The Moons of Mirrodin (30 page)

Bruenna looked at her mother, then looked down the corridor at the wreckage. “That would be dangerous for me and for my people.”

“More dangerous than staying here?” retorted Glissa. She felt a familiar tingle. “Decide now. The aerophuis are returning.”

Bruenna and her mother shook in fear, but the young mage found the courage to reply. “Defeat the aerophuis and save my people. Then we’ll talk.”

“Fine.” Glissa ran for the front doors. “Once I’m outside, they should leave your house alone. I could use your help, though.”

The elf emerged into the blue dawn and ran down the steps. She felt rather than saw the human mage behind her. The pair sprinted toward the ring of shelters surrounding Bruenna’s home. Glissa heard the aerophuis roar over the house behind them.

“See if you can slow them down with that wind of yours,” she shouted as she ran.

“I’ll try.”

Glissa’s ears popped as the air pressure dropped suddenly behind her. She looked back and saw two aerophuis tumbling end over end backward toward Bruenna’s home.

“Well done!”

“You still haven’t defeated them,” shouted Bruenna.

“I have friends down by the docks. They’ll be able to help us if we can get there.”

The two women ran side by side through the town. People rushed back and forth looking for protection from the attacks. Some villagers called to Bruenna for help. Between strides she ordered them to return to their homes.

Lightning bolts flew behind them, but Bruenna’s spells kept them safe long enough to reach the docks. The elf banged the door open to the storage shed and ran inside, slamming it behind Bruenna.

“Slobad, Bosh,” she called. “Where are you? We need you. Now!”

Nobody was in the shed. One ship was missing. Glissa frantically searched the shed.

“I’ll go find them,” she said. “You stay here.”

Bruenna didn’t argue. Glissa opened the door and changed her mind about leaving. At least ten of the silver assassins were arrayed just over the docks. They hovered there, facing the door. She slammed the door shut.

“We have a small problem.”

QUICKSILVER SEA

Glissa beckoned Bruenna to the door. “Aerophins,” she said. “Lots of them, and my friends are missing. We’re on our own.”

“Why didn’t you sense them?” asked Bruenna.

“I don’t know,” replied Glissa.

Bruenna paced back and forth, her eyebrows furrowed. “You can sense their mana buildup. They have to charge their attack before releasing the lightning. That’s why it takes so long between blasts. Someone’s figured out you can sense that, so the aerophins haven’t charged up yet.”

“Then why are they hovering out there?” asked Glissa. “They have us trapped in here. Why not attack?”

Both women stared at each other.

“Because they have us trapped in here,” said Glissa slowly.

Bruenna nodded. “They’re holding us here until something—or someone—else arrives.”

“We have to get away from here. Any suggestions?”

“Run,” said Bruenna.

“
That’s
your plan?”

“Look,” said Bruenna, “it will take the aerophins time to charge their attack. That gets us out the door. I’ll slow them down with a gust of wind, and we run.”

Glissa shook her head. “They’ll follow us wherever we run. Where do we go?”

“I don’t know,” the human mage answered. “Away from town. Into the mountains. Anywhere. Staying here is suicide and puts my people at risk.”

“Fine.” Glissa nodded. “You’re right. We’ll run into the mountains. That’s the most likely place to find my friends. Anyway, maybe I can destroy some of these beasts. I’ve done it before.”

“How did you do that?” asked Bruenna.

“I have no idea,” said Glissa as she moved back toward the door. “It just happened. You might have to die first, though. Ready?”

Bruenna walked to the door, crossed her arms in front of her, and nodded. Glissa pulled the door open, and the mage flung her arms wide. Glissa felt a blast of wind whip by her. The doorframe rattled from the force. Bruenna ran out the door, and the elf followed.

