The Moons of Mirrodin

CHAPTER 23

Glissa walked through the forest, basking in the warmth of bright sunshine filtering through the leaves. A squirrel skittered up a tree as she passed and shouted at her from the lowest bough. She felt free and alive. The morning dew squirted through her toes as she walked, barefoot, through the grass and moss.

Rays of light glinted off dew-moistened flowers, turning into rainbows that jumped from blossom to blossom. Her life was perfect. The forest provided everything the elves needed and protected them from the wars and ravages of men and gods. Her people existed to protect the forest. She knew that now. When had she forgotten? The forest existed to protect the elves. It was a truly symbiotic relationship. The elves would have it no other way.

A cloud drifted across the sky, blocking the sun and casting a shadow over the forest. She glanced up to watch for the warm light to return, but the cloud darkened and began to grow. Soon a charcoal mass of roiling storm clouds threatened to blot out the entire sky. Lightning played across the bottom of the turbulent cloud. The air became charged with raw power and lightning crackled across the sky. Glissa could feel the forest’s energy surge as the storm built. Was the storm feeding on the mana of the forest or bleeding off excess energy into the forest? She didn’t know.

A bolt of lightning shot down from the cloud into the forest ahead of her. The thunder deafened Glissa, and the force of the shock wave knocked her to the ground. She jumped to her feet and ran toward the impact. Lightning often brought fire to the trees. The forest must be protected. That was the law of the elves. Nothing else mattered.

She ran through the dark forest. No rain fell from the storm clouds, and the lightning seemed content to stay in the sky for now. Glissa smelled something burning ahead of her, but the odor was not wood turning to charcoal. It was more primal, more powerful. She broke into the clearing where the lighting had struck and was surprised to see a large body of elves already gathered there, as if they had all been drawn to this spot by the lightning.

In the center of the clearing, Glissa saw a black patch of grass at least twenty feet across that had been turned to ash by the lightning. A glowing sphere of energy hovered above the ash. The elves who crowded around seemed to be hypnotized by the sphere. They didn’t move closer to investigate, but neither did they make any attempt to flee from it. She wanted to look away from the sphere and knew she would be lost if she didn’t escape the clearing, but she couldn’t make her body move.

The sphere flashed, engulfing the gathered elves in a bright white light. Glissa screamed. It felt like her skin was burning, as if the light was consuming her. She fell but didn’t hit the ground. She couldn’t see anything but light and sparkling motes flying past her eyes as she fell into a white nothingness. Then she was on the ground, crumpled into a fetal ball, hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes were closed, and there was a blessed darkness behind her eyelids.

After a time, Glissa dared to open her eyes. She expected to find black stalks where the trees had once stood. She feared there would be dozens of burnt and misshapen corpses surrounding her. She wondered whether she was truly still alive or had passed onto Gaea’s reward. Nothing she could have imagined, though, prepared the elf for what she saw when she opened her eyes.

Elves lay all around her. Most curled up as she had been. None were burnt or scarred from the flash. A few had pushed themselves up off the ground or sat and surveyed the damage to the forest. But the forest was gone. The trees, the flowers, the sun, even the black cloud had all disappeared. Glissa looked down to see bare metal beneath her. She looked up and saw great towers of twisted metal surrounding the elves. In the sky, there was nothing but stars, but even those were unfamiliar.

Glissa felt sick inside. The metal world swirled around her as she tried to get to her feet. A wave of nausea overtook the elf. She rested on her hands and knees, and closed her eyes to make the world stop spinning around her. She hoped it was all a dream that would be gone when she opened her eyes. The elf looked again, but the metal world was still there. She dropped her head down between her arms and vomited.

* * * * *

Glissa kneeled on the bottom of the diver, puking. Her chest and neck convulsed as a torrent of silver liquid erupted from her stomach and lungs. The spasms stopped a few moments after the last drops of quicksilver dribbled from her mouth and nose. She stayed there, hunched over a silver puddle, and just breathed, spitting excess quicksilver into the puddle every so often. Finally she crawled toward the front of the diver, feeling her way along the invisible metal, and sat down.

“I think that’s the last of it,” she said as she wiped her mouth and nose. “What happened?”

“You tell us, huh?” said Slobad. “Bosh dump you in diver. Think it was Bosh. Couldn’t see him. You not breathing. Not breathing at all. Human make spell and you start hacking. Spit up entire sea, huh?”

