Duel of the Gemini

Trust

Sorin had no stomach for games.
“Who are you?” he demanded, more aggressively than he’d intended.
“I’m rather disappointed you don’t remember me. After all, I remember everything about you.” The stranger raised his hands to pull back the hood and fixed his eyes on Sorin. The recognition came instantly: it was the stranger who had attacked Sorin’s mind as they passed each other outside Liliana’s chamber. Instinctively, Sorin’s hand flew to his temple, as if to soothe the ghost of the pain. A thin smile crept over the man’s face.
“Ah, I see you do remember me. I apologise for the intrusion, it’s just a little trick to help me better get to know the people I work with.”
Sorin didn’t particularly  like the assumption that he was somehow in leagues with this strange mage, but the thought that Liliana would never have let the stranger leave unharmed if he had used that technique on her made him reconsider his response to a more co-operative tone.
“It we’re working together, I should know your name.”
“You’re quite right, of course. My name is Jace Balaren, and I am very much at your service.”
Recognition hit for the second time, throwing Sorin’s mind into further chaos. The man in front of him was no ordinary mage, but a Planeswalker. Not just any Planeswalker for that matter, but an Original like Liliana. This was the Original of Blue mana, the colour which was said to have the power to manipulate minds at will, making allegiances with blue mages very tricky propositions: one never knew if it was actually your own idea to trust them in the first place. Sorin decided very quickly that nothing this man said should be taken at his word.
“Do you know what happened to Liliana?” he asked Balaren.
“Indeed, and you can be quite satisfied she is in no immediate danger.”
The vampire advisor spoke now, quite agitated by this turn of events. “If she is safe, why hasn’t she returned to us?! Tell me where she is!”
I did not say she was safe, only that she is in no immediate danger. If our friend here had not arrived before long, that situation would have changed.”
Sorin felt a great weight fall on his very obvious words. “What situation?”
“The impending need to rescue the Queen of this charming horde of vampires, of course.” Both men stood silent waiting for Balaren to continue. “She’s been captured, by a Planeswalker named Tezzeret, who has a particular interest in seeing this world fall to the destructive force of the Eldrazi. This is a desire I do not share, and since the only weapon capable of saving this soon-to-be-decimated plane is in her possession, I recommend you and I work together to secure her release.” The thin smile persisted as he spoke, in no way encouraging Sorin’s trust. “How do we know you didn’t have something to do with her capture yourself?” he asked.
“You don’t. All I can say is that if my intention was to capture her, it is highly unlikely I would be here with you planning to attempt her rescue.”
The pair exchanged glances and both knew immediately that logic would not be enough to determine the loyalty of the Blue Original. After a few minutes, Jace sighed and raised one outstretched finger.
“I could show you, if that would help matters progress a little faster.” Remembering Jace’s last trip inside his mind, Sorin’s feet hesitate to move forward. “It will not be like last time, you have my word. It is far easier to transfer a memory into a mind than to take one out.”
Noting that he didn’t like the sound of any of that, he moved with the reluctance of one who has decided he has no choice within range of Balaren, before letting him touch him once on the forehead. He watched as the images flooded his mind and a scene from the past unfolded in his consciousness.
The two vampire riders sailed above the tree lines, one holding Lyzolda’s canister. Before they reached the Eldrazi, both riders were knocked out of the air. Sorin couldn’t see what had hit them, it was as if the force was invisible. Inside his mind, hours passed in a matter of moments. Finally he saw Liliana, and felt his breath catch. With her where two vampire priestesses, possibly sisters. They didn’t ride but teleported through the forest on Vess’ magic. The found the capsule and the bodies of the two riders, stopping just long enough to say the ritual rites before vanishing again. It looked as though they were returning to the village when another man appeared out of nowhere, leaving a mix of black and blue smoke behind him. The man argued with Liliana, but no words came through the memory. Then he raised his hands without warning and fired shots into the priestesses, killing them both. A battle erupted between the Planeswalkers, filling the forest with mana and blocking them from view. When the debris settled, Liliana was unconscious and the man was holding the canister. A portal opened behind him, and Sorin watched helplessly as Tezzeret dragged her through. The memory closed and he was left staring at the face of Jace Balaren.
“Why didn’t you do something to help her?!” he shouted.
“Tezzeret is working with another, far more powerful being. How else would the Black Original lose to a mixed-force creature such as him? The important thing here is, he has agreed to a trade.”
“What are you talking about? What do we have that he could possibly want?”
