Zendikar_ In The Teeth Of Akoum Part 14

"They are terrible creatures that eat energy, as the brood do," Sorin said. As he spoke he stared out over the starlit ocean. Small white crests appeared on the low choppy waves. "They suck the very energy out of a plane and move on to the next one. Destroyers of planes. They are dreadful foes to anyone who stands against them."

"And they are imprisoned now?"

"Yes, in the Eye of Ugin."

"On Akoum?" Nissa said.

Sorin nodded.

Nissa looked out at the water. "How will we put the brood back in the prison the vampire saw them escape from?"

Sorin did not say anything for a moment. "We cannot," he said finally.

"Did you say 'we cannot'?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"They are too dispersed at this point. But they are not the true danger. If the t.i.tans escape"-he raised his eyebrows in the starlight-"there will be utter catastrophe. And the brood lineage are trying to accomplish this, they just do not know how yet."

"So this brood will have to be hunted down, and their parents imprisoned?"

Sorin nodded.

"And what would happen if we allowed these t.i.tans their freedom?"

"They would wreck Zendikar," Sorin said, without hesitation.

But Nissa sensed something-a certain tightness around his mouth and eyes that she had not seen before. She looked again, and it was gone. Could he be lying? Could he be lying? she thought. she thought. And for what reason? And for what reason?

"Why do you tell me all of this now?" Nissa said. "I am already helping you on this quest. You saved my life in the Turntimber, and I am repaying you."

"We are near Akoum. Somebody has to understand what we will shortly face."

"Why?"

Sorin exhaled. "I will need your skills later."

Nissa did not like how that sounded. "And if I refuse?" she said. "Later?"

"You cannot refuse. Zendikar depends on it."

Nissa sat looking out at the water. Why would the brood or the t.i.tans be on Zendikar in the first place? Were they native to that place? Clearly the Eldrazi had been on Zendikar a long time. Eldrazi ruins could be found in almost every corner of the plane.

And who was was Sorin, really? Who had sent him to make sure the Eldrazi stayed contained, and why? Why would beings from other planes be so concerned with keeping the Eldrazi on Zendikar? How did he know the truth of the Eldrazi when she, a native of the plane, had never heard even a whisper of what he'd said? She only remembered the Eldrazi as a childhood nighttime story. And in those stories, the Eldrazi were the sort of beings that built castles that reached to the sun and ate golden fruit from trees that floated in the air. And Sorin was telling her they lived on energy, on mana from the land? Sorin, really? Who had sent him to make sure the Eldrazi stayed contained, and why? Why would beings from other planes be so concerned with keeping the Eldrazi on Zendikar? How did he know the truth of the Eldrazi when she, a native of the plane, had never heard even a whisper of what he'd said? She only remembered the Eldrazi as a childhood nighttime story. And in those stories, the Eldrazi were the sort of beings that built castles that reached to the sun and ate golden fruit from trees that floated in the air. And Sorin was telling her they lived on energy, on mana from the land?

She turned to ask Sorin how he knew so much about this situation, but he was gone. She was left with the sound of the waves chopping against the hull of the s.h.i.+p and the behemoth's ma.s.sive legs chugging in the water.

Nissa sat with her back against the mast and let her mind wander. Above her head the stars moved along their paths. Soon her mind was reworking what Sorin had said, and before she knew it, the eastern horizon went as red as blood.

Nissa could see a line of land ahead. Above the land towered high, strangely pointed spires of sharp tipped mountains. As she watched, the morning sun reflected red off the crystal-studded peaks.

Nissa felt a presence and turned. Anowon was standing on the other side of the mast, staring at her.

"Truly you are lucky to be a Joraga," the vampire said. "And to have taken the Joraga tincture of cut fungus and asta weed."

"Good morning to you," Nissa said, turning back to the blood-red sh.o.r.e of Akoum. "I wonder why Sorin has not fallen to your fangs?"

"Perhaps he is not to my liking."

"And I am?"

Anowon looked away from her and at the land on the horizon.

"Akoum," Anowon said. "The kor called it 'the place where things were lost.' Low level Roils are nearly constant. The very land is as sharp as a knife's edge. The sun refracts through those pointed crystals creating areas of extreme heat that could cook an unsuspecting elf traveler in a manner of moments. And the denizens," Anowon said as he grimaced malevolently, "taste horrible."

