The Moons of Mirrodin

CHAPTER 26

Bruenna moaned. Her skin was pale and her breath shallow. Glissa laid the mage’s head down on the floor and bent over to check her leg. The leather strips Bruenna had tied around the wound were soaked with blood. The barbed head of the harpoon stuck out the back of her thigh, along with the jagged end of a bone. Glissa had to get the harpoon out so she could set the leg. Only then could she apply any forest healing magic. But pulling on the harpoon would do more damage. The barbed head was lodged behind the bone. She couldn’t push or pull on the weapon without ripping the broken bone from Bruenna’s leg.

Glissa looked up at Pontifex, who was moving around the Pool toward her. “Help me,” she said. “She’ll die if we don’t get this harpoon from her.”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me,” said Pontifex as he came closer. “You are my prisoner now. Leave her. She is not important.”

Glissa stared up at Pontifex. “She is important to me,” she replied. “Besides, I just saved your life. You owe me this.”

“And I saved yours,” said Pontifex, “so I owe you nothing.”

“Fine,” said Glissa. “We’ll call it even. Now, help her and I will go with you peacefully.”

“I don’t believe you, but you will go with me, peacefully or not, for as we speak, several squads of guards are on their way.” Pontifex moved up beside Glissa. “With Janus’s death and my knowledge of his treachery, my place on the Synod is now assured. So tell me, why should I bargain with you, you who have nothing more to give me but your life?”

Glissa swept her sword out. She slapped the flat of the blade against the vedalken’s legs, knocking him to the ground. Pain shot up into her shoulder from the impact. Glissa gritted her teeth and sprang on top of the researcher. She pressed her blade against his neck and stared into his eyes. “I can give you your life,” hissed Glissa. “Or I can take it away, long before your precious guards open the door.”

“Which would gain you nothing,” said Pontifex, his expression stoic even in the face of death, “for your friend would still die, and the Synod would either kill you or send you to Memnarch.”

Bruenna’s body shuddered next to Glissa. She didn’t have much time. Glissa pressed the edge of her sword into Pontifex’s neck. It was her only advantage and she had to hope the vedalken’s survival instinct would override his humongous ego. Blood seeped out around the blade and ran down to the floor. Glissa pressed harder. Finally, Pontifex’s calm demeanor cracked slightly.

“I will help you save your friend,” he said, “but only if you pledge to lay down your sword and accompany me to Memnarch. By delivering you to Memnarch myself, I will not only gain a seat on the Synod, I shall rule it.”

Glissa looked at Bruenna and thought of Slobad and Bosh waiting for her somewhere far below. She had started this journey alone, driven by her fear of the unknown. She had lost family and friends searching for her destiny but had gained a new family in her new friends. She depended on them and trusted them far more than she had ever thought possible before. But now it was time to continue her journey alone-for their sake.

She pulled the sword away and climbed off Pontifex. “I so pledge,” said Glissa. “I will go with you, but only after all of my friends are safe and far from here. Until then, I think I’ll keep my sword.” Glissa dragged Pontifex to his feet, then pushed him down next to Bruenna. “Now help me pull this harpoon out.”

“There is no need for such barbaric measures,” said Pontifex, “when all one needs is a simple application of magic.” Pontifex grasped the harpoon. He concentrated for a moment, and Glissa could see the mana build up around his fingers. She held her sword ready, should the researcher try to harm her friend. But Pontifex simply said a single word and the harpoon vanished.

Blood began pouring from Bruenna’s leg. Glissa slammed her palm down on the wound and grabbed the protruding bone gingerly with her other hand. She summoned as much mana as she could. The Tangle was far away, past the goblins’ mountains, but she could still feel its power. Green tendrils of energy danced around her fingers. She willed them into the wound as she pushed the bone back through the skin. She willed the wounds to close and tried her best to mend the broken bone inside.

After a time, the blood stopped flowing. Glissa untied the leather strips from around Bruenna’s thigh and tossed them aside. She checked the wound. It had closed completely. The skin was red and cracked, but it would hold. The bone would need time and more healing magic to mend properly, but at least her friend would not die. She turned toward Pontifex.

“Thank you,” she said. “Why didn’t you do that when you were struck in the hall?”

“I did,” said Pontifex. “Eventually.” He opened his own robe. The harpoon that had impaled the researcher through the shoulder was gone.

“Why?”

“I wanted you to feel in control,” he said. “You never would have trusted me unless you thought you had complete control over me.”

“So you orchestrated all of this?” she asked, waving her hands at the carnage in the room. “Why?”

“I merely took advantage of an opportunity,” said Pontifex. “I’ve suspected Janus for a long time, but he was too powerful to confront. I needed proof.… I needed to get into the Pool-just as badly as you did-and your attack provided me with that chance.”

“How do you know I won’t kill you now?” asked Glissa. She pointed her sword at the vedalken.

