Zendikar_ In The Teeth Of Akoum Part 13

She was shaken violently awake. "Get up," a voice shouted in the dark. "Up."

A hand grabbed her by the hair and dragged her painfully to her feet. By the raw strength of the man she knew she could not attack directly, and her staff was unreachable next to her bed. Wincing in pain as he pulled her through the dark, Nissa planted one foot, squatted, and braced for the pain. The man stopped and began to pull, but Nissa shot her other foot out and planted it in the small of the back of his knee, forcing the knee to bend and the man to lose his balance and fall into her. He was a large specimen, she thought as she easily caught him, pivoted on her hip, and threw him head first into the wall.

She could see quite well once her eyes had become accustomed to the dark. She was on top of the man quickly. She had his belt off and around his neck in a split second, and she put her knee in the s.p.a.ce between his shoulders and pulled until his throat made a certain gagging noise. Then she pulled more until he stopped making any noise at all. She walked back to their room and picked up her staff. The other beds were empty, but there was a small window cut into the wall.

Outside the wind was gusting as hard as it had been before. Nissa left the room and walked down to the water and the dock that the inhabitants of Zulaport had built in the crescent shaped Bay of Bayeen. Nissa had been on the ocean only once in her life, when she had left Bala Ged to sail to Ondu four months ago. In the bay. she saw tethered ships bobbing in the pitch of the surf. Some had sails and some did not. One had what must have been a sail bound in a tight bundle and lashed to the bottom of the beam that went perpendicular to the mast.

Nissa walked back to the inn. The bonfire had burned down, but a group of people stood around it. The body of the man Nissa had strangled lay on the sand before the fire. Smara and her three goblins were standing with men behind them holding their arms. Sorin was smiling in the firelight, looking like he was enjoying himself immensely.

"Where is the other one?" The being was tall, wearing black leather armor made in such a way as to be formed entirely of swirls. His hair hung in his face in stringy, black wads. Nissa realized it was a vampire, and a start of revulsion went through her.

She knew Anowon was there behind her before she felt him touch her shoulder.

"That is Indorel." Anowon hissed. "A credit to my race. He controls this sh.o.r.e-rat's nest. He makes his coin extorting the peril seekers, and sucking the weak among them dry."

"How do you know?"

Anowon did not say anything.

"Why is he so angry?"

"He found two of his henchmen," Anowon said. "Bled dry." She could hear the wet way he was forming his words, and the sound made the gorge rise in the back of her throat.

Nissa shook her head. "The goblins were not enough for you?"

"It was not I," Anowon said. She could hear the mocking tone in his voice. Why did he even joke about not killing the henchmen, Nissa thought. Who else would it have been?

They watched the vampire question Sorin and Smara. The kor babbled and Sorin smiled, responding with single syllables. With each of Sorin's responses Indorel became angrier and angrier until he was stomping around in the sand throwing his arms up in annoyance.

"I feel like that, talking to Sorin most times," Nissa said.

Anowon pushed his jaw out and said nothing.

The men around Smara and Sorin were heavily armed, and further out in the shadows, Nissa could sense something else. Something larger was waiting.

"Why does Sorin not give them coin and be done with it?"

"I do not know that he has coin."

"But he said ..."

Anowon raised his eyebrows in a way that said, I pity you for your foolishness I pity you for your foolishness.

Nissa looked back at the fire.

"Maybe we should leave?" Anowon said. "Sorin will be fine without us."

"No," Nissa said. "Only he knows how to stop the Eldrazi and send them back into their slumber."

"I know where the Eye of Ugin is, do you not remember?" Anowon asked.

"Yes, but how do we work it?" Nissa asked.

The surf crashed behind them.

"Do you even know why we travel to the Eye?" Anowon said.

"No. But it must have something to do with imprisoning the brood."

"Right, of course," Anowon said. But the vampire did not sound convinced. "An outlander thinking about the good of Zendikar?"

Indorel suddenly shoved Sorin, who fell back in the sand. Indorel raised his arms and rivulets of black and purple power crackled and bled down his arms.

Sorin reached out and took hold of the ankle of the dead henchman. His body convulsed at Sorin's touch. But when it lifted its head an instant later, long drips of b.l.o.o.d.y fluid were coming from its eyes and from its mouth as it struggled off the sand and reached for Indorel.

The vampire stepped back and spit into the sand to his right. He extended one finger and touched the flesh between his eyes. He whispered some words, and his finger glowed. At the same time the zombie swung a clawed hand at Indorel, which caught the vampire in the ear and caused him to stagger sideways a step. But then Indorel took a step forward, reached out, and touched the zombie. It locked and fell dead.

Anowon began chanting softly.

Indorel seized the air, and Sorin fell onto the sand, writhing with convulsions. He arched his back and grunted.

Then Anowon snapped his fingers, and Indorel suddenly stumbled ... releasing Sorin.

Anowon kept chanting.

Sorin hopped to his feet and began to run. Smara and the goblins followed, shaking off the henchmen's grasping fingers.

