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// 718 - Seizing the Initiative 
// Story: Lateral Movement 
// by Alzrius 
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Having Akna remain with them had been the correct decision.

After extracting as much useful information as he could from her, Lex had briefly considered sending her back with the rest of her kind. Not only would doing so have helped to defuse tensions with the adlets – potentially enough to keep them from retaliating against the ponies living in the region for Panuk’s death – but also would have squelched any chance that she’d attempt to regain Headhunter, or any other of the Umbral Regalia, once they located the Shrine. Akna’s plan to brainwash her tribe was abhorrent in the extreme, and Lex had no desire to provide her with even the most indirect of assistance in carrying it out.

Despite that, he’d elected to have the adlet shaman accompany him during their trek to the Shrine of the Starless Sky. That particular decision had been motivated by several factors; although he’d forced her to speak honestly and in detail about both the Shrine and the Rite of Sublimation, it was entirely possible that there was something she’d overlooked or forgotten. Keeping her close would allow her to be consulted again if that turned out to be the case. 

Another reason he’d wanted to keep Akna close was so he could interrogate her about the powers she commanded as a shaman. From what Yotimo had said, she had been the one who’d originally directed him – before he and his warriors had left their tribe’s village – toward their location, despite being miles distant. Although his plan for dealing with Grisela and her family of freaks and monsters would hopefully result in their destruction, Akna’s abilities would be useful in tracking them down if any of them escaped...or if they still needed to find Woodheart afterward.

But the main reason Lex had wanted Akna to stay with them had been so that he could exploit her as a combat resource.

And now, his foresight was paying off.

“Pepehi i na kanaka!” she shouted to the ice elemental she’d summoned – Lex recognized the phrase as meaning “kill the humanoids” in Olelowai, the name Everglow’s scholars had given to the language spoken by creatures from the Elemental Plane of Water – pointing at where Paska and Vidrig were defending themselves against a fierce assault from Shadow and Valor, with Spinner and Mystaria supporting them at a distance via songs and spells. 

The crystalline creature immediately moved to obey, loping toward the fight in heavy strides that carried its twenty-foot frame over to where the ponies were engaging the duo in battle. 

Vidrig was the closer of the two, snarling a series of vile epithets as Valor – already having transformed into a bear – tore a heavy pair of gashes across her torso, retaliating with a swing of her axe that sank deep into Valor’s side. The pony-turned-bear roared at the hit, giving Vidrig enough time to wrench her axe free and rear back, preparing to bring her weapon down in an overhead chop that would cleave Valor’s skull in two. But the elemental struck first, bringing one icy fist down on top of Vidrig’s head with the force of an avalanche.

The power of the blow made Vidrig’s cranium collapse inward, causing a thick mass of black blood to explode out of her mouth and ears, her eyes quite literally popping out of her skull, tangles of pink nerves leaving them dangling in front of what was left of her face. 

Spasms ran through hideous creature’s body then, her arms and legs jerking wildly, each limb moving separately from the others in uncoordinated motions like those of a wriggling bug. But somehow, impossibly, she remained on her feet, her body continuing to act despite her brain having been pulverized. Valor fell back as the huge axe tore through the space she’d occupied only a moment ago, the blade sawing through the air in a frantic motion as Vidrig’s seizure continued.

A short distance away, Paska grimaced at the sight, which distracted him just long enough for Shadow to slip past his guard and plunge her dagger between his ribs. But the weapon’s tip sank in less than a quarter-inch before coming to a halt, and when she yanked it free a moment later – rolling to avoid a strike from his hammer – it was obvious that she’d inflicted little more damage than a papercut.

Ignoring the minor wound he’d taken, Paska instead darted forward, shoulder-checking Vidrig’s convulsing body and sending it stumbling away. The result was that he took Mystaria’s spell full on, the flaming sphere that she’d sent after Vidrig instead engulfing him from the waist down. He likewise received Spinner’s follow-up attack a moment later – the bard having just finished reading from another of Mystaria’s scrolls even as she kept strumming her lute – as a gout of acid struck him directly in the face.

The bald human’s only reaction was to grunt in irritation.

“Nothing hurts him,” murmured Drafty from her place alongside Lex, her voice thick with nervous tension as Paska wiped the acid off of his face with one hand, stepping out of the fiery sphere as though it were nothing more than a snow drift.

“My elemental will,” answered Akna confidently, the shaman also having hung back. “No matter how tough he is, a living glacier is tougher.”

“Meep!” growled Littleknight, the almiraj squirming unhappily in Drafty’s hooves. From the way the creature was glaring at Paska, it desperately wanted to attack the person who had kidnapped its mistress. Woodheart’s friends, however, had already instructed the pegasus to keep the druid’s familiar close by, not wanting any harm to befall it.

“Summon another one just in case,” ordered Lex, glowing eyes narrowing as Vidrig’s head began to reform, her eyes slowly retracting back into their sockets. “I want them to be completely overwhelmed.”

Akna grimaced then, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “I can’t,” she confessed a moment later. “I don’t have a strong enough rapport with the spirits of the cold to conjure up more than one ice elemental of that stature each day.”

“You do now.”

