The Right Talon of Verlaxion
Snow littered every inch of the humble mountain village and the pine forest surrounding it.
Nevertheless, the bitter cold didn't stop the unicorn mercenary from sweating viciously. His lungs heaved and his breaths wheezed out in fitful spurts while he galloped—panicked—from the southwest edge of the clearing towards the very center of the village. All around, snow descended upon the township, settling on the stone-piled fenches, rich oak lampposts, and rows upon rows of half-sunken turf houses. The stallion galloped over the grassy roof of one such turf house—but his fetlock tripped on a root and his body went tumbling down the other end with frustrated little grunts.
The stallion tumbled to an eventual stop, surrounded by abandoned farm equipment and snow drenched burrows. Not wasting a second, he lurched back on all fours and continued his hobbling sprint northeast. Across a graveyard full of ancient craggy stones, a wooden stave sanctuary lingered. Several vertical sills lined the walls between thick corner posts, and multiple slitted ceilings rose up and up, with the summits ending in many sharp steeples. Ancient wooden effigies of windigos protruded from the many roofs, their spread wings scraping the frost-laden sky.
At the front doors to this place of worship, several unicorns in mercenary gear lingered in a tight circle, aiming their floating spears and machetes at a terrorized group of innocent civilians. One by one, they forced the families and foals inside, threatening them at blade-point. Upon hearing the heavy hoofsteps of the running stallion, they glanced southwest.
The pony stumbled towards them, coughing, struggling for breath. He slumped up against an ancient gravestone and wheezed... wheezed. “We... have... a problem...” he eventually sputtered.
“The Hell's the matter with you?” grumbled another stallion as he shoved the last of the whimpering villagers inside. “You're supposed to be at the city gates, watching for straggling workers.”
“Where are the rest of the bunch?” asked another mercenary, shading his eyes with his blade. “I thought the boss had four of you out there keeping watch!”
“Dammit—I'm trying to tell you... the other three are gone!” the panicked pony wheezed.
“Gone?!” One stallion stammered.
The other took a bold step forward, frowning. “Our boss has worked for over a year to get this operation to work! We have every citizen under lock and key. Now is the Magistrate sending us gold or isn't she?!”
“They didn't send a single bit!” the breathless pony whimpered. “They... they sent the Right Talon!”
“Wait...”
“You mean...” The other two thugs gaped, blinking. “...the Right Talon of Verlaxion?”
“It's them! Who else could it be?! They swept up the other guys like they were rice kernels!” Gulping, the runner limped towards them. “We have to give up! Tell the boss we're in it too deep! Any moment and—”
The air lit up with squawks and whistling wingfeathers.
Shadows streaked over the snowy lawn around the sanctuary.
“Oh no...” The stallion gasped. His pupils shrank and his sweat in even thicker rivulets. “Th-they're here! Oh Verlaxion... oh blessed Verlaxion forgive us—!”
“Forgive yourself!” The two stallions rushed back to the open doors of the sanctuary. “Everyone down! It's the Right Talon! Brace yourselves!”
“Wait... WAIT!” The frazzled unicorn galloped towards them. “Let me in!”
“You've done enough as it is!” And the other thugs slammed the door shut—
FLASH! He held the frame open with all the magic he could muster. Lurching forward, he fought and struggled to squeeze his way in through the door. “Please! You can't let them take me! Not after all we've been through!”
“Rnnnghh... let... go... of the d-door!”
“You don't understand!” He sobbed, struggling to slip his way into the sanctuary. More shadows streaked over him. Ear-piercing shrieks lit the air in multiple tones. “The things I've done! Mudtop! Rust! They won't throw a pony like me into the Frozen Shelves! They'll eviscerate me and feed me my own kidneys!”
“Dammit! For the last time—”
“I'm not letting go!” The stallion inched his way forward. “Just let me in and I swear I'll—”
Fwoooosh! There was a flurry of feathers and glinting silver. A pair of talons gripped his flank, lifting his lower body violently off the ground.
“Aaaaah!” He shrieked, his muzzle open wide. “No! No! Don't let them take me! I'm sorry! Oh Verlaxion I'm—!” With a vicious yank, his body was jerked upwards. His horn slammed against the lip of one of the sanctuary's many rooftops, and he spat blood while his figure disappeared out of view in a blur.
Gasping, the thugs inside the sanctuary jerked back. They collectively slammed the doors shut, then barricaded it with thick oak beams.
Inside, dozens of frightened, weeping citizens sat in the center of the floor, surrounded by vertical posts and many levels of horizontal beams engraved with hundreds of age-old snowflake and wendigo motifs. A group of fifteen thugs marched around, carrying crossbows, blades, and bludgeons. Upon hearing the commotion at the door, several thugs approached the two stallions who were barricading it.
“What in Goddess' name is going on out there?”
“It... it's Ray.” One thug gulped. “They... they got him.”
