//------------------------------// // 715 - Social Mores // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Lex watched silently, Akna at his side, as Yotimo strode back toward where his troops were camped. It was only when he was sure that the old adlet had strode out of earshot that he glanced at the shaman beside him. “Will he keep his word?” He didn’t bother forcing her to answer honestly via an application of divine authority, since Akna knew full well that her life was in his hooves now. With her having told him everything she knew about the Shrine of the Starless Sky and the Rite of Sublimation, her usefulness to him was limited. All he had to do was make her change into her winter wolf form in front of her people, and the assembled adlets would see her for what she was, at which point her life would be forfeit. As if to telegraph that she was acutely aware of that fact, Akna’s eyes slid over to his left foreleg before answering. “He will. Yotimo knows that if anything happens to me, he’ll be blamed. Even though it was my decision to come out here, he was still the one who made a deal with you to save his son, which I then took on myself.” She shook her head as she glanced back at where the grey-furred warrior was waking the adlets that had gone to sleep. “He won’t want to make an orphan out of Toklo.” “And no one else from your tribe will come looking, for you or him or anyone else, in the meantime?” pressed Lex, wanting to make sure there wouldn’t be any unexpected interferences. If he was going to avoid the fate Spinner had prophesied, he had to eliminate or control as many variables as he could think of. Again, Akna shook her head. “They won’t. With Silla having already gone back to confirm that Toklo and Panuk’s body were found, and Toklo himself having reappeared to tell everyone that the situation is resolved and that his father and I will return in a few days, no one will suspect anything. Besides, most of the tribe’s warriors are here now, and there’s no one among our people who doesn’t know how dangerous this forest is. No one will be searching for us.” She paused then, licking her lips before glancing at Lex. “Unless we’re gone too long,” she added hesitantly. “It will take Yotimo and his warriors a few days to return, and if they aren’t back by then – or they are and I’m not with them – my people won’t simply do nothing. Not when there’s a report of the yetis having returned.” “A few days is more than enough time for me to complete the Rite,” answered Lex easily. “After that, you’ll be escorted to the rendezvous point, and can return home with Yotimo and the others.” She fell silent at that, but only stayed quiet for a moment before giving a quiet huff. “If we could just retrieve even one of the Umbral Regalia-” Lex silenced her with a look. “I told you not to mention that to me again,” he warned her, a dire tone entering his voice. “Whether or not the Night Mare lends you one of her weapons is up to her, but I have no interest in them. As it is, you should be thankful that I haven’t cursed you for planning to violate the sanctity of your own people’s minds.” Akna shuddered then, but didn’t say anything else, knowing his threat wasn’t an idle one. In order to lend legitimacy to the story she’d fed Yotimo about taking Toklo’s place, Lex had put the same curses on Akna that he had on the younger adlet. Like with him, her flesh was now inedible, and her ability to fly in mist-form was severely impaired. For Akna, the latter curse was far worse than the former; she was convinced that she’d enter the Night Mare’s realm after her death, but her inability to navigate while in her gaseous state meant that she had no real ability to flee if she decided to abandon him before they reached the Shrine, since Solvei would be able to track her down easily if the Akna fled on foot. And, as Lex had made clear to her before they’d ended their private conference, he had many other curses that he could place on her if she gave him reason to do so. A short distance away, Yotimo had finished waking those among his warriors who had been dozing. The ones on guard stayed at their posts, only glancing back occasionally as their leader issued instructions, and a few minutes later they’d brought Panuk’s body forward, with Yotimo kneeling down to unwrap it reverently. “Panuk...” murmured Akna, her ears folding back at the sight. Squeezing her eyes shut, she swallowed once before taking a deep breath, steadying herself as she looked back at Lex. “I need to go. There are ceremonies that need to be