When she had hit the water, she felt her body twist. Stuck somewhere between the bottom and the surface, not sure of which way she was facing, she had no idea how deep she was nor which way was up. She’d hoped, like she had in the Tangle, that once she fell still, she’d start to float back to the surface. Without stopping, she wouldn’t know which direction to swim. Why wasn’t she stopping?
Realization came to her in a flash, and fear gripped her chest. A current! The swamp, like the Quicksilver Sea, had underwater currents, and this one was pulling her down.
Throwing her arms out wide, she reached in all directions, hoping to find the bottom or breach the surface-anything that could tell her which way was up. Her left hand struck something, but when she reached, it slipped away. All she could find was more of the viscous liquid that surrounded her and held her tight.
The deeper she slid the colder the water grew. The current picked up, and she felt her body pick up speed as she sank even deeper into the swamp. The air in her lungs burned, and the pressure of the water on her ears increased. She felt as if a giant were squeezing her head between his two mighty palms, and sharp pains blossomed in spots all over the inside of her skull.
The pain grew, and Glissa flailed. Panic filled her from head to toe.
* * * * *
Visions flashed in front of her eyes in rapid succession, and Glissa temporarily left this world as a flare consumed her.
She saw her mother standing in a tree in the Tangle. Then she saw Slobad, tinkering with a leveler, his hands and face covered in grease. Bruenna, Al-Hayat, and Chunth the troll appeared to her then just as quickly slipped away.
Bosh edged all the other images from her mind. He stood before her, his hands bleeding. He looked sad. Instead of his stoic and immovable expression, his mouth was actually in a frown, and his eyes seemed sunken. He looked right at her. Behind him Glissa could see the interior of Mirrodin. The bright mana core was high overhead, and the tower Bosh had called Panopticon was in the near distance.
In the vision, the half-flesh, half-iron golem’s lips turned up, and he smiled at her, though his eyes remained sad. He turned and walked off, toward Panopticon.
* * * * *
Glissa felt the back of her head hit something, and she came out of the flare. She was moving at a tremendous clip now, and her fingers and toes were touching the edge of something. She was still under water, now surrounded on all sides by curved metal.
The rushing current carried her through a series of twists and turns. Each time the direction changed, her head hit the surrounding wall. The crashing impacts threatened to knock the air from her lungs, but she held tight, despite every urge to let go and just pass out.
She felt her feet skid along the bottom then slip free. Then she was falling through air. Her head broke from the swamp water, and reflexively she gasped in a breath. Flecks of the fetid swamp water sprinkled over her tongue, but she didn’t care. The air exhilarated her, forcing the panic away, and now she could feel the wild beating of her heart.
Dragging her hand across her face, Glissa opened her eyes in time to see a huge lake of swamp water coming up fast below her. Gasping, she gathered in one more precious breath before splashing again into darkness.
Down and down she sank. From what she could tell, she’d fallen a long way. Bubbling, frothing air accompanied her as she plunged. Slowing, the bubbles peeled off, one at a time, rising again toward the surface, and Glissa could feel herself come to a stop-the way she’d hoped she would when she had started into the swamp in the first place.
The air in her lungs buoyed her, and she rose. Her legs felt week from the cold water and lack of air, but she kicked with all the energy she had left. It seemed an eternity, stuck in the syrupy swamp water, then her head breached the surface, and once again she drew in breath.
The edge of the lake wasn’t far off, and Glissa swam to it, lifting herself gratefully from the water and resting her body on the firm metal ground. Lying there on her back, she breathed in huge gulps of air. There was water in her lungs, and as she sucked in, she could hear a thick rattling in her chest. She turned her head and coughed, trying to force out the liquid. Her hacking dislodged a big piece of flemmy gook, and she spit it out on the ground.
Rolling again to her back, she looked up to see how far she’d fallen.
High above, a series of intertwining grimy pipes covered the walls. They wound around each other, shooting off in all directions and crossing over to cover the ceiling, obscuring it from view. Black water and bits of refuse dripped from every pipe, but there was no doubt where Glissa had entered this room.
One of the pipes had a huge, gaping hole in the bottom. From it issued a heavy waterfall of putrid fluid. Beads of black liquid bursts apart, separating from the rest of the flood on the fall, finally coming down to splash into the underground lake that had caught Glissa on her plunge.
Pallid, yellow-green light filled the chamber. Glissa couldn’t see where it was coming from, but the room was bright. Slipping over onto her belly, the elf lifted her head. The lake took up most of the chamber. Around it, a metal shelf ran around the outside of the room just wide enough for three elves to stand side by side. The pipes that ran all the way up the walls and across the ceiling jutted from the ground on the outside of this walkway.
To her left, behind a space between two of these pipes, was what looked like a tunnel leading out. Beside it sat Bosh. His partially rusted body blended flawlessly with the tubes, making him nearly disappear into the background.
“Bo-” Glissa’s voice was raw, and there was swamp water in her throat. Burping and spitting out as much of the foul fluid as she could, the elf coughed out her words. “Bosh. Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he said. He pointed to the waterfall above. “I fell.”
“Me too,” she said. Getting to her feet, she traversed the walkway over to the iron golem.
“I know,” he said. “I watched you.” He continued to sit on the floor as Glissa approached.
She looked him over, and he looked back, but he didn’t move. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
The golem nodded. “Yes, but I feel weak. I would like to rest for a moment.”
Glissa nodded and sat down beside him. “What do you think this place is?”
Bosh shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been here before.”
“Well, wherever it is, it’s deep under the swamp.” She breathed. Her lungs still rattled a bit, but she was improving. “It’s a good thing there was a hole in that pipe. Who knows where it leads, and I don’t think I could have made it much longer without any air.”
“There was not a hole there,” said Bosh. “I got stuck going around a corner and smashed it open.”
“Then you saved both of our lives.”
Bosh looked down at her then back up at the waterfall. “Yes.”
Just then a large piece of debris plummeted from the ceiling. Glissa watched it fall, tracking its course toward the underground lake. It was round and wrinkly, and it toppled end over end. It sprouted arms and began to flail.
Glissa jumped to her feet. “Slobad!”
The goblin didn’t hear her. His eyes were so wide that Glissa could see his pupils from where she was standing.
The elf turned toward the golem. “We should do something.”
Bosh began to get to his feet. “What?”
Glissa shrugged and turned back in time to watch the goblin hit the lake with a loud slap. “Fish him out. He’ll drown!” She circled around the narrow walkway closer to where he landed.
Round waves moved out from where Slobad had impacted the underground lake. The swamp water moved slowly, dampening the splash because it was so thick and dense. Glissa watched the center of the waves, waiting for Slobad’s head to pop up, reassure her that he didn’t get crushed when he landed, or drowned shortly there after.