Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

698 - Turn For the Worse

“Can we grab him now?”

Taking a moment to swallow his irritation toward his idiot sister, Paska made sure his whisper was as soft as he could make it. “Not yet, Vidrig. Now shut up, or else.”

He hoped that would be enough to keep her quiet. Although the spell she’d used allowed them all to whisper to each other over a short distance, the magic didn’t prevent those whispers from being overheard by anyone nearby. While that didn’t seem likely, since they were still a good distance away from the ponies – as well as the adlet who looked as though he was their prisoner – Paska preferred not to take unnecessary chances.

Fortunately, Vidrig seemed disinclined to grumble about his decision, likely since the memory of what had happened the last time she’d complained at him – her incessant whining last night about their meager provisions had eventually pushed him to chop her legs off with her own axe, after which he’d forced her to consume her severed limbs – was still fresh in her mind. That, or the sting from her spending half the night regrowing her lower appendages hadn’t faded yet.

Unfortunately, Vidrig wasn’t the stupidest member of their group. “Why?” came a guttural snarl that was barely a whisper. “Want eat now!”

“I said no, Blat,” shot back Paska, not bothering to follow up his order with any threats. If Vidrig, dumb as she was, was smart for an ice troll, then Blat was stupid even for a manticore; simple concepts such as consequences were difficult for his brother to handle. Short and simple commands worked best. “Keep waiting.”

A wordless grunt of frustration came from Blat then, but he didn’t seem inclined to disobey…which was good, because after several days of tracking down the ponies, Paska was in no mood for things to go wrong at the last moment.

It wasn’t as though the journey had been particularly onerous. Periodic castings of his “find quarry” spell had been enough to direct them unerringly toward the unicorn who had defeated Grisela. Rather, it had been once they’d gotten to within a half-mile of their target that the hard work had begun. Laying an ambush was an activity fraught with the potential for mishaps, particularly when your target was powerful, was traveling with a group, and needed to be taken alive.

Not to mention the fact that we’re only going to get one shot at this, Paska silently reminded himself. Their strategy hinged on several factors, the most important of which was their exfiltration once they’d grabbed the stallion. Sissel had been very clear that the magic they’d use to whisk themselves and their captive – who needed to be unconscious, since the spell wouldn’t transport anyone who put up even the slightest resistance – back home could only be used once. If something happened and they couldn’t get away, the entire plan fell apart.

But as important as that was, escape was the last thing on Paska’s mind at the moment. Rather, he was more focused on making sure the conditions for unleashing their attack were as favorable as could be expected.

The good news was that the giant wolf in black armor that Grisela had mentioned wasn’t there. Had it been, the entire plan would have needed to be postponed until it was gone; Paska had no desire to face off against a creature that could kill over a dozen yetis without taking a single serious wound in return. But with it having left to scout ahead – that’s what the tracks Paska had found earlier suggested, since the paw-prints were headed away from the ponies’ current position and had yet to be snowed in – they had an opportunity to strike.

Or at least, that was how it looked. The problem was that Grisela, being an idiot who only thought she was smart, had already used several of the most effective ambush tactics when she’d assaulted that village a few days ago. Invisibility to move in close. Making sure not to leave a trail where she walked. Sending minions ahead to distract enemies. All were excellent ploys, which meant that if the ponies were sensitive to them now, things could easily go bad in a hurry.

That was why, once they’d gotten within a half-mile of the ponies, Paska had started running reconnaissance.

First had been having Vidrig cast an invisibility spell on Blat, after which he’d had the manticore do a quick flyby over the ponies. If they’d had any counter-invisibility magic active, it would have been obvious from how they’d react to the sight of a monster like that circling them. But – watching from concealment beneath a nearby outcropping – Paska had detected no reaction on the part of his targets.

Nor had the ponies stumbled across evidence of his passage, despite moving over terrain that he’d crossed less than a half-hour earlier. That wasn’t surprising, of course; Paska had already used his “pass without trace” on himself, Vidrig, and Blat, letting them all move without leaving a trail in the snow the way Grisela naturally did. Still, the lack of reaction from the ponies suggested that they had no magical method of detecting recent movement in an area.

