//------------------------------// // 689 - The Good Spellbook // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Mystaria spotted Lex and Thermal Draft as soon as she exited the mouth of the cave. The two of them were standing a few dozen feet away from the entrance, barely visible as the snow caught the feeble remnants of what little remaining daylight had made it through the cloud cover. Even that was fading fast now, with full dark nearly upon them. Despite that, Lex’s shadow was still visible in the gloom, stretching over the snow and reaching toward the cave as though eager to attack the dwellers within. Or as if it wants company, decided Mystaria, wanting to banish any negativity toward the unicorn from her thoughts as she made her way toward the pair. How I approach them sets the tone for the entire conversation. A warm and friendly greeting, maybe a compliment or two, and then we can segue into a productive exchange of ideas about what to do with our prison- “Erk!” Her internal monologue was interrupted as a loud ringing – as though someone were waving a bell – erupted from right in front of her, causing her to skid to a halt in surprise since the noise had no apparent source. But it had a very clear effect as Lex and Thermal Draft both turned their attention her way. Lex scowled at the sight of her, but Thermal Draft let out a whoop. “It worked!” “Its primary function worked,” corrected Lex curtly. “The password feature to bypass its activation remains untested.” “Oh, I know this one!” blurted Mystaria as she realized what was going on. “This is the ‘alarm’ spell, right? They use this a lot at Luminace’s temple back in Viljatown.” She grinned as a memory came to her then. “I could never figure out why, whenever I tried to sneak into the restricted book section, I always got caught. It turned out that one of the junior acolytes was tasked with maintaining a casting of this spell around the entrance, except they used the mental signal when it was tripped rather than the audible-” “What do you want?” interrupted Lex, positioning himself so he was standing directly across from her, as though he expected her to challenge him to a duel or something. While not unexpected, his aggressive demeanor was still off-putting; fortunately, Thermal Draft came to Mystaria’s rescue. “Aw, c’mon Lex, don’t be like that. I bet she’s just come to tell us that wolf-thing we captured is starting to come around or something.” “If there was any news regarding that creature, Solvei would have informed me,” snapped Lex, before returning his gaze to Mystaria. “You’re interrupting our efforts to secure this location. State whatever business brought you out here, then go back inside.” Struggling to maintain her positive demeanor in the face of Lex’s unabashed negativity, Mystaria fumbled for a response. “I, er…I just wanted to, um, say that…” Inspiration struck then, as his utilitarian focus on defense reminded her of something else. “That your tactical advice was brilliant. We probably would have taken a lot more of a beating if you hadn’t given us those pointers.” While she and her friends had spent most of the day talking about what Thermal Draft had told Spinner the night before, that hadn’t been the only subject to have been discussed. Shortly after they’d broken camp that morning, Lex had taken it upon himself to start giving them combat advice based on what he’d seen of their abilities. While most of the rest of her friends had been indignant at his presuming to lecture them despite their having a number of successful – or at least, not fatal – adventures under their collective belts already, Mystaria had to admit that most of his advice had been well-reasoned. And telling him that now would hopefully be the way to ease Lex out of his hostile stance. After all, everyone liked receiving compliments, right? “Having the spellcasters focus on defense and impeding our enemies’ ability to fight effectively, while our physical combatants harried any attackers who seemed like they’d overcome those tactics, all so you and Solvei could focus on dishing out major damage without worrying about the rest of us was absolutely the right strategy. I just wanted to let you know that it was recognized and appreciated.” Thermal Draft beamed, as though she’d been the one complimented, but Lex’s expression didn’t change. “Considering its source, I find that statement to be of questionable veracity.” Mystaria blinked. “I’m sorry?” “I also told you that, unless someone was dealt a wound of life-threatening severity, or we found ourselves in a drawn-out conflict and had sufficient cover, healing should be deprioritized in favor of defense,” noted Lex coldly. “And yet when Valor was injured, you immediately used curative magic on her.” “Hold on!” Mystaria wanted this to be a pleasant conversation, and she had come out here prepared to give ground on any number of topics in order to establish an amiable atmosphere. But this was something she couldn’t agree to. “She’d just taken a spear to the stomach! I couldn’t ignore that!” “You weren’t supposed to ignore it,” retorted Lex. “You were supposed to understand that since she was in no immediate danger of dying, the greater priority was to prevent her from taking further wounds rather than undoing that one. Your inability to recognize that put her, as well as the rest of us, in greater