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Sacred approached the cave slowly, his hooves making a clacking sound off of the stones. A small stream burbled behind him, its water clear and cool. The sun had just dipped behind the horizon - the sudden coolness on his back confirmed that - and Equestria was plunged into a purple-skied darkness. It had been midday when he'd left this cave - it was now almost midnight. A day of tracking had left him exhausted but he was confident this was to be the last night of it. He whistled into the mouth of the small cave and after a moment, a Zebra clacked out, a cigarette hanging from one mouth. It looked nothing like the pre-war propaganda had showed Zebras. There was no sign of a Fu Manchu or the blood of innocents dripping from his mouth. In fact, were it not for the black-and-skin, the Zebra would be the most Equestrian pony Sacred had ever met.
'Well?' he grunted, rubbing one tired eye with a hoof. 'I found them, Decimus' said Sacred, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth. A stream of smoke left Decimus' nostrils and he grinned. 'Good pony. Where are they?' he gestured Sacred to enter the mouth of the cave. 'A pre-war village a few miles west. They're hiding out in one of the husks that used to be homes' said Sacred, jumping up to stand beside the larger Zebra. 'Are all eleven of them there?' he asked, breathing a smoke ring from his mouth. 'At least seven of them' nodded Sacred. 'An unusually big group anyway'
'You've done good, Sacred. I'll go awake the rest. We'll be heading off in ten minutes. Prepare yourself' Decimus spat his cigarette onto the ground and stomped it out before turning back into the cave. The Prench pony found a comfortable spot outside the cave and settled down. His bones ached from spending the whole day wandering the wastes, checking haunts and laying on his knees for extended periods of time. His eyes closed and he sighed in bliss. It would be lovely if I could rest like this all the time. But with those...ponies, I haven't slept properly in a week, he thought, grimacing slightly at the thought of his companions. Recently, slaver tribes had begun supplying small groups of their own to accompany Decimus and Sacred in hunting down slaves. They were basically hired muscle who would drag the slaves back home after Sacred had found where they were hiding. Four unicorns had been accompanying as the representatives from the slavers this time and Celestia, were they nasty pieces of work. Loud, impatient and an almost scary obsession with rape, murder and torture. Even the pretty mare slaver talked fondly of her times spent doing unspeakable things to others.
Sacred felt a tang of pity in his chest when he thought of the fate of the 11 slaves they'd been hunting. There was a large group at that small village They'd no doubt be chained up, punished and treated like shit all the way back to their masters by the . But when he thought of the high ransom that was going for these slaves, any thoughts of pity slowly evaporated. A job was a job, after all. There was one last member to this group that Sacred dreaded to think of. A raider unicorn who had worked with Decimus and Sacred before. She called herself 'Bliss' and was anything but. Her cutie mark a sniper rifle scope, she had horrific scarring on one side of her face, wore her mane in a bundle of horrible knots and she used a large rifle as a weapon. Sacred didn't particularly like Decimus or the muscle ponys very much but Bliss he hated. She had a certain cruel streak about her ad was usually only in the group to protect Decimus from harm (which was usually never there). In the past, she had killed captured slaves and got the group in a lot of trouble. Decimus had time and time again said he would never let her back in the group but judging by the amount of times they had slept together, this was to forever be a broken promise.
A presence appeared at the mouth of the cave and yawned loudly. The slaver ponies had awoken. They barely glanced at Sacred as they piled out of the cave mouth, whipping their whips off of the ground and whooping loudly. Barbares! How can they live with themselves? Decimus appeared behind them, smoking another cigarette. Behind him came Bliss, reloading her rifle with magic. She sneered at Sacred as he shakily got to his hooves. 'Right, Sacred. Lead the way to the slaves. And for fuck sakes, stop making so much noise!' he barked at the four whooping slavers, who continued for a few moments before going silent. They all pulled their hats low and their scarves above their noses, leaving only their eyes showing. All were dressed identically and all had whips floating beside them, ready to strike the back of some poor pony.
