will aid you in battle. Your blows will strike harder. Your moves will be faster. In concert with the Sword of Kaldra and the Shield of Kaldra, it will do much more.”
“The Sword of Kaldra? What’s that?”
Drooge lifted his massive hand and pointed to Glissa’s hip. “The blade you took from Chunth.”
Glissa pulled her hand back. “You mean it’s part of a set?”
“Yes. More appropriately, it is part of a key.”
Slobad’s ears perked up. “What does this key open?”
“It is not so much a key to open something as a key to activate a powerful being.”
Slobad’s ears picked up. “Artifact, huh? Where we find this powerful artifact?”
“Not an artifact.”
Slobad slumped, disappointed.
“You must travel to the swamps of the Mephidross,” Drooge continued. “There you will find the Shield of Kaldra.” The troll held out his hand. “May I see your sword?”
Glissa looked hesitantly at Slobad then at Bosh. The golem stood silently behind her, as he had during the entire interview, ready for anything. The sight of her hulking friend calmed Glissa’s nerves, and she pulled her sword from its sheath, handing it to the troll.
Drooge ran his fingers over the blade’s hilt, examining the etchings and runes inscribed there. “You see this,” he said after a moment, turning the handle toward the trio and indicating a circular groove. At the center of the groove, the same circular rune broken into five parts had been inscribed. “This is where the sword’s hilt will attach to the shield when you find the last part of the Kaldra Guardian.”
“The Kaldra Guardian?” asked Slobad.
“Yes,” replied the troll. “The guardian is an avatar, a very powerful one. Once you have all three pieces, you must assemble them, and the guardian will come to life.”
“Wait,” said Glissa. “If the trolls knew about this being before, why didn’t Chunth just tell me about it?”
Drooge pawed his crutch. “You were not ready.”
“Not ready?”
“You did not believe Master Chunth. Now that you know your destiny, you are ready.”
“I still don’t understand what it is I’m destined to do.”
The troll smiled. “One step at a time,” he said. “Your journey will be long. Do not try to do it all in one day.”
A loud boom echoed through the Tree of Tales, and for the first time since they’d arrived, the trolls in the bleacher seats stirred. Lumbering up from where they were seated, the entire troll clan separated into four groups, filing from the room in an orderly fashion.
“What is that? What’s happening?” asked Glissa.
Drooge placed the casket back inside the cabinet and shut the door. “The Tree of Tales is under attack.”
* * * * *
Malil stood atop his personal leveler. The power of the serum still held him tightly in its grasp. The world had coalesced, and he had come back to Mirrodin just as Memnarch had told him he would. But the world to which he returned was different now. He understood better the way things worked, but that wasn’t what had changed.
Before him, arrayed and ready for battle, were nearly a hundred other levelers, each of them under his command. He looked out on them with a measure of pride. It was odd, this sensation.Many times before Malil had stood in just this place, but never once had he felt … anything.
Now his mind raced. They had tracked the elf to the Tangle, to this very tree. The leveler army had surrounded it. Malil had had the foresight to bring along two crushers—mammoths with curved horns on their heads and a single huge cylindrical wheel in front, capable of rolling over nearly anything and squashing it completely flat. In the past, he’d used these creations mostly to level human villages or flatten patches of razor grass. Now these behemoths were both assaulting the tree. Each of the artifact creatures took turns backing up and rolling forward, smashing headlong into the base of the tree. The pounding noise they made
“The Sword of Kaldra? What’s that?”
Drooge lifted his massive hand and pointed to Glissa’s hip. “The blade you took from Chunth.”
Glissa pulled her hand back. “You mean it’s part of a set?”
“Yes. More appropriately, it is part of a key.”
Slobad’s ears perked up. “What does this key open?”
“It is not so much a key to open something as a key to activate a powerful being.”
Slobad’s ears picked up. “Artifact, huh? Where we find this powerful artifact?”
“Not an artifact.”
Slobad slumped, disappointed.
“You must travel to the swamps of the Mephidross,” Drooge continued. “There you will find the Shield of Kaldra.” The troll held out his hand. “May I see your sword?”
Glissa looked hesitantly at Slobad then at Bosh. The golem stood silently behind her, as he had during the entire interview, ready for anything. The sight of her hulking friend calmed Glissa’s nerves, and she pulled her sword from its sheath, handing it to the troll.
Drooge ran his fingers over the blade’s hilt, examining the etchings and runes inscribed there. “You see this,” he said after a moment, turning the handle toward the trio and indicating a circular groove. At the center of the groove, the same circular rune broken into five parts had been inscribed. “This is where the sword’s hilt will attach to the shield when you find the last part of the Kaldra Guardian.”
“The Kaldra Guardian?” asked Slobad.
“Yes,” replied the troll. “The guardian is an avatar, a very powerful one. Once you have all three pieces, you must assemble them, and the guardian will come to life.”
“Wait,” said Glissa. “If the trolls knew about this being before, why didn’t Chunth just tell me about it?”
Drooge pawed his crutch. “You were not ready.”
“Not ready?”
“You did not believe Master Chunth. Now that you know your destiny, you are ready.”
“I still don’t understand what it is I’m destined to do.”
The troll smiled. “One step at a time,” he said. “Your journey will be long. Do not try to do it all in one day.”
A loud boom echoed through the Tree of Tales, and for the first time since they’d arrived, the trolls in the bleacher seats stirred. Lumbering up from where they were seated, the entire troll clan separated into four groups, filing from the room in an orderly fashion.
“What is that? What’s happening?” asked Glissa.
Drooge placed the casket back inside the cabinet and shut the door. “The Tree of Tales is under attack.”
* * * * *
Malil stood atop his personal leveler. The power of the serum still held him tightly in its grasp. The world had coalesced, and he had come back to Mirrodin just as Memnarch had told him he would. But the world to which he returned was different now. He understood better the way things worked, but that wasn’t what had changed.
Before him, arrayed and ready for battle, were nearly a hundred other levelers, each of them under his command. He looked out on them with a measure of pride. It was odd, this sensation.Many times before Malil had stood in just this place, but never once had he felt … anything.
Now his mind raced. They had tracked the elf to the Tangle, to this very tree. The leveler army had surrounded it. Malil had had the foresight to bring along two crushers—mammoths with curved horns on their heads and a single huge cylindrical wheel in front, capable of rolling over nearly anything and squashing it completely flat. In the past, he’d used these creations mostly to level human villages or flatten patches of razor grass. Now these behemoths were both assaulting the tree. Each of the artifact creatures took turns backing up and rolling forward, smashing headlong into the base of the tree. The pounding noise they made
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