For three days they walked. At the goblin s request they traveled at night until the land split into shallow canyons with long-dried stream beds at their bottom.
Anowon remained in a dark mood. He traveled far behind the others and began to lose weight. There was nothing for him to eat, as Sorin slept next to Smara and the goblin, knowing that if they lost the goblin they would all be lost and at the mercy of the crystal flats.
To make matters worse, there had been no water since they had found a hedron plant, a low gray plant covered with thorns and roughly shaped like a hedron. They d found it in a low draw, and without a moment s hesitation, Nissa had cut the top off. They had scooped out the pith and sucked the water from it. That had been the day before. At that moment, Nissa s tongue felt so large from lack of water that she could barely close her mouth.
Nissa and the goblin topped the bank of an arroyo and saw shapes moving on the flat before them. Nissa squinted at the moving shapes, but the sun was in her eyes, and she could not see well.
Brood? Nissa said. Goblin, is it them?
The goblin looked at the movement. Mudheel, it said. I have told you. My name is Mudheel. Or will you not like to speak the name of a goblin? I am not some Saltskull. I have a brain and a tongue, and I know how to use them.
You are certainly the most unusual goblin I have ever met, Nissa said.
Mudheel, my name is Mudheel, the goblin said, bowing mockingly. If it pleases my lady.
Mudheel, Nissa said. What I said before.
Mudheel looked to the flats. It is the City that Walks. The Goma Fada Caravan.
Does it have water?
I do think, Mudheel said. If not they would die in this waste. A body needs water.
Thank you, Mudheel. I ll keep that in mind, Nissa said, struggling forward. Speaking hurt as much as walking, and her throat burned from talking to the goblin to Mudheel. Still there was one question that was burning her as much as it had before, as much as the scorching air around them. Nissa turned to Mudheel.
Why do you stay with this party as the other goblins have slowly disappeared? Nissa asked. Are you not afraid that you are next? Why have you not fled in the night?
Mudheel turned to Smara. She needs me.
Nissa waited for more.
She is like a wife to me, Mudheel said.
A wife? Nissa thought. Of all the responses the goblin could have given, that was the one that Nissa had least expected.
A wife? Nissa said.
The goblin nodded and turned to look at Goma Fada. Nissa also turned toward the mobile city, her mind reeling from what Mudheel had said. A kor and a goblin? she thought. Nissa understood then why they traveled. Either of their people would strike them down for being together. Suddenly Nissa felt pity for Mudheel, but also shuddered at the though of their unnatural coupling. Goblins! she thought.
In the bright glare she could barely make out hundreds of small buildings, some with pointed roofs and others with flat. Large dulam beasts were pulling the buildings.
The Goma Fada Caravan was slow moving and they made their hobbling way to it just as the sun was fading. It was a huge caravan, composed of hundreds and hundreds of enormous wagons. Each cart held a small building of wood or mud. One that Nissa saw was a small stone holdfast with turrets and a portcullis. Some of the carts were long and flat and pulled by braces of dulam beasts. Those were filled with dirt and plants. One such cart had a small grove of fig trees growing in it.
A flock of birds flying above the caravan cried out as the party approached. Soon a merfolk riding a slim beast rode out to meet them. He pulled up on the reins, and the animal snorted and stopped. Nissa noticed that the bit and bridle were studded. She had never liked bits and bridles. She was not sure she liked the merfolk rider, either.
He was dressed in long flowing white robes. A hood was pulled up over his head to keep the sun out. His lips, painted to accentuate their natural blue, pulled tight into a mirthless smile. His green eyes glinted beneath the shadow of his hood. Yes? he said.
We mean no harm, Nissa said. Suddenly the sun felt very heavy on her shoulders. She took a step, and the world moved its alignment. She touched the vial around her neck, but it was not boiling. We are in need of water, she said.
The rider looked from her to Sorin, to Smara, to Mudheel, and finally to Anowon, where his eyes stayed. The vampire is not welcome, he said. But I will be the benefactor for the rest of you. Do you have coin? Strangers must have a benefactor to enter the caravan. There are no exceptions. Hurry, the Caravan Sheriff will arrive shortly.
Nissa waited for Sorin to speak. When he did not, she opened her mouth. We have no coins, she said. But we have items of power.
The merfolk rider waited. If you say hedron chips I will call the Sheriff myself right now, he said.
Nissa thought desperately for something they could barter with.
We have teeth, she said.
Teeth?
Magic teeth.
Let me see, the merfolk said.
Nissa turned to Anowon, who was scowling. The teeth are owned by the vampire, she said.
Perhaps he can enter if properly bound. Let me see these teeth, the merfolk repeated. He held out his hand, palm up.
What kind are they? he asked. When Anowon did not move, the caravaner snapped his webbed fingers.
They are merfolk teeth, Anowon said, and seized the emissary.
Robert B. Wintermute
Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum
The hardest part was hiding the body. Anowon had the sense to grab the merfolk and drag him between two carts to do what he did there, while the rest of them kept a look out. Nissa felt the bitter gorge rise in her throat as the merfolk thrashed. Amazingly, nobody in the caravan had seemed to notice. At least nobody had said anything. An if someone had seen Anowon drain the merfolk, they had not raised an alarm. It was the time of the day when people eat before the night comes, Nissa guessed, and the occupants of the caravans were inside.
Anowon disposed of the body by hoisting it and propping it against the side of a smooth adobe house built atop a wagon. The merfolk s legs hung over the side of the platform.
They walked into the midst caravan, where it was shady and strangely cool. A wagon with an immense tower built on a steel bed lumbered by. Two carts on a dray rocked and bobbed, each carrying a small crop of grain planted in straight rows. They wandered deeper into the caravan, hopping over the steaming dung piles left by the dulam beasts.
It appeared that the caravan never stopped moving. Beings tossed their privy pots from high windows. Even a huge wagon, three of its steel-shod wheels turning and squeaking, was being repaired on the move a wheeled jack held the corner up as a human hammered a new wheel onto its axle.
Soon they were in in the middle of what was a small village. Many small carts, each pulled by a male and a female human, traveled together, virtually touching edges as they rocked. On each cart was a small wattle hut, each identical to the one next to it. There were even guards. At four corners sentries stood, naked except for turntimber-bark armor. Each grasped the shellacked stalk of a vorpal weed.
Past the moving village, a strange beast with long white fur and twirled horns plodded with a group of humans and mermen surrounding it. There were two immense copper tanks strapped to its back. Two of the men wore various sized metal disks that clinked against each other as they walked. Each of the men had a cup on a lanyard around his neck.
Water, one cried. We have water.
Nissa looked down at her feet. Her boots were not worth much anymore, and she would need them. Still, if she did not have water soon She turned to Anowon, who drew back the white hood of the cloak he d taken from the merfolk. He held up his hand. Pinched between his fingers was a glowing tooth.
Is it fresh? Sorin croaked, through cracked lips.