When the kor spoke, his voice was unusually deep. It echoed off the near canyon wall. We come from the west, the kor said.
I m glad we ve figured that out, Sorin said. Can we go now?
Nissa ignored him.
What have you found?
We have found those that have woken.
Nissa put her hand in front of her mouth and wiggled her fingers like tentacles.
The kor nodded.
Brood lineage, Nissa said. Is that why you are traveling?
The kor leader looked back at the other kor and gave a signal to move on.
Nissa turned and caught Sorin yawning. Behind Sorin, Anowon stood staring at her. The vampire was always staring at her, she realized with a chill.
The kor are the lost creatures of Zendikar, Anowon said, with a strange twist to his lips, as if his comment should remind her of other lost creatures. They believe they are followed by the ghosts of their ancestors. Because of this they never stop moving. The mothers bear their young while suspended in a harness, and their fathers curse the ground nightly while imploring the sky. Both sexes use the bones of their ancestors in their daily rituals. Some go so far as to prop the dessicated corpses of their dead ancestors at the eating table. I like that last bit. A nice touch.
Why are you telling me this? asked Nissa.
I am fascinated with the kor, Anowon hissed, moving closer. Nissa inched back. I think you are fascinated with them, as well. Did you know they walk so much that the nursing mothers keep vessels of their milk on their hips, which are turned to cheese by week s end?
Nissa stared at Anowon. He had never said so many words to her, and on such an odd topic. She was not sure she liked it. In fact, she was sure she did not.
The kor left as silently as they had come. The only sound as they walked was the muted clink of the hooks hanging from their shoulder harnesses.
When they were gone, Nissa began looking for a place to sleep. The light in the sky was gone, and already the damp of the trench s floor was turning to a fine fog. The sand was wet, and they spent an uncomfortable night on the ground.
Nissa watched Anowon as they stood shivering in the predawn gray. How was the vampire feeding? She d been eating hardtack and dried warthog for the last two days.
Anowon caught her looking at him.
What are you eating? she asked.
The vampire stamped his feet and rubbed his hands together. His breath came out of his mouth in a puff. I eat when I am hungry, he replied.
He eats when I tell him, Sorin said, who also seemed well fed to Nissa. He stood in the cold as pink and as warm looking as if he d been traveling in the jungles of Bala Ged.
They walked between boulders large and small. The sand was wet under their feet, and that made the walking harder still. The crested sedge that grew on the sunless canyon floor brushed against their hands as they passed. At one point they stopped to drink from a rock pool. A huge boulder stood at the far side.
The water appeared as crystal clear as one might expect in a Bala Ged oracle pool, Nissa thought. Sorin was the first to near it. When one of the stones at the bottom of the pool moved, Nissa looked closer. Why was there a pool like this at the bottom of the trench? Nissa wondered. And after a flood. Stop, Nissa said.
Sorin turned with a scowl on his face.
That is no pool, Nissa said. Step back.
Sorin peered closely at the pool. Tiny fish were swimming in the clear water.
Step back slowly.
After a couple of heartbeats Sorin did as Nissa told him. Nissa glanced at Anowon, who was watching the proceedings with an impassive face. But for just a second, Nissa thought she saw the side of his mouth rise in the barest glint of a smile at Sorin s predicament. Then it was gone, and Sorin was back by their side.
Watch, Nissa said as she took a stick from the ground and tossed it into the pool. In a flash, a lip appeared from behind the boulder on the far side and snapped down over the entire pool with an audible snap that shook the ground slightly. Some black and green birds sitting in a nearby shrub took sudden flight.
Ah, Zendikar, Sorin said, shaking his head. He turned back to the trail, chuckling. But Nissa saw he wasn t smiling.
They saw other groups of kor who passed without word or gesture in the day and night, looking like they had been resoundingly beaten by more than one enemy. The trench became deeper as they walked. The line of sky above grew more and more narrow. And as they walked, the rock changed. Where there had been red walls of crumbly sedimentary rock, there were sheer, sweeping walls of steel gray granite. Nissa did not like the look of it. No toe holds, she thought. No boulders on the canyon floor to shelter behind.
