Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

682 - Expedition Underway

“I don’t think Spinner’s prediction is nearly as bad as it sounded.”

Mystaria’s announcement earned a frown from Lex, not because he found the subject at all uncomfortable, but because the earth mare had made her proclamation immediately after putting a book she’d been consulting back in her saddlebag. It had been the sixth tome she’d examined during their outing so far – having left the inn several hours ago, after the members of Fail Forward had completed their interminable preparations – and he’d been under the impression that she’d been looking for further information about their destination. Now, though, he suspected otherwise. “Is that what you’ve been researching this whole time?”

Apparently thinking his question was some sort of approval of her actions, Mystaria smiled as she nodded. “That’s right! And the good news is that there are a lot of reasons not to worry!”

“Why would we be worried?” snapped Thermal Draft, flying alongside Lex. She’d made the entire journey by wing so far, saying her hips still sore after last night, and had spent most of that time hovering close to him and shooting dark looks at the earth mares. “After all, it was just a prediction saying that Lex would be mutilated and damned. Nothing to worry about there at all!”

She finished with a glare at Spinner, who cringed at the pegasus’ words, causing Valor to frown at Thermal Draft in turn. “Knock it off, will you? She’s just the messenger; she doesn’t decide what her goddess tells her.”

“And like I was saying,” interjected Mystaria quickly, “I don’t think her prediction means what you think it means. For instance, being ‘damned’ is something that’s changed meaning over time.”

Crossing her forelegs over her chest, Thermal Draft scoffed. “This sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to put a good spin on bad news.”

“Just hear me out,” pleaded Mystaria. “The original derivation of the word comes from Lacertian ‘damnare,’ which means ‘to condemn,’ and referred to one who had been deemed heretical to a particular faith. But the definition shifted, likely as a result of people realizing that there were many different faiths out there, and so came to be understood in a different context. Specifically, that being ‘damned’ meant that your soul wasn’t going to a paradisaical afterlife, either because your soul’s numinous inclination aligned to one of the less-harmonious planes, or because it’s pledged to the service of a deity which dwelt elsewhere.”

“Like the Night Mare,” concluded Thermal Draft, her voice flat. “So you’re saying that Lex is already damned, is that it?”

“Exactly!” exclaimed Mystaria, grinning. It was only when she realized that she was the only one – Lex ignoring her, Thermal Draft scowling at her, and the rest of her friends were either grimacing or shaking their heads – that her smile withered.

“Er, there’s also the fact that Spinner’s predictions are non-recursive in nature,” she continued. “That means they don’t take into account anything you do differently after hearing them. Plus, I’m pretty sure they can’t see more than a couple of days into the future anyway, which means they’re blind to any developments that might happen after-”

“Where is this temple?” interrupted Lex, fed up with Mystaria’s prattling. So far she hadn’t raised a single point he hadn’t already considered regarding Spinner’s prediction – if her vague descriptions and imprecise prognostications could even be called that – and he had lost interest in the subject before they’d left the inn. There were more important things to focus on at the moment. “You said before that you’re in possession of a map depicting its location. Show it to me.”

“Wait, so that’s it?” Looking back at him, Shadow cocked a brow. “You’re not even going to ask about the whole ‘your body becomes misshapen’ thing, and there being no cure for it?”

“No.”

After having chopped off his own horn in order to affix King Sombra’s onto his head, mutilation held little fear for Lex now. Even ignoring that he could tap into Solvei’s powers of perception now, his dark magic allowed him to augment his natural senses, albeit only temporarily. Likewise, his shadow-form would allow him to ignore virtually any physical impairment, potentially for hours. While the prospect of being stricken with some sort of permanent disability wasn’t appealing, Lex had sufficient options that he regarded such a thing as a matter of inconvenience, rather than any sort of serious setback.

When Shadow didn’t push the issue – for whatever reason, her cantankerousness had been sharply curtailed ever since Spinner had made her prediction – Lex turned back toward Mystaria. “The map,” he repeated. “Now.”

Mystaria hesitated for a moment, but quickly relented, rooting through her saddlebag before digging out a rolled-up parchment. “Be careful with it,” she murmured as he telekinetically grabbed it. “I don’t have any reparative spells prepared.”

Lex ignored her. While he’d been able to glean certain aspects of exactly where on Everglow they were from listening to the member of Fail Forward, as they called themselves, the map he was looking at now was the first concrete information about where he and Thermal Draft were.

