For a brief instant, the large shape pursuing Thermal Draft was impossible to make out, all details of it – save for the pair of brilliant gold eyes – hidden by the blinding glare of the light pouring in from the entrance to the cave.
Then it rushed further inside, hot on the pegasus’ hooves, and Lex got a look at the largest wolf he’d ever seen.
Its size was comparable to that of Princess Celestia. Four feet tall at the shoulder, its fur was the same color as the snow. Its teeth were bared, showing ivory-white fangs that were almost six inches long. And for some reason, although he could hear it panting as it kept up the chase, its breath wasn’t visible in the chilly air.
The same couldn’t be said for Thermal Draft. Her breath came out in thick white clouds with each ragged gasp she took, running as fast as her legs could carry her. As she barreled past the bright light at the mouth of the cave, the reason she was running instead of flying quickly became obvious: her left wing was stained red with blood, pressed to her side.
Lex noted all of that in an instant, pulling himself up into a sitting position as his eyes and horn lit up. “Jump!”
The pegasus obeyed his order without question, leaping forward as far as she could, carrying her over the field of inch-tall black spikes that suddenly protruded from the ground right in front of her.
This was the same trick that he’d used against Twilight during their duel. Raising a field of small but extremely sharp spikes would either force the white wolf to break off its pursuit, or it would rush forward and injure its paws. It was less effective than if he’d raised a grate or a lattice across the entire cave, which had been his first impulse, but that was out of the question; the cave was far too wide and too tall for him to do that without enhancing his dark magic physically, which was more than he could handle in his current condition. Still, that should be enough to drive the thing-
Without slowing down, the wolf leaped into the air, following Thermal Draft’s trajectory as it easily cleared the field of black spikes.
The pegasus gave a scream of fright at seeing the monster’s continued pursuit, reaching where Lex was and rushing behind him in terror, but the injured unicorn’s shock was great enough that he barely noticed. Had that creature understood what he’d said to Thermal Draft?
But with the oversized wolf now being barely a dozen feet away from him, Lex knew there was no time to ponder the question. Instead he concentrated on bringing his dark magic to bear-
Only to be caught completely by surprise once again as the creature, rather than rushing him, came to a sudden halt, facing him as it opened its mouth…
And unleashed a snowstorm.
There was no other explanation for it as a torrent of snowflakes, hail pellets, and freezing wind hit Lex directly in the face. To say that it was frigid was an understatement; it was like suddenly plunging into an arctic river, the chill so heavy that it was painful, and despite his fatigue Lex somehow found the strength to fling himself backward, swallowing a scream as the cold burned him as badly as the fires in the factory had less than a day ago. For its breath to be that cold solved the mystery of why the thing’s panting hadn’t fogged the air, but that was the last thing on Lex’s mind as he retreated from the gelid onslaught.
His eyes squeezed shut in order to prevent them from freezing solid, Lex felt himself collide with something he dimly registered as being Thermal Draft. The pegasus yelled his name, and beneath that was the sound of padded feet rushing toward them, and Lex knew the monster was upon them.
It was desperation that made him fling his left foreleg – the one with the barbed wire – out toward the creature then. He could have changed into a shadow, but that would have left Thermal Draft to fend for herself, and against that hulking creature she stood no chance. Nor did he try to raise more black crystals; with how close the thing was, the odds of stopping it in its tracks were dicey at best. But if this worked, then the fight would be over…and if it didn’t, then it would be over in a far more decisive manner.
Pushing that thought from his mind, Lex called upon the power that the Night Mare had given him, directing it out and toward the monstrous canine bearing down on them. “STOP!”
It was a complete gamble. This power had been useless against the sahuagin and their undersea monsters, but had worked against Tlerekithres. It had been able to overpower Aria in her natural body, but had proven useless against Xiriel. It didn’t affect ponies, but had bound the araneas in Tall Tale easily. Whatever criteria determined what it could affect was a completely mystery, so there was no telling if it would work on whatever this creature was.
As such, when Lex felt the invisible bands of power snap firmly around the thing, arresting its movement, his relief was profound. All the more so when he opened his eyes and saw that it was only a few inches away from him, body stretched out in a lunge and teeth bared as though about to open its maw and tear his throat out. But that would never happen now.
For the next sixty seconds, the oversized wolf was under his absolute control, and he had no intention of giving it the opportunity to attack them again.
“L-Lex?” whimpered Thermal Draft, shaking as she picked herself up and surveyed the scene. “Did you get it?”
“I did,” murmured Lex, not bothering to rise. Everything hurt now; the creature’s icy breath weapon had hit him primarily along his right side, opposite where he’d been burned, and the prospect of standing was an endeavor he didn’t want to consider. “Just give me a few seconds, and then I’ll dispatch this thing.”
“No! Let me go!”
The voice – which was female in timbre – was filled with desperation almost to the point of anguish. But that wasn’t what made both ponies freeze, their eyes wide.
It was that the words had been spoken by the wolf.
“Did…did that thing just talk?” muttered Thermal Draft, staring at the snow-furred canine as she made her way over to Lex, gingerly helping him up.
Her question was answered a moment later, the wolf’s lips and jaw managing to move as it visibly, albeit futilely, strained against the power holding it. “Let me go!” it repeated. “Let me go so I can eat you! I’m so hungry!” The words were punctuated by a loud growl, one that came not from its muzzle, but from its belly.
Lex’s eyes narrowed at the confirmation of the thing’s intelligence. “The only one who’s going to die is you.” Better to do it quickly in case it had some sort of countermeasure. Tlerekithres had been able to resist his control to a profound degree, very nearly breaking free with its own magic. Although there was no indication that the white wolf had anything like that, he wasn’t about to take a chance.