“Because you still need answers,” said Pontifex. “You want to know why you are so important-what is so special about you. You want to know the secrets of this world, and you can only get those answers from Memnarch. Besides, you gave me your pledge, and I suspect that means more to you than even your own life.”

Glissa held the sword steady, ready to plunge it through the vedalken’s faceplate. “The only thing that I value more than my own life is the lives of my friends,” she said. “You will keep your word-you will free Bruenna and let my friends leave here alive-or I don’t get my answers and you don’t get your prize.”

Pontifex nodded.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“You have no other choice,” said Pontifex. “Any second now, fifty guards will come through those doors, and they can either capture you and kill your friend, or escort her and the others home. Which will it be?”

“How about choice number three, huh?”

* * * * *

Glissa and Pontifex looked up at the same time. Bosh stood at the edge of the Pool. Glistening liquid dripped off his iron frame and pooled at his feet. The golem’s chest stood open. Slobad climbed from a chamber within the iron man’s chest and slammed the chest panel shut.

“Grab him, Bosh,” said the goblin.

Pontifex stood and turned. Glissa saw a ball of mana building in his palm.

“Watch out, Bosh!” she warned.

Pontifex raised his hand to cast a spell, but the golem was already on top of him. Bosh grabbed the vedalken’s wrist and lifted him off the ground by his arm. Pontifex screamed. Glissa heard a pop as the researcher’s shoulder broke. Blood stained his robes from the spot where the harpoon had speared him. The mana in Pontifex’s hand dissipated as he lost concentration on the spell.

“Kill him, huh?” said Slobad. “Then we go.”

“No,” said Glissa. She stood and faced Bosh. “No more killing. No more death today. He saved my life … and Bruenna’s. Let him live.”

Bosh tossed Pontifex into the wall. The vedalken slammed against the side of the chamber and slumped to the floor. Glissa ran over to check on him. His eyes were closed, but she saw no signs of cracks in his dome. She turned back to Bosh and Slobad.

“How did you get here?” she asked.

“Long story, huh?” said Slobad. “After we leave you, we look for vedalken power source. Bosh and I wander-”

“There’s no time now,” interrupted Glissa. “Can we get out through the Pool?”

“Yes,” said Bosh.

“You won’t believe what we found, huh?” said Slobad. “Amazing. Under the Pool-”

“Later,” said Glissa. “Bosh, grab Bruenna. We’re leaving.”

“Back into Pool?” asked Slobad.

“Yes,” said Glissa. “Guards are coming. Lots of guards.”

Slobad nodded. He opened the chamber in the golem’s chest and climbed in again. Bosh picked up Bruenna and turned toward the Pool.

“Hold your hand over her mouth and nose,” said Glissa. “I’ll follow you.”

Bosh wrapped his massive palm over the unconscious mage’s face and walked to the edge of the Pool. He stepped over the side and dropped into the swirling liquid. The doors opened on either side of Glissa. She glanced up and saw a horde of guards outside the chamber. She ran for the edge of the Pool and dived toward the liquid. She heard the loud snap of harpoons launching, but the next moment she was in the Pool. Harpoons splashed into the Pool all around her as she swam toward the bottom.

* * * * *

Glissa could see Bosh. He was walking along the bottom of the Pool toward a doorway in the side. But then another image replaced the scene in Glissa’s vision. She saw the golem striding across the grounds of a palace. There were no moons in the sky, but the light from millions of stars bathed the landscape in a pale glow. It was Mirrodin. Somehow Glissa just knew. But it was a different Mirrodin than she had seen these past few weeks. It was perfect. It was beautiful.

The trees had metallic leaves and branches instead of twisted spires and uneven terraces. There were flowers surrounding a fountain. Everything gleamed and glittered in the starlight. The silvery surface of the palace reminded Glissa of Lumengrid. But the palace was built on land. It didn’t flow from it. Each block fit with precision and reflected light and images in perfect proportions. The mirrored walls of Lumengrid twisted and distorted everything caught in their surface.

The silver man turned toward Glissa. He opened his mouth to speak but then disappeared. In his place, Glissa saw a new figure. This one was silver, like the last, but something was wrong with him. The new figure’s forearms were made of flesh, as was part of his face and neck. He appeared to be in great pain. His fleshy mouth was open and twisted as if screaming. But the figure’s metallic eyes seemed dispassionate, cold. He was reaching out to Glissa. Behind him Glissa saw crystalline spires dotting an oddly curved landscape.

Light seemed to come from above the figure. Glissa looked up into a bright, multi-colored moon, hanging impossibly close in the sky. The light blinded Glissa, and when she looked down again, she was in the Tangle. The afterglow of a bright light lingered in her eyes. Elves lay on the ground all around. They were unconscious or asleep. Glissa looked down at an elf girl at her feet. The girl had an angelic soft face and long flowing hair. She wore a green tunic tied on by leaf-covered vines. It was the girl from Glissa’s flares.

