The Moons of Mirrodin

by Will McDermott

  Glissa could see the horror in Daven’s eyes as he released Bruenna’s arm. The human path behind the vedalken closed, but everyone around Glissa’s group seemed to melt away into the crowd, even those humans tending stalls. Daven dropped his head and said, “I have it, my lord. I was on my way to bring it to you.”

  “Then do so now, for if you and the phial are not within my quarters by the time I return, your pay will be docked for an entire phase,” said the vedalken.

  Glissa dared not turn around. The voice had the same deep resonance as the one she had heard in the Tangle when Kane died. The commanding tone and the lingering memory made Glissa freeze. She hardly dared breathe. The voice must have had the same effect on the humans, for Daven still hadn’t moved.

  “Take it to the lab,” said the vedalken, “and be quick about it.”

  Daven and his friends disappeared into the crowd around Glissa and Bruenna. Bruenna tried to follow Daven away from the vedalken, and Glissa followed. They had only taken a few steps, though, when the voice boomed behind them.

  “Halt,” said the vedalken. “I do not recall dismissing you yet, Bruenna, or is your business so pressing that you cannot spare a moment for your father’s old employer?”

  Bruenna turned around. “We are on business for the Synod, Lord Pontifex.”

  “I had not heard you were coming to Lumengrid, but if you have business with the Synod, I am headed toward the upper levels myself—you may accompany me.”

  Bruenna nodded. “Thank you, lord. We appreciate your time.”

  “What are you doing?” whispered Glissa, but Bruenna didn’t answer.

  Pontifex turned and headed back through the crowd. Those nearest to the vedalken must have been watching him, for they immediately moved to the side to give Pontifex room. The humans in the market parted once again for the vedalken, and Bruenna and Glissa followed in his wake.

  “I have never had a chance to tell you how sorry I was to hear about your father’s death,” said Pontifex as he led them from the market and back into a long, curving corridor.

  “Thank you, my lord,” said Bruenna.

  Glissa couldn’t read vedalken speech patterns well enough yet to tell if Pontifex was earnest in his sympathy, but Bruenna’s answer had a definite edge to it.

  “I have kept an eye on your career for many cycles, and I see you have done well for yourself since his death, though,” continued Pontifex.

  “I live to serve, my lord,” she replied.

  There was a definite edge to their conversation. Glissa could tell there was bad blood between these two, and there was more going on here than a chance meeting between old friends. So why were they following him? They were making better time, as the vedalken had access to more direct routes between the stairwells. But Glissa knew that Slobad and Bosh would be ready soon. They needed to make a break for it. Glissa watched for an opportunity, but there were a lot more vedalken on the upper floors. She was just about ready to stab the vedalken, when he stopped in front of a door.

  “I must make a short detour on our trip that won’t take long. Wait here, won’t you?” Pontifex passed his hand over the door, and it dissolved in front of him. He stepped through, and the door appeared again behind him.

  “What are you doing?” asked Glissa again.

  “Playing along,” said Bruenna. “How could I refuse? It would have looked suspicious. Besides, he could lead us right to the Pool.”

  “I don’t know,” said Glissa. “You two have history going on that I don’t like. Who is this Pontifex, anyway?”

  “Pontifex is the vedalken’s most respected researcher,” said Bruenna. “He was my father’s master. He … was also responsible for Father’s death.”

  “Then why are we following him?” asked Glissa. “Let’s go now, while we can.”

  “I think …” The door opened again in front of them.

  Both women looked up to see a trio of guards emerge from the door and surround them. Glissa whipped back her robe and pulled out her sword. But as soon as she got it free of the sheath, the sword was ripped from her hands by some unseen force. The silver blade flew past the guards into the waiting hands of Pontifex.

  “Please be more civil, my dear Glissa,” said Pontifex, lowering a staff, “for you are my guest now.”

  PONTIFEX

  Pontifex marched them down the corridor. Glissa and Bruenna were held firmly in the grasp of two guards behind the vedalken. Their feet swayed above the floor as the guards flew through the endless corridors of Lumengrid. The third silver guard hovered next to Pontifex, carrying Glissa’s sword.

