Why have you returned? the kraken said.
Sorin frowned, and his voice returned to normal, as did his eyes.
Be a good little fishy and guide us through the crystal fields, he said.
The kraken s tentacles casually slipped out of the water and wrapped loops around the small ship; Nissa had to jump back to avoid being caught up in the sudden lassoing. Soon the ship was entirely covered with tentacles. Nissa pinched her nose. How had Speaker Sutina endured this smell?
I will squeeze your ship to splinters before you end my days. Then you can make your sad way to shore with your tiny feet and hands, The kraken said. And there are things in these depths that do not slumber.
Nissa looked again at the shore. She did not see the movement she d seen before. The glitter of white sand looked terribly far away.
Sorin must have noticed it, too. That, or he realized that his power was at such ebb that he dared not call the kraken s bluff. The smoke wafting off his fingertips blew away.
Brinelin chuckled, and bubbles broke the sea s surface. The Moon Kraken began to squeeze and Nissa felt the ship buckle and crack.
Nissa stepped forward.
Moon Kraken, she said, fingering something in her pocket. I have an offering greater than blood sacrifice.
The Moon Kraken twisted its beaked mouth into a terrible smirk. It squeezed harder. Now Nissa was sure she could hear water shooting into the hull.
It concerns Speaker Sutina, Nissa said. Important news of her welfare.
The kraken s smirk fell away.
What of the Speaker? the Moon Kraken blurted.
Nissa could feel his tentacles loosen.
Release the ship, Nissa said.
It did. The kraken pulled its tentacles back under the surface of the water.
I will tell you what I know, Nissa said. But you must promise to guide us to shore.
If it pleases Brinelin, the kraken said.
Nissa thought about this. He might not be in the best mood after he hears that Speaker Sutina is dead.
Take us to shore first, Nissa said.
The kraken thrust its fleshy chin out. Tell me now.
Do you promise to take us to shore after I tell you?
The Moon Kraken makes no promises.
Then it saddens me to tell you that Speaker Sutina is no more.
The expression on the kraken s face fell. Nissa felt a twinge of pity for it. The creature sank deeper into the water, before floating higher again.
You lie! the kraken spouted water from its gills. All of its tentacles shot straight out of the water and into the air.
You are lying to save your barnacles. Your falseness will not save you.
I am not lying. She died in an attack made by the new scourge that plagues Zendikar, the very scourge we are on a journey to stop. Nissa said. From her pocket she drew the pearl Speaker Sutina had dropped the day she died. Nissa held the pearl up. Behold the pearl you gave her. The assumption was a gamble, but it was all she had. The kraken s eyes squeezed together when it saw the gift. A small tentacle lifted out of the water and came close to the pearl. With a gentleness that surprised Nissa, the tentacle caressed the pearl before taking it carefully. The kraken brought the pearl to the front of its face, and examined it through sad eyes.
Tell me everything, the Moon Kraken said softly, without looking away from the pearl.
Nissa told the creature the story of Speaker Sutina s death and of their quest to imprison the brood lineage. When she had finished the only sound she heard was the not-so-distant sound of waves breaking on the white shore.
What did she say before she fell away? the kraken said.
Nissa cast her mind for a good lie. She spoke of the ocean, Nissa said.
That is not true. Sutina hated the water, the kraken said, softly. But I will let you pass.
The kraken moved out of the way of the ship, and the behemoth started paddling again.
The kraken s white face crumpled as it slipped under the water. Soon it broke the surface of the ocean and waved them forward. The creature guided them through the deadheads lurking just below the surface of the water, and crystals as long as three of their ships, one of which had at its tip a human skull pierced through the brain pan and clacking in the wind.
Soon they were near the shore. The Moon Kraken moved to the side and let the behemoth clamber onto the shore, dragging the ship through the sand. The ship tilted right off its keel and onto its hull, and Nissa had to grab a railing to keep from sliding off into the sand. She dismissed the behemouth and immediately felt stronger.
Go forth from here, the kraken said, glumly.
Brinelin will do his part to rid Zendikar of this scourge. With that, he slipped below the surface and was not seen again.
Robert B. Wintermute
Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum
A shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds overhead and sparkled on the white sand made of crystals ground to grains. The beach extended to a sheer cliff. Nissa s heart sank as her eyes followed the cliff up. It was a league high if it was an arm s length, rising in one uninterrupted sweep so high that Nissa could see clouds moving at the top. Crystals protruded at irregular intervals from the cliff s sheer face.
Anowon brushed past her to evaluate the cliff, suddenly the guide on the continent she had never visited. The creatures that have adapted to live here are as hard and as spiny as this land, the vampire said. And tougher by far.
We cannot scale this cliff, Nissa said, suddenly understanding the kraken s malicious smile before it submerged.
Anowon looked up from the cliff s base.
For one, Nissa continued. We lack rope enough for even one ascent. Second, none of my pegs will penetrate that crystal.
Anowon turned as though he had not heard Nissa. He walked back to the shore, pushing through the goblins that drew back from him as he passed. Even Smara stopped mumbling to watch what he was doing. When Anowon reached the shoreline he began to dig. He soon unearthed the badly rotted wooden mast of a ship.
I saw another ship broken and scattered in the shallows there, Anowon said, pointing just off shore to a massive crystal as thick as their whole ship. And now this one.
The vampire looked up from the hole he d dug and peered at the top of the cliff, where clouds skittered by. I wonder