Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

687 - After the Action

“I’m telling you, the smell isn’t completely gone,” complained Spinner, waving a hoof in front of her nose. “Gods, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“It’s just your imagination, Spinner.” Despite the confidence in Mystaria’s voice, she had a greenish pallor to her as well. “Lex and Drafty cleaned the entire place.”

“They didn’t do anything about their pet’s breath.”

Shadow’s earned a soft growl from Solvei, causing Spinner, Mystaria, and Woodheart to wince as they – along with the rest of their team – glanced toward the back of the cave where they’d taken shelter.

Lying on her belly near the deepest part of the alcove, Solvei didn’t glance at the ponies, keeping her eyes trained on the unconscious and tied-up figure of the humanoid lupine that they’d dragged with them upon taking shelter for the night. But in the dim light – brought about by the illumination spell Mystaria had cast on a loose pebble, which they’d then laid her cloak on top of as a makeshift lampshade, so that the light from her spell wouldn’t spill out of the cave entrance and broadcast their location to everything nearby – they could see that one of the winter wolf’s ears was pointed in their direction.

“Sorry about her,” offered Spinner with a weak grin, not liking the prospect of ticking off a wolf that weighed several hundred pounds and could use magic. Especially when said wolf’s master already harbored ill-will toward them. “She’s just, um…”

“Hungry,” cut in Valor. “The rest of us haven’t had dinner yet.”

That brought a pained groan from Mystaria, her stomach rumbling queasily.

After the battle against the two-legged wolves had concluded, Lex had declared – after ordering to Solvei to heal him and Thermal Draft, which was something Mystaria hadn’t known the winter wolf was able to do – that they’d keep to their original plan and spend the night in the cave that Solvei had previously cleared. No one had been in the mood to argue, since between the rapidly dwindling daylight and the post-battle exhaustion starting to set in, the prospect of continuing their march had been a non-starter among the assembled ponies.

To Mystaria’s mild surprise, Lex had then taken it upon himself to use a healing spell on the unconscious creature that they’d captured. It hadn’t been a particularly powerful one – Mystaria had recognized the “infernal healing” spell, which called upon malevolent forces to allow for only modest recovery – but it had been enough to stop the creature’s bleeding and at least scab over its savaged leg, without revitalizing the humanoid enough to usher it back to consciousness. Still, that he’d been concerned for their prisoner’s well-being had been an encouraging sign.

Less encouraging had been the state of the cave that Solvei had led them to. While the winter wolf had explained that she’d found it yesterday, killing the glacier toads that had been the place’s previous inhabitants, the aftermath of the slaughter had still been readily apparent.

Whereas how the bipedal lupines they’d just fought had – except for their captive – all fled, leaving behind nothing more than patches of bloody snow, a few spears, and the undamaged body of one of their own behind, the cave had been in far less hygienic of a state. Bloody chunks of the two toads had been everywhere, and while it was too soon and too cold for any real decay to have set in, the scattered piles of gore along with the stench of blood had made Mystaria gag as soon as she’d set hoof in the cave.

The fact that Solvei, apparently having worked up an appetite, had happily started eating some of the grisly leftovers that were strewn about hadn’t helped.

Fortunately, Lex had a solution. After telling Solvei to take her meal outside, he’d produced a cleansing wand – the sort of trinket that nobles invested in to keep their estates tidy when they didn’t want to bother with an overly large cleaning staff – and had begun sanitizing the place. Although a cleansing wand wasn’t able to clean a large area nor work very quickly, needing to be held over a single square-foot for several seconds before erasing the filth in its area of effect, Lex had telekinetically moved it across the floor of the entire cave, not stopping until the whole place was cleared. Thermal Draft had then pitched in by conjuring a modest wind to blow any lingering smells out.

By that time Solvei had come back from her meal, and had offered to guard their prisoner while Lex took Thermal Draft outside, apparently to instruct her on how to lay some simple protective spells around the entrance.

With nothing else to do, Mystaria and her friends had started to settle in for the evening, and although none of them had eaten anything besides a few trail rations – bags of shelled nuts, dried fruit, and salted jerky – the prospect of dining now was one that Mystaria couldn’t bring herself to entertain. Nor was she the only one who felt that way, with Spinner placing a hoof over her belly. “Please don’t mention food,” groaned the bard. “I really don’t think I could keep anything down right now.”

“What’s with you two?” huffed Valor. “It’s not like you’ve never seen dead bodies before.”

