Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum (magic:the gathering)

by Robert B. Wintermute

  You were both more than ready to fight each other a moment ago, Nissa said.

  Nissa looked back at the drakes. We cannot match them, she conceded. But we can run into the hole before they reach us. She turned to the others.

  We will drop the gear here and run for the hole, Nissa said.

  But they will reach us before we reach the hole, Anowon said.

  Nissa cast the vampire a sidelong glace. If we run like vampires they will reach us. Run like elves. Nissa turned back to the drakes and the hole. Ready? she called.

  Robert B. Wintermute

  Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum

  The drakes saw them almost immediately, and they took to the air a second later. Nissa clutched her staff and ran as hard and as fast as she ever had, skipping between the larger boulders and trying not to slip on the gravel. She d seen drakes before but always been careful to avoid them, knowing that in their way there were more dangerous that a dragon. A Zendikar dragon would not normally bother itself with two or three beings, but preferred lazy activities like sleeping in a deep hole or sitting in Glasspool soaking its scales.

  Drakes were different. Aside from the obvious difference drakes had no arms, only legs and wings there was the large difference in bearing and disposition. Drakes were mean and dim. Their love of hunting in packs made them extremely difficult to fight, and their appetite was prodigious.

  The drakes were on them before they reached the hill. Nissa had her stem sword out and managed to lop the leg off a drake that was extending its claw for her. She dodged another who had landed in her path and attempted to bite her.

  A third drake swooped down and seized her in its claws and bore her up, at the same time it bit down at her head. But when it opened its mouth for the lethal bite, it received a thrust from Nissa s stem sword which traveled through the top of its palate and into its brain. Mana from the sword pulsed through the drake s body. Nissa had a flash image of rhizomes spreading out from the stem and constricting around the drake s brain and spine.

  Nissa was able to land first with her feet and roll out with no injury, except for the deep gashes in her shoulder where the drake s claws had been.

  A moment later she was charging over the rocks to the gaping maw of the cave. She reached the cave just as another drake was sweeping down on her. But the flying beast decided against following her into the darkness of the cave, preferring instead to land on the rocks outside and peer inside cautiously, screeching uneasily.

  Nissa took a rock from her feet and threw it at the drake, hitting it in the eye and driving it away. Soon Anowon was in the cave having found a way to avoid attack completely. Sorin was soon to follow, with two drakes hounding his progress, and three bodies quivering on the rock, fallen to his sword.

  Soon the drakes gave up and flew back to their perch, where they screeched and nipped at each other and began to fight.

  Nissa turned and peered into the darkness of the cave. Have we another tooth, Anowon? she said.

  The vampire pulled a tooth from his cloak. He whispered to it, and it burst to light. Outside the cave the drakes were screaming. Holding the tooth between his fingers, Anowon looked around the cave. Markings covered the walls, lines and lines of writing executed in a script so twisted and long that Nissa could not tell where one word stopped and the next began.

  Anowon held out the tooth further and looked closely at the etchings. These are utterly foreign to me, he said at last. I cannot decipher even one word.

  We left these lines, Sorin said. When we imprisoned the Eldrazi for the second time. They talk about the crimes committed against the planes.

  Anowon blinked as he considered what Sorin had said. The Eldrazi were imprisoned more than once?

  They were imprisoned on another occasion, before my time, Sorin said. Even I am not that old.

  Anowon spit on the ground.

  And these are the titans? Nissa said, pointing at the pictures in the rock. Three grotesque images looked hauntingly like the brood lineage, but different. She could not pull her eyes off the strange creatures, which looked a strange combination of insect, brain, and kraken. None had faces of any sort. And despite herself, Nissa shivered.

  They are Nissa began.

  Very terrible, said a screechy voice from behind. Mudheel stepped out of the shadows.

  Nissa jumped. Mudheel! she said. It was all she could think to say, and she immediately regretted saying it as the word echoed down the cavern.

  Where is your kor mistress? Sorin said.

  The goblin s eyes cast down and then around the darkness. Mudheel shrugged his shoulders.

