Slobad was busy working with his fire tube at one end of the diver. A thin white line of flame came from the tube, just like the flame Glissa had seen the goblins using on the duct by the Great Furnace. Bosh held a loop of iron against the front of the diver while Slobad melted a bar of silver above the loop and the diver. They had already affixed a similar loop on the opposite side of the front end.
“Come up here,” called Bruenna from on top of the diver.
Glissa scrambled up the side. The mage stood next to a circular opening on top of the diver.
“We’ll ride inside the diver,” she said. “I’ll use my wind magic to fill it with air and keep the quicksilver out. Once your golem … I mean, once Bosh gets us inside Lumengrid, we can make our way to the Pool of Knowledge.”
“Won’t the vedalken stop us?”
“It will be difficult to get inside the Pool of Knowledge chamber, but getting to it shouldn’t be a problem. The vedalken don’t even notice humans walking about inside their towers unless we are performing some task for them. Then we’re tolerated at best or punished if we’re too slow or the vedalken is in a foul mood.”
Glissa rubbed her head. “Surely there are mages in other villages who feel the same way that you and your father do about the vedalken.”
“Some do, but most are content to work for the vedalken like beasts and pick up what little power they can. You learn very early to do what you are told. Subservience is rewarded with easier work and better working conditions. Defiance is punished by forced labor in the serum processors or by the hoverguards.
“That’s horrible,” said Glissa.
“Yes,” said Bruenna, “but that means once inside Lumengrid, we’ll be able to walk around freely. Humans are discouraged from talking to one another, and the vedalken won’t even notice us. Just keep your hood up.”
“You think this diver will get us inside undetected?”
Bruenna nodded. “I had planned to pilot the diver in through the waste tubes below Lumengrid, but with no power, it is little more than an iron tube now. That is why I will have to provide air. I will have to concentrate the whole time we are under the sea.”
“How long can you do that?”
“Long enough,” said Bruenna. “We will tow the diver most of the way. Then Bosh will take us down to the bottom.”
Glissa called down to Slobad and Bosh. “Are you two sure Bosh won’t have any trouble under the quicksilver?” she asked. “Didn’t the Dross get inside of him and clog his gears?”
“That took long time,” said Slobad. “Maybe hundreds of cycles. Bosh okay for short trip.”
Glissa looked at Bruenna. “He grows on you after a while.”
“He would have to.”
* * * * *
Bosh cleared a path through the shed while Bruenna opened a chest and pulled out a large coil of braided leather. Glissa had seen these attached to the boats and the docks outside. Bruenna tied the two ends of the rope to the iron rings and handed the coils to Bosh.
“Wrap this around your torso,” she said to Bosh. “I will levitate the diver. You just pull it with the rope. Glissa and Slobad, you will need to guide the diver on either side.”
Bosh looped the rope around his body a few times, then walked toward the door. Glissa moved to the back of the diver. It floated into the air and began moving. It was a slow process. Bruenna couldn’t move very quickly while keeping the diver in the air, and Glissa and Slobad had trouble controlling it. Several times, Glissa pushed too hard and sent Slobad diving to the ground as the diver swung over his head.
It was easier once they tied the diver to the boat. Slobad navigated it out from shore while Bruenna kept the diver aloft. Once the diver was over the sea, Bruenna eased it down. It sank about halfway into the silvery sea but remained afloat. The mage guided the boat and diver away from town.
“Can’t we go any faster?” asked Glissa.
“We are straining the power of the boat as it is,” said Bruenna. “I am afraid to push too hard. I might burn out the mana orb. Then we would be stranded until my villagers head to the crystal islands in the morning. We should be able to make it to the abandoned island before the blue sun rises.”
“What do we do from there?”
“Submerge.”
* * * * *
Both the blue and red moon had risen by the time they pulled into the cave beneath the abandoned tower, but Glissa was sure nobody had spotted them.
“How far is it to Lumengrid?” she asked.
“Not far by boat,” returned Bruenna. “I think it will take most of the day in the diver.”