danger.” “You mean like when you stood up and just told three of those things to stop? The result of which was that you almost got skewered?” shot back Mystaria. “Because whatever that was you were doing, it wasn’t very effective at keeping us out of greater danger, and come to think of it, what were you doing, anyway? I didn’t sense any magic, which means that wasn’t some sort of command spell, so what-” “I employed a tactic, and it didn’t work,” growled Lex through clenched teeth. “That’s all you need to know.” “Okay, maybe we should all take a breather,” cut in Thermal Draft. “Lex, maybe it would be a good idea to cast that spell that makes food and water? I’m actually getting pretty hungry. If you go back inside and get started on it, I’ll stay here with Mystaria, and we-” “Absolutely not!” Mystaria had to resist the urge to take a step back as Lex’s eyes changed color then, his sclera becoming a brilliant green as dark purple flames erupted from their outer corners. In the fading light, and with him still wearing his skull mask, the sight was only slightly less intimidating than when she’d first seen it a few days ago. “After what happened the last time I left you alone with those unscrupulous ponies, I’m not doing it again!” Mystaria gaped. He was still mad about that? How many times- “Hey.” Moving so that she stood directly in front of Lex, Thermal Draft’s voice was soft. “I’m okay,” she murmured, taking a hesitant step forward. When he didn’t step back, she moved in closer, nuzzling him. “I know that you’re worried about me, and I know that I haven’t exactly helped make things better. But I’m not upset about what happened with them anymore, okay?” “You don’t have to be.” Despite the quiet pleading on the pegasus’ part, Lex’s voice had softened only a little. Even so, his eyes changed back to normal. “I am.” The breath that Drafty let out then was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Honestly…they predict that you’ll be disfigured and damned, and you’re less angry about that than them having bullied me a little…” She looked like she was going to say more, but suddenly seemed to remember that Mystaria was there, glancing back at the earth mare self-consciously. For her part, Mystaria felt her anger draining away as she watched the two of them confer. What am I doing? She’d come out here intent on repairing their group’s relationship with Lex, and instead she’d been on the verge of making it worse. She’d let herself be goaded by his acrimoniousness, overlooking what should have been blatantly obvious: that he was apparently worried sick about his girlfriend. And if even half of what Drafty had told Spinner was true, then his aggressiveness toward anything he perceived as a possible threat wasn’t surprising, given how much strife he’d been through. “That wasn’t just bullying, it was an assault,” insisted Lex, as if to confirm Mystaria’s realization. “Ponies like them aren’t guided by principled conduct. That’s why I instructed Solvei to watch over that creature we captured; she’s powerful enough to ensure that it can’t threaten anyone, and to make sure these mares don’t have a chance to physically abuse it like they tried to do to you.” “Wait,” sputtered Mystaria, jolted out of her ruminating by that particular revelation. “You thought that we were going to tor-” “Lex, they apologized for what happened back at the inn,” pressed Drafty, keeping her voice gentle. “Valor said she was sorry. So did Spinner. And Mystaria, too.” But Lex seemed unwilling to back down. “And I made it clear that I found their statements of contrition to be disingenuous. And even if they were sincere, they’re still wholly inadequate when compared to their actions-” “You’re right.” Mystaria’s announcement was enough to make both ponies look at her. “You’re right,” she repeated. “Us just saying we’re sorry isn’t enough to make up for what happened.” She let out a slow breath, remembering one of the lessons she’d learned at Luminace’s temple growing up, long before she’d started studying how to cast spells. “In my religion, atoning for when you do something wrong requires more than just saying you’re sorry. It requires that the harm caused actually be redressed, and we haven’t done that.” She couldn’t help but pause then, realizing it had been years since she’d thought about that lesson. But she knew she couldn’t afford to mull that over now, since both Lex and Drafty were still looking at her, waiting to see how she’d follow through on her acknowledgment that restitution was required for what had happened back at the inn. Opening her saddlebag, Mystaria slowly drew a slim folio out of it. “This is my spellbook,” she explained, before realizing that if they were from a country with different magical traditions – which wasn’t that hard to believe, given how unusual their magic seemed – they might not realize the significance of what she was showing them. “Do you know what wizards use these for?” “I’m guessing they write spells in them?” joked Thermal Draft lightly. “They’re more than that,” replied Lex, his eyes sliding between Mystaria and the tome she was holding. “A spellbook is a compression device for ambient magical energy, used by certain magical practitioners to prepare their thaumaturgical spells. Each spell written into it is not only a model of how its thought-form is constructed, but also