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

by Robert B. Wintermute

  As she watched, the water in the vial bubbled to life, a warning of what was to come. Roil! she yelled. Hold on.

  Still clutching the coil of rope, Nissa dashed for a small tree and just reached it when the first tremors began. She dove into the cage of exposed roots and fumbled her harness s belay line out, snapping its clamp onto the nearest root.

  She watched Anowon scuttling for his own tree, and then the Roil hit in force, and Nissa could not see anything. She watched the trench below them buckle like a great rug, and the needles of the dwarfed pines writhe and whip. The ground began to jolt violently, and she was thrown against the roots. Nissa put her hands over her head, but the thrashing continued while the sudden wind howled and boulders crashed. She could hear the stone groaning and snapping all around her, and then the Roil stopped as suddenly as it had started. One moment the air was rushing; the next moment the stones that had been suspended in mid-air fell crashing down, and many of them rolled down the side of the mesa and into the trench.

  Soon the rumbling stopped, and so did the ringing in her ears. Nissa unfastened herself and crawled out. The breeze smelled like raw sap. She peered around. The trees had grown. But the new growth was either snapped off or twisted into strange corkscrews that reminded her with a dark shudder of brood lineage tentacles.

  Nissa had been through many Roils, but lately every one seemed worse than the last. That one had been fairly minor. Once in the Turntimber she d found herself in the top canopy of a tree after the Roil.

  But not this time. The trail was gone, and the rocks that had been stacked up in cairns to mark the switchbacks scattered. It took her a moment to understand what had happened: the Roil had torn a chunk out of the ground, and it floated high above the ground. Every so often a rock rolled off and came tumbling down.

  The vampire and Sorin, she thought. They were nowhere to be seen. She looked around at the heaps of newly piled stones. They re lost if they are under those. She looked up at the floating land. They could be on that. She looked down. Far below she could see two black dots on the trench floor. She had to move fast.

  Using her staff, she managed to scramble down the rest of the way to the bottom of the trench, but it still took the better part of an hour. It was fast work, yet still she was not the first to reach them. A creature with six legs was clambering over the rocks, its long curved tail tipped with a savage-looking stinger. It had pincer mouth parts and a curled proboscis tucked between the pincers. Crevice miners always seemed attracted to Roils. They were nothing more than scavengers, but still She was lucky there were not more. She stepped closer to the two unconscious forms. The crevice miner stopped, its pincers, each half as long as her arm, opening and closing. One more step, and she would be forced into action. Crevice miners were some of the most succulent bush meat to be found. Many said they tasted like crab, but Nissa had never eaten crab, preferring to not to eat things that fed upon the dead and decaying.

  Nissa twisted her staff and slid the stem sword into the daylight. The miner sensed her threat and rose up on its two back legs. It skittered forward a few steps, hoping to drive its spikelike pincers down on her, but Nissa sidestepped and let the pincers dive down on blank rock. The creature rose up and came down again, but Nissa stepped the other way, and its pincers crashed into the rock again. After three more tries the crevice miner turned and scurried away.

  Nissa rushed over to where Sorin and Anowon were lying at the base of the scree. They were much bruised and covered with abrasions, but Anowon was awake. He watched her approach but did not try to move. She noticed with a start that his hands were unbound. Why was she helping these two? She could turn and go back home. There was nothing holding her.

  Are you hurt? Nissa said.

  Anowon s strange eyes regarded her coolly.

  Are you hurt? she repeated.

  This one has not woken yet, Anowon said, regarding Sorin with the most casual of glances.

  Is he? She could suddenly feel Hiba lying still in her arms.

  Dead? I don t think so.

  Nissa approached, keeping one eye on the unbound vampire. She placed her hand over Sorin s mouth and felt a tiny puff of breath.

  He lives, she said. She raised her hand and brought it across Sorin s face with a loud slap. His eyes snapped open, and his upper lip drew back across his thin incisors. His eyes were narrowed, and Nissa took an involuntary step back. Then recognition spread over his face.

