//------------------------------// // 690 - A Very Cross Examination // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// The earth mares were standing at the ready as Lex strode back into the cave, Thermal Draft and Mystaria trailing after him. But it wasn’t him they were waiting for, all four of them directing their attention toward the back of the cavern. There, Solvei had also stood up again, growling as the two-legged creature wriggled and groaned softly, nearing consciousness once more. A glance from Lex made Thermal Draft stop pursuing him, nodding back at the unicorn as she retreated a few steps to stand near the mouth of the cave, turning and looking back out into the night so that nothing would be able to sneak in while their attention was diverted. Even so, she couldn’t help but glance back over her shoulder every few seconds, her curiosity impossible to contain. Mystaria, for her part, moved over next to Spinner, who was the furthest back among her friends. Long experience had taught her that the distance the bard was keeping wasn’t due to fear, but rather was hanging back so that she wouldn’t be in anyone’s way when she brought her musical powers to bear. Just like she had against Grisela, Mystaria knew that Spinner wouldn’t hesitate to rush into the fray and use her lute as a blunt instrument if that turned out to be necessary. She just really, really hoped that it wouldn’t come to that now. “Everything go okay with the world’s friendliest unicorn?” murmured Spinner as Mystaria stood next to her, not taking her eyes off of their captive. “Believe it or not, we had a breakthrough,” reported Mystaria, also keeping her attention on the awakening biped. “He agreed to let go of the grudge he’s been carrying for what happened with Valor and Thermal Draft, and he’s not going to torture that two-legged wolf.” She decided to omit the part about Lex thinking that they were the ones who needed to be stopped from tormenting the prisoner; hopefully, now that they’d started to reach an understanding, such remnants of their mutual mistrust could be put behind them. The news garnered her an impressed look from Spinner. “No kidding? How did you pull that off?” Resisting the urge to smirk, Mystaria shrugged. “Empathy, compassion, humility…and I’m letting him borrow my spellbook.” Spinner’s head snapped around to look at her. “You’re what?!” Mystaria didn’t have a chance to answer as the creature’s eyes finally fluttered open. For a half-second it didn’t seem to register what was happening, staring at Solvei and the assembled ponies with a blank expression on its face. Then its eyes widened as it began to thrash, falling over as it tried to leap to its feet only to find them bound together, its wrists similarly restrained behind its back. But it didn’t stop moving, uttering a string of harsh syllables in an unfamiliar tongue as it struggled to right itself. Lex made a motion with one hoof – something which Mystaria was certain was for show, since he could talk to her telepathically – and Solvei moved forward, lowering her head as she closed her jaws around the creature’s throat. The humanoid gave a ragged cry, this time clearly of terror, and Shadow and Valor both cursed as they rushed forward. But they’d barely taken a step when Solvei, rather than biting down, raised her head and tilted it slightly, maneuvering the creature back into a sitting position before releasing its neck and moving back to Lex’s side. “I believe your situation is self-evident,” began Lex, and the calm tone in his voice in no way mitigated the malice it held. “But in case you’re having trouble understanding the position that you’re in, I’ll make it clear to you: you have committed multiple crimes against ponykind. Now that you’re captured, it’s in your best interest-” “Where are my people?!” The creature’s eyes swept over the cave, as though only now realizing that it was the only one of its kind there. “The others who were with me, what happened to them?! Did you-” It didn’t have a chance to finish as black crystals erupted from the cave wall behind it – their tips blunt rather than pointed – shoving it forward and causing it to fall on its face at Lex’s hooves. Managing to turn on its side, the wolf-creature couldn’t stop itself from shaking as it looked up at Lex, the unicorn’s eyes glowing. Its trembling grew worse a moment later when Lex, his every motion careful and deliberate, removed his mask and crouched down, putting his face to within an inch of the creature’s. “It’s in your best interest to answer my questions,” he continued, as if no interruption had occurred, “because if you make no effort to mitigate the severity of your misdeeds, then I have no further use for you. Do you understand?” Its eyes darting back and forth between Lex and the wooden mask – the deadly weapon which had instantly struck its leader dead, and was now less than a foot away from its body, balanced on the unicorn’s hoof – the creature couldn’t seem to remember how to speak, its breathing turning rapid. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!” Lex’s scream made the creature – as well as the other ponies in the cave – jump, cracking the back of its head against the black crystals behind it. But it managed to nod a moment later, squeezing its eyes shut. “Yes!” “Good.” His voice calm and restrained once more, Lex stood up, putting his mask back on as his eyes resumed their normal colors. The black crystals sprouting from the cave wall turned to dust then, and another gesture from Lex had Solvei again return the creature to its sitting position. Soft whimpers were coming from its muzzle now, and to Mystaria it almost sounded like it was sobbing. “Now,” began Lex, “where is Grisela?” The creature opened its eyes, and despite how terrified it still looked, the corners of its lips turned down. “Wh-what?” “Grisela,” spat Lex, impatience leaking into his voice. “The winter hag. Where is she?” The creature shook its head. “I don’t…” Its voice failed then, and it swallowed hard before trying again. “I don’t know who that is.” Lex narrowed his eyes, which burst into green and purple light again. Behind him, Mystaria exchanged concerned looks with her friends. If the biped had become defiant at the sound of Grisela’s name, that would have been one thing, but the confusion it had shown just now had sounded genuine. But apparently Lex didn’t think so. “I’m going to give you one more chance. Where. Is. Grisela?” “I don’t know who that is,” repeated the lupinoid. Closing its eyes, it swallowed again, taking several deep breaths before opening them. This time, when it did, its expression held the confrontative look that Mystaria had previously expected. “And if that’s someone else you intend to murder, then I won’t help you find them!” Its body began to grow translucent then, taking on a hazy appearance, and it was easy to recognize that it was turning into mist the same way its fellows had. The recognition brought a low growl from Woodheart, and Shadow cursed softly before looking at Lex. “If you’ve got some sort of brilliant idea for how to keep that thing from escaping, now’s the time to use it!” “I already have,” replied Lex calmly, making no move to stop the transforming humanoid. The answer was vague enough that Valor threw a hoof in the air, visibly frustrated. “What the hell does that mean?!” She had her answer a moment later as the wolf fully became mist. Its bonds slipped from its wrists and ankles as the featureless patch of fog floated through the air, racing toward the cave entrance…and then banked sharply upward, pressing itself against the ceiling. The sudden turn made Mystaria’s brow furrow, but she had no time to wonder what the creature was doing before its misty body suddenly shot back down, whirling dizzyingly as it moved back toward the rear of the cave, only to loop around and then rush at the right wall. It slid along the surface before swooping along the floor, coming back up, and then immediately reversing course and hugging the ground again. “What in Luminace’s name…?” muttered Mystaria, watching as the gaseous body continued to careen around the cave, lurching to and fro as if drunk. Watching the action from the cave entrance, Thermal Draft nodded. “I’ve flown in tornadoes with more coordination than that thing is showing right now.” “I believe it,” answered Spinner, before glancing at Lex. “Hey, you mind filling us in? Mystaria says that the hatchet is officially buried now, and while that wolf might be the only one who turned into fog, I think we’re all mystified about why it’s…” She gestured at where the gaseous mist was currently corkscrewing through the air, brushing up against the left wall of the cave at a steep angle before swirling around and hitting the ceiling again. “…you know, doing that instead of fleeing.” Mystaria half-expected Lex to tell Spinner off, but was pleasantly surprised a second later. “I put a curse on that creature shortly after we captured it,” he explained. “This is the result.” Shadow cocked a brow. “A curse?” “You can curse people?” added Valor. “What sort of curse?” Mystaria had studied magic for as long as she could remember, but the archives at the temple where she’d grown up were both voluminous and had an expansive section of restricted texts. The result was that curses weren’t an area where she knew much, leaving her with little to go on with regard to Lex’s casual admission of having yet another mysterious power. Perhaps because he’d agreed to cease holding what had happened with Thermal Draft back at the inn against them, Lex didn’t object to her asking for more information. “One that disrupts the magical facsimile of equilibrioception that thing it utilizes while in its vaporous state.” Her friends looked confused by his reply, as did Thermal Draft and Solvei, but Mystaria understood what he was telling her. “You threw off his sense of balance?” Lex nodded. “A patch of mist has no sensory organs, which means that in order for that creature to detect its surroundings, whatever magic it’s using to transform itself into fog needs to approximate its ability to perceive the world around it. That includes being able to tell which way is up. I simply cursed it to be unable to do that.” “He might still