serves as a tool to shape and internalize the power necessary for its casting.” Mystaria nodded. “That’s right. And without it, I can’t prepare any of my arcane spells. Well, except for the ‘read magic’ spell, which deciphers magical inscriptions.” Giving a self-deprecating smile, she tapped the side of her head. “I’ve used that one enough that it’s up here permanently. And I can still pray to Luminace for divine spells. But since I never got around to making a backup one of these” – she nodded toward her spellbook, still cradled in her foreleg – “I’d be magically crippled if something happened to it.” She let that hang in the air for a moment…and then held her spellbook out toward Lex and Drafty. The pegasus’ eyes widened as she realized what was going on, and reflexively stepped forward to take it, but Lex held a hoof out in front of her, regarding Mystaria suspiciously. “What are you doing?” “I’m offering the two of you my spellbook,” answered Mystaria honestly. “Not permanently, but from now until sunrise, it’s yours to do with as you wish. Of course, if tomorrow morning you don’t want to give it back, I doubt anyone here would be able to make you, so…” Lex didn’t move to take the book, nor did he allow Drafty to do so, but neither did he turn away from her. “And you think this is adequate recompense for what your friends did?” Instead of saying yes or no, Mystaria replied with a question of her own. “You’re out here teaching Thermal Draft spells because you want her to be able to protect herself, right? Well, I’ve got dozens of spells in here that she can learn. They’re not very powerful, but they’re versatile. She can study them and add them to her repertoire. So can you, for that matter, if there are any which you don’t already know.” Taking a step forward, she gestured to him to take the book. “Also, this way, you’ll know all the arcane spells I can prepare, so you’ll be able to offer better advice in battle. And if you really want to punish us – because I’m doing this on behalf of my friends – for what happened with Drafty, then…I won’t be able to stop you from destroying it.” She was quite proud of herself for having kept her voice steady as she said that last part. It had taken her most of her adult life to fill out her spellbook to the extent that she had. Luminace’s temple was a masterful institution of magical learning – there was a reason why it worked so closely with the Pony Empire’s premiere magical school, the Academie d’Grace – but even for their clergy, access to its resources wasn’t free. Spellbooks had to be constructed using specially-treated paper and particular inks in order to serve their function as preparation tools. Components and foci for spells that required them had to be purchased. Lessons in arcane magical practices – unlike their religious education, which was free for orphans who lived at the temple – needed to be paid for. And all of that was before the actual costs associated with either inventing a new spell from scratch or paying someone else to copy their spells. Given that she and her friends were always hurting for money, the loss of her spellbook, meager though its contents were, would easily set her back years if Lex chose to destroy it. But they were all headed into danger now, having already risked their lives in what were likely only the first few of several battles, and continued infighting would only hurt their chances of making it back safe and sound. Besides, for all his acerbity, Lex had yet to do anything truly awful; in fact, judging from the way he continually harped on others’ failings, and his concern for Drafty, his self-righteousness seemed like it came from a desire to actually be righteous, apparently in everything he did. Which meant that if she trusted him to do the right thing now, then maybe, just maybe, he’d start trusting them in return. Friendship, rather than magic, is the source of Luminace’s grace. “Please forgive us for what we did to Thermal Draft.” The pegasus in question was holding her breath, fully cognizant of the weight of what was happening as she looked between Lex and Mystaria. But Mystaria kept her eyes on Lex, the stallion making no move as he stared at her in return. The silence dragged on as both mares waited for Lex’s response. Until finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he nodded, telekinetically taking hold of her spellbook and passing it over to Drafty. “Very well.” Mystaria slumped with relief, her knees almost buckling as a sudden feeling of exhaustion swept over her. Although she’d been fighting for her life just recently, this felt like it had been a far more grueling battle. Drafty looked much the same, and the two shared a grin for a moment before the pegasus began to speak. “This is great! C’mon, let’s go tell everypony else the good news! Oh, and before I forget, the password so we don’t set off the alarm spell on the way back is ‘Cloudbank.’ It’s the name of-” “Tell her later,” interrupted Lex, moving past her as he quickly made his way back toward the cave. “We’re heading back.” The sudden tension in his voice was enough to make Drafty and Mystaria share another glance, this time of concern. “Is everything alright?” asked the latter. When it came a moment later, Lex’s reply caused both of them to rush after him. “Solvei just contacted me. That thing we captured is waking up.”