While only a regional map, mostly concerned with charting the various thorps and hamlets that surrounded Bright Night – the magical school those mares had mentioned, and which was apparently only a few days’ journey from here – Lex was pleasantly surprised to find that Viljatown was not only depicted, but was relatively close, being almost directly south of their present location.

Twelve days, he decided, eyeing several of the other cities shown – places with names like Wind’s Rest, Colvenhame, and Arcysus – and triangulating the distances involved based on what he knew of them from research into Everglow’s geography during his previous visits to this world. With good weather and no detours, we could make it there on hoof in twelve days.

But as heartening as it was to know that their best chance of getting home – being the capital, Viljatown’s markets would almost certainly have what he needed to make the tuning fork that his plane-shifting spell required to get them back to Equestria – was closer than he’d expected, that was a secondary factor to what the map said about the temple they were looking for. “The Shrine of the Starless Sky,” he read aloud.

“I know the map says it’s due north of here,” interjected Mystaria, “but since it’s on the far side of the mountains, it’s actually quicker-”

“-to cut through the pass northwest of here and go around,” finished Lex, having picked that up at a glance. Unlike the situation with Viljatown, that was decidedly less than good news. While the tracks he’d bidden Solvei to follow had gone northwest, the fact that there was a natural pass there meant that the yetis and the misbegotten hag leading them could have come from any direction before heading through it.

His ruminating was interrupted as Woodheart let out a chirp, followed by a series of short snarls, ending with her pointing upward. Perched on her back, Littleknight sniffed the air, then let out a meep of his own.

The sight made Thermal Draft quirk a brow. “So…she can still understand us, right? It’s just that she can’t talk while she’s possessed by…whatever animal has taken over her body?”

“It’s not that it takes over her,” corrected Valor. “More like she’s merged with it.”

“From what she’s told us before, using speech feels unnatural for the animal spirit she’s sharing her body with, so she doesn’t do it unless it’s an emergency,” added Shadow. “She can still understand what we’re saying just fine.”

“Right now, I think she’s trying to tell us that it’s going to snow again soon,” interpreted Mystaria, giving the clouds hanging above them a discouraged look. Although the snowfall had petered out just before they’d left, the overcast sky had lightened up only a little, and was already turning darker than it had been just a few hours ago. “I’ve prepped a few more castings of my ‘communal endure elements’ spell, so it won’t be a big deal if the temperature drops, but I’m worried about the visibility if another blizzard hits. Without being able to see the sun, our only way to navigate is to use the mountains, and if we lose sight of those…”

Thermal Draft shot Lex a glance then. “I could probably come up with a spell for that.”

He fought down a wince at the suggestion. He’d already instructed Thermal Draft in how to construct a weather-proofing micro-ritual to protect the two of them from the cold – not trusting Mystaria to use her own magic on them, despite the earth mare offering to include them in her so-called ‘endure elements’ spell – and while the pegasus had been happy to help, she’d still felt compelled to ask why he wasn’t simply casting that spell himself. While she’d seemed to accept the fumbling excuse he’d made about wanting her to practice using her magic more, he still took the exchange as a bad sign.

First Shadow Star had pointedly asked about his not preparing any spells, something that Lex knew virtually all of Everglow’s magical traditions allowed for on a daily basis. Then Thermal Draft had questioned why he was delegating modest spellcasting to her. At the rate things were going, his efforts to conserve his thaumaturgical spells was going to become more and more conspicuous.

But there was little that could be done about that, save for continuing to find ways to deflect whatever suspicions arose. Fortunately, he had one prepared for the current situation, shaking his head in response to Thermal Draft’s offer. “I have a better idea.”

The pegasus cocked her head to the side, but Lex’s thoughts were elsewhere. Solvei.

The winter wolf’s answer came immediately. Yes, Master?

Were you able to rest and recover? From the state of mild contentment that he was registering from her, he could guess the answer already, but he still wanted to confirm it before he put her to work again.

I was, Master! I found two glacier toads, and not only were they delicious, but their lair made for a great place to rest! she reported. The sense of pride that he registered from her then made it clear that she was quite pleased with herself, presumably because ‘glacier toads’ were considered fearsome foes by her kind.

But Lex was less interested in that than in her current location. Thanks to his innate knowledge of where she was in relation to him, he could tell that she was almost at the mountain pass that they were headed toward. Check the local area to make sure it’s clear of any potential threats or dangers. Once you’re finished, let me know and I’ll summon you.

