//------------------------------// // 703 - Open Wounds // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “That looks pretty bad. Maybe talk to Spinner about getting some help?” The question had come from Valor, which was mildly surprising; Thermal Draft had been certain that Mystaria would be the one to approach her. Not that it mattered; for all that she’d begged and pleaded and cajoled, the mass of shadows that Lex had become had yet to respond in any way, simply hovering in place no matter what she did. Eventually she’d stopped trying, simply staring at his umbral form dejectedly. “I don’t think Lex is going to want to hear his fortune told right now.” “I meant you,” replied the shield-toting mare, moving to stand across from Drafty as she nodded toward the pegasus’ face. “Go tell Spinner to cast a healing spell on you. That cut looks nasty.” Grimacing, Thermal Draft reached up, gingerly tracing the laceration that Lex’s black crystals had left her with. Even the light contact was enough to draw a pained grunt from her, the wound beginning to throb now that the adrenaline rush had worn off. In spite of that, the pegasus shook her head. “It’s fine. Lex can give Solvei the power to heal me when she gets back.” “…that’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.” Sitting down next to Thermal Draft, Valor paused for a moment, glanced between the pegasus and the umbral form that Lex had taken. “Mysty says, um…sorry, can he hear us? When he’s like this, I mean?” “I don’t know,” sighed Drafty. “I think so. I mean, he was always able to before, but after what just happened…” She bit her lip, not able to finish that sentence. Not that she needed to; the way Lex had seemed to lose touch with reality right before they’d been attacked was impossible not to think about now. Seeing that Drafty wasn’t going to continue, Valor tried again. “Mysty says Vidrig, that freak with the axe she fought – who was apparently some kind of troll – did something to cut Lex off from Solvei.” Drafty nodded. “I heard her say ‘no magic wolf now’ when she appeared, right after I felt a spell go off.” “Is the spell still affecting him?” Valor canted her head toward Lex then. “Do you have any way of analyzing it?” “I…what?” The question was unexpected enough that it momentarily threw Thermal Draft for a loop. She’d expected the remaining members of Fail Forward to explode in anger over what Lex had done to Woodheart, or to demand answers about the nightmares that he’d brought forth, or even to simply abandon them altogether. Not technical inquiries about the nature of the spell that had prevented Lex from summoning Solvei. “I mean, I can give it a shot. Lex taught me the basic spell for looking into the magical spectrum, but he said it’s not very helpful.” “Could you try anyway?” pressed Valor. “Mystaria says your style of magic is different from hers and Spinner’s. Maybe you’ll see something they can’t.” Her brow furrowing, Drafty couldn’t help but glance over at the others then. Mystaria was standing a short distance away, pulling a book out of her saddlebag and flipping through it. Next to her, Spinner was talking to Littleknight, her expression becoming one of confused frustration when the almiraj meeped and waved his tiny paws in reply. Shadow Star wasn’t with them, instead marching toward where Toklo had gingerly picked up Woodheart’s robe. The masked mare gave the nightmare ponies – still wailing and howling horrible things at Lex as they continued to tear up the patch of ground where Paska and the others had disappeared – a wide berth on her way to the adlet. Even then, she didn’t take her eyes off of them, keeping her dagger ready as she circled the monstrosities. “Drafty?” “I…yeah. Hold on.” Taking a moment to steady herself, Drafty put the unexpected behavior of her traveling companions – along with the worsening pain in her face, the fear and chaos of the last several minutes, and the growing worry she felt for Lex – aside for a moment as she concentrated on the simple spell that would let her visualize magical effects. Even then, it took her several seconds to remember what she needed to do, pulling the spell’s constituent parts together as she looked at Lex. After several seconds she shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m pretty sure I can see the spell they used, but…Lex taught me how to look at magic like this, but I still don’t understand most of what I can see when I do. It’s all just different glowing auras.” Valor slumped in place, letting out a sigh. “Damn it…” “I’m sorry,” repeated Drafty, letting her spell fade. Waving her apology away, Valor straightened up. “It’s fine. Mysty said it was probably a longshot, but she wanted to be sure.” Drafty cocked her head again, glancing back at the mare in question. Mystaria still had her nose buried in her book, but Spinner seemed to be playing charades with Littleknight, putting a hoof up to her forehead as she peered into the distance. “Why?” she murmured as she watched the almiraj shake its head at the bard. “What was she hoping to find out?” “From what she told me, she wanted to know if the spell’s structure would reveal whether or not it had a detectable effect on the familiar even though it was cast on the master,” explained Valor. “Or at least, I think that’s what she said. She was babbling pretty excitedly when she said it.” “Wait…the ‘familiar’?” Her confusion was mirrored on Valor’s face then. “Lex didn’t tell you? A familiar is a creature that shares a mystic bond with a spellcaster. According to Mysty, Lex’s connection to Solvei seems stronger than the one Woodheart has with Littleknight, but is still basically the same-” “Wait, stop, hold on a second.” Holding a hoof out, Drafty closed her eyes as she tried to process what she’d just been told. “So you’re telling me that Woodheart has the same sort of soul-link to Woodheart that Solvei does to Lex?” “That’s the theory,” nodded Valor. “Mysty said she wasn’t entirely