“LEX!”
Grisela cackled as the three mares who’d been huddled around the unicorn screamed his name in unison. “Worried about Sissel’s magic, were you?” she jeered at where the stallion had fallen, laying face-down in the snow. “Should’ve been worried about me.”
“Right back at you!” roared Spinner as she leaped at Grisela, bringing her lute down in an overhead strike aimed directly at the hag’s cranium.
Snorting, Grisela didn’t even bother to block the attack, allowing Spinner’s downward smash to connect unimpeded. An instant later, the back of the weapon collided with the hag’s head with such force that the instrument’s wooden exterior splintered, revealing the metal construction underneath. Even that dented under the force of the blow, causing the lute to emit a tortured groan as the metal warped, the sound a far cry from the melodies Spinner normally coaxed from it.
But as ruinous as the hit was to the instrument, Grisela herself didn’t sustain even the slightest bit of damage, instead bringing her staff around in an almost contemptuous swing as she planted the end of it beneath Spinner’s ribs, doubling the bard over as a rush of air and blood flew from her mouth. “Never did get that meal I wanted,” she snickered, licking her cracked lips as the filidh collapsed. “Make sure to grab you for a bite to eat once this is over.”
“If you’re hungry, go ahead and eat this!” Mystaria’s declaration came as she finished casting a spell, rearing up on her hind legs and putting her front hooves next to each other as she unleashed a cone of fire directly into the hag’s face.
But despite her gelid nature, Grisela scoffed as the flames failed to burn her, her innate resistance to hostile magic allowing her to ignore the spell completely. “Not carrying a torch for you,” she sneered, one hand reaching out to grab the holy symbol hanging around Mystaria’s neck. The nun had just enough time to let out an indignant cry before Grisela yanked hard on the pendant, pulling Mystaria directly into a headbutt.
The hag’s skull slammed against the earth mare’s with an audible crack, and Mystaria wobbled in place, the flames from her hooves fizzling out as she lost control of her spell. For a moment her jaw worked soundlessly, a trickle of blood running down between her eyes and around her muzzle. But before the trail of red reached her chin, her eyes had rolled back in her head, going limp as Grisela released her pendant, allowing Mystaria to collapse next to Woodheart.
“Two down, one to-, OOF!” Her quip lost as something tackled her from behind, Grisela’s arms flailed as she went stumbling, barely managing to keep her feet under her. It was only with some effort that she managed to arrest her momentum, snarling as she looked over her shoulder. “You!”
“Me,” shot back Thermal Draft grimly, not having enough breath to say anything else as she put all of her energy into flapping her wings as hard as she could. Fortunately, she was moving in the direction of the air current that Lex had generated, her every feather grabbing the wind as she flew harder, pressing against Grisela’s back as she fought to drive the winter hag forward.
Directly toward the poisonous fog that Sissel had conjured.
Not having dissipated after having been blown away from their intended target, the yellowish-green vapors remained where the wind had pushed them, only a short distance from where the ponies had been huddling. It was a distance that was growing shorter with each passing moment, as Thermal Draft continued to wrestle with the struggling hag, the wind helping her to slowly-but-surely drive Grisela closer to the noxious fog...
“Not gonna let you!” hissed Grisela, driving her staff into the ground directly in front of her at a low angle.
Held like that, it was enough to brace her, and although Drafty beat her wings so hard they felt like they were about to fall off, the two of them came to a halt just a few feet from the edge of the poison fog. “No!” moaned the pegasus, feeling her fatigue catching up to her, her wings slowing down despite her best efforts. “NO! You’re going in there! This time, I’m going to be the one who saves-, AAAAGH!!!”
Her scream of pain came as Grisela – carefully holding her staff with one hand to keep bracing herself – reached back and grabbed a fistful of Drafty’s mane, twisting it cruelly. “Can’t save your friends,” hissed the winter hag, pivoting at the waist as she tried to pull the pegasus off of her. “Can’t save your stallion.”
Glancing at the miasma in front of her for a moment, Grisela leered at Thermal Draft as she tightened her grip, preparing to pull the mare off and throw her into the poison fog. “Can’t even save yourse-”
“Meep meep!”
“Huh?” Blinking at how close the unexpected sound was, Grisela glanced down. She had just enough time to see Littleknight rush past her – the horned rabbit letting the wind fling him forward as he galloped across the snow – and kick her staff clear.
Shrieking as she lost the makeshift crosspiece she’d been leaning on, Grisela released Thermal Draft as she stumbled forward, still being pushed by the pegasus. The end result was that Drafty – having been caught by surprise as well – fell the ground, just barely managing to snatch up Littleknight before the almiraj could be blown into the deadly cloud of mist. But there was nothing to stop Grisela as she kept careening toward Sissel’s spell, a wail of fright erupting from her throat as she reached the edge of the cloud...
Only to collide with a wall of ice that was suddenly there.
Thermal Draft could only gape at the sight, mouth hanging opening. “Wh-what...?”
The fog cloud was gone now, blocked from sight by the ten-foot ice wall that was now encircling it, the toxic vapors now safely contained within the frozen ring. This...this is what happened back in that village, when Mystaria and the others were trying to get away! Grisela made an ice wall to stop them! Except this time she used it to save herself!
“Actually gave me a scare,” panted Grisela, hanging her head as she leaned against the wall she’d conjured. Slowly righting herself, she raised her gaze to Thermal Draft, and the pegasus flinched at the simmering rage she saw there. “Your turn to be scared now.”