Understood, Master! Do you want me to bring these shiny rocks I found in the toads’ lair with me?

That gave him pause. Gemstones?

Yes, like the ones in the bag Mother gave you, except more.

Bring them, he answered immediately. Now that he’d managed to replenish his thaumaturgical spells, he could start stocking up on a reserve of spell-embedded gems again. There had been less than a dozen jewels in the extradimensional pack that Turid had relinquished to him, and Lex was eager to acquire more.

In fact, he realized, this could help to quell the suspicions of his traveling companions. So long as he relied on the reserve of energy in his circlet, along with channeling modest amounts through his body, in order to cast minor spells into the gems without depleting them from his mind, he’d be able to build up enough of a supply of minor magical effects that he wouldn’t need to be so hesitant about using them. With any luck, that would be enough to alleviate – or at least confound – their suppositions about his reticence to use magic. And so long as he mixed that with his dark magic and the divine spells the Night Mare gave him-

“Lex?” Thermal Draft’s voice drew him out of his thoughts, and he belatedly realized that the pegasus was looking at him expectantly. “So…what’s your idea?”

Taking a moment to chastise himself for getting so caught up in his excitement over Solvei finding a few gemstones, he waved a hoof at their destination. “Solvei is at the mountain pass we’re headed toward right now. I’ll summon her here, and have her lead the way there. Since she made the trip there recently, she’ll have an easier time guiding us if the weather turns-”

Master! Solvei’s mental voice reached him just as he detected a spike of concern coming from her.

What is it?

Something strange is happening. There’s some…I think its some wispy clouds? Or maybe its patches of smoke? I’m not sure, but there’s a bunch of them, and they’re heading toward the mountain pass right now… moving against the wind.

Lex stopped in place, which made everypony else do the same, shooting him confused looks. “Lex?” called Thermal Draft worriedly. “Is everything okay?”

He ignored her, focusing instead on Solvei. Maintain your position. I’m going to look through-

Master, they’re changing direction! Her concern was becoming alarm now. I think-, they’re headed toward me! Fast!

Fall back immediately, ordered Lex. Outdistance whatever they are.

After a moment, he registered frustration from her. I can’t! They’re catching-, huh?! Something’s happening! Master, they’re changing! They look more solid now! Like they’re-, whoa! They’re in front of me now too! Master, I’m surrounded!

Lex had heard enough, and without another moment’s hesitation, summoned her back.

Author's Note:

Lex, Thermal Draft, and Fail Forward set out, only for Solvei to report that something unusual is happening at the pass they're heading for!

What exactly did Solvei encounter? What will Lex and the others do now that they know something strange is waiting for them?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Welp, hoping it's just the local fauna reacting to Solvei's presence though the chances of whatever ambushed Solvei being part of Grisela and her 'sisters' group is pretty high too...if they are in the temple. Though even if it isn't, the fact that they caught up and surrounded Solvei is still worrying in itself.

[Alzrius]

11140198 Hope springs eternal, but chasing someone down and surrounding them usually isn't a good sign. All the more so since Solvei is quite fast, thanks to the power Lex granted her. With any luck, his summons got her out of there before anything else could happen. The problem now is that he and the others are headed right for where those odd whatever-they-are's were last seen. Will they brave the mountain pass, or try to find another way?

[Booster Spice]

I just hope that Lex summons actually works, and that those Detect Life, or passive Detect Maggic vaporous users dont also have a passive type of Disrupt spell , or particular class of spells items, or self field etc given at very high level certain spells can be cast daily for very low effective cost?

Eschew materials might not seem to have such a great value at 10gp limit, but not needing a bit of spider web, fresh egg, bit of seaweed or 3cc of mouseblood makes some very useful spells a lot easier?

[Alzrius]

11140403 It is a bit suspicious that the chapter ended before we got confirmation of Solvei's reappearance, isn't it? Is that indicative of the summons not working, or just a fake-out? Time will tell.

And yeah, the issue of material components - even when not very expensive - can screw a spellcaster at particularly inopportune moments. Of course, those have been downplayed for some time now (I still remember the summon material components spell in the AD&D 2nd Edition Tome of Magic supplement, which brought all non-expensive material components to a spellcaster when used; of course, that spell itself required no material components). Thankfully, Lex doesn't really have that issue, though certain spells of his still need expensive material components and/or foci (which are components that aren't consumed via the casting, such as the silver mirror he needs for his scrying spell).