//------------------------------//
// 729 - Taking Stock 
// Story: Lateral Movement 
// by Alzrius 
//------------------------------//

“Damn it.”

Sissel made no other outward display of frustration as she stared at the river where her target had disappeared, eyes locked onto the water as though she expected them to come back up at any moment. 

Of course, she knew better than to think that they would. The current was swift, and its downward trajectory would have been very hard to swim against. Vidrig’s absence was proof enough of that; the ice troll was a bloodthirsty creature, having virtually no sense of fear when it came to combat, since only fire or acid could overcome her impressive powers of regeneration. Given that the fighting had still been going on when she went under, she’d have come back if she’d been able to do so, hoping for a chance to engage in more brutality.

That she hadn’t meant that the current had swept her away. Which meant that it had swept the ponies away also. Including Lex Legis, who had somehow managed to evade their grasp despite all of the time and trouble Sissel had gone to. 

Now, the snow giant knew, she was right back where she started, wondering what to do as she stared at where the ponies had vanished, listening to the sound of the flowing water, the whispering wind, and Grisela’s tortured screams as she continued to writhe in the burning vines.

“You should probably do something about her,” noted Paska dryly, glancing at the flailing winter hag as he walked up to Sissel...though not so close that he was within range of her axe. “I don’t personally care either way, but I know you need her and Vidrig both in order to amplify your magic.”

For a moment Sissel was tempted to let Grisela burn, but she knew Paska was right. Vidrig was only marginally less of an animal than Blat had been, and Grisela was ruled by her impulses, but the three of them were a coven nevertheless. Mother had showed them that together, they had access to magic that none of them were capable of using alone, even if none of it was meant to be used in a fight. 

That their combined magic couldn’t produce any magic meant for a direct offensive was no accident, of course; Mother had given them a lot of power, but she knew better than to give them that much. Nor was that the only limitation on what they could do. Despite being able to produce an impressive variety of effects, the effort involved in doing so was taxing, and between the three of them they could only combine their powers thrice in any given day. 

In theory, that worked out rather well, since it made it so that each of them got to pick one effect to manifest. In actuality, what happened was that the other two always chose whatever amused them, leaving Sissel stuck with actually taking care of the assignments that Mother had left for them.

So while Grisela had indulged herself with those tasteless puppets, and Vidrig had opted to reanimate the bodies of the whoever she’d killed recently, delighted at the prospect chopping them up a second time, it had been Sissel who’d needed to maintain the winter weather that Mother had conjured over the region.

And the other two wondered why she’d been the one left in charge.

Overseeing things in Mother’s absence had turned out to be far more of a burden than a privilege though, and that was especially true now, since it meant not letting Grisela burn to death. But Sissel knew she had no choice in the matter. Vidrig, cockroach that she was, had undoubtedly survived being washed away, which meant that Grisela had to be spared so that they could still use their coven magic once the ice troll had been retrieved.

Fortunately, a single spell was all it took to dispel the burning entanglement Sissel had conjured up, allowing the flames to consume the plant matter. In an instant the vines turned to ash, the flames going out as they had nothing left to feed on, dropping Grisela to land in a heap. “Almost...killed me!” she grunted, her voice choked with fury and residual pain.

Sissel couldn’t have cared less, instead keeping her attention on Paska. “Can you locate Vidrig?”

“Running water acts as a natural barrier to my usual detection spell,” replied her brother, nodding at the river. “But I have one or two alternatives that I can use to track her down. I won’t be able to prepare any of them until tomorrow morning, though.”

“Tomorrow morning, then,” answered Sissel, not bothering to keep looking at him as she strode over to where Nenet was still pinned between the wind wall and the ice wall, her bulk allowing her to ignore the former as little more than an errant breeze, reaching down and picking up the tiny sphinx by the scruff of the neck. “Did Mother teach you any spells for breathing underwater?”

“Wh-what?” sputtered Nenet, dazed. While the wind wasn’t a bother to someone of Sissel’s size, it was a howling gale to Nenet, and her head was still ringing from having been caught in it.

“Water-breathing spells,” repeated Sissel, caring not a whit for Nenet’s distress. “Do you know any?”

“I...yes...one,” gasped the miniature sphinx, one paw coming up to shield her face from the wind, hugging her aching wings tight against her body. “Sissel, please...”

But the snow giant was pitiless. “Tell me the details.”