“And the others,” added the other stallion.
“Who did?”
“The Right Talon of Verlaxion!”
“The Right Talon of Verlaxion?! Here?! In Pine Prefecture?!”
“Look, I'm just as shocked as you are!”
“How in Verlaxion's sleet did we reel in them?!”
“Jee...” One thug gazed at the huddled, weeping villagers. “I wonder.”
A particularly unhappy unicorn with flowing red mane hair shuffled up, wielding a double-barbed crossbow. “What's all the buzz about?! Why haven't you stuffed the townsfolk downstairs yet?!”
“Boss...” One stallion gulped. “Cogz,” he murmured. “It's... it's the Right Talon of Verlaxion. They're in the skies above us as we speak. They just took Ray and all of the other dudes standing guard.”
Cogz's nostrils flared. “Yeah?! So?”
“Boss... it's the Right Talon—”
“I don't care if they're Verlaxion's Right Testicle!” Cogz pointed with his crossbow, making his lackeys flinch. “This entire sanctuary is sitting on ten thousand pounds of unignited Dredge Coal! There's more fuel here than in all of the surrounding four Prefectures combined. If the Magistrate doesn't see it fit to negotiate, then I don't see it fit to not send each of her citizens and their organs sky high!”
“Boss!” one stallion hissed. “If you light that shit up, we go too!”
“If the Right Talon is really here on behalf of the Council, they they ain't about to let that happen.” Cogz marched past the citizens, shoving several of the weeping families over and grazing their necks with his crossbolt. “There's too much blood at stake for the Magistrate's reputation to carry on. And Pine Prefecture needs the Dredge Coal to make it through the Month of Thawing.”
“I-I don't think they're gonna care about what's at stake, sir...”
“Then that's their problem,” Cogz said.
Just then, the slatted rooftops echoed with the sound of scraping talons. The mercenaries jerked while the citizens gasped.
Staring straight up, Cogz snarled; “Do you hear me?!” He cocked an arrow down the sight of his crossbow. “Right Talon of Verlaxion?! I am the left hoof of don't-give-a-shit!” He aimed his weapon straight up at one of the many ceilings beyond the carved wooden beams. “I have an entire village of dribbling innocents in here... and I'll blow them and this sanctuary sky high if you don't buzz off! We want the Magistrate's money and we want it now!” He fired his crossbolt.
Thwiffft!
Outside, the barb pierced one of the slatted rooftops, hooking in place.
Chunkt!
Its sharp tip came to a stop just centimeters from an inquisitive griffon's beak.
“... ... ...” He blinked calmly at the arrowhead, his magenta hawkeyes studying the projectile through the sockets of his silver helmet. “... ... ...hmm.” He spread a pair of yellow wings out from beneath his serrated armor. The brown and red plumage of his feathers formed a stark contrast against the snow white drift in the air, but his speed made up for it. Thwisssssssh! In a blazing arc, the griffon leapt off the stave sanctuary and landed in the graveyard just outside the place of worship.
Three other griffons in razor-sharp armor looked up from where they had Ray's unconscious body bound and gagged.
“Get a good ear on them, Lieutenant Keris?” a female griffon with blue feathers asked.
“Hard not to, Starstorm,” Keris replied. He paced along the outer lengths of the graveyard, his eyes trained on the wooden sanctuary and its steeples. “They might be running a tight terrorist operation out here in Pine Prefecture, but their leader is one snowball short of an avalanche.” His beak nostrils calmly exhaled vapors into the snowy air. “He's hot-tempered and ready to burst at anytime... and that's not the kind of horn we want aimed at several piles of flammable Dredge Coal.”
“Do they seriously have all of that stuff stacked down in the sanctuary's cellar?” asked another of the three.
A third glanced at him. “Well, what do you think, Windburst?” He cocked his crossbow with pale-white talons. “Remember, we're dealing with a desperate lot. This stunt here was their last method of squeezing money out of the Magistrate.”
With a sigh, the second griffon flexed his gold feathers. “Well... too bad we couldn't get anything out of this punk.” He gave Ray's body a kick with his talon. “It'll be another hour at least before he comes to. I sh-should have been more careful when grabbing him.”
“Don't be hard on yourself, Raptr,” Keris said. “That's the Commander's job.”
“Where is she anyways?” Starstorm asked. “You'd think she'd be done with the interrogations by now.”
“Hmmmff...” Windburst smirked beneath his beak. “You know the Commander. She's never done with interrogations.”
“Enough chatter.” Keris strafed around the south edge of the church. “We need to figure out a way to get the citizens out.”
“That's going to be difficult with all that ordinance in the cellar,” Starstorm said. “The Council will never forgive us if we spray half of Pine Prefecture with bloody collateral.”
“Come on...” Windburst adjusted his helmet and winked. “With our reputation?”