“Why not get closer, huh?” asked Slobad. “Not spend so much time trapped under silver water. Seem dangerous to Slobad.”
Glissa answered. “Because someone might see the abandoned boat and get suspicious.” She turned back to Bruenna. “Can you keep the quicksilver out that long?”
“I will not have to,” said the human. “The Quicksilver Sea is actually quite shallow. We should be able to ride on top most of the way to Lumengrid.”
“Let’s do it.”
Slobad helped secure the rope around Bosh. “If see trouble,” said Slobad, “pull this rope to untie, huh?”
“Fine,” said Bosh. He turned to jump into the sea.
“Be careful, huh?”
“You as well,” said the golem.
Bosh stepped off the boat and sank into the quicksilver. Glissa could just see the top of his head as he walked away from the boat. The quicksilver swirled around him, covering and uncovering his iron head as he moved.
The other three scrambled onto the diver. Bruenna dropped through the opening, and Glissa and Slobad followed her down. The diver was cramped and dark inside. Glissa could barely stand up straight and then only if she stood underneath the hole. Slobad was more at home in the cramped space. He immediately crawled into the back of the diver next to the provisions Bruenna had packed and curled up to sleep.
“How do we see where we’re going?” asked Glissa.
“Like this,” said Bruenna. She waved her hand in an arc around her body, and the iron cylinder disappeared. Glissa could see the quicksilver rippling against the invisible diver but couldn’t see anything past that edge, including Bosh. She mentioned this to the mage.
“The quicksilver is completely opaque,” said Bruenna. “You normally cannot see through it at all. That was the hardest part of the diver program. My father and the vedalken he worked for perfected this spell, though.”
She waved her hands again, and it looked as if the sea had parted around them, well out past Bosh—at least where he was supposed to be. Glissa still couldn’t see him. The golem had disappeared along with the quicksilver. She could see the rope. It was wrapped several times around something no longer there.
“Where’s Bosh?” she asked.
“Invisible,” said Bruenna. “It’s a bubble of invisibility. Bosh and the sea are still there. We just can’t see them anymore.”
“Will that work on us?” asked Glissa. “It would make getting into the Pool of Knowledge chamber a lot easier.”
“No,” said Bruenna. “It only works on metal. Take a look at your arms.”
Glissa glanced down at her hands. She couldn’t see them. The human robes covered her forearms. It took her a few seconds to get used to where her invisible hands were so she could pull up the sleeves. When she did, Glissa gasped. Her arms stopped just above her elbows. She fumbled for her sword. It was invisible also.
“We don’t want to walk around like this,” she said. “It would be pretty hard to fight when I can’t see my hands or my weapon.”
They traveled across the Quicksilver Sea most of the day. The rope remained taut, and Glissa could see the horizon move above the surface of the sea when she stood up. Periodically, Bruenna climbed up on top and pulled on the ropes to get Bosh to turn one way or another. The scenery was boring. They were in an open expanse of sea. Glissa could barely see the mountains in the distan
ce past the endless silver sea. She wondered how Bruenna even knew where they were.
Early in the journey a group of silver eels attacked Bosh. Somehow they could sense where he was. They obviously weren’t made of quicksilver—at least not entirely—because Glissa could see them. She would have jumped from the diver to help her friend, but the eels couldn’t harm the metal man. They tried to bite him and wrap themselves around his invisible body, but they didn’t seem to be doing any damage and eventually turned away from the golem and headed for the diver. It was odd to see them swimming through the invisible quicksilver. It looked as if the eels were flying toward them. Glissa recoiled when the eels opened their mouths to attack. But the attacks stopped well short. They banged off the wall of the invisible diver. The eels attacked a few more times, then flew off through the quicksilver wall.
While the blue moon set in the sky behind them, Lumengrid rose up ahead. It looked like an immense mushroom sitting on the sea. The central tower was larger around than the entire crystal island chain. It quickly dominated Glissa’s view. The dome top spread out from the central tower on either side, seeming to reach out to the horizon.