  The elf looked at Bruenna. The guard had its arms wrapped around her, holding her arms against her sides. From what she had seen, Glissa didn’t think Bruenna could cast spells without her hands free. Instead, Glissa concentrated on her own hands. She tried to summon the power she’d used to destroy the aerophins in the Tangle. But control over that power still eluded her. She stared at her sword just out of reach. She couldn’t wait for Slobad and Bosh. They seemed overdue. She needed to distract Pontifex and get her hands on the sword.

  “Where are you taking us?” she asked.

  “Why, to the Synod, of course,” replied Pontifex. “For you, my dear—and I must thank you, Bruenna, for delivering her to me—will finally buy me a seat on the council.”

  Glissa glared at Bruenna. The human mage shook her head.

  “No,” she said, “I never meant—”

  “Of course you didn’t mean to,” said Pontifex, “but I knew it was only a matter of time. Bruenna has longed to enter the Pool of Knowledge ever since her father died for his indiscretions.”

  “If you’ve known about her treachery for so long, why not just kill her?”

  “Because it’s so much easier to keep an eye on her in that big house of hers,” said Pontifex. “Think of it as an experiment—an experiment in human nature. My hypothesis—and it appears that the data has proved it correct—was that given enough time, Bruenna would provide me with what her father couldn’t.”

  “A seat on the Synod,” stated Glissa.

  Pontifex turned to Glissa and smiled. “You’re intelligent, especially for a warrior. It might prove interesting, once all of this is over, to study your race for possible use.”

  Glissa ignored the threat. Instead, she probed for more information. The vedalken seemed all too easy to draw out.

  “You exposed her father,” said Glissa. “You had him killed to gain favor with the Synod.”

  “Actually, it was the Synod’s decision to have Donal killed,” said Pontifex, “which was a shame, and I was sorry to see it happen, as he was an able assistant and brilliant—for a human. You see, I was more interested to find out what a taste of the Pool would have done to his abilities.”

  “You sent him in there,” accused Bruenna. “He respected you, said you were different from the other vedalken, but you sent him into the Pool just to get a seat on the Synod.”

  Pontifex stared at Bruenna for a moment, then smirked. “You humans never cease to amaze me. Your vision is so limited that you can’t see the larger ramifications of your own actions. Your father’s death was not the path to the Synod—as you can see, since I am still searching for that position. No, I had much larger plans for your father after his trip into the Pool. But I’ve always been patient—that’s why I am such a respected researcher—and that patience has paid off. By delivering Glissa, my seat on the Synod is assured.”

  “Why am I so important?” asked Glissa.

  They were ascending a curving stairway, and Pontifex fell silent again. Glissa wondered if the vedalken didn’t know or just didn’t want to tell her. Then she saw another vedalken coming toward them down the stairs. They had passed many human mages on their way, but none had even glanced up at Glissa and Bruenna as they went by, and Pontifex hadn’t even noticed the humans when they passed.

  Evidently Pontifex did care if another vedalken knew what he was doing. Glissa half-hoped a
dispute might erupt over who got to deliver her to the Synod. It might giver her a chance to get to her sword. However, the other vedalken didn’t give Pontifex or the guards a second look. Apparently, disciplining humans was an ordinary occurrence.

  “Do you mean to tell me that you haven’t figured out why you are important, my dear?” he asked. “Perhaps I was wrong about your species, after all.”

  “I know it has something to do with the serum,” said Glissa. “Are you afraid I’ll expose your extermination of the blinkmoths?”

  The vedalken’s laugh grated against Glissa’s back teeth. It sounded like someone scraping a vorrac tusk against a Tangle tree. “Who could you tell who would believe you and have enough power to stop us?”

  “Memnarch?” asked Glissa.

  Pontifex stopped at the top of the stairs and turned, towering over Glissa. “What do you know of Memnarch?” he asked.

  “I now know that you fear him,” said Glissa, undaunted by the vedalken’s presence.

  “Fear him?” snorted Pontifex. “Memnarch is our god. We revere his name and serve at his command. If Memnarch commanded your death, it would be my pleasure to carry out the deed.”

