Another harpoon came directly at her, but Glissa rebounded off the wall from its path. The large missile skidded off the wall, gouging out a chunk of the silvery metal before clattering to the floor. Glissa stepped on Pontifex and leaped at the nearest guard. She flew through the air, leading with her sword, and embedded the blade into the chest of the metal creature.
Glissa dropped to the floor and lifted the guard into the air on her sword. It was amazingly light. The guard tried to propel itself sideways with its hover thruster. Glissa was pulled over and began to lose her balance. She adjusted and used the extra momentum to toss the impaled guard at its partner. It smashed into the second guard just as that one unleashed a blast of lightning. The guards crashed to the ground in a pile, and the bolt flew high, scorching the wall above Glissa’s head.
“That was too close,” the elf snapped. She thrust her sword over her head and jumped into the air above the prone guards. As she came down, Glissa swung her sword down through both guards, cutting one in half and taking the head off the one underneath. After she landed, Glissa beheaded the second guard just to be sure, then kicked both heads down the corridor away from Bruenna and Pontifex.
She turned around to find Bruenna holding their hostage to the ground with a wall of wind.
“You looked like you had everything under control,” said Bruenna.
Glissa smiled. “Looks like you were right,” she said. “Let him up. It’s time he opened that door.”
Glissa grabbed Pontifex by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. She kept one hand on the harpoon shaft hidden under his robe in case he tried anything else. She pushed him toward the door. “Open it,” she said.
“I’m sorry, but that may be a bit of a problem …” began Pontifex.
Glissa jostled the harpoon, causing the vedalken to moan in pain. “Why?” she asked.
“Without the guards to verify my identity,” he replied, “the door will only open for a member of the Synod.”
“Try anyway,” said Glissa.
Pontifex waved his hand over the door and muttered a few words. Glissa saw mana streak from his hand to the door and another bolt of mana streak back and spread across his fingers. But nothing happened. The door remained closed. He can do some magic without his staff, Glissa realized. I wonder how helpless he really is right now?
“Only a member of the Synod can open that door for you now.” He smirked at them. “Too bad your father wasn’t more help to me, my dear Bruenna, or I might have the power you so badly need right now.”
“Let’s see you smile after I crack open your dome,” said Bruenna. She advanced on Pontifex, waving her hands in front of her. Mana built up in her palms.
“Wait,” said Glissa.
“Why?” asked Bruenna. “He’s no more good to us.”
“He may yet be,” said Glissa. “I have an idea.”
Glissa reached up and yanked on the leather strap she wore around her neck. The leather snapped and Glissa pulled the remnants of the strap from underneath her blouse. A shriveled thumb and forefinger dangled on the end of the leather. If Pontifex was telling the truth about her previous encounter, these belonged to Janus, the leader of the Synod. Glissa tossed the leather strap to Pontifex.
“Hold these in your hand and try again,” she said.
Pontifex looked at the severed digits and shuddered. “Where did you get …?”
Glissa twisted the harpoon shaft again. “Don’t worry about that. Just do as you’re told.”
Pontifex curled his thumb around the severed ends of the digits and held his palm up toward the door again. His hand shook as he performed the door-opening spell, but this time, when the energy spread across his fingers, it seemed to linger on the extra finger and thumb for a second. The door disappeared in front of them.
“Inside,” said Glissa. She pushed Pontifex through the door and followed him into the room. The Pool chamber was perfectly round and larger than the central courtyard at Taj Nar. The ceiling overhead was domed, giving Glissa the feeling that she was standing in an upside-down bowl.
The entire room was made of the same shimmering silver as the rest of the complex, but the light from the walls seemed to flicker around them. At first Glissa thought there might be a problem, that perhaps Slobad’s explosions had somehow affected the chamber. But then she realized it was just the reflection of the Pool on the walls.
