Chapter 34

LILIANA

"Algenus, please, we have a guest."

The High King of Eldraine had been railing against the anti-royalist sentiments that had been spreading through the kingdom in recent months, but at his wife's gentle urging he cleared his throat and sat down, sheepishly meeting Liliana's gaze from across the table. He apologized then scooped up his goblet and took a long drink from it, while his wife offered an apologetic smile to their guest.

"It's been a while since we've had a guest from…outside Eldraine," Queen Linden explained in her smooth, calm manner. "These past months have taken a toll on His Majesty."

When she arrived in the great hall of Castle Ardenvale some hours earlier, appearing suddenly in a whirling cloud of smoke, Liliana had found herself surrounded on all sides by poleaxes pointed directly at her. She had not intended to 'walk straight into the throne room, but in so doing she had caused a scene. Naturally, they had jumped to the conclusion that she was a witch working for the anti-royalists. Thankfully, the queen recognized her and told the guards to stand down, otherwise Liliana might have met her end that day.

Once the guards stood down and the queen herself came to help her up, Liliana was able to explain why she had come. Then she had been invited to dine with the royal family, likely as a concession for having nearly been poleaxed to death. Now, she was seated with the king, queen, and their two youngest children at the dining table, apologizing again for having caused such a scare by her arrival.

"Planeswalking is not an exact science, you see," she explained, once all the servants were out of earshot. "One can, with a great deal of practice, 'walk to an exact location if one knows the location well enough. Or when following another's aether trail. More often than not, however, there's a level of unpredictability that can certainly lead one to trouble."

"As you demonstrated for us all this very day," King Algenus observed with a wry laugh. Then he admitted, "I'm afraid I still don't understand all this…planeswalking business. Rowan explained it all to me, of course, but it seems it is all somewhat beyond my comprehension. My wife understands it better, I believe. She understands most things better."

He laughed heartily but the queen merely smiled. Liliana was still trying to figure her out. It was obvious Linden had a keen intellect, which would normally cause Liliana to have a great deal of respect for her. The queen had never seemed to warm to the necromancer, though, even after the twins had managed to bring the king and their two younger siblings around. However, it had been the queen who had stopped the guards from killing her on the spot, so she didn't hate Liliana, even if she didn't yet trust her.

Algenus took a drink when his laughing had ceased, and said, "I'm only glad you were not hurt before Her Majesty realized it was you and not one of our enemies."

Liliana offered a faint smile then lifted the goblet in front of her and took a sip. She savored the sweet, spiced liquid that flowed down her throat. Hypocras was always such a rare and delectable treat. Then she met the king's gaze, and said, "It is certainly understandable, Your Majesty. I'm sure I would have reacted in much the same way, if I were in your position."

"Ah, well," said the king. "It all turned out all right, after all. I propose a toast—to careful consideration before thoughtless action. My wife will appreciate this one, I think."

He cast his wife an affectionate gaze and she responded with a fond smile. It was obvious the two were still very much in love, even after decades of marriage. Then they all raised a toast, after which Algenus looked at Liliana, studying her. Then he said, "That headdress you're wearing—is it a new thing at the university?"

She barely managed to stifle her amusement but managed not to laugh. "No, Your Majesty. It is…a gift from a very old friend." She thought better of telling him she had taken it from an Archangel she slew in her early days. Not that the angel didn't have it coming… Glancing at the queen, however, she knew she had better avoid such unsavory topics.

"Ah, yes," he answered with a nod, although his expression took on a somewhat distant look. Then he changed the subject. "I am sorry Will and Rowan aren't here. I'm certain they would have loved to see you. They look up to you a great deal, Professor—even Rowan, and she doesn't much look up to anybody."

He chuckled and Liliana answered with a faint smile. Then the queen said, "They were here only briefly before moving on. Of course, we asked them to stay, but they said it was urgent they continued on their quest."

She had been fairly silent throughout the dinner, but Liliana knew she was naturally the more dominant of the two. It was a curiosity, that a woman of such strength and intelligence, capable of doing anything she wanted to, would knowingly and quite willingly take a humbler and more submissive role to her husband the High King. He was not her equal and he was certainly not her better, even if he did bear the higher title…

"Did they, perchance, tell you where they were going?" Liliana inquired, before taking another sip.

"I'm afraid we never asked," said the king. Then he paused, his cheeks rosy from drink, and cleared his throat. "They were gone before we had the chance to get it out of them, you see."

