zhane a chance was still ringing through his head. Not even the lecture the Castle Architect had given him about burning that door down was on his mind.
"Does he really deserve a second chance?" Azure asked himself. "Celestia seems to think so."
Azure stopped and leaned against the wall.
"Agliss seems to have given him one too. Maybe I should consider it." said Phoenix as he pushed off the wall. He started to walk back down the hall but stopped when he heard somepony yell out.
"I didn't let you die! It was Darkwing's fault you died! He was the one that sent those goon to kill you!"
Azure turned to where the sound originated.
"What?" said Azure as he spread his wings slightly. He took a couple steps down the hall before hearing something else.
"I mourned for you! I avenged you! Why are you doing this?" sounded the voice again.
"That sounds like..." said Azure as he trailed off. He quickly realized from whom the voice belonged to and dashed down the hallway. He stopped at the door at the end of the and set his wings alight. He took a step back and launched himself at the door causing it to open and letting light fill the room.
I closed my eyes and kept my ears shut after that last scream. Whatever this thing was, I didn't want to see it ever again. It looked so much like Poison Spectre but how could it be? Last time I checked she was six feet under and not some creepy zombie. I heard a loud thud come from the door so I decided to take a peek. I immediately saw blue flames and sighed, this was the last thing that I needed. There Azure Phoenix stood in all of his annoying glory, here to save the day again.
"What's happening in here?" he asked as he walked into the room. I took a quick look around me to see if that freaky Poison Spectre was anywhere around. There was nothing else in the room besides Phoenix and myself. The bed where I discovered Spectre was empty with the covers pulled back. I then bent down and grabbed the candle that I had dropped.
"You must have something against doors." I said as I looked at the nice dent in the wood.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "I heard you yelling."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I replied.
Azure let loose a sigh and folded his wings back down.
"Alright then." Azure replied. "Sorry about that."
Azure took one more look around before backing out of the door frame, closing the door behind him. I waited a moment until I could no longer hear his hooves clack on the floor. I put my back against the wall and slid down until I hit the floor. I place my head in my hands then ran them through my hair. Whatever that thing was, it couldn't have been Poison Spectre. I closed my eyes, hoping that whatever that thing was, it didn't return.
Azure Phoenix hurried down the hallway, barreling towards Agliss' room. He was the only person that could give him some insight on what just happened. Or at least, that's what Azure hoped for. Once he had arrived at Agliss' room, he gave three swift knocks and waited there. Moments later the door opened with Agliss standing there.
"Hello Azure Phoenix." he said. "Need something?"
"We need to talk." Azure said as he pushed past Agliss and walked into the room.
"Guess I have no say in the matter." Agliss joked when he closed the door.
"This is actually important." replied Azure.
"Then what is it?" asked Agliss. "Spit it out."
"I was walking the halls when I heard somepony yelling. So I turned and heard it again and recognized it as Zhane. I ran to his room and went in. He was standing against the wall in the dark with his hands over his ears and his eyes closed."
Agliss looked at Azure with a worried stare.
"What was he yelling?" he asked.
"I mourned for you and I avenged you." said Azure. "Then he yelled Why are you doing this. Any idea why?"
"Was there anyone in the room with him?" asked Agliss.
"No, he was by himself."
Agliss rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before stopping.
"Looks like his use of Soul Magic is already starting to effect him." Agliss said.
Azure thought back to the conversation that he had with Agliss years ago. How Agliss had said what Soul Magic could do to a person and how it was responsible for the fall of Oasis.
"What about what he had said?" asked Azure. "Any idea what it was about?"
"Zhane had a partner in crime that helped him out for awhile." started Agliss. "I believe her name was Poison Spectre. All I know is that she was part of the Black Hooves and that she was killed. I believe that Zhane made her a grave outside of Ponyville."
"What about the avenging part?" asked Azure.
"Remember when Zhane came rampaging through the castle in search of Darkwing?" asked Agliss
"Yeah." said Azure.
"That was because Darkwing had killed that pony. Zhane snapped and went straight after him."
"So does that mean he's starting to see things?" asked Azure.
