Read Online The Moons of Mirrodin by Will McDermott - Free Book Online Page A

some of the larger scraps of metal into his pouch. “We go soon. You eat, huh?”
    “Two or three rotations?” asked Glissa as she hobbled over to the table. It looked as if it might fall to pieces at any moment, but it held her weight when she leaned against it. “You call that ‘not far’? And how do you know they’ll help me? We should just go back to the Tangle. How far can it be?”
    Slobad shook his head. “Stupid, crazy elf,” he muttered. Tangle is twice that far, huh? Take at least six, maybe eight rotations to get you home from here, especially with that bad leg. We have to cut leg off after four rotations, at most. If that’s what you want, we’ll go to Tangle.”
    “There’s no healer closer?” asked Glissa. On the table she saw the carcasses of two small animals. They each had four tiny legs, a wiry tail, and patches of gray fur mixed with metal plates on their backs. “What about the goblins? They must be close, right?”
    Slobad was searching for something on the workbench. Glissa couldn’t tell what any of the tools were for. She sliced off some meat with Slobad’s knife and ate what she could while she waited for his response. The goblin didn’t seem to understand the art of conversation. He often answered his own questions without waitingfor a response, and now he seemed to be ignoring her questions. The meat was pungent and stringy, but Glissa was famished. She cut off more meat and soon finished both animals.
    “Goblins have no healers who can deal with that leg, huh?” said Slobad. The goblin had finished packing his bag and now tossed a fur over his shoulders and tied it around his neck with several strips of leather. “Elf magic only heals wounds. You said so yourself. Goblin magic hardly even do that. Elves and leonin only decent healers. You choose, huh?”
    “Fine,” said Glissa. Once again she had no choice but to trust this creature who lived by himself within the den of the world’s most dangerous … constructs. Why was he helping her? How did he know so much about the world? It seemed that people who spent all their time in little rooms knew a lot more than she did about Mirrodin. Perhaps Slobad could be useful, but she needed to know more about him and his motives.
    “We’ll go see the leonin healers.”
    Slobad nodded. He tossed Glissa a sword sheath. “Here, take this. I found it in blades of leveler. Maybe you can use it better than its previous owner, huh?”
    Glissa grabbed the sheath. There was no belt, so she took the goblin’s knife, cut a long strip of leather, and tied the sheath around her waist. Several more strips fastened her boot back onto her leg.
    “Ready.”
    *   *   *   *   *
    Slobad revealed another secret opening in the wall and led Glissa through a square, metal tunnel. Slobad could walk, but the elf had to either crawl or hunch over inside the tunnel. It twisted back and forth, and they passed many side tunnels as they walked. It seemed to Glissa like she crawled for an eternity. Slobad oftenturned left or right at intersections but never slowed his pace. Glissa knew she could never find her way back to Slobad’s room. She had to keep following the goblin. Finally she saw light up ahead, and they emerged from the small tunnel into a larger cave.
    “This way,” said Slobad as he moved toward the light streaming in through the cave entrance.
    Glissa stepped outside and halted, amazed by the land around her. The ground gleamed. It was made of a silvery metal, not the moldered copper of the Tangle. The ground rolled up and down around her, making hills and valleys running as far as she could see. The cave behind her did not come from a hill, though. Rather, the structure was shaped like a mushroom. Rust-colored intertwined tubes ran up from the silver ground to a large, conical top. There were several of these outcroppings around them, and in the distance behind her, Glissa could see a large mountain with similar features jutting