“Dead bodies are one thing,” muttered Spinner, laying out her bedroll and settling down. “Globs of carrion are another, especially when one of your allies starts eating them.”

“Can we please talk about something else?” asked Mystaria, the question coming out forcefully enough that she hoped it was clear that she wasn’t really asking. Woodheart gave a low nicker that Mystaria hoped was agreement, shucking her robe and settling down on top of it, Littleknight giving a meep that turned into a yawn as he settled down against the druid’s stomach.

“That’s a good idea, but I think we should keep it down,” murmured Shadow, giving Mystaria a pointed look while tilting her head toward Solvei. “Mysty, do you have anything to make sure we don’t distract our guard over there from watching over our guest?”

The question was enough to make Mystaria blink, knowing that Shadow was really asking if she had any spells that would let them speak without being overheard by the winter wolf. “…yeah. Give me a second.”

Rooting around in her saddlebag, she withdrew a scroll a moment later. Unrolling it, she read the words off the paper, the text vanishing as she released the enchantment stored within. It was only when she’d finished that she put the now-useless scroll away. “It’s done.”

Shadow let out a slow breath, glancing at Solvei again. “You’re sure she can’t hear us?”

The question earned her a frown from Mystaria. “The ‘silent table’ spell makes it almost completely impossible to overhear anyone outside of its area of effect,” she huffed as she laid out her own bedroll. “If you screamed at the top of your lungs, Solvei might register a faint noise, but I doubt it. Now what’s this about, Shadow? You know that these scrolls aren’t exactly cheap to make.”

“I figured it would be better if we could put our heads together without Lex’s guard dog listening in on us,” answered the masked mare. “You’re the one who said that the two of them are in telepathic contact, right? That means anything she knows, he knows.”

“So?” Settling onto her own bedroll, Valor shrugged. “Why’s that a big deal?”

“She means what we were talking about before we got into that fight,” sighed Spinner. Like the rest of them, she was preparing to turn in for the evening, taking her own saddlebag off and putting it down before pressing its contents together the way she would have fluffed a pillow. “If we’re going to keep going with the ‘Lex is a nice guy who went bad because of Severance’ idea, which – assuming it’s correct, and that we figure out a way to change him back – means we’ll probably have to fight him in order to fix him, we should probably reevaluate that based on what just happened.”

“Like, say, that his mask can kill someone outright,” noted Shadow. Although she kept her voice level, the tension in it was impossible to miss. “No big flash of light, no loud command word, he just tossed it at that guy and then boom! Dead!”

“For what it’s worth, I felt its magic discharge,” added Mystaria, not trying to hide how disturbed she felt remembering that. It was one thing to kill someone in the heat of a fight, but the casual way Lex had dispatched that creature had been chilling. “I’m pretty sure it was a powerful necromantic effect. And the fact that he didn’t keep using it suggests that he can only do so once per day. Probably with some other restrictions, since he didn’t try using it against Grisela.”

“Wonderful,” snorted Valor, laying down and digging out some more trail rations. “So maybe he can dump us in another pit instead, one that does something horrible to whoever’s at the bottom of it. Did you hear the way those things started screaming when they fell in?”

Again, Mystaria had the answer. “I think that was the ‘acid pit’ spell. It’s like the one he used against us the other day, but the bottom is-”

“Filled with acid, we get it,” interrupted Shadow. “It’s kind of in the name.”

Woodheart made a series of vocalizations then, ranging from squawking to churring as she pointed at where Solvei was guarding the unconscious humanoid.

Shadow, Mystaria, and Spinner all looked at Valor, but the latter mare simply shrugged. “What? It’s not like I can actually understand her when she’s like this. I just read her body language and try to guess.”

“So guess what Woodsy’s trying to say now,” shot back Shadow easily, ignoring the sour look Woodheart gave her in response to that nickname.

Valor glanced at the druid for a few seconds before shrugging again. “Either something to do with Solvei, or something to do with that wolf-thing we dragged back here.”

“Real penetrating insight there, Valor,” sighed Spinner, laying back and putting a foreleg over her eyes. “How do you do it?”

“Look, maybe this isn’t the conversation we should be having right now,” offered Mystaria. “I don’t think it’s going to be too long before that…whatever it-, no, whatever he is wakes up, and I’m a little nervous. I’ve never interrogated someone before.”

“Nah, that’s easy.” Valor waved a hoof. “We just ask him some questions, and if he doesn’t answer, or seems like he’s lying, then we make him regret it.”