The thin smile on Jace’s lips grew to sinister proportions. “You.”
The whirling force inside him seemed to collapse in on itself, only to be replaced by a raging explosion. It was Tezzeret who had tampered with the portal, possibly while they were still on Ravnica. By why go through all this trouble when he had already captured a much more powerful prize?
“Why me?” he asked. “What does he want with me when he’s already got Liliana?” Anowon, who had been silent for quite some time, stiffened visibly at the mention of his queen’s name.
“He has the canister, but he believes you have another. Why I do not know. As I have said, his only interest is in the destruction of this world. He has informed me that if you hand yourself, and the canister you hold, over to him, the vampire’s Queen will be released.” Anowon was gaping at Sorin, the disbelief that he had not been told sooner about the second canister clear across his face.
“There isn’t another, not with me at least. The only others are back on Ravnica.”
“You will have to tell him this yourself, and hope that he believes you.” Jace paused to let the situation fully sink in to the minds of his interlocutors. “Shall I tell Tezzeret that you agree to his terms?”
“You can communicate with him? How?”
“Through blue mana, it is a link we share. We can communicate wherever we are, at all times, even across planes… and time.”
Sorin nodded slowly. “Then tell him I accept.”
“It may be possible for both you and Liliana to walk out of this with your lives,” Jace said, solemnly, “but I fear gravely for the future of this world.”
Anowon looked to be near collapse at the full realisation of what was taking place around him. Sorin himself could barely comprehend the scenario in which, after everything they had done to get the weapon of Chandra’s fire, Zendikar could still fall. In the back of his mind, something told him hope still rested on their ability to locate the Spirit of Ajani, but for that he would first have to get Liliana back.
Jace made a hasty example of explaining that communion across planes would require a more private place, and took his leave. Sorin was left standing on the balcony with Anowon, who now turned to him with renewed desperation.
“Tezzeret will never believe you don’t have the other capsules… he won’t release our Queen!”
“I know,” Sorin said gravely. “That’s why I’m not going to do the deal.”
“Then why did you tell Jace to arrange the meeting?”
“Because we can’t do anything if we don’t know where he is. Whatever this mysterious power Jace mentioned, I believe Tezzeret only managed to defeat Liliana because he caught her by surprise. If we can do the same thing, maybe we can turn the tables.”
A head-long battle with an Original like Liliana was still well beyond his years, but Tezzeret by all descriptions was far from one. He was an outcast from almost every mages college, and what was more, he was a mixed force. Half of his power was Black mana, which would have limited effect against Sorin’s magic. Only his Blue half was any serious threat. With the right concentration of force, that mixture would prove to be a fatal weakness. Sorin took the advisor by the shoulder.
“Send word to the new village. Rally every warrior, rider and priestess, and tell them to be ready for my command.”
In the day, when the sunlight was strong enough to filter down between the thick branches to the deserted village, Sorin slept restlessly to the distant crashing of the titanic Eldrazi. At night, when he knew the vampires would be on the move, he stood on the balcony of the watch tower looking for the signs of their arrival. In the long hours in the dark, he planned his assault. On the third night since his meeting with Jace Balaren, a single torch breached the stillness of the tree-line. Within an hour the gates were opened wide to welcome back the denizens of the swamp. Sorin remained at his post in the tower, waiting for the advisor to bring word of their readiness for battle. The ancient vampire appeared at his side without a sound, as though his feet had never touched the stone stairs. Though he still carrying the seal of the Queen’s advisor, he now wore the dressings of a priest. No doubt he had found it difficult to maintain his authority as an advisor to the Queen in a time where there was no Queen to advise. Sorin was the first to speak.
“It is good to see you are unharmed. I was concerned the Eldrazi…”
The vampire elder abandoned ceremony and spoke above him. “You should have more concern for yourself. You were wise to wait here for my return.”
Sorin had expected this hostility. “What has happened?”
“There is great unrest. Many blame you for what has happened to Liliana. They say that our people were prosperous until you arrived, untouched by the Eldrazi, and beloved by our Queen. Then, you appear, and she leaves for a distant world. We rejoice when she returns, and you do not. But then, she leaves again, and this time, she does not return.”
“You know I had nothing to do with that. I want to save her as much as you.”
The priest let out a low sigh, and kept his eyes on the horizon as he spoke. “This I believe, but many do not.”
“Will they fight?”
A slow nod. “If I ask them too, they will fight.”
Sorin smiled a heavy smile. After a moment they descended the stairs together, to address the crowd.