The Moons of Mirrodin

CHAPTER 7

“What have you done to my mother, elf witch?” screamed the odd-eyed healer as she rushed forward and knelt by Ushanti.

Glissa reflexively reached for her sword, but the blade wasn’t there.

“I did nothing,” she said. She turned slightly and took a half step back, so she could keep both the healers and the guards in view. “You saw what happened. I never even moved.”

Nobody flinched. The guards seemed to be waiting for the odd-eyed healer to tell them what to do, but she was busy tending to her mother. Glissa stood her ground waiting for the healer to awaken.

The odd-eyed healer held Ushanti in her arms and passed her hand across the old leonin’s face. A sheen of energy surrounded the unconscious healer like a bubble.

“She is fine. I sense no evil, Tangle magic about her.”

Ushanti’s daughter reached up to the table next to her and picked up one of her mother’s bowls. She took a pinch of red powder and sprinkled a little under her mother’s nose.

Ushanti coughed and sneezed then sat up and pulled away from her daughter’s grasp. “Why have you brought this elf to us, Rishan?” she demanded.

“She is Raksha’s prisoner, Mother,” replied the young healer. “The guards brought her. She has a grave wound and a disease that threatens her leg. The guards feared she would die before the Kha could interrogate her.”

“Bring Raksha to us now so he may interrogate her,” spat the old healer. “We will not heal this one unless ordered by the young Kha himself.”

Rishan looked up at the guards. “Fetch Raksha,” she ordered. The guards didn’t move. “Now!” she screamed.

“B-But our Kha is in battle,” one stammered. “It may be some time.”

“The battle has ended,” said Ushanti. “We have seen it in the fire. Bring Raksha now.”

Whether the old healer was telling the truth or not, it was obvious to Glissa that these guards feared her more than their leader’s anger. One turned smartly and marched back through the curtain maze.

“Tie her up,” said Ushanti’s daughter as she rose and brushed herself off.

Glissa put her hands in front of her. She hated to be bound but saw no alternative. She could no longer feel her foot, she had no weapon, and there were two armies between her and freedom. All she could do was keep her options open. She allowed herself to be bound, but kept her hands slightly apart to make sure she could escape the bonds should a need arise. The guard also tied Slobad’s hands.

“May I sit?” asked Glissa. “This wound is painful.” It actually was more tolerable since the healer’s efforts, but she wanted to appear more vulnerable than she was. Her only advantage now lay in surprise … and patience.

Rishan indicated a bench behind Glissa. After the elf sat down, Ushanti pushed herself up from the floor and approached her slowly. Glissa noted that the old healer had two blue eyes and couldn’t help wondering who had sired her odd-eyed daughter.

“Yes, yes,” said the old woman as she paced back and forth in front of Glissa. “We do believe this is the one.” She looked at the guard. “She had a sword, correct?”

The guard’s eyes widened for a moment when confronted by Ushanti. Then he nodded.

“Silver. Bright as the noon sun. The blade flows from the hilt like water, yes?”

The guard nodded again.

“Yes, she is the one,” said Ushanti as she headed back to her brazier. “Keep your eyes on her. The fate of our world depends on it.”

Glissa glanced at Slobad, who had a smirk just barely perceptible on his face. He was obviously enjoying this spectacle. Glissa wasn’t so sure. Ushanti seemed to know her even though Glissa had never traveled outside the Tangle before.

“What is going on here?” she asked.

“Be quiet, elf,” said Rishan. “Mother is working. You shall not interrupt again.”

Glissa was about to argue further, but Rishan motioned for the guard to stand between the elf and the brazier. Glissa breathed deeply, trying to regain her patience.

Ushanti was now tossing colored sand into the brazier in huge handfuls. As smoke rose into the dark room, the air around Glissa began to grow hot, and the room seemed to close in around her. She found it hard to breathe and had to fight to stay awake. The whole scene seemed unreal. Not even Chunth had acted this strangely. She felt herself falling asleep and tried to fight against it.

