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

by Robert B. Wintermute

  Power sellers, Nissa whispered. Each of those stones is imbued with a bit of the Turntimber s special raw mana. They sell them.

  Sorin looked back where the men stood, watching them. How much do they cost?

  Less than that, Nissa replied.

  Sorin looked where she pointed. A bright red drake the size of a large dog sat on a roost in front of a gray, scale-skinned tent. The creature s bright eyes watched them as they passed.

  They find those drakes in the Makindi Trench, Nissa said, approaching the black tent. She stopped and looked back the way they had come. Every eye in the camp was on them. She turned and said, Keep your lips tight together, and don t look at it.

  With a deep breath, Nissa pushed back the stiff hide hung over the hole and slipped into the tent. The others followed. It was almost totally dark inside. A strange smell filled their noses so that Sorin groaned and Nissa held her breath. Anowon shuffled his feet. Something was buzzing in the tent.

  Khalled? Nissa said.

  There was no sound except for the buzzing.

  Khalled? Nissa repeated.

  More buzzing. Then something stirred. Yes? called a voice.

  Khalled, it is Nissa.

  Nissa. Come closer, child. The voice sounded like it hadn t spoken for millennia.

  She walked in the darkness, feeling ahead with her foot before each step. When she was nearer to the buzzing, a rough hand groped her face.

  Nissa Revane. My nectar.

  She heard Sorin sniff.

  I am here with two friends.

  Friends? They don t smell like friends. Or rather, they smell like friends to each other but not to you.

  Nonetheless

  Have you seen the beautiful flowers outside, Nissa?

  Flowers? I saw no flowers.

  What? No flowers?

  I saw some destroyed tents, Khalled.

  The hand left her face.

  Friends you say Light! Suddenly light from many tiny points filled the room. What was amazing to Nissa was not that Khalled had hundreds of light beetles tethered with string in the corner of the tent. What amazed her was that he d been able, with an enchantment of his devising, to have the beetles light at his command.

  The sides of Khalled s tent were bookshelves, and each and every space on the shelves was crammed with books, scrolls, and reed papers bound with string. Nissa even recognized writings from her people: flat pieces of pale nadi wood graven with pictographs. Nissa noticed that Anowon s eyes were on the books, and for the first time since she had allowed him to travel with them, his eyes were fully open. As he stared, he brought his bound hands up and scratched the side of his nose. She turned.

  Khalled was looking at each of them carefully. Half of his face had been torn to the bone by a kraken, and he wore no adornment except a cloak thrown over his right shoulder and a loin cloth. Nissa noticed that the merfolk had started unbinding his wrist and ankle fins, and their translucent blue shone in the tent.

  I dreamed of an angel with a halo running across its eye line, he said, his eyes moving between Anowon and Sorin.

  With a pulsing, tentacled heart in its hand.

  Sorin smiled uncertainly.

  Ahhh, Khalled said. He reached out and touched the vial of water he had given Nissa, which she kept on a lanyard around her neck. You still possess this. Wonderful.

  It is always my companion, Nissa said.

  That one, Khalled said, pointing at Anowon, is a vampire.

  He is bound, Khalled.

  The ancient merfolk shuffled closer. What do you have hanging from your belt? he asked Anowon.

  Anowon moved his eyes from the books to the merfolk. He looked down at the metal cylinders hanging from his belt.

  Are those text imprinters? Khalled asked.

  For clay?

  Anowon nodded. The merfolk leaned over and took one of the cylinders in his hand and looked closely at it. After a minute, he let the cylinder go, and it bounced against Anowon s thigh.

  Khalled straightened and looked at Anowon. An archaeophile? Khalled asked with an inflection to his voice that said he approved. How do you come here?

  He was Sorin started.

  I was not speaking to you, friend, Khalled said.

  Sorin s smile disappeared.

  Khalled put his iridescent green eyes back on Anowon.

  I was enslaved by the Eldrazi brood lineage, Anowon replied, and brought on their forage raids into the Turntimber Forest.