Glissa looked back at Bruenna. The mage was still concentrating on her air spell. “You saved me?” she asked.

“I put air in your body,” said Bruenna. “Bosh saved you.”

“Thank you,” said Glissa. She looked around. “Where’s Bosh?”

“Out there,” said Slobad. He pointed past Glissa. “Pulling to Lumengrid, huh? Just start pulling again like nothing happen, huh?”

Glissa looked out the front of the diver. She could see the severed ends of the ropes hanging over the sea floor, right above Bosh’s muck-covered feet, which continued to trudge through the sea.

“Any sign of eels or other monsters?” asked Glissa.

Slobad shook his head.

“We are near Lumengrid,” said Bruenna. “I feel it.”

Glissa nodded. There was nothing to do now but wait. She sat and thought about the flare she had experienced while she was … dead. It had been so intense, so real. She had seen things she’d never seen before. Had the serum opened up her mind to a different time and place? Or was it just a hallucination caused by flirting with death? With Chunth dead, her only chance to find out the truth was the Pool of Knowledge, and now she had no serum to activate it.

Her musings were cut short by a loud clang from ahead of them. Glissa looked around to see what happened, and was worried when she saw the ropes floating down to the bottom of the sea. But then she noticed the golem’s feet trudging back toward the diver. The feet banged into the side of the invisible diver, then climbed the side, leaving muddy smears behind. The elf heard Bosh’s voice boom from above her. He must have climbed up the iron tube and stuck his head through the opening.

“I am glad you have recovered, Glissa,” said the golem’s disembodied voice.

“Thank you, Bosh,” said Glissa. “I owe you my life.”

“As I owe you. I believe we have arrived. I have struck a metal wall. How shall I proceed, Bruenna?”

“Pull us around the base,” said Bruenna. “You will see a tube. Take us in there.”

“How will he be able to see the tube?” asked Glissa.

“Good question,” said the human mage. “I haven’t worked out all the problems with the diver yet.”

The two women looked at each other blankly.

“Why not use air bubble, huh?” said Slobad finally. “Like before. Saw metal monster past golem.”

Glissa nodded. “Good idea, Slobad.” She turned to Bruenna. “Can you control the size of the invisibility bubble?”

Bruenna moved her hands through their spell dance. “How much control are you talking about?”

“Collapse the invisibility bubble to just around the diver and extend the air bubble out past Bosh’s ropes. Then we can see him and he can see the fortress wall.”

“I can do that. I do not know how long I will be able to hold it, though.”

“Just do your best.”

Glissa watched as Bruenna muttered a few words and changed the pattern that her hands followed. The quicksilver rushed toward them for a moment, and Glissa gasped, then the air pressure dropped and the quicksilver washed away from them past the ends of the ropes. A silver wall appeared in the bubble, extending out past the edges and down into the mud.

Glissa heard Bosh climb off the diver then saw him appear in front of the transparent wall of the diver. He picked up the ropes and began moving around the edge of Lumengrid. Glissa watched the walls slip past them. She was amazed at the size of the place. She could only see a small part of the vedalken fortress at the edge of the bubble, but it seemed to go on forever.

She looked back at Bruenna. Bruenna’s hands were a blur. Her face had turned red and sweat dripped off her chin. Finally Glissa saw the tube Bruenna had mentioned. It was enormous. Only the bottom of the tube was visible within the air bubble. It curved up at the edges and disappeared into the silver curtain around them.

Bosh pulled them into the tube. After a short time, Glissa could feel the diver rising. She fell backward as Bosh pulled them up a ramp. Eventually they leveled out again, and the tube they were in began to get smaller. She could see the sides of the tube rise up around the diver until they met at the top, just above Bosh’s head.

Bruenna said, “Stop. We must stop here.”

Glissa turned and banged on the walls of the diver, wrenching a finger as she misjudged the distance between the two invisible objects. Bosh looked back and Glissa waved her hands, but then she realized he couldn’t see them. She grabbed her sword sheath and pointed at the top of the diver. Bosh dropped the ropes and walked back toward the diver, but he couldn’t fit between the top of the tube and the diver. Glissa looked back at Bruenna.

“What now?” she asked.

Bruenna pointed at a panel in the top of the tube, above Bosh. “We must go through there.”