At midday they came to a fork in the trench. A massive statue, half the height of the canyon, was carved into the stone wall. It was a being Nissa had seen in statues in other parts of Zendikar, and although it was crumbled and missing limbs, she could tell what it had been: a creature with a large head, four arms, and tentacles that started at its waist brood lineage. But who had carved the statue, and how long before? She thought of Anowon s words before the rainstorm that had created the flood: There has to be something more to them. As she looked up at the strange creature, she wondered if he wasn t right.
Nissa took the leather tube containing Khalled s map from her pack and consulted it. There were many lines extending from the trench. She found the tiny picture of the statue and realized they could follow the canyon branch that angled toward the sun, or the other which traveled but wound back in the same direction. She showed the map to Sorin, who eyed it suspiciously. He put one long, thin white finger on a landmass that lay on the other side of the sea.
Akoum, he said. Both trench ways moved them in that direction. If it wasn t for this plane s volatile energy, I would walk in the air and be there in seconds. I wouldn t need you or the Ghet. He waved a dismissive hand at them.
Nissa chose the left fork. The sun was half past mid-sky and the shadows were deep when Anowon stopped them. The canyon wall next to them was filled with images engraved into the smooth stone.
Illuminated pictographs, Anowon said as he unscrewed one of his metal cylinders and slipped a piece of paper out of the hollow place within. He went to the pictographs and squatted before them. He consulted the piece of paper as he deciphered the writing.
These are old, Anowon said. It is unknown to me why they are written here in this wilderness. He kept reading, speaking as he did. Perhaps this trench was not always as it appears now. Perhaps this trench was once an aqueduct used by the ancient Eldrazi for power creation.
Perhaps, Sorin said. His mocking smile visited his lips again.
This main panel tells the story of the Mortifier, Anowon said, pointing.
Sorin stopped smiling.
Who is that? Nissa asked.
Anowon s fingers traced the image of a pictograph of a figure daubed with black. He used both of his fingers to trace the line. The figure daubed with black pigment stood with three huge, monsterlike creatures, but appeared to be a simple being. It did not have the tentacles of the other three. Before the figure were other beings, attached to it with long lines.
These are ropes, Anowon said, tracing the lines.
These figures are vampires, and they are slaves to the Mortifier, who is one of these Eldrazi it appears.
He is not, Sorin said, his voice a jot higher than Anowon s. Does he look like those Eldrazi?
Nissa considered the picture. No, she agreed.
But those three Eldrazi don t look very much like the ones we ve seen.
These large Eldrazi are the ones that we see as statues around Zendikar, Anowon said. Many scholars think they are deities.
Gods with slaves? Nissa said.
Perhaps, Anowon said. Why not? If this had been an aqueduct, then who dug it? Who built the fabulous palaces? And those slaves are not human.
No?
They are vampires.
Yes, Yes, Sorin said.
Nissa tu
rned to Sorin. Do you know about these Eldrazi?
Sorin s eyes did not blink. I know that Zendikar is at risk, he said.
Nissa turned to Anowon. And why do you not question him further on this topic which so interests you? she asked.
He is clearly hiding information.
Sorin kicked at a loose rock. What I know is not for you or the vampire s ears. He knows not to overstep his place. Sorin said, staring at Nissa.
Nissa ignored Sorin s glare. What force does he have over you? Nissa asked Anowon.
Anowon looked up at the canyon wall.
Somewhere down the canyon a boulder crashed into rock.
Sorin coughed. Can we keep moving before we are caught by another stinking troop of kor? I do not think my nose can handle another onslaught.
Anowon stood and rolled up his scroll. As you wish, he said. As he was sliding the scroll back into its metal cylinder, Sorin came near Nissa.
We must go now, he said.
Bind the vampire and we ll go. she replied.
