Will McDermott - The Moons of Mirrodin

“Hard to miss, huh?” said Slobad. “Lumengrid huge. Bosh not need eyes to walk straight.”

“Let’s hope so,” said Glissa, speaking so the goblin alone could hear her. “I feel trapped in here. What if something happens to Bosh or Bruenna? We should have a plan.”

“If plans make you happy,” said Slobad, “plan away. I sit and rest for both of us, huh?”

Glissa stared out the front of the diver and watched the rope bounce up and down. As the minutes wore on and the diver moved through the invisible quicksilver, Glissa became increasingly aware that she was completely out of her element here. She must rely on her friends. It was a strange sensation.

A swarm of the eels slithered from the opaque quicksilver, nipping at the invisible golem again. At first, the attack went as before. Glissa could see their open mouths stop short and bounce off when they hit what must have been Bosh’s legs. One wrapped itself around what must have been the golem’s neck or head-it was well above the ropes and narrower than his chest. It was strange watching the eel try to squeeze something that Glissa couldn’t even see. None of the eels seem to bother Bosh at all. At least, he wasn’t doing anything about them. The ropes continued to bounce up and down and the diver kept moving forward.

Glissa wondered how long it would take for the eels to give up again. Several more creatures joined the first one around Bosh’s neck and head area. They seemed to merge together and grow longer. Once four or five had wrapped themselves together, Glissa could see the golem’s head and neck outlined in the bodies of the silver eels. The eels striking at the golem’s feet also merged together and wrapped around both of his legs. Glissa almost laughed as she looked at the strange golem with a silver head and legs but no torso.

Bosh came to a halt, unable to move his legs any longer.

Glissa jumped up. “Slobad, Bruenna!” she called. “Bosh is in trouble.”

“I cannot help him,” said Bruenna, her face pale. “I must concentrate on the air.”

“What matter, huh?” asked Slobad groggily.

“He’s being attacked by those silver eels,” said Glissa. “They’ve wrapped up his legs. He can’t move.”

“What can we do?” asked Slobad. “Bosh out there. We in here, huh?”

Glissa watched as Bosh’s eel-wrapped head bent down. The sea creatures around his legs began to pull away. The golem was trying to pull them off. Glissa knew how hard it must be, since Bosh couldn’t even see his own hands. The eel around the golem’s head peeled away slightly and swam upward, yanking Bosh’s head back straight. The eels around his legs tightened their grip again. Several more eels merged together and began coiling around the middle of the golem.

“They’re wrapping up his arms now,” cried Glissa. “He needs help! I must get to him.”

“You cannot,” said Bruenna. “No air out there.”

“You control the wind,” shouted Glissa. “Make some air!”

Two eels broke away from the attack and headed toward the diver. Glissa didn’t flinch this time as the eels slithered toward her. She thought they might merge and attack the diver. Instead, they cut across in front of the diver and bit through the ropes tethering it to Bosh. The diver began to drift up and away from Bosh.

“Flare!” shouted Glissa. “We’re heading for the surface.”

“Wait,” said Bruenna. “Let me try something.”

She increased the speed of her hand-dance and muttered a few more words. The pressure Glissa had felt on her chest since they dived under the quicksilver decreased. The diver dropped to the bottom of the sea. The sudden jolt startled Glissa. She forced herself to take a few slow deep breaths to relax.

“Extended air bubble … out to Bosh,” gasped Bruenna. “Quickly. Cannot … hold it … long.”

“Slobad,” called Glissa. “Come with me!”

The elf dropped her cloak and scrambled from the diver. It took her several tries to grab the lip. She couldn’t see her hands or the diver. She had to feel around for the opening, then pull herself up. Getting Slobad out proved even harder. She couldn’t see his hands, and he couldn’t see hers. He finally held his satchel up, and she grabbed at it, pulling the goblin through the hole.

Glissa jumped off the diver to the sea floor and sank up to her ankles in muck. Slobad dropped beside her, but his wide feet kept him from sinking as far. Glissa tried to lift her legs, but her feet were stuck fast. She pushed her hands down into the muck to pull them free. An invisible claw skewered her boot and scraped her leg as she struggled. When she finally pulled that foot free, Glissa could see her hands again. The muck had coated them. She pulled her other foot free, then drew her sword and spread mud on the blade.

She turned toward Bosh. He was almost completely covered in thick eels. They didn’t seem bothered at all by the air surrounding the golem. They writhed around him. Glissa could see his entire shape now. Those eels caught swimming when the wave of air expanded now slithered across the seabed toward the golem.

Slobad stood staring at his hands. Glissa couldn’t tell what he was doing until a jet of fire sprang forth from his fist. His fire tube was invisible as well, but she could see the flame.

Slobad fiddled with the tube until flame turned into a bright white blade of fire, then moved up to an eel slithering on the ground and jabbed it with the flame-blade. The thin flame sliced through the eel, cutting it in half. The heat from the flame scarred and blackened the edges of each half as it cut. The two halves flopped uncontrollably. The blackness spread along the silvery eel’s body. After a moment, there was nothing left but a pile of ash atop the muck.

Glissa moved in slowly behind the goblin, walking on her toes to keep from getting stuck again. “Use your fire on the eels covering Bosh,” cried Glissa. “I’ll keep the others off you.”

Glissa stabbed an eel slithering toward the goblin’s foot, slicing it in half. She skewered a second and third eel as Slobad burned away the writhing mass attached to Bosh. She glanced at Bosh and Slobad. The goblin had cleared off most of the golem’s legs, which were covered in ash. The rest of the eels continued to squirm around Bosh. They bulged around his torso, as if Bosh was trying to break free from the inside.

Glissa scanned the surrounding quicksilver to see if any more eels might swim into the air bubble. She saw a few eel heads poke through the silver curtain, but they disappeared a moment later. The elf looked back toward the diver to check behind them. She saw the wriggling halves of the eels she cut inching their way across the muck. Each half had grown a new end. Where there had been three eels, Glissa now had six to contend with.

Several more creatures poked their heads from the quicksilver behind the diver. They didn’t push all the way through, yet Glissa noticed the ones trapped in the air pocket with them continued to attack. It was odd. They must react on instinct, thought Glissa. They could survive in the air, at least for a time, but they weren’t willing to leave the quicksilver on their own. Glissa stepped up to the first half-eel and kicked it toward the side of the bubble. It landed short of the quicksilver wall but bounced into it. Once it hit the quicksilver, the eel retreated into the liquid and didn’t return.

Glissa kicked three more times, sending the eels flying through the air bubble into the quicksilver wall. It was sort of fun. Two left. She turned. The last two merged back into one large eel. She kicked at it anyway. But it had enough mass and length to collapse around her foot. When the two ends met behind her ankle, the eel began to constrict. Her foot went numb as blood stopped flowing past her ankle. She fell down into the muck. She couldn’t cut the eel for fear of slicing her own leg. The creature’s mouth opened up and snapped at her hands as she tried to grab it. She needed Slobad.