Monthly Quests 2020

It didn't take them long to catch up with the Hunters, they watched them from afar. "Ok.. so we found them so how do we follow them without being noticed?" The creamy pink and blue steppe mare said as she looked over that the clownfish chestnut forest stallion. They were slowly catching up with the caravan and the stallion thought he saw a familiar coat in their numbers. The stallion thought for a moment, surely it was Alles. They were still a good ways away but he could make out the creamy coat striped by okapi and the small purple antlers. He motioned to the steppe mare to follow him quickly as they tried to close the distance and blend in with the Hunters. The followed down a path into a gorge, it was thin and winding as they only had room to go one at a time, all the while the red star pulsed over them seeming to grow bigger and brighter the further along they went. The steppe mare looked at the stallion "So when we get close enough, then what? Surely we would be noticed just joining them?" He looked back at her for a moment "Do you see the cream with purple horns?" The mare looked past him and just ahead of them she could see a forest mare with a creamy rump with white stripes and small purple antlers. "Yes? but how does that help us," He nodded and turned his attention back to the ballators ahead of them "I know that one, she'll help us," The mare seemed skeptical and there was a shake in her step as she lifted her hooves, her large donkey like ears also trembled as she held them perked forward. "It's alright, I promise I will keep you safe," The stallion said as he smiled down at her. She nodded in reply and followed behind him as he trailed faster after the group of Hunters. The closer they got the more of them they could see than just the creamy rump they were supposed to entrust. They got as close as they dared without sticking out. 

The band of Hunters was coming up to a narrow canyon where they would have to go through one at a time. Their leader stopped and turned her head over her shoulder, the sleek short and beigey color of her mane greatly contrasting her sooty red and orange coat that was swallowed by white and calva. Her brilliant fire colored eyes seemed to bore into the steppe mare's which made her gulp. She yelled that the path was narrow and to not be stupid. There were whispers between the mares in front of them and occasionally one would look back at them. "I think we've been discovered," The pink and blue steppe mare said under her breath, her voice clearly terrified. "Calm down," He whispered to her quietly as he continued to keep his head held high and looking forward "They won't be suspicious if you act the part," She watched him stride forward confidently, as if with a sense of purpose as he followed in behind a group of mares to walk down the narrow canyon pass. The creamy mare just plodded along there for a moment before giving herself a pep talk, whipping her head up high as her large mule ears were perked forward, a frown on her pink muzzle as she pranced after the stallion. The narrow path seemed to stretch on for miles, winding to and fro. The group stopped once in this time when the path widened into a bowl shaped opening that stretched wide enough to allow a small river to cut through before returning to the narrow path on the other side. The group stopped for a drink and in that time the whispers were spreading like wildfire through the band. It seemed to reach the ears of the cram coated okapi mare that the chestnut stallion had mentioned earlier as she whipped her head around to look and her violet colored eyes bored into his. They HAD been discovered but now she was making it too easy to explain away as she stalked over to them. 

"What are you doing here Raziel," she hissed angrily into the stallion's face, they had to be of the same type as they seemed to have the same characteristics, save for the mare's manes which were relatively short while his were long and flowing locks. "And who is this," She was looking at the pink and blue mare with her violet eyes that seemed to burn into the other mare with an uncomfortable intensity. The steppe mare gulped but tried to keep her confident facade up. "Rabbit," the stallion, Raziel said flatly "Now hush up Allesandra, lest they find out you know we're not Hunters. Allesandra pursed her lips before looking around. She could see other whispering and looking at them. Damn, she'd been trapped into it. Allesandra lifted her head to look at Raziel through hooded eyes "What are you doing here," Raziel sighed and leaned in close, whispering into her ear which made Rabbit perk hers forward to also hear "We've been tasked with the source of the Red Star and we intend to see it through," With that, he motioned to the star that burned so bright they were all basking in a glow so red it looked as if everything were coated in blood. Allesandra shook her head, noticing someone coming out of the corner of her eye. It was the leader, her tall dark-tipped orange horns casting a long shadow over the trio. "Who are these two, New Blood?" She questioned Allesandra who stared back at the devilish looking mare, her ears turned back slightly. "Syndicate, these are... some new initiates that I was converting before Ares gave her call. They decided that they want to join us in doing the Lordesses bidding," the cream okapi mare said as she looked up at Syndicate before bowing her head. The mare, Syndicate seemed to ponder this for a moment before her eyes slid from Alles to Raziel, then to Rabbit. Her face was a mask, not really betraying any thought the mare might have. 

After a moment she let a sickeningly sweet smile cross her lips "I see," She walked slowly and deliberately around the three of them, her fangs glinting in the red light as she moved past each of them "But i'll be keeping an eye in you.. and remember... we do not take so kindly to traitors," The last bit was said with a chuckle as she walked away, back to the group at the head of the band with others who she seemed to have been dicussing something with before being interrupted by whispers of outsiders. What she said had chilled Rabbit to her bones, she must have swayed because Raziel pressed his side against the steppe mare's to keep her upright "Don't faint," Allesandra said as she turned and tried to hide the scene "If you show any weakness they will tear you apart... and then me for not outing you," She said firmly. Rabbit gulped again and pulled herself together.  Rabbit's eyes were glued to Syndicate though, whenever she happened to look, Rabbit's pink eyes would dart away. "If you keep staring at her she will come back over here and ask if you have a problem," Allesandra hissed at Rabbit who looked ahead of them into the distance. "keep your eyes on the trail ahead, don't speak with anyone unless you have to," Alles nodded at them before going back to the other two mares she had been walking with earlier, leaving Rabbit and Raziel alone again. 

"That was terrifying," Rabbit said quietly as the two of them walked towards the river for their turn for a drink. Raziel dipped his muzzle into the cold water and took a long drink before replying " Yes, but you did well I think. Just have to keep it up until we get to where we need to be," Rabbit sighed heavily before taking a drink as well. "I'll do my best, I hope it isn't too much farther," They both turned their eyes to the star above them "With the size of this thing now.. I don't think so..." He said "come on, they're already moving again," They crossed the river quickly to keep up with the Hunters as they went along down the path again. Rabbit noted that Allesandra was occasionally looking over her shoulder at them before returning her gaze ahead. Syndicate, however, was indeed watching them, every time Rabbit happened to focus on something other than the path ahead Syndicate was her eye turned towards them. This made Rabbit gulp "Just a little farther," she kept repeating to herself. "It's almost over and we will find what the Lords spoke of," what had they been called again? The Crypts? That sounded right. Soon they would know exactly what secrets the lords were hiding and who was responsible for the cursed star.