The Pool of Knowledge itself dominated the center of the large room. But it was difficult to see where the floor ended and the Pool began. It looked very much like the Quicksilver Sea—silver like the surrounding floor, but alive. Ripples moved randomly across the surface, going in several directions at once, often colliding with each other and starting anew. The only way to see the edge of the Pool was to watch the ripples hit the side and bounce back toward the middle. Light from the walls reflected off the ripples and bounced all over the room.
Glissa moved to the edge and looked down into the pool. Unlike the Quicksilver Sea, she could see down into the Pool of Knowledge. But her vision was distorted by fleeting images. They almost looked like reflections, but the images moved and changed as the ripples washed over them. Glissa saw herself walking around the room, even though she never moved from the Pool. It was hypnotic and a little scary.
She moved away from the edge and shook her head to clear her mind. Across the pool, Glissa saw another door. “Where does that lead?” she asked.
“That is where we keep the serum,” he replied, “which, as you know, is necessary to activate the Pool. Without the serum, you cannot control the Pool, cannot tune into the visions you wish to view. You are at the Pool’s mercy, and—”
“Be quiet already,” said Glissa. “Bruenna, go with Pontifex and get two vials of serum. Be careful.”
Pontifex moved around the pool to the other side, followed closely by Bruenna. Glissa watched them but kept an eye on the door to the corridor as well. Pontifex waved his hand over the door and it disappeared. Glissa glanced over and saw that the room beyond was larger than just a storage room.
“Look out!” she shouted. But it was too late. Pontifex dived to the side as a harpoon flew past him. Bruenna tried to jump from the way, but the missile slammed into her thigh. The impact spun the mage around. She fell hard on the floor beside the door. The head of the harpoon, and part of her bone, stuck out from the back of her leg.
A squad of guards glided into the room in front of another vedalken.
“Hello, Glissa,” said the vedalken. “I am pleased to see you again.”
JANUS
“Janus,” said Glissa. She pointed her sword at the vedalken across the Pool. “I’ve been looking for you.”
The guards broke into two groups of four and glided around both sides of the pool.
“Save your bravado,” said the vedalken leader. “It does not frighten me or my guards.”
Glissa waited. Janus seemed content to let his guards take care of her. His mistake. She waited until the groups were halfway around either side of the Pool, then made her move. Glissa ran toward one group. The guards raised their weapon arms and fired. Glissa dived forward underneath the harpoons. She rolled and came up running, barreling into the guards before they could fire again.
Glissa tumbled to the ground atop one of the guards. Her sword fell from her hand and skittered across the floor, out of reach. The guard wrapped its arms around Glissa and held her fast. She pushed against the ground, trying to break free, but the guard’s grip was too strong. Maybe she had made the mistake. The hair on the back of her neck began to tingle. The other guards had recovered. She pushed hard with one hand and rolled over, pulling the construct over on top of her. A bolt of lightning slammed into the guard, knocking it off Glissa. But now she was exposed, and the tingling had not subsided. Glissa rolled across the floor as two more bolts impacted behind her.
She grabbed her sword as she rolled over it, and swung it at the nearest guard. The blade bit into the base of the construct and stuck. Glissa
rolled over again and spun the impaled guard onto the floor. Its weapon arm snapped off as the guard slammed into the floor. Glissa jumped to her feet, yanked her sword out, and kicked the helpless guard across the floor toward its two companions.
As the two guards glided from the path of the skidding construct, Glissa glanced at the other group. They had reached the other door. They would be in harpoon range soon. She was running out of time. Glissa got an idea. She scooped up a harpoon from the broken weapon arm and hurled it at the head of the closest guard. The missile smashed through the creature’s globe top. Lightning crackled back along the shaft. Glissa dived to the side as the guard’s head exploded. Shards of glass and metal shredded the guard standing next to it. The tattered remains of both guards dropped to the ground and fell into the Pool of Knowledge.
Glissa scrambled back to her feet and moved around the Pool, away from the second group of guards. Janus moved.
“Aren’t you afraid of Memnarch finding out about your campaign to kill me?” she asked Janus as she closed on him.
The vedalken didn’t seem cowed by her words or her quick disposal of half his guards.