“Don't let pride get the best of you,” Keris murmured, finishing his survey of the place. “It's an even greater enemy than heartless, Goddess-forsaken mercenaries.” After a deep breath, he pointed at the sanctuary. “Alright. There are two entrances. Right here at the front... then a spot behind the altar out back. The rear door is closest to the pine forest, so let's expect them to make a run for it there if things go south. There's nothing in that direction but stone crags, followed by a sheer drop into the snowy ravine. So they won't have much length to go.”
“Well, at least it'll work in our favor,” Starstorm said.
Raptr squinted through his helmet. “What makes you think it's going to come down to them fleeing the sanctuary in panic?”
“Are you kidding, rookie?” Windburst slurred. “Our Commander is overseeing this operation, after all.”
A sky-piercing shriek echoed overhead, filling the space between the treelines.
Keris looked up. “Speaking of which...”
Fwooooosh! A set of silver-plated paws and talons landed heavily in the snow. A second later, three bruised and bloodied equine bodies rolled onto the cemetery grounds, groaning in pain.
With a sigh, Raptr shuffled over and began binding the mercenaries' limbs. “I see that went as smoothly as usual.”
“Get anything out of them, Commander?” Starstorm asked.
A deep female voice replied in a calm tone: “Nothing but blood.” The figure turned to face Keris. “Lieutenant. Report.”
Keris pointed at the sanctuary. “I count fifteen mercenaries inside the sanctuary. They have all but ten of the total village's population count locked up inside with them.”
“What of the missing ten?”
“They're holed up in a burrow two spaces down,” Starstorm explained. “I smelled them before all the thugs even ran in here.”
“Then they should be safe there while we deal with the leader of the terrorists. Windburst? The Dredge Coal?”
“It's all underground—in the cellar right beneath the sanctuary,” he replied. “Commander, if we don't negotiate with them, they're threatening to blow it all up. The whole town will go with it.”
“That won't happen.” Silver-laced talons scraped across the cemetery. “The three I interrogated stopped being atheists the moment I broke through their skin. These mercenaries are bigger cowards than idiots. We need to strike fast and strike hard. Panic will do the rest of the work for us.”
“Commander...” Keris cleared his throat. “The fact that they've got control of Dredge Coal this far out...” His magenta eyes narrowed. “They couldn't have seized it on their own. I suspect a connection on the inside.”
“Now's not the time, Keris...”
“But—”
“Right now, the safety of these Pine Prefecture citizens are our most chief concern. We can discuss your conspiracy theories another time. Right now, I need you working with me one hundred percent. Is that understood?”
Keris took a deep breath, then bowed low. “Yes, Commander. I am your Claw.”
“And I am the Talon.” Scraping limbs. “Are they aware of our presence yet?”
“Uhm...” Raptr gulped, glancing over at Ray's body. “And a half.”
“Very well. Circle the Sanctuary while I get into position. Lieutenant?”
“Yes, Commander?” Keris asked.
“Get their attention. Make them mad. I want to hear the king of thieves open his asenine mouth.”
“As you wish.” With a ruffle of his red-and-brown feathers, Keris turned towards the sanctuary. “Intruders! Sackers of Pine Prefecture!” Windburst, Raptr, and Starstorm flew into place while he continued shouting: “Hear my words!”
Inside the stave building, the thugs stood in a wary circle around the citizens. The villagers trembled while Keris' booming voice rattled the wooden sills of the structure.
“Give yourselves up, and you shall be shipped safely—and alive—to the gravel colonies of the Frozen Shelves! Resist... or harm the villagers in any way, shape, or form, and you face the wrath of the Right Talon of Verlaxion! The Goddess does not easily forgive those who spit in the face of Her mercy! Let it be understood, though. You have all committed grave crimes here... and you will be forced to endure much trials and labor before your sins are forgiven in the sight of the Council. Whether or not you get to live through your incarceration is up to you! This is the moment to decide what—”
“No... you listen!” Cogz hollered, loading another crossbolt as he stomped across the sanctuary. “This is your moment to decide, you stinkin' piles of molting feathers!”
“B-boss...” One thug gulped. “I wouldn't say such things if I were y—”
“Shut up!” Cogz scuffled to a stop above a trap door. “Are you hearing me, ya turkey vultures?!” He lifted the panel with a dull creak, exposing several crates full of black ore and tightly-packed coal. The villagers gasped and wept as he unraveled a long, flammable fuse and pulled out a piece of flint. “I'm just two scratches away from sending this entire dayum church sky high! I didn't come to Pine Prefecture to murder ponies! You just raised the bar by showing up, ya beak-freaks! You say the Council is all about 'forgiving sins,' huh?! Well, think about what'll be resting on your shoulders forever if you cross me! I want you shitheads out of here and I want the Magistrate's gold! Now!”
Silence.
Cogz glared up at the ceiling beams overhead. “Well?! Did you even hear me, butt turkeys?! I'm telling you... if you don't get your filthy tail-feathers out of my mane, I'll light this place up! It'll be Unification Day one week early on account of you! And who's gonna be around to celebrate, huh?!”