  Nissa spoke. MossCrack is no more. The Tajuru home tree was attacked, and Speaker Sutina is buried.

  Khalled blinked like he d been slapped. He looked up at the ceiling of the tent where the bugs buzzed and tittered.

  They attacked here some days ago, he said.

  Many have fled. Some were killed.

  Yet you stay?

  The Turntimber is not yet mapped, Khalled said.

  And with the increasing Roil, it becomes ever more difficult.

  But surely, my friend, you would rather travel back to Tazeem, Nissa pressed. To your lighthouse?

  Yes, I can see where you might think that. But no. Khalled said, sighing. Speaker Sutina. She was an unusual elf. I ve told you what I knew about her and that kraken?

  Yes, Nissa said. But Khalled, these two need to get to the Teeth of Akoum. It is found on

  I know where the Teeth of Akoum are, dear child.

  Would you have a map?

  I might, Khalled said. He looked at Sorin for a while. What is it worth to you, and why do you want to go to that place? It is dangerous, and these creatures, these brood as you call them, are everywhere. I have received a speaking hawk from The Lighthouse at Sea Gate telling news of great hordes in the lands to the west.

  The news seemed to trouble Sorin. He pursed his lips. I have my own reasons, old map maker, he said. But maybe I can make it worth your time. He put his hand into his jerkin, and it came out holding something.

  Nissa watched him open his hand. A small black ball, the size of an acorn, rolled in his palm.

  How? Nissa thought, leaning closer for a better look. That wasn t in his pockets when I went through them this morning. There was nothing in those pockets. Where did he get it?

  What is that? Khalled asked. One of the beetles landed on his hand. He stroked it gently, and it glowed brighter.

  It is magic from far away.

  How far away?

  Far.

  The Jah-creed merfolk eyed the ball in Sorin s palm.

  Sorin pushed it toward him. It sees. Would you like to see what it sees?

  No, Khalled said, after a long pause. This smells dark to me. And as much as I love the dark, it tends to have too large an allure for me.

  Sorin s hand closed over the ball. His faced showed no emotion, but Nissa could smell his metallic embarrassment in the air.

  Perhaps Khalled could too, for he shuffled forward. These two will have their map, Nissa. But why do you help them?

  Sorin saved my life, she said.

  Twice, Sorin said.

  Twice, Nissa said.

  Khalled nodded and turned to Anowon. You will make me copies of your books. That is payment for the map Khalled turned Raspin! he called. Oh Raspin?

  A young human boy poked his head into the tent.

  Would you fetch clay? You will find it in the supply tent in the box marked Glyphs.

  The boy pulled his head out.

  And Raspin?

  The boy put his head back in.

  Check with Margen and find out if we ve spotted the enemy today in the west.

  Khalled turned back to the group. We see them almost daily. But they seem to be passing around us. They are odd. First they seem brutes, but then sometimes they do things with extreme forethought. Like the ambushes they have caught us in.

  Sorin said nothing, but Nissa knew he possessed secrets of the brood that he had yet to reveal. They re like ants, Nissa said. It s like they talk with their tentacles like ants do with their antennae.

 
; Khalled nodded as he thought about this. Then nodded. His eyes turned to Anowon. You say these are the Eldrazi of myth? These are the ones who build the palaces and places of power the ones who were put down in the uprising?

  Anowon glanced at Sorin, who was smirking again.

  I am not sure, Anowon continued. I know they came from the Eye of Ugin, which in some of the research I have done is associated with the last resting place of the ancient ones.

  What family do you hail from? Khalled said.

  Anowon looked at the merfolk for an extra heart beat before replying. My family was Ghet. I have been formally cast out.

  Khalled raised his eyebrows. He turned and walked to one of his packed and drooping bookshelves. He drew out a slim but wide book and opened it. As they all watched, he licked his finger and began turning pages. Ah Ghet. He was quiet as he read.

  Sorin yawned.

  Yes, Khalled said as he read. An old family, but of minor designation. Disciplined in past conflicts. Khalled looked up. Your seat is not in Guul Draz?