Woodheart gave an unhappy mewl at that, and this time no one had to ask what she meant, with Spinner uncovering her eyes and looking at her friend. “And how exactly do you propose we do that, Valor?”

“The same way my parents did when my siblings and I got in trouble,” answered the muscled mare without hesitation. “We threaten to shave him.”

Her answer was so glib that Mystaria found herself snickering, her laughter being echoed by her friends, causing Valor to frown. “What? It’s a serious punishment. Having your fur shorn off is a mark of deep shame.”

“Oh, no doubt,” chuckled Spinner. “And if that doesn’t work, should we threaten to make him eat blackberries until his teeth are permanently stained ebony?”

“Well, what’s your idea if he doesn’t cooperate, then?” groused Valor. “Making him listen to you sing for a few hours straight?”

“Ouch, the daughter of the sun cats has claws,” laughed Shadow.

“I might be able to get him to cooperate if I can use a charm spell on him,” offered Mystaria, the last of her giggles dying away. “But that can be tough to pull off if we’re threatening him.”

“If that’s the case, we may want to have Lex go somewhere else and let us talk to the guy,” noted Spinner, her expression turning serious. “Actually, we might want him to do that anyway. I’m sure he’s got his own ideas for how to make that wolf-person talk, and I’m in no hurry to find out what they are.”

Valor’s expression was troubled then. “If he tries to torture him…”

“That’s not going to happen,” answered Shadow, her voice filled with steel. “I don’t care what kind of magic he’s got. If he does that, I’m stepping in.”

Woodheart barked in agreement, and Valor and Spinner nodded, the latter looking over at Mystaria when she didn’t offer her own support of Shadow’s statement. “Mysty?”

“I agree that torture is off the table,” replied Mystaria after a long moment. “But…I don’t think we should assume that it’ll come down to a fight between us and him. And I don’t just mean over what to do about the captive we’ve taken.” She looked at each of her friends then, her hoof coming up to touch her holy symbol. “The battle we were in just now was the second time we risked our lives together with Lex and his people, but we’re still talking like it’s only a matter of time before he becomes our enemy again. Doesn’t that feel wrong to you?”

“Just because we’re working with him, doesn’t mean we’re on the same side,” replied Shadow. “Look, I’ll admit that we didn’t exactly make a good first impression, but Valor’s apologized over and over again for what happened. And so have you, for that matter, and he’s still acting like we’re his worst enemies. So yeah, we should expect him to treat us that way and plan accordingly.”

“Plus, you’re the one who’s convinced that he’s not in his right mind because of the Night Mare’s umbral whatever-it’s-called,” added Valor. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly comfortable around someone that powerful who’s brains are twisted, even if it’s by a goddess.”

“And changing him back means a fight, Mysty,” concluded Spinner. “I’m sorry, but can you really see him just smiling and saying ‘sure, please fix my head,’ after being told that we think he’s not in his right mind, and that we want to undo what’s happened to him? Because I can’t.”

“I know, I just…” Biting her lip as she rubbed the symbol of Luminace hanging around her neck, Mystaria shook her head. “I just think we should try talking to him. Not necessarily about Severance, but about anything, the way friends do. Maybe if we can convince him that we’re not his enemies, we can all stop acting like it’s only a matter of time until we fight him again. And…”

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it for a few seconds before releasing it. “And you're right that my theory about Lex being the way he is because of Severance is just a theory. It might not be correct.”

“You said you were sure-”

“I know.” Holding up a hoof to forestall any more comments from her friends, Mystaria opened her eyes, trying not to look as chastised as she felt. “I know I said I was certain that must be what happened, and that’s why Luminace sent us here. But that was my excitement over the religious significance of such a thing getting the better of me, just like it did before…”

Woodheart cocked her head, giving an inquisitive murr as the rest of her friends exchanged worried glances.

“Is this about that thing your temple said you’re doing?” asked Valor. “A sap-sickle or whatever it was?”

“A sabbatical,” corrected Mystaria miserably. “And yes, it is. I was told to take one after letting my enthusiasm run away with me, just like I did about Lex. The result is that we're all here risking our lives now, and I don’t want to make that mistake again.”

Spinner raised a brow. “Wait, so when we were looking to raise some cash for the festival, and you suggested checking out the temple that’s up here, it wasn’t just because of what you’d found in your parents’ old trunk?”

