The elf that had refused to speak to her before leaned close to her ear. A life bloom, he said. Truly we are blessed.
Nissa looked again at the strange living pillar. The ground stopped trembling, and the plants started moving in the wind. Well, maybe not blessed, she thought, but it was an interesting occurrence.
How long will it last? Nissa asked.
Not more than a day, the commander elf said.
But you shall soon see one that has lasted over a hundred years. And with that, he turned and began walking.
Soon a different tower than Tal Terig appeared on the dark horizon. When they were nearer, Nissa saw that this one did not have the same smooth sides of the Puzzle Tower. Its irregular form stood out like a natural monument in the dry basin.
Ora Ondar, the elf commander said. The Impossible Garden.
Nissa knew the stories, as did every elf and most humans. Examples of every plant that grew on Akoum grew on a basalt tower that shot up out of the wastes. The tower was shaped similarly to the pillar that had formed after the lava Roil she d seen, except Ora Ondar was larger.
As they neared, Nissa could see the fabled plants growing off the pillar in a lush cascade.
Formed by the Roil more than a hundred years ago, the commander said. And tended continuously by the Nourishers. Come.
She led them to a hole at the base of the tower. Stairs chiseled out of the black rock spiraled upward. Again, the commander led the way. Nissa noticed with a pang of alarm that the elves waited to go last, and that they did so with arrows nocked on their bowstrings. As the group walked up the staircase they passed doorways that led out into the rooms where the plants grew. Each level of the tower seemed to grow another kind of plant. One level had only a plant that smelled like water and produced flowers as large as an elf. Another was all tall ferns. Yet another had plants with flowered mouth parts that lunged at the elf keepers who protected themselves with huge shields of skins stretched across frames.
Where are we going? Nissa asked.
The elf commander said nothing.
They climbed the spiral staircase until Nissa s thighs burned and she was huffing with exertion. On the top level, the sky was dark and huge. A group of elves with crystal lanterns was busy picking something off the small trees that grew there a white fruit that glowed slightly as it hung off the boughs.
The elves that had come behind up the spiral staircase pushed the group forward with their short bows. Soon a figure stepped out from behind a tree. He was an older elf with fruits in each of his hands. As they watched he took a large bite out of one of the fruits. Juice ran down the corners of his mouth as he gave a wide grin. His teeth glowed. His eyeballs glowed. His unkempt hair looked like a snipe falcon s nest on his head. He smiled again.
I had a dream last night, the figure said.
In this dream a voice said, Ser Amaran? and I said yes? Ser Amaran took another bite out of the fruit in his right hand. He chuckled as though he had just remembered a good joke, and more juice ran from the corners of his mouth. The he frowned, and his whole face seemed to fall. This voice told me that Ora Ondar would fall. The voice told me that our sacred kolya fruit would be scattered across the barren waste that the Eldrazi will make of our world those parasites in the deep. His glowing eyes flashed from Nissa, to Sorin, to Smara, to Smara s goblin, and finally rested on Anowon.
You have all been captured for being too close to the forbidden tower, the elf chief said. What were you doing there?
Nobody said anything.
Speak. Or are you minions of the tentacled creatures with the beautiful hearts?
Nissa looked out the corner of her eye at Anowon, but the vampire s face had the same perplexed look she imagined she had. Beautiful hearts?
Very well, do not tell me, he said, taking another bite of the fruit in his hand. But I will know this vital piece of information. An odd party such as yours clearly does not travel for pleasure. You are spies, of course. Vampire spies for the tentacled invasion.
The elf commander hurried forward and whispered in the chief s ear. Ser Amaran turned his head as the commander spoke, but he did not take his eyes off Anowon.
Lock them away, all of them. At dawn throw the bloodied one from the grove, and feed his crushed body to the slaughter shrubs. Throw the guide to the salt flats.
Robert B. Wintermute
Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum
Nissa, Sorin, Smara, and her goblin were thrown into cells carved out of the basalt. They tried to sleep, but the spiny floor would not allow them.
Anowon was in another cell, and all that night the stone door of the cell opened and closed, opened and closed. Once Nissa heard Anowon moan. But aside from that, there was no sound from inside the cell.
We have to free him, Nissa said.
Sorin shrugged. Vampires do not fear pain or death, he replied.
He is not that way, Nissa said.
Sorin turned to her and raised his eyebrows. He is not what exactly? A vampire?
He is not that kind of vampire.
Sorin smiled. He s the kind that wanted to drain you before I dissuaded him.
The door of Anowon s cell slammed shut.
But he is our only guide, Nissa said. The human is gone.
Sorin said nothing.
The goblin coughed and glanced at Smara. I know the way, the goblin said. To Teeth of Akoum.
They both turned to the goblin, who had not spoken since Smara had bumbled into their camp in the Makindi Trench.
Smara also stared at the goblin, who clapped its claw over its mouth.
Sorin turned back to Nissa. You see, there is our new guide.
But Anowon saw how the brood was released. Perhaps he knows how to put them back?
Sorin s smile dropped a jot. The vampire does not know how to put the brood back, he said. You can trust me.
The door to Anowon s cell opened. Someone laughed as they exited his cell. Then the cell door slammed again. She could understand some of what the strange elves were saying. Two were talking about the fruit eater whoever that was.
Who is this Ser Amaran from the grove of fruit trees? Nissa said.
Sorin waved his hand. Some minor figure.
Anowon would know who Ser Amaran is, Nissa said.
Sorin snorted. We should be more concerned with how we are going to get out of this cell.
When they open the door, you can use your rot talk to destroy them.
I cannot risk that not with this many crystals and lava rock around. The sound could echo. And nobody wants that.
Then I will have to end whoever opens the door, Nissa said.
Perhaps if there is one guard or two, Sorin said.
But six? I think not.
Nissa pushed her chin out. I am Joraga, she said.
You are unarmed, Sorin said. Anyway, I don t think they plan to let us out.
They have to some day.
Do they? Sorin said. Did you happen to notice what the kolya trees were growing in? Or were you too busy watching the minor elf stuffing his mouth with his sacred fruit?
I did not notice anything unusual about the bed the trees were growing in. This pillar is the remains of a life bloom Roil. Did you not hear the elf?
Nissa waited for Sorin s response.
Yes, Sorin replied. But I also heard her say that most life blooms last a day or two at the most.
Nissa s trap had worked: Sorin had been listening. He had good ears for a human, as she had been at the end of the line and he d been the first. She would have to watch him closer. Humans did not have ears capable of hearing a whispered conversation from half a mile away. That was an elf s ability or a vampire s.
I saw bones protruding from the soil under the trees, Sorin said.
Bones? Nissa said. Could elves do something like that kill and bury beings to ensure their plants lived? Sure, she thought. Her own people often killed any sentient beings they found in their forest, regardless of species. If these Nourisher elves tied their way of being, their tribal identity, with those trees, then they would do any sort of thing to ensure that they thrived and prospered.