More silence.
“Hello?!”
“Are... are they even there?” one thug stammered.
“Are you friggin' kidding me?” another snarled. “Of course they are there!”
“But the boss just said—”
“You think they'll negotiate!”
“Shhhhh!” Cogz hissed at the others. “Shuddup and grow some balls! All of you!”
“I... I can't do this...” One thug stumbled backwards, close to tears.
“Get a hold of yourself, Krem.”
“N-no... you don't understand...” Krem dropped his bludgeon altogether and collapsed against the wall of the sanctuary. He clutched his muzzle while hyperventilating. “It's n-not just our bodies at risk... but our souls!”
“Krem... I swear...” Cogz snarled across the way. “If you don't shut up...”
“Don't you g-get it?” Krem whimpered. “Even if the griffons fly away... they're... they're still the Right Talon of Verlaxion! The Goddess does not forgive, Cogz!”
“Shhhh! Dammit, Krem—”
“Oh Verlaxion, forgive me...” Krem face-hoofed, whimpering. “Verlaxion forgive us all—”
CRASSH! A silver-plated talon shoved in through the wooden sills behind him, grabbing his face and neck.
“Snrkkkkg-grlllglggg!” he sputtered for breath, his muzzle bleeding in multiple places. Krem shook... thrashed... and then—Smash! Smash! SMASH!—his body was viciously yanked outside, leaving a tiny crack in the wall of the sanctuary.
Utter silence filled the place of worship.
The thugs gaped, wide-eyed. The villagers shivered quietly. Cogz blinked several times.
The fresh hole lingered. Soft flakes of snow drifted through the narrow slit.
“Krem...?” One thug shuffled towards the sight, his blade levitating high. “...Kr-krem?” He gulped. “... ... ...buddy?”
More silence.
The thugs looked at each other.
Cogz frowned. He opened his muzzle to say something—
CRACK! The hole exploded, and a glinting body with silver wing-blades glided in. The serrated armor sliced the flesh of over six thugs. SL-SL-SLINK! In the blink of an eye, nearly half of the mercenaries had fallen down, screaming. Blood puddled across the sanctuary floor... along with no less than three lopped limbs. A pair of unicorns grasped their bloodied stubs, howling in agony.
Scrkkkk! Silver-embossed talons dug into the floor, and the Commander's body came to an icy stop in the midst of the terrorists. Fresh vapors of heat wafted off the blood that now coated her armor.
Cogz and several other thugs stumbled backwards.
“... ... ...” CL-CLAKK! The Commander's wing blades retracted into her armor, revealing lithe feathers of silver and blue plumage. She stood up straight, neck joints crackling. At last, a pair of charcoal-brown eyes glared coldly out from beneath her silver helmet. “I am Commander Seraphimus,” she said. “The Right Talon of Verlaxion. Surrender, and your putrid lives will be spared. Resist... and you forfeit your limbs... as well as the souls that they're attached to.”
The remaining thugs trembled.
Cogz gnashed his teeth. “We will not—”
Clakkk! Seraphimus aimed her forelimb out, exposing a circular array of spring-loaded razor darts. “Surrender. NOW!”
Just as her voice coldly echoed across the wooden beams, several thugs dropped their weapons and shuffled forward.
“Kneel along the southern wall...” Seraphimus aimed at them with her armband. “Hooves down and horns dim.”
Cogz glanced at his surrending thugs, then at the trap door.
Seraphimus' brown eyes caught him. “Don't—!”
Grunting, the criminal boss made a lunge for the fuse.
P-pffft! Seraphimus fired several projectiles.
Using telekinesis, Cogz yanked over a gasping thug. The blades embedded into the shrieking mercenary's flesh while Cogz used him as a shield.
Seraphimus cursed under her breath.
With one scrap of the flint, Cogz produced sparks, lighting the fuse. A stream of sparkling embers threaded its way towards the flammable payload beneath the sanctuary.
Seraphimus retracted her armband and flew forward, launching her body at the burning fuse.
In the meantime, Cogz made a run for it. “Go! Go!” He hollered at a few panicked thugs running alongside him. “Grab as much meat as you can!” As he said this, he levitated a yelping blank flank filly off the floor. A family wept in horror, reaching out for their foal. With a grunt, Cogz kicked them back and burst his way out the rear door. Three other thugs ran out, levitating living victims as they fled the sanctuary.
Meanwhile, Seraphimus was busy stamping the fuse out. She managed to extinguish it before it could reach the Dredge Coal. She shuddered, her blue and silver tail feathers drooping.
Through the fresh hole she had made, Raptr and Keris dove in. Raptr grimaced at the dismembered thugs while Keris calmly flew over the blood. “Commander! Are you okay?”
“The sanctuary's saved, but there are suspects loose.” Seraphimus flew back to ground level. “What's more, they have hostages.”
