The trio of winter wolves entering the cave were nothing like Solvei.
Each of them was larger than her, six inches taller at the shoulder than she was as well as being a foot longer. The additional mass was enough to easily give them a fifty-pound advantage over the smaller wolf, possibly more. Each of the newcomers’ teeth put Solvei’s to shame as well, showcasing incisors that bordered on being true fangs, long and thick before coming to a sharp point.
But those were only modest details compared to the more noticeable differences. Large patches of the fur covering their bodies had fallen out. But the skin underneath wasn’t the healthy pale pink that should have been there. Instead, their flesh was ferruginous in color and thickly calloused, as though it had turned into dark red leather while still on their bodies, forming ugly blotches that were distributed across their bodies at random. If Solvei’s white coat looked like a field of fresh snow, these wolves were a wintry pasture that had been stained with blood.
Nor was that the full extent of what had happened to them. Each of the larger wolves’ front paws were distorted, the toes stretched out grotesquely to accommodate the long claws that now protruded from them. Leathery wings stretched out from their shoulders, their flesh devoid of fur or feathers, instead showing only folds of bright red skin with darker veins visible through the toughened membranes. Even their eyes were red, in contrast to Solvei’s gold.
And, as the three of them came to a stop in front of the patch of black crystal spikes Lex had raised earlier, those red eyes were trained squarely on Lex, Drafty, and Solvei now.
“Look at that,” snickered the wolf on the right, its voice filled with mockery. “Little Solvei actually caught a pair of ponies on her own.”
“It’s the first time the runt managed to catch some game before we did,” laughed the one on the left.
“Sten, Ebbe,” moaned Solvei miserably, looking at each of the pair in turn. “Brothers, don’t do this! You’re not well!”
“That’s enough of that nonsense!” snapped the wolf in the center, the same one who’d spoken a moment ago when the three of them had entered the cave. “It’s bad enough that you’ve refused to honor your father’s wishes-”
“Bolverk isn’t my father!” snapped Solvei. “He killed my father! How can you stand to be near him after what he did?!”
“That’s what’s supposed to happen!” retorted the center wolf. “The strong replace the weak! Bolverk’s power was greater, so he became our alpha!”
“Only because he had the Red Man’s sickness! And now he’s made all of you sick as well!” Solvei’s ears turned down so far that they pressed against her skull as she looked at Lex. “Please, seidrmadr, fix them! I’ll do anything you ask if you can cure my pack!”
“Seidrmadr?” echoed the Solvei’s mother, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Lex, who’d been silently watching the exchange as Thermal Draft crouched behind him. “Solvei, have you betrayed us to the ponies?!”
“It doesn’t matter even if she did,” sneered Sten. “As we are now, their weapons can’t hurt us, and I doubt their seidr could either.”
“After the Red Man takes his share, we’ll feast on all of the ponies in that land!” laughed Ebbe. “We’ll eat so much meat that our bellies will be swollen!”
That was when Lex’s eyes flared, shining green and purple.
“I’ve heard enough.”
In the dim light of the cave, the sudden glow was captivating, and his pronouncement seemed to fill the rocky shelter. The wolves immediately tensed, wings flaring at the ready as all three bared their teeth and growled, crouching as though preparing to leap. But Lex couldn’t have looked less concerned, instead regarding the creatures with an expression of contempt. “None of you will be allowed to bring harm to a pony. Now, lie down on the ground and hold still so that I can examine you.”
The words were backed with the authority given to him by the Night Mare. At his silent command, invisible tendrils of power sped toward the monstrous wolves, wrapping around them in an instant…
And failed to take hold of them.
It was unexpected enough that Lex couldn’t keep his surprise in check, his eyes widening in shock and alarm. What was going on?! Whatever had affected Solvei’s pack, they were still the winter wolves, the same as her. If the Night Mare’s power was able to take control of her, then it stood to reason that it should have been able to do the same to them, regardless of whatever deformities or mutations they’d undergone!
If they’d been able to struggle against it, the way Tlerekithres was able to, that would have made more sense, cursed Lex silently, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what was happening. But this isn’t affecting them at all!
“Lex?” whispered Drafty from behind him. “What’s happening?! They’re not lying down!”
Despite her attempt to be quiet, her whisper was loud enough to be heard by everyone, and Solvei’s mother chuckled darkly, her sons laughing with her. “So much for your seidrmadr, daughter,” she taunted, coming out of her crouch as she folded her wings back at her sides. “Now, step away from the ponies, and we’ll-”
Lex swung his foreleg around to point it at Solvei. “Defend us!” he ordered, invoking the Night Mare’s power again. If he couldn’t command those outlandish wolves, then he’d make use of the one he could!