That wasn’t too surprising, of course; Paska was no arcanist, but he knew that most spells had relatively short durations – no more than a few hours at the maximum, and many were far shorter than that – and so his quarry couldn’t stay on alert all the time. Still, it was far better to make sure that the ponies’ guard was lowered than to simply assume it was. Which was why, despite Vidrig put invisibility spells over all three of them now, spells which would only last for a few minutes, Paska was still holding his siblings back.

If an error was going to be made, it should be made on the side of caution. As stupid as Grisela was, she at least knew not to put herself personally in danger. Paska didn’t have that luxury, which meant that he needed to prepare as much as he could. Blat was expendable, and while losing Vidrig would upset Grisela and Sissel greatly – not because they actually cared about her, but because the three of them were able to pool their magic somehow, performing spells that none of them could do alone; those tasteless puppets of Grisela’s being just one such example – Paska was, unlike pathetic little Nenet, more than capable of weathering their anger, especially if it meant his own survival. Nothing could be left to chance.

But that doesn’t mean letting a golden opportunity slip away, either, he decided after a few more seconds of watching the ponies trudge through the snow, seemingly oblivious to what was about to happen.

“Vidrig, start casting augmentation magic,” he whispered. “I’ll do the same. Blat, get ready.”

“Finally,” chortled Vidrig, and Paska was glad that they were already invisible. Ice trolls were hideous creatures, and Vidrig was even uglier than most. The sight of her grinning was enough to turn even his stomach.

He pushed that image out of his mind as he started casting. First a spell to enhance his own muscularity. Then another to toughen his skin. And then – reaching out to his right – he brushed a hand against where he knew Blat was, augmenting the power the manticore could put into his claws, fangs, and tail. Vidrig, he knew, was doing much the same; although she was a poor spellcaster, she knew just enough magic to increase her physical abilities before she charged in with her axe. But that wasn’t what he needed her to do right now; their plan had a very specific opening move.

He just hoped that Grisela was right about exactly how that unicorn had summoned that monstrous wolf, and that the spell Nenet had told them about would counter it.

“Vidrig, on my signal, use the scroll Sissel gave you on that unicorn,” he instructed, glad that the snow giant had made sure that the scroll’s writing would be visible when it was unfurled. “Blat, if the scroll doesn’t work and a huge wolf appears, kill it” – though more likely all he’d do was buy them a few seconds at the cost of his life – “and if not, then attack the other ponies. But not the one you see me attacking, understand? No kill horn pony.”

“No kill horn po-pony,” growled Blat, stuttering slightly. Two-syllable words had always been hard for him to grasp.

“Good. Now, get ready…” Hefting his hammer, Paska started creeping toward the ponies. “In three…two…o-”

“Something just tried to attack my mind!” yelled the unicorn suddenly. “All of you, prepare for battle!”

Paska froze, silently cursing his sister. “Vidrig!” he hissed, “what did you do?!”

“Not me!” Her frantic reply came instantly. “I didn’t do anything yet!”

He was about to demand that she answer for what was happening when one of the mares started pleading with the unicorn to calm down, saying that she’d tried – and had apparently failed – to contact him telepathically. For a moment Paska hung back, watching them bicker, and had just decided to go forward when the mare, in response to the unicorn’s growing aggression, let out a yell of her own.

“I was going to say that I wanted to help you fix whatever it is that’s keeping you from replenishing your arcane magic!”

If he hadn’t been standing completely still, Paska would have cocked his head at that. So the unicorn, who’s magic had been enough to overpower Grisela, wasn’t able to recharge his spells? Interesting…

But he had no time to consider what that meant as the stallion suddenly went berserk.

That the pony could somehow create sharpened spikes of black crystal wasn’t a surprise; Grisela had mentioned him doing that during their fight. But the sheer quantity of them that erupted then was staggering to behold. Some were taller than Sissel, while others were half the size of Nenet, erupting from the ground at all angles, causing the unicorn’s companions to cry out as they fell back, several of them injured by the sudden tangle of razor-sharp edges surging up from the ground.

Fortunately, Paska hadn’t gotten close enough to the unicorn to be in range of them, but he leaped back all the same. “Both of you, hold your positions!” he hissed, despite knowing that Vidrig’s invisibility spell was close to wearing off. “Don’t do anything yet!”

“Want kill!” complained Blat. “Just watch no fun!”

“Don’t be stupid, it’s plenty fun!” laughed Vidrig. “They’re doing our job for us!”