* * * * *

Glissa started as the curtains were pulled back violently and Raksha strode into the dark room. She couldn’t tell whether she had fallen asleep or not, but some time seemed to have passed. The smoke had cleared, and the guard was no longer standing in front of her. Raksha stood by the curtains, flanked by two guards, staring at the old leonin’s back. Glissa glanced back and forth between Raksha and Ushanti. Neither seemed willing to acknowledge the other’s presence. Raksha stood, holding a gleaming metal mask underneath one muscular arm, and tapped his feet impatiently. Ushanti stared intently into the smoke emanating from the brazier.

The leonin leader could wait no longer. “Why have you summoned us from battle, seer?” he roared. “What could be more important than the safety of Taj Nar?”

“The safety of the entire world, young Kha,” said the seer, her head rising from the brazier and splitting the smoke. Ushanti turned to face her leader, but she did not bow, and Glissa sensed no deference in her voice or manner. “It has been many weeks since our last trance, but the horror of what we saw in the fires that rotation haunts our dreams still. We saw the sacred sun stop above Taj Nar. We saw a huge gout of emerald fire erupt from the world. We saw the leonin ripped from the world.”

Ushanti paused. The light of the coals and the smoke from the brazier limned her in an eerie glow. She advanced upon Glissa, and the elf, seeing the hostility in the old woman’s eyes, began to work her hands loose.

“We saw our world end, Raksha,” Ushanti continued. “We saw this elf at the heart of it all.”

Glissa remembered what Chunth had told her the night her parents died. He said that Glissa had a destiny. Surely Chunth had not tried to save her from the levelers so she could destroy the world. The old woman was mad.

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “I’m only a single elf, and lame, for that matter. How could I destroy the world?”

“All we know is what we see in the fires,” said Ushanti. “The fires tell us that you are dangerous. We believe you should be destroyed … for the sake of the leonin, for the sake of the entire world.”

“Look,” said Glissa, “believe the fires if you want, but I am not your enemy. This all started four nights ago when the levelers attacked me and my family. My family is dead, and I could do nothing to stop it. Now you’re telling me I will destroy the world? If I had that kind of power, would my sister be dead?”

As she talked, Glissa worked on her bindings. “Listen, someone is trying to kill me. I saw him in the Tangle after the attack and again just yesterday. Tall, robed, face hidden behind some kind of reflective mask. For all I know, it’s one of you, but Slobad here told me you are a good people and that you could heal me. Somebody sent those levelers to the Tangle for me. Maybe that’s who you should be looking for in your smoke and fire.”

Her hands were almost free. She still needed a weapon, though, to have any chance to make it from the city. The guard was close. She could probably take him before Raksha got to her. Glissa looked up at Raksha and stopped. He was staring at her. Had he seen her loosen the ropes?

“You say the levelers attacked you four nights past?” he asked. “What proof have you of this attack?”

“Slobad can vouch for that, your … your Kha-ship,” piped up Slobad. “I found her the next rotation, huh? She caught up in the blades of half-destroyed leveler. Slobad get her free. Make new friend, huh? So I bring her to see old friends. Then nim attack.…”

Raksha glared at the goblin, and Slobad stopped talking.

“We will deal with you later, goblin,” he said. “You will fix our door or die. We speak to the elf now. Tell us about this attack.”

Glissa saw no harm in telling Raksha about the leveler attack, but she hated to be at a disadvantage. First, Ushanti apparently knew her, and now Raksha was demanding information about the worst night of her life. She would feel better if she had her sword in her hand. Perhaps she could gain his confidence by cooperating. Slobad had said Raksha was a decent leonin. He might at least hesitate if it came to battle.

“They came in the night as they always do,” she said, “but they’ve never come so far into the Tangle. They passed many other homes to reach ours.”

“If they truly attacked as you say, how did you survive?” asked the Kha. “Surely one elf is no match for the levelers. Or are you lying to us?”