“Did you get a body count?”
“Four thugs and four hostages. One innocent per terrorist.” Seraphimus exhaled heavily. “The ringleader is among them.”
“Go get 'em, boss!” Raptr said, already binding the thugs who had surrendered. “Windburst and Starstorm are still out there!”
“I'm not concerned about the terrorists. No prey ever eludes the Right Talon of Verlaxion,” Seraphimus murmured while marching out.
“We'll wrap up things here, Commander,” Keris said, assisting Raptr. He glanced at the wounded and maimed thugs, then smirked in Seraphimus' direction. “I don't suppose that one of these days we'll actually arrest our suspects with all of their lives intact?”
“What lives?” Seraphimus slurred. FWOOOSH! She flew out in a deathly blur.
On the far end of the sanctuary, four panicked thugs made four panicked tracks. Cogz led the way, galloping as swiftly as he could while levitating a filly to his right and a crossbow to his left. His ears ached from the wailing shrieks of the foal in his magical grip, but he didn't let that break his stride. Turning around, he stared back—breathless—at the stave sanctuary. He spotted his three comrades galloping after him, dragging hostages of their own.
“Move your lousy flanks!” he hollered. “We'll lose them in the forest!”
“But b-boss!” one thug stammered. “The ravine!”
“Do you wanna make it out of here or don't you?!”
“Of course I do! I just—” The thug's words were cut short the moment Windburst's pale body swooped down and snatched him up in a blur. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!” His shrieks grew distant as his body flew skyward. The thug's hostage rolled safely across the snow, shivering.
“Oh Goddess!”
“Move, everypony! Move!”
“Wingflaps! You hear that? They're everywh—” Starstorm glided low, contacted a thug's body, then slammed him mercilessly through a crumbling gravestone. “Ooof!”
“Dammit!” Cogz hollered, turning to gallop towards the nearest treeline. “Dammit Dammit!”
“Boss! We can split up!” The last remaining thug looked aside as they threaded the first of many snow-pelted trunks. “Lose them in the trees—” WHAM! A silver streak impacted his spine. The thug flew forward, his neck snapping at a grotesque angle against a wooden stump. He fell down hard, his dead body dropping the panicked little colt in his grasp.
Sneering, Cogz concentrated through his horn, lifted the colt up, and carried both innocent foals with him into the forest. He hobbled and lurched through the frosted pine, his hooves crunching across the frozen floor.
“Mmmmm... I want my Mommmmmyyy!” the filly sobbed, joined shortly by the sobbing colt.
“Shut up! Just shut up ya little snots!” Despite his venomous growling, Cogz sweated cold. He looked left and right, seeing nothing but ghostly bones of wintry wood. Palpitating, he followed the howling of wind, sprinting up a ragged incline. Here, the trees grew more and more crooked, and Cogz stubbed his fetlocks against layers of exposed rock and limestone. “Rnnngh! Augh! Dammit! Where's the friggin' ravine, I swear to—”
Woooosh! A silver streak rolled by him.
“...!” He spun about, hovering both foals in the air. His eyes darted about, piercing the vapors that emanated from his sweating muzzle. “... ... ...don't even think about it!” He gulped, but nevertheless hollered: “Show your stupid eagle face one more time... and I'll bash their brains together!” He levitated both foals—skull to skull. “I'll stain your legacy with their blood! You want that?! Eh?! You psycho pigeon?!”
Woooosh! The silver streaked behind him this time.
He spun again, snarling. “What is it?! You're wanting me to talk?! It's not going to happen! Do you hear me?! A contract is a contract! We mercenaries hold a higher honor than you ever will! You... friggin' Council slaves!”
Woooooosh! “Release the children...”
Cogz twirled, wide-eyed and hyperventilating.
Feathers. Whistling. Seraphimus' words rolled off the snow and trees. “Release the children, and I will let you live.” More blurs. More streaks. Cogz was trembling at this point. “Verlaxion's grace has been extended to you for the last time. Refuse... and death will be only the beginning of your punishment.”
Cogz gritted his teeth, trotting backwards. “You think you know what it means to be damned?” He shook his head. “Once you've lived through the shiet I have, you'd spit on 'mercy' too.”
Silence.
“Well?! What's it going to be?!” Cogz continued backtrotting. He flung the foals around in his telekinetic grip. “I know you don't give a crap about my life! But what of theirs, oh high and mighty Talon?! You're willing to risk damning yourself?! Huh?!” Suddenly, he nearly slipped. He looked over his shoulder, squinting into bright sunlight.
A massive ravine full of frost-covered slopes loomed beneath him. The reflected light was positively blinding.
Seething, he looked ahead—and gasped.
Seraphimus calmly stood on the edge of the forest, facing the cliff. Staring him down. She didn't move a muscle under her serrated silver armor.
