//------------------------------// // 648 - Red Ink // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// “Solvei,” murmured Lex, keeping his voice just above a whisper. “I want you to move in and press him as hard as you can, but be ready to fall back on my signal. I’m going to try and end this in one shot.” The winter wolf gave a sharp nod in reply, not taking her eyes off of Prevarius. “Okay, but don’t be surprised if I rip his throat out before you do whatever you’re gonna do,” she growled hatefully. “He wasn’t just planning on betraying my family, he’s also using his seidr to try and enslave them when it’s time for them to join our ancestors in the afterlife! I’ll kill him for that!” The invective made Lex frown, giving her a sidelong glare. “Just do as I tell you,” he rumbled warningly. “We’re already in a bad tactical position. Don’t make it worse by doing something stupid.” Solvei grimaced at that, but didn’t have a chance to respond as Prevarius spoke up. “By the by, Solvei,” he called, his voice filled with faux-sweetness. “Did I mention that, although your father never signed a contract with me before Bolverk killed him, I’m considering capturing his spirit anyway? It’s usually more trouble than it’s worth to take possession of souls postmortem, but even if your kind aren’t worth very much, I do so hate breaking up a set.” “Don’t you DARE!” screamed Solvei, all self-control vanishing as she rushed forward, jaws wide. “DON’T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING TO MY FATHER!!!” “Solvei, stop!” yelled Lex, only to curse as his warning was completely ignored. This was just like when he’d told her to attack Bolverk cautiously, only for her to charge in the same way she was now! Against a brute like Bolverk that had been reckless, but against a cunning opponent like the phistophilus it was dangerous in the extreme. I’ll need to drag her back with divine authority! But before he could so much as raise his foreleg, Prevarius made his move. With a cruel chuckle, the crossed his arms in front of himself, each hand reaching for one of the thick horns curling around the opposite side of his body. Taking hold of two of the unwound scrolls that were draped over the black protrusions, he gripped them tightly, one leg sliding backward to adjust his balance as Solvei raced toward him. Then he whipped his arms forward, the scrolls lancing out toward Solvei almost faster than the eye could see. Intellectually, Lex knew that should have accomplished nothing. Paper was just paper; no matter how quickly Prevarius whipped it through the air, it should have just fluttered limply before falling to the ground. But that wasn’t what happened. Instead, the scrolls snaked out with all the speed and flexibility of a pair of whips, curling around even as their edges remained firm and rigid. It was in complete defiance of how such flimsy material should have acted, but that was no comfort as the razor-thin sides of each scroll struck Solvei, causing her to scream in pain as they opened up deep papercuts across her body. Even so, the winter wolf didn’t abandon her wild charge, too enraged to be stopped. But all she earned for her perseverance was another pair of painful cuts as she fought to close the distance between herself and the devil. It was only by sheer luck that she managed to dodge a fifth strike, leaping into the air as she finally got to within a few feet of Prevarius, blood spilling onto the ground beneath her as she leaped… And the devil flicked his wrist, causing the scroll in his left hand to wrap around Solvei’s back leg in mid-air. With her jaws only inches from his face, Prevarius smirked as he yanked his arm back, causing Solvei to be pulled violently off-course, thrown around in a wide arc before being slammed onto the ground hard enough that the blood from her injuries splattered around her, turning the snow from white to red. “SOLVEI!” screamed Thermal Draft, starting to race forward. “STAY BACK!” roared Lex, his horn lighting up as he hurriedly prepared to retaliate. “DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!” Seeing Thermal Draft skid to a halt, even as Prevarius took a step closer to the downed winter wolf, Lex didn’t hesitate. He’d planned on doing this once Solvei got clear, but now he had no other alternative except to hope that he’d calculated the distances involved correctly. Gritting his teeth, the aura around his horn flared brighter as he concentrated on his telekinesis… And flung one of the explosive beads from Bolverk’s necklace right behind Prevarius. It detonated immediately, causing a rush of heat to flood across the clearing. It was enough to make Thermal Draft put a hoof in front of her face, crying out in surprise despite being over two dozen feet away from the flames. Solvei yelped as well, much closer to the sudden conflagration, but to Lex’s relief he saw that she’d escaped the radius of the blast, the rush of fire stopping a few feet from her back legs, driving her to pick herself up and start limping away; that was fortunate, since