“I don’t know what you think you know,” he said, “but the truth of this world would make you want to curl up in the crook of one of your Tangle trees and cry yourself to sleep. Why don’t you leave the running of Mirrodin to your masters?”
Glissa continued to stalk around the Pool, just out of range of the oncoming guards. Pontifex was backing away as well, but the vedalken leader held his ground. “So now you’re my master?” she asked. “Hardly.”
“Ah, but I do know how to control you, as I proved in that dark little forest of yours,” said Janus.
Pontifex stepped past Bruenna. The female mage had pushed herself into the wall. She was now tying a strip of her cloak around her thigh to stop the bleeding. “Pontifex,” said Janus, “grab the human traitor and bring her to me, if you please.”
“Leave her out of this,” said Glissa. She broke into a run.
“Stop,” said Janus, “or I will kill her, and you know I can do it—I proved that in the Tangle as well.”
Glissa stopped. “Don’t you people ever tire of hearing yourself speak?” she taunted. The guards continued to move toward her.
Janus smiled. “You brought her into this—bound her to your destiny,” said Janus, “so don’t blame me if you cause her death.”
Pontifex moved in on Bruenna. But when he bent down to grab her, she thrust her arms up and released a huge blast of wind. The vedalken researcher flew into the air, riding Bruenna’s vortex. He slammed into the ceiling above the Pool. Then Bruenna released the spell and let him fall. A huge wave of silvery liquid washed across the chamber, drenching Glissa’s legs and pushing the guards back into the wall. Glissa watched Pontifex sink from sight, pulled down by the weight of his robes.
“I’m not dead yet!” spat Bruenna. But the backwash began pulling her across the slippery floor toward the Pool’s edge.
Glissa started forward, but the hair on the back of her neck began to tingle. She looked at the approaching guards. Their heads glowed with crackling energy. She twirled and flung her sword at the group. All four guards flew back a few feet and shot their beams of lightning at the sword. The energy disappeared into the blade as it clattered to the floor.
Glissa glanced back at Bruenna, but Janus rushed forward and grabbed her by the neck. He lifted the mage off the floor and flung her back against the wall. Bruenna crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
The guards advanced again, their weapon arms raised. Glissa needed to rid herself of them quickly so she could confront Janus without further interruptions. She raced toward the guards, dodging back and forth to avoid harpoons. As she reached the first, Glissa threw up an arm to block its attack. Metal clanged against metal and pain shot up her arm, but she got inside its reach. Glissa grabbed the construct around the torso and twisted it around to keep its weapons pointed away from her. She spun to face the other guards. With no clear shot past her hover shield, the guards hesitated.
Glissa took the opening and rushed forward. She slammed her shield guard into the next guard in line and shoved them both over the lip of the Pool. They fired their thrusters over the glistening liquid, but that did little more than create large ripples that splashed over the edge. Both guards dropped into the Pool of Knowledge, firing their harpoons wildly before sinking from sight.
Glissa stood between the last two guards. They raised their arms to fire. Glissa kicked out at the one behind her as she ducked under the harpoon arm of the one in front of her. Its shot flew over Glissa and slammed into the reeling guard behind her, sending it over the edge of the Pool as well, where it sank down next to its companions. Glissa grabbed her sword as she straightened up, and whirled completely around, swinging the sword in a blazing circle. Electricity still crackled up and down the blade as it sliced through the last guard, just below its domed head.
Glissa turned and glared at Janus. The vedalken stood over the unconscious Bruenna, holding her head up by the hair with one hand while pointing his staff at her face with another. His second set of hands clapped very slowly.
“Impressive,” he said. “But ultimately futile. I don’t think you want another death on your hands. Give yourself up to me and I will spare the human’s life.”
* * * * *
Janus shifted his hand on the staff and it flashed. The doors on either side opened. Six more guards flew into the room through each door and moved to surround Glissa. She was trapped and her arm ached from the guard’s blow. She couldn’t handle another dozen guards. Glissa thought for a moment about diving into the Pool, but if she left, Bruenna would surely die.