  Had Memnarch not commanded her death? Glissa didn’t understand. She remembered something Strang mentioned right before he died. He said Glissa was in the vedalken’s way.

  She could use that.

  “Memnarch didn’t order my death, did he? Someone has. It was the Synod, wasn’t it? Why have the vedalken forsaken their god, Pontifex?”

  Pontifex took a step down the stairway toward Glissa and pointed his staff at her face. “I will kill you myself for even suggesting such a thing.”

  Before the vedalken could unleash his spell, Glissa heard a rumbling from far below. It was time. Bosh and Slobad had started the diversion. The rumbling grew louder, and Pontifex stumbled a step as the floor beneath him began to shake. Explosions rocked the base of Lumengrid. The tower swayed back and forth around them. The guards bumped into each other as their thrusters tried to compensate for the moving floor and walls.

  Another, larger explosion shook the tower. Pontifex lost his footing on the unstable steps and pitched forward down the stairs. The falling vedalken barreled into Glissa and the guard. Pontifex grabbed for the guard, but Glissa kicked him away. He dropped his staff and tumbled down the steps. The force of her kick slammed the guard into the wall. He lost his grip on Glissa, and she fell to the steps. The elf kicked out at the guard holding Bruenna, sending it into the opposite wall, where it dropped the female mage.

  “Bruenna,” shouted Glissa. “My sword. Quick.”

  Bruenna waved her hands at the third guard and muttered a quick spell. The guard flew up into the air and smashed its crystal globe into the ceiling. Glissa covered her face as the guard exploded. When she opened her eyes, the sword was in front of her. She grabbed the sword and swung it at the guard behind her, slicing through the guard’s silver arm as it reached forward to grab her again. A second swing cut off its head. The guard’s body fell to the ground, and its head rolled down the stairs past Pontifex. The researcher was reaching for his staff.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Glissa saw the last guard raise its weapon arm and point it at her. She dived past the advancing vedalken just before the guard shot. She rolled to a stop and looked back. The vedalken was pinned against the wall of the stairs, a harpoon jutting from his robes. Before the guard could get another shot off, Bruenna waved her hands and tossed it down the steps with a blast of air. The resulting explosion told the women they were now alone with Pontifex.

  The vedalken had all four arms on the harpoon and was trying to pull it out. His arms were thin and frail. Glissa wondered if vedalken bodies were as pathetic under those robes. She picked up his staff and watched him struggle.

  “I’m guessing those spindly arms can’t do much beyond hold this staff,” she said to the pinned researcher. “All of your power is right here, isn’t it?” Glissa snapped the staff over her knee and tossed the broken pieces down the stairs.

  “Your only hope of getting out of this alive,” continued Glissa, “is to do exactly as we say.”

  “Kill him,” said Bruenna, coming up behind Glissa. “If you won’t do it, then get out of my way.” Bruenna waved her hands at Pontifex and sent a blast of wind at the vedalken. He slammed back against the wall and the harpoon barb.

  Pontifex screamed in pain. Luckily, his scream was just one of many echoing through the corridors. Human mages ran up and down the stairs as explosions continued to reverberate throughout the complex. Nobody seemed to know what was happening or what they should do. Their little tableau on the stairs was just a minor drama amidst the chaos of Lumengrid.

  Glissa wheeled on Bruenna. “We need him alive,” she said.

  “He killed my father. He deserves to die.”

  “Then your father died for nothing,” said Glissa. “Pontifex can get us into the Pool chamber. He can probably get us the serum we need. We can enter the Pool together. Use the man who betrayed your father to realize your father’s dream.”

  “Why should I help you?” moaned Pontifex.

  “Because I will let you live if you help us.”

  “Why exactly should I trust you, you who blaspheme our god and come here to destroy us?” asked Pontifex.

  “You can’t,” said Glissa. She grabbed the harpoon and wrenched it to the side. Pontifex screamed again. “But your only other choice is to die right here.”

  “Fine,” said Pontifex. “I will take you to the Pool chamber, and I’ll even get the serum for you, but you’ll never get out of here alive.”