The aerophins scattered, tumbling in the sudden wind. Bruenna ran along the shore, Glissa beside her, glancing back to keep an eye on their pursuers. Two of the aerophins crashed into the sea. The quicksilver was thick and buoyant. The aerophins didn’t sink, but they couldn’t pull themselves free, either. Behind one of the aerophins a sleek neck broke the surface of the quicksilver with hardly a ripple. It looked like a giant serpent. Its head snaked five feet into the air and opened its jaws wide, revealing rows of shiny teeth, then slammed back into the sea, snapping its mouth shut around the tail of the silver creature. The predator disappeared under the surface.

As they cleared the dock area, Glissa heard screams from the village. Young children ran screaming through the streets while adults tried to catch and calm them down. A little boy ran right toward Glissa, crying, followed by a gray-haired man. “Riley, come back here! It’s not safe,” shouted the man.

“Get indoors!” shouted Glissa as she ran on. “Hurry.”

She doubled her pace. The man caught Riley at the shore just as the aerophins roared over their heads.

“We have to get away from town!” shouted Bruenna. “Then we’ll head toward the mountains.”

“There’s not much cover in the valley.”

“I’m counting on you to tell me when to dodge.”

“Great,” said Glissa. She felt a familiar tingling sensation. “Now would be a good time. They’re charging.”

Bruenna broke away from the sea’s edge and dived to the ground. Glissa thought about plunging into the quicksilver but remembered the sea serpent.

The aerophins held their charge. Either they had gotten smarter or something was controlling them. Glissa’s foot slipped into the quicksilver and slid out from under her. She landed flat on her face—an easy target.

The aerophins were almost on top of her. She rolled back away from the sea and went for her sword. They came in fast and low, their globes glowing and crackling with lightning. She had nowhere to go. Lightning streaked over Glissa’s head and slammed into the dirt and quicksilver around her.

Glissa glanced around, looking for Bruenna to thank her for blasting the aerophins. Instead she saw a human boat speed through the flock. Slobad stood at the front of the boat, staring intently at a board in front of him, with Bosh right behind him. As the boat sailed through the low-flying aerophins, Bosh swatted at the silver birds, knocking two into the sea with a single swing of his large, iron hand.

The rest of the flock flew up into the sky. Glissa scrambled to her feet and ran after the boat, hoping the goblin could turn it before the aerophins returned.

Bruenna ran over. “What was that?” she asked.

“My friends,” replied Glissa. “Come on.”

The two ran back toward the docks, following the boat. Slobad
was not completely in control, and it swerved back and forth next to the shore. The little boy, Riley, screamed as the boat sped toward them. The old man grabbed the boy and dived out the way. Slobad veered away from the shore and skidded sideways into the docks.

Glissa glanced behind her. The remaining aerophins had regrouped. “Get inside!” she shouted at the old man. “It’s not safe out here.” The old man stared at her, shaking. Glissa sprinted for the boat.

She heard Bruenna behind her. “It’s all right, Jerryl. She’s a friend … I think. Get your grandson to safety.”

“Hurry up!” shouted Glissa. The tingling began on her neck. “We’re out of time.”

The elf took two steps into the sea. The quicksilver pulled at her feet. She stretched her arms out to grasp the side of the boat and missed. Her fingertips scraped the iron tube on the side as she saw the quicksilver coming up toward her face. A hand shot out from the boat and grabbed her wrist. Bosh pulled on Glissa’s arm, but her momentum carried her into the side of the boat. Her stomach slammed into the rusty tube and knocked the wind from her.

Bosh pulled Glissa onto the boat and dropped her onto the leather deck. She curled up into a ball and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Glissa fought for breath so she could speak. “Protect … Bruenna,” she gasped.

“I have her,” the golem said calmly.

“Slobad … go!” Glissa wheezed.

She heard the wings of approaching aerophins. She tried to stand but was thrown to the deck as the boat lurched away from the dock. Glissa looked up to see Bruenna wave her arms at the beasts. Her ears popped as the wind rushed from Bruenna’s hands above her.

“Did it work?” asked the elf. She pushed herself back up again. Her gut hurt, and she had trouble balancing in the moving boat.