  An elf, he said. His gold-flecked pupils were wildly different in size, and the sweat was popping out on his forehead. When he turned his head, the knot above his ear was clearly visible. Only an elf.

  Nissa nodded. Only the elf who saved your life.

  Sorin grabbed a handful of Nissa s sleeve and drew her to him. I know about you, he said, slurring his words.

  I can tell you have left this place before. He tapped his forehead. I can tell.

  Nissa yanked her sleeve out of his surprisingly strong grip.

  I am sure I do not know what you mean, Nissa said. But she did. Planeswalking. She turned her head so Sorin could not see her face.

  Where is Lysene? Sorin said.

  There is no Lysene here. Nissa said. She turned and eyed him critically. It would be hard to move him should he prove unable to walk. Can you walk? she asked.

  Sorin looked blankly at her and blinked.

  Look, said Anowon in his reedy voice.

  She turned. Four more crevice miners were mincing through the scree piles behind them. She knew that they would become more interested if she attacked them. And she could easily kill them, but more would be attracted by the blood.

  He must move, Nissa said. I am not sure he should, but he must or we die here.

  Anowon nodded. He casually took his long braid and brought it over his shoulder. The braid was as thick as Nissa s arm. Anowon parted some of the black hair and opened the small metal door of a box buried within. From the box he carefully pinched out something white and shiny with a symbol on it.

  Is that a tooth? Nissa asked. The crevice miners were standing just out of a stone s throw s range, opening and closing their pincers.

  It is. Anowon said. A molar imbued with a merfolk s phantasm. He made a fist around the tooth and threw it at Sorin. Immediately the outlander began to float. When his body reached shoulder height, Anowon took hold of him. Without tethering, he will float away. And that would be such a shame.

  Nissa shuddered at the thought of the tooth. One of the crevice miners stepped closer, and she had to throw a rock. It stepped back again.

  That will work once, maybe twice, Nissa said. She did not know if Khalled s map said they should walk down the Makindi Trench, but she did know that it was the only direction open to them. Walk, she said. Quickly and without turning. Miners are eaters of the dead; they like their meat bloated and tender. They do not favor attack, but the sight of wet eye balls can excite them into a frenzy. If they see us moving quickly, they may just give up and consider us too much work. Still, the crevice miners followed behind.

  The floor of the trench was wide enough for one hundred to walk abreast, but boulders and large rocks of various sizes were strewn across it. The field of boulders created a maze of tight passages which Nissa led them through. She heard the crevice miners carapaces clacking against each other as they struggled through. Soon the passages became so tight in places that even Nissa had to squeeze to pass. It was perhaps their only chance to out maneuver the beasts, and Nissa seized it.

  Run, she hissed.

  The crevice miners heard the sudden movement, and sensing that their meal might be leaving, they surged forward. But the lead creature became trapped, and the others crammed against it in a desperate rush, entangling their long, hairy legs. Sensing their predicament the miners struggled and became utterly entwined and stuck in a space between the boulders.

  Nissa and Anowon scrambled to the top of the boulders with Sorin in tow, and hopped from one to the other until they had put a good distance between
the scavengers and themselves. But the effort was great. By the time Nissa stopped, her breath was coming out in rasps.

  The miners were far behind, clattering their hard shells against one another and making a high keening cry that drove the hairs on the back of Nissa s neck rigid.

  Some time later, the boulders gave way to sand and rocks, and eventually they were splashing through a small river of sluggish water meandering downhill. The sun had passed its zenith, and the darkness in the trench was almost total again. Nissa stopped to listen, putting her hand on Anowon s chest to stop him. He looked down at her hand and then at Nissa.

  No frowning, Nissa whispered. She listened for scratching echoing from behind, and, hearing none, took her hand off Anowon s chest.

  They walked in the shade of the trench. The swath of sky overhead was an overcast purple. Soon the first rumble of thunder tumbled down the canyon, and Sorin spoke.

  Ghet, you will lower me now, he said.

