Kane hesitated, his eyes darting to the ground. “He’s an elder. The High Priest. Shouldn’t the council take care of this?”
“They’re not here,” hissed Glissa. “Listen, you have to trust me. After he killed Chunth, Strang stole a vial from me. We can’t let him drink what’s in it. Believe me, after I get it back we’ll take him back to the Tree of Tales and turn him over to the council. But we have to get him now.”
Kane straightened his armored jerkin and looked at Glissa. For a moment she thought he was going to salute.
“Okay.”
“Keep him occupied for a minute or two,” said Glissa, “and be careful. He’s a cornered animal.”
Kane nodded, then turned and walked around the tree. Glissa climbed the trunk. She passed two sets of spires before moving around to the other side of the tree. She looked down into the Radix. Kane was talking to Strang. Glissa couldn’t see the blue globe or the vial.
She dropped onto another spire that curved over the edge of the Radix and sprawled onto her stomach. Cautiously she inched her way out over the Radix, marveling, as she always did, at how barren it looked. The clearing was perfectly round and devoid of trees and gelfruit. She had never once seen a vorrac or any other animal inside it. The elves shunned the area as well, using it as a dump. Anything left on the ground there was gone the next morning.
Strang must be getting rid of his evidence, thought Glissa. Well, we’ll see about that. As she inched out closer to the elf and the troll, Glissa could hear them talking.
“What is wrong?”
“It seems there has been an attack,” said Kane. “That rogue elf, Glissa, attacked the Tree of Tales. You must come with me to safety.”
Good, Kane. Glissa inched ever farther toward the end of the spire. Make him feel at ease.
“I will return as soon as I am finished here, Chosen one,” said Strang. “You may return to your post now.”
“My orders are to escort you to safety, High Priest,” Kane insisted. “Please come with me now. Your life may be in danger.”
He turned and walked away from Strang, leading the way. Glissa tensed, watching for the troll’s reaction. He’d killed once already. He might do it again to cover his tracks.
Strang hesitated. Glissa saw him reach into his robes. Then the old troll followed Kane, who had stopped to wait for him. The pair came right toward her.
Come on, Kane, thought Glissa. Just a little bit farther.
As Kane passed, Glissa dropped off the spire, landing on Strang’s hunched back, knocking him to the ground. She rolled to the side, jumped to her feet, and drew her sword, but Strang was just as fast. He regained his footing and sprang back a step. Glissa moved in on him, but the old troll surprised her again. With a quick swipe of his claws, he knocked the sword from her hand.
“Don’t just stand there, Chosen one!” he shouted to Kane. “Defend your elder against this rogue elf!”
Kane jumped forward to cut off Glissa, pulling out his own blade as he moved in front of Strang. “I don’t want to hurt you, Glissa,” he said, “but you must be brought to the council to pay for your crimes.”
Momentarily taken aback, Glissa saw him wink at her. “You know you’re no match for me, Kane,” she shouted at him. “Even without my sword I could always kick your Tel-Jilad Chosen face across the Tangle. Get out of my way.”
Glissa lunged for Kane, and he brought his sword arm up to block her. She batted aside the arm and barreled into him. Kane staggered backward. He slammed the hilt of his sword into Strang’s face, knocking the old troll back to the ground.
The troll assassin grabbed for the sword, but Kane rolled off just as Glissa dived on top of the elder, pinning him to the ground.
“Hold his arms down, Kane.”
Strang clawed at Glissa’s face and neck, but she held him down between her knees while she slapped away his attacks.
Kane grabbed for the elder’s arms. He finally caught them both and slammed them onto the ground. Glissa reached inside the troll’s robes and found the vial, still full of blue liquid, as well as the blue orb.
She brandished her find before the troll’s staring eyes. “I don’t need vedalken magic to kill, Strang,” she said.
Fear and recognition sprang into Strang’s eyes as she said the name. She had been right about where the troll had gotten his little toy. It was a blue globe, just like the heads of the silver birds that had attacked Taj Nar, like the birds she had seen with the robed vedalken at the Vault of Whispers.