  Malakir.

  The most marginalized of the vampire families there.

  Anowon said nothing.

  The boy arrived with the clay. He threw aside the flap and walked in teetering under the weight of an entire block. He staggered over to a table and dumped the block on it. The tentacle creatures have been seen massing at the northern gap, he reported.

  Anowon began unwrapping the block with his bound hands. As Nissa watched, he tore a corner of the reddish clay off and began kneading it flat on the table. When it was smooth and of a thickness that seemed to be sufficient, he unclipped one of the metal cylinders from his belt. Carefully, with his hands pressing down, he rolled the metal over the sheet of clay and imprinted what the cylinder contained.

  What is written on these tablets? Khalled said.

  These are all records of my research and findings. Mostly about the Eldrazi.

  What language are they written in?

  Ancient Vampire, Anowon said. But there are no maps.

  Alas, one makes do.

  Khalled, they will need provisions, Nissa said.

  But I have decided that I will stay here in the Turntimber. My promise was to bring them here. With your map they have no other use for me. Let them be gone.

  The merfolk wasted no time. Raspin, he said, bring provisions and gear.

  We do have a use for you, Sorin said, a smirk on his long face as he glanced at Anowon. The Ghet here is no scout. And his combat facility leaves something to be desired. Also, he smells like a beast.

  Khalled watched Anowon make the next imprint. I would warn Nissa about you, vampire, but I would be more worried for your well-being should you anger her.

  Anowon said nothing. But as they watched, he made imprints of each of his cylinders and lay the tablets out on the table to dry. He was finishing the last when Raspin entered, staggering under the weight of a large pack with shoulder straps.

  Excellent, Raspin, Khalled said. He handed Nissa a horn stopped at each end with a tree-bark plug. This map should get you to Akoum. This location of the Eye of Ugin is unknown to me. But the vampire book-maker says he knows the way.

  Nissa turned and handed the map to Sorin, who accepted it with obvious misgivings. And I will stay here, in the Turntimber, Nissa said. The Tajuru borders have been defended, and my place is back at the Home Tree.

  Khalled took Nissa s arm and led her a couple of steps away.

  Lately my dreams have been filled with ill tidings, Khalled said. I have deep misgivings about this brood. The birds I have received bear strange news of whole towns destroyed, castles crushed. Many of the birds themselves arrive on the edge of death.

  There could be many explanations.

  The merfolk was quiet for a time. Quite. Khalled said at last. He pointed at a large, flat table top of rough rock standing in the corner. The table legs were the huge femur bones of some extinct creature.

  Let me show you my fear, Khalled said. He snapped his fingers, and wisps of what looked like blue smoke wafted around the top of the table. Slowly the wisps formed into terrain and land features. Nissa recognized the continents of Ondu and Akoum separated by a great undulating sea. There was the Puzzle Tower, the Knuckle of Forgotten Ones, and the dense swath of the Turntimber Forest. The Makindi Trench gaped through the land like a wound begging for suture.

  As Nissa watched, a pool of dark dots spread out of a mountain range she could only assume was the Teeth of Akoum. The dots spread in all directions and soon covered the land. Soon the blue wisps began to disappear, leaving only the black. As she watched, the Turntimber began to disappear in chunks, like the bites from a sopfruit, until the forest was no more.

  Have you seen the wild linnestrop? Khalled asked.

  Nissa felt her lip curl at the mention of the plant. Of course.

  And where is it from, originally?

  Not from the Turntimber, Nissa said. Yet here it grows, choking out the plants that have lived within these green boundaries for time immemorial.

  And have you heard of the simeon plant? Do you hate it as much?

  No. That plant lives together with the others. You can heal with it and

  Yet it is also not native to the Turntimber.

  You are right. It is a stranger.

  Like me, Khalled said. Like you.

  Nissa looked up from the terrain phantasm on the table top.

  I suppose, she said.

  I have a strong fear in my hearts that these brood are of a sort with the linnestrop.