As if in response to Anowon's monologue, the ocean suddenly pitched to the right. There was a sudden, deafening rush, and the water immediately next to the s.h.i.+p began to impossibly lift up. Soon a huge globule of swirling water was floating above the tip of the mast. Nissa could see the dark shapes of ocean creatures-six times larger than the behemoth-caught in the huge bubble. And when she looked over the side of the s.h.i.+p, she could see the plant life of the ocean floor flopped to the side in the early morning sun. A loose fish flopped on a bare patch of sand.

"It's the Roil," Anowon said.

Nissa watched as the ball of ocean floated gracefully up into the sky, with its fish swimming within.

Sorin walked to the front of the s.h.i.+p, brus.h.i.+ng his long hair with a silver comb. He glanced up at the piece of disembodied ocean. "Look! Even parts of Zendikar are trying to get away from Zendikar," he said.

They were still a league from the sh.o.r.e. Nissa unrolled Khalled's map to look for a possible port in which to land the s.h.i.+p. Akoum appeared like a large circular landma.s.s. She wiped the map off with the palm of her calloused hand and peered closer.

"What troubles you?" Anowon said.

"Our map is wrong. The ports are not marked on here."

"The map is not at fault. There are no ports on Akoum."

"Oh, this is is excellent," Sorin said. excellent," Sorin said.

"The sh.o.r.e is too perilous for ports," Anowon said. "However, the probability is high that a group of humans is forming a rescue party on sh.o.r.e even as we speak."

"To rescue us?" Nissa asked. "Boats!" Why did I ever get on a boat? Why did I ever get on a boat?

"It is possible to land a s.h.i.+p," Anowon said. "But the water is filled with crystalline points invisible to even the most trained lookout."

"And we do not even have that." Nissa said.

"Precisely."

"Why did you not say something about this sooner?"

Anowon shrugged. "One point more: There is a good chance that those human rescuers could also be bandits."

"But how did the brood that took you prisoner get you to Ondu?"

"By wing."

"Oh, lets do that," Sorin said.

Nissa ignored him. When she looked up, it seemed like the sh.o.r.e of Akoum had raised three hands higher, like a great maw opening to receive them.

"This must be the welcoming party," Sorin said, pointing off the starboard side. A great field of bubbles erupted on the surface of the water. Soon the water churned with movement, and huge tentacles began to break the surface. A fleshy dome the color of a bled corpse broke the surface. Even Sorin drew his breath in sharply when two great, malevolent eyes opened in the dome and focused their long irises on the s.h.i.+p. Soon the full head appeared, with the tentacles where the mouth should be.

Nissa held her staff up. A kraken A kraken, she thought. What could happen next? What could happen next? She glanced at Sorin. Had he recouped his power enough to strike down such a large creature? Even though Sorin was smiling, she could see the lines of exhaustion on his face. She glanced at Sorin. Had he recouped his power enough to strike down such a large creature? Even though Sorin was smiling, she could see the lines of exhaustion on his face.

The kraken rose immensely next to the s.h.i.+p. Its right tentacle held a huge, spiked sh.e.l.l, and on its back was another even larger sh.e.l.l. The creature's other limb was huge, an armored claw easily as long as the s.h.i.+p they were standing on. The six gills running up its chest opened and closed in the early morning sun.

"Why do you disturb the slumber of the sleeper in the deep?"

"Who is he?" Sorin said innocently.

The eyebrow sh.e.l.ls above the kraken's eyes dropped. "He is Brinelin, the Moon Kraken. He is I," the creature said.

For some moments, Nissa could only stare at the tremendous creature, dripping and glistening in the light.

"Brinelin," Nissa said, raising her voice above the churning made by the kraken's tentacles. "We did not mean to break your slumber."

The Moon Kraken harrumphed. "An apology will not save you."

"What will save us, great Brinelin?" Nissa said.

"Nothing will save you."

Nissa remembered the rumor she'd heard about Speaker Sutina and the Moon Kraken. The rumor of a secret friends.h.i.+p.

Anowon stepped up beside Nissa. "Do you have a riddle for us, great Brinelin?"

The kraken regarded Anowon through round unblinking eyes. "Riddle?" it said. "Riddles are a sphinx's folly." It raised one tentacle to its mouth. "Brinelin demands red sacrifice!" The kraken swam to a small rock sticking out of the ocean, and hoisted itself up into a sitting position.

"Will you take this offering?" Sorin said. He casually took one of the goblins by the scruff of the neck and tossed it screeching into the water, where it thrashed wildly.