he hadn’t been able to give her any special resistance to fire with his last application of divine authority. And as for Prevarius, who had been nearly at the center of the blast- “Ah, what a refreshing temperature!” As the last of the flames went out, the phistophilus remained exactly where he’d been before Lex had thrown the bead, looking no worse for having been caught in the fireball. Although the ground – now clear of snow – was charred and blackened, and residual heat could still be felt in the air, the devil didn’t have so much as a soot stain marring his features. Worse, the contracts draped over his body were similarly unharmed, completely intact despite the flames. Lex felt himself tense up at the sight. It hadn’t been outside of his expectations that the devil might escape unharmed, due to its ability to resist magical attacks, but he’d hoped to at least take out the contracts. That would not only have freed Thermal Draft and Solvei’s family, but also – based on how it used the papers to thrash the winter wolf just now – crippled Prevarius' ability to fight! Or does that thing have some other method of protecting them? Given that he was willing to use them as weapons, they can’t- “That’s that trinket I gave Bolverk, isn’t it?” chuckled Prevarius, turning to face Lex. “I’d almost forgotten about that. Not that it really matters. Fire doesn’t bother us devils, you know. But the same can’t be said for winter wolves.” With a single motion, the phistophilus returned the scroll in his left hand to his horns, and pointed a finger at Solvei, who froze in alarm at the threatening gesture. Fortunately for her, Lex hadn’t. Instead, is left foreleg raised, pointing the barbed wire toward Solvei as he sent a new application of divine authority toward her, one that put almost everything toward defense, healing, and resistance to flames. It wasn’t a moment too soon, as three bright red rays shot out from the devil’s outstretched finger…but not toward Solvei. With his concentration devoted toward protecting the winter wolf, there was almost nothing Lex could do. It was thanks to his defensive enchantments and magic items that he somehow managed to dodge the first beam. But the second and third slammed into him, striking him on the shoulder and chest. Agony tore through him immediately, and he couldn’t hold back a roar of pain as he felt his flesh sizzle and burn. “LEX!!!” The cry came from Thermal Draft and Solvei at the same time, both running toward him. But the unicorn barely heard them, pain and sudden insight pushing all else from his mind as he fought to remain standing. He wasn’t just calling out the wrong target to get me to drop my guard, cursed Lex inwardly. He saw Solvei’s reaction to that explosion, and knew that she didn’t have any protection against fire. Since he knew I’d enhanced her, he deliberately announced his attack so that I’d do it again, giving him a chance to try and figure out how divine authority functions! He was proven right a moment later. “Hm, what was that?” mused Prevarius, arching a brow as he watched Solvei rush to Lex’s side. “You held out your hoof toward her, but there were no spell effects that I could see, and I didn’t feel any magical emanations either. So what were you doing?” Thinking on that for a moment, the devil gave a belated shrug. “Ah well, I suppose all I need to do is take away that ring you’re wearing. Then it should be easy to read your mind and find out the answer.” With that, he strode forward, intent on making good on his plan. Solvei had other ideas. “You stay away from him!” she snarled, planting herself directly between Lex and Prevarius. The threat caused the devil to chuckle, shaking his head in a patronizing manner. “Ah, sweet little Solvei. You know, I’m almost tempted to offer you a deal: sign your soul away, and I’ll let the rest of your family go. That way I can sell you and Lex as a pair after you die, like a toy that comes with an accessory. That would really drive up his value, don’t you think? After all, he hasn’t tried to use that mysterious power on himself or Thermal Draft, which means that there’s some reason it has to be you.” “I’d never forge a pact with you!” hissed Solvei. “Never!” Behind her, Lex was thinking furiously, trying to come up with an alternate strategy. Despite having been certain that this would be a hard fight, Prevarius’ combat abilities were still higher than he’d expected. Worse, the devil was a brilliant tactician in his own right, one who was willing to sacrifice immediate advantages for longer-term gains. Which is why he’s stopping to taunt Solvei again, Lex knew. He’s trying to goad her into letting something slip, while also giving me time to use it again so he can get another chance to decipher it. For a moment, Lex was tempted to do so anyway. He’d given Solvei greater defenses now, but he had no idea if they’d be able to protect her if the devil went on the attack again. No, they definitely won’t, Lex silently amended a moment later, glancing at Solvei, who was now close enough