The Darksteel Eye

CHAPTER 16

Slobad looked down the slope at the black swamp that had just swallowed Glissa.

“What crazy elf do now? She think we follow her, huh?”

Al-Hayat nodded. “Yes.” With his muzzle, the great forest beast gave the goblin a shove.

Slobad slipped down the slope. Flipping over on his stomach, he scrambled over broken bones, treading the ruined flesh as if it were water. Climbing back to the top of the slope, the goblin scowled at the wolf.

“Slobad not like so much, huh?”

Al-Hayat shook his head. Grabbing Slobad by the back of the neck, the wolf lifted him in the air and turned him toward the battle taking place behind them. Nim swarmed over levelers. Bruenna and the few remaining wizards had all left the field and were making their way through the remaining undead toward the swamp, following the elf into the filth.

“Behind, all that awaits us is death,” explained Al-Hayat through closed teeth.

“Ahead only filth and rot, huh?” replied Slobad, dangling from the wolf’s fangs.

Al-Hayat set the goblin back down on his own feet. “But in that filth lies potential,” he explained. “We may yet live to see another day-or even a world free of Memnarch. Isn’t that worth getting dirty for?”

Slobad looked back over the battlefield. The nim had the levelers bogged down, but it wouldn’t take long for them to cut their way through. Turning around he looked down at the swamp. The swath Bosh had cut through the horde of undead was beginning to narrow as the shambling beasts closed ranks.

“Since you put it that way.” The goblin threw up his hands and jumped into the air.

Landing on his rump, the rumpled, green creature slid down the slope. Beside him, Bruenna’s wizards charged down the hill. One hovered as he descended, using magic to slow his descent. Two more took the same way as Slobad, using the sloughing pool of liquefied flesh as a quick route to the bottom.

The other three fought and died as they tangled with too many nim. Their bodies were slowly ripped to shreds, and their remains were devoured by the hungry undead.

Slobad swallowed hard, trying to keep the contents of his stomach from coming up. He’d seen many unsettling things in his life, but this was by far the worst.

Below him, the swamp came up fast. Looking over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Al-Hayat, slipping down the slope in the most awkward, uncontrolled fashion imaginable. Each of the wolf’s four legs went in a different direction, and his whole body spun as he picked up speed. Scrambling with his front legs, he managed to keep his head above the layer of rotten flesh-but only for a moment. Then his feet hit a slick patch, and they parted, each going the opposite way of the other.

Al-Hayat’s proud muzzle slapped to the ground, sending a wave of black filth into the air. His rear end slipped sideways, and the wolf careened backward down the hill toward Slobad.

The goblin laughed, seeing the majestic forest beast in such an undignified position. Then the cold, wet swamp hit his feet, and Slobad could see no more of the wolf, as he plunged under. His mouth filled with foul liquid, and his whole body seized up in disgust. Sinking quickly to the bottom, the goblin slid deeper into the swamp.

No longer able to control his gag reflex, Slobad puked, the vomit forcing the swamp water from his mouth.

Never before had the contents of his belly tasted so sweet on their way up.

* * * * *

In the Tangle, deep puddles of water collected under the biggest trees. All manner of creatures gathered there to drink or bath. When Glissa was young, she and Kane would climb up the tallest tree they could find and jump off into these puddles, scaring away all the other animals.

Once her head slipped under the surface of the swamp water, she tried to pretend she was back in the Tangle, jumping into a puddle. The image worked, for a time. Unlike those carefree days as a youth, now she was in real danger, and the water in the swamp was … like nothing else she’d ever encountered. Bits of debris touched her skin as she descended. At one point, it felt as though a fish were nibbling at the tiny hairs on her legs. Something told her that whatever it was, it wasn’t a simple fish.

Her careening slide had been slowed upon impact with the swamp, and she had glided gently under the water. But where she thought she should reach a stop, she just kept going, sliding deeper and deeper with each passing second. Her breath began to run short, but she fought the urge to open her eyes.