"Perhaps you might find a clue in their chambers?" the queen suggested.

Liliana immediately met her gaze, wondering if she knew more than she was letting on. Was that a hint, or was it merely a coincidence that she had chosen that particular use of words? Queen Linden only smiled, but Liliana suspected there was knowledge behind that seemingly innocent gesture—after all, had she not also used a smile to conceal a great many things in her time?

"Do I have permission to search their quarters?"

"Of course," answered Algenus. "Although, I'm not sure you'll find anything there that would be of use."

The necromancer cleared her throat and thanked them for their generosity, before asking to be excused. This was starting to remind her of the family dinners from her youth, being forced to make small talk when there wasn't something important to discuss, and she was eager to get on with it. The part she couldn't bring herself to admit, or even to face, was that sitting with the Kenriths—perfectly loving and wonderful as a united family, only reminded her that she was not a part of that family. She had come, in many ways, to see herself and Jace as Will and Rowan's de facto parents, but now that fantasy had dissolved, and she was left to face the stark reality that only further accentuated her inability to have children of her own.

Liliana forced herself to remain cordial—after all, the king and queen had done nothing wrong—as she rose from the table and headed toward the exit. The queen, thinking ahead, had summoned a servant to escort Liliana to the twins' quarters. Realizing she was never going to find her way to the twins' bedrooms on her own, she accepted the servant's help and followed them straight. Naturally, the servant kept their distance from the necromancer the whole way there, frequently looking back at her over their shoulder as if to ward off a potential attack. Liliana made a point to appear entirely disinterested, hoping that would put them at ease. When they arrived outside the twins' quarters, the servant gestured to the two doors, and said quickly, "The boys' room is on the right. The girls' room is on the left." Then, before she could thank them, they scurried off.

Typical, she thought, as she rolled her eyes. She was used to having that affect on people—half the students and faculty at Strixhaven were still afraid of her—but it did sometimes grow rather tedious when you were only trying to be courteous and get things done.

She looked around inside Rowan's chamber first, which had really become more of Hazel's chamber since the older of the two sisters had left. After finding nothing, she moved on to Will's chamber, which was as clean and orderly as his sister's was a roiling disaster. She noticed a chess board on a table near the window and raised her brow. Will had told Jace, when introduced to the game on Ravnica, that he had never heard of the game. The pieces on Will's set were carved of wood and a bit more stylized in the way they were painted, but it was clearly the same game.

"You sly little devil," she said with a smile, as she continued searching for anything that might give her a clue as to the twins' whereabouts. Still, nothing. The only other curious thing seemed insignificant—a small mirror was left lying flat on one of the beds, with an old key and a toy castle on top of its reflective surface. Clearly a children's strange game, probably left behind by the younger boy, Erec.

She heaved a sigh and slumped in Will's desk chair, looking down at the books left open on his desk and wondering where to go next. She flip carelessly through the pages with one hand, hoping to spot some markings or a loose slip of paper stuck in the margins, but nothing appeared. Then she heard someone enter and looked up, surprised to see Queen Linden carefully closing the door.

The queen turned to Liliana and spoke in a low voice. "You will not find what you are seeking in a book, Professor. Forgive me for sending you here without explanation, but I needed to get you alone so I could speak with you."

"Why all the cloak and dagger? Why not just tell me what I'm looking for?" Then, with a smile, "Or have you come to kill me in secret?"

"If I wanted you dead, Professor," replied the humorless queen, "I would have let the guards kill you when they had you pinned to the ground." She paused, and then admitted, "Having said that, I won't pretend I still take issue with your…particular tastes in magic…and I'm not keen on my children being close with you. But you have looked after them and, that you are here looking for them now, suggests you care for them."

"I do care for them," Liliana said firmly. Then, looking away as her cheeks grew warm, she turned her face away, and finished, "a great deal."

The queen nodded, and then said, "I heard them talking before they left. Rowan was adamant she didn't want you to follow them."

"I'm not trying to hurt them."

"I know," said the queen, holding up her hand to silence the necromancer. "She didn't want you trying to stop them, from where they were going."

Liliana heaved a sigh and narrowed her eyes, then folded her arms over her chest. "Of course, she didn't."

The queen smiled knowingly. "That's our Rowan. But Will, true to form, wanted you to know where they were going."

"Do you know where they were going? The king—."

