The Moons of Mirrodin

CHAPTER 15

Glissa lay in the clearing in a daze. The Tangle was still and calm. The battle was done, and the commotion inside Tel-Jilad couldn’t reach her. The trolls were apparently either dead or frightened off. The elves had disappeared. She had the entire forest to herself. But for the first time in her life she felt alone and out of place within the Tangle.

Glissa had never had many friends, but she had had a home, a family, and Kane. Now she had nothing. No, she amended to herself. Now she had a destiny … a destiny and a legacy of death. She stared at the ground, hardly aware of her surroundings. She heard Slobad’s voice calling her, echoing as if she stood at the edge of a great abyss.

She looked down. There was no chasm. Just blood and melted copper. Her eyes fell on something else on the ground next to her. It was a finger and thumb lying next to the shards of the mage’s staff, blue-gray and emaciated. They weren’t elven. Glissa snatched them from the ground and held them hard in her fist, rocking back and forth.

“Glissa,” called Slobad. He sounded far off. His voice echoed all around her. “Glissa. Where are you, huh?”

Was she lost? thought Glissa.

“Pick her up,” she heard someone say from a great distance. “We get her to safety, huh? Then find out what happen here.”

Glissa fell into the depths of the huge hole. The lip of the chasm passed her by, and she fell into nothingness. Her only companion was the wind rushing past her ears. Swirling shapes danced in front of her, then disappeared into the blackness. She saw her mother and father. She saw Lyese. They were reaching out to her, their mouths open as if screaming in terror. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t reach them.

There was no sound but the wind. Their screams were silent. Glissa tried to scream, but she had no voice. She saw Chunth, serene but dead. His eyes were closed. She could see the scorched hole in his chest. The charred body of Rishan floated by, writhing in agony. The elf warrior tried to run toward it, but she was running in air. She saw Kane. He was running as well, running toward her, a smile on his face. Then he was gone, a look of astonishment in his eyes just before the darkness returned.

Glissa had no idea how long she had been falling. Time had no meaning anymore. There was only the darkness and the wind. Was this her destiny? An endless fall into darkness? Or was this a punishment? Perhaps she couldn’t be killed because she had a destiny. Everyone around her paid for her destiny with their lives. Her punishment was to live in the darkness with the memories of her failure.

Next she saw Slobad and the golem in the darkness. Slobad was calling to her. She could see him mouthing the words, “Glissa, Glissa,” but she couldn’t hear him. There was only the wind. Something was different, though. Slobad wasn’t dead, at least not that Glissa remembered. The golem wasn’t really alive. What were they doing in her personal purgatory?

She concentrated on Slobad, trying to make him come closer … or go away. As she concentrated, she began to hear his words.

“Glissa,” he said. “Glissa. Are you in there? Come back, huh? Glissa!”

He seemed concerned, as did the golem. Somehow the metallic man’s ever-stoic face seemed furrowed, his eyes narrowed. He looked at Slobad and opened his mouth.

“What now?” asked the golem.

* * * * *

That raspy voice jarred Glissa back to reality. The golem had spoken. Glissa opened her eyes slowly to see the goblin and the golem standing before her just as they had in her dream. Or had it been a flare? Glissa didn’t know. The blackness dissolved into a dark red behind her two companions. Where was she? What happened to the Tangle? When did the golem learn to talk?

Glissa opened her mouth to ask these questions, but all that came out was a gurgle. She coughed and tried again.

“Slobad,” she said. “Where are we?”

The goblin smiled and slapped the golem on his iron knee. “She’s back, huh?” said the goblin. “She’s back.”

“I see,” said the golem.

A thousand questions circled around Glissa’s brain. “Where was I?” she asked at last.

“You tell us, huh?” said Slobad. “Glissa shut down in forest after aerophins attack. Not say a word in three rotations. The golem carry us to safe place.”

“Aerophins? Three rotations?” The words hurt her throat, and her mouth was dry. “Water?”

Slobad looked at the golem, who walked away. “We go to mountains,” he said. “To cultists I tell you about. To Dwugget. We safe here now.”

“No,” said Glissa. “We’re not safe. They’re not safe. Nobody is safe, not with me around.”

The golem returned with a jug of water. Glissa took it and drank deeply. “I should go,” she said. “You should have left me in the Tangle.”

“Trolls tell us to go, huh?” said Slobad. “After Slobad fix secret door. They say better for you to leave forest. Say with lot more words, lots of bowing and smiles. Could tell trolls afraid. Slobad see that look before, huh?”

“Then you should have left me in the Glimmervoid,” said Glissa. “It’s not safe here. It’s not safe anywhere. That vedalken mage has spies everywhere. He bought off Strang, and now Chunth is dead. He paid Geth to attack us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t get to Ushanti. She recognized the serum. I could tell. We can’t trust her now. We can’t trust anybody.”

