Return to Ravnica

Exava gave a derisive snort. She launched a barrage of arcane attacks, each one like a rocket made of electric death homing in on Jace. But Jace moved swiftly, parrying each spell with negating magic of his own, and the full force of the Exava’s malice never quite reached him. He walked toward her bombardment, and she took a few matching steps backward as she threw more spells at him, pushed back by his deft defense. In a lightning quick movement, she threw a tri-bladed dagger, an unexpected physical attack. The dagger spun through the air and caught Jace’s cheek as it whizzed by. The other Rakdos cultists roared with laughter, and encircled the two of them.

Jace counterattacked the blood witch with mind magic. He hurled his consciousness into hers, holding nothing back. He became her, let himself be absorbed by her, shared her mind and saw through her senses. He felt the power in her, the fierce freedom untainted by law or morality or restraint.

Finally, Jace saw a series of images, wordless sense impressions unfettered by rational thought. He saw a dank chamber down in the undercity, found only by a twisting course through torch-lit tunnels. It was an area claimed by the Golgari, but was a place where the Rakdos occasionally made covert deals with other guilds. He saw a cloaked figure there in that mossy-draped chamber, hiring her to procure a certain Selesnya dignitary. He saw her traveling back to the Rough Crowd, selecting a gang of Rakdos ruffians, and leading them to the Cobblestand to acquire the Selesnya elf. He saw her instruct them to return her to that underground chamber. And he saw her reminding them that the elf woman should remain unharmed.

Thank you, he said inside her mind.

Jace separated their two minds, returning to himself again. The two of them stood there opposite one another, chests heaving from the effort of their magical duel, still in poses of battle.

With the last of his effort, Jace summoned the simplest but most far-reaching illusion he could muster: the voices of Azorius officers.

“By order and authority of the Azorius Senate, I order you all to halt,” came the booming voice, as strongly as Jace could project it into all the Rakdos warriors’ minds. “Cease all action forthwith, and prepare to be detained in accordance with all governing laws and statutes.”

It wasn’t much, and he was pretty sure he was getting the legal wording wrong, but it was enough. There was a moment of confusion as the Rakdos swiveled around, looking for the Azorius officers and hissing with bloodlust. Jace shoved aside a couple of the Rakdos warriors, blended into the night, and disappeared.

THE PATH BELOW

An elderly viashino with whited-over eyes stood slumped against a streetlamp. His scales had once been burnished red, but were pale and chipped by age.

“Evening,” said Jace.

The viashino turned his head toward the sound. His eyes stared ahead. “I can’t help but agree,” grunted the viashino. “All the evidence does point that way.”

The encounter with Exava at the Rough Crowd had led Jace here, to the gloomy, Golgari-controlled part of town. The décor matched what Jace had seen in the shreds of the blood witch’s memory. Somewhere near here, he could enter the undercity and find the chamber where the Rakdos had taken Emmara.

Jace blinked at the viashino man. “You wouldn’t happen to know—where’s the nearest entrance to the undercity?”

“I would happen to know,” the lizardfolk said. “Yes.”

“Am I close?”

“A better question would be—are you alone? Not a place to go out seeking without a good entourage. The shadows down there are alive, you know. They’ll call your name. Spiders you can’t even see will crawl all over your skin. Biting things will eat your mind.”

“I can handle myself alone.”

“Can you? Well, then. I am honored to be the last living thing you’ll ever see. Are there any last words you’d like me to remember?”

“That’s all right.”

“That’s what you’re going with?” The viashino turned his chin vaguely back and forth, his reptilian lips pursed. “Suit yourself. Not that it matters. I wasn’t going to remember them anyway.” He shifted his weight against the streetlamp. His eyes stared at nothing.

“So, please, sir, the entrance?”

“I expect you’re standing on it.”

Jace looked down. He was standing in the middle of the street, but the zigzagging pattern of the cobblestones changed to a subtle spiral just where he stood. Jace could now sense an enchantment on the road, a mystical trigger mechanism that could be activated by any mage. What exactly it triggered was unclear.

Jace prepared himself. It was time to put up stiffer defenses. He summoned up a spell and let it wash over his body. He watched his multiple shadows under the streetlights vanish, and then his own body along with them.

“You’re going to want to get yourself ready before you go down there,” the viashino man offered.

“I’m currently invisible to the senses,” said Jace. “A mind-cloaking spell.”