“Nothing would make me happier than to snap your neck with my bare hands,” she growled. “But I’ve promised your Chosen guard here to turn you over to the council. It’s up to you: You can walk back to the Tree of Tales peacefully or die at my hands here in the Tangle. Which is it?”
“I am dead either way,” said Strang finally.
“Fine by me,” said the elf, reaching for his neck.
“No!” he cried.
Glissa rested her palms on either side of the troll’s thick neck. “Tell me who paid you to kill me, and I might ask the council to let you live in exile.”
There was another long pause before he said, “You were right. It was the vedalken.”
“I want a name,” snapped Glissa.
“He never said his name,” muttered Strang.
“Then you can draw me a picture when we get back to Tel-Jilad. Now get up.”
She climbed off the elder troll, making sure to kick him in the ribs as she rose. He’d be doubled over in pain all the way back to the Tree.
Kane pulled Strang to his feet, his sword pressed against the elder’s back while Glissa retrieved her sword. “Why, Strang?” Kane asked as they moved through the Tangle.
“Chunth was too old to lead us anymore,” said Strang. “He thought he could insulate the elves and the trolls from the entire world, but the world has much to offer to those willing to take a chance. What was one dead elf compared to a new golden age of power for the Tangle?”
“Their power comes at too high a price,” said Glissa. “Chunth knew that.”
“I don’t understand,” said Kane. “You were trying to kill Glissa? Why kill her if Chunth was the one in your way?”
“The vedalken said that she is a problem,” said Strang. “She came too early. He needs more ti—”
The hair on the back of Glissa’s neck began to tingle. She dived, knocking Kane over with her, just as a bolt of blue lightning shot across the Tangle. It streaked right through where she had been standing. Strang dropped to the ground beside them a moment later. A charred stump smoldered between his shoulders where his head used to be.
ASSAULT
“What the flare was that?” shouted Kane.
“Don’t talk!” replied Glissa. “Just run.” She jumped up and pulled Kane to his feet.
The two elves raced into the Tangle. Rounding the next tree, they came face-to-globe with four of the flying constructs that had attacked Taj Nar.
“Split,” shouted Glissa. She broke to the right. The tingling came again, and she dived to ground and rolled. Two blasts singed the ground next to her. Glissa came up, sword in hand, and swung at the first movement she saw. Her blade caught the silvery tail of one beast, slicing off the barbed end. The second creature banked left to avoid a Tangle tree and come back around, but the one she had cut couldn’t make the sharp turn. It flipped its shortened tail to the left and lifted its right wing, but that wasn’t enough. The beast smashed globe-first into the tree. An azure explosion nearly drove Glissa to the ground.
She turned to see how Kane was faring against the other two. He had dodged behind a tree. Glissa could see two scorch marks on the trunk but couldn’t see the metallic birds anywhere.
“If you feel a tingle on your neck, dodge!” she shouted as she scanned for the returning flyer.
“Got it!” he called back. “More friends of yours come calling?”
“Just watch yourself,” she replied. “This isn’t a game. It’s a hunt,
and we’re the prey.”
The all-too-familiar tingling returned. Glissa dropped and rolled around the trunk, but the bolt didn’t come. She heard two loud cracks from the other tree and knew the flyers had gone after Kane. The elf jumped to her feet and scrambled up the tree to the lowest spire. She crouched there and surveyed the forest again.
The the two flyers that had strafed Kane disappeared around another tree. He was still on the ground. Glissa scanned the trees and found the third flyer. It was heading straight for Kane. She screamed and launched from the spire toward the flying beast as it flew past her, but the silver-winged creature was faster than she realized. She had hoped to drive it to the ground, but instead she fell past. Desperate, she stretched out a hand and caught the beast by the tip of its tail.