The last time she had been in the Dross, she and Slobad had found Bosh. He had been buried in the filth that was now sucking her down. When they had run across him, she had wondered how such a creature could be devoured by a swampy liquid. Now she knew.

When she had hit the water, she felt her body twist. Stuck somewhere between the bottom and the surface, not sure of which way she was facing, she had no idea how deep she was nor which way was up. She’d hoped, like she had in the Tangle, that once she fell still, she’d start to float back to the surface. Without stopping, she wouldn’t know which direction to swim. Why wasn’t she stopping?

Realization came to her in a flash, and fear gripped her chest. A current! The swamp, like the Quicksilver Sea, had underwater currents, and this one was pulling her down.

Throwing her arms out wide, she reached in all directions, hoping to find the bottom or breach the surface-anything that could tell her which way was up. Her left hand struck something, but when she reached, it slipped away. All she could find was more of the viscous liquid that surrounded her and held her tight.

The deeper she slid the colder the water grew. The current picked up, and she felt her body pick up speed as she sank even deeper into the swamp. The air in her lungs burned, and the pressure of the water on her ears increased. She felt as if a giant were squeezing her head between his two mighty palms, and sharp pains blossomed in spots all over the inside of her skull.

The pain grew, and Glissa flailed. Panic filled her from head to toe.

* * * * *

Visions flashed in front of her eyes in rapid succession, and Glissa temporarily left this world as a flare consumed her.

She saw her mother standing in a tree in the Tangle. Then she saw Slobad, tinkering with a leveler, his hands and face covered in grease. Bruenna, Al-Hayat, and Chunth the troll appeared to her then just as quickly slipped away.

Bosh edged all the other images from her mind. He stood before her, his hands bleeding. He looked sad. Instead of his stoic and immovable expression, his mouth was actually in a frown, and his eyes seemed sunken. He looked right at her. Behind him Glissa could see the interior of Mirrodin. The bright mana core was high overhead, and the tower Bosh had called Panopticon was in the near distance.

In the vision, the half-flesh, half-iron golem’s lips turned up, and he smiled at her, though his eyes remained sad. He turned and walked off, toward Panopticon.

* * * * *

Glissa felt the back of her head hit something, and she came out of the flare. She was moving at a tremendous clip now, and her fingers and toes were touching the edge of something. She was still under water, now surrounded on all sides by curved metal.

The rushing current carried her through a series of twists and turns. Each time the direction changed, her head hit the surrounding wall. The crashing impacts threatened to knock the air from her lungs, but she held tight, despite every urge to let go and just pass out.

She felt her feet skid along the bottom then slip free. Then she was falling through air. Her head broke from the swamp water, and reflexively she gasped in a breath. Flecks of the fetid swamp water sprinkled over her tongue, but she didn’t care. The air exhilarated her, forcing the panic away, and now she could feel the wild beating of her heart.

Dragging her hand across her face, Glissa opened her eyes in time to see a huge lake of swamp water coming up fast below her. Gasping, she gathered in one more precious breath before splashing again into darkness.

Down and down she sank. From what she could tell, she’d fallen a long way. Bubbling, frothing air accompanied her as she plunged. Slowing, the bubbles peeled off, one at a time, rising again toward the surface, and Glissa could feel herself come to a stop-the way she’d hoped she would when she had started into the swamp in the first place.

The air in her lungs buoyed her, and she rose. Her legs felt week from the cold water and lack of air, but she kicked with all the energy she had left. It seemed an eternity, stuck in the syrupy swamp water, then her head breached the surface, and once again she drew in breath.

The edge of the lake wasn’t far off, and Glissa swam to it, lifting herself gratefully from the water and resting her body on the firm metal ground. Lying there on her back, she breathed in huge gulps of air. There was water in her lungs, and as she sucked in, she could hear a thick rattling in her chest. She turned her head and coughed, trying to force out the liquid. Her hacking dislodged a big piece of flemmy gook, and she spit it out on the ground.