“What are you doing here?” Glissa asked.

The girl looked up and screamed.

Glissa glanced up and screamed also. A horrible creature was above them both. It had the face of a human or perhaps a vedalken, but the rest of the body looked like a horror from the Mephidross or some enormous leveler. It was all legs and spikes and pincers, with a human head floating in the middle of it all. Glissa turned to run, but the creature grabbed her in its pincers and placed her in a large chair. She looked down to see that she was already strapped in, her arms and legs held in place by metal bands. Another band descended toward her forehead. The horrible, human-faced insect loomed over her. Glissa opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out except bubbles.

Glissa was back in the Pool. Bosh was dragging her through the doorway at the bottom. He passed his hand over a circle on the wall, and a door appeared, closing them off from the rest of the Pool. A moment later, the liquid in the little room drained away. Glissa looked up at Bosh.

“Thank you,” she said.

The golem nodded. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You appeared to be in trouble.”

Glissa wrung the liquid from her hair. “I’m fine,” she said. “I saw images. Disjointed, fleeting images. Without the serum, I couldn’t control them. Just like Bruenna’s father. It was like the images were controlling me.”

Bosh continued to stare at her. “I’m okay. Really.” She looked around the small chamber. “Where’s Bruenna?” she asked.

“In the next chamber,” said Bosh. “I placed her in Slobad’s care. She is safe.”

Bosh passed his hand over another circle on the far wall. Part of the wall disappeared, creating a doorway from the little room. An odd glow emanated from the room beyond, but Glissa couldn’t see anything past the door. Bosh moved through the doorway. But as he did, the golem’s body tipped forward. It looked like he had fallen into a hole, head first. But Glissa could still see the iron man’s back, and he seemed to be walking down, away from the base of the door.

Glissa walked to the doorway and peered through. The small room opened into a tunnel that descended straight down into Lumengrid. Luminescent moss grew on the sides of the tunnel, providing light. But what Glissa saw made her stomach flip over. Bosh stood on the side of the tunnel beneath her. Next to him sat Slobad, who was cradling Bruenna’s head in his lap. They were all below her, standing, sitting, lying on the side of the tunnel.

“Is this safe?” asked Glissa. She could see the three of them there, somehow attached to the moss-covered wall, but Glissa’s brain refused to believe she wouldn’t fall as soon as she stepped through the doorway.

“It is,” said Bosh.

Slobad nodded. He was stroking Bruenna’s hair. Glissa suppressed a chuckle. She was sure that if the human mage were awake, she would not enjoy the attention she was currently receiving from a goblin. Glissa took a deep breath and stepped over the edge. Just like Bosh, she rotated over the bottom edge of the doorway as she stepped through. Her foot came to rest on the side of the tunnel, but Glissa’s stomach tried to leap from her throat. She fell down next to Slobad and threw up.

“Helps if you close your eyes, huh?” said Slobad.

Glissa closed her eyes for a moment and let her stomach settle back down into her gut. When she opened her eyes, the world looked normal around her. She felt like she was in a long tunnel … a long tunnel with a door in the floor.

“Where does this tunnel lead?” she asked.

“Down,” said Bosh, pointing away from the door.

“How far?” asked Glissa.

“Past bottom of Lumengrid, huh?” said Slobad. “Found entrance below. Amazing. Tunnel wide as Mother’s Womb down there. Go on forever.”

“That must be why all of the corridors go around the center of Lumengrid,” said Glissa. She looked at Bosh. “Is this one of the other holes down into the inner world? You said there were more like the Mother’s Womb that Krark used in the mountains.”

Bosh nodded. “We should proceed,” he said. He picked up Bruenna and began walking away from the doorway. Slobad and Glissa got to their feet and followed the iron golem.

“What happened to you?” asked Slobad as they walked.

“Visions,” said Glissa. “Like Bruenna’s father experienced. Random visions I couldn’t control.”

“Anything useful?” asked Slobad.

“No,” said Glissa. “Maybe. I don’t know. It was all a jumble.” Glissa kicked at the moss that covered much of the silvery surface of Lumengrid’s inner core.

“Flare!” she muttered. “We came all this way for nothing. Bruenna almost died … and for what? The vedalken may no longer want me dead, but this Memnarch plans to use me to destroy the world. I don’t even know where to find him, let alone how to stop him. We’re no closer to figuring out Chunth’s great mystery than we were when we left the Tangle.”

“The trip was not completely without merit,” said Bosh.

“What do you mean?” asked Glissa.

“The Pool aided me in recovering my memories,” said Bosh.

“That’s great,” said Glissa. She ran down the side of the hole to catch up with the golem. “What do you remember?”

“Everything.”