“We trust Dwugget, huh?” said Slobad. “Cultists never even see other races. They outcasts like us, huh? Outcasts.”

“Perfect targets for treachery,” said Glissa. She rose from the pile of hides where she had been lying and tested her legs. They were in a small cavern lit by a fire inside some metal contraption in the corner. She walked unsteadily across the room to look at the fire sconce. “Even if the robed mage didn’t get to Dwugget, I bet those foul birds have been stalking us since we left the Mephidross.” She felt like a caged animal. “We led them right to Rishan and Kane. Now you’ve put the cultists in danger. You say we’re safe? We’ll never be safe.”

Gently the golem guided Glissa to the hides. He sat her down and held her shoulders. She scratched at a spot on her leg for a while, scraping the molder off the copper, then picking the green rot out from under her claws. There was something in her fist. She hadn’t realized that her other hand had been closed all this time.

The elf opened up her hand. What she had been clenching was the thumb and finger she had picked up after the battle. They were even more shriveled and gray than she had remembered.

“I cut these off the robed figure,” she said. “I’ll keep these until I can unite him with his dead fingers.” Glissa ripped a strip of leather from the hides beneath her. She stabbed her claws through the severed digits, threaded the leather strip through the holes, and tied the gruesome band around her neck.

“Listen, crazy elf,” said Slobad. “You acting crazier than usual, huh? You need rest. Get strength back. Don’t worry about Krark cult. Dwugget keep them hidden for fifty cycles. Nobody find us here, huh? Nobody. Tomorrow we talk. Pick what to do next, huh? Like Bosh said. Then we leave. We leave, and cult stay safe.”

The golem gave her more water. Her body shook as she drained the mug. The water helped calm her a little, that and the gentle kneading of the golem’s hands on her shoulders. Somewhere down deep, she knew she was being foolish. Not everyone was trying to kill her. But until she found that mage and finished what he had started with her, nobody would be safe.

Something nagged at the back of her brain as she fingered her gruesome pendants. “Bosh?” she asked. Was this some new enemy she needed to add to her growing list? “Who’s this Bosh, and what did he say?”

“Golem is Bosh,” said Slobad. “His name Bosh. He tell me on trip, huh? Bosh.”

“He … Bosh … talks?” asked Glissa. “How?”

“Slobad clean rest of Dross in Tangle and one trip, huh?” said the goblin. “One morning he start talking.”

Glissa drank another cup of water. She was tired. She realized that. Three days asleep, but she hadn’t rested. That was all it was. She looked at her friends. They were good friends. She could see the concern on their faces. It was time to come from the darkness and rejoin the world.

Glissa took a deep breath and looked up at the golem. “So, you can talk now?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Bosh.

Glissa looked up at him, waiting for more, then looked at Slobad and raised her eyebrows.

“I say he talks,” said Slobad. “I not say he talks a lot, huh?”

Glissa laughed. She was starting to feel better, but the doubt and fear that had enveloped her and sent her hurtling into that abyss still lingered in the shadows of her mind. The sooner she left the cultists, the better, she thought-for them, anyway. Perhaps she should leave Slobad and Bosh as well-at least until the danger passed.

Later, after Glissa had gotten a little dream-free sleep, she told Slobad and Bosh of the events of the Tree of Tales: of what she had learned from Chunth and his murder. She told them that the vedalken were the source of the serum. She told them of Strang’s treachery and the robed figure in the forest. She told them of Kane’s death. That was the hardest of all.

“I’m sorry,” said Slobad. His head fell forward. “We couldn’t keep up. Slobad put golem back together, huh? We got from Tree as fast as we could. Sorry.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Glissa. She began rocking back and forth and realized that she was playing with the severed fingers again. She pushed the necklace under her tunic and shook her head and arms to put away the darkness that threatened to consume her.

“Better you weren’t with me,” she said after a while. “You’d be dead, too.”

“Maybe,” said Slobad. “Maybe no. Still sorry. Would give life to save friend, huh?”

“No!” snapped Glissa. “No more deaths. Not because of me. We leave here now. We’ll go to the cult and end this.” Glissa pushed herself up off the hides again. Her legs and arms ached from two days of inactivity, and she almost fell. Bosh stuck out his arm and caught her by the shoulder.

“We leave soon, huh?” said Slobad. “Soon as you able. Eat. Rest. Then we go, huh?”

The elf sighed. “Go where? We can go to the cult and talk to them, but we don’t even begin to know how to find the vedalken.”

Slobad gave a short cough, as if clearing his throat. “Slobad hear of vedalken before, huh? Not much, no. But some things.”

“What?”

“Vedalken live around Quicksilver Sea. That long way from here, huh? Slobad never been. Long walk for crazy elf, Slobad, Bosh. But we can do it.”