  They stood in the near dark of the cave looking at one another. The drakes screamed outside as they fought over the meat still clinging to the bones of their fallen comrades.

  How did you get past the drakes? Sorin asked, after a time.

  I crept through at night, the goblin said.

  Little dragons see like humans in the dark.

  Well, Nissa said. Should we continue to Ugin, whatever it is?

  The goblin stared at her.

  Which way is it? Nissa said, finally.

  Oh, Mudheel said. There. The goblin lifted one hand and pointed away, where the cave continued into blackness. But we cannot go there.

  Why? Anowon snapped. Why not?

  Because my mistress is surely there.

  That does not concern us, Sorin said, brushing past the goblin. Even now I feel the containment spell weakening. I must reach it.

  She will be vexed, Mudheel said.

  Nissa watched the goblin closely. What is she like when she is vexed?

  She is most cruel, Mudheel said. The words stuck to Nissa for some reason, and she looked around before following the others down into the darkest part of the cave. Nissa listened for Mudheel, who finally followed them.

  They walked downward for many hours. Anowon was at the head with the glowing tooth pinched between his fingers. The cavern remained large. Large enough for a full grown basalt crawler to move through without touching a scale, Nissa thought.

  Each of their footfalls bounced off the wet of the deep cavern and came echoing back to them as deep growls. The others seemed to make no notice of the noise.

  But there was another sound, a far quieter but more persistent sound than their footfalls. Nissa stopped and turned her head, angling her long ear for better hearing. The sound was too irregular to be drips. It occurred in sudden bursts and then stopped for a time.

  A bluish glow began to appear in the volcanic cavern ahead. As they walked the glow became stronger, until it was bright enough for Nissa to see her hand grasping her staff. The rock on either side of them began to slope downward, until they entered a huge carved cavern with no floor Nissa could see. Many thin causeways of chiseled basalt zigzagged at different levels across the deep chasm and trailed to a tunnel filled with blue light on the far side of the cavern. Multiple levels of stairs and paths joined the chiseled basalt causeways. The middle of the immense chamber was littered with debris, some of it scorched. But the lack of a floor was not the feature that caused Nissa s heart to start beating fast.

  Hedrons floating in the air and pointing at skewed angles. In the middle of the chamber many hedron sat side to side and piled on one another, but they all seemed to be pointing loosely at the tunnel on the far side of the cavern. It was as if a great magnet had pulled them into place.

  The cavern was so large that Nissa could see neither the floor nor the ceiling, and as she stepped out onto the causeway, the air seemed to ripple and refract.

  Wait, Sorin said. He put one cold hand on Nissa s shoulder and drew her back. I will go first.

  Nissa stepped out of the way and let the vampire pass. They followed him across the huge cavern and entered another after that and another after that. The light grew brighter and brighter until a glare caught Nissa s eye ahead. Sorin stopped and turned. The corner of his cloak swirled the foggy blackness under the causeway.

  Ahead is the e
ntrance to the Eye of Ugin, Sorin said. I will talk for us as it is I who will have to sing the containment back to fortitude, Sorin said. He fastened Nissa with a hard look. Do not speak.

  Nissa jerked her chin up. Must you strengthen the prison? she said.

  Sorin turned his head. The most particular expression played across his face.

  Yes, he said. I must. Otherwise the Eldrazi will scream free and eat your precious Zendikar in three bites. Do you not hear them? That far off sound? That is them clawing at the walls of their enclosure. They have been scratching for centuries. They never stop.

  Nissa heard the same irregular sound she d heard before, only now it was louder. A long, slow scraping.

  How are they unable to get out? Nissa said.

  Keeping them contained is the job of Ugin, Sorin said. The containment spell is one the ancients could never hope to break, without help from outside. To break the spell, the ancients would have to perform an action that is against their fundamental nature.

  They are their own prison? Anowon said.

  Precisely, Sorin said.

  Yet the spell fails.

  Because of outside intervention, Sorin said.