Sitting atop the dome was a massive orb. It looked like a fifth moon—a silver moon—in the sky. Electricity arced out from it, filling the sky with a network of lightning that stretched to the surrounding islands—several dozen smaller towers clustered around the fortress. A system of bridges connected the lesser towers together. The lightning, towers, and bridges looked as if they were all joined together like a giant spider web.
DESCENT
“Time to dive,” called Bruenna. “The sea gets deeper around Lumengrid. Bosh will pull us under any time. I need to start my air spell.”
Bruenna sat in the back of the diver and began moving her hands in an intricate pattern. Her palms danced around each other as she twisted her wrists and slid her arms over and under one another in a sinuous rhythm.
Glissa felt the pressure build around her as the mage’s arms wove their spell. It felt uncomfortable at first, and she found it hard to breathe.
“Relax!” called Bruenna. She spoke slowly and precisely. “Breathe normally. Close your eyes. Lie down. It will help.”
Slobad came over to Glissa and helped her lie down on the bottom of the diver. “Why … aren’t you … having … trouble,” gasped Glissa.
“Underground, undersea,” said Slobad, “no different to goblins, huh?”
He massaged Glissa’s temples. After a few minutes, she was able to breath almost normally again. The elf sat up and looked back at Bruenna. Her arms continued to weave in and around each other. The mage’s eyes had glazed over.
“Are you well?” asked Bruenna. Her voice seemed distant, as if she weren’t really in the diver anymore.
“I’m fine,” Glissa said. “Thank you. Thank you both.”
Glissa turned around to see where they were headed, but she could no longer see Lumengrid. She saw the taut rope coiled around the invisible the golem ahead of them, but they had completely submerged. All she could see above her was swirling quicksilver at the edge of the invisibility bubble.
“Does he know where to go?” she asked Bruenna, pointing toward the end of the rope.
“Hard to miss, huh?” said Slobad. “Lumengrid huge. Bosh not need eyes to walk straight.”
“Let’s hope so,” said Glissa, speaking so the goblin alone could hear her. “I feel trapped in here. What if something happens to Bosh or Bruenna? We should have a plan.”
“If plans make you happy,” said Slobad, “plan away. I sit and rest for both of us, huh?”
Glissa stared out the front of the diver and watched the rope bounce up and down. As the minutes wore on and the diver moved through the invisible quicksilver, Glissa became increasingly aware that she was completely out of her element here. She must rely on her friends. It was a strange sensation.
A swarm of the eels slithered from the opaque quicksilver, nipping at the invisible golem again. At first, the attack went as before. Glissa could see their open mouths stop short and bounce off when they hit what must have been Bosh’s legs. One wrapped itself around what must have been the golem’s neck or head—it was well above the ropes and narrower than his chest. It was strange watching the eel try to squeeze something that Glissa couldn’t even see. None of the eels seem to bother Bosh at all. At least, he wasn’t doing anything about them. The ropes continued to bounce up and down and the diver kept moving forward.
Glissa wondered how long it would take for the eels to give up again. Several more creatures joined the first one around Bosh’s neck and head area. They seemed to merge together and grow longer. Once four or five had wrapped themselves together, Glissa could see the golem’s head and neck outlined in the bodies of the silver eels. The eels striking at the golem’s feet also merged together and wrapped around both of his legs. Glissa almost laughed as she looked at the strange golem with a silver head and legs but no torso.
Bosh came to a halt, unable to move his legs any longer.
Glissa jumped up. “Slobad, Bruenna!” she called. “Bosh is in trouble.”
“I cannot help him,” said Bruenna, her face pale. “I must concentrate on the air.”
“What matter, huh?” asked Slobad groggily.
“He’s being attacked by those silver eels,” said Glissa. “They’ve wrapped up his legs. He can’t move.”
“What can we do?” asked Slobad. “Bosh out there. We in here, huh?”