Glissa gritted her teeth at the insult and at the painful memories of that night. “I was … not home when the attack came.” She saw no reason to tell the leonin about her discussion with Chunth just yet. “I fought my way into the tree, but it was too late. My parents, my sister … they were already dead. All I have left of them is my mother’s ring.”

Glissa showed Raksha the ring, then dropped her head into her hands, half-feigning the emotion she showed. She pulled at the bindings, which were now hidden from view as she continued. “I tried to kill the levelers, to make them pay for what they had done, but there were too many of them. They cornered me. I thought I was about to join my family, but then … then they turned and left. I tried to follow, but my ankle got caught in a leveler’s broken blades. The beast dragged me all the way back to its lair. Slobad rescued me and brought me here for help.”

Glissa raised her head and looked at Raksha. She tried to read the leonin’s face, but it seemed as impassive as ever. “If you’re not going to help us, then we’ll just leave, thank you very much.”

Glissa threw the loose ropes into the face of one guard, then rolled off the bench and came up behind the other guard. Before he could react, she had taken the claw-tipped staff from his back and whipped it down through the ropes tied around Slobad’s hands. She pushed the guard into a curtain. He tumbled to the floor, caught up in the voluminous leather. The other guard stood ready to attack. Glissa looked to Raksha. He merely stared back at her.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” she said to the Kha. Her staff wavered between Raksha and his remaining guard. “Just let us leave.”

“You need not hurt anyone,” replied the leonin leader, “and you need not leave just yet.”

With blinding speed, Raksha rushed forward, ducking as Glissa snapped the staff toward him. He slapped the staff out of the way and moved in. Before she could bring the long weapon back around, the leonin leader grabbed her wrist and pulled the staff from her grasp. Casually he twirled her around and pushed her back down onto the bench.

When Glissa rolled over, the Kha was standing before her as impassive as ever. He reached up to his forehead and dabbed his finger at the cut she had inflicted. “Impressive,” said Raksha. “We have never seen anyone move that fast before.”

Glissa was thinking the same thing.

“As we said, there is no reason to hurt anyone.” The leonin leader turned to Ushanti, who had hidden behind her cauldron during the scuffle. “Tend to this warrior’s leg, old woman,” he said. “She is our guest and is to be treated as such.”

“But the fire trance,” protested Ushanti. “The visions-”

“Can often be misleading,” growled Raksha, “as you well know.”

“I don’t understand,” said Glissa. “What just happened here? I attacked you, and now I am your guest?”

“We will excuse the attack,” said Raksha, “this one time. We are in the midst of trying times, and such behavior is understandable, but that is not why you are now our guest.”

Ushanti came out from behind her cauldron, chose a variety of colored sand and oils from her table, and began mixing them in a bowl. Raksha spoke a few words to the standing guard, who helped the other guard to his feet then hurried from the room. Raksha turned back to face Glissa.

“Four nights past, the levelers came to Taj Nar,” he continued. “They climbed the tower and breached the walls just after the last moon set. The alarm was raised, and our warriors fought valiantly, but still the levelers came … all the way to our chambers. We destroyed five of the foul things, but more poured through the door. We thought we would soon join Dakan, the first Kha, in the eternal light, but at our darkest hour, the levelers halted. We dared not breathe for fear it might be a trick. As one, the levelers turned and fled the way they had come.”

“That is just how it happened in the Tangle,” said Glissa. “I had shown them power, but still they came, trampling their own to get to me. Then they turned and fled.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “I was told they were sent to kill the mightiest elf warrior in the Tangle. Perhaps they came here to kill the mightiest leonin warrior as well.”

“Your enemy is our enemy, elf,” said Raksha. “That may make us allies.”

