The pair swung away, reaching the apex of their arc, slowing, then coming back down and gaining speed. They were headed back toward the coupling.
“This is our best chance,” said Glissa. “It’s now or never.”
Slobad looked up and only nodded.
From the corner of her eye, Glissa could see the centipede ready to strike again, its head curled back, its eyes pointed at her and Slobad.
“Here we go,” she shouted, and she swung her arms with everything she had. At the top of their arc, as close as they would come to coupling, Glissa let go of the goblin. As soon as she did, the vine complained once again, then it snapped, and she fell, head first, toward the ground.
As she dropped she watched Slobad soar through the air. He looked as if he were hanging on an invisible hook, weightless and unconcerned about being ten times his height from the floor.
The centipede’s head filled her vision. It came down, and the rest of the world rushed up to greet her. She could hear the scissoring sound of the bug’s arms closing and opening again. She hit something hard, and everything went black.
* * * * *
At the other end of the lake, a new predator emerged. Unseen but all seeing, it stalked from between the pipes. Scanning the room with its hawklike eyes, set deep above a birdlike beak, the four-legged creature stayed concealed within the shadows. It would watch and wait.
The myr had all the time in the world.
* * * * *
Slobad was weightless. One minute he was swinging from a vine like a monkey, the next he was being hurled through the air. The falling part he didn’t so much like, but the moment just before he fell-the point at which he wasn’t travelling up or down but was just stuck in midair-that he kind of liked.
Now he was falling again. Glissa had done her best to throw him toward the coupling. He hadn’t made it, and he was starting back down. Slobad felt his stomach rise as he began to pick up speed. He definitely didn’t like this part, and he reached out, reactions taking over for reason.
His fingers closed around nothing but air, and the goblin continued to fall. Then something solid hit his leg, and he lunged for it. Nimble hands caught the edge of a broken, magical vine, and Slobad crashed into the pipes.
His heart raced, and terror flooded through his veins. Looking down, he saw Glissa falling then saw the centipede dive after her-Bosh clinging to his back.
Glissa hit the water, and the swamp creature plunged its head under, leaving the room eerily quiet. Slobad clung to the wall, listening to himself breathe, trying to piece together what had just happened to him.
The sound of bubbling water interrupted his thoughts. The surface of the underground lake exploded upward, and the centipede’s head shot into the sky. This time, though, Bosh wasn’t attached.
Great, thought the goblin. Bosh and Glissa are gone, and Slobad is the one stuck up here with angry centipede, huh?
Before the creature could get its bearings, Slobad decided to climb. Grabbing hold of the smallest pipe he could find, hugging it as if it were Glissa’s back, the goblin shimmed up toward the coupling.
The going was tough, but Slobad was a good climber, and he managed to make progress. The coupling, however, was on a different pipe, and eventually he’d have to find a way to cross from where he was over to where he was going.
Now that he thought about it, he didn’t know why he was going there. Glissa had wanted him to take it apart, but that was when Bosh was still on the creature’s back. But, even when the golem had still been attached to the bug, Slobad didn’t know what good taking apart the connective coupling was going to do.
He’d almost reached the connection when he heard a loud chittering sound. Turning around, he looked into the beady little eyes of the giant centipede.
Slobad swallowed. “Nice bug, huh?”
The swamp monster reared and lunged at the goblin.
Slobad barely had time to scamper onto the neighboring pipe before the creature’s head impacted the coupling.
A dull gong, followed by a high-pitched hissing sound, rolled through the chamber. A flood of filth shot out, blinding the centipede and forcing it back. The creature’s attack had punctured the coupling, and all the swamp fluid stored within the pipe was released in one large shot.
“Oh,” said Slobad. “Now Slobad understand crazy elf.”
Below he could see that Glissa and Bosh had surfaced and were getting out of the lake. Bruenna stood below him, waving her hands.
“What?” he yelled.
Bruenna cupped her hands to her mouth. “Jump.”
“Oh.” Slobad shrugged and leaped into the air.
CHAPTER 18
Memnarch’s body hummed in anticipation. Every cell, every molecule of metal and flesh combined wanted more serum. No, they needed more serum.
Drinking in giant quaffs from a large mug, the guardian of Mirrodin leaned over the controls of his Darksteel Eye. When he had built the Eye, he asssumed he would always have his infusion device. Consequently, the viewing chamber was too small for him to fit inside while wearing his serum tanks.
It had been a miscalculation.
Images buzzed around him. Each of the eight different screens showed him the view through the eyes of his myr. Right now, he was unconcerned with all of it-except for the unfolding events in the Mephidross.
Capturing the elf girl was his priority. The rest of the plane could wait just as he had waited.
Through the eyes of his spy, he watched the elf girl and her friends evade the centipede and scurry into the tunnel. Memnarch had watched that interaction barely taking a breath. There would be no end to the torture he would unleash on the denizens of the Dross if she were killed in the swamp.
Damn this frustration. If only he could lay his hands on her. If only he were in his original body, his created, perfect body, then he would be able to chase her himself. But alas, he was not. He was cursed to have this sagging, fleshy monstrosity that served no other purpose except as a vessel for his greatness. With it, there was only one thing he could do in the search for the elf-watch and wait.
Each time his servants had her cornered, the elf girl had managed to escape. That would not be the case this time.
Now as his myr stalked behind its quarry, Memnarch was much relieved. She only needed to step through the end of the passage, and he would have her in his grasp.
* * * * *
Glissa and Bosh fished Slobad from the underground lake. His body was mostly limp, but he was coughing up swamp water, so the elf figured he was still alive. Looking up one last time at the disoriented centipede, Glissa dodged into the passage with the rest of the group, the goblin in tow.
The eerie yellow glow from the large chamber behind them didn’t seep too far into the tunnel. About a hundred yards in, everything was dark.
“Anybody have a dry torch?” said Glissa.
Suddenly the passage lit up with a cool blue glow. In front of the elf, Bruenna and two of her wizards held their arms in the air. In their outstretched palms, each held a small glowing ball of light, about the size of a baby squirrel. It wasn’t much, but it did the trick.
“That’s better.”
Glissa scanned the tunnel. It was large enough to accommodate the iron golem, though his head occasionally touched the roof, depending on how much sludge had collected on the floor. The walls were covered in a shiny film that reminded her of the sludge she’d swum through to get to the bottom of the swamp. Looking down at her hands, the same shiny slime had attached itself to every crevice. The lines on her hands were set in a deep black, and her skin looked like it belonged to someone twice her age.
“I don’t think I can remember the last time I was clean.”
The group continued on, following a series of twists and turns. Al-Hayat had a hard time keeping his balance. His paws kept slipping in the slime, and his claws made a screeching noise when they ground across the metal pipe beneath.