completed before we can partake of Panuk’s flesh, and it’s my job to make sure that they’re performed correctly.” Lex’s lip curled in disgust as the adlet warriors gathered in a semicircle around the corpse of their fallen comrade, listening to whatever eulogy Yotimo was giving as he looked down at Panuk’s still form. “How long will this savagery take?” The comment earned him an angry glare from the shaman. “Reciting the deeds he accomplished in this life will be quick, since he was too young to have many,” she snapped. But her indignation had no force behind it, knowing how much power the red-horned unicorn had over her, and resignation softened her voice as she continued. “After that, we’ll need to clean his body, then remove his fur, and then determine who here will eat which parts of him. Only then can we begin consuming his body, and by the time we’re done...” She glanced upward, only to frown at the lack of stars or a moon to help her judge the time. “It will probably be morning, perhaps a little later.” Lex grunted at that, continuing to watch one of Yotimo’s warriors brought forward a spear – one of the ones that Toklo had been using during their trip through the forest, the young adlet having returned them to his people after his father had struck a deal with Lex – and laid it in Panuk’s arms. The sight made Akna wince slightly. “His parents and sisters will be heartbroken that they weren’t here for this.” “It was your idea to undertake this....custom, now, rather than bringing his body back to your village,” pointed out Lex. “I told Toklo that I wouldn’t leave Panuk’s body until it was eaten, and I meant it,” replied Akna. “I’ve known Panuk my entire life, and I wanted him – wanted everyone – to embrace the Night Mare so that we could all be together in her realm after we died. But if that can’t happen, I can at least make sure he’s reborn among us so he can take up the Night Mare’s worship in his next life. Besides, even if this isn’t ideal, it’s still for the best; while I doubt this forest has much that could seriously threaten a war party, if something truly dangerous does accost them between now and when I meet up with them again, they won’t run the risk of being forced to abandon Panuk’s body.” “Just be ready to leave after you’ve finished your meal,” sneered Lex. “I want to arrive at the Shrine as quickly as possible.” Akna was going to reply to that, but didn’t have a chance as a new voice interrupted their conversation. “Lex?” Turning, she saw that the rest of the pony’s party had come to join them. Solvei was already moving to stand alongside him, shooting her an angry glare as she did so, no doubt due to the ancestral hostility between their people. Aside from her, the others were clustered behind the winged pony, each of them looking tense save only for the rabbit with a pearlescent horn, which yawned as the muscled pony carrying it stroked its fur soothingly. “Solvei says you know where the Shrine is?” asked the winged mare, glancing at Akna for a moment before turning her eyes back toward him. “And it’s really close?” Lex gave a single nod. “A half-day’s journey north-northeast of here. The Shrine itself is hidden underground; in order to access it, we’ll need to enter a river which flows beneath the surface...” “...and let the current carry us to our destination.” Woodheart paused for a long moment, then shook her head. “The spell’s ended. I can’t hear anything else.” “Cast it again!” shrieked Grisela. “Finally getting decent information! Need to know more!” “That was the last instance of it I’d prepared,” explained the earth mare flatly, before her lips curled up as she gave the winter hag a mocking smile. “But if you’d like to go ahead and cast it, be my guest.” Watching as Grisela, whose magical abilities weren’t developed enough to pull off such complicated spellwork, gnashed her teeth in anger, Woodheart smirked for a moment before glancing over her shoulder. “Can you find their exact position?” “Give me a moment,” replied Paska, before casting the same spell he’d used to track the ponies previously. A moment later he nodded. “I’ve got them.” “How far?” “Just short of fifteen miles away, further if we want to reach their destination before they do.” “Too far,” huffed Grisela, crossing her arms over her chest in anger of the rebuke she’d just received. She found an outlet for it a moment later as she turned and, with one long stride, snatched up the cowering form hunched across from her. “Nenet! Get us there faster!” Breathing rapidly, her eyes wide with terror, the tiny