Anowon kept staring at her with a confused look on his white face.
What are you talking about? Anowon said.
The Mortifier, Nissa said. She squeezed the staff in her right hand, glad to have been given it by Sorin when they rescued her from the vampires and the nulls. With the tiniest twist, she could have the stem sword out.
You must be he, she said. The Mortifier.
It was many moments before Anowon spoke. He stood glaring at Nissa.
Let me not mislead you. I would break my teeth off before I helped the Eldrazi in any way whatsoever, he said, a snarl in the back of his throat. And I would never enslave my own people. Never. I am as much a beast as those weaklings with the null. More so. With that Anowon turned and stomped away. He stopped for a second to look up at the plants hanging off the cooling magma ball, then stooped under it and began walking to the smoke fires of Affa.
Anowon passed Mudheel, who was relieving himself as he gazed at Affa, moving his body to make glyphs in the powdery soil. Smara was sitting on the ground to the side of Mudheel, stroking her crystal in her lap.
Why does he stomp away so? Mudheel yelled over his shoulder.
Nissa watched Anowon go. If he was not the Mortifier, then that left She turned to where Sorin was tending his hair with his comb, still intact after their many encounters. He carefully swept his long, white hair back and tied a piece of leather around it. He did not have the vestigial horns at his shoulders and elbows. A vampire? she thought. Sorin was too tall. He had no tattoos. When does he feed? His hair was not black, like the hair of every other vampire she had ever seen. A vampire? Nissa felt like drawing her stem sword and trying to strike Sorin down where he stood. A vampire? But instead she turned and walked toward Affa as she considered her best course of action.
Robert B. Wintermute
Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum
Affa lay in the distance. They walked without stopping until the tents of the herders and smalltime relic seekers began to appear. The tents of the stonecutters those that eked out a living selling shards and chips from hedron stones were the shabbiest, amounting to little more than hides stretched over the ribs of undra stompers. The goblins among the stonecutters preferred to sleep in burrows with hides thrown over the entry hole.
Anowon disappeared shortly after encountering the outlying tents. Nissa knew what the vampire was looking for, but she tried not to think about it. Luckily it was past dark when they straggled past the first bonfire, so Nissa doubted Anowon would be detected as he hunted.
Nissa watched Sorin as they walked. At first he appeared to be unaffected by the presence of edible creatures. But soon they passed the tents of the cutters and relic seekers and entered Affa proper, and the amount of life increased. Soon there were humans, merfolk, goblins, elves, and even other vampires moving around the cookfires in the dark. Nissa thought she could hear Sorin s breathing quicken. If he was as hungry for blood as she was for a drink of water, then she had best take the others and leave him to his unutterable desires.
The center of Affa was more built up than Nissa would have guessed. More than just a tent city, it had permanent stone-and-mortar buildings with steep roofs of slate and weathervanes of wrought dragons. The streets were cobbled with intricate designs. The steep mountain peaks stood out in stark contrast against the light brown clay shingles. A small, turreted keep hunched in the middle of town, surrounded by semi-permanent stalls built of wood and manned by merchants selling all manner of wares. Where did they get the wood? Nissa wondered. She had not seen a forest in leagues.
Braziers burned on the street corners, and when Nissa exhaled she was surprised to see her breath outlined in the chilly mountain air.
Nissa turned to Sorin, only to find him gone. Only the shadows around the various braziers remained. Smara muttered behind her as they walked. Nissa turned and caught the goblin Mudheel looking at her in a curious way. Even the goblin knew about Sorin, she thought.
Had Sorin been sneaking off the whole time? she wondered. She had spent so much time watching Anowon for the slightest glimmer of aggression directed at her that Sorin could have supped on her blood twenty times over, if he had had the interest.
Smara s muttering behind became louder as they walked.
May I ask how long we will be walking tonight? Mudheel said with more than a bit of acid in his voice.
Nissa turned. The goblin was carrying Smara over his shoulders, and she struggled on the goblin s back. As Nissa watched, the kor kicked her legs out and generally writhed.
The goblin fought to gain control of the kor s flailing body. After struggling for some moments, a grumbling Mudheel switched his hold, moving Smara from his shoulder so he was cradling her forward across his arms. Nissa was never more impressed to see a goblin s strength as she was at that instant. Mudheel bent its snout close to Smara s ear and hummed the kor a low song. It was a moment so strangely touching that Nissa had to look away. When she turned back, Smara was singing to herself, stroking the smoky, dagger-length crystal she clutched at all times.
I thought we should sleep at the side of the camp that faces the mountains, Nissa said. She lowered her voice a bit.
So we can leave undetected.
The goblin nodded. I have not seen sign on the ground of brood lineage for many days, he said.
Neither have I, Nissa said, looking out of the corners of her eyes at the outlines moving around the fires. But it is not the brood I am worried about just now.
The goblin kept walking, holding Smara in his arms as one might a child. Lady elf, we will need supplies if we are to ascend into the Teeth, you know?
I know. Nissa said. She was still getting used to the goblin speaking and thinking as well as he did. Mudheel could surely be the leader of a whole goblin nation if he wasn t bound to Smara as he was. As kor to goblin.
Where will we find the coin for this? Mudheel said, snapping her from her thoughts.
We will steal it, Nissa said, looking straight ahead. After her talk with Anowon about Sorin and the Eldrazi, her opinion about the importance of the expedition had changed significantly. We will steal and acquire what is needed to climb to the Eye of Ugin and save Zendikar.
The goblin looked at her a moment longer than normal, blinking.
Nissa continued. How many days can we expect to climb to the Eye?
From Affa, two perhaps three days, the goblin said.
And what will happen then? Nissa said. What are your and your mistress s reasons for traveling there in the first place? I suppose I never asked.
Mudheel looked down at the face of Smara, who looked up at the pocked, mole-covered face of the goblin. She feels drawn by the spirit in her crystal.
There is a spirit in that?
A most fabulous one, the goblin said. The words were barely out of his mouth when Smara began struggling again. She bucked her body up and snapped her legs out. Mudheel struggled to hold her. When Smara s struggling became more violent, Mudheel gently put her down on the ground.
The gift is in the loam, Smara screamed, suddenly. She kept screaming it.
Should we both carry her? Nissa said.
The goblin nodded. Nissa took the kor s ankles and Mudheel her wrists, and they hoisted Smara and began walking with her, struggling, toward the edge of the settlement. She stopped screaming.
Nissa waited a couple of beats before speaking again. What ails your mistress? she asked.
Nissa could not see the goblin s face as it walked ahead, but she imagined a wince.
It started after she heard you and the vampire speaking yesterday.
You heard that? Nissa asked.
I did not, Mudheel said. She did.
But how do you know she heard it