for him to see what he’d missed before. Although he’d given her an accelerated ability to heal, her fur was still missing from where she’d been cut by the devil’s scrolls. A shudder went down Lex’s spine then as he recalled the medical textbooks he’d borrowed from House Call for the trip to Las Pegasus. The sides of her neck. The heels of her front paws. The thighs of her back legs. If winter wolf anatomy is anything like pony anatomy, those are all areas where major blood vessels are close to the surface of the body. He was trying to bleed her out! That Prevarius had been able to control the placement of his strikes against a moving target to such a degree was worrisome in its own right. But even worse was how he’d been going for disabling Solvei rather than trying to kill her outright. Because he knew it was more important to gather information, Lex realized grimly. This is what he meant by taking us seriously. Everything he’s doing now is so he can evaluate what we’re capable of! As if to further prove Lex right, the devil continued to taunt Solvei. “You’ll never sign a contract with me? Such a shame.” Giving an exaggerated sigh, he hung his head, before shaking off his faux-sadness with an easygoing shrug. “Well, I suppose I could just use the blood you got all over this unsigned contract I cut you with” – he waved the unrolled paper still clutched in his right hand – “and forge your name. That will just be our little secret.” Solvei’s eyes had just enough time to widen in alarm before the devil burst out laughing. “Oh! The look on your face just now! You should have seen yourself!” he cackled, enjoying a long laugh before calming down. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. You see, these papers are specially made by our Ministry of Mortal Relations. They don’t rip or tear, they don’t smudge or burn, and the blood signature has to be signed immediately, otherwise it doesn’t take. It’s a pity, don’t you think? Otherwise I would have been able to sign your contracts on your family’s behalf instead of having Bolverk-, whoa!” The phistophilus’ jeering came to an abrupt halt as he turned to the side suddenly, barely avoiding a spray of a dark, foul-smelling liquid that arced through the space where he’d once stood, landing on the ground and sizzling loudly. Clucking his tongue, Prevarius turned to look at the person who’d launched the surprise attack. “Tsk tsk, Drafty. And here I thought we were friends.” “Friends?!” shouted the pegasus, her expression outraged. “Friends?! You pretended to be nice to me so that you could trick me into signing away my soul! You helped some crazy wolf force Solvei’s family into giving up theirs! And now you’re trying to take Lex’s by using ME as leverage!” Seething, she flared her wings out, too enraged to even flinch at how that stretched out the injured one. “WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!” Placing a hand on his chest, Prevarius put on an exaggerated pout. “I’m hurt you think so, especially since I haven’t said a word about all those secrets you’re keeping from your boyfriend here.” Drafty blanched at that, but Lex had other things on his mind at that moment, instead staring at where the caustic liquid Drafty had fired – doubtless a product of the spellcasting that Prevarius had given her – was dissolving the patch of ground it had landed on. He dodged it. Whatever powers the phistophilus had given Thermal Draft, Lex found it hard to believe that they were potent enough that they posed any serious threat to his ability to resist harmful magic. But the devil had made sure to avoid the attack, so if it wasn’t to protect himself… Behind his mask, Lex’s eyes turned toward the contracts draped over Prevarius’ horns. Those scrolls might not be able to be ripped or torn or burned, he decided silently. But he didn’t say anything about melting them. “Solvei,” murmured Lex, his voice thick with urgency. “Listen very carefully. We’re changing the plan-” “THERE THEY ARE!” The shout came from above, causing everyone’s eyes to turn upward. But only for a moment, as Turid, Kaja, Ebbe, and Sten all dropped out of the sky, surrounding Prevarius on each side. “What are you all doing here?!” yelped Solvei, wearing her surprise openly. “It’s dangerous!” “Which is why we’re here!” answered Sten immediately, baring his teeth at Prevarius. “We heard you crying out, and we couldn’t take it anymore!” added Kaja. “We shamed ourselves when you were fighting Bolverk, so we’re making it right now!” agreed Sten. “I couldn’t do anything to save your father,” declared Turid, giving Solvei a sorrowful look. “I won’t be able to face him in the afterlife if I don’t do everything I can to save his children.” Her features hardened then, turning to glare at Prevarius. “You’ve exploited my family long enough, Red Man! This is the end!” Prevarius didn’t reply immediately, instead taking a moment to regard each of the winged wolves in turn, then glancing at Thermal Draft, then Solvei, and finally at Lex. At last, he shrugged. “Alright. Plan B it is then.”