That night, seated around a small fire, Slobad began to talk again.
“Slobad alone a long time,” he said as they chewed on some foul-smelling rodents the goblin had caught. “Too long, huh? That real curse-to live alone, apart from world.”
“Why?” asked Glissa. The meat was tough and stringy. She was glad the goblin had finally started his story. It gave her a reason to stop eating.
“I told, you, huh?” said Slobad. “Slobad cursed. Born under Eye of Doom-the blue sun. It ghost sun. The day Slobad born, Eye of Doom hover above Great Furnace. Sign of bad luck, huh? Mother should sacrifice Slobad to Furnace. That law of the goblins, huh? All born under Eye of Doom are cursed and must be returned to Furnace. Instead she drop me into air duct, right down in air duct. She couldn’t bother killing me herself. Better to die and have metal used for good, huh? At least life would have meaning.…”
Slobad’s voice trailed off. Glissa didn’t prod him this time but went back to eating her long-tailed rodent. She took a bite, then stuck her fingers in her mouth to pull a stringy piece of metal from between her teeth. Whisker. After a time, Slobad continued.
“Slobad found by goblin named Dwugget,” said Slobad. “He outcast, too. Leader of rogue cult, huh? Leader of Krark cult. Live in secret lair at end of ducts. Dwugget found Slobad on way home, huh? Took me in. Gave me home. I work for cult, listen to stories, huh? But Slobad never fit in. We all outcasts, but they choose to live apart, all for stupid story nobody believes.”
“What story was that?” asked Glissa.
“Not important,” said Slobad. “Goblin named Krark claim to find other world inside Mirrodin. All craziness. Slobad never fit in. They okay to me, but never get too close. They religious. Still believe in curse. One day, priests find cult and attack. Slobad decides to leave, huh? Leave family and wander world. Live near Tangle for a time, but elves don’t trust anyone. Slobad run from there and wander Glimmervoid.”
“That’s when you met the healers?” asked Glissa. She finished her meal and tossed the bones away from their camp.
Slobad nodded. “And Raksha, young leonin warrior, Kha. Slobad given to Raksha as toy, huh? Training dummy. We fight all the time. Raksha always win. Slobad always hurt. But healers fix me up, huh? So Raksha train again.”
“That sounds horrible,” said Glissa. “You really want to go back to these people?”
“Raksha good to Slobad. He always make sure I healed properly, huh? Then nim begin attacking more. Raksha sent into real battles. Fighting always follow Slobad, huh? Part of curse. Other leonin not so good to Slobad. Not welcome when Raksha out of city. I leave again before healers kick me out, huh? I find leveler cave and decide to live alone. Battles can’t come to me there. Nobody dare come close.”
Except me, thought Glissa. But I don’t believe in destiny, no matter what Chunth said. Bad things happen because people make them happen. To Slobad, she said, “You’ve lived alone ever since, eating these … what do you call them?”
“Glimmer rats,” said Slobad through a full mouth. He hadn’t eaten during his story and seemed to be trying to catch up now.
Glissa watched Slobad stuff another rat into his mouth and chomp down. She could hear the creature’s bones breaking as he chewed. The goblin didn’t even bother to spit out the metal bits. Were his eating habits the result of living alone? Or perhaps all goblins ate that way.
“I’m sorry I’ve upset your life, Slobad, but I appreciate all you’ve done for me. Maybe you can go back to the leveler cave after my leg is healed.”
“Maybe,” said Slobad, his mouth still full. After he swallowed, he continued, “Nothing there for me, huh? Just place to be. Not home. No one to talk to. Slobad start talking to himself. Very bad. Long time since I go to Taj Nar, huh?”
“Taj Nar?” asked Glissa.
Slobad offered her the last rat, but Glissa waved it off. He stuck the rat’s head into his mouth and bit it off. “Taj Nar is great leonin city. Where Raksha rule. He is leader now, huh? Kha.”
“Are you sure he’ll help me?” asked Glissa.
Slobad nodded, chewing the rest of the rat. “Raksha owe Slobad. Most leonin not like outsiders much, huh? A lot like elves that way. Raksha different. He like Slobad. Slobad work for him many times. Fix city walls. Make sacred torch. Raksha owe Slobad. He will help.”
“Well, I’m not like other elves,” said Glissa with a smile, the first smile she had given since the trolls kidnapped her. “And I like you, too, Slobad.”
“I know,” said Slobad. “That why I help you. Slobad not have many friends but always helps the ones he finds.”
Glissa began to wonder if maybe there was something to Chunth’s speech after all. How else could she explain finding Slobad-the one person in the world lonelier than she-just when she needed him? The leonin were the first stop. If she was going to find the person who killed her family, she would need a guide in this strange world outside the Tangle.
* * * * *
The next two rotations were a blur to Glissa. She and Slobad trudged through the Glimmervoid. Slobad pointed out mounds to her that he said were leonin homes, but Glissa couldn’t tell the difference between them and the rest of the landscape. Never once did they see any leonin, but Glissa thought she saw movement each night as they camped. Once, she was sure she saw the robed figure from the Tangle, but it might have been a dream or even a flare.
“Leonin don’t like strangers,” said Slobad again the second night, when Glissa asked why they hadn’t seen any of the elusive race yet. “They know we here, huh? We don’t bother them; they don’t bother us. Keep to themselves, huh?”
Glissa sat and worked her healing magic to keep the decay on her leg from spreading too far. Her wound looked worse each rotation. The green energy kept the pain tolerable but couldn’t stop the infection. It had almost spread past her calf already. More metal flaked off every day from her lower leg, and the pus continued to ooze from the cuts on her ankle.
Several times during their trip, Slobad led them around patches of tall plants. They were slender and bright silver. They waved in the wind, creating an eerie whistling that hung in the air around the patches. On the third day, Glissa saw a glimmer rat run into a patch of the silvery reeds ahead of them. It was being chased by a predator with strong legs and pointed, metal ears. Glissa drew her sword and waited.
The rat emerged from the other side of the patch, but a gust of wind set the reeds swinging and singing. The thin plants sliced back and forth, and a howl of pain joined the chorus. The elf ran forward to the edge of the patch. The predator lay in the middle of the reeds, its blood pooling around what remained of the body. She could also see blood and gore on the bladed reeds around the body. Glissa reached out to touch one of the plants and cut her finger on its edge.
“What are those?” she cried as she moved back from the patch, afraid another gust of wind might catch her too close.
“Razor grass,” said Slobad. “They cut right through you. Deadly in the wind, huh? Best to go around.”
Shortly after they passed the waving reeds, Glissa looked up at the yellow moon, which Slobad called the Bringer. It was now very low in the sky. The other three had already set. Without the competing light from the other moons, Slobad cast a long shadow that reached almost all the way back to the razor field. Glissa was about to say they should find a spot to camp soon, when she bumped into the goblin, who had stopped at the top of a rise.
“What is it?” she said.
“We here,” said Slobad, who was pointing down the hill. “Taj Nar, great city of leonin. May be problem, huh?”
Glissa looked where Slobad pointed. They were above a great valley surrounded by hills. In the middle of the valley a huge tower seemed to erupt from a large hill. Columns of metal stretched up and out, buttressing several conical levels high up in the air. Metal spikes grew from the tops of the columns all around the city, like a clawed hand holding Taj Nar in its palm.