Glissa waved her sheath at Bosh and pointed it up at the panel. The golem nodded his head. He grabbed the ropes and pulled the diver forward. The panel disappeared as the diver moved under it. Bruenna collapsed the invisibility sphere. The diver reappeared around Glissa. She moved to the center and looked up.

The panel came into view above the opening, and the diver stopped. Bruenna said a few words, and the diver rose up toward the panel. Glissa picked up Slobad and set him on her shoulders. The goblin pulled a tool from his satchel and began working on the panel. After some grunting, Glissa heard metal scrape against metal. Light spilled into the diver through a hole above Slobad.

“Help me out, huh?” called Slobad.

Glissa pushed Slobad through the opening and turned to Bruenna. “You next,” she said.

Bruenna walked over to Glissa. She continued to move her arms through their intricate pattern as Glissa grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her through the opening. Slobad leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders as Glissa pushed from below. With Bruenna safe above, Glissa grabbed her cloak, which she had dropped before the eel attack, and clambered through. Once above, she tossed the cloak aside, leaned back down, and knocked on the diver again. Bosh pushed it back away from the tube opening, then climbed through the hole.

They were inside Lumengrid.

* * * * *

Glissa looked around, worried someone might have spotted them crawling up through the floor, but they had come into the corner of some sort of storage area. Nobody was around. They were surrounded by silver crates. The crates and the walls were made from the same silver material as the towers. Glissa guessed the vedalken had found some way to turn quicksilver into a more durable material. It was the only metal they seemed to have access to. She opened one of the crates. It was filled with empty serum vials.

Bosh moved a stack of crates out of the way, and Glissa immediately pulled out her sword. Three constructs stood against the wall. They were similar to the ones that had attacked the cultists. Glissa advanced on them, then noticed one of construct was missing an arm, while another was headless. She examined the constructs. All three were covered in dust.

When she turned around, the elf gasped. The rest of the room was enormous, larger than Bruenna’s entire house. Crates littered the floor around her, and a thick coat of dust covered everything. The center of the room was dominated by a large mechanism. Glissa walked over to it. The machine ran almost the entire length of the room and was packed tightly with intricate parts.

“What is this place?”

“It is an old serum processing room,” said Bruenna. She walked over to the machine, reached out her hand toward it, but then pulled away. “Father worked down here in his youth. He kept this processor running.” Bruenna wiped her eyes. “He even made some improvements to the system. That is how he got noticed. Soon after, he began working with the top vedalken researcher.”

Glissa stared at Bruenna. The human mage had been quiet since they entered the room. Now Glissa knew why. The place was full of ghosts for her, full of memories.

Bruenna evidently misinterpreted the elf’s thoughts. “I did not know about the blinkmoths,” she said defensively. “Not before you told me. Father never mentioned where the serum came from.”

“Maybe he ashamed,” said Slobad. “Ashamed of killing for vedalken, huh?”

“Maybe,” said Bruenna. “Just like them to make us do their dirty work. But that has changed. They have not used this facility in twenty cycles. The vedalken do not trust the humans with the serum anymore. Not after my father got as far as the Pool of Knowledge.”

Glissa left Bruenna to deal with her personal demons, opened another crate, and looked through the vials inside. After a time, Bruenna came over. Glissa glanced up. The tears were gone and a steely determination had returned to her eyes.

“Do you think there’s any serum left in any of these vials?” Glissa asked Bruenna. “We’re going to need more before we get to the Pool.”

“What happened to the vial you had?” asked Bruenna.

Glissa looked over at Slobad, who shrugged his shoulders. “Oh,” she said, “I thought Slobad would have told you. I used the serum when I went into the quicksilver to save Bosh.”

Bruenna’s face turned red with rage. “Why in the winds did you do that?” she shouted. “We needed that serum. Without it, I … we’ll never get the information you need!”

“I had no choice,” said Glissa calmly. “If I hadn’t used the serum, we would have lost Bosh.”

“So?” shrieked Bruenna. “Without the serum, all you will get from the Pool is random images. The trip is worthless without the serum. Did you think it would be as easy to replace as finding a stray vial in a crate?”

“No,” said Glissa. “I made a decision to value the life of my friend over the value of the serum.”