Knowing that protesting would only bring pain, Nenet curled in on herself more. “It’s a combined effect, granting swimming proficiency and underwater breathing. It only works on one person per casting. No material components necessary.”

Sissel considered that for a moment, then carried Nenet out of the range of the wind wall that Lex had conjured. Immediately, the sphinx shuddered at finally being out of the violent rush of air, but barely had a chance to relax before Sissel unceremoniously dropped her to the ground. Barely managing to catch herself, Nenet looked up in time to see Sissel retrieve a tiny standing mirror from beneath her armor. A single word was all it took to make it grow, becoming a full-length mirror large enough even for the snow giant. But Sissel wasn’t interested in admiring herself in the glass, instead glaring down at Nenet. “Start inscribing the spell into here immediately.”

Cringing, Nenet nodded. Unlike how most wizards and witches stored their spells in books or scrolls or tattoos or even inside of living things – the way she did for Mother – Sissel kept hers in a mirror. Doing so was, Nenet knew, a matter of security for her older sister; the mirror was enchanted to not only be extremely durable, but only Sissel knew how to make its surface display the spell formulas stored inside it.

Of course, adding spells to it was another matter entirely, as Nenet knew from personal experience.

But just because she’d done it before didn’t make it any less painful now, and she forced herself to swallow a whimper of pain as she bit down on the underside of one of her toes. Although it would have been far easier if she’d had an edged weapon to cut herself with, she knew that asking to use Sissel’s axe would have resulted in the snow giant cutting her herself, and so Nenet simply clenched her teeth tighter until she finally tasted blood. It was only then that she opened her jaw, gasping with relief. 

Then, flapping her sore wings as she rose up toward the tall mirror’s top, she began inscribing the reflective surface with the spell’s formula, written in her own blood.

I’m just glad the mirror I was carrying before was a replica. Nenet could still recall the way that unicorn had shattered the mirror that Sissel had been projecting her magic through. Although Sissel was far too cautious to ever put her personal repository of spells in danger – instead conjuring up a duplicate of it for Nenet to use – and even though the snow giant had an exceptionally even temperament, the sphinx had still been half-expecting a beating for what had happened. I just hope Grisela doesn’t blame me for-

“Nenet!”

The winter hag’s croaking voice made the sphinx wince hard enough that she almost made a mistake with her inscription, trying not to shake as the burned form of her sister stumbled closer to her. “Supposed to attack the ponies! Could have drawn that wolf away if you’d cast a few spells at the unconscious-”

“Be quiet, Grisela.” Sissel moved to stand in front of the hag, glaring down at her. “I need Nenet to finish inputting that spell so we can go after the ponies. You can bully her after she’s done.”

“Are you sure that’s wise?”

Paska’s question earned a raise brow from Sissel, but Grisela was far less restrained, whirling to confront her brother. “Her fault I’m burned so badly! Gonna make her pay for it!”

“I don’t mean Nenet,” clarified Paska, shifting his gaze over to Sissel. “I mean pursuing Lex Legis and the others. Is that really the best course of action?”

“It’s the only course of action,” replied Sissel immediately. “Unless you think we can take on Hvitdod by ourselves, especially since we’re down yet another sibling.” She finished with a pointed glance over at where Blat’s headless body was lying in the snow. 

But Paska was undeterred. “I know we can’t. And that’s the problem with this entire plan.”

Sissel’s eyes narrowed by a fraction of an inch. “Meaning what, exactly?”

“Right now, there’s only four of us left,” answered Paska. “Five once I find Vidrig. If we were to fight Hvitdod right now, we’d all be killed. But if we’re betting that Lex Legis is strong enough to put the dragon down – or at least injure him enough that we can finish the job without dying in the process – what sense does it make for us to keep targeting him head-on like this?”

Sissel frowned. “That’s not what we’re doing. The kidnapping attempt might have been premature, but using a hostage to bend him to our will-”

“Didn’t work,” finished Paska. “Neither did my putting a death curse on his girlfriend. And we couldn’t put him down long enough for you to use a possession spell on him, which you can’t try again until I find Vidrig anyway.”

“I can try it,” shot back the snow giant. “I just don’t think it will work without her and Grisela helping.”

Paska shrugged. “My point is that before we go running into a temple which is probably protected by all sorts of traps and guardians, maybe we shouldn’t rely on a plan that’s already failed.”