"Maybe." replied Agliss. "We'll need to wait and see. If it starts to get bad, we'll need to take action."
I groaned as I lifted my head out of my hands. I looked out of the barred window of my room to see that morning had come, taking that awful night with it. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and pulled myself up using the wall. I was still in shock about what had happened last night. I kept telling myself over and over that the real Poison Spectre was dead and not roaming this land.
"I gotta go visit her grave soon." I said reminding myself of one more thing to put on my checklist. Number one is to finish whatever Sunbutt needs me to do. Number two is to find Red and catch-up with him. Number three is to go visit Spectre's grave.
"Maybe I should bump that up?" I asked myself. "Maybe that's why she came to torment me last night."
I ran my fingers through my hair as I heard a knock on my dear. Without warning, that happy little griffon, Bloom, bounded into my room.
"The King requests your presence, Zhane!" she sang out. "He even sent some guards to escort you! How nice of him."
"Great." I replied sarcastically. "This is the best day of my life."
"That's the spirit!" she said as she walked out of the room to fetch the guards and in walked two familiar faces. They were part of the High Priestesses security team that survived the trip back.
"Good to see that not everyone from your team died a pincushion." I said trying to poke and prod them. If I could find a small tick then I could work it to my advantage.
"I'm just glad to be alive." replied one of the guards. "I'm also just glad the High Priestess is safe and sound."
I frowned as I realized that any chance I had at messing with these guards just went out the window.
"Take me to King Leo then." I replied with a sigh.
After a very quiet walk while following two feathered towers and a giddy chicken, we arrived at the throne room door. The two guards stepped aside, pushed the door open and shepherded me inside. Once in, I saw King Leo, Agliss, Azure and a bunch of other large griffons that almost sized up to Leo himself gathered around a long table.
"Great, more chickens." I said to myself as I approached the table.
"Ahh." said King Leo. "You've finally arrived."
The Griffon King turned towards the other griffons around the table.
"This is Zhane Black. The one you all have been hearing so much about."
One of the griffons at the table laughed.
"I thought you said that he was a strong warrior. He doesn't look like it."
I looked over to the griffon to get a good look at my attacker. He was tall and bulky, like most of the other griffons. However, the feathers and fur around his body were gray compared to everyone else. Like he was the wise man of the group. Again came a chance to do some poking and prodding.
"That's a lot of talk coming from a geezer like yourself. How can you claim that I'm not a warrior when you're probably not one yourself?"
"Watch your mouth!" he yelled.
"Gotcha." I said to myself.
"Enough you two!" called the King as he turned to me. "Zhane, these are my Generals and Advisers. They help me decide the best action to take against the Rebel Forces."
"I've been meaning to ask." spoke Agliss. "Is it actually Scarhide in charge of the Rebel Forces or is someone else."
At the mention of Scarhide's name, several of the other griffons gave scowling looks.
"I'm glad you brought that up." said Leo as he motioned me to take place next to Agliss at the table. "To answer your question, no, Scarhide is not in charge. He is simply a figure for the people to look to."
"How do you know this?" asked Agliss.
"There are several soldier that are a part of the Rebel Forces that have defected back to us. We use them to keep a tab on all info that runs through the Rebel Headquarters. I'm constantly told that Scarhide reports to a man he calls The Shadow Man. We also know that this Shadow Man is in charge of an organization know as the Faded Shadows. We've only been able to identify one member though and that would be Scarhide."
"I believe that the unicorn named Melody and the Gnoll named Warlord Solomon are members as well." interrupted Agliss.
"What makes you think that?" asked Leo.
"They were pretty buddy-buddy with Scarhide." I said. "They apparently jumped in to rescue him from us."
Agliss nodded in agreement to what I had said.
"Alright." replied Leo. "That makes three members. My insiders claim there's several big players involved with that group. We must find out who they are and eliminate them. They're the reason my people turn against me and I hate to imagine what they have done or will do to other countries."
Everyone around the table agreed in unison.