"My husband is under a great deal of pressure," the queen interrupted. "I did not overhear where they were going, but neither have I told him of the argument I overheard before they left. I have no desire to add to his concern by giving cause for him to worry about the twins."

"Are you not worried for them?"

"Should I be worried?"

Liliana paused to consider. "I believe they are in over their heads. And by the sounds of it, they are doing something of which they know their wiser and more experienced elders would not approve. As such, I fear they could be in grave danger, Your Majesty."

She nodded solemnly. "That is why I am here to help you, Professor."

"You know where they are."

"Not quite," she answered. "But I know what you are looking for—the clue that will lead you to where they have gone."

"All right," said Liliana, rising from the chair and standing with her hands on her hips. "At the university, they left behind a riddle in a book that led me here. But you say I will not find the answer in a book. So, what is it I'm supposed to be looking for this time?"

"This time, you need to think a bit less rationally," the queen answered with a mischievous glint in her eye. Then she pointed to the mirror with its strange collection of seemingly random items.

"Is this supposed to tell me where they've gone?" asked Liliana, stepping closer to examine the items.

"Not where they've gone, but how you might come to find the answers you seek," said the queen with a smile.

Holding the toy castle, Liliana admitted, "All of this means nothing to me, I'm afraid."

"To you, yes, as a stranger to our realm. But to Will, clever boy…no doubt he hoped someone might help you decipher this clue. He must have assembled it all rather quickly, after his sister planeswalked, before the tether pulled him to follow her."

Moving slowly but with a purpose, the queen lifted the key from the mirror and took the small castle from Liliana's hand. "Indrelon of Castle Vantress is whom you seek. You will need a key in the form of a secret to unlock its knowledge—if Indrelon finds you worthy."

"Tell me Indrelon isn't an angel," said the wry necromancer, with her hand to her forehead.

"An angel? No." Then, holding up the mirror that had been on the bed, the queen explained, "Indrelon is the magic mirror of Vantress."

ARLINN

There was no guarantee that it would work. Jace's ideas were usually sound, but he would be the first to admit there was always a margin of error. When dealing with Phyrexian praetors, of which they knew very little, that margin was certainly a great deal wider. While the ugly beast moved about at a snail-pace inside Teferi's slow-time bubble, and the great armies of the Tribes battled the rest of the horde to hold them back, Jace brought the planeswalkers together to share his idea.

With all the details mashed out and everyone in their appointed place, they all heard Jace's telepathic command before Teferi released the monster from the bubble of slowed time. The creature roared in its unnatural way and then took off at a running pace toward what appeared to be Jace and all the others standing before it, casting spells and taunting it. The moment it reached them, however, they all vanished and suddenly it was surrounded by great vines that were almost as thick as small trees. The vines moved rapidly to wrap around the creature's extremities to hold it in place. Vorinclex thrashed and screamed and, somehow, began breaking the vines in its attempt to break loose. For every vine it broke, however, three more appeared at Nissa's command.

Nissa was tucked into the trees with Jace and Teferi, while the others were scattered around nearby, all of them prepared to do their own part.

Before long, with Nissa growing the vines tighter, the praetor was unable to move. It fell still and released these awful screeching sounds, as if it was trying to call for help or something. Jace cast a silencing spell over the creature so that, while it wailed and carried on, nothing could hear it and come to its aid, while Arlinn and the others rushed upon the now motionless praetor. Ajani, Chandra, and Jaya stood watch around them, to ensure no other Phyrexians took them by surprise, while the others moved in on the creature.

Arlinn moved swiftly, still in her wolf form. As she approached the praetor, its unnatural scent caught her snout and she lowered her head, releasing a low growl. She wanted to tear into it. After seeing all the evils its kind had proliferated upon the peoples of Lorwyn during their first battle, and the damage they had done to the land, she wanted to tear every one of them limb from limb. But Jace had a plan, and they all had to do their part. So, instead of letting her baser instincts take over, when she reached the praetor, Arlinn sat in front of it and glared with her glowing beast eyes.

Tyvar walked up with his sword drawn, and said, "Let me cut off its head and be done with it!"

"No, Tyvar," said Nissa, running up and putting her hand in front of him. "Kaya said it cannot be killed that way. Remember?"

The young elf heaved a sigh and put down his sword then turned his head to view Jace as he approached with Teferi. The others moved out of the way, and Jace directed a nod toward Nissa as if to thank her for her nice work. She returned his nod in understanding, and then they all watched as Jace fearlessly approached the creature, getting even closer than Arlinn sat.

