The Fifth Dawn (The Mirrodin Cycle) by Cory Herndon

Author:Cory Herndon [Herndon, Cory]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786957132
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2010-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

The trip through the Dross to the site of the Vault of Whispers had taken an uneventful half hour when Glissa spotted the first sign of trouble. Her pteron actually gave her the first indication that something was up ahead, and she squinted into the greenish mist to see what had caused the reptile to buck suddenly.

There. Several shapes like large, man-sized beetles scuttled through the dense foliage. Glissa waved to the others to slow their approach, and placed a hand over Geth’s mouth, the signal that told him the elf girl would gladly let him drop this instant if he didn’t keep quiet.

The nim hadn’t given any indication it had seen them. Fighting the urge to retch at the fetid smell, she lifted Geth’s ear to her mouth and whispered, “Are they going back to Yert? Or is this the trap?”

“That’s just a patrol,” Geth whispered. “Most of his soldiers are on the front lines. I’d say that’s why you haven’t seen any until now. Lucky you. Those fellows look to be headed back to the Vault, if you ask me.”

“We can follow them,” Glissa said.

“And they say I’m the one with all the brains,” Geth’s head cackled. “Just be sure you get in before the last of them. Those doors don’t dawdle.”

“Then I’ll just make sure the last one never makes it through the door,” Glissa said.

Glissa stuck Geth back onto the pommel and waved Ellasha, Tahk, and Darlosh into whispering range. Half of the day Yert had given them was gone, and it was time to finalize the plan.

Ellasha argued for complete stealth, slipping in with the nim and staying in the shadows. But while Glissa had no doubt the skyhunter commandos had the agility and skill to pull off such a task, as did the elf girl herself, she still didn’t trust Geth. It would be ridiculously easy for the severed head to alert the nim they’d be hiding from. No, they’d best approach stealthily, then surprise the nim and take them out while the doors to the Vault—whatever was left of it after Glissa’s last visit—were still open. That seemed to satisfy everyone’s concerns, though it would not be easy.

They had to set the pterons loose for now, Ellasha insisted. She could always call them back later, and if they kept flying they might overtake the nim. The team had to proceed on foot from here on out.

After another hour of much slower travel, the lead nim finally halted. Glissa heard an alien chittering noise—was that what nim language sounded like?—and saw the wide trunk of the blackened, rust-covered swamp tree in front of the nim split open. An archway big enough for two nim to enter side-by-side took shape, glowing with the light of necrogen lamps mounted on the inner walls of a long tunnel.

“All right,” she whispered, and the leonin turned to her as one. “Let’s go in hard and fast, but don’t take any stupid chances. The important thing is getting through that door.

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