They ran all day and most of the night for two days, and by the second day they had passed through the foothills and onto a wide plateau surrounded by the jagged aeries of the Teeth of Akoum.
If she had her staff she could slice them apart, but it had been left at the tower she guessed, most likely among the bodies of her dead comrades. At one of their short and infrequent rest stops, Nissa attempted to connect with her mana and summon a creature, but when she reached her mind out for the lines of power that connected her to her known places, she found herself too weak. Once she managed to summon a gravity spider, but Shir simply touched the animal, and it rotted before her eyes.
Nissa was neither fed nor given water and by the second day was passing in and out of visions of her homeland of Bala Ged. She was near death when they stopped in the middle of the grasslands of the high plateau. The null threw her down in the sharp grass, and Biss stood taunting her. When Nissa did not reply to Biss s ridiculous questions she received a kick in her already excruciatingly painful ribs.
Null, Biss would scream when Nissa rolled over to protect her face. Roll her back over.
The nulls were the only creatures treated worse than she. Two of them fell and could not get up on the two-day run, but the others kept running. Biss even laughed at the struggling wretches.
But when they stopped on the high grasslands of the plateau, Nissa knew it was no rest stop. Shir had been stopping frequently to look at the dirt. At one point he even took a pinch of the dry earth and put it on his tongue and tasted it. Then he put his hand over his eyes to protect them from the sun as he scanned the distance.
There, he said, pointing, and broke into a run.
One of the remaining nulls grabbed Nissa s feet and began dragging her. When they reached the place where Shir and Biss stood waiting, they released her feet. She was scraped and bruised but also interested in what Shir was doing.
The male vampire fell onto his hands and knees and began touching the ground, feeling for something.
Why are we running? Nissa asked, but nobody said anything.
Nissa noticed some oddness in the grasses of the area as the vampires searched. Some looked a bit trampled, as though others had already been to that particular spot. And she saw signs in the dusty soil signs that Biss and Shir were not bothering to examine, which meant they knew who had made the tracks.
Or thought they knew who had made the tracks. As Nissa looked at the tracks the pulse of blood through her body began to speed up. Soon it was hammering at her temples, and it was all she could do not to smile. She looked around the great expanse and saw no forms in the distance.
Why are we here? Nissa repeated. Why were we running?
Shir looked up from his searching. There was sweat on his forehead and a sour look on his face. Somehow Nissa knew that the vampire did not like to have sweat on his face.
Null, he called. Come here and look for a seam.
The nulls fell to the ground and began scrabbling their long claws about in the dust.
Biss said something to Shir in the vampire tongue. Even though Nissa did not understand the language, the female vampire s facial expression told Nissa that she was not convinced the null could find what they were looking for.
Nissa stood and began scanning the soil a body span away from the vampires and their nulls. Her elf eyes were good at finding patterns, and instead of looking at the soil, she looked at the patches of grass that blew sideways in the wind. Soon she was able to see a rough line where the grasses did not grow.
She saw the sign that had given her such hope again near the seam footprints, and recently. Footprints she thought she recognized.
The seam you seek is here, I believe, Nissa said.
Biss looked up and sneered. Shir walked over to where Nissa had slumped back onto the ground, then to where Nissa pointed.
Yes, he said. It is here. Nulls, to me.
The nulls scrambled over and began feeling for the seam.
Thank you, elf, Shir said turning to Nissa.
For this your death will be quick. I will not leave you to Biss. I shall do it myself.
Why not kill me back at the tower? Nissa backed up as the null got their fingers in the seam.
We would have liked to, but your party escaped. We plan to use you as bait.
Who are you? Nissa said.
We are charged with fighting the Eldrazi brood lineage. When we came upon your band we saw an opportunity to kill or capture the Mortifier, who is perhaps the greatest Eldrazi sympathizer of all time.
How do you know this Mortifier?
We know. Vampire legend talks about him frequently, Shir said. He lives in infamy in our stories about slavery. He sold us into slavery to the Eldrazi, who utilized us as a food source, and when that was not diverting enough for them, as labor. They enjoyed greatly seeing how hard we could be worked until our bodies failed. The Eldrazi put us in chains all our lives.
I would have put you in chains as well, Nissa thought. But instead of speaking Nissa backed up, as the nulls heaved, and the outline of a stone became apparent in the loose soil. Soon they had the stone high enough that they could slide the heels of their hands under and push. The grasses that grew on the stone were planted in such a way that they did not slide off.
Biss smiled as the stone was raised. But the smile faded on his lips when the stone flew back and Anowon and Sorin burst out of the hole. Sorin had his sword out, and he and the vampire charged the stunned nulls, cutting down the remaining creatures in a matter of moments. Anowon swung hands with their sharp, claw-like fingers in savage arcs, tearing chunks out of the nulls, his mouth set in an ugly sneer. He spun his body around pivoting first on one foot and then jumping onto another to generate the inertia for his sweeping attacks. He even used his slashing feet.
Finished with the nulls, Sorin and Anowon turned to the vampires. Anowon bent and yanked a bampha from one of the null s hands. Biss was searching the ground, looking desperately for her own bampha, as Anowon lunged, driving the obsidian blade of his weapon firmly into her chest. The impact of his thrust knocked Biss off balance, and she took a series of steps backwards before falling still into the dust.
Shir sneered and made a grab for Nissa. But she had been expecting such a move and spun easily away. Anowon stepped forward. Shir hissed.
This is all your doing, Mortifier, Shir said to one of them, Nissa could not be sure which. We were driven from our land because of you, and we have been fighting the Eldrazi fiends because of you. And you will die before this moon s cycle has moved beyond the mountains.
Shir took a deep breath and closed his eyes. In a moment the air around them turned cold, and with a shock of revulsion Nissa noticed the grass around Shir s feet wither and die. Why do they have to be so creepy? Nissa thought as the vampire raised his arms. His skin began to hang off his body in patches, then without warning, the vampire s body fell to pieces before Nissa s eyes. First the arms hung so low that the attaching skin tore, and the arms fell. Then the legs buckled, and the corpse of Shir fell. When it hit the ground, its head bounced off the pebbles and rolled a short distance before stopping.
Nissa watched as the headless corpse withered to a bloodless husk. Sorin was not smiling for once. Anowon was already looking away to the west at the tallest mountains. Their peaks were so sharp that they truly looked like an upheaval of red fangs.
Did you do that? Nissa asked Sorin.
Sorin shook his head.
Nissa did not look at the loose pile of bones and skin. Instead she looked down at the square hole in the ground and the stone that had covered it for so long. What was this place? she asked.
A hiding place, Anowon said. I knew of this barrow. We have them in all areas of Zendikar. Many are joined with tunnels, as this one is. We entered at a location over there. He pointed.