The guard returned, holding Glissa’s sword and Slobad’s bag of tools. “Take these as a sign of our trust,” said Raksha, “and as a symbol of our new alliance against this common enemy.” He laid the sword into Glissa’s hand, and she looked at it closely for the first time. It was a beautiful blade, and the entire length of the weapon glittered and gleamed, even in the low light coming from the coals beneath Ushanti’s brazier. The curved blade seemed to flow from the hilt like water.

* * * * *

Ushanti finished her mixture and hobbled over to Glissa. The elf thought she heard the old woman grumbling, but it might have been an incantation.

“Lift your leg, elf,” said Ushanti. “This will hurt.” The leonin healer poured half of the foul-looking mixture over Glissa’s knee. Steam rose from Glissa’s calf and ankle as the concoction trickled down her leg. It seemed to be burning through the corroded metal. Glissa fought back a scream as the fire in her leg exploded and sent icy-hot tendrils of pain up her thigh.

Ushanti placed the bowl at Glissa’s feet. “Put your foot in the bowl,” she commanded.

The steam made it hard for Glissa to see the bowl, and it took most of her concentration to fight back the pain from the fire running down her leg. Finally she placed her foot into the bowl. At first she felt nothing except the lingering pain from the treatment. Her entire foot was numb. Then it began to tingle. The tingle turned into pinpricks, then into stabbing pains. It felt as if long needles were working their way into her flesh.

Glissa held her breath and gritted her teeth through the pain. Steam from the bowl rose into the air and met the steam surrounding her calf. As the steam swirled around, the elf exhaled and took another deep breath. The fire in her ankle and calf decreased little by little as the steam dissipated, but the memory of that intense pain lingered. It was some time before the muscles in her thigh relaxed to the point where she thought she could walk.

“The infection has been cleansed,” said Ushanti. “Our daughter can heal the wound left behind. We must retire now.”

“One last thing, Elder Shaman,” interjected Raksha as the old woman turned to leave.

Glissa was sure she saw a sneer cross the healer’s lips as she turned, but no trace of it lingered as she faced her leader. “Yes, Kha,” she said, bowing low.

“This figure the elf saw in the Tangle,” said Raksha. “Find him for us that our new friend …”

“Glissa,” said the elf as Raksha turned to her.

“So that we and our new friend Glissa may deal with him.”

“You wish us to enter the fire trance?” asked Ushanti. “After healing the destroyer, we must once again face the vision of her demolishing our world?”

“Yes.”

Ushanti stared at Raksha for a moment, but it was obvious all her bluster had been drained away by the force of her leader’s presence. She shuffled back to her cauldron and grabbed two handfuls of sand-one yellow, one blue. As Ushanti sifted the sand through her clenched fists into the cauldron, the smoke changed colors. Brightly limned azure wisps snaked their way up to the low ceiling. Ushanti bent low over the cauldron until the smoke enveloped her head.

Moments passed, and Glissa stared at Raksha, Rishan the healer’s daughter, and the other young healer. None of them; seemed at all worried that the old woman might suffocate within the smoke.

Ushanti began to moan. “Robes,” she cried. “Shimmering robes. Reflection. Faceless. Watching. Waiting.”

“Where is he?” asked Raksha.

Rishan moved over toward the brazier. “Look beyond the robes, Mother. See past the faceless figure. See the place. Look behind.”

“Cannot,” said the old seer. “He holds us. Riveted. Cannot move. Cannot look away. No eyes. Only reflection.”

“Look into the reflection,” said Rishan.

“Blackness. Only blackness,” said Ushanti. “It drinks in the light. Wait … a sun rises. Black sun on black sky. Illuminates … chimney. Black chimney. Huge. Reaches for the sun. Foul water cascading down. Bones everywhere. Nim!”

The last word was a scream, and Ushanti’s knees buckled underneath her. As she fell, Raksha caught the old seer and lifted her from the smoke. Her lined face seemed more sunken and sallow than ever. Her eyes were open, but there was no life in them.

Raksha carried her through another set of curtains, followed by Rishan. He held the healer as a father might hold a child who has fallen asleep in his arms. A few moments later, the Kha returned. “Walk with us, Glissa.”