"I wouldn't get that close to it," Kaya suggested.

Almost as if to confirm her warning, Vorinclex let out a silent roar and began squirming inside the vines, but they held tight. Jace had stepped back and waited patiently for it to stop. Turning his head back to face the others, he said, "Bigger than I realized. Uglier, too."

"Now that we've captured it, what do we do with it?" asked Tyvar, still clutching the hilt of his sword, ever the eager youth. The leather binding creaked as he tightened his grip.

"First," said Jace, pulling out a small knife and moving closer to it, "I want to get a sample of its flesh for study."

"That sounds more like something Liliana would do," said Kaya with a grimace.

She watched, nonetheless, as Jace dug the knife in to peel away a piece of its flesh. Arlinn sniffed the air, revolted rather than intrigued by the smell of its unnatural flesh, while Teferi came forward to wrap the flesh in pieces of an old shirt and handed it to Jace, as he stepped back from the now infuriated beast. Jace tucked it into his a leather pouch on his belt and wiped the knife on the shirt, then threw that in with it.

The creature was still enraged from having a piece of its flesh removed, and soon the cracking of wood-like vines came to Arlinn's lupine ears. She turned her ears to listen and stood on all four, growling again to alert the others as the praetor began thrashing wildly in its prison of vines. More vines were breaking at an alarming rate, even as Nissa attempted to summon more to make up for the losses. What they hadn't anticipated was what came next.

The vines were turning black and brittle, the ones closer to Vorinclex falling prey sooner than the others. Then the creature whipped its head around and used the bony protrusions on its face to slice through the remaining vines. Suddenly, it broke free and it pushed past the others, running straight for Nissa. She reacted quickly, calling up a wall of vines to surround herself, while Jace threw up a ward just before Vorinclex could tear into the vines. Simultaneously, Chandra and Jaya had turned around and were coming at the beast from both sides with flame, while Arlinn came from behind and bit at its heels, hoping to injure it enough to slow its attack. Kaya had gone into her ghost form and disappeared from sight, but suddenly reappeared just after something invisible sliced through its left arm, taking it clean off.

"There's a sample for you, Jace!" she shouted, as she bounded back, expecting it to come for her next. She disappeared again, and then suddenly the creature's other arm was severed, and it roared in agony as she reappeared on the other side of it.

Meanwhile, Tyvar had attempted to run it through with his sword and, finally, the creature fell to its knees. They hoped maybe they had done enough damage to kill it. With no arms and its ankles bleeding, how much could it do, really? Of course, they had underestimated the strength of a Phyrexian praetor. The creature let out a piercing screech that was so disorienting the world began to spin. Arlinn sank to the ground in agony, while the others all fell to covering their ears. Next thing they knew, Vorinclex was back on its feet, running toward the forest and, with a sudden flash, it was gone and Lorwyn seemed to fall silent.

JACE

Vorinclex wasn't dead, but at least it was defeated and out of the way for now. If Kaya had seen it before, though, Jace was certain they had not seen the last of it. He wondered what other praetors they might see before the end of it, and if all of them would be as difficult to kill. At least they had wounded it well before it escaped. And compared to a praetor, the rest of the Phyrexian horde was fairly easy to defeat, if only because they were not as big or well prepared as the first horde had been.

Once the last of them was taken down, everyone worked together to collect the dead—ally and enemy alike—and then all the pyromancers, Chandra and Jaya included, lit them aflame to ensure none could be assimilated or used by the enemy in any way. After seeing what Vorinclex had done with the dead, it seemed that much more important to leave no dead behind, as long as Liliana wasn't there to take them under her command. There will be plenty more by the end of it for her to take, he thought grimly, looking out across the ruins of the battlefield.

Before the bodies had been set to flame, Jace managed to pull some more flesh samples from a few of the other Phyrexians, keen to have a wide array of which to make assessments. Flesh was not his forte and, in truth, he was rather disgusted by things of that nature; yet this was no time to be squeamish. He had to examine it, to try to understand the nature of these beings that seemed half artifice and half flesh. Even better, he had managed to collect a vial of the glistening oil that had oozed from the wounds of one of the dead. With his revolting array, Jace was eager to begin.

