“Hey!”
Hearing his girlfriend’s voice, Lex glanced over and saw her trotting towards him, grinning and waving. “Whaddaya think?” she called, an action which everypony else apparently regarded as a signal to take a break, because they immediately dropped their makeshift tools and began milling about, several shooting glances their way as they struck up conversations with their fellows. Either oblivious or uncaring, Sonata continued to trot toward him. “Just like you ordered: a whole buncha ho-whoops!” Her report was cut off as she almost stepped in one of the tiny pits in the ground, sending her stumbling. Managing to catch herself, she laughed good-naturedly as her mistake. “These’ll totes trip up any ghoul that wanders into them.”
But Lex couldn’t have been less amused by her antics. For a brief instant he considered letting her know just how useless her efforts had been, but there was no time to dwell on that now. “Sonata, I want you to listen to me very carefully,” he spoke softly, making sure his voice didn’t carry. “Take everypony and gather them in the center of the camp. Put the elderly, young, and the sick toward the center, with the healthiest on the outside. Try and make sure the ponies on the outer edge are armed, and instruct everypony to light a ring of fire around the grou-”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down!” Gesticulating wildly to punctuate her gesture, Sonata gave him a confused look. “What’s going on, now? Is this some more anti-ghoul stuff?”
Lex winced slightly at her outburst, glancing around to make sure that she hadn’t attracted too much attention before continuing. “Yes. They’re going to be here in an hour, which means that there’s no more time to focus on fortifications. The only thing everypony can do now is establish the most defensible formation that they can.” He paused to think for a moment, before amending his previous orders. “The ghouls are coming here from the city, so make sure that the most capable ponies are on the western edge of the group. C. Shells’ crew are the optimal choice, since they have combat experience. They’ll need to work with makeshift weapons, but…what are you doing?”
While he’d been speaking, Sonata had reared up on her back legs, holding her left foreleg up vertically while laying her right foreleg perpendicular across her hoof, making a “T” gesture. “Calling for a timeout,” she explained, before falling back onto all fours with a huff, “since otherwise you would have kept rambling.”
“I was not ram-” He cut himself off with a sigh, closing his eyes and taking a long moment to pull himself together. We don’t have time for this! “Sonata, this needs to happen right now.”
“I get that,” she insisted. “I just wanted to ask what you’re going to be doing?”
Lex cast a glance back toward his saddlebags. “Coming up with a plan.”
“Hmm…” She gave him a suspicious look then, before adding. “I’ll go round up the ponies, but then I’m coming back here and checking on you.” Not waiting for a reply, she turned and started to call for everyone’s attention, telling them to head back into camp. The assembled ponies seemed quite happy to call it quits for the day, quickly dropping their tools and trotting back toward the assembled fires. Sonata was one of the last to leave, shooting him a pointed look before disappearing around the side of the medical tent.
She wants to fight the ghouls alongside me, Lex knew. Despite being one of the least intellectual ponies he’d ever met, Sonata had often displayed keen insight into the dispositions of others, including himself. But for once, he felt confident about what she was thinking as well; her pointed question about what he would be doing had quite clearly telegraphed that she was under the impression – correctly so – that he intended to battle the undead horde personally. Worse, her statement about coming back, taken in conjunction with her earlier displeasure that he’d faced Xiriel without her, made her intentions obvious. The thought was enough to fill Lex with low-grade anxiety. Why didn’t she understand that the last thing he wanted was for her to be anywhere near danger? That worrying about her would erode his ability to concentrate on what needed to be done?
He recalled the Night Mare’s words then, chastising him for trying to do everything on his own. The memory made him scowl, but it did bring his thoughts back around to focus on what he needed to do now. Hopefully Sonata would be so caught up with getting everypony together that she wouldn’t have a chance to do anything else. In the meantime… “Severance!”
For a moment he couldn’t see if the scythe was responding to his call; when the work crew had left, they’d taken the light-bearing unicorns with them. With the medical tent between him and almost all of the campfires, he was blanketed in darkness and barely able to see anything. Even so, Lex didn’t move, keeping his eyes on the night-shrouded west. Sure enough, a moment later Severance floated into view, having obeyed the last orders he’d given it: to stay alert for anything that wasn’t a pony.
Slightly pleased that it had been effectively guarding Sonata and the workers from any ghouls that might have gotten ahead of the others, Lex decided to keep his satisfaction to himself. He was still mad at the thing for letting Cloudbank and the others die, after all. Instead, he grabbed the blade in his telekinesis, bringing it alongside him. “Light your blade,” he commanded it tersely. A moment later, the scythe obediently glowed with purplish fluorescent light, and Lex moved on to the next order of business. “Did anything try to approach the camp?”
When the weapon answered in the negative, Lex knew it was time to get down to business. Slowly, he emptied his saddlebags, letting Severance go as he held each item in his telekinetic grip. Silently, his eyes slid over the various gemstones and the scroll tube, considering each one in turn.