sure, but felt confident-” But Thermal Draft wasn’t listening, lowering her eyes in thought as she processed this new information. “Lex tried to break his bond with Solvei after it first happened, but that doing so caused both of them terrible pain. The best he could do was shut some of it out for short periods. But Littleknight looks like he’s fine now, which means-” “That his connection to Woodheart might still be intact,” finished Valor, the corners of her lips turning up slightly. “Which means that she’s alive. Or at least, that’s our working theor-” “That’s wonderful!” yelped Drafty, not letting Valor finish as she flapped her wings in delight, grinning broadly as she turned to look at the formless darkness that her lover had become. “Lex! Did you hear that?! Woodheart’s alive! You didn’t kill her!” But if Lex heard what the pegasus was telling him, he had no reaction whatsoever to the news. Her smile fading as she settled back down, Drafty tried not to let her disappointment show. “I don’t understand…I was sure that would get through to him…” Valor looked only marginally less discouraged. “Maybe it’s a result of losing contact with Solvei? You said it hurt him when he tried to break it before.” “Maybe…” But Thermal Draft’s tone made it clear what she thought of that idea. Lex had already been nonresponsive before they’d been attacked, coming out of it only momentarily before Paska and the others had gotten the jump on them, when he’d seen what he’d done to Woodheart. “You do know it was an accident before, right?” she blurted suddenly, hating the thought that the mares she was traveling with might think otherwise. “Lex would never try to kill another pony.” “I know,” answered Valor, her voice turning chilly. “He was just trying to kill Toklo instead.” Drafty cringed at that, but didn’t have a chance to say anything before Valor sighed. “That came out wrong. What I meant was…” She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “You and I don’t know each other very well, but…I once lost someone I cared about because of someone else’s accident. It took me a long time to stop holding a grudge over it. It’s why I can’t stand it whenever I see someone doing horrible things on purpose; there’s already so much that’s wrong with the world even when people simply make mistakes, and yet some people are out there actively trying to make it worse.” She pursed her lips for a long moment before taking a deep breath, giving Drafty a pointed look. “I know Lex didn’t mean to hurt Woodheart. But this happened, or at least the parts before Paska and Vidrig and Blat showed up, because he tried to kill Toklo. He needs to take responsibility for that.” Something inside of Thermal Draft snapped then. Valor’s criticism of Lex had been dispassionate, delivered in an even tone and lacking any of the hateful rhetoric that the unicorn’s nightmares had spewed. But somehow that made what she’d said worse rather than better, and Drafty found herself suddenly furious with the muscled earth mare. “‘Take responsibility’?” she seethed. “’Take responsibility’?! He’s only here because he’s taken on the responsibility of protecting everypony in that village that he saved! Something he did even after he found out that they were working with the monsters who tried to kill you, me, him, and all of your friends, all while you guys were wondering if you could run away back to that Viljatown place and make what happened here someone else’s problem!” “That’s not-” “Or what about his responsibility to everypony back home?!” continued Drafty, heedless of the fact that everyone else had stopped what they were doing to look at her. Instead, she pointed to the nightmares Lex had conjured. “You see those?! Those are his fears about what’s happened to the ponies he cares about because he can’t be there now to help them! But instead of finding the quickest way back to them, he’s here protecting a bunch of strangers who’re content to sit back and talk about how he needs to ‘take responsibility’ even when they’re all too weak to do anything on their own!” “I didn’t mean-” “And then there’s all the responsibility I’ve dumped on him!” Drafty shrieked, her voice rising as her anger crested. “I’m the one who couldn’t keep herself from getting captured, making him put himself into danger rescuing me! I’m the one who sold her soul because I was too stupid to realize I was being tricked out of it! I’m the one who tore up the contract afterward, making it so that if I die I’ll cease to exist, because I was sure he’d figure out a way to fix everything!” Valor’s eyes widened at that. “Wait, you-” But Drafty was past listening now, tears running down her cheeks as everything she’d been suppressing for the last few days came pouring out of her, unstoppable. “All I’ve done since we came here is be a burden to him! Even though I’ve finally got him all to myself the way I’ve been hoping and praying for! Of course he doesn’t love me! Why would he?! Not only am I not helping him, I’m making things worse! That’s why he won’t talk to me now! Because he’s being crushed under the weight of his responsibilities and I’m just another one even though I want to help him but I don’t know how and when I try it always goes wrong…” She couldn’t get anymore out, her words drowning under a torrent of sobs as she sank to her knees. At the edge of her vision, she could see Valor’s hooves moving toward her- “MASTER!” Solvei’s howl made everyone jump, Drafty included, as the winter wolf suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Ignoring the frightened cursing and gasps of shock that her arrival caused, the Solvei looked every which way. Her gaze swept over Lex’s insubstantial form, then Drafty’s lacerated and tear-streaked face, then the nightmares still keening their endless stream of grievances, and finally the war-torn landscape. It was only after she’d taken everything in, her eyes growing progressively wider, that she finally spoke. “What happened here?”