But he did not answer her. Instead Sorin started walking leaving Nissa to it. They walked until they were stumbling in darkness, at which point they stopped next to what looked like a huge crumbled stone grate lying on its side and half buried in the sand.
Sorin insisted on a fire, and Nissa and Anowon were able to find some debris to make a small blaze. In the flickering firelight Anowon investigated the disintegrating grate, covered as it was with intricate line tracing and glyphs.
The fire was no more than coals when Nissa heard speaking echoing off the canyon walls behind them. She had drawn first watch. She quickly stoked the fire and woke the others. They moved away and hid behind a boulder to see who came to the fire.
Soon a small group of goblins leading a female kor came around the corner. The goblins had small swords on their belts. One had a staff with a pathway stone floating at its tip.
The kor was strange looking and not at all like the refugees passing up the trench toward Graypelt and the Binding Circle. This kor s hair was wild and unkempt, and her clothes were nothing more than rags. Glass beads were knotted into her hair, and they flickered slightly in the firelight. She was wearing small bells somewhere, and they chimed lightly as she stumbled. As Nissa watched she tripped, and two goblins gently caught her and pushed her upright.
Most telling was that the creature wore no ropes or hooks, unlike all other kor. In fact, the only attribute that gave away her race was her long, thin skull and the pale skin stretched taught over it.
The kor s mouth was continually moving like some merfolk lull-mage engaged in his daily intonations. But when she saw the fire, she stopped cold. Then she saw the ancient grate and rushed to it, stamping one foot in the corner of the fire in her haste. The goblins rushed to catch up, but the kor paid them no mind. She fell to her knees before the grate and began chanting.
Anowon watched the kor intently as the goblins brushed her hair from her eyes and kneeled down next to her in the sand. They also began chanting.
Sorin drew his long sword from its dark sheath. To Nissa the sword seemed part of the dark. The coals did not reflect their red off it. It seemed to suck what light there was into it.
I will slay the first goblin, and we can enslave the others, he said. The saliva in his mouth made his words slur.
Anowon nodded vigorously.
No, Nissa said. They are barely armed. We will not kill them now. Let us see what they know.
But they are goblins, Sorin said.
Anowon nodded enthusiastically.
What is this all about? Nissa wondered. Why are they so keen to enslave the goblins? She stood from behind the rock and walked forward. If you want to find your way to Akoum then stay your sword for the time being, she said. Kor are some of the best guides.
The goblins did not sense Nissa until she was directly behind them, at which point they hissed and turned toward her. They struggled to yank out their small stone swords. One goblin ended up holding his dull blade and threatening her with the sword s wooden handle.
All the swords handles were wood. With a word from Nissa the wood in the handles shot out roots and grew solidly into the sand.
The kor continued to chant ignorant of the events around her. The goblins stood blinking, unsure of themselves in the firelight.
Sorin came out from behind the rock, his sword in his hand. Anowon stood.
They should travel with us, Anowon said.
Sorin turned to the vampire, then back to Nissa.
What is that kor babbling? Sorin said.
It is not kor, Anowon said. But it is a language.
I can tell that. What language?
Anowon shook his head.
Sorin leaned forward to listen, cocking his ear to the chant. Before long a look of recognition spread across his face. Nissa squinted in the dim light. No sooner had she seen the look on his face than it was gone. Sorin stood up straight.
This kor interests me, he pronounced. She and her entourage will come with me.
You recognized the language, Nissa said.
Yes I did.
Nissa waited. But it was Anowon who spoke first. Well? he said.
As a matter of fact, Sorin said, It is ancient Eldrazi the animal speaks.
Nissa felt herself blinking. She could not figure out what was stranger: that the kor was speaking ancient Eldrazi, or that Sorin recognized it as such.
How could you know? Anowon said, awed. It has not been spoken in more than a thousand years.
Sorin sniffed and turned. What does it have in its hand? Sorin said, pointing to the kor.
Nissa looked. It was a rock as big as the kor s fist but longer. The creature passed it from one hand to the other as she chanted.