Glissa looked at Slobad.

“Yes, the goblin as well.”

Glissa rose gingerly and tried out the strength of her ankle. It was still tender, but she could walk without limping. She sheathed her sword and followed Raksha back through the maze of curtains into the courtyard. The moons were all set, but the light from the fires was bright enough that Glissa couldn’t see the stars overhead. The leonin leader strode to the statue and stared into the flames.

“This is Dakan, the first Kha,” said Raksha, pointing at the statue. “It is he who took the Razor Fields from the beasts. It is he who built Taj Nar. It is he who crafted the Mask of Suns.”

Glissa noticed that the mask on the statue was a replica of the one Raksha had slung over his back.

“Dakan brought the leonin into the light and taught the tribes to keep the fires burning during the dark hours,” continued Raksha. “This fire, like the Mask of Suns we wear in battle, brings us closer to Dakan and keeps the sun in our hearts even when it is not in the sky. We maintain the fire day and night to stave off our enemy-to hold back the darkness.”

He turned to face Glissa. “You witnessed that darkness this day,” he continued. “Faced it and beat it back long enough for this goblin trickster to open a door in our defenses.”

“We didn’t mean to-”

“No need to apologize,” said Raksha. “Slobad will fix that flaw in his design.” He fixed a gaze on Slobad that made the goblin tremble. “No, you fought valiantly, even while hindered by a wound that would have kept our best warriors crying in their beds. We welcome you into Taj Nar as our champion to help us fight the nim.”

The leonin paused.

“But?” prompted Glissa. She sensed they wouldn’t enjoy leonin hospitality for long.

“Come,” said Raksha as they walked to the battlements. “Our two enemies are one enemy. Today we leonin slaughtered hundreds of nim.” He pointed below. On the slope beyond the tower’s walls, Glissa could see the dark shapes of dead nim. “Yet tomorrow a thousand more could walk from the Mephidross.”

“You cannot leave Taj Nar,” said Glissa, realizing the burden of leadership that sat so heavy on this young leonin.

“We cannot,” he said. “Nor can we send any warriors into the Mephidross.”

“They are needed here for defense.” Glissa nodded her understanding.

“Indeed,” said Raksha. “Even if we could spare troops, our best warriors could not hope to survive the Mephidross long enough to gain the Vault of Whispers. That is where you two will find our common enemy. That foul place is the chimney Ushanti saw in her fire trance.”

“Us two?” asked Slobad, speaking for the first time since Raksha had commanded him to be quiet. “Not me. Slobad has no special strength to survive in that place, huh? Stay here and fix door. Nothing special about Slobad.”

Glissa patted the goblin’s shoulders. “I do not want to put Slobad in danger,” she said. He saved my life … twice. Can he not stay here and wait for my return?”

Raksha shook his head, but there was sadness in his eyes. “You will need his guidance to avoid the nim and the reapers. Do not worry. Slobad will find a way to survive. He always does.”

Raksha turned back to Glissa. “It is vitally important that you do survive this next trial, Glissa. We do not believe you are a destroyer of worlds, but Ushanti’s visions cannot be discounted. There is a darkness swirling around us, and we-you and I-are standing in the eye of that storm.”

Glissa stared at the young Kha. It was the first time she had heard him refer to himself in the singular. “What do you mean?” she asked.

“Our fates are entwined,” said Raksha. He grabbed Glissa by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I have not told anyone this,” he said. “But I, too, saw your robed figure that night-and he has haunted my dreams ever since. We … I am afraid to sleep at night.”

Slobad gasped.

“You will stay quiet on this matter, goblin,” growled Raksha, “or we will take your head ourselves. No one must know of this matter. We fear the leonin would panic if they knew their Kha now lives in terror of a hidden enemy. Find our enemy, Glissa. Find him and stop him. The fate of more than just our two lives is at stake.”