'Follow me and keep it down. The slaves suspect they have lost us' Sacred said, bounding ahead of the slavers. ''Oi, 'ow da you kno' that?'' snorted one of the slavers. Sacred look back before answering. 'They've started a fire in that little husk of a house they call home. Would you start a fire if you were being followed? Now, come. The hunt begins'
Before the war, Saddleshire had been a small, poverty stricken town in the middle of nowhere. When the bombs hit, there had been 167 ponies living in the village, all scraping out a living on small farms in the area. You could barely call it a village - it was three rows of houses just dropped in the middle of nowhere and been smashed to smithereens when a bomb had landed just a mile away. The only legacy left behind by Saddleshire was the shells that had once been the homes of forgotten ponies. Raiders had left their mark in the form of graffiti and spent shotgun shells. Right now, the only inhabitants were a group of scared ponies, huddled around a small fire behind a wall.
'Well, they certainly look like slaves' said Decimus, his eyes glued to a pair of pre-war binoculars. It was dark but even this small pinprick of light in the wasteland stuck out like a sore thumb. Standing on a hill a mile outside of the town were the group of slave hunters. 'I don't understand why there's so many of them, though' murmured Sacred, taking a peer into the binoculars. 'Slaves usually separate into smaller groups or go it alone' agreed the Zebra, handing the binoculars to the Prench pony. The slavers shifted impatiently and moved away from Bliss, who was giving them the evil eye. 'Mmm'kay. We're going to have to be clever about this. We can't let any get away but we don't want any dead. Your people won't be happy' Decimus glanced at the slavers, who nodded in agreement. He paused, deep in thought, before continuing. 'I'd say we all need to circle around, whip them into submission and then chain them up. After that, we can start heading back. Agreed?'
The group all nodded and Sacred secretly wondered for the thousandth time why this guy was leader. But then he remembered who the other candidates for leader were and immediately withdrew any doubts on Decimus. 'All right. Bliss and the Slavers are going to circle around that house, not making a single noise. Sacred and I shall be behind you, as we are both unarmed. When I whistle, you all pounce and get them. Any questions?'. There was a momentary silence before the muffled voice of a slaver piped up from behind his scarf. 'Are they armed?' he directed the question towards Sacred, who looked surprised he'd even been referred to. 'Oh...I don't know' he replied. 'I haven't found any spent shells but they might have some kind of melee weapon. I wouldn't know. A weapon is harder to find traces of if it's not been used yet' he shrugged. The slaver stared at him for several moments with an uneasy look in his eyes. [i]Merde! What's he looking at me like that for? Sacred became uncomfortably aware of how strong his accent had sounded and madly rolled his eyes away from the slavers gaze until they fixed on his hooves. 'All right' he said finally, turning to his companions. 'Come on, lads - and mare- , we'd better get going'. The slavers all nodded in agreement and began trotting down the hill towards the town.
Decimus waited a few moments until they were out of earshot and then turned to Sacred. 'Don't worry about those idiots. They won't lay a finger on my prized tracker while I'm alive' he said, giving a reassuring smile. 'Now come on. Bliss, you catch up with them. Don't kill any slaves. Sacred and I will be behind a bit. Remember, we'll give a signal when you should attack'. Bliss grinned, showing her horrible row of teeth. 'Can't even shoot one?' she said playfully. Decimus glared at her. 'No. Not one' he growled. 'Now, catch up with those slavers'. The raider gave another horrible grin, flipped her knotted mane out of her face and then turned hoof to catch up with the slavers.
Sacred gave an audible sigh of relief. He didn't like Decimus very much - he found him very controlling and hated the patronising tone he often took with him. But without that Zebra, Sacred would have been gobbled up by slavers or ponies like Bliss long ago. He owed his life to that Zebra.
And the Zebra knew it.