That was the only warning Lex gave Akna before turning the Night Mare’s divine authority on her. But unlike before, when he’d seized control of her body, this time he used it in the manner he’d only discovered recently: to empower rather than to dominate.

Although he wasn’t sure how the adlet’s ability to incarnate ice spirits functioned, he felt reasonably confident that didn’t matter. Divine authority operated under the auspices of the goddess who had granted him that ability, altering reality itself to make his commands come true. It had its limits, of course, but Lex was betting that this wouldn’t push them very far at all.

For her part, Akna sucked in a breath as she felt a surge of power rush through her, eyes going wide as she tensed up. “What...what did you just do to me?!”

“Summon another elemental,” repeated Lex.

“I...” Slowly, Akna’s look of shock slowly turned into a wild grin. “I can do a lot better than that!”

Turning back toward where Fail Forward was continuing to fight the two humanoids, Akna held out her hands as she closed her eyes, though her broad grin remained. Several seconds passed, but Lex said nothing, feeling the magic flowing off of her. A moment later, snow began gathering around Akna again. 

But this time, the torrent of freezing wind and whirling flakes was more than a modest squall. Instead, it immediately grew into a cyclone of arctic wind and freezing rain, engulfing the shaman completely. The sudden storm was violent enough that Drafty had to shield herself with her wings, hugging Littleknight close as the almiraj let out a frightened meep. 

Lex, however, could hear Akna laughing within the gale.

Then, as suddenly as the snowstorm had arrived, it was gone, and the reason for Akna’s triumphant cackling became apparent.

She hadn’t simply summoned another ice elemental.

She had summoned an entire squad of them.

“TEN!” howled the shaman, raising her arms in triumph as she looked at the icy beasts surrounding her, all waiting for her orders. “Look at this! There’s ten of them! My grandmother’s grandmother could only summon three, and she was considered one of the greatest shamans who ever lived!” 

Privately, even Lex was surprised at just how potent Akna’s summons had become. But before he could tell her to put her new abilities to use – that many elementals would be able to overwhelm their enemies entirely on their own – he suddenly registered a burst of negativity from Solvei.

Before he could inquire as to what was wrong, turning his attention toward where she’d volunteered to take on Grisela and Blat all by herself, he heard the winter wolf’s thoughts in his mind. Master! I’m almost done with these two! Just give me another minute, and I’ll be able to eliminate all of your enemies by myself!

A glance in her direction showed that Solvei wasn’t exaggerating. 

With her enlarged size and her black crystal armor, the winter wolf was quickly making short work of her foes. Even as Lex watched, Blat – who was already bleeding from several wounds across his face, chest, and legs – dove at Solvei, wings flapping to propel him forward as he swiped at her. But his claws couldn’t get past her defenses, scratching uselessly across the side of her helmeted face before he bit down on her neck, accomplishing nothing except to make two of his front teeth crack.

Solvei’s counterattack was almost disdainful in its ease, a single swipe of her paw being all it took to knock the manticore to the ground in front of her. Lowering her head, she clamped her teeth around Blat’s middle – being large enough to just barely fit his torso between her jaws – and squeezed. It was only because the manticore was possessed of the same supernatural toughness as his other siblings that his body wasn’t bisected instantly. Even then, he immediately began to thrash, frantically trying to free himself from Solvei’s jaws, mouth working soundlessly as she squeezed the air from his lungs.

A moment later, Solvei’s eyes lit up, shining green and purple. Knowing what that meant, Lex glanced at where Grisela was glaring at Solvei, gnashing her teeth in frustration. “Wear you down!” she screeched, pointing at the winter wolf and furrowing her brow in concentration. “Whatever’s safeguarding your mind, gonna wear it down and make you mine!”

Snorting contemptuously, Solvei bit down harder, and a second later Blat’s thrashing grew more frantic as the sound of snapping ribs filled the air. Spitting the manticore out a moment later – causing Blat to groan as he immediately started to drag himself away from Solvei – the winter wolf turned to glare at Grisela. “The only person I belong to is my master, Lex Legis,” she spat, her voice turning haughty. “And all that you’ll get from me is my teeth crushing the life out of you.”

She took a step toward Grisela then, intent on making good on her threat-

“ALL OF YOU, STOP FIGHTING OR THIS ONE DIES!”

The announcement made Lex whirl around, the voice having come from behind them. He wasn’t the only one to be surprised, as Thermal Draft nearly jumped out of her skin, Littleknight meeping unhappily as she squeezed him tighter. Even Akna paused at the interruption, midway through giving orders to her elemental army.

Emerging from a particularly dense grove of trees was another humanoid, this one being wholly unfamiliar to Lex. Standing just over a dozen feet tall, her skin was the same color as the snow, with platinum-blonde hair that was cut extremely short. She was clad in armor, with a cuirass of studded leather protecting her torso, matching the greaves, skirt, and boots that she wore. Across her back was a massive axe, similar in design to Vidrig’s but proportional to the newcomer’s height.

But the giant’s identity – as well as her having somehow avoided detection – concerned Lex less than what she was carrying in her arms, one hand clasped tightly around the neck of an unmoving form whom he immediately recognized. And judging from the strangled cry that came from all four members of Fail Forward a moment later, they did as well.

“WOODHEART!!!”