Elf and flyer slammed into the ground. The creature’s tail slipped from her grasp as she hit, so she dropped her sword and caught it with her other hand. Glissa rolled over with the beast and got both hands on it. It flailed in her grasp, flapping its wings and flipping its tail, trying to wriggle free. She wanted to slam it into the ground but was afraid it would explode. Instead, she fought to get to her feet while controlling the creature.
When she got to one knee, the beast flipped its tail again. Glissa lost her balance and stumbled back to the ground. When she looked up, Kane was standing beside her. His sword was raised, ready to stab the beast.
“Not the head,” she screamed, but she was too late. Kane’s sword slammed down into the beast’s bulbous head. Glissa rolled to the side and covered her face as the globe exploded in a shower of electric energy.
She was spared the brunt of the blast, though her arms and legs were bloody from shards of glass. The elf scrambled to her feet and searched for her friend. She found him sprawled beneath a nearby tree, his sword lying in pieces nearby.
As she bent over his body, she felt the tingling return. The beasts were coming in fast, much faster than she had ever seen. They had evidently tired of playing with the agile elves and intended to end it once and for all. Glissa dodged away from her fallen friend and sprinted toward another tree just as twin bolts of lightning slammed into the ground behind her.
She had no idea how long until the next bolts would come and hoped she could reach the tree. The flyers gained on her with each step. She could hear their wings flapping behind her. They were ten feet back … eight … six. As Glissa reached the tree, she could feel the tingling build on the back of her neck. The blasts were coming.
Glissa jumped high into the air. Behind her the beasts spat bolts of lightning. She grasped a low-hanging spire and swung her legs up from their path. Her momentum carried her around the spire. She pulled her legs in to gain speed, then kicked them back out as she came around. Her feet slammed into the backs of the flyers, sending them careening toward the ground.
Glissa dropped and ducked behind the tree as both flyers hit the ground and exploded. She could hear glass shattering against the trunk. Her arms and legs quivered as the released energy washed past her. She peeked around the tree to make sure both creatures had crashed, then jumped up and ran back to Kane, picking up her fallen sword as she went by.
As she approached Kane’s prone body, all the missed opportunities of her life flashed through Glissa’s mind. Kane had been her best friend, the only person outside her family she remembered after her first rebuking ceremony. Over the past hundred cycles they had grown even closer. Now she might have lost him without telling him how she truly felt. A hole opened in her heart.
As she approached, Kane moaned and grabbed his head with both hands. Glissa smiled broadly and wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She ran to his side and hugged him as he tried to sit up.
“What the flare was that for?”
“I thought you were dead,” said Glissa. “I’m … I’m just happy you’re okay.”
“We’ll see about that,” he grunted. “My head is throbbing.”
Glissa helped Kane to his feet, then smacked his cheek. “Well, it should hurt, you thick-headed elf!”
“Ow,” said Kane. “You … Oh, never mind. What were those things?”
“That was the power Strang sold us out for,” said Glissa. “Constructs. Tools of my enemy. They attacked me once before and dogged me all the way back to the Tangle. I saw two of these things with a robed figure Chunth called a vedalken—some evil race that wants me dead. And no, I’m not being paranoid. That’s who Strang sold us out to. Look, I doubt he only sent four of them. We should get back to the Tree of Tales. Can you run?”
“I think so,” said Kane. He looked around. “My sword!” he cried suddenly. “What happened to my sword?”
“What almost happened to your head. Come on. We’ll get you a new one. You’re lucky that’s all we have to replace.”
* * * * *
As the two elves ran back through the Tangle, Kane asked the questions Glissa had been asking herself. “Who are these vedalken? Why do they want you dead?”
“I wish I knew,” said Glissa. “But I intend to find out.”
Near the Tree of Tales, Glissa slowed and grabbed Kane by the shoulders, pulling him behind a tree. He opened his mouth, but Glissa held up a finger.
“Do you hear anything?” she asked.
“No. It’s quiet.”
“That’s what worries me,” said Glissa.
Kane thought. “It’s still pretty early.”
“Yes,” she replied, “but if there were more of those constructs attacking Tel-Jilad, we’d hear sounds of battle. If not, don’t you think there would at least be some commotion over Chunth’s death?”