“If this turns into a real fight, that pony will summon his wolf back,” growled Paska, irritated that they couldn’t figure out that this development wasn’t a good thing. “We’ll have to abandon the plan and try again later, assuming he even sends it away again. We have to act n-”

He didn’t get a chance to finish as a spear of snow shot up from the ground near the unicorn, hitting it on the side of the head and making it stagger for a moment. For a split-second Paska worried that their target had been killed before they could capture it.

Then the unicorn turned around, his eyes blazing solid green behind his skull mask as he stared at the now-naked mare standing barely a dozen yards away, presumably the caster of the spell that had just struck him, and the adlet she’d been speaking to.

The latter immediately turned and ran, to which the unicorn…took his mask off and flung it at him. Paska had just enough time to feel confused by that before realizing that the mask wasn’t falling the way it should have, instead maintaining its course as it flew toward the adlet. But in the instant before it made contact, the unclad mare threw herself in its way, knocking over the adlet and letting the mask brush against her instead, causing her to stiffen for an instant before going limp.

The entire thing took less than five seconds.

Grisela didn’t say anything about that, realized Paska uneasily, watching as the mask flew back toward the unicorn, who was still staring ahead as though-

“BASTARD!!! screamed the mare with the half-mask covering the lower portion of her face, drawing out a dagger as she ran toward the unicorn, heedless of the field of jagged ebon between herself and him. “YOU KILLED HER!!!”

The words seemed to snap the stallion back to his senses, his eyes losing their glow. In perfect synchronicity with that, the black crystals began to disintegrate, losing cohesion and turning to dust even as the unicorn blinked and furrowed his brow, looking around as though just now realizing what he’d done. “That…no,” he muttered, one hoof coming up to catch his mask, the motion half-hearted. “That wasn’t-”

“SHUT UP!!!” roared the blade-wielding mare, taking advantage of the terrain suddenly becoming clear to throw herself at the stallion, who only barely managed to jerk his head back before her dagger opened his gullet. “DIE!!! JUST DIE!!!”

Cursing silently as he realized that he’d waited too long, Paska darted forward, hoping to catch the ponies off-guard before the unicorn was either slain or recalled his wolf. “Do it now!” he hissed as he brought his hammer up. “Vidrig, the scroll! Do it now! Blat, kill!”

He didn’t wait for a reply from either of them, moving into position as he brought his weapon around in a wide arc, pivoting at the hips to put as much power into the swing as he possibly could, even as he felt Vidrig’s invisibility spell come undone.

There was just enough time for the unicorn to register Paska’s sudden appearance right next to him, his eyes going wide with shock.

Then Paska’s hammer caught him full in the chest and sent him flying.

Author's Note:

Grisela's siblings strike at the worst possible moment!

With their alliance already in disarray, will Lex and the others be able to repel the ambush they now find themselves in?

Comments

[TheAbsoluteRadiance]

Damn... Lex's luck is pretty sh*t.
Do we at least know if there is a light at the end of the tunnel?

[Not so New Brony]

Well, shit has hit the fan, big time and while it's par the course for Lex though this is the first time his actions led to somepony else's death, directly at least. And I'm sure even if Grisela's siblings weren't there, things would have still escalated anyways since I'm sure Lex's words would have been along the lines of 'I didn't mean to kill her. I was just trying to eliminate the adlet to ensure secrecy of my weakness.' or something along those lines which would escalate hostilities since Fail Forward would have seen this as a hostile action even if Woodheart hadn't been struck by his mask.

[Booster Spice]

Lex rolled a Critical Fumble on the Encounter Table?

[Alzrius]

11188598 Lex's not having much in the way of good luck is a recurring theme by this point. Unfortunately, that's often because his own actions (both good and bad) have often come back to bite him. In this case, Grisela escaping to warn her siblings that there was a powerful new enemy that they needed to do something about.

As for a light at the end of the tunnel, I suspect the Night Mare would say that if you want to find that, you need to dig your own way out of it.

[Alzrius]

11188628 No doubt things would probably have degenerated into a fight one way or another, but now it's a fight against enemies who are, if nothing else, more dangerous to the ponies. Paska doesn't seem to care what happens to Thermal Draft and Fail Forward, and seems to have specific countermeasures in place for Lex. That Lex himself will need to answer for what happened to Woodheart even if they manage to fight off these new enemies only makes things worse.

[Alzrius]

11188748 It's not a random encounter if they've been using magic to track you down.