With the dead taken care of by the rest of the group, Jace had gone off to begin setting up his tent. A few of the others had also begun to clear the ground to set up camp, and by the time Jace had finished getting his things packed into his tent there were many others already set up around him. While he laid out his collection on his worktable, Teferi ducked into the tent and stood looking down at the pieces and the equipment.

"I'm more used to artifice."

Jace looked up at him as if to indicate he felt the same. Then he admitted, "Matters of the flesh are foreign to me…generally speaking." He paused and blushed as certain matters of the flesh he could claim to be quite familiar with came to mind. "I wish Liliana was here."

Teferi grunted and when Jace saw his suggestive grin, he drew his lips in a straight line, and said, "I mean to help with the examination." He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned with his hands on the table. "This would be easy for her. Like child's play. I have no clue what I'm even doing."

"You're smart," said Teferi. "You'll figure it out. But, ah, I'm still trying to understand what you're trying to do with all these…samples."

"I want to examine them, see what they're made of and how they compare to humans and other living things. If we can gain an understanding of the composition of their flesh, especially the praetor's, we may be able to find a way to permanently destroy it."

"Makes sense. Anything I can do to help?"

Jace lifted a Phyrexian forearm and tossed it to him. Teferi just managed to catch it and looked closely at it, while Jace said, "Between two geniuses, we should be able to figure it out."

"Now, this is unusual," said Teferi, leaning down to hold the forearm in the blue glow of a table lantern. "Its bone structure is like none I've ever seen—it seems to be interwoven with metal as if they had been melted together to form some kind of alloy. Can bone and metal even be mixed in such a way?"

With a tilt of his head, Jace indicated that was an interesting question—one he was not yet prepared to answer. He raised his hands to form a magnifying circle over the part of the forearm where the bone was sticking out and bent down to examine it more closely, mumbling, "Now that is strange… It appears you're right, but I've never seen anything like it. I suppose it's possible, if we're seeing it here, but the minerals bones are composed of are typically crystalline in nature…not metallic."

"I thought you didn't know much about matters of the flesh?" Teferi said with a grin.

"I…studied osteology a bit…some years ago," Jace murmured, as he continued examining the forearm. Then he stood up and dissolved the magnifying spell. "Not in great depth, but enough."

"What in the Nine Hells got you to study bone structure?"

"Curiosity, I guess," he answered with a shrug. Then he indicated the forearm, "Who knew it would come to be so useful down the line?"

"You are a man of many interests and talents, my friend," said Teferi. "So, what should I do with this? Do you want me to go scare the girls with it?"

Jace cast his eyes up and to the side, and said, "I don't think they'd scare that easily."

Teferi sniffed and set the forearm on the table among the rest of the specimens. "No, you're right. With my luck, I'd end up blasted with Chandra's fire just for trying it."

With a smile, Jace replied, "It'd serve you right. You know better than to mess with them."

He sat down on a stool and created another magnifying circle to begin looking over some of the other specimens. He was most keenly interested in comparing the samples from Vorinclex to those of the other Phyrexians and, as he suspected, there was something unique about the praetor's flesh. After amplifying the magnification to a microscopic level, comparing the different pieces of flesh revealed drastic differences. He hummed as he studied them.

"Find anything interesting?"

"I think so," Jace said slowly, as he leaned over the specimens and tapped his forefinger to his chin. "Come look at this."

Teferi looked at the magnifier and startled at first sight, having never seen anything magnified to that extent and probably not even aware it could be done. Then he bent over it, and asked, "What am I looking at?"

Leaning to look over his shoulder, Jace used another spell to illuminate the features he wanted Teferi to see. "Notice the differences along these lines here."

"I see that, but what are they?"

"Cells," Jace answered simply. "They're what living things are made of. So, first look at the ones on the right. They're from your standard Phyrexian—see how they all look generally the same? Then the one on the left is from Vorinclex. Notice the differences here and…here."

"That's odd," Teferi agreed. "If they're all Phyrexian, shouldn't they be the same?"

"One would think," Jace replied. Then he removed one of the regular Phyrexian specimens and placed down another sample from Vorinclex, and said, "Now, let's see if this one is the same as any of the others."

They studied it together, and Teferi was the one to say, "This one is completely different. What is it?"

"It's another piece of Vorinclex. And you're right, it is completely different. From both types of specimens. Strange, isn't it? Both samples came from one of its severed arms, so one would think they would be the same."

"So, what does that mean?"

Tapping his chin thoughtfully, Jace said, "Now, that is the ultimate question."