Silver chuckled lightly. "I suspect we both have secrets," he said under his breath, before drifting off to sleep.
Xarame was awoken the next morning by the first rays of sunshine flooding through the balcony door, and by the incessant calling of the cockatrices in the forest beyond. She pulled a face in their general direction before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She pulled a small kettle from her bags, filled it with some water she'd collected the night before and a hoofful of tea leaves, then put it over the fire to brew. After that important task was underway, she gently prodded her Babel bird awake, and reinstated him on her shoulder.
Silver flew in through the open window, covered in ash and blood. "There was some smoke about three miles from here. The creature hit a small Deer village. A dozen survivors, out of fifty-three." He found a small washbasin, and began cleaning himself up. "The princesses have been informed, and there's a squad on the way to assist. I think the village would be the best place to pick up the trail."
"Alright..." Xarame replied, a little bewildered by this sudden glut of information. She doused the fire and poured the tea into a flask which she then proceeded to sip from. "Ready when you are," She announced, having packed her last few things into her bags.
"I don't sleep much. Thought I'd scout ahead." Silver whistled, and Holly emerged from the forest carrying the remains of a fish that she'd caught for her breakfast. "The forest is pretty thick between here and the village. It'll probably be an hour or two on hoof."
"Thick forest? Oh great, I love thick forest!" Xarame said, sarcastically, looking around warily. "So, is not sleeping much a Bat Pony thing, or a Silver thing?" She asked as they made their way through the tangle of undergrowth that was the forest floor.
"It's a warrior thing, actually. You're at your most vulnerable when you sleep." He paused to tear down some vines that were blocking the path. "In a way, that's why the Night Guard exists. We watch over Equestria while everypony else sleeps. Just as the Night Princess does."
Xarame nodded. "Well you must be doing something right; from what I've heard, all the major attacks on Equestria over the last few years have happened during the day. The fault of a weaker force, perhaps." She offered Silver a cup of tea from her flask as they entered a slightly less dense patch of forest.
Silver accepted the tea gratefully. "Those are just the attacks you've heard about. The Night Guard likes to work... quietly." He laughed. "If ponies ever realized just how dangerous Equestria really is, they'd be too terrified to step outside!"
"You would think all the dragons, hydras and manticores running around freely would give them some clue," Xarame said, pondering Silver's words. She furrowed her brow as a thought hit her. "The Princess Luna has only recently been reinstated, correct? What did the Night Guard do in her absence?"
"We watched over the night, as we have always done. We protected Equestria, and we obeyed the only princess we had left, because that was our duty." He sighed heavily. "And we waited. Waited for a sign that our Princess of the Night would come back to us. Waited to once again serve Princess Luna... or Nightmare Moon. We waited for so long... so many lost hope..." He shook his head, attempting to dispel the unhappy thoughts.
"Yes," Xarame said, nodding distantly, "A thousand years is a long time to hold onto hope..." "Tell me more of this attack," She said, attempting to change the subject. "These survivors, did they see anything?"
"Only one was calm enough to talk. He said the creature was black as night and faster than anything he'd ever seen. It tore through the village in a matter of minutes, then disappeared back into the forest. Silver looked grim. "They never heard it coming until it was right on top of them, and Deer are known for their exceptional hearing. I don't know how a creature that size could move silently."
"Dark magic is very good at absorbing sound," Xarame replied "Screams in particular..." She looked distant for a second before refocusing on Silver. "This is indeed troubling news; we cannot hope to stand against such a force on a level field, we will have to find some way to gain an advantage. A trap of some kind may be our best option, we just need bait... A falling star, that would be the thing." She said, nodding thoughtfully.
"Maybe you can't..." Silver muttered under his breath. With his wing, he opened his knapsack to reveal the bottles Xarame had given him earlier. The paralysis poison was only two-thirds full, and one of Silver's knives had been placed in an unusual sharkskin leather sheath. "This is our trap. A poisoned blade to stop the beast in its tracks. As for bait... I suppose I'll leave that to you. You're the expert on dark magic, after all."
Xarame blushed. "Yeye anajua nini anasema! I- I'm not an expert! I've just picked up a few things over the years." She coughed. "As I said, Star Metal is a conduit for dark energy; it nourishes it, allows it to grow like nothing else, the beast will be naturally drawn to any large deposits. Now the name is no coincidence; Nyotuma comes from fallen stars, and that may be our best hope." She shifted uncomfortably. "Stars do fall on their own, but we can hardly afford to wait around for that to happen. We may have to perform another ritual; to call on the stars to cast down one of their own. It is not something I have done before, and it is not something I am keen to do, but the only other options would be to wait for it to attack another village, or to confront it on it's own ground, head on."
"What about..." Silver suddenly stopped and held out hoof, signaling to Xarame and Holly to stand still. Moments later, a large ape-like creature, black with a white stripe down its back, crossed the path in front of them. Ignoring them completely, it soon disappeared back into the forest. Silver continued. "...the supply at Starswirl's Forge? Would that be enough?"
Chalking the unexpected interruption down as just another reason to distrust forests, and otherwise ignoring it, Xarame considered the question. "On it's own, I doubt it; the creature obviously left it behind as it felt it was too powerful to benefit from it further. Perhaps if we could add to the collection, it might suffice, but Star Metal is not an easy thing to come across. The castle is the only place I could think of that would have any."
"I've only ever seen Star Metal five times in my life. If the pile at the forge isn't enough, we aren't likely to find more elsewhere." Silver hesitated for a moment, then asked; "What would calling down a star entail?"
Xarame sighed. "Only life can pay for life. It would involve a blood sacrifice, like all dark magic. Hopefully you can appreciate my reluctance to pursue this course of action, but I fear it may ultimately be our only option."