Unable to disobey, Solvei sprang up, placing herself in front of Lex and Drafty. “Wh-what’re you doing?!” she protested. “I don’t want to hurt my pack! I want to save them!”
“Right now, you’re the ones who needs saving, Solvei!” howled Ebbe as he launched himself forward, wings flapping as he picked up speed, leaping over the black crystal spikes. Lex and Thermal Draft barely had time to fling themselves out of the way before he collided with Solvei head-on, both wolves going tumbling as they snarled and snapped at each other, one involuntarily and the other with obvious relish.
It immediately became clear that Solvei was outmatched, landing on her back as her brother moved his jaws toward her throat. Twisting her head away from his fangs, she only barely managed to get her back legs drawn up, kicking out a moment later and dislodging Ebbe from on top of her. But effort cost her, as his elongated front claws raked over her belly before she managed to shake him off, opening up rows of cuts that immediately began to ooze blood as she picked herself up.
Lex barely noticed, his attention on the other two wolves that were rushing toward himself and Thermal Draft, the flap of their wings loud inside the cave. Barely able to stay on his hooves after moving out of the way of Solvei and Ebbe, he called on his dark magic, and immediately a thin protrusion of black crystal shot out from the wall of the cave. It was all he could manage, but it was enough to catch Sten off-guard, the pointed edge piercing his side and sending him crashing to the ground with a pained yelp.
…or rather, that was what Lex had expected would happen.
Instead, the black crystal caught Sten in the side, but did little more than open up a small scratch on the mutated wolf’s flank, causing him to snarl in irritation more than pain. But before Lex had a chance to do more than widen his eyes at how ineffective his attack had been, Solvei’s mother was on him, easily knocking him to the ground and bringing her jaw forward.
Bringing his foreleg up instinctively, Lex somehow managed to wrap black crystals around it just as her teeth made contact. Growling, she bit down, but the thick material held up, saving him from having his limb torn off. But that was small comfort as she suddenly jerked her head to the side, almost yanking his foreleg from its socket as she tossed him into the wall of the cave.
His head with the stone with a sharp crack, and he felt the world spin nauseatingly as he collapsed to the ground. In the distance, he heard Thermal Draft scream his name, but he couldn’t focus enough to see what had become of her, even when her cry of alarm became one of pain a moment later.
“Don’t kill her, you fool!” snarled Solvei’s mother. “Remember what Bolverk told us? The Red Man wants us to bring any ponies that we find to him first!”
“Can’t I at least eat one of her wings?” huffed Sten, and Lex focused on the wolf’s voice, somehow managing to glimpse Thermal Draft lying on her back, one of the white-and-red wolf’s claws pressing down on the bloodied wing that Solvei had injured earlier, making the mare whimper with repressed agony. “She won’t die from that.”
“She will if she bleeds out,” snapped Solvei’s mother irritably as she padded over to Lex. Casually reaching out with one claw, she grabbed his head and slammed it against the side of the cave. He nearly blacked out right there, going limp as she continued holding him against the rough stone. The sight made Solvei’s mother sneer. “Some seidrmadr you turned out to be.”
Huffing, she turned back to Sten. “I know the hunting has been bad lately, but you need to control your hunger for a little longer. If we anger the Red Man, Bolverk will cast us out, and if we lose these powers we won’t be able to attack the pony lands-”
She couldn’t finish as a pained scream from Solvei announced the white wolf’s defeat. Only barely clinging to consciousness, Lex managed to catch sight of the white wolf hitting the ground, her white coat stained red as Ebbe stood over her, triumphant. “Stupid,” taunted the mutated wolf. “You never once beat me in a fight before. What made you think you could do it now that I’m stronger than ever?”
Solvei’s mother rolled her eyes. “Since you’re so strong, Ebbe, you can carry her back home. Now let’s go. If we’re lucky, Kaja’s managed to find some dinner by-, hm?”
Lex didn’t bother to look at the wolf pressing his head against the cave wall as he shakily raised his left hoof toward Solvei. “Get…up…” he muttered. “Get…up…!”
The sight made Sten snicker. “This is what we were afraid to attack? The things that supposedly killed grandfather and most of his kin?”
He wasn’t the only one laughing, Ebbe giving Solvei a sharp jab with his claw. “You heard him Solvei. Get up so I can knock you down again.”
Lex ignored both of them, instead keeping his hoof pointed at Solvei. The wolf was looking back at him now, and could see more tears turning into shards of ice as they fell from her eyes. “I can’t,” she sobbed. “I can’t do it. I can’t fight my family.”
