Glissa stepped back and held her sister at arm’s length. Lyese nodded solemnly, but soon couldn’t hold back a lopsided grin. The younger elf blushed a deeper green.
“The most important thing is to find out if they know anything about Slobad. An alliance is important, but if we can’t figure out why Memnarch was willing to send so many levelers after Slobad, that all might be beside the point.” Raksha nodded his agreement as Glissa continued. “If you can’t get to the Prophet, try to find someone else who might know something. But if you do get a chance to talk to Dwugget,” Glissa said, “tell him what happened down below, in the interior-what I told you. Both of you fill in the story for him. He probably knows more about the big picture than you think. Tell him about Slobad. If he really is following Krark, he should help you. If not, we’re going to have to fight Memnarch without the goblins’ help.”
Raksha looked a little ruffled at suddenly being on the receiving end of the orders but nodded in agreement. “We shall,” he said.
“I just hope we don’t have to fight too many of the goblins,” said Lyese, rubbing her sore wrists. “They don’t fight fair.”
“Neither should you,” Glissa said. “You should fight to survive.”
Raksha arched the wiry whiskers on his brow at this dishonorable notion, but said nothing.
“Take care of yourself, big sister,” Lyese said. “Go save Bruenna, and we’ll meet you back at Taj Nar.”
“Yes you will. I’m not about to become the bride of Yert,” Glissa said.
Raksha reached under his breastplate and pulled out a small gemstone pendant hanging from a chain. The stone glowed a faint yellow in the dim light. Without ceremony, the Kha pulled it over his head and offered it to Glissa. “Take this,” he said. “It will protect you from the necrogen mists. They can become toxic over several days’ exposure. Hopefully you won’t be in there that long.” He shrugged and added, “You might also say it’s lucky.”
“Thanks. Now to see if I can get there in time,” Glissa said, placing a hand to her temple. “There’s got to be a way to cover the distance. Where are your pterons?”
“Safely out of the fight. They are more a hindrance than a help in such close quarters, and frankly Taj Nar can’t afford to lose even one. That said, you shall take my personal mount,” Raksha rumbled as he waved the nearest skyhunter over. “This is Lieutenant Ellasha. Lieutenant, we are placing you under the command of Glissa, Chosen One and Champion of the Tangle. Do you understand?”
Glissa groaned inwardly. Her supposed status as “Chosen One” was, as far as she was concerned, still in dispute. “Chased One” was more like it. Raksha’s lieutenant didn’t seem to find her title that impressive. Ellasha let her lip curl just enough to reveal the tips of her fangs before military demeanor took over and she nodded curtly. “Yes, my Kha.” The leonin lieutenant flipped Raksha a crisp salute and returned to securing the goblin prisoners.
Glissa saw that the leonin had left a few of the goblins’ weapons lying about-neither team was going to be able to take a number of angry goblin prisoners along, but leaving them tied securely without some way to eventually escape was tantamount to murder.
Yet there was still the problem of what to do with Alderok Vektro, who presented a much greater danger than the goblin guards, but from whom Raksha and Lyese would need directions. The Vulshok’s head had started lolling lazily, and he might soon come to. Maybe his power was in the gauntlets, maybe not, but Glissa didn’t think it was a chance they should take.
Raksha finally settled on keeping the human’s arms tied behind his back, and gagged his mouth with strips of the Vulshok’s robes. They were stopgap solutions, the Kha admitted, but should keep Vektro from trying any magical tricks on the journey into the mountains. The gag could be removed briefly to get directions out of the priest, and Raksha promised the human a swift death if he attempted to run. Vektro nodded, in no position to argue. And it might have been her imagination, but Glissa could have sworn that Vektro now looked a little smaller and less muscular without his gauntlets. Perhaps they were simple strength-enhancing artifacts.
With a final farewell and one more assurance from Lyese that she would be careful, the leonin and the young elf set off, their Vulshok prisoner stumbling ahead of them.
Lieutenant Ellasha turned from watching them go to address Glissa. “Your orders, Chosen One?”
The elf girl thought the leonin’s effort to disguise her disdain was admirable, if not quite successful.
“We’re taking the pterons for a ride into the swamp. Can you lead me to them?” Glissa asked. “And call me Glissa. Please.”
“Of course,” Ellasha replied. “Glissa, the pterons will have us within the Mephidross before the next sun clears the horizon.”
CHAPTER 14
“Weerm geddim clohmz nowm,” Geth’s head shouted through the leather pack on Glissa’s back. The grisly thing hadn’t stopped babbling since she’d taken to the air on the back of the silver pteron. Despite her efforts to shut the noise out she realized glumly that she was beginning to understand what Geth’s muffled ravings whether she wanted to or not.
“I know,” Glissa said, “I can feel it getting closer.” She grimaced, and added, “And shut up, will you? You’re going to attract carrion birds.”
The elf girl loosely gripped the reins. Contrary to Ellasha’s warning, the pteron hadn’t tried to run her through, but had actually landed at her feet to allow her to mount as soon as she approached. She wasn’t sure if it was the same one she’d ridden before, but the pteron hadn’t tried to kill her, which was good enough.
Glissa and the skyhunters had built up quite a bit of speed by the time the blackened edge of the Mephidross broke over the horizon. She squinted against the dusty wind that flattened her thick cables of hair flat against her head. The elf adjusted her goggles to ensure they fit snugly around her eyes. Now would not be a good time for blurred vision.
Elassha pulled ahead and to Glissa’s left, waving them to follow and take the pterons lower. She wished once again they’d thought to figure out a way to speak to each other up here. Glissa wanted to ask the leonin lieutenant if he had spotted something, or if this was simply the standard procedure for airborne leonin commandos approaching dangerous territory from the air. The leonin could communicate with hand signals, but Glissa could only understand a few simple commands. Fortunately, a slight nudge of the harness sent her pteron instinctively plunging down after the others. They leveled off only twenty feet or so over the razor plains.
The blackened edges of the Mephidross grew until they covered the horizon. Glissa didn’t see any activity, nim or leonin, which seemed odd. The razor grass below was dotted with low verdigris shrubs and short stubby trees. She looked off to her left, where the flora grow steadily in size until it ran into the distant Tangle. They had already reached the far side of the Dross, and the battle between Yert’s forces and Raksha’s people was too far away to see.
It didn’t make any sense. If there was an opening into the Glimmervoid, even if it meant taking the long way around to Taj Nar, why hadn’t the “master of the nim” sent expeditionary forces through this corridor? For that matter, why had the Tangle always been spared the depredations of the nim? The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Perhaps he just didn’t have enough troops, Glissa finally decided. But something about it continued to bother her.