  “We’ll see,” said Glissa. “But for now, shut up. You talk too much.” She turned to Bruenna. “Hold his arms still.”

  Bruenna cast a spell, and a vortex of wind surrounded the vedalken, pinning all four arms against his side. Glissa reached up just outside the swirling vortex and grasped the harpoon. With a quick twist of her wrists, she snapped the shaft off. She then took her sword and sliced through the head of the harpoon behind Pontifex.

  Pontifex slumped forward, perhaps weak from loss of blood. The whirlwind kept him from falling. Glissa put her hands up near the wound and summoned her own mana. Her palms glowed green and she grasped the broken shaft again. She fed enough healing energy down the harpoon to close the wound around the weapon.

  “I’ll get that out after you deliver the serum,” she said. “Until then, it’ll be a reminder of who’s in charge here.” Glissa twisted the shaft before letting go, then pulled his robe over the broken end of the harpoon to hide it. “Lead the way.”

  They followed Pontifex through the chaos and panic of the tower. Glissa held her sword ready under her cloak and told Bruenna to keep a reserve of mana ready should she need to bind Pontifex again. Most of the humans they saw rushed past the trio, giving the vedalken a wide berth. Luckily, the group didn’t see any other vedalken.

  After a while, the explosions stopped, but the chaos didn’t. The tower continued to sway, and the humans seemed intent on getting out as quickly as possible. Pontifex had trouble walking through the rocking tower. It seemed to be a lot harder for him than for Glissa or the humans. He kept falling into the wall as he moved. She hoped that was what was keeping the other vedalken holed up in their chambers.

  They reached another stairway, but it was jammed with people pushing their way down toward the lower levels of the swaying tower. When the humans saw Pontifex, though, they fell silent and parted in front of him, just like in the market. The sea of people closed much more quickly behind the vedalken as panic made the humans reckless, even around one of their masters. Bruenna and Glissa had to jostle their way through to keep up.

  As they walked down yet another curving corridor, Glissa saw another vedalken coming toward them. He was having trouble walking as well. “Who is that?” she hissed.

  “Iapetus,” said Pontifex.

  “Synod?” asked Glissa.

  “No,” said Pontifex
. “A minor researcher.”

  “Get rid of him,” said Glissa.

  Pontifex stopped in front of Iapetus. Glissa motioned to Bruenna to stay behind Pontifex, while she moved up beside him to keep an eye on the exchange.

  “What is happening, Lord Pontifex?” asked Iapetus.

  “I do not know,” replied Pontifex, “though I have heard rumors of an invasion of some sort, and I think you should get to the lower levels and secure the humans.” Glissa shot Pontifex a glance and prodded him with the butt of her sword from underneath her cloak. Pontifex continued more succinctly. “I will secure the upper levels.”

  Iapetus turned to pass them, but Pontifex stopped him with a hand on the younger researcher’s shoulder. “If you see Janus …” he began, but Bruenna bumped into him, jarring the harpoon lodged inside his body. Pontifex moaned. “Tell him I have the situation under control here. Now go. Hurry.”

  Iapetus trotted down the corridor and out of sight around a curve. Glissa prodded Pontifex again with her sword. “Watch your mouth,” she said. “Who is Janus?”

  “Lord Janus is the leader of the Synod, who will—”

  Glissa pushed Pontifex forward. “That’s all I need to know,” she said, and fell in behind the vedalken as they made their way on down the corridor. “Sounds like someone I should like to meet.”

  “I believe you already have,” said Pontifex, “and the next time you two meet, I don’t think you will be so lucky.”

  “Just keep moving,” said Glissa. “How much farther to the Pool chamber?”

  “It is just ahead,” said Pontifex. As they continued around the curve a door came into view. Two guards stood to either side of the door. Pontifex broke into a run and screamed, “Guards. Attack the humans!”

  “Flare,” said Glissa. She whipped off the cloak and brought up her sword. She ran after Pontifex, using his flowing robes to shield her from the guards. Two harpoons flew past her on either side of the running vedalken. She heard a whoosh of wind from behind her. Glissa thrust her sword down between the vedalken’s legs to trip him and dodged to the side as he fell.