  Anowon pulled Sorin down. When his feet were firmly on the sand, Sorin brushed off his sleeves and shiny shoulder plates before clipping his scabbard back onto his belt. He turned and marched ahead, and did not turn to look back at them. Anowon followed at a distance. Soon Nissa was walking next to Anowon.

  Where did you get those?

  Teeth? Anowon said.

  Yes.

  They are from sacrifices at the Tal Terig, Anowon said. He waited a moment before continuing. The Puzzle Tower.

  Nissa knew of the place: a gigantic tower on Akoum assembled of dissimilar shapes. An ancient site. She could see it: the assembled vampires in a circle, all with their dirty hair blowing in their eyes and arms raised, watching a priest tearing a merfolk s teeth out. She felt the gorge rising in her throat.

  Nissa cast a long look around as she walked. Ahead, Sorin s unusually loose gait had him weaving unsteadily as he walked. At least he can be hurt like the rest of us, she thought. She found herself not caring particularly if he went to sleep tonight and did not wake. She watched Sorin walk, strangely comforted by his obvious vulnerability, before turning back to Anowon.

  And these Eldrazi lived there? she said.

  Anowon nodded. I have always studied them. Their monuments. Their writings. The Hagra Cistern where they generated their power from waste. The crumbled temple under the smooth water of Glasspool. Their remains were he looked up at the darkening clouds compelling.

  Were? What are they now?

  You have met them.

  Nissa frowned. How could the beings she fought have constructed the palaces she had seen? They seemed incapable even of picking up eating utensils.

  Anowon glanced at Nissa s face before speaking. Yes, he said. How could they have made that. He swept his hand forward in a grand gesture. Nissa had not noticed the thing ahead. It loomed large in the exposed strip of sky: a floating palace, mostly in pieces. As she stared, a jag of lightning traced the sky behind it, and a boom of thunder shook the canyon walls. She felt the fine hairs on her arms vibrate with the noise. A gust of wind swept down the trench.

  There must be something more to them, Anowon said.

  And then the sky opened, and it started to rain.

  Had it been a quick downpour, everything would have been fine. Nissa would have kept them walking and pulled up the hood of her warthog cloak. The rain would have soaked them through, and they could have made a fire to dry. They could have continued on their way with little or no disturbance. But this was Zendikar, Nissa was careful to remind herself as the fat raindrops fell in arcing sheets. Soon the rain obscured their vision, and the sand beneath their feet turned swampy.

  In what direction are we walking? Sorin yelled over the hammering raindrops.

  Nissa could not tell. She put her hands over her eyes, and through a tiny slot between her first and index finger she could see the barest image of the sky, which was still dark with rain that showed no sign of abating.

  This, Sorin shouted. He pointed up and around in an exasperated sweep. And this.

  She felt it too. The rain was falling hard. It drummed at her skull and made thinking all but impossible. It hurt. He head was numb with it. If the rain turned to hail they would be pummeled to death. Their time was fading. She put her hand over her eyes again and peered around. The shadow of the canyon wall was close, and slowly she made her way to it, sloshing through the rising water. The others followed.

  There was no cave, only the steep incline of the canyon wall. Still, being so close to the wall of the canyon stopped some of the rain, and they hunched against it.

  Nissa looked closely at the canyon wall. He eyes traced upward from between her fingers until she saw, some three heights up, a stunted tree clinging to the bare cliff face. A small rick of branches and dead grass had been swept into the bend of the tree s trunk. A small shelf jutted above the tree. Her eyes stayed on the small tree, and the wedge of plant material swept as if it was moving downward.

  Rope she screamed at Anowon. Hurry. The vampire shrugged off his pack and hurried to free the rope. The water in the trench was already up to their shins. If the torrent continued further up in the trench, there would soon be a wall of water pitched down their part of the rock chute. As Anowon worked, Nissa glanced up once again at the dwarfed tree, where the terrific force of the surging water had wedged what it carried between the rock and the trunk. As he uncoiled the rope, she fumbled through the bag. It must be here, she thought. There must be one here.