“Get…up…!” repeated Lex, calling on the Night Mare’s power again, pushing as much of it as he could toward the whimpering wolf. “I command you…! Defend us…!” He tried to think of some sort of strategy that he could order her to follow, some sort of tactic that would let her drive her warped packmates away. But in his current state that level of coherent thought was impossible, and all he could do was demand that she produce the results he wanted somehow. “Move faster…! Strike them harder…! Shrug off your wounds and keep fighting…! DEFEND US…!”
The goddess-given power flowed down the barbed wire embedded in his left foreleg then, and Lex felt it reach out and take hold of the winter wolf…
And then it flowed into her.
Lex could only stare. That…wasn’t supposed to happen. The Night Mare’s power either had no affect on a creature, or it wrapped around them and let him control their motor functions. But this…
Solvei gasped suddenly, her head arching back as her eyes widened, lurching up onto all fours. The reaction was unexpected enough that Ebbe stepped back, blinking in surprise. “What’re you doing?” he snapped, raising a claw angrily. “Lie back down before I make you, you little…”
But he couldn’t bring himself to finish that sentence.
Because Solvei was no longer a “little” anything.
In the span of an instant, she’d more than doubled her height. Whereas before she’d been four feet tall at the shoulder, she was now nearly ten, only a few feet shorter than the cave ceiling. Eight feet of length now bordered on twenty, with her tail being longer than her entire body had been a moment ago. Nor were those the only changes she’d undergone, as her fur was now free of bloodstains, suddenly whole and unblemished, showing off the rippling bands of muscle that now lay beneath her coat, as though her body could barely contain its own strength.
The change left everyone speechless, staring at the behemoth that Solvei had become with wide eyes and open mouths, frozen and unable to react.
Which made it easy for Solvei to go on the attack.
With a growl so deep it seemed to rumble up from underground, she brought her head down lightning fast, jaws the size of a wagon closing around Ebbe’s middle. The wolf yelped in shock as he felt Solvei’s teeth – now as large as fence posts – close around him. But there was nothing he could do as she shook him like a ragdoll before flinging him toward the entrance to the cave, still wailing in fright as he sailed through it and hit the snow outside.
The mother wolf could only stare at the spectacle before she released Lex, stumbling back toward the cave entrance where Ebbe had been tossed. “R-retreat!” she gulped, managing to tear her eyes away from the titan that her weakling daughter had suddenly become. “Grab that pony and retrea-”
She wasn’t able to finish as Solvei darted forward – moving far faster than she should have been able to at her current size – and whacked her with one paw.
It wasn’t an artful strike by any means, being little more than a slap. But with the sheer amount of mass that she’d gained, the blow landed with the force of an avalanche, and the elder wolf went skipping along the ground like a stone thrown over water. She bounced once, twice, and finally a third time before rolling several feet, eventually coming to a stop near the cave entrance, her head lolling as she struggled to remain conscious.
In the face of the overwhelming force that his sister had become, Sten had no intention of sticking around. But the few seconds he’d had to process what was happening while Solvei dealt with the rest of his packmates were enough for him to recover his wits, and he lowered his head to take the scruff of Thermal Draft’s neck in his jaws before he turned and bolted, wings beating as fast as she could as he raced toward the cave’s only means of egress.
The realization of what was happening made Drafty yelp, struggling futilely as she was carried off. “L-LEX! SOLVEI! HELP ME!”
“Get her back…!” rasped Lex, recovering enough presence of mind to eliminate the black spikes he’d raised earlier.
Solvei didn’t answer verbally, instead rushing after her departing brother and his captive. But even with her speed having been enhanced, Sten had a head start. Nor were his wings just for show, propelling him forward with surprising quickness even with a struggling pony in his jaws.
And yet, Solvei was quickly gaining on him…
The two reached the entrance of the cave at almost the same moment, and Lex lost sight of them as they disappeared into the glare coming from outside.
Distant yelling reached his ears a few moments later, but they seemed to fade away almost as soon as he heard them. Seconds passed, and the silence seemed to stretch on interminably. Just as he was contemplating trying to drag himself to the cave entrance, it darkened as a massive wolf padded forward…alone.
“I’m sorry,” murmured Solvei, keeping her eyes on the ground. “I couldn’t get her back. Sten banked upward as soon as he cleared the cave, and the others flew off after him. I wasn’t able to-, HNGH!”
Solvei’s groan was one of surprise more than pain, and Lex watched as she suddenly returned to her former self, shrinking back down to her original size and build. But her wounds didn’t reopen, her coat remaining the same pure white it had originally been. Looking almost dizzy from the sudden transition, Solvei took a moment to examine herself, as though not entirely certain that she’d turned back to normal.
Apparently satisfied that she was, Solvei turned her golden eyes back toward Lex. “What…just happened?”
But Lex had no answer to give her.