Snarling, she whipped her staff around, pointing the end of it at Thermal Draft and Littleknight as she unleashed a blast of supernaturally-chilled air.
The warding against cold that Lex had ordered Solvei to place on everyone during their journey blunted the worst of Grisela’s attack, but it wasn’t enough to completely protect them from it. As it was, the sudden pulse of frigidity sent both the pegasus and the almiraj tumbling, their limbs going numb and their breath momentarily stolen by the sheer numbing cold wrapping around them. Unable to do anything but shiver, neither could react as the winter hag shuffled over to them, her face twisted with rage.
“Actually thought you could defeat me?” sneered Grisela. “Weak ponies with weaker magic? Ha!” She lashed out with her staff then, the end of it catching Thermal Draft across her temple and making the pegasus see stars, disrupting the spell she’d been trying to put together. “Gnawing on your kind’s bones was more trouble than you were!”
“Y-y-you won’t w-win...” shivered Thermal Draft, her lungs feeling like they’d been frozen in her chest. “L-L-Lex w-will k-k-k-kill you...”
“Think so?” leered the winter hag, looking back at where the fallen stallion still lay, not having moved. “Then you can watch as I make him mine.” Ignoring the wind, she strode toward where Lex was, continuing to taunt Thermal Draft as she moved. “Defenses are all down now, looks like. Gonna get in his head and make him look only at me. Then he’ll kill Hvitdod just because it’ll make me smile. Be smiling when I gut him afterward, too.”
“OVER MY DEAD BODY!”
“Kill the witch! Pepehi i ke kapua!”
Solvei and Akna’s voices were enough to earn a glance from Grisela, watching as the winter wolf bounded directly toward her – only seconds away – with the elementals moving to follow her.
That was when Sissel finished her spell.
Immediately, the grass lying dormant underneath the snow began to grow, thickening and lengthening into long vines that rose up from under the wintry blanket covering them and lashed out, wrapping around Solvei, Akna, and the elementals, holding them all in place. The two lupines both yelped and cursed as they found themselves trapped, the elementals remaining silent even as they strained, trying in vain to tear themselves free. But their thrashing only seemed to attract the overgrown foliage more, causing additional vines to lash around their arms and legs, immediately going taut and binding them in place.
Then the vines caught fire.
Agonized screams immediately tore themselves from Akna and Solvei’s throats, their innately frigid natures leaving them especially vulnerable to the heat. Nor did the elementals fare any better, their movements suddenly becoming pained as their bodies began to melt, steam rising off of their icy forms.
But none of them were able to free themselves. Nor did the vines seem to be adversely affected despite being immolated. Beneath the flames, the greenery remained unburned, showing no signs of blackening or withering.
For her part, Grisela let out a relieved sigh before glancing at her oversized sister. “Cutting it close, Sissel!”
“It was necessary,” shrugged the pale-skinned giant. “I needed time to make sure that spell would have enough power to punch through any heat-warding they might have, without being strong enough to kill them outright, since they’re going to help kill Hvitdod for us. Now shut up and stand watch to make sure nothing else happens; we need to get started before that pony comes to or his servants break free.”
She didn’t wait for a reply before glancing over at the last living member of their band. “Paska, stop fooling around and go fetch Vidrig. We’re going with our fallback plan.”
Looking up from where he had Shadow Star pinned against the ground – and holding the haft of his hammer tight across her throat, causing Shadow’s frantic struggling to slow as she fought a losing battle to take another breath of air – Paska raised an eyebrow. “Is that necessary?”
Sissel gave a single nod. “Taking hostages didn’t work, so we’re going to have to force things. If he has the same sort of protection against mental intrusions that Grisela said his wolf does” – she nodded at where Solvei was still screaming and struggling within the burning vines – “then it’s going to take the three of us pooling our magic in order to break it down. Once we do, my possession spell should work on him.”
“That’ll only give you a few hours to get his body to Hvitdod’s lair,” noted Paska, sounding almost conversational even as Shadow’s thrashing grew weaker. “Not to mention that it banks an awful lot on the idea that once you have him pick a fight with the dragon, you can end the possession and he’ll finish Hvitdod off instead of just retreating.”
“Hvitdod won’t let him escape. Besides, it’s our only choice,” replied Sissel. “Since a creature’s magic is connected to their life force rather than their body, I won’t be able to use his powers even after I’ve taken over his corporeal self. This way, he’ll be able to bring everything he’s got to bear against Hvitdod, with no risk to us. Now go get Vidrig; every second we delay is another second that things can go wrong.”
“Have it your way,” shrugged Paska, standing up. As he did so, he removed his hammer from across Shadow’s neck, causing her to immediately suck in a breath. But that was all she had a chance to do, as Paska brought his hammer around to strike her in the side of her head, rendering her unconscious in an instant.
Watching as her brother turned toward the creek where Vidrig and Valor had rolled out of sight, Grisela’s lip curled as she turned back toward Lex. “Still enough time for me to have some fun before we put him to work.”
“Don’t,” warned Sissel. “We’re starting as soon as Vidrig gets here.”
“Won’t take long,” snickered Grisela, putting a foot on Lex’s hip and rolling him over so he was face-up. “Just gonna-”
She didn’t have a chance to finish before Lex struck.