“Do what?”

“Find vedalken at Quicksilver Sea, just like I tell you.” The goblin was plainly growing impatient with Glissa’s limited intelligence. “Maybe we go there after see Dwugget.”

There was a table in the middle of the room with bowls on it. Glissa realized she was famished. With the golem’s help, she walked to the table, where she found some stew. She gulped it down, then served herself more from a large pot. She didn’t even worry about the odd chunks of meat that she couldn’t identify.

Glissa wondered if she should tell Slobad and Bosh about Chunth’s last revelation, about the hollow world. They might think she had dreamed that part of the conversation. She wasn’t even sure if it was real anymore. But it reminded her of something Slobad told her about Krark. He had seen the inner world.

“Tell me about this cult again, Slobad,” she said. “Why are they hidden? What did Krark see?”

Slobad sat down and poured himself some stew. “Krark was goblin shaman, huh? Krark branded as heretic for violating Steel Mother,” he said in between gulps. “Executed for violating Steel Mother. But Krark story spread. Cult formed to follow his words, follow him, search for Mother’s Heart.”

“The Steel Mother?” asked Glissa as she poured herself a third bowl of stew.

“The world,” said Slobad. He thought for a moment, then continued, as if reciting a litany learned as a child. “Goblins come from Steel Mother, keep Great Furnace burning for her in life, and return to Steel Mother in death.”

“And this Krark violated the Mother?” asked Glissa. “He found her Heart? How did he do that?”

“Krark entered the Womb of the Steel Mother.”

“The Womb?” asked Glissa. She was interested in the story despite the disturbing imagery.

“Slobad never seen it,” said the goblin. “Cult say Womb is wondrous place-a huge dark tunnel straight down into the Steel Mother. All goblins live around the Womb.”

“A hole?” asked Glissa. “A huge hole in the world?”

Slobad nodded.

“Tell me about this Heart Krark found,” the elf said. “It was inside the Mother’s Womb?”

“Yes,” said Slobad. “Krark say he found Heart of the Mother, huh?” Hhe continued, reciting from memory again. “ ‘I stood in sloping chamber with no roof, surrounded by ancient towers of coral. A giant sun hung above me, glowing like Sky Tyrant, and Bringer, and Ingle, and Eye of Doom. I had found Mother’s Heart.’ ”

“Those are the moons, right?” asked Glissa. “This Krark found a chamber inside the world with a fifth moon?”

“Sun,” said Slobad. “Only shines in all colors. That what cult says, huh? Slobad never really believe. But they give me home, so Slobad listen. Every day, Slobad listen.”

“Memnarch,” said Bosh.

Glissa and Slobad both turned and stared at the golem.

“What?”

“Memnarch,” the golem repeated. He paused as if straining to remember something important. “… Lives inside the world.”

Glissa and Slobad stared at each other.

“Bosh,” said Glissa, “is Memnarch a vedalken?”

Bosh concentrated again and stood mute for at least a minute. Glissa worried that she might have overtaxed the metal man. Finally, he looked at her and said, “I do not know. I have never heard of vedalken … before today.”

“Do you remember anything else about the serum or Memnarch?”

“No,” said Bosh. “Not yet.”

Glissa tapped her chin thoughtfully. “I need to speak to the leader of the cult.”

“Why?” asked Slobad.

“Something Chunth said before he died. He said he’d been keeping a secret. He said the world is hollow. The cultists believe Krark went down a hole into a world with a single moon … sun … and Bosh remembers that Memnarch lives inside the world. We need to jog Bosh’s memory. Maybe the cultists can tell us something of Krark’s journey that helps Bosh remember.”

“So we not go to Quicksilver Sea?” asked Slobad.

“Not yet,” replied Glissa. “We don’t know if it’s the vedalken or Memnarch after me. Flare, Memnarch might even be a vedalken.” Glissa remembered something. “Bosh, did Memnarch have four arms?”

“Four arms?” asked Slobad.

Glissa nodded. “The robed figure in the Tangle had four arms and a bald, misshapen head.”

Again Bosh stood silent, for several minutes. Glissa was sure she had broken him this time. Finally he focused on her again and said, “I do not remember.”

Glissa sighed. “We need to see the leader of the cult.”

“It wait until first moon rises, huh?” said Slobad. “You sleep for three rotations, but Slobad need rest. I take you see Dwugget after breakfast, huh? Sleep, food, Dwugget.”

The elf nodded. “I could use some rest as well. I wasn’t exactly relaxing on the way here, either.” Actually, she felt renewed. Her heart was pounding, and she felt completely awake. This changed everything. If Memnarch was below her and there was a hole in the goblins’ lair, they might not have to leave the mountains to leave the mountains.