His eyes lingered longest on the oversized ruby, letting his circlet examine it magically as he remembered what the Night Mare had said about it. “Use it to bring Cloudbank back to life.” Just the thought that she’d given him a resurrection spell was enough to send a shudder of excitement down his spine, despite the situation he was in. The Night Mare might have meant for him to use it before he fought the ghouls, but Lex had no intention of doing so. Not only was bringing someone back from the dead only to immediately subject them to a life-or-death battle foolish, but if he cast the spell directly from where it had been embedded in the ruby then it would be gone for good, denying him the chance to study it and potentially learn how to cast the spell on his own…and if he could do that, then he could potentially bring anyone back to life! Just that thought was enough to make his mind swirl at the possibilities, and it was a long moment before slowly placing the ruby back in his saddlebag.
It was only after it had been stowed that he turned his attention to the other five gems. Despite their myriad effects, which could be reaped indefinitely rather than only once, Lex couldn’t help but regard them critically in comparison to the promise that the oversized ruby offered. Still, the ruby’s ability to restore the dead to life would be of no help in the upcoming battle, whereas these smaller gems – with their ability to enhance their user – would, even if only a little. But then again, that little had made all the difference when he’d fought that belier devil scant hours ago.
Holding the five gems aloft, Lex released them one by one, each of them adopting a different orbit as they began to revolve around his head. First the orange prism, which would enhance his spellcasting. Then the pale green prism, with its slight boost to his overall competence, followed by its dusty rose counterpart and the modest defensive precognition it granted. The iridescent spindle was fourth, and Lex fought down a shudder as he released it, remembering how it had enabled him to cast a spell without breathing when his lung had been punctured. But with the fifth gem, the scarlet and blue sphere, Lex hesitated. This had been the only one of those five gems that did him no good at all, being filled with knowledge that he already possessed regarding the manipulation of magic items. Utilizing it now would gain him nothing, and it was with a curled lip that he shoved it back into his saddlebag.
That left only the scroll…
Looking at it again via his circlet, Lex confirmed once again the numerous magical auras on it, and that he had no way of conclusively determining if they were from embedded spells or active magical traps. Not without conducting more testing, which would require time he didn’t have and spells he hadn’t prepared. I should just put this away until I can examine it safely, he knew, but the thought had no conviction behind it. It was possible that the magic this contained would aid him in combating the ghouls. After all, the scroll that he’d taken from that green dragon’s horde had proven to be invaluable when he’d fought Lirtkra; there was every reason to believe, with how many auras of powerful magic this scroll had, that the same thing would happen here. Besides, Xiriel had been arrogant enough that it was entirely plausible that it hadn’t bothered to lace the scroll with any further protection. But if I’m wrong…
Frowning as he realized that he was procrastinating, Lex pushed his doubts away. With disaster an hour or less away, there was nothing to do but take the risk! Firmly grasping the scroll tube in his telekinesis, Lex moved it a dozen feet away from himself just to be safe, and then slowly removed the scroll from the casing. Confirming that the case itself had no magical aura, he let it fall to the ground, turning his full attention to the rolled parchment. Gritting his teeth, he unrolled it all at once.
When nothing happened, Lex let out a slow breath. So far so good, but that didn’t rule out other ways that the scroll’s contents might be protected. Tentatively, he took a step closer to the scroll, his eyes squinting as he examined the first line of-
The explosion caught him completely by surprise.
“Look, I know you had to seduce her-”
“Sedate her!” interrupted House Call, fighting down a blush. “Miss Newsy was becoming hysterical, so we had to sedate her!”
“Right,” nodded Sonata, clearly not understanding the difference. “But I totes need to get everyone all together, so if you could just wake h-”
She didn’t get a chance to finish as a huge boom filled the air, as though someone had just set off some dynamite, causing her to jump. She wasn’t the only one, as all around her ponies were crying out in shock. “What the heck was that?!” she yelped, adding her voice to the growing chorus of panic, looking toward the back of the medical tent. That had seriously freaked her out! Lex had probably had it worse though, since that sounded like it had been super close to…to where he…
A moment later Sonata put two and two together, and the blood drained from her face. “L-Lex!” she yelled as she struggled to overcome her shock, lurching forward as she broke into a run, circling the tent. “LEX!”
Rounding the tent, her heart jumped into her throat as she saw her boyfriend lying on the ground, unmoving. Barely noticing Severance hovering a few feet away from him, she ran to his side, shaking him heavily. “Lex! Oh geez! Wake up! C’mon, wake up!” She looked around, and was about to yell for help when he groaned, starting to stir. “Lex!” This time her cry was one of relief, hugging him tightly.
“‘m alright…” he muttered. “The scroll…”
But Sonata wasn’t listening, doing her best to pick him up and drag him back toward the front of the medical tent, barely noticing the crowd that was starting to form. “C’mon, I’ll get the doctor-”
“No!” Somehow, he managed to wrench himself away from her, stumbling as he moved in the opposite direction. “I have to…get the scr-, no…” He stopped suddenly, staring at a patch of ground a few feet away.
Giving an incredulous shake of her head, Sonata glanced back at the assembled ponies. Seeing House Call there, she went over to him and lowered her voice. “Listen, could you do like with Nosey and seduce him a little? He’s not going to-, um, Doctor?” She blinked, wondering why he was groaning and putting his face in his hooves. “What? What’d I say?”
Oblivious to his girlfriend’s conversation, Lex simply continued to stare at the scraps of paper that were all that was left of the scroll.