  Nissa watched the merfolk snap his fingers again, and the wisps on the table dissipated.

  I believe the Turntimber and all Zendikar beg for help, Khalled said. You, my sweet friend, are a leader of elves. The power of Zendikar is yours but I fear it will wither under the tentacles of this new addition.

  Nissa nodded. She remembered the day she had first returned from her planeswalk to the faraway plane where densely packed beings had stepped on each other s feet and tried to kill each other. She had returned to the forest and sat for days watching the slow bloom of an incisor orchid s flower bud. It took three days for the bud to open, but when it finally did, its smell glowing purple stamens brought her to tears. The idea that such a flower would cease to be

  You must travel with this menagerie, Khalled said as he swept his hand toward Sorin and Anowon. To the Eye of Ugin. Zendikar begs you.

  Sorin watched. He and Anowon were standing near the entrance to the tent. Anowon was strapping the pack Raspin had brought onto his own back.

  Nissa looked around the tent and took a deep breath. Where was her tribe now? Either the Joraga or the Tajuru? Where were they to help her with this burden? No, she would not do it for either of her tribes. She would not embark on such trip for the tribe that had cast her out, or the one that hated her. She would make the journey for Zendikar. And for Nissa Revine.

  I will do as you suggest, my friend, Nissa said.

  Khalled smiled, showing his strange, small teeth. Well then, keep vigilant around that one.

  The book maker?

  No, the other, Khalled said. He is also

  At that moment a horn blew outside. Nissa looked at Khalled.

  Change of the guard. Nothing to be concerned with, Khalled said.

  Let this be our time to depart, Sorin said.

  Nissa turned back to Khalled. The merfolk nodded. Thank you, Nissa said to Khalled, placing her hand above her heart and bowing.

  Khalled held a necklace out to her. A pathway stone for your journey, he said. Keep it well. It was cut off the Puzzle Tower itself.

  I thank you, my friend, Nissa replied.

  Remember what I said, Khalled said. And remember that vampires live on blood.

  Robert B. Wintermute

  Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum

  They left Graypelt with night falling. Three stones pitch away from the last tent, the mesa fell away, and the land became vertical. They made a fireless camp near a trail tha
t wound down the mesa s edge in a zig-zag of switchbacks, leading finally to the dark at the bottom of the canyon. In the starlight, the river at the bottom of the gulch appeared a long, gray scar.

  Makindi Trench, Nissa said. Our way lies there, unfortunately.

  Sorin and Anowon sat with their backs propped against the boles of the few young Jaddi able to eke out a living at the edge of the mesa where the soil was exposed and infertile. Watches were decided upon, and Nissa took a spot in the notch of a tree. A Gryphon screamed in the darkness over the trench as it hunted nighthawks. And then she was asleep.

  Nissa heard the rain drumming long before it hit them, then the storm was on them with huge raindrops that hurt. Even the hood of her warthog cloak could not fend off the rain. She was soaked and shivering all night. But with morning the rain had ceased, and the giant drum toads croaked their booming dialect from the trench below.

  Nissa woke the others when the first light tinged the night sky, and by dawn they were standing on the trail in the moist chill, blowing into their hands. The Makindi Trench was still dark below. Far down the trench a fire lit the canyon. Sorin blew into his hands and stamped his cold feet. Nissa gnawed on a square of hard waybread wondering what creature Anowon had eaten last, and which would be next. The archaeomancer hoisted the provisions pack onto his back and tied the waist and chest straps before offering his hands to be bound.

  They made their way down a steep trail composed of wet stones. Twice Anowon lost his footing and slipped. Once he tripped and would have fallen forward if Nissa hadn t taken hold of his pack and swung him back.

  At one point the trail became so steep that Nissa stopped and took rope from the pack. As she was taking it out, she glanced down at the charm Khalled gave her when she had first come to the Turntimber. It was a small vial of enchanted water taken from the ruins of Ior at the bottom of Glasspool. The only significant source of fresh water on Akoum was sacred to the kor.