Nissa twisted her staff and released the stem sword. She rushed forward and caught one of the henchman in the chin as he struggled to grab the fleeing Sorin. The henchman's head slid easily off his shoulders and fell with a thunk in the sand, his mouth gasping. The henchmen were all around her then, with more coming out of the inn. But she reached her target. Indorel stepped back as she neared him, and two henchmen stepped between them. Nissa joined her stem sword to the staff and dived between one of their legs. She twisted and hopped to her feet and in an instant poked the vampire with the bottom end of her staff. Then two henchmen were swinging, and she bent her knees and hopped back. Indorel looked down at the place where Nissa had jabbed him.

The henchmen pushed their advantage. They rushed forward into the darkness at the edge of the fire and brought their swords down where Nissa should have fallen, but struck only sand. Nissa snapped out the stem sword and one of the men fell with a grunt, clutching the stump of his right arm, severed above the elbow.

Nissa knew the seed she had planted in Indorel's chest would have rooted throughout the vampire's body. And as she watched from the darkness, with his body silhouetted by the raging fire, she saw a small bud poke out of his sternum and through his leather armor and burst into bloom. Nissa took a running start and flipped into the air over the henchmen squinting into the dark looking for her. She cleared their heads easily and landed with a thump in the sand in front of the vampire. Nissa stopped only a split second, just long enough to seize the flower stem and yank it out of the stunned vampire's chest. The firelight flickered and, pop, there was the vampire's heart, still beating in the stem's roots. She dropped the flower and heart and ran.

Smara and Anowon were standing in the sand, as was Sorin. When Nissa reached the dock, she ran directly to the boat with the sail lashed to the mast. In a moment Anowon stomped onto the dock's lashed logs.

"How do you make this sail?" Nissa said.

The vampire's eyes glowed slightly in the dark. The sun was lighting the eastern sky, but even so it was too dark to see if they were being pursued. The fire in front of the inn blazed, but n.o.body was standing around it that she could see.

"I do not know how to sail this," Nissa said as she looked over her shoulder at the dark.

"Can we create wind?" Anowon said.

"But how do we get the sail up?"

Nissa heard running from behind. Sorin and Smara appeared on the dock. The goblins arrived seconds later.

"What is this?" Sorin said.

"A boat," Nissa said. "And we do not know how it works."

"We have little time," Sorin said. "Can we push it or pull it?" He looked genuinely harried.

Then Nissa had an idea.

"Find rope," she said.

Nissa sat down on the deck and took a deep breath. The plains that stretched around were foreign to her and held little power she could use. But Nissa recounted the route they'd taken to get here. In her mind's eye she followed their trail backward, over the gra.s.sland, down the trench and up onto the mesa to Turntimber Forest.

Soon the power from the turntimber trees was flowing into her. She collected it in herself until she felt so full of the energy that she could burst. Then she imagined the largest creature in the forest. A creature of the deep forest ... a ziru behemoth. Ten humans standing head on foot would just reach its burly shoulder, and the Behemoth had plates of horn extending from the tip of its nose all the way over its shoulder in a loose row. The underside of its jaw had plates as well. Its legs were long and muscular, and its feet were splayed and slightly webbed, which was why she summoned it.

Nissa began drawing the image into herself, and when she opened her eyes the huge creature was standing on the beach, its feet sunk into the wet sand. It snorted its pug nose into the gusting wind and stamped a foot.

"Now that that is exactly the creature I would have expected you to summon," Sorin said. He threw up his arms. "One with neither fin nor wing. Why not something with wings?" is exactly the creature I would have expected you to summon," Sorin said. He threw up his arms. "One with neither fin nor wing. Why not something with wings?"

Nissa and Anowon used every coil of rope they found on the dock to fashion a harness of sorts. While Sorin kept lookout, they looped the rope into a huge circle and put it around the behemoth's neck. To that circle of rope they tied other long pieces of rope. Nissa asked the creature to enter the water, and when it had, they tied the loose ends of the rope to the masthead of the small ship. The rope was not long enough at first, so they tied more on, and soon it was long enough.

The ship responded surprisingly well to being dragged behind the behemoth. The creature swam with its head low in the water, so only its eyes, nose, and the top of the head jutted above the low waves.

By sunrise, the continent of Ondu was only a line of land topped with a fringe of round mountains behind them.

By midday there was no land to be seen in any direction. Nissa used Kahlled's pathway stone to point the way, and they followed it. If the behemoth veered, Nissa crawled over the rope and whispered in its ear.

Soon the azure water changed to dark blue, and its surface became choppy. All the rest of the day Nissa watched a line of clouds at the horizon grow larger, until finally they were overhead.

The map showed the blue ocean gap between the continents of Ondu and Akoum to be only the length from the tip of her middle finger to its first digit-not a long trip. But Nissa had no way to tell how fast they were traveling. So, by measuring with her finger how long it took them to travel from the Turntimber Forest in the center of Ondu to the coast, she guessed they would be traveling on the boat for two days.

Still, the behemoth never seemed to tire so it would perhaps be faster. The creature paddled its feet in the manner of an Onduan hound and moved along fast enough to create a small wake. Before night fell Nissa thought she'd seen a landma.s.s on the horizon.