Glissa watched as Bosh’s eel-wrapped head bent down. The sea creatures around his legs began to pull away. The golem was trying to pull them off. Glissa knew how hard it must be, since Bosh couldn’t even see his own hands. The eel around the golem’s head peeled away slightly and swam upward, yanking Bosh’s head back straight. The eels around his legs tightened their grip again. Several more eels merged together and began coiling around the middle of the golem.
“They’re wrapping up his arms now,” cried Glissa. “He needs help! I must get to him.”
“You cannot,” said Bruenna. “No air out there.”
“You control the wind,” shouted Glissa. “Make some air!”
Two eels broke away from the attack and headed toward the diver. Glissa didn’t flinch this time as the eels slithered toward her. She thought they might merge and attack the diver. Instead, they cut across in front of the diver and bit through the ropes tethering it to Bosh. The diver began to drift up and away from Bosh.
“Flare!” shouted Glissa. “We’re heading for the surface.”
“Wait,” said Bruenna. “Let me try something.”
She increased the speed of her hand-dance and muttered a few more words. The pressure Glissa had felt on her chest since they dived under the quicksilver decreased. The diver dropped to the bottom of the sea. The sudden jolt startled Glissa. She forced herself to take a few slow deep breaths to relax.
“Extended air bubble … out to Bosh,” gasped Bruenna. “Quickly. Cannot … hold it … long.”
“Slobad,” called Glissa. “Come with me!”
The elf dropped her cloak and scrambled from the diver. It took her several tries to grab the lip. She couldn’t see her hands or the diver. She had to feel around for the opening, then pull herself up. Getting Slobad out proved even harder. She couldn’t see his hands, and he couldn’t see hers. He finally held his satchel up, and she grabbed at it, pulling the goblin through the hole.
Glissa jumped off the diver to the sea floor and sank up to her ankles in muck. Slobad dropped beside her, but his wide feet kept him from sinking as far. Glissa tried to lift her legs, but her feet were stuck fast. She pushed her hands down into the muck to pull them free. An invisible claw skewered her boot and scraped her leg as she struggled. When she finally pulled that foot free, Glissa could see her hands again. The muck had coated them. She pulled her other foot free, then drew her sword and spread mud on the blade.
She turned toward Bosh. He was almost completely covered in thick eels.
They didn’t seem bothered at all by the air surrounding the golem. They writhed around him. Glissa could see his entire shape now. Those eels caught swimming when the wave of air expanded now slithered across the seabed toward the golem.
Slobad stood staring at his hands. Glissa couldn’t tell what he was doing until a jet of fire sprang forth from his fist. His fire tube was invisible as well, but she could see the flame.
Slobad fiddled with the tube until flame turned into a bright white blade of fire, then moved up to an eel slithering on the ground and jabbed it with the flame-blade. The thin flame sliced through the eel, cutting it in half. The heat from the flame scarred and blackened the edges of each half as it cut. The two halves flopped uncontrollably. The blackness spread along the silvery eel’s body. After a moment, there was nothing left but a pile of ash atop the muck.
Glissa moved in slowly behind the goblin, walking on her toes to keep from getting stuck again. “Use your fire on the eels covering Bosh,” cried Glissa. “I’ll keep the others off you.”
Glissa stabbed an eel slithering toward the goblin’s foot, slicing it in half. She skewered a second and third eel as Slobad burned away the writhing mass attached to Bosh. She glanced at Bosh and Slobad. The goblin had cleared off most of the golem’s legs, which were covered in ash. The rest of the eels continued to squirm around Bosh. They bulged around his torso, as if Bosh was trying to break free from the inside.
Glissa scanned the surrounding quicksilver to see if any more eels might swim into the air bubble. She saw a few eel heads poke through the silver curtain, but they disappeared a moment later. The elf looked back toward the diver to check behind them. She saw the wriggling halves of the eels she cut inching their way across the muck. Each half had grown a new end. Where there had been three eels, Glissa now had six to contend with.
The Moons of Mirrodin Page 24