Bruenna shook her head. “Most of them dived under the gust. It slowed them down, but they’re still coming.”

Glissa saw the aerophins behind them, skating just above the sea. “I have an idea,” she said. “Blast ’em again, but aim at the quicksilver. Do it quick. My neck is tingling.”

Bruenna tossed her hands out and spread her fingers wide. Glissa watched the energy leap from her hands as the mage released a blast of air. The wind hit the sea and sent a wave of quicksilver up into the air behind the boat.

“Pour it on,” called Glissa.

Bruenna fed more mana into the wind. The wave grew and spread away from the boat. The aerophins tried to rise above the incoming wave but couldn’t climb fast enough. The quicksilver wave slammed into the flock, engulfing the lead birds before they could get out of the path. One by one, the aerophins disappeared into the receding wave until only two were left. They rose up away from the sea and sped toward the boat.

“Can this thing go any faster?” called Glissa.

“Don’t ask me, huh?” grumbled Slobad. “I just learn to work it.”

“I can get more speed from it,” said Bruenna. She walked to the front of the boat, hooking her feet under an iron tube that ran the length of the leather deck as she moved. She pushed the goblin from the way. Glissa saw two more iron tubes sticking up from the deck at the front of the boat, bent in toward one another about level with the goblin’s head. Between them sat a large ball of quicksilver. Bruenna summoned mana into her palm and grabbed the ball. The boat lurched forward again, much faster than before.

Glissa hooked one foot under the iron rail and grabbed Bosh to steady herself. Slobad, with nothing to hold onto, slid toward the back of the boat. Glissa stuck out her free foot and caught the goblin as he went past.

“You might want to stay low,” called Bruenna. “I’m going to try to lose them in the crystal islands.”

Glissa reached down and pulled Slobad over to the foot rail. The goblin grabbed the iron tube with both hands. His little body bounced up and down on the leather deck as the boat sped across the quicksilver. Glissa bent down into a crouch and grabbed the iron tube to steady herself. She glanced back to check on the aerophins. Twin gusts of wind sprayed from the end of the iron pontoons that supported the leather deck. Quicksilver sprayed into the air behind them as the boat skipped across the sea. The aerophins dropped back behind the spray but kept pace with the speeding boat. Glissa had no idea how fast they were going, but since Bruenna had taken control of the ship the shoreline had disappeared.

The boat swerved violently to the left, and Glissa snapped her attention forward again. They were coming up fast on the crystal islands, which looked more like towers than islands—giant, silver spires flowing from the sea.

The islands twisted and snaked their way into the sky like the quicksilver serpent Glissa had seen earlier. There was a group of ten ahead, but Glissa saw more dotting the sea in the distance. The towers were mesmerizing. They looked like crystallized quicksilver. The light of the two moons in the sky reflected off the spires as well as the surface of the water, turning the air between the islands into a cascade of color.

They whipped around the first island, skimming between two silver buttresses that curved down from the tower above them. Glissa looked up as they sped underneath. Dozens of rounded terraces jutted from the spire high above. Two silver bridges connected this tower with the two nearest islands in the group. Glissa thought she saw people on the bridges and terraces as they sped toward the next island, but she couldn’t be sure. They were too high, and the boat was moving too fast.

Bruenna swerved sharply around the next island and continued through the chain. Glissa noticed an opening in the base of the island large enough for the boat to enter. She peered inside as they sped past and saw a glittering cave with a number of human boats moored within.

“Can we hide in one of those caves?” shouted Glissa as they raced toward the next island. The aerophins swung wide around the silver spire but were still close behind.

“Maybe, if I can lose them,” snapped Bruenna. “If they follow us in, we’ll be trapped.”

Glissa pushed her hair from her eyes. “Slow down,” she shouted.

“Are you crazy? They’re charged and ready to attack if they get close enough. One bolt of lightning could sink us.”

“Just a little closer,” said Glissa. “Lure them in, then accelerate into the next cave. They can’t turn as tight as you can. Trust me. This will work.”