But he’d only just started to call upon his dark magic when Thermal Draft nudged him. “Wait! Maybe she can help us!” She didn’t let him object before looking at the paralyzed wolf. “You just want something to eat, right? If we give you some food, would you mind answering our questions?”
“You’ll…give me food?” The canine’s voice was tinged with suspicion, but there was a hopeful tone in there as well as it looked over the ponies, settling on the pegasus. “Then, can I have the seidrmadr? He looks almost dead anyway. I promise I’ll make it quick and painless.”
Thermal Draft cocked her head. “The what? Wait, you mean Lex?! No! No, listen, we have some food over here.” She swept a hoof toward the bowls of gruel and water that Lex had conjured earlier. The spell had made more than the two of them could eat, and more than half of the conjured containers were still full. “You can have all of that.”
“All of that?” The thing’s eyes slid over to the bowls, its nose twitching. “Is there any meat?”
But Lex wasn’t interested in bargaining. “This creature attempted to kill us both,” he pointed out. “It needs to be slain before it has the opportunity to do so again.” His eyes flared as he spoke, conjuring a spike of black crystal from the floor, its pointed tip pushing upward toward the underside of the thing’s head-
Only for his pegasus companion to quickly extend her foreleg under its muzzle, making him quickly arrest the crystal’s growth before he pierced her hoof. “Thermal Draft!”
“Lex, please!” pleaded Drafty. “She might know where a town is! Listen, you’ve got her under control, right? So she can’t do anything you don’t want her to. Why not at least make her talk to us first, and if that doesn’t work then you can…” She grimaced, glancing at the bound wolf again before continuing. “…then you can put her down, okay?”
Lex let out a slow breath, which was very nearly a hiss of displeasure. After everything that had happened, the wounds he’d taken and the fight he’d lost and the relentless burden of not knowing if the ponies who’d been relying on him were alive or dead now, taking a chance like she was suggesting was the last thing he wanted to do. But at the same time, Thermal Draft brought up a good point. They needed information, and so far this creature was the only sapient being they’d met. While his control over it wouldn’t last very long – though he could extend it by a few minutes if he kept calling on the Night Mare’s power until it was expended – then it was, barring the wolf having some sort of powerful magic that it was holding in reserve, powerless to disobey him.
It was still a risk, but one which was – for once – weighted in his favor.
None of that was what made Lex hesitate, however. Instead, it was the sudden memory that came to him then, reminding him that he’d been in a situation similar to this one before.
This is just like what happened with Sonata and Fireflower.
He could recall it as clearly as if it had happened yesterday. The two of them had been on their way to Tall Tale, and had happened across the aranea, a giant spider able to take the form of a pony. Lex had been intent on killing the unnatural creature, but Sonata had managed to take it alive, and the two of them had argued about what to do with it.
Things had only grown worse the following morning. Fireflower, in gratitude to Sonata for her leniency, had offered to show her the fire magic he knew. Lex, awakening during the demonstration, had mistaken the sight for Fireflower attacking the mare he loved, causing him to lash out with everything he had. Only Sonata’s intervention had saved the aranea, and even then it had been a near thing.
The fight they’d had after that had resulted in Sonata breaking up with him.
The memory was enough to make him wince even now, especially with how worried he felt over not knowing if she was alive or dead. That spike of emotion, in turn, was enough to make his tulpa stir, the spiteful thing making itself known a moment later. That was another example of your poor judgment. If you’d ignored her and slain that spider-creature, its siblings wouldn’t have come to save you after you slew that dragon, it jeered, causing Lex to clench his jaw.
It went against his every instinct to do so, but Lex let the aura fade from around his horn, his eyes returning to normal as he let the black crystal stalagmite he’d conjured beneath the wolf’s head crumble to dust. Ignoring the way Thermal Draft beamed at him, he glowered at the creature. “Go to the bowls,” he spat. “Eat your fill of what’s in them.”
Those golden eyes widened then, but the wolf didn’t say anything as it padded over to the remaining food and water that he’d created. Sniffing them for a moment, it dug in, pink tongue darting out to lick up the gruel in large mouthfuls. In just a few moments, it gobbled down an entire bowlful of the stuff, immediately moving on to another.
Smiling, Thermal Draft watched the spectacle. “Is it good?”
One of the wolf’s ears twitched. “…its awful,” it answered after a moment, and Lex frowned as he heard a catch in the thing’s voice. “It’s slimy, it’s mushy, and it’s tasteless. But…”
Its voice hitched again, and this time the sound was recognizable as a sob, the wolf finishing the second bowl and moving on to a third. “…it’s good! It’s really…really good!”
She sank to her belly then, squeezing her eyes shut as tears ran down the fur of her cheeks, the water crystallizing before it hit the ground. The soft pattering of the ice crystals hitting the floor of the cave was punctuated only by the sound of the wolf’s weeping as she continued to eat her fill.
When she’d finally finished, Thermal Draft – her own eyes looking suspiciously wet – took a tentative step forward. Lex made a low grunt of disapproval at that, but the pegasus gave him a quick wave before turning back to the reclining creature. “Do you feel better now?”
Her ears flicking back, the canine glanced at her for just a moment before looking down. “Yes…”
“My name’s Thermal Draft,” continued the pegasus. “And this is Lex. What’s your name?”
For a moment no answer came. Then the snow-colored wolf looked over at the two of them.
“Solvei,” she said at last. “My name is Solvei.”