Growling, Cogz dropped the colt to the ground. He planted his hoof down on the side of the pony's face. Meanwhile, he raised a crossbolt to the floating filly's head. “Well... this is it. What will it be?”
Seraphimus stared, her charcoal brown eyes narrow and calm.
“Say something!” Cogz hollered to hide his own trembles. “Squawk! Shriek like a parrot!” He tickled the trigger of the crossbow with his magic. “Or do you actually think you're fast enough to beat me to the—” the stallion blinked in mid-speech.
Thwifft! Seraphimus fired a dart milliseconds before his eyes reopened. When Cogz' vision returned, he saw nothing but blood. Panicking, he fired a pulse of mana. Unfortunately for him, a silver dart was embedded in his horn.
POW! The horn exploded, showering blood and alicornia all over the stallion's screaming body. He hobbled backwards, tripped, and fell over the edge. The filly in his grasp fell too—shrieking.
Fwoooosh! Seraphimus was there in a blur, sweeping the filly up in her talons. She hovered in place, holding the foal close. “Shhhhhh...” The griffon's eyes finally closed, her tone taking on a breathy murmur. “Shhhhhh...” She levitated back towards the cliffside, stroking the trembling foal's mane. “It's alright, child. It's alright. I've got you.”
The filly's whimpers lessened. She buried her face in Seraphimus' exposed down feathers beneath her armor.
The Commander landed, placing the filly down safely beside the colt. She brushed the other foal's mane back, smiling calmly at both of them. Then... standing up... Seraphimus faced the cliffside. Her smile had vanished, and she strolled icily forward. The two children watch, blinking in awe.
As Seraphimus approached the lip of the ravine, she heard a whimpering, sniveling voice. She peered over the edge, spotting Cogz's bloody body. Miraculously, the stallion hadn't fallen into the frosted depths below. Instead, he clung to the cliff's edge, his mane and skull drenched in blood.
“Oh Goddess...” Cogz whimpered. “Oh Goddess Verlaxion... please... please help me...” He shook and shuddered as his grip started to slip. “I entreat you... I humbly beg you...” Cogz gargled on his own blood. “Forgive m-me for my sins. I was so wrong... so very wrong... and I pray for your intercession... please, Goddess.” At last, he slipped one too many times. “I-I don't want to die! Verlaxion—!” And he fell, screaming.
Grip! A sharp talon grasped his fetlock.
“Guh!” Cogz dangled in place, eyes wide beneath a curtain of blood. He looked up, spotting Seraphimus' glinting helmet and beak. “Oh... oh praise Verlaxion...!” The stallion's whimpering voice turned to breathy chuckles. He sputtered into the drifting snow. “She heard me... sh-she answered my prayers! Praise her... praise her for her m-mercy!”
Seraphimus took a deep breath. “Yes, my little pony. Verlaxion heard your prayers...”
Cogz gasped—for he was suddenly hoisted up until he stared muzzle-to-beak with the Commander.
Seraphimus hissed into his face: “...she sent me.” And she dropped him.
“Wh-whaa—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Cogz fell, flailed, and plummeted for hundreds of screaming feet... until he ended up a crimson splotch on the white valley below.
Seraphimus stood up, cracked her neck joints, then strolled back towards the forest.
Keris flew in, catching his breath. Spotting the two foals, he instantly walked over and stood behind them, folding his wings over to warm the pair. “The sanctuary's secure, Commander. All criminals are detained, and Raptr is fixing their wounds so that they can be questioned later.”
“Very good, Lieutenant,” Seraphimus said.
“Windburst and Starstorm are searching for the remaining citizens. They're holed up in the burrows somewhere.”
“I'll tell them to be gentle about reaching out to them. The townsfolk have been traumatized enough already.”
“No doubt.” Keris then glanced at a dismembered horn lying in a bloodied pile of snow. He sighed. “I guess that rules out questioning the ringleader.”
“A wretch like that had no answers to give,” Seraphimus said. “Only blood.”
“Are you certain of that, Commander?”
Seraphimus stopped cold. She turned and pointed at the two trembling youngsters under Keris' wings. “As sure as they are still alive.”
Keris gulped, then nodded. “Understood, Commander.”
Seraphimus took a deep breath. She shuffled over, picked one of the foals up, and held him close. “Do not worry. We will return you to your families. Verlaxion's mercy is reserved for those innocent and faithful.”
The colt looked up at her, trembling. “Do... do you really know the Goddess personally?”
Keris smirked.
At that, Seraphimus smiled, and she tapped the end of the colt's nose. “I meet Her everyday... in the eyes of warm souls like you, my child.” That said, she retracted the rest of her armor and glanced at the Lieutenant. “Let us return, Keris, and bring these young ones to where it's warm.”
“Aye, Commander.”
“Our presence in Pine Prefecture is still required.”