“Rather let him get away with humiliating us like this?!” shrieked Grisela. “Made a fool of me twice! Not gonna let that go!”

“You won’t have to,” replied Sissel evenly. “I’m sure you noticed that I changed tactics just before the ponies all fled?”

The question made the hag pall her withered hands into fists. “Didn’t notice, actually, since I WAS ON FIRE!”

“She means that she delivered a killing blow against the wolf,” explained Paska. “Even though she’d been trying not to kill that pony’s servants earlier. I was curious about that myself.”

“Because doing so created a window of opportunity.” Sissel nodded at where the ponies, along with the wolf and the adlet, had all plunged into the river. “She was his familiar, which means that her death will have weakened him. If we act now, before he can recover and find a replacement for her, we can force him-”

“To confront Hvitdod for us?” Paska shook his head. “I know you came up with that on the fly, but it’s not up to your usual standards, Sissel.”

Grisela snickered at that, but the snow giant simply crossed her arms beneath her chest. “Explain.”

“If we go about this the way you’re saying we should, then that pony, Lex, either isn’t going to have enough time to recover from his familiar’s death and find another creature to take her place before we make him fight our battle – in which case he won’t be any match for Hvitdod – or he’ll manage to do both of those things, in which case we won’t be able to force him to do anything. Either way, we lose.”

“Then after I possess him, we round up a few monsters and dump them all in front of Hvitdod with him,” countered Sissel. “He can make one of them his familiar there-”

“During the fighting?” interrupted Paska, raising one eyebrow. “Do we even know how long he needs to do that? What if it takes hours? For that matter, there’s no telling what types of creatures he can do that to, or if we’ll be able to find any in the few short hours you’ll have him under your control.”

“There’s probably more than a few acceptable candidates in that shrine he’s looking for,” argued Sissel.

“Which we won’t be able to reach until tomorrow, if you want me to get Vidrig back first,” noted Paska. “Which depending on how fast he recovers might give Lex Legis enough time to recover and undergo that rite you overheard him talking about. Not to mention familiarize himself with the layout of the shrine, coordinate with its defenders-”

“Alright.” Holding up a hand, Sissel let out a slow breath. “I’ll admit I made a split-second decision, and it might not have been the best idea. But do you have a better one?”

Paska’s bald head nodded up and down then. “Actually, I do.”

“Hah!” cackled Grisela. “Should be good!”

Ignoring the hag, Paska kept speaking. “Lex Legis won’t let himself be captured, and he won’t negotiate for anyone we take. But I think that he will go out of his way to rescue someone in danger. That’s why he was out there when Grisela went on her food run, that’s why he worked so hard to get that comatose mare back, and I’m betting that’s why he didn’t seem concerned when I cursed his pegasus: because he thinks he can beat it before she dies.”

“Your point being?” grunted Sissel.

“That we should stop trying to force him to confront Hvitdod, and instead give him a reason to do so on his own.”

It took the snow giant a few moments to realize what her brother was talking about, only for her to shake her head. “It’ll take too long. Just getting back to that pony village will take days. Rounding a few of them up and making the trek back to Hvitdod’s lair will take even more. Lex and his companions will be long gone by then.”

A rare smile graced Paska’s lips then. “Who said we need to use ponies?”

“Eh?” sneered Grisela. “What else? Winter wolves?”

“Close,” granted her brother. “But I was thinking more of the two-legged variety.”

“You mean adlets,” murmured Sissel.

“That’s exactly what I mean,” nodded Paska. “If he has one of them as part of his party now, then there’s a chance that if we round up a few others – which should be easy, since they live near here – and set them out as sacrifices to Hvitdod, Lex will go running to save them.”

“Not a bad idea,” muttered Grisela, before snorting. “Would have been better if we still had that sleeping mare.”

Paska shrugged again. “Maybe. But at least now we’re not running the risk of ending up like Blat over there.”

Sissel paused for just a moment, weighing Paska’s words before nodding. “Alright. It’s a gamble, but it’s better than trying to invade that shrine on next to no information. We’ll regroup for now, and then start looking for some adlets we can use.”

And we had better find some, added Sissel silently, not willing to give voice to her worries in front of the others.

If we don’t have Hvitdod’s body ready when mother gets back, she won’t have all the components she needs to finish crafting the artifact she’s making.