“Maybe,” said Kane. He looked unconvinced.
“Humor me,” said Glissa. “Let me check this out. You stay here—and be careful this time.”
“Okay,” said Kane. “I’ll watch your back.”
Glissa hesitated. After everything that had happened in the last few days, she didn’t want to wait another moment before telling Kane how much he meant to her. But now was not the time. She needed to concentrate on staying alive. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“What the flare was that for?”
“That was for later,” said Glissa, smiling.
She slipped around the tree, sword drawn, and surveyed the small clearing in front of the Tree of Tales. There were no guards at the main entrance. Kane should have been missed by now. The council would have reinforced the entrance with a squad of Tel-Jilad Chosen or troll Elite Guards. Something was definitely wrong.
Glissa crept toward the entrance, her sword in front of her. She waited for the tingle in her neck to announce the approach of the silver-winged constructs but felt nothing. The Tangle remained quiet save for the dull sound of her own footsteps. Midway across the small clearing she stopped and listened again. Something rustled above her, but it could have been the wind moving through the spires or a vorrac racing along a terrace.
The elf scanned the trees and spires, watching and waiting. She was just about to call Kane from his hiding spot, when they appeared from behind the Tree of Tales. A dozen or more globe-headed flyers swarmed from either side of the great tree. They must have been clinging to the trunk out of sight, waiting for her to return. Glissa ran for the entrance.
The flyers swept around the tree, two curved lines of death winging their way toward her. The tingle ran down her spine as the air around the silver birds began to crackle with building energy. One after another, they unleashed blinding arcs of lightning. Glissa dodged back and forth as bolts slammed all around her. She dropped to the ground as one bird screamed right at her. She rolled twice, then pushed off to the side as another bolt tore a hole in the ground where she had been.
The agile elf landed on her feet in a dead run and zig-zagged toward the entrance to Tel-Jilad. She leaped through the open doorway just as three more bolts hit the tree around her. Inside, Glissa rolled to the side and put her back up against the wall. A single silver bird flew through the opening. Glissa whipped her
blade straight up, slicing through the beast’s wings and spine.
The blue globe continued on, slamming into the back wall of the entrance chamber. Glissa shielded her eyes from the resulting explosion. Dropping to one knee, she leaned around the edge of the entrance to see if any more would try to enter the Tree. What constructs she could see were heading from the little clearing.
Preparing for another attack run, thought Glissa. She’d seen their tactics and knew it would take them a few moments to turn around for their next assault.
“Kane,” she called out. “Move it now! Before they return. You can make it!”
He raced from behind the tree. Glissa was ready to run out and distract the silver birds if they came back. What she saw instead made her shudder with fear. A robed figure stepped out from behind another tree. It raised an ornate staff and pointed it at the Chosen guard. Glissa screamed, but with a quick flick of his wrist the mage sprayed azure energy that streamed toward the running elf.
The bolt slammed into Kane’s back and enveloped him. He screamed in agony and dropped to the ground. As Glissa raced from the Tree toward him, she could see his face twisted in pain. The muscles in his neck bulged, and his arms flailed uncontrollably as the energy cascaded up and down his body.
Glissa stopped, horrified. The metallic parts of his body—his arms, thighs, and shoulders—were melting away! Glissa dropped to the ground next to his writhing body. She was afraid to touch him as the energy continued to crackle across his body and could only watch. Now half the warrior’s body, had turned to liquid, pooling around the remaining flesh. Kane stopped screaming, but his body continued to twitch until there was nothing left but his head and a bloody torso.
* * * * *
Glissa stared at Kane’s remains as the mage approached. She glanced up as he drew near. What she had mistaken for a gleaming head was actually a globe like the heads of the silver flyers. Inside the globe she could see a misshapen, bald face with bulging cheek bones and an over-large skull. The robes concealed an extra set of arms she had not noticed before. He stood holding his staff and smiling at her.
The Moons of Mirrodin Page 16