The behemoth would not sleep. Nissa shimmied across the wrist-sized rope to tell it to stop, and either the creature did not hear her or it did not understand. If the behemoth did not sleep, neither could Nissa. She leaned against the mast with her cloak pulled tightly around her, holding up the pathway stone as often as she could to check their direction.

Their dry tack was long gone. For water they had the little still residing in their canteens that they had filled before going to bed at the inn. If the trip lasted no longer than another day, they would survive. Nissa knew the Joraga fasting mantras, and she could last without food for another week.

There was no sign of any landma.s.s when the sun rose the next morning. Had they missed it in the darkness? Doubtful Doubtful, Nissa thought. More likely she had mistaken a cloudbank on the horizon for a landma.s.s. The light had had been fading after all. been fading after all.

They sailed the rest of the day with no sight of land. When the sun was five hands high above the ocean, a flock of something appeared at the horizon. Nissa had a bad feeling about the creatures immediately. Her apprehension rose as they beat closer showing no visible wings, and for the first time she wished she could jump away, as she had when she'd first learned to planeswalk. But Nissa knew that she had to see the trip to the Eye through. Where had running away ever got her? No, she would continue on her path.

Soon the creatures were close enough that Nissa could see tentacles. She narrowed in on the creatures. "Flying brood," she announced.

The brood flapped closer. When they were close enough that Nissa could hear the wind rushing through their tentacles, the brood lineage turned and circled over the boat. She watched their tentacles squirm as they circled. Nissa looked to Sorin. There were large dark circles under his eyes. He appeared as though he had not slept in days. Did he have the stamina to fight off the brood circling the ship? His was the only ranged weapon they possessed.

The behemoth's eyes showed their whites as it struggled to raise its head enough to watch the brood.

If they glided down slowly in just the right formation she could perhaps use the stem in its whip form and dispose of two in quick order. Conceivably, Anowon could use one of his teeth.

Nissa was just preparing to pull her stem from its staff when the brood lineage moved out of their circling motion and moved away, flying west. Soon they were specks on the horizon again. The wind gusted, and the behemoth's breath puffed. Sorin's left hand was on top of his head holding his hair out of his eyes as he watched the brood disappear. Why had they gone? Why had they gone?

The others slept that night on the deck of the ship. Nissa was not looking forward to another night of managing the behemoth, but she sat at the front of the ship trying not to fall asleep, holding the pathway stone Khalled had given her, and watching the immense creature she'd summoned churn the brine water to foam.

The stars were bright enough to cast pale shadow on the deck. Anowon was at the other side of the ship with a nub of a candle burning as he read one of his cylinders. Nissa could hear Smara muttering somewhere below decks where the jars of turntimber bark were lashed ... packed in Zulaport for the markets of Guul Draz.

Nissa checked the pathway stone again. Sorin was standing across from her when she looked up.

"Why did the brood leave us alone?" Nissa said.

Sorin's face showed the annoyance the question caused him. "How do you suppose I would know that?"

Nissa looked back at the stone hanging from the cord in her hand. A gust of wind blew it sideways, and she put it in the pocket of her cloak.

"I know what you are," Sorin said, suddenly.

"What did you say?" A knot immediately formed in Nissa's throat. He knows He knows.

"I know what you are able to do," Sorin continued. "That you posses the ability to walk to other planes."

Nissa set her eyes on Sorin, and gave him what she hoped came off as a steady, level stare. "I am not oddity. Why would you suppose I was?"

"We are not 'oddities.'"

Nissa felt as though she might swallow her tongue. Her heart hopped. She found herself making a conscious effort to control her breathing. She took a deep breath and released it. When she opened her eyes she had her center once again.

"Why do you tell me that you know this about me? Who are you?"

"I am like you," Sorin replied.

"You are not like me. I do not slay juveniles. Not even brood lineage juveniles."

"You would if you had seen their parents."

Nissa let that statement hang in the windy air. She hoped he'd say more, and when he did she could barely contain her smile.

"The brood are only the minions," he said. "That is why we must put them all back in their prison, and hold their parents in check with them."

"Why must we?"

"Because if we fail to do so they will eat this and many other planes," Sorin said. "Planes that you perhaps have visited?"

Nissa had, in fact, visited only a handful. One had been a staggering metropolis of beings standing virtually cheek to cheek amid towering buildings. She had walked the street for about an hour and in that time it had seemed that the amount of people grew and the height of the buildings lengthened. There was nothing green that she could see. She had left soon after.

Another plane was stranger than the first. There had been natural features like mountains and forests, but on closer examination they turned out to have straight angles that showed they had been created. She had watched in amazement as a range of mountains were moved with the wave of a hand by a being with metal arms and an elongated head. She'd been taken prisoner fairly quickly by one of those beings and barely escaped with her life. She would not be traveling to anywhere like those places again, if she could help it. Still, she said nothing in hopes that Sorin would keep talking. And he did.

"If we do not contain the brood, they will free their t.i.tans, and Zendikar will cease to be what it is now."

"What are these t.i.tans?" t.i.tans?"