* * * * *

Despite her excitement Glissa was asleep moments after she lay down, a sleep mercifully devoid of dreams. When she heard Bosh’s voice calling to her and opened her eyes to darkness, she felt a momentary panic, as if she had fallen back into the abyss.

“Slobad, Glissa,” said the golem again. “Wake up. Something is wrong.”

“What is it?” said Glissa, glad to hear her own voice in the darkness. She sat up and squinted, trying to pierce the gloom. She could see two red dots high above her that could only be Bosh’s eyes.

“A battle approaches.”

Glissa heard something that sounded like a small explosion, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Aerophuis,” she said. “Bosh, grab Slobad. We’re under attack. We have to get to the cultists.”

Bosh lifted the goblin, who snorted sleepily.

“Wake him,” hissed Glissa. “I need light.”

Glissa crept along the wall toward the door. She could barely see its outline. From down the corridor came a flash of light.

“I’m going to take a look,” she whispered. She inched down the corridor, her back against the wall, and peered around the edge. Pools of light from goblin fire tubes dotted the next corridor. In the dim light, Glissa saw a score of goblins running toward her.

They were being chased by what looked like large, walking aerophins. The creatures had the same blue, bulbous heads, but their silver bodies were much larger-man-sized. Each had two massive arms connected to barrel-shaped bodies. Their legs were mere stubs jutting from the base of the barrels, yet they moved amazingly fast.

One of the silver assassins pointed an arm at the retreating goblins. It had no hands, but a huge metal arrow shot out, impaling, two goblins. Their bodies knocked down several in front of them. A second barbed missile shot out from another creature, taking down a third goblin. Then the goblins were past Glissa, running down the hall. A bolt of lightning came from another beast, blasting the mass of fallen goblins.

Glissa fell to her knees. “No!” she screamed. “Not again!” The silver attackers stopped and searched for the source of the screaming then moved forward. They glided down the corridor, their stubby legs never touching the iron flooring.

She could do nothing but watch in horror as they drew near. In the pile of goblins she saw only the faces of Kane, Rishan, Chunth, and her family. Her grief paralyzed her. Two hovering attackers reached the corner and peered into the darkness. Glissa curled into a ball, half-hoping they wouldn’t see her, half-hoping they would.

Something struck her, hurling her back down the corridor to fall in a heap. She looked up in time to see one of the silver men point its deadly arm at her. The bolt flew toward her. She made no attempt to dodge.

Inches from her face, the harpoon stopped, snatched from the air by Bosh.

The golem flipped the spear over in his hand and flung it back down the corridor. The huge missile slammed into the hovering beast’s crystal head. The resulting explosion knocked the headless creature to the floor and slammed its companion through the wall of the corridor.

“Pick her up,” said Slobad. “Follow. I get us out, huh?”

Bosh snatched Glissa from the floor, cradling her in his arms. The hair on her neck tingled, but she couldn’t even cry out. Bolts of lightning struck the walls and floor behind them as they ran. Bosh stumbled and almost fell. Glissa felt a surge of energy run through her body. The golem regained his balance and kept running.

They raced through dark corridors, twisting back and forth, followed by sounds of lightning cracking and harpoons clanging. At last they halted, and Bosh set Glissa down. She looked up to see Slobad wrestling with a plate on the wall. The goblin grunted as he tried to pry it open with one of his tools. Bosh came forward, pushed two thick fingers behind the cover, and ripped it off the wall.

“In here,” said Slobad. “Quick, huh?”

Glissa crawled into the cramped tunnel.

“Keep moving,” hissed Slobad.

Glissa obeyed. The darkness of the air duct called to her. She welcomed it back into her mind.

Slobad pulled out his fire tube, lit it, and tossed it into the ductwork. Glissa grabbed the light and inched forward. She could see now, but still the darkness closed in on her. The abyss was near, and she could do nothing but crawl toward it. She heard the clanging of harpoons again, as if through a fog, then Bosh’s voice.

“I cannot fit,” said the metal man. “Proceed without me. I will safeguard your escape.”

There was silence. Glissa looked back to see Slobad hug the giant golem’s leg.

“Goodbye, Bosh,” he said.

“Farewell, friend,” said Bosh.

Bosh turned. Two harpoons stuck from his back beside a huge scorch mark. He lumbered down the hallway into the darkness.

“Keep moving, huh?” said Slobad after a deep breath and a stifled sniffle. “Keep moving.”

Glissa crawled through the ductwork, following Slobad’s directions. The farther she went through the maze of cramped tunnels the closer she came to the abyss. After a while, she could hardly hear Slobad’s commands through the fog in her mind.

She saw light up ahead. A few more turns and they reached the end of the tunnel. The yellow moon was rising in the distance. Glissa fell to the ground in a heap. She heard Slobad drop to the ground behind her, but she stared in silence at the moon.