  They all stood listening to the Eldrazi scratching on the walls of their prison.

  We do not want them here, Anowon said.

  No, Nissa said, shaking her head. We do not. They are the cause of Zendikar s Roils, her gravity wells

  They are strangers here.

  Sorin regarded them both for only a moment before speaking.

  Zendikar is naturally dangerous. The mana existed here before the Eldrazi arrived and will remain here after they have rotted to dust. Zendikar is savage, and its most savage behavior is in its inhabitants, Ghet.

  Do not call me Ghet, Anowon said. I will not have the slave masters of my people sucking the energy of Zendikar as they once sucked vampires dry.

  You know they would leave this place and travel to other planes, Nissa said.

  I do not know that, Sorin said. There is mana in abundance here. That is what they lust for.

  They will leave, Anowon said.

  How do you know?

  I know.

  How can you?

  Nissa turned to look at Anowon. It was a good question, she thought. How could he know?

  Anowon snarled. I have read it.

  Sorin sighed. He looked at the bright light ahead of the causeway.

  It is true that the magic we wrought to bind the Eldrazi in their prison has had some undesired effects on this plane, he said. But the prison is not the only reason this place is so wild.

  The hedron stones? Anowon said.

  Are devices we made to condense mana and keep the containment spell strong.

  Anowon s smile was unrestrained and large.

  Then you will cease this travesty, Anowon said.

  By your own admission

  Enough! Sorin boomed. Nissa staggered backward, pushed by the vampire s voice.

  I am Sorin Markov, the vampire boomed. Rock dust sifted down from the ceiling of the cavern as his words echoed. Sorin straightened his arms to each side. Blue-black energy snapped around his fists. I will slay anyone attempting to stop me from performing the task given me.

  Sorin s words were like weapons bludgeoning down on Nissa. She found it difficult to stand. The sound was in her, in her head echoing. Mudheel lay face down on the causeway next to her covering his head in an effort to escape the sonic assault.

  Nissa squared her shoulders and stood despite her body s intense desire to fall to the ground. Years of Joraga training had given her the ability to ignore pain, but Sorin s voice was something else entirely every part of her screamed in agony. Still, Nissa could tell by the shocked expression on the tall vampire s face that he was impressed she was still standing.

  Blinking with effort, Nissa twisted her staff and drew the stem sword.

  The words Sorin said were unknown to Nissa. But the pitch and timbre of Sorin s voice increased, and she felt those words ringing off the marrow of her bones. Yet still she stood.

  Sorin winked at her before turning toward the light at the back of the chamber. He dropped his hands and the light brightened. Nissa could see the huge stone face of a dragon. Arc-shaped patterns filled the wall around the dragon s face and it was from these arcs that the glowing light emerged. The wall appeared slightly fluid. A huge stone hedron covered with markings writhed to the right of the dragon s eyes.

  But the hedron was not writhing. Something on the hedron was writhing.

  Nissa squinted for a better look, but in the low light it took more than the usual time to recognize the form of Smara. The kor had straddled the hedron and appeared to be pounding its pocked sides with her fists.

  She moaned as she hammered. He body was smeared with dried mud and pebbles. Long, bloody abrasions where she d torn her skin rubbing the mud onto her skin crisscrossed her arms and legs.

  Mud had been smeared in circles around her eyes, as well. But her eyes her strange, large eyes were unchanged. They stared unblinking as she raged with her fists against the stone.

  Why mud? whispered Nissa.

  To bind the land, Mudheel said, his face still down. The hedron is the key. It must be destroyed.

  Sorin took a deep breath and straightened at the sound of the whispering. He looked out at the hedron, and a deep chuckle echoed from his throat when he saw Smara s sad form.

  But the humor was gone as fast as it had appeared. Sorin closed his eyes and opened his mouth and began to sing. It wasn t a song like any that Nissa had heard before. She could not understand any of the words, and the melody was more of a dirge. Yet as soon as it began, a strange change occurred with the dragon s face. The dragon s eyes lit with the same blue glow that emanated from the arced patterns above its head. And the hedron s markings crackled with lightning fire.