Rolling again to her back, she looked up to see how far she’d fallen.

High above, a series of intertwining grimy pipes covered the walls. They wound around each other, shooting off in all directions and crossing over to cover the ceiling, obscuring it from view. Black water and bits of refuse dripped from every pipe, but there was no doubt where Glissa had entered this room.

One of the pipes had a huge, gaping hole in the bottom. From it issued a heavy waterfall of putrid fluid. Beads of black liquid bursts apart, separating from the rest of the flood on the fall, finally coming down to splash into the underground lake that had caught Glissa on her plunge.

Pallid, yellow-green light filled the chamber. Glissa couldn’t see where it was coming from, but the room was bright. Slipping over onto her belly, the elf lifted her head. The lake took up most of the chamber. Around it, a metal shelf ran around the outside of the room just wide enough for three elves to stand side by side. The pipes that ran all the way up the walls and across the ceiling jutted from the ground on the outside of this walkway.

To her left, behind a space between two of these pipes, was what looked like a tunnel leading out. Beside it sat Bosh. His partially rusted body blended flawlessly with the tubes, making him nearly disappear into the background.

“Bo-” Glissa’s voice was raw, and there was swamp water in her throat. Burping and spitting out as much of the foul fluid as she could, the elf coughed out her words. “Bosh. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he said. He pointed to the waterfall above. “I fell.”

“Me too,” she said. Getting to her feet, she traversed the walkway over to the iron golem.

“I know,” he said. “I watched you.” He continued to sit on the floor as Glissa approached.

She looked him over, and he looked back, but he didn’t move. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

The golem nodded. “Yes, but I feel weak. I would like to rest for a moment.”

Glissa nodded and sat down beside him. “What do you think this place is?”

Bosh shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before.”

“Well, wherever it is, it’s deep under the swamp.” She breathed. Her lungs still rattled a bit, but she was improving. “It’s a good thing there was a hole in that pipe. Who knows where it leads, and I don’t think I could have made it much longer without any air.”

“There was not a hole there,” said Bosh. “I got stuck going around a corner and smashed it open.”

“Then you saved both of our lives.”

Bosh looked down at her then back up at the waterfall. “Yes.”

Just then a large piece of debris plummeted from the ceiling. Glissa watched it fall, tracking its course toward the underground lake. It was round and wrinkly, and it toppled end over end. It sprouted arms and began to flail.

Glissa jumped to her feet. “Slobad!”

The goblin didn’t hear her. His eyes were so wide that Glissa could see his pupils from where she was standing.

The elf turned toward the golem. “We should do something.”

Bosh began to get to his feet. “What?”

Glissa shrugged and turned back in time to watch the goblin hit the lake with a loud slap. “Fish him out. He’ll drown!” She circled around the narrow walkway closer to where he landed.

Round waves moved out from where Slobad had impacted the underground lake. The swamp water moved slowly, dampening the splash because it was so thick and dense. Glissa watched the center of the waves, waiting for Slobad’s head to pop up, reassure her that he didn’t get crushed when he landed, or drowned shortly there after.

“Where is he?” she said, nervously scanning the water.

Bosh clomped up behind her. “I do not see him.”

A chunk of something surfaced near the impact point.

“There,” pointed Glissa. “Is that him? We’ve got to get him out.”

Bosh leaned over, trying to get a closer look. “I do not think so. It’s too small.”

“Too small? He’s a goblin.”

Bosh shrugged. “If that is him, it is only his head.”

Glissa scowled at the golem, but he paid her no mind.

Near the center of the lake, bubbles started to rise and breach the surface. They were small at first, but they grew in size and frequency. Pretty soon the lake seemed as if it were going to boil, starting with the very middle and moving out slowly to the edges.

Glissa took a step back from the lake. “I don’t think that’s Slobad.”

“Nor I,” replied Bosh.

Both the elf and the golem flattened themselves against the wall. Then Glissa spotted something at the far end.

“Look,” she shouted.

