The flames filled the cavern, bringing with them chaos and pain.
Or at least, that was how it seemed to Lex as the fire erupted around him, searing his immaterial self in a manner that made its magical nature clear. The bright flash accompanying the ignition was almost blinding, lighting up the darkened den in an instant, even as the stones beneath him sizzled and smoked, the sound barely audible beneath the dull roar caused by the explosion, the frost from the breath weapons of Solvei’s kin boiling away in an instant. Nor was that all that assaulted his senses at that moment.
All around him, the wolves were screaming in fear and agony.
Solvei’s voice was the loudest among them.
But even as he processed that, the flames sputtered and died, vanishing as though their appearance had been nothing more than an illusion. The lingering pain in his shadowy body told Lex otherwise, however, as did the scorch marks on the ground, the cracks lining the stones due to their suddenly being superheated, and the sight of the winter wolves around him, lying scattered on the ground as wisps of smoke rose from their bodies.
Solvei!
Although he knew he would have been hard-pressed to continue fighting without the white wolf by his side, tactical considerations were the furthest thing from Lex’s mind as he rushed toward where Solvei had fallen.
When he’d first met her, Solvei had been on the run from her family, knowing that she wasn’t strong enough to fight them. She’d only come back to face them now because he’d convinced her that his magic would see her through. No matter that he’d used divine authority to force her to obey him at first, if she’d truly had no faith in his abilities, she could easily have abandoned him last night while he’d been asleep. Her having stayed was all the proof necessary that she’d accepted his proposal wholeheartedly.
That she’d done so meant that he had a duty of care with regard to her now, Lex knew. She might not have been a pony, but that wasn’t a relevant factor here; he’d entered into an agreement with her, one that required him to see to her safety. To let her come to harm now was a failure on his part.
And after losing Thermal Draft, not knowing if Sonata, Aria, Nosey, and Feather Duster were alive or dead, being unable to save Block Party, and so many other times when he hadn’t been strong enough or fast enough or smart enough to help someone who needed it, Lex Legis was sick to death of letting other people down.
But as he rushed to Solvei’s side, Lex saw that he was on the verge of doing so again.
The white wolf was in bad shape. Lex could tell at a glance that, rather than inoculating her from the heat, the frigid nature of her body had rendered her that much more vulnerable to the flames. A large portion of her fur, as well as the skin beneath it, had been seared black. Other parts of her were completely hairless, her flesh blistering and already starting to ooze a disgusting clear fluid. It was only because of the wheezing, shuddering breaths that escaped from her throat that he could even tell that she was alive at all.
Do you think this is what happened to Sonata and the others? murmured his tulpa cruelly. All because you still haven’t realized that you can’t protect anyone.
SHUT UP!!! roared Lex internally, the edges of his umbral body roiling in rage. But he knew he didn’t have the luxury of letting the rogue portion of his mind distract him now. Saving the injured wolf in front of him was what mattered.
“Solvei, if you can hear me, remain still,” he murmured. “I’m going to heal you now.”
The sound of his voice made her twitch. “…h-hurts…” she whimpered, her voice weak.
Directing his divine authority toward her, Lex concentrated on giving her the ability to recover from her injuries, along with resistance to damaging heat. Otherwise, if Bolverk did whatever he’d just done again, healing Solvei now would be pointless; she’d simply be reduced to this state – or worse – all over again.
That wasn’t a risk Lex was willing to take.
But that didn’t mean that this didn’t involve risks of a different sort.
A single application of divine authority was enough to imbue Solvei with a considerable amount of power, the specifics of which were up to him to delineate. While imbuing her with the ability to create magical effects that were external to herself was difficult, enhancing her body directly was much easier. But while the sixty-second limit was the most pronounced restriction on what he could do, it wasn’t the only one.
Another was that he could only use a single application of divine authority on her at a time. If he used a second before the first had worn off, then the new use of divine authority completely overwrote the old one. While the application he was giving her now had enough energy left over to re-apply at least some of the physical enhancements he’d given her before, the self-healing and heat resistance he was granting her left little room for much else, which meant she wouldn’t be able to maintain the same level of combat prowess she’d had up until now.
The result was that, if her family renewed their attacks now, her odds of continuing to overcome them were now precipitously lower. And that wasn’t even taking into account Bolverk, who looked stronger than any of them, and who was unwearied as well. Which means that unless I can figure out how he made that fire, and how to neutralize it, we’re stuck in a defensive position.
If Lex had been corporeal at the moment, he would have gritted his teeth in frustration. As it was, he’d just finished applying his divine authority to Solvei when a voice drew his immediate attention. “Solvei?”
Cursing inwardly, Lex glanced up in time to see Sten – who’d been on the edge of the blast – creeping closer. Unlike his sister, he looked little worse for wear. Only some mild burns were visible on him, showing up as slightly darker patches on his leathery skin. There was no question that he was still in fighting condition.