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That guy didn't seem very friendly
Anyone else getting Goblin vibes from chapter 1 of Yaerfaerda? Maybe the Right Talon are benevolent and reasonable instead of, you know highly skilled zealot warriors who are about to be out to kill Rainbow... who am I kidding, that's exactly what they are.
EDIT: Since no one else seems to be taking note of this, there are Windigo statues on a church. This is Rohbredden, therefore it is a church of Verlaxion. Are they generic gargoyles? Or are Windigos connected to Verlaxian lore in a benign enough way to merit their statues being put on a holy building? I think this is important, considering pre-Unification lore and Verlax being the Divine of Frost.
Hoboy... I'm curious to see what'll happen when Rainbow meets the Right Talon... though I guess I'm just curious to see how Dash is faring in general.
Why do I have the feeling Wildcard was lined up to be one of these guys at some point?
Yeesh...these guys mean bad news for Dashie so long as she's on Rohbredden's Most Wanted.
I have to speculate just a little here - I wonder if Wildcard had any sort of history with these guys around or before he started hanging with those Wyverns?
Large, boulder-sized dragon testes. On a dragon that's not supposed to have any. Now there's a mental image for ya.
"our"
I don't think that's supposed to be capitalized.
Rekt.
6528995
yeah, especially the commander. No way in hell they won't somehow come across each other.
6528994
6528995
Jinx
Seraphimus
i don't think i like her, she's even more overly daring/risk-taking than rainbow
though she clearly has experience and skill to back her up
6529009
Within 5 seconds.
This will be interesting...and terrifying...
6529009
How much you want to bet Seraphimus and Wildcard actually know each other as well?
6529020 I'd be rather surprised if she doesn't know Bard, Wildcard, or both.
Maaan this story can always use more gryphons.
So, will the Right Talon be a climactic-end-battle, or will they somehow end up working with Rainbow? The latter seems less likely than the former, but that's half the reason I'm expecting it - also, it'd be awesome.
Seraphimus confirmed for queen of the badasses. Actually, I think she and Roarke should have a nice duel for that title.
It seems that Seraphimus seems pretty grounded and secure in her belief in Verlax. We know that the Right Talon is going to cross with RD at some point, and RD is going to have to face off against this griffonness. Will Dashie be able to convert them to her side like she's done before, or will their belief in Verlax be too strong to break?
One things for sure, though. When RD meets the Right Talon, it's going to be one hell of a fight. I just hope that they don't suddenly grab the idiot ball and turn incompetent when that happens so RD can thwart them like regular mooks; I want her to bleed for her victory, or better yet, bleed for her life. I think RD learning to run away from a fight instead of headlong into one might be a wise lesson for her to learn.
6529020
how much do you want to ship them?
Unless they're siblings.
6529078
Since when has that stopped anyone in the mature box before?
Joking aside, that'd be a pretty neat twist. I'm pretty sure that everyone here is calling it that WC and Seraphimus know each other at least in some capacity. Might as well raise the stakes.
Looks like I'm not the only one who thinks there's a connection between these guys and Wildcard. If that's the case, the question becomes: Why did he leave? Might it have something to do with the Nightmare Moon event? The mention of that back in the Quade seemed to leave an impact on him. I guess we'll see.
In either case, the almost inevitable showdown between these guys and Rainbow ought to be interesting.
Hmmm interesting group there, can't wait till they meet Rainbow.
6528988 Why would they kill Rainbow? She's doing Verlaxion's bidding.
6529103
Not according to who pays the troops.
6529048
I doubt Bard's much involved in this speculative past.
6529078
Hmmmm... I get a Floydien/Bastion vibe from them. So: Shippable.
6528988
Definitely reasonable, but in a spec ops manner. Deal with the job then and there, deal with it quickly (I doubt that this sequence took more than ten minutes real time), and with as little risk to themselves as possible. Worry about the bigger picture back at base, during the mission assessment. Rainbow is in a lot of trouble when she runs into these characters. Even with her multitude of experience, even if she manages to get Wildcard and Bard back, even if she gets her friends to forgive her and work with her again. I honestly think her best bet would be to come quietly with them (Verlax likely wants her alive), and escape later.
6529087
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Wildcard was a former member, actually I bet Wildcard coming back into the picture is going to be one of the reasons they don't out and out kill Rainbow on the spot when they go after her.
6529077
After 7 books of not doing this, we can only hope this meetup is on better circumstances.
Good stuff. I hope we get a good many chapters of world building of a society before the wrecking ball that is Rainbow Dash is thrown in to knock it all down.
Ladies and gentlemen: we have our next Shell.
I have a feeling that when Rainbow finally comes in to the picture she'll have the emotional capability of a walking corpse.
5 chapters in, but still no sign of ze infamous east horse.
Enter main antagonists.
My talons are augmented
Ye gods. Verlax really built her religion tight. Can't wait for when she might reveal her plans in front of the faithful and everyone feels betrayed.
