She couldn t be absolutely sure if the stranger was talking about Hiba, or one of the creatures on the ground.
Who are you? she asked.
He looked out over the clearing. I am called Sorin.
Sorin turned back and settled his golden eyes on Nissa again. Hiba moaned.
And you are a Joraga elf, I should think, he said.
Nissa Revane, she said, placing her right hand on her heart and bowing slightly, as was the elf custom.
Something moved in the middle of the clearing. An arm flopped. Sorin followed her eyes. A vampire slave apparently lives, he said.
Vampires, Nissa said. She had not meant to, but her lip curled.
The strangers watched her for an extra second before a slow smile stretched his pale lips. Yes, he said. Quite.
Sorin turned and walked to the middle of the clearing. He bent down and seized the vampire and lifted him by the wrist as easily as he might lift a water skin. He dragged the creature back to where Nissa was standing and dumped him unceremoniously next to Hiba. Nissa inadvertently took a step back.
Sorin chuckled. Your home of Bala Ged is near Guul Draz. Is it not?
It is, she said. And we fight to keep these from our borders.
The creature at her feet was different from the other vampires she d fought. His hair was not in his eyes, for one. It was pulled into a tight, long braid. His skin was just as pale and bluish, however; and he was painted: a red line extended up his bare chest to his chin, then continued from his forehead to the top of his head through a shaved channel. He had the same vestigial horns extending in black curls from his shoulders and elbows.
Where s his bampha? she asked.
Sorin s face remained blank. Oh, he said.
You mean its weapon. The brood lineage took it, I suspect.
Bampha. Nissa shuddered at the thought of their long, two-handed weapons of sharpened bone. Long elegant weapons left long elegant slashes. She had the scars to prove it.
What did you call these things? Nissa asked, toeing a dead creature s tentacle.
These are brood lineage.
Brood lineage, she said, licking her lips.
Lineage of what?
Her words hung in the air.
They have been slumbering all these years, the slave vampire said suddenly. Abed in the stones of Akoum.
A bellowing growl echoed across the clearing. Sorin seemed not to notice the sound. He was looking down at the vampire, who was looking up at him with wide, unblinking eyes. Those eyes, Nissa thought. Those black, iridescent eyes.
How do you know of the lineage? Sorin barked.
Sorin s voice had a certain sharpness to it. The slave vampire winced with each word as he struggled up and carefully stood. There were numerous metal cylinders dangling from his belt. His hair braid, as thick as a man s forearm, reached almost to the ground. He wasn t nearly as tall as Sorin, but just as slim and lithe. He felt for each of the metal cylinders before continuing.
I was present for their release, the vampire said. In the Teeth of Akoum.
Is that so, Sorin said. At the Eye of Ugin?
The same.
Another growl, louder that time, cut through the trees. Nissa bent down and put her arms under Hiba. We must go, she said. If that brace of baloth should catch us in the open like this
But Sorin seemed not to hear. His eyes were on the vampire.
Who are you? he asked.
Anowon, he said. Formerly of Family Ghet. I was taken prisoner at the eye.
Well, Sorin said. Do you know where I am now, Anowon, formerly of Family Ghet?
The vampire s eyes fell on Nissa as she hoisted Hiba.
Somewhere in the Turntimber, he said. When Sorin said nothing, Anowon continued. On Ondu. Still Sorin said nothing. Zendikar? Anowon ventured.
And I don t suppose you know the way to the Eye of Ugin? Sorin asked.
It s on Akoum, Anowon said.
Sorin chuckled. That s not what I asked. And if you want to bandy cute words, I will tear your heart out of your chest and have the elf eat it.
Nissa shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other.
I know the way to Akoum, Nissa said, glancing casually at the dead brood laid out in the clearing. At least I can start you on the way. Anything to get you out of my forest.
Excellent, Sorin said. Finally, a bit of good news. You know this land. You will be our guide, yes. You will show us the way. He turned to Nissa. That, he pointed at Hiba, is dead. You are guiding us through this morass to Akoum. I knew the way once, you see. But I cast a forgetting spell on the place so it might be lost for all time. A forgotten blight.
Why would I help you, Nissa asked, when I could go back to into the turntimber and leave you two to be shredded by those baloth howling in the forest?
Because, dear savage, Sorin said, what you saw here is just the vanguard of the true army. The rest are bearing down on this and every other location on this backwards plane even as we speak. If you want to have any hope of saving your people, you will assist me in containing this sickness, and in putting these broodlings back into their prison, which will not be easy. But it seems to fall to me to accomplish.
Nissa looked down at Hiba and felt a lump rising in her throat. He was dead. She swallowed and started to speak.
But Sorin continued. Only I can cast the Eldrazi back into the crypt from whence they came. Only I can send them back into their forever sleep.
Nissa seemed to consider his words before speaking. These are my terms: You both will help me bury my friend in the forest, she said. And I will not travel with an unbound vampire. He must be bound and gagged, or you will have to navigate the teetering stones without me.
Anowon s mouth went to a sneer. Joraga moon slug, he said. I would not deign to touch lips to the likes of you. Your people taste of dirt and moss. Mushroom eaters.
Nissa smiled, despite herself. She hadn t heard that insult in quite some time. Strangely, it reminded her of home. Part of the reckoning ritual involved eating cut fungus. Invariably the young warrior died from it. Most lay dead for some minutes before blinking awake and sitting up gasping. If you survived, you survived. If you died, then you weren t meant to be a Joraga warrior, and your body was tossed into the Great Hollow Tree.