The goblins glanced at each other.
A crystal, Anowon said.
Sorin leaned forward for a closer look. She will be able to help us. Yes.
Nissa turned. Why?
Sorin shrugged.
Who is this kor? Nissa asked.
The kor stopped chanting suddenly, as if she had heard. She slowly turned. Her corneas were red. Nissa couldn t be sure if it was the fire s reflection.
The kor began chanting again.
Take the goblins, Anowon said.
Why do you want the goblins so very much? Nissa said.
Are you jealous?
Nissa opened her mouth to reply, but Anowon stopped her words with a held up hand.
They listened to the kor chant.
Now it is the old vampire tongue, Anowon said.
Or I am a fool.
Sorin leaned closer. How can you tell? he asked.
The words are so muddled.
You know the ancient language of vampires, too? asked Nissa.
Sorin smiled. A person like me picks up many languages in his travels, he said.
It was Anowon s turn to smile knowingly. I am sure, he said. This language is one of those that is not spoken anymore, but lives only in books and is known only for the purposes of translation. A dead language.
What is she saying? Nissa asked.
Anowon listened to the chanting. She s simply repeating The gift is in the loam I believe.
The gift is in the loam? Nissa said. What could it mean?
We should leave this creature, Anowon said.
And take the goblins, Nissa said. I think you ve already said that.
Yes.
Nissa eyed the kor as she babbled. As she watched, a bug the size of Nissa s thumbnail ran out of the kor s hair.
She will travel with us to the Teeth of Akoum? Nissa said.
Both Sorin and Anowon were listening intently to the kor as she babbled. Again, she stopped speaking when she heard Nissa s words, and a moment later her body seized up tight. She stood straight with her arms at her sides, as her head began to wobble on her neck. Then she began to scream.
What is happening? Nissa said, above the kor s strange keening.
A fit, Anowon said, without looking awa
y from the kor. But she is speaking.
The goblins rushed to the kor and began stroking her hands as they chanted.
Sorin was listening intently to the kor. She says she is an Eldrazi, if you can believe that. She says, the key is requested. And freedom is nigh. Sorin looked closely at the crystal clutched in the kor s white hand. That could be the key she speaks of.
Then seize and break it, Nissa said.
She could gain us paths we cannot know, Sorin said. She could allow us entry to the Eye.
The kor s screaming was hurting Nissa s ears. Something about the kor, perhaps her acidic smell, made Nissa extremely wary. That is assuming she is telling the truth and not raving at the moon, Nissa said.
Sorin s eyes never left the kor as she screamed out her words. Rather. But I do not think this one is fabricating
That crystal seems familiar somehow.
The goblins had been whispering among themselves. When Sorin mentioned the crystal, one of the goblins stepped forward. He was dressed in a much-used robe of thick worsted fabric, dyed red.
Crystal of the Ancients held by Smara, Chosen of the Ancients, it said.
And that is Smara? Nissa said, pointing at the kor.
The goblin bowed its head.
And are you all allowed to speak?
The goblin shook its head.
Only now, me, the goblin said. And I stop speaking now. Here I am stopping. I have stopped.
Nissa watched the goblin purse its gray lips together, trying not to speak. The other goblins watched with clear admiration on their faces. Did they admire his discipline or his ability to speak many times a challenge for a goblin? she wondered. The goblin stood before her with his chin up a bit. His discipline, Nissa decided. They all want to speak but are terrified by something.
I have stopped speaking, the goblin whispered.
Now.
Smara suddenly lurched forward, kicking the sand as she jerked a step. She was repeating words as she turned and began stumbling forward in the darkness with the chants on her lips. The goblins were on her in a second. But instead of bringing her to the fire, as Nissa expected, they led her forward, continuing down the trench and away into the darkness.
Sorin watched them go, as did Anowon. The vampire s face told a tale of loss and sorrow that Nissa could not help but chuckle at.
Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum (magic:the gathering) Page 7