The Moon Kraken regarded the panicking goblin for a moment before sighing and falling off the rock. It hit the water with a large splash and slipped under the surface. The goblin, showing the whites of its eyes, scratched desperately at the side of the s.h.i.+p, looking for a handhold. It did not cry out, but whimpered in a way that made Nissa's stomach turn. The other two goblins stared down at their feet while Smara sang what sounded like a song under her breath, oblivious to the goblins' whimpers. Sorin chuckled. Anowon watched Brinelin's air bubbles approaching the goblin with a blank expression.

And then the goblin was simply gone, pulled under with a sudden jerk. The Moon Kraken surfaced a moment later.

Brinelin brought its huge sh.e.l.l out of the water and slammed it down on the water. The wave from the impact of the sh.e.l.l hit the hull and washed over the deck, drenching everyone on it.

"You will do me further tribute," the Moon Kraken said. One of the goblin's arms was sticking sideways out of the kraken's beaked maw, and as they watched, a tentacle swept it away and into the water.

The two remaining goblins looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

The sh.o.r.e was not far away. Nissa could see the long crystals jutting out of the water. They would never make it through them without being guided. A narrow beach of white sand started behind the crystals, and a high cliff of black basalt extended almost vertically from the white sand. Nissa thought she saw movement among the crystals at the water's edge.

"If you have nothing better to offer me," the kraken mused aloud. "I will crush your skulls and suck out your brains and make tributes of you all."

"You will not be eating anyone's brains today," Sorin said. "Surely you know that?"

The kraken regarded Sorin. "I am Brinelin, the Moon Kraken," he said. "I know nothing of the sort."

"And I am Sorin Markov. If you do not stand aside this very instant you will be destroyed, and we will leave your body for your subjects the fish to devour at their leisure."

Sorin's voice had taken on a different tone as he spoke. It was both deeper and sharper. It hurt Nissa's head to hear it.

But the kraken did not move. Instead it stood up to its full height and pushed out its white breast. "Your magician's tricks will not work on the Moon Kraken, little wizard," it said. "I have battled other, greater magic users than you."

Sorin uttered no words. He spoke no incantations. His eyes simply went black, and his hands began to glow with a smoky light. The kraken noticed it, too. It dropped down into the ocean so that only its top gills showed above the surf.

"Do you not remember me, fishmaster?" Sorin boomed.

Nissa had to crouch down on the deck of the s.h.i.+p. Something about Sorin's voice made the parts inside her stomach and chest vibrate, and she suddenly felt nauseous.

The kraken looked closer at Sorin. "You?" it said after its examination. "You have returned?"

"Stand aside, or you will be disposed of," Sorin boomed. "Stand aside, now!"

The timbre and volume of his voice was so great that Nissa had to clap her hands over her ears.

The kraken moved out of the way of the s.h.i.+p, and the behemoth started paddling again.

"Why have you returned?" the kraken said.

Sorin frowned, and his voice returned to normal, as did his eyes. "Be a good little fishy and guide us through the crystal fields," he said.

The kraken's tentacles casually slipped out of the water and wrapped loops around the small s.h.i.+p; Nissa had to jump back to avoid being caught up in the sudden la.s.soing. Soon the s.h.i.+p was entirely covered with tentacles. Nissa pinched her nose. How How had had Speaker Sutina endured this smell? Speaker Sutina endured this smell?

"I will squeeze your s.h.i.+p to splinters before you end my days. Then you can make your sad way to sh.o.r.e with your tiny feet and hands," The kraken said. "And there are things in these depths that do not slumber."

Nissa looked again at the sh.o.r.e. She did not see the movement she'd seen before. The glitter of white sand looked terribly far away.

Sorin must have noticed it, too. That, or he realized that his power was at such ebb that he dared not call the kraken's bluff. The smoke wafting off his fingertips blew away.

Brinelin chuckled, and bubbles broke the sea's surface. The Moon Kraken began to squeeze and Nissa felt the s.h.i.+p buckle and crack.

Nissa stepped forward.

"Moon Kraken," she said, fingering something in her pocket. "I have an offering greater than blood sacrifice."

The Moon Kraken twisted its beaked mouth into a terrible smirk. It squeezed harder. Now Nissa was sure she could hear water shooting into the hull.

"It concerns Speaker Sutina," Nissa said. "Important news of her welfare."

The kraken's smirk fell away.