Bruenna was hardly even listening anymore. “Getting more serum will be impossible. If I could have found my own serum, I would have come here long ago. I’ve waited thirty cycles-thirty cycles-for this chance! All I lacked was a vial of serum, and you threw it away to save the life of a construct. He’s not even alive, for wind’s sake!”

“Stop this!” Glissa glowered at Bruenna. “I know you see him as just a construct, like these lifeless things here. But he is my friend. And that is more important than serum, or knowledge, or even power. Maybe that’s what the vedalken have forgotten in their rush to rule the world. Maybe that’s why humans are now slaves and not equals to the vedalken.”

Bruenna slammed her hand down on the crate. The vials jumped and clinked together inside. “This was my one chance,” she said weakly. “My last chance to finish what my father started.” She looked over at Bosh. Tears streamed down her face. “I am sorry. Glissa. Slobad. Bosh. I am sorry. This room. The vial. I thought we could really do it this time. I’m sorry. I did not mean what I said. Without Bosh, we would not even be here. I know that, but there is no way to get another vial. I have tried.”

“Yes,” said Glissa, “but you didn’t have a goblin and a golem to distract the vedalken for you.” She put her arm around Bruenna and led her away from the crates toward the door. “We can still do this. You have to believe me. You have to have faith in your friends.”

Bruenna shuddered within Glissa’s embrace, but she didn’t argue. Glissa stopped at the door and turned to Slobad. “You know where you’re going?” she asked.

Slobad nodded his head. “You not be disappointed, huh?”

“I’m sure I won’t,” said Glissa. “I’m sure I won’t.”

Bosh opened the door. Slobad ducked under the metal man’s arm and glanced into the hall. He nodded to Bosh but then hesitated and turned back to Glissa. “Glissa,” he said. “I … how we get off this rock, huh?”

Glissa looked at Bruenna. “There are vedalken transports at the sea level. Meet us there.”

“Good,” said Slobad. He looked at Glissa again, nodded, then slipped through the door.

Glissa grabbed Bosh’s arm. “Don’t wait for us too long,” she said.

“We will not,” said Bosh as he stepped through the door. “If you are delayed, we shall retrieve you.” The door closed before Glissa could argue.

* * * * *

Glissa turned to Bruenna. “Are you ready for this?” she asked.

Bruenna nodded and tossed Glissa her cloak. Glissa donned the cloak and pulled the hood up over her ears. “You know,” she said, “this didn’t work very well the last time I tried it.”

“Don’t worry,” said Bruenna. “As I said, the vedalken do not even notice humans walking around. We are less than beasts to them. In fact, humans probably outnumber vedalken here in Lumengrid.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Glissa. “You were smart enough to see through my disguise.”

“Do not worry,” said Bruenna. “You did not have a friend who knew what to say if challenged. As long as we look like we are supposed to be here, nobody will bother us. Just let me do the talking.”

Lumengrid looked nothing like the deserted tower they had visited the day before. The walls were completely opaque. Glissa could see her own reflection in the silvery surfaces but couldn’t see anything else through them. Perhaps they were thicker, or perhaps there were just more walls between her and the outside world. Glissa didn’t know. The walls glowed, providing ample light. There seemed to be no seams between the walls and the floors. The metal looked fluid-almost alive, like the quicksilver monster that attacked Bosh.

The Tangle trees, the mountain ridges, the leonin mounds, and even the chimneys in the mephidross looked and felt organic from the outside. But all showed signs of being worked and shaped on the inside. Glissa had seen elves cut chambers within the Tangle trees for new homes. The floors and walls in the goblin tunnels were pounded into shape. The leonin inlaid tiles of gold and silver throughout their city. Even Geth had a door that had been cut and placed to seal him off from intruders.

But the chambers and corridors inside Lumengrid flowed from one to another and reflected the light everywhere at once. If Glissa stared too long at one spot, she began to see multiple copies of herself in the wall. Maybe it was a trick of the light but she felt like she could pass her hand right through the walls and touch one of her infinite selves.

The main difference between Lumengrid and the other towers, though, was size. The corridor they walked down seemed to go on forever ahead of them. It curved slightly in the distance, but it never seemed to end. They passed doors every so often, but the view never changed.

After walking for a while, Glissa saw something in the distance. They had yet to see anybody else in the complex, and this was the first indication that they weren’t just walking in a circle around the base of the fortress. Bruenna explained that most of this level had been used for serum processing and was now largely abandoned. The thing in the distance turned out to be stairs up to the next level.