find his way outside like that,” noted Spinner. “I anticipated that it might,” answered Lex immediately. “Which is why part of what I was teaching Thermal Draft just now was how to cast a spell to create a momentary burst of powerful wind. In the event that thing manages to get near the cave entrance, she’ll simply push it back inside.” “That’s probably for the best,” noted Valor, looking a little dizzy herself as she watched the fog cloud continue to turn and twist vertiginously. “Can you imagine if that thing got outside now? He wouldn’t know how high up he was before he changed back, which means he’d probably turn back to normal up in the sky and then fall to his death.” As if hearing that – which, Mystaria realized a moment later, it probably had, since its other senses weren’t affected by Lex’s curse – the mist resumed a humanoid shape. Slowly coalescing, the humanoid wolf changed back into solid form several feet above the cavern floor, falling and hitting the ground with a weak groan. “No…” Stepping forward, most likely at a telepathic command, Solvei chuckled darkly. “That’s what you get for thinking you can outsmart my master,” she sneered, before grabbing the creature by the back of the neck and dragging it toward the rear of the cave again. She’d barely finished depositing it back there when Lex looked at Shadow. “Tie that thing up again.” The masked mare made no move to comply, giving Lex a cold look. “You didn’t say please.” “I’ll do it,” sighed Spinner, stowing her lute on her back as she trotted toward the back of the cave, giving Solvei a nod. “Cover me in case he tries anything, okay?” “If he does, he’ll wish he hadn’t,” growled the winter wolf. But the creature barely twitched as Spinner bound his arms and legs again, its expression stiff with fear, as though it was too afraid to move. Mystaria felt a sliver of guilt run through her then, and she could see the same on Spinner’s face as the filidh finished tying the creature up, giving it a concerned once-over. “Are the ropes too tight? I can loosen-” “That’s enough,” interrupted Lex harshly, telekinetically yanking Spinner away from the creature. Yelping as she was pulled off-balance, Spinner stumbled back, leaving Lex free to take her place next to the humanoid. “Your escape attempt was easily anticipated; what you should have anticipated was that, once you were recaptured, my patience would be at its end. Now, unless you want to find out how many other ways I can curse you, tell me where Grisela is.” “…don’t know…” whimpered the creature, squeezing its eyes shut again, looking like a child convinced that there was a monster under its bed. “I don’t know who that is!” Lex’s horn lit up then, and Mystaria found herself rushing forward, putting herself between Lex and the terrified creature. “Lex, he doesn’t know!” But despite the breakthrough they’d just had, Lex didn’t seem inclined to listen. “Move, Mystaria, or I’ll have Solvei move you!” Knowing that arguing would solve nothing, Mystaria instead tried to change the subject, turning around and kneeling down by their captive before the winter wolf could drag her away. “If you don’t know who Grisela is, then why were your people lying in wait to attack us?” Perhaps realizing what would happen if he didn’t answer, the lupinoid let out a shuddering breath. “We were there to investigate the pass. One of our hunters said that they saw yetis marching through our territory. We knew that couldn’t be right, so we sent a scouting party to check.” Mystaria heard Solvei pad up behind her, but she kept going. “Why couldn’t that be right? What do the yetis mean to you?” “They’re heretics. They worship a false idol,” answered the creature. “That’s why we killed them all.” Mystaria wasn’t sure what to say to that, but took it as a good sign that Solvei had apparently stopped, no doubt at Lex’s direction, so she asked the first thing that came to mind. “Wait…you killed them all? When?” “Several seasons ago.” Perhaps realizing that he wasn’t about to be killed or cursed, the creature opened its eyes, giving Mystaria a miserable look. “I begged my father to let me join in the battle, but he refused. He said I was too young. That’s why, when the report came in that the yetis had somehow replenished their numbers, I demanded to be part of the scouting party. But all we saw was a single unatattik, which disappeared when we moved closer to it.” He nodded at Solvei then, and Mystaria could feel her confusion growing. But of all the questions bouncing around in her head then, what came out was perhaps the least important one. “What does that mean? ‘Unatattik’?” “In your language, ‘soldier,’” answered the creature, and despite its terror, its expression took on a derisive cast as he looked over Mystaria’s shoulder. “They’re the ones who let Nuti-Amaguk, the Great Wolf, use them as disposable fighters in his war against Ikumak-Amaguk, the Fire Wolf.” Behind Mystaria, Solvei suddenly snarled. “You’re taking about Hrothvitnir and Vutok! Which means…” The scorn in the winter wolf’s voice was thick as she turned back toward Lex. “Master, this vile creature is an adlet!”