  She found the grappling hook and would have yelled for joy if the rumbling hadn t started. It was low, but as she snatched the end of the rope from Anowon, the low growl increased in volume. Her numb fingers slipped the rope through the eyelet of the hook and fastened it with a quick hitch. In one fluid motion she stepped back and threw the hook with every bit of strength she had. The hook fell short of the shelf above the tree. She tried again, and the same thing happened. The sound from up the canyon was a roar now. Not like this, she thought. Not this way.

  Anowon took the hook and leaned back and threw. It fell short.

  When Sorin took it and threw, the hook traveled far up but tumbled back down not catching the rock. Nissa had to jump out of the way. On his second throw, the hook s tines caught a bit of rock, and they each scrambled up in turn.

  Nissa was the last to climb the rope. When she was half way up, she stopped and turned. With the raindrops stinging her eyes, she watched as a wall of green water crashed by, so high that for a moment it lapped around her ankles.

  The wall of water was gone almost as soon as it had passed. They stayed on the shelf, and Nissa wondered if what she d seen had been real. The rain was still falling hard. Perhaps she d only imagined the water touching her feet.

  Soon the downpour lessened, then stopped altogether.

  Nissa waited until the cloudy sky above their head broke up and patches of pink sunset showed in the clouds of the swatch above their heads. Then she climbed back down.

  Well, said Sorin, once he was standing on the soggy sand. I suspect we have heard the last of those scorpions. Surely they Sorin stopped in mid-sentence. He cocked his head to the side. Do you hear that?

  Nissa listened. The faint sound of movement echoed off the canyon walls. She could hear something kicking rocks as it moved up the canyon. She glanced at the ledge.

  Then the noise stopped. Nothing moved. The very canyon itself seemed to be holding its breath. Sorin sniffed. Well, he said.

  Hush. Nissa said, putting up her hand.

  After a time she swept her hand down, and they crept forward through the rocks. They moved quietly and passed around a boulder to the left and came face to face with a host of three hundred kor, their strange hooked weapons at the ready.

  Robert B. Wintermute

  Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum

  The kor hookmaster was missing an eye. The socket wept yellow globules down the hookmaster s long and thin face, and he wiped the discharge away with the back of a slender hand. The fleshy barbels typical of the kor hung und
er his chin and almost to his belt. He was crisscrossed with harness works of pockets and loops. His clothes were tanned skins. And tethered with chains to various parts of his body were no fewer than four hooked and bladed climbing tools that Nissa was sure could double as weapons. In his left hand, he held a long, notched sword with a small hook dangling on a chain off its pommel.

  All the other kor, males, females, and children, were similarly out fitted. None moved or spoke. In the silence, a rock skittered down the trench wall behind. A snail falcon cried overhead.

  Nissa had seen kor fight before. They could be savage, if threatened. The Joraga had always been friendlier with the kor than other elf tribes they respected the kor s avoidance of speech.

  Nissa knew the kor to be nomadic, but from the packs they carried on their backs, they looked to be fleeing, their caravan reduced to the things they carried. She noted the signs of battle: Many were bandaged, and some were using jurworrel-wood branches for crutches. And some of their weapons were missing blades, or had only half a blade. They were tired, clearly. Some were stooped so badly with exhaustion that she feared they might fall. How had they survived the flood? she wondered.

  Nissa opened her hands and put them palms up the kor greeting.

  The lead kor s eye moved from her to Sorin and then to Anowon, where it stayed for a longer time. The vampire stared back. Nissa could almost see him lick his lips. It occurred to her that she didn t know how long it had been since Anowon had fed.

  Well, savages? Sorin said. Going for a stroll?

  Nissa cringed inwardly. They re refugees. Or are you blind as well as rude?

  Sorin said nothing.

  Nissa kept her palms out. May we speak? she asked.

  The old kor regarded her for a time. In the failing light of the canyon, the quietness of the kor was unnerving. Nissa found herself shifting her weight from foot to foot as she waited for the kor to decide whether or not they would speak.

  Finally he nodded.

  Nissa waited.

  Oh, this is thrilling, Sorin said.

  She shot him a glance before turning back to the kor. Please, she said. From where do you come?