“No. Well yes, but there’s more to it than that.” Finally releasing her holy symbol, Mystaria rolled over, staring up at the roof of the cave so she wouldn’t have to look any of her friends in the eye. “A little while ago, I wrote a treatise on the nature of Luminace’s divinity. It’s the sort of thing we do all the time, in order to demonstrate our knowledge of her faith and show that we’re ready to advance in the church hierarchy. In my case, I wrote that, as goddess of magic, Luminace theoretically had the power to deny the other gods the ability to grant divine magic to their faithful.”

This time both of Spinner’s eyebrows rose. “Wait, really? Wow, so you basically said she was the most powerful goddess in the pantheon, huh?”

“NO! I didn’t!” Mystaria sat bolt upright then, her jaw clenched. “That was never what I meant! It was purely an investigation into a theurgical aspect of her divine portfolio! It wasn’t meant to be any sort of suggestion that she had power over the other gods or their worshipers!”

“But someone else didn’t see it that way, I’m guessing?” Shadow’s voice made it clear she already knew the answer.

Mystaria nodded, her expression sour. “It’s not everyday you get personally berated by the head of your diocese,” she muttered. “I didn’t realize at the time that if the other churches had gotten wind of what I’d written, it would have stirred up trouble, and I probably would have been punished a lot more harshly in order to appease them. As it was, I was told to go on sabbatical ‘until such a time as I gained a greater understanding as to why friendship, rather than magic, is the source of Luminace’s grace.’ Since I’d just come across my parents’ trunk right before that, taking a trip seemed like a good idea. That and…”

Turning back over, she fished around in her saddlebag for a moment, eventually withdrawing a tattered old notebook. “I wanted to stop at Bright Night, since the headmistress emeritus there might be able to fill in some of the gaps in my father’s journal.”

This time, the round of looks that were exchanged were of confusion rather than concern. “Why would some old lady at that magic school be able to tell you anything about your dad?” asked Valor.

“Because,” murmured Mystaria, “he was her son.”

Author's Note:

In the process of reevaluating what they know about Lex, Mystaria makes a confession about why she brought her friends there!

With her motivations laid bare, will that change anything between Lex and Fail Forward? Or will it not matter once they begin questioning their prisoner?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Companion on technical exile from order/home ​due to an unintentional mistake? Check
Finds journal/text filled with obscure knowledge? Check
Goes on own journey alone/with friends to seek the truth? Check
Getting mixed up in something possibly bigger than themselves? Check

If this story wasn't about Lex, I can see Mystaria being the protagonist of her own story though she and her friends already are since their background and history revealed to us one by one in their own dedicated chapters. Whether or not any of this will have an impact on Lex's journey remains to be seen.

At the very least, the idea of confronting Lex about his mind being warped by Severance seems to be shelved for the time being though depending on how he'll question Toklo, the idea may be revisited. Though even if they do get what they need, what is done with the prisoner is another matter altogether. That is, if said prisoner doesn't just turn into mist and escapes when he wakes up like harts fire pointed out in the comments last chapter.

[Booster Spice]

Solvei enjoying Toad in da hole, while the rest just try and rest and recover? Going to need all their spells for tomorrow, especially if the Whisp Wolves decide to drop in on them in hit and run?

[Alzrius]

11155626 You made my day with that comment.

It's important to me that the supporting characters in this story feel like fleshed-out individuals, who have their own lives independent of Lex. Even when they're his followers (which not all of them are), they should present themselves as having more of an existence than their relationship to the main character, even for individuals who find themselves swept up in his life and end up taking direction from him. To that end, I wanted to make sure that the members of Fail Forward all come across as having backgrounds and goals that don't necessarily align with those of Lex. While that gives them a greater prominence in their individual presentations, I like to think that doesn't detract from the overall narrative (though that depends on bringing their experiences in as part of the greater story).

In Mystaria's case, I had planned to save her backstory for later, but in the course of writing this chapter it somehow put itself front and center. To that end, we're getting more of not only who she is (and how she inadvertently screwed up her life, which is something that all the mares of Fail Forward seem to have in common), but also what brought her and her friends here to begin with. Presumably this will have some sort of greater impact on the story later...?

For right now, though, the issue is what to do with the prisoner they've taken, both in terms of getting him to talk, and what to do when he's no longer useful.

[Alzrius]

11155831 That's about the long and short of it. The next point of stress is going to be what happens when their captive wakes up and they try and question him...presuming he doesn't just *poof* away as a patch of mist.