"But for now, we focus on pushing Scarhide back. They own territory all around us and it's only a matter of time until they make a move for the castle. I propose we break into four groups and take back each location. We move in fast, hit them hard, and defend from reinforcements."
"I oppose this." called one of the Advisers. "Why split into four groups when we could hit them with everything we've got at each spot?"
"Because that would leave the castle open for attack." start Leo. "If we move most of our forces away from the castle and word gets out, we will lose it."
"I like the group plan." said Agliss. "There has to be ways we can slowly chip away at the morale of the Rebels just by doing something at each location."
"That's the plan." said King Leo with a smile. "As of now, there are four major locations that need to be retaken. The East Arches, The Southern Shoreline, Angel Mountain, and The Snow-tipped peaks. Out in the East Arches, I have word that a supply line that runs to and from the Rebel Headquarters. If we were to attack and stop this supply line from reaching this destination, we could starve them out of the East Arches."
King Leo pointed at the location on a map at the center of the table. He then pointed to the next location.
"Next we have the Southern Shoreline." he started. "This place is open land where one can see out for miles in every direction. To take this one, we're going to have to stage an all out attack. We throw some heavy hitters at this place and we should be able to take it."
"I can help with that." said Agliss.
"Excellent." replied Leo. "Now comes one of the more important areas, the Snow-tipped Peak. We believe that one of Scarhide's top Commanders is stationed here at the moment. If we can take him out, this will infuriate Scarhide to the point that he'll end up attacking out of revenge."
"What about Angel Mountain?" I asked looking towards the map at the large mountain towards the north.
"That's the Rebel Headquarters, it'll be the last place we go for." replied Leo.
"I'll take the Snow-Tipped Peak." said Azure Phoenix. "Sounds like an easy Assassination mission."
"Alright." said Leo. "What about you, Zhane?" he asked as he turned to me.
"Uhhhh." I replied not knowing what I should do. The Southern Shorelines was going to be an all out battle and that really isn't my thing. The East Arches sounded like it would take a while to do and the Snow-tipped Peak sounds like it was only a one person task.
"We'll discuss that in private, King Leo." called Agliss as he pulled my ass out of the hot seat.
"Of course, we'll discuss it immediately after this meeting." Leo said, He then turned to his Advisers and Generals. "How does it sound? An attempt to push the Rebels back to their HQ and box them in. If we are successful, then we will have won this bloody war."
"I like it." called one of the Generals. "An offensive they won't be expecting."
The others nodded in agreement.
"Then it's settled and this will be our plan of action. We will reconvene on another day after I have smoothed some of the details out. Until then, you are all dismissed."
Immediately after Leo dismissed the Generals and Advisers, the one I had poked at earlier left in a hurry. Shortly after, the remaining griffons left until all that remained were Agliss, Azure, Leo and myself.
"You sure got under his feathers." said Leo as he gave a slight chuckle.
"It was his fault." I said as I paused. "Well, maybe a little of mine as well."
"You and your mouth." said Agliss as he rolled his eyes.
"Bite me." I said replying to the old man.
"Enough of that." said Leo as he too started to roll his eyes. "Let's discuss Zhane's placement."
"Well." began Agliss. "As you know, he's only got four weeks to stay here. The other problem lies in combat efficiency."
Leo looked over to me expecting a retort only to see me with my mouth shut.
"What was it that you heard about Zhane?" Agliss asked.
"I heard that not only was he the first human to be seen in a long time, he was incredibly powerful due to a certain type of magic he wielded." replied Leo.
"Well not anymore." said Agliss.
"What do you mean?" asked Leo.
"He has since lost all ability to use this magic." replied Agliss.
"Then why not teach him another type of magic?" asked Leo. "I have several experts here he could learn from."
"That is out of the question." said Agliss. "I cannot risk Zhane having that kind of power. At least not right now."
"Then what do you propose?" asked Leo.
Agliss put his hand under his chin and throwing himself deep in thought. I looked over to see Azure Phoenix doing the same.
"I guess we could..." said Agliss as he trailed off.
"I've got an idea." said Azure Phoenix.
Everyone in the room look at him awaiting what he had to say.
"I'll take him with me."