“Down here,” said the elf. “We’re almost there. Any sign of our robed friend or his flying spies?”
“Slobad not see anything but blasted light fruit since we come here. Why live in such dark wood, then light it with crazy fruit, huh? No wonder elves can’t see in dark.”
Glissa chuckled. “I know you’re tired, Slobad,” she said. “I promise you a hard bed in a nice dark room is just beyond this terrace.”
She jumped down to the terrace that held so many memories for her and jogged over to the trunk. The vorrac horn was still lodged in the knothole. The golem dropped to the terrace behind Glissa as she felt around for the catch within the knothole. After a few minutes, she heard a metallic click, then a grinding sound as the door opened. She slipped inside to the landing and waved Slobad after.
The goblin dropped off the back of his metal friend and led the golem through the door. It was a tight fit, but after some jostling, the golem crawled through the doorway. Glissa released the catch, and the door slid closed behind them.
“Stay here,” she said. “I don’t want to give the old troll a seizure.”
She bounded up the tunnel to the chamber outside Chunth’s bedroom. She was just about to knock on the wall that hid his room, when from behind her came shouts of trolls and the unmistakable sound of Slobad’s fire tube igniting. She heard the metallic scrape of weapons being drawn.
Glissa turned back toward Chunth’s door, but it was already open.
“Good morning, Chunth,” she said as the stooped figure of a troll appeared in the doorway. “I’ve returned.”
“In much the same way you left, I see,” said the old troll, gazing down the tunnel. “Do come in. We have much to discuss, and each day brings the convergence that much closer.”
“I brought friends,” said Glissa, pointing down the steps. “I don’t want them harmed.”
“It will sort itself out, young one,” said Chunth. He chuckled. “I will send word to put your friends into guest quarters.” He moved as if to put an arm around her shoulders.
“Hold on there, old one!” growled Glissa. She evaded his embrace. “You don’t get to play the doting uncle just yet.”
She stalked into the room and dropped onto Chunth’s chair facing the door.
“You kidnapped me and allowed my family to die. Before we discuss anything, you are going to tell me why that was necessary and who is trying to kill me.”
Chunth called down the steps, “Stand down. They are guests. Give them quarters and anything else they need. I am not to be disturbed.” He turned and entered the room, closing the door behind him. “I’m sorry, my girl,” he said. “What did you say?”
“My parents. Why did they have to die?”
“I told you before, Glissa,” the old troll said sadly. “You are the most important person on Mirrodin. We had to keep you safe. I am sorry your family was killed, but if you had been asleep when the levelers came, you would have died with them.”
“You mean you hoped to fool the assassin into thinking I was dead,” spat Glissa, “by letting my parents and sister get torn to pieces by those machines.”
Chunth hesitated just long enough that the elf knew she was right.
“We were merely trying to save you.”
“Liar!”
Chunth walked over to the table. The light from the gelfruit illuminated the leathery skin of the old troll’s face. His eyes glistened in the light, and Glissa thought she saw a tear roll down one cheek. “Glissa,” he said. “I am sorry about your family. I did what I had to do to save our world. The fate of all rests on you now.”
Glissa shook her head. It was almost too much to take in. “Why? What’s so special about me?”
“You need to know everything now.”
“Yes,” said Glissa slowly. “I do.”
The troll sat across from her and poured them both a cup of water. “You are a nexus, Glissa,” he said after taking a sip. “A nexus of great power waiting to be unleashed.”
“What in the flare are you talking about?”
“Precisely,” said Chunth. “Your flares. They have been unusual, haven’t they?”
“How do you know that?”
“It is one of the signs of your power,” said the troll. “Tell me about them.”
Glissa shook her head angrily. “I don’t have time for this. Someone is trying to kill me!”
“This is important,” said Chunth. “No one can hurt you here. Tell me about your flares. Then I will explain what I can.”
Glissa sighed. “Fine,” she said. “Lately, they’ve been the same scene each time, but I’ve never seen this place before. I’m in a strange forest that’s both soft and bright. There are no moons, but there is a large … sun-a word I’d never heard until I left the Tangle. My clothes are different. I’m different. My arms and legs are all fleshy.”
“How does it end?” asked Chunth. He seemed unsurprised by her description. Of course, he had no metal on his body, either, so maybe it wasn’t so strange to him.
“I’m drawn to a clearing. There is some strange energy glowing in the middle. Elves are all around me, walking toward the energy.”
“Then it flashes?”
“Yes,” said Glissa. She stared at the old troll. “How did you know? Trolls don’t have flares.”
“Those are racial memories, Glissa,” said Chunth. “You are connected to the elves and to the mana of the forest at a primal level. Your flares show you visions not of your own life but of the life of your people … even of their life before the Tangle.”
“Before the Tangle?” She laughed. “There was nothing before the Tangle.”
“You know that is not true, don’t you?” said Chunth. “You have seen the green forest, the bright yellow sun, and the vine-covered elves.”
“So you’ve had these visions as well?”
“No,” said Chunth. “The memories I have of the time before the Tangle are my own. I was there. I remember my forest. I remember the world of the trolls before the Tangle.”
Glissa was silent for a moment as she fought to absorb this.
“And the energy?” she asked. “The flash of white light? Do you remember that?”
“Yes. It was different for the trolls but the same as well.”
“Don’t start talking in riddles again, old one,” she scolded. “Speak clearly, or I swear I’ll go live with the goblins.”
“I do not know what the ball of energy was,” said Chunth, “or how it worked. It changed the world of the trolls. We exchanged our world for his world … this world.”
Glissa caught the swift change. “His world?” Glissa remembered something Slobad had said about the golems. They were from before the time of elves and goblins. She looked at Chunth. “Do you mean Memnarch’s world?”
Chunth stared back at Glissa, the cup of water halfway between the table and his mouth. “Where did you hear that name?” he asked at last. “Did it come to you in one of your flares?”
“No,” said Glissa. She had finally wrested control of the conversation back from the troll and felt an odd sense of triumph at having done so. “The golem said it when he saw this.” She pulled the vial from her boot sheath and placed it on the table. “Who or what is Memnarch? Is that who’s trying to kill me? Whoever made this serum used it to make the nim attack us.”
Chunth dropped his cup on the floor and picked up the vial of serum. “I never should have let you go into the world alone,” he said softly. “Listen, Glissa. You possess a power-a gift-within you that some wish to use for their own ends. If you are not careful-”
“Yes, I know,” interrupted Glissa. “End of the world, death to us all. I heard the same thing from an old leonin seer. I expected a more direct answer from you. Why save me from the levelers if all I can bring to this world is death?”