“That is him,” confirmed Bosh.

The two took off at a run.

Slobad had surfaced on the other side of the rising storm of bubbles and was swimming toward the farthest edge of the lake, on the opposite side. His little arms didn’t carry him very fast, and the burbling dome threatened to overtake him in only a few strokes.

Glissa bunched her fists as she ran. Whipping around the end of the lake, she and Bosh closed in on their friend. Slobad reached the edge, and grabbed hold of the walkway. Behind him, the bubbles peaked then stopped altogether as swamp water shot into the air.

A column of tarnished metal rose from the lake. Putrid, black water streamed from its sides, clinging to every crease and seam, uselessly trying to pull back into the depths something that could not be contained.

The metal monstrosity climbed into the air, nearly four times the height of Bosh. It looked like the trunk of a tree or the mycosynth on the interior of Mirrodin-only this thing was pitch black, and completely cylindrical. Then it opened up in front, seeming to uncross hundreds of folded arms-each one a razor-sharp blade.

“A giant centipede.” Glissa whispered out the words, fearing that saying them any louder would make the creature more menacingly real than it already was.

As it unfolded, the creature’s face and head came into view. On top, long, thick antennae sprouted, twitching this way and that. Under those, two beady, pulsing red eyes scanned the room. It had no nose or mouth to speak of, at least not on its face.

With the grinding sound of metal on metal, the centipede scissored its arms closed then back open, like a zipper. Undulating from the top to the bottom, a wave raced down the creature’s body. With each passing curve, hundreds of blades slid closed then open again, ready to cut to shreds anything that came close.

The creature swung its head around, two beady little eyes scanning the chamber. When they crossed over Slobad, Bosh, and Glissa, the centipede reeled back. Then it came flying forward, its scissor arms moving at double speed.

“Grab Slobad,” shouted Glissa, bolting for the goblin.

Bosh beat her to him. At a full run, the golem reached his huge hand down into the muck. Scooping a handful of water from the lake, he ran on at top speed. Black swamp muck drained from his palm, leaving Slobad in a heap against the golem’s closed fingers.

Seeing that Bosh had the goblin, Glissa skidded to a halt. The centipede’s head was high in the air, but it came down on the trio in a blink. Backpedaling, the elf fell away, letting Bosh and Slobad go off in one direction while she turned and ran in the other.

The centipede’s head whipped down, slamming into the edge of the lake-right where Slobad had been only moments before. The impact shook the chamber, and Glissa was thrown to the ground. Looking back, she could see the centipede’s head buried deep in the dented walkway. On the other side were Bosh and Slobad. They had escaped, but they were separated from her by the monstrous bug.

That would be a fitting way to die for a goblin, thought Glissa as she scrambled to get away from the centipede.

Once again on her feet, she shouted over her shoulder. “Run to the passage. I’ll meet you there.”

If there was a reply, she didn’t hear it, because the centipede pulled its head out, bending the complaining metal of the walkway as it did. The motion filled the entire chamber with a wretched squealing that vibrated down Glissa’s spine and rattled the metal on her legs and forearms.

Freed from the dented walkway, the centipede reeled back again, shaking its head side to side. It looked at Glissa then at Bosh and finally turned its attentions back on the elf.

Glissa’s lungs were starting to hurt again. She could feel the water she’d inhaled on the way down the tube. With every breath it felt as if someone were stabbing a sharp fingernail into her chest. Worse, she could feel a bit of liquid floating around in there, bubbling away with each inhale.

With a quick flick of its long body, part of which was still concealed under the black water, the centipede closed in on Glissa. Tilting its head, it coiled the top of its chest, like a snake about to strike.

Glissa watched it do this, and her heart skipped a beat. It was so big. She didn’t see how it could miss her.

Watching the monster instead of the walkway, Glissa tripped and went sprawling onto her face. The room got darker as the monster’s shadow grew around her. Rolling over onto her back, the elf looked up at the scissoring blades as they came crashing down on top of her.