Bruenna led them up the stairs. “Pull your hood forward more,” she cautioned. “We will see humans and vedalken on this level.”

When they reached the top of the stairs, Glissa was almost disappointed to see yet another long, curving corridor ahead of them, devoid of any people. She wondered if all of Lumengrid was nothing more than a warren of spiraling passageways. At this rate, it would take them forever to get to the Pool of Knowledge, and Slobad’s surprise would come too soon.

“Why is this taking so long?” asked Glissa, as they trudged down another endless, curved corridor.

“There are no direct routes though the center of Lumengrid,” said Bruenna. “I do not know why. It is a secret closely guarded by the vedalken. It must have something to do with the Pool of Knowledge. That room, I know, is in the center of the fortress on the highest level. We will make better time as we get higher, but we will also encounter more vedalken.”

“Or any,” muttered Glissa. She was apprehensive about actually seeing a vedalken. She feared they would somehow see right through her flimsy disguise. They had seemed to know her movements every step of the way. Why shouldn’t they know she was here now? But more than that, Glissa worried that the vedalken weren’t behind the attacks, that the four-armed, robed figure was something else, something even more sinister. Somewhere deep down inside, Glissa still believed the one truly behind the attacks was the fabled Memnarch Bosh had spoken of.

After a while, they began to pass humans walking the hall. Some hurried past them, perhaps on an errand for their master. Others walked in pairs or groups and talked or laughed as they walked the halls. Obviously, not all the humans were as troubled by their enslavement as Bruenna. As they passed each group of human mages, Glissa would drop her head slightly to help hide her elven features, while Bruenna would greet them with a smile and a nod of her head.

About halfway back around the tower, the corridor opened up into what looked like a large marketplace. Hundreds of humans walked about or stood next to tables. It was enormous. Glissa couldn’t even see the other side of the room, and the ceiling, which had been twenty feet high in the corridor, rose to at least three times that height within the market. She felt like she had stepped outside, but they were still within the fortress.

As they entered the market, Bruenna explained. “We humans make everything the vedalken need,” she said. “In turn, the vedalken let us sell the excess to ourselves. The whole thing makes me sick.”

“Why?” asked Glissa. They passed some of the stalls. They were filled with food, crockery, cutlery, cloth and linen, woven leather clothing like Bruenna wore, and even fine leather boots. “These are well-made items. You could trade with other races, like the leonin, and improve your life.”

“Only that is not allowed,” said Bruenna. “We make the items. We sell them to each other, but the vedalken are the ones who benefit. Each of these stalls is owned by a vedalken. They pay us to work for them, then we pay them back for our own necessities. It is little better than slavery.”

As they passed through the market, a small group of human mages approached. They weren’t purchasing but didn’t seem to be in any hurry to complete a task, either. Glissa wondered where all the vedalken masters were for these wayward workers. One of the humans, an older male, smiled as the group approached Glissa and Bruenna. He moved ahead of the rest and stopped in front of Bruenna.

“Bruenna,” he said. “It’s been so long. How are you?”

Bruenna extended her hand and grasped the man’s arm with it. “Hello, Daven,” she replied. “It goes well.”

Daven grasped Bruenna’s arm in return. “What brings you to Lumengrid?” he asked.

Bruenna hesitated for only a second before responding. “Business with the Synod, actually.”

Daven was clearly impressed. “I had heard your moon was rising. Following in your father’s footsteps, I see.”

Bruenna smiled. “You could say that.”

Bruenna tried to pull her hand back and move on, but Daven held her there. “Who is your friend?”

Bruenna looked at Glissa, then back toward Daven. But before she could respond, they all heard a commotion coming from the side of the chamber. Glissa looked over. The sea of humans was parting like a wake, creating a wide path through the market. Glissa swallowed hard when she saw the force that could move people as easily as quicksilver. A robed figure strode through the market, and it was coming right at Glissa.

Glissa felt a wave of panic. It was definitely a vedalken. Its domed head towered over the surrounding humans, and its voluminous robes swayed back and forth, covering and uncovering its extra arms as it strode through the crowd. Not a single human came close to the vedalken as it moved quickly through the crowd, and it barely seemed to even notice the throng of humans as they scrambled to stay from its way.