  Smara fell off the hedron. For a moment Nissa thought the lightning fire had struck her down. But after a second the kor struggled to her feet. Then she fell into a caterwauling run at Sorin, the rags of her clothes fluttering out behind as she gained speed.

  It took the kor some time to make her way along the causeways and stairs, but soon she was near. Sorin did not see her. His eyes were closed as he sang. Smara charged across the space and crashed into Sorin, who let out a grunt and stumbled backwards. Nissa felt the force that had been holding her down release and she rose quickly to her feet, stem sword in hand. But Sorin did not notice her he was too busy shielding himself from Smara s frenzied attack.

  Nissa quietly raced to the hedron. It was large. Some of the white flame playing across its runic surface licked out toward her as she drew near.

  From behind, There was a tremendous pop and singe and the air was filled with the smoke of charred meat. Nissa knew that Sorin had ended Smara s rebellion.

  She had only moments. Only moments before Sorin dealt in a similar way with her. Looking down at her hands, Nissa realized she had only one option. She had never attempted to seed stone, and she was not at all convinced that it would work. But in a split breath she joined her staff and mouthed the familiar enchantment. She struck the end of it squarely on the hedron, and green fire funneled down its shaft. The fire snapped Nissa back and she found herself sprawled on the ground, half of her staff still clutched in her hand. The other half singed and lying under the hedron. It seemed as though the hedron had absorbed the spell without effect.

  There was no familiar, glowing dent where her staff had struck the hedron, and Nissa began to despair her effort. From behind, Sorin sucked in air for an incantation that Nissa suspected would almost surely be his last, fatal strike against her. All for Zendikar, she thought as she sank back, expecting the blow from behind. All for the forest. The brilliant stars and the face of the moon.

  When the blow did not come, Nissa turned. Sorin was standing with his eyes closed, still singing. A certain blackness emanated from his mouth like fine smoke as he sang.

  Then a crack appeared in t
he hedron. Nissa turned in time to see. At first the crack was as thin as a spider s leg, then it widened, and a second later the tip of a bright, green leaf unfurled from within, and the crack widened. Nissa leaned forward just as a shoot, thick as her arm, uncoiled and rented the crack wide. The crack traveled up the hedron until it stopped at the tip, and the hedron broke cleanly into two pieces and tumbled with a tremendous crash onto the stone floor. Green arced from shard to shard, and then the fire blinked out altogether.

  Sorin s voice boomed louder from behind. But clearly the vampire could not undo what had been done. Moments later his song took on a high, screeching sound, and then stopped abruptly. Nissa looked back at Sorin. His eyes popped open to reveal corneas the color of molten gold.

  Well, Sorin said, clapping his hands together.

  This is my queue to leave. You, my dear fools, can deal with the consequences. They will be far worse than anything I can do to you. The vampire brushed a hand down his tunic, and Nissa turned her attention back to the broken hedron.

  The hall echoed and shook as the hedron halves rocked in place. But instead of quieting when the halves came to rest, the cavern continued shaking, until large chunks fell from the darkness above and the cave floor began to pitch. The eyes of the stone dragon s face were still glowing. She smelled Anowon suddenly standing next to her.

  Well? Nissa said to Anowon who said nothing, but stood at the edge of the causeway looking down into the darkness at the bottom of the cavern.

  Robert B. Wintermute

  Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum

  As the cavern shook, small jags of lightening snapped between the hedron halves. Nissa closed her eyes and squared her shoulders as she waited for the last moment. Zendikar would flourish once again and the Eldrazi would be gone forever.

  Mudheel was next to her retching he wiped the corner of his mouth and looked up at the hedron with tears streaming down his face. Mistress he said. No.

  The cavern started to shake. Three massive tremors shook the cavern sending more rocks showering down. And from somewhere deep in the mountain came a sound so ominous that Nissa turned away from the face of the dragon and started running. But the sound followed her, like the moan of ten thousand undead, and something else a rushing roar.