This brought up some interesting points:
First, I'm wondering about the seabed mining operations (a phrase which reminds me of something ridiculous I once did in Dwarf Fortress). I'm getting the impression that dredge coal isn't the coal we know. While it's possible to get a coal-dust explosion (remember the Maine? (Unless it really was enemy action, but we're getting into century-old conspiracy theories now.)), I wouldn't think this Cogz would be able to guarantee one reliably enough on short notice to make blowing the place sky-high a credible threat.
Second, despite Cogz's end, I'm getting the impression that the Right Talon is big enough on taking their prey alive or granting a chance of mercy that they're willing to take significant risks to do so. If he'd been less hesitant, Cogz easily had enough time to set off the explosion he was threatening. Maybe they figured he wouldn't really kill his hostages so readily? Even so, Seraphimus was taking a big risk leaving her backup outside.
The Talon is not just a death squad that rushes in and kills everyone, although they're quite capable of doing the latter and evidently have few compunctions about it. This is a good thing for our eastbound heroine.
Wow she's intense. Like the rest of you I do think wildcard is connected to these guys. Man, rainbow has caused such a mess..I wonder how she's doing herself.
...Five elite warriors, serving at the beck and call of a all powerful being with a cold motif?
Holy shit they are the Ginyu Force!
The Seraphimus Tokusentai! I need to rework the lyrics of this song to fit them post haste:
Joking aside this is a fine introduction to this crew, and I wonder if this is the full extent of the Right Talon, or if there are other squads and this just happens to be the elite one that Seraphimus commands in the field? Also curious if they're all exclusively griffins. Seems so thus far, unless I missed something. I look forward to seeing more from them, regardless.
Well.. these griffons are a tight knit squad.
Except the rookie.
I expect the rookie to turn traitor after a few run ins with Dash.
Speaking of our eponymous east horse... she's going to be an even bigger badass than all these griffons combined just because of how emotionally dead she is.
-In the end isolation, hunted by a nation. Utaan.
And we have our paladin hunters ladies and germs
6529204 Nah, Shell would've shot through the children.
You know these guys are hardasses when they can pull off an '80's action movie one-liner like that.
Hmm, I call upon the powers of Austraeoh Fact Checker to answer my question: How many times has Rainbow Dash had run-ins with dedicated task forces, and how many of them have had success in catching her? Because I remember Shell managed to do so at least once, and Chrysalis pulled it off twice, but I can't remember any other instances.
6529282 I had the image of Jessica being dragged out of the window by the windigo in until dawn.
The cast dump is only getting
worsebetter. I'm rather interested in this conspiracy angle Keris was throwing around, as well as the implied contract Cogz had for being there in the first place. That means someone is profiting over tying up the Right Talon here. Argh, frustrating to be entering the game late, we're going to playing catch-up for some time yet.Here's a highly unlikely thought that no-one's posited yet, just for fun: While Seraphimus' curt dismissal of Keris' fears is and remains reasonable, there could be an ulterior motive there. Namely, she's in on whoever's plan for something about something something something.
Not going to pin anything on that thought just yet.
Oh hey, another badass. A female badass.
Are we going to see some Rogue-on-Talon action?
Ohh so that is where Wildcard hails from ?
It would certainly make sense unless all Griffons on this continent are natural badflanks, the right talon seems to be this countries Wonderbolts.
They seem to be nice enough, the problem is that they serve the wrong side, time will tell how deadlocked they are on their believes and if rainbow sees it fit to fill any of them in at all, she seemed a bit jerkish last time we saw her.
In other news WHAAAT ?, i was suprised to read abut this 'Lieutenant Keris'
, call me intrigued. 
Seraphimus x Rainbow Dash is the name of the ship.
Utaan... Nauta... Anaut... We can call ourselves A-nauts. Like Argonauts, but that would be the wrong A word.
Anyways, I hope we see more of these birds soon. And they get a chance to fight Rainbow with a healed wing.
General Septimus Maximus.
Calling.
Wildcard? He is my brother.
Later.
Are you not entertained?
Ten thousand pounds of Dredge Coal definitely aint like Burnley Coal, that amount is what you use for a single two bed house up here over winter, for that amount to run a city, it means its uranium or equivalent. Still a rock that burns when in the correct fire grate. If so, just look at the history of mistreatment of boiler stockers with standard coal.
Then consider the industrial, marine variant boilers, and manual stokers , were used for the first steam engines.
These griffons are remarkably fast. Incredibly so. And if I recall, Wildcard once outflew a crossbow bolt and caught it in mid air before it hit the target.
But who is faster, the Right Talon, or Rainbow Dash?
violence, how I missed you!
6528988
maybe verlax wanted to invade equestria with windigos but got stopped by harmony and see it as a bad thing since then ?
Congratulations to Keris and Seraphimus!
I'm too gonna say that the Commander and WC know each other. It's going to be interesting when they meet.
6529803 You ever heard of a griffon doing a Rainboom?