“Back into Pool?” asked Slobad.
“Yes,” said Glissa. “Guards are coming. Lots of guards.”
Slobad nodded. He opened the chamber in the golem’s chest and climbed in again. Bosh picked up Bruenna and turned toward the Pool.
“Hold your hand over her mouth and nose,” said Glissa. “I’ll follow you.”
Bosh wrapped his massive palm over the unconscious mage’s face and walked to the edge of the Pool. He stepped over the side and dropped into the swirling liquid. The doors opened on either side of Glissa. She glanced up and saw a horde of guards outside the chamber. She ran for the edge of the Pool and dived toward the liquid. She heard the loud snap of harpoons launching, but the next moment she was in the Pool. Harpoons splashed into the Pool all around her as she swam toward the bottom.
* * * * *
Glissa could see Bosh. He was walking along the bottom of the Pool toward a doorway in the side. But then another image replaced the scene in Glissa’s vision. She saw the golem striding across the grounds of a palace. There were no moons in the sky, but the light from millions of stars bathed the landscape in a pale glow. It was Mirrodin. Somehow Glissa just knew. But it was a different Mirrodin than she had seen these past few weeks. It was perfect. It was beautiful.
The trees had metallic leaves and branches instead of twisted spires and uneven terraces. There were flowers surrounding a fountain. Everything gleamed and glittered in the starlight. The silvery surface of the palace reminded Glissa of Lumengrid. But the palace was built on land. It didn’t flow from it. Each block fit with precision and reflected light and images in perfect proportions. The mirrored walls of Lumengrid twisted and distorted everything caught in their surface.
The silver man turned toward Glissa. He opened his mouth to speak but then disappeared. In his place, Glissa saw a new figure. This one was silver, like the last, but something was wrong with him. The new figure’s forearms were made of flesh, as was part of his face and neck. He appeared to be in great pain. His fleshy mouth was open and twisted as if screaming. But the figure’s metallic eyes seemed dispassionate, cold. He was reaching out to Glissa. Behind him Glissa saw crystalline spires dotting an oddly curved landscape.
Light seemed to come from above the figure. Glissa looked up into a bright, multi-colored moon, hanging impossibly close in the sky. The light blinded Glissa, and when she looked down again, she was in the Tangle. The afterglow of a bright light lingered in her eyes. Elves lay on the ground all around. They were unconscious or asleep. Glissa looked down at an elf girl at her feet. The girl had an angelic soft face and long flowing hair. She wore a green tunic tied on by leaf-covered vines. It was the girl from Glissa’s flares.
“What are you doing here?” Glissa asked.
The girl looked up and screamed.
Glissa glanced up and screamed also. A horrible creature was above them both. It had the face of a human or perhaps a vedalken, but the rest of the body looked like a horror from the Mephidross or some enormous leveler. It was all legs and spikes and pincers, with a human head floating in the middle of it all. Glissa turned to run, but the creature grabbed her in its pincers and placed her in a large chair. She looked down to see that she was already strapped in, her arms and legs held in place by metal bands. Another band descended toward her forehead. The horrible, human-faced insect loomed over her. Glissa opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out except bubbles.
Glissa was back in the Pool. Bosh was dragging her through the doorway at the bottom. He passed his hand over a circle on the wall, and a door appeared, closing them off from the rest of the Pool. A moment later, the liquid in the little room drained away. Glissa looked up at Bosh.
“Thank you,” she said.
The golem nodded. “Are you all right?” he asked. “You appeared to be in trouble.”
Glissa wrung the liquid from her hair. “I’m fine,” she said. “I saw images. Disjointed, fleeting images. Without the serum, I couldn’t control them. Just like Bruenna’s father. It was like the images were controlling me.”
Bosh continued to stare at her. “I’m okay. Really.” She looked around the small chamber. “Where’s Bruenna?” she asked.
“In the next chamber,” said Bosh. “I placed her in Slobad’s care. She is safe.”
Bosh passed his hand over another circle on the far wall. Part of the wall disappeared, creating a doorway from the little room. An odd glow emanated from the room beyond, but Glissa couldn’t see anything past the door. Bosh moved through the doorway. But as he did, the golem’s body tipped forward. It looked like he had fallen into a hole, head first. But Glissa could still see the iron man’s back, and he seemed to be walking down, away from the base of the door.
Glissa walked to the doorway and peered through. The small room opened into a tunnel that descended straight down into Lumengrid. Luminescent moss grew on the sides of the tunnel, providing light. But what Glissa saw made her stomach flip over. Bosh stood on the side of the tunnel beneath her. Next to him sat Slobad, who was cradling Bruenna’s head in his lap. They were all below her, standing, sitting, lying on the side of the tunnel.
“Is this safe?” asked Glissa. She could see the three of them there, somehow attached to the moss-covered wall, but Glissa’s brain refused to believe she wouldn’t fall as soon as she stepped through the doorway.
“It is,” said Bosh.
Slobad nodded. He was stroking Bruenna’s hair. Glissa suppressed a chuckle. She was sure that if the human mage were awake, she would not enjoy the attention she was currently receiving from a goblin. Glissa took a deep breath and stepped over the edge. Just like Bosh, she rotated over the bottom edge of the doorway as she stepped through. Her foot came to rest on the side of the tunnel, but Glissa’s stomach tried to leap from her throat. She fell down next to Slobad and threw up.
“Helps if you close your eyes, huh?” said Slobad.
Glissa closed her eyes for a moment and let her stomach settle back down into her gut. When she opened her eyes, the world looked normal around her. She felt like she was in a long tunnel … a long tunnel with a door in the floor.
“Where does this tunnel lead?” she asked.
“Down,” said Bosh, pointing away from the door.
“How far?” asked Glissa.
“Past bottom of Lumengrid, huh?” said Slobad. “Found entrance below. Amazing. Tunnel wide as Mother’s Womb down there. Go on forever.”
“That must be why all of the corridors go around the center of Lumengrid,” said Glissa. She looked at Bosh. “Is this one of the other holes down into the inner world? You said there were more like the Mother’s Womb that Krark used in the mountains.”
Bosh nodded. “We should proceed,” he said. He picked up Bruenna and began walking away from the doorway. Slobad and Glissa got to their feet and followed the iron golem.
“What happened to you?” asked Slobad as they walked.
“Visions,” said Glissa. “Like Bruenna’s father experienced. Random visions I couldn’t control.”
“Anything useful?” asked Slobad.
“No,” said Glissa. “Maybe. I don’t know. It was all a jumble.” Glissa kicked at the moss that covered much of the silvery surface of Lumengrid’s inner core.
“Flare!” she muttered. “We came all this way for nothing. Bruenna almost died … and for what? The vedalken may no longer want me dead, but this Memnarch plans to use me to destroy the world. I don’t even know where to find him, let alone how to stop him. We’re no closer to figuring out Chunth’s great mystery than we were when we left the Tangle.”
“The trip was not completely without merit,” said Bosh.
“What do you mean?” asked Glissa.
“The Pool aided me in recovering my memories,” said Bosh.
“That’s great,” said Glissa. She ran down the side of the hole to catch up with the golem. “What do you remember?”