Snarling, Lex prepared to unleash a barrage of black crystals, intent on buying time for Solvei to recover. The healing power he’d given her would only need a few seconds to kick in, but she’d be vulnerable during that time. Even then, she’d be in no condition to fight her brother off.
But the loud whimper that came from Sten’s throat then made Lex hesitate, giving the wolf time to look at him, ears folded back. “Is…is she going to be alright?”
A round of harsh laughter cut through his mourning. “Of course she’s not!” howled Bolverk from the back of the cave, where the flames hadn’t reached. “She dared to challenge me, so now she’s going to burn!”
“Bolverk…what have you done?!” Turid stood up shakily, her expression incredulous as she looked at her leader. Her wounds were worse than Sten’s, but only slightly, leaving her nowhere near as bad off as Solvei. On either side of her, her remaining children seemed to be no worse off. Physically, at least. Ebbe was cowering, his eyes wide as he settled into a terrified crouch, while Kaja was curled up and sobbing.
If Bolverk cared in the slightest, he didn’t show it. “I’ve shown my foolish daughter what happens when she bears her fangs at me!” he sneered.
“But you used fire!” protested Turid. “That’s the evil power that Vutok used when he turned against Hrothvitnir! Our ancestors-”
“Shut up with that drivel!” howled Bolverk, suddenly enraged. “I don’t care about our ancestors! I never did! I spent my entire life listening to Frode talk about them again and again and again, as though a bunch of dead wolves could help feed us! If they were really so important, they never would have died in the first place!”
Lifting a claw, he pointed to his neck, and Lex could see the necklace that had previously been hidden in the folds of the thick hide and loose patches of fur there, one that had a little more than a half-dozen beads hanging from the front of it. “You see this?” sneered Bolverk. “I got it from the Red Man, just in case the power he gave me wasn’t enough to deal with Frode! As long as I have it, I can make fire, which means there’s no one among our people who can defeat me, no matter what spirits they whine to!”
Flaring his wings, he threw back his head and howled. “Once I show the other packs how strong I’ve become, and how much food we can all have once we slaughter the ponies, they’ll all make me their alpha! I’ll become the leader of the largest pack ever! From now on, the stories our people tell won’t be about our ancestors, they’ll be about ME!”
“And if they don’t, will you make us fight their alphas for you?” Turid took a step forward then, lips pulling back as she growled at Bolverk. “Will you burn them while we distract them? Will you burn us – me and my children – alongside them the way you did now, even after all we’ve done for you?!”
But her anger earned only a contemptuous snort from Bolverk. “You sound almost as stupid as your runt of a daughter,” he jeered. “So what if you all were burned? Have you forgotten that you have the Red Man’s power now? He gave you the ability to withstand heat, which is why we’ll be able to hunt in the valleys and the plains even after the snows melt! That’s why you’re still standing while Solvei is barely alive!”
“I’m more alive than you’re about to be!”
Bolverk’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head as Solvei’s voice rang throughout the den, loud and strong. Lex had deliberately positioned his shadowy form between the alpha wolf and Solvei, allowing her to heal without being seen, and so Bolverk’s surprise was complete as she stepped out from behind her benefactor a moment later, glaring up at the wolf she’d challenged. Around her, the rest of her family seemed similarly shocked, with Kaja and Ebbe slack-jawed as they stared at her, Turid in a similar state of disbelief. Only Sten was composed, and even then only somewhat, still dumbfounded from having witnessed her unnatural recovery.
For her part, Solvei ignored them, staring up at Bolverk with open contempt. “You’ve disgraced everything my father stood for! You’ve spit on our ancestors, violated our traditions, and broken our worst taboo! The rest of our people will never follow a monster like you, the same way our forebearers wouldn’t follow those who threw their lot in with Vutok! Now, I’m going to send you to our ancestors to be judged for what you’ve done!”
For a moment Bolverk’s jaw worked soundlessly, until he finally found his voice again. “You…how?! I burned you! With fire! How did-, no, I don’t care!” Snarling, he reached a claw up to his neck, and Lex’s eyes narrowed as he watched him yank another bead off of it – the beads on either side of it joining together smoothly as he tore the intervening one free – before rearing his foreleg back threateningly. “If burning you once wasn’t enough, then I’ll do it again! And this time I’ll rip you to pieces afterward for good measure!”
Lowering his voice to a whisper, Lex didn’t look away from Bolverk as he spoke to Solvei. “Distract him long enough for me to get close to him. I have a plan.”
Solvei nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he can’t afford to take his eyes off of me.”
“Just remember, I’ve made you resistant to fire, but your combat skills have suffered for it,” warned Lex. “Fight defensively until I can restore your battle augmentations.”
“I will.” The corners of Solvei’s mouth turned upward as she shot him a quick smile. “I’m not afraid of him anymore, thanks to you.”
Then she charged, howling a wordless battle cry as she raced straight at Bolverk.