“How do I know I can trust you?” she asked.
“You do not,” said Janus, “but you have no other choice, do you?”
“You will release all of my friends?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“And leave the other races alone?”
“You have my word.”
The guards lined up on either side of Glissa. She could feel their energy pulsing across the hairs on the back of her neck. She truly had no choice. “Then I surrender,” she said.
“Take her,” said Janus. Two guards moved in and grabbed Glissa’s arms. Pain shot up her sore arm when the guard wrenched it up away from her. The other ten guards circled around her. “Now hold her so she can watch as I melt another one of her friends!”
“No!” screamed Glissa. Janus began his spell. Mana built up around the top of his staff. Glissa’s rage and fear triggered something inside, just as it had after Kane’s death. In an instant, green tendrils of energy enveloped her body and coursed up and down her arms and legs. Without even thinking, Glissa unleashed the power.
The tendrils coalesced around her hands and flashed to the guards holding her. Both guards went rigid and began shaking as energy spiraled around and through their bodies. A moment later, tendrils shot from the two guards holding her out to the ten surrounding guards. A spider web of emerald energy pulsed around Glissa as the guards shuddered and broke apart under the magical onslaught.
Then it ended, as quickly as it began. All twelve guards disintegrated into piles of fine silver powder around Glissa. The entire incident happened before Janus could finish summoning mana. Glissa slumped to the floor, spent. Her arms and legs felt dead. Her heart was racing, and she couldn’t catch her breath. She rested on her hands and knees and stared at Janus across the Pool.
The vedalken didn’t speak. He merely dropped Bruenna’s body and began moving around the pool toward Glissa. The end of his staff pulsed with energy.
“Why?” asked Glissa as she continued to gasp for air. “Why do you want me dead?”
“Because you threaten our way of life, our mastery of this world,” said Janus. “Because Memnarch will use you to destroy Mirrodin, and it is our duty as the master race to protect the other races—from you!”
“Liar!” someone screamed.
Pontifex rose up from the Pool behind Janus. He floated above the liquid, his wet robes matted against his body, glistening in the flickering lights of the room. “Liar!” he screamed again. With a flip of his hand Pontifex flew toward his leader. Liquid sprayed from his robes behind him like a wake as he slammed into Janus and pushed him back into the wall of the chamber. Pontifex grabbed Janus’s staff and tossed it to the floor behind him. The leader of the Synod grabbed at the researcher’s wet robes and tried to push him away. But Pontifex grabbed the leader’s domed head in two hands and flung it against the wall.
Glissa heard a loud crack. Liquid begin oozing from the dome covering Janus’s head. The leader let go of Pontifex and grabbed at his headpiece with all four hands, frantically trying to find the source of the leak. Pontifex, still holding Janus, turned to look at Glissa, who was still kneeling on the floor watching the strange spectacle.
“He convinced the Synod to destroy the champions of each race,” explained Pontifex, “and told them it was to safeguard our power, told them we would lose our power if Memnarch succeeded.”
“It’s true!” screamed Janus. “Memnarch will destroy the world. We will all be lost.”
“All but you—isn’t that right, Janus?” Pontifex turned to accuse his leader. “I have seen all of your lies, hidden deep within the Pool of Knowledge. You would usurp our god and take his place, dooming us and everyone on Mirrodin—all for your own glory.”
Janus’s robes darkened from the liquid draining from his dome. The level inside the dome had fallen past the top of the leader’s head. Janus began to shake uncontrollably. Glissa glanced over at Bruenna. She still lay unconscious where Janus dropped her, but she was dangerously close to the edge of the Pool.
“You were right, Glissa,” continued Pontifex. “Memnarch doesn’t want you dead, for he needs you alive for the final phase of his grand experiment. Janus ordered you killed because you arrived too soon and upset his own plans, for, you see, this snake planned to take Memnarch’s place in the grand design. But he wasn’t yet ready to move against our god, so you needed to be eliminated.”
The Moons of Mirrodin Page 28