sphinx trembled as she shook her head. “G-Grisela, I can’t! I don’t know any speed spells that last more than a few seconds! If I did, I’d-, NO! PLEASE NO!” Her shrieking rose in pitch as Grisela’s free hand came up to grip Nenet’s wings, the feathered appendages having had no chance to heal since her sister had broken them in an earlier fit of rage. “Please, Grisela, don’t! Not my wings again! I swear, I don’t know any spells that can help!” “You’re Mother’s backup spellbook,” cooed the winter hag, clenching her grip around Nenet’s wings just hard enough to make the sphinx writhe, choking down a scream that was as much terror as it was pain. “Got all sorts of spell stored in that tiny brain. Holding out on us, maybe? Wanting us to fail so Mother gets rid of us?” “I’m not!” sobbed Nenet, going limp as tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’m trying to help, I swear! That’s why we know where the ponies are going now!” The mention of their prey drove the largest member of their group to make their opinion known then, as Blat let out a roar. “WANT KILL! KILL AND EAT!” “Soon Blat,” soothed Woodheart. “Soon you’ll be able to sink your teeth into several ponies.” “Is that really something you should say while wearing that one’s skin?” noted Paska dryly. Woodheart’s response was to roll her eyes, before pronouncing a single word to end the spell she was using. Immediately, her eyes fluttered closed, her muscles going limp as she fell to the ground, insensate. At the same time, Sissel – the snow giant lying a short distance away – groaned as her eyes opened, working a crick out of her neck as she stood up. “That’s better,” she sighed, before looking at where Grisela was squeezing Nenet’s wings tighter, making the tiny sphinx wail in pain. “Stop that. I’ll need to renew my spells soon, and Nenet can’t recite what she knows if she’s passed out. We’ll need to prepare carefully in case the ponies decide to fight instead of bargaining for their friend’s life.” She casually kicked Woodheart’s unmoving body then, and while the blow wasn’t heavy, it was enough to send the earth mare rolling, coming to a stop near where Vidrig was sulking. “I still don’t get why we’re doing this. That unicorn didn’t look so tough to me.” “He outfought Grisela on his own, and managed to repel our ambush despite being mad at the time,” replied Paska. “Do you want to take on Hvitdod by yourself, or do you want someone like that to soften him up first?” “Him and that wolf of his,” corrected Sissel. “The others don’t count for much, but those two should have enough power to threaten even a dragon. More so than the yetis, even. Maybe we’ll even get lucky and they’ll kill each other.” “Waste if they did,” leered Grisela, flinging Nenet to the ground with enough force to make the sphinx scream as she landed on her damaged wings. “Still want to ride him. Tired of Mother hogging all the stallions we took.” “But didn’t the other ponies say something was wrong with his magic?” groused Vidrig, frowning enough that her hideous face was even more repulsive to look upon. “He can’t fight for us if he’s turned into a weakling.” “WEAK GET EAT!” guffawed Blat, the simplistic rhyme striking him as a clever play on words. Sissel, by contrast, simply rolled her eyes. “If we can arrive with enough time to spare, I’ll use my possession spell on that one again,” she stated, nodding at Woodheart. “Since she’s still connected to her familiar, and they’re carrying that creature with them, maybe we’ll get lucky and the next time I use Nenet’s sense-link spell to eavesdrop on them, that stallion will talk more about what’s going on with his spellcasting.” The plan earned a nod from Paska. “For being in a coma, she’s turning out to be quite useful, isn’t she?” “More like boring,” sneered Vidrig. “You don’t need me to be here if you’re just gonna make that stallion do what we say.” “You?” sneered Grisela. “Ha! Should have had me stay behind. Could have sent my puppets along instead of being here myself.” “So you could have them turn on us if things went sideways?” snorted Sissel. “No, this is a risk we’re all taking together. Like it or not, that pony is our best chance to accomplish the task Mother gave us before she gets back.” Everyone quieted down at that, with the only sound being Nenet’s quiet sobbing as she crawled into a corner and curled up. “All of you get some rest,” ordered Sissel at last. “We’ll leave in a few hours. After that...” Her features hardened, knowing that they were committed now. “We’re going to capture that unicorn.”