Glissa tensed and reached inside her robe for her sword. Was this the one who had killed Kane? She couldn’t tell and didn’t really care. She was willing to kill them all just to make sure she got the right one. Perhaps if someone showed these humans they could fight back, they would revolt. Bruenna must have sensed her intent, for she grabbed Glissa’s arm and shook her head. Glissa released the pommel of her sword and turned slightly as the vedalken strode up behind Daven.

“What is going on here, Daven? I sent you out an hour ago to retrieve the timebend phial I need for my experiment, and yet I am forced to leave my experiments and come searching for you, only to find you talking in the market.”

Glissa could see the horror in Daven’s eyes as he released Bruenna’s arm. The human path behind the vedalken closed, but everyone around Glissa’s group seemed to melt away into the crowd, even those humans tending stalls. Daven dropped his head and said, “I have it, my lord. I was on my way to bring it to you.”

“Then do so now, for if you and the phial are not within my quarters by the time I return, your pay will be docked for an entire phase,” said the vedalken.

Glissa dared not turn around. The voice had the same deep resonance as the one she had heard in the Tangle when Kane died. The commanding tone and the lingering memory made Glissa freeze. She hardly dared breathe. The voice must have had the same effect on the humans, for Daven still hadn’t moved.

“Take it to the lab,” said the vedalken, “and be quick about it.”

Daven and his friends disappeared into the crowd around Glissa and Bruenna. Bruenna tried to follow Daven away from the vedalken, and Glissa followed. They had only taken a few steps, though, when the voice boomed behind them.

“Halt,” said the vedalken. “I do not recall dismissing you yet, Bruenna, or is your business so pressing that you cannot spare a moment for your father’s old employer?”

Bruenna turned around. “We are on business for the Synod, Lord Pontifex.”

“I had not heard you were coming to Lumengrid, but if you have business with the Synod, I am headed toward the upper levels myself-you may accompany me.”

Bruenna nodded. “Thank you, lord. We appreciate your time.”

“What are you doing?” whispered Glissa, but Bruenna didn’t answer.

Pontifex turned and headed back through the crowd. Those nearest to the vedalken must have been watching him, for they immediately moved to the side to give Pontifex room. The humans in the market parted once again for the vedalken, and Bruenna and Glissa followed in his wake.

“I have never had a chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your father’s death,” said Pontifex as he led them from the market and back into a long, curving corridor.

“Thank you, my lord,” said Bruenna.

Glissa couldn’t read vedalken speech patterns well enough yet to tell if Pontifex was earnest in his sympathy, but Bruenna’s answer had a definite edge to it.

“I have kept an eye on your career for many cycles, and I see you have done well for yourself since his death, though,” continued Pontifex.

“I live to serve, my lord,” she replied.

There was a definite edge to their conversation. Glissa could tell there was bad blood between these two, and there was more going on here than a chance meeting between old friends. So why were they following him? They were making better time, as the vedalken had access to more direct routes between the stairwells. But Glissa knew that Slobad and Bosh would be ready soon. They needed to make a break for it. Glissa watched for an opportunity, but there were a lot more vedalken on the upper floors. She was just about ready to stab the vedalken, when he stopped in front of a door.

“I must make a short detour on our trip that won’t take long. Wait here, won’t you?” Pontifex passed his hand over the door, and it dissolved in front of him. He stepped through, and the door appeared again behind him.

“What are you doing?” asked Glissa again.

“Playing along,” said Bruenna. “How could I refuse? It would have looked suspicious. Besides, he could lead us right to the Pool.”

“I don’t know,” said Glissa. “You two have history going on that I don’t like. Who is this Pontifex, anyway?”

“Pontifex is the vedalken’s most respected researcher,” said Bruenna. “He was my father’s master. He … was also responsible for Father’s death.”

“Then why are we following him?” asked Glissa. “Let’s go now, while we can.”

“I think …” The door opened again in front of them.

Both women looked up to see a trio of guards emerge from the door and surround them. Glissa whipped back her robe and pulled out her sword. But as soon as she got it free of the sheath, the sword was ripped from her hands by some unseen force. The silver blade flew past the guards into the waiting hands of Pontifex.

“Please be more civil, my dear Glissa,” said Pontifex, lowering a staff, “for you are my guest now.”