The Call of Kerberos Part 21

Silus broke the surface and spray surrounded him like a mult.i.tude of glistening jewels. Contained within each individual droplet he could see the azure glow of Kerberos. Ahead of him Belck re-entered the water and Silus followed in his wake. He overtook the Chada.s.sa, swimming down amongst the shafts of sunlight. One of these caught the edge of an arch of stone and, his curiosity piqued, Silus swam towards it.

The great bow of volcanic rock rose from the seabed far below and Silus followed its curve down. Belck caught up with him and swam alongside.

Let me show you what it is to know the Great Ocean, Silus.

Belck overtook him and Silus followed.

They swam for a long time. Finally, as the pressures of the deep began to make Silus's bones ache they arrived at the base of the arch. Even here, however, they didn't rest. Instead, Belck led Silus over the lip of a canyon and into a darkness more absolute than anything he had experienced before.

Belck reached out and took his hand. Silus didn't resist, even though he found the touch of the creature repellent. He was too afraid of being lost in the infinite darkness to let go.

He is the Great Ocean. He will come again, Belck began to chant.

As the Chada.s.sa's mantra filled Silus's mind he sensed the walls of the canyon fall completely away.

Nothing surrounded them now. Silus couldn't even feel the water against his skin.

Now, Belck said. Belck said. Witness his coming Witness his coming.

The Chada.s.sa sent out his consciousness into the darkness, yet there was no response. Silus could feel Belck straining to make contact with his G.o.d.

He is the Great Ocean. He will come again.

The chant sounded more urgent this time, as though Belck was pleading.

After what seemed like a long time, it became obvious that the Chada.s.sa's G.o.d was not going to grace them with its presence.

The doubt and anxiety that Silus had sensed in Belck earlier began to boil over into anger. The Chada.s.sa's grip on his hand suddenly became painful and the canyon walls rushed past them as he was dragged up through the depths.

Soon they came into sight of the Chada.s.sa city and Silus only had a moment to take in the enormity of the terrible architecture before Belck shoved him out of the sea.

He fell to the floor of the chamber and began to cough up the water that filled his lungs. It burned as it flowed out of him and Silus found himself s.h.i.+vering uncontrollably as an intense weakness overtook him.

He looked up to see Belck standing over him, his dark eyes regarding him dispa.s.sionately.

"Get up."

But Silus couldn't stand and, with another great shudder, he coughed up more salt.w.a.ter. He cried out as Belck wrapped his claws in his hair, dragged him to his feet and threw him across the room to land in a heap before another Chada.s.sa.

"Take this one to be prepared for the Queen," Belck said. "It is time."

After Katya had been ejected from the belly of the Chada.s.sa craft she had fallen through the depths - cradling Zac to her as he screamed and screamed - convinced that they were going to die. For a moment the sphere they were in stabilised, gently swaying, rather than spinning in all directions, and Katya looked up at the bizarre vessel they had left behind.

There was a flash of intense light and then they were tumbling again like some circus act from Miramas, as the shockwave from the explosion caught up with the sphere.

The water around them boiled with clouds of debris and within them Katya could see the broken corpses of dozens of Chada.s.sa. For a moment she thought that she could make out a human face in the mora.s.s but then, with a violent shudder, the sphere was s.n.a.t.c.hed away from the scene as they hurtled down along some unseen current.

Katya closed her eyes as her stomach somersaulted. Zac, however, had begun to enjoy himself and his cries turned to squeals of laughter.

There wasn't much to see outside of the sphere now, other than the occasional pulse of fluorescence from the delicate creatures who grazed on the plankton fields that seeded the depths. Katya gently s.h.i.+fted Zac into her lap before leaning over and pulling on the fleshy protuberances that grew from the sphere floor. She had hoped to be able to take control of the strange craft in this way, but her ministrations did nothing to alter their course.

Something caught Katya's attention then. A pale shape moving just at the edge of her vision.

It emerged from the darkness, its long body stretching far behind it, seeming as though it would never end. Its eyes were a blind milky white, yet the pits of its angular nostrils seemed more than sufficient to smell out any prey that entered its territory. It scooped up the creatures grazing on the plankton in its great jaws, but this didn't seem enough to sate its hunger because it headed straight for the sphere.

Katya closed her eyes and braced herself, with Zac held tight to her breast. There was a flash of light and an intense smell of ozone filled the sphere. When she opened her eyes, the creature was falling away from them, its vast length entangling around itself as streams of bubbles rushed from its slack jaws.

Katya saw the creature crash into the side of a jagged peak of stone that appeared to be part of a building of some kind, before it impacted with the seabed in a cloud of silt.

The sphere followed the creature down into the city, descending at a much more sedate pace. As the towers and strange mound-like structures rose around them, Katya breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought that they would fall forever, to die in some lightless, airless abyss. Instead the sphere rotated on its axis before heading towards a hole that had opened up in the side of one of the buildings.

Absolute darkness enfolded them then, the bottom of the sphere rising up slightly beneath them as it settled onto a solid surface.

All that Katya could hear was her and Zac's breathing and the soft drip of moisture falling from the ceiling. The drip became a trickle and then a torrent as the sphere melted around them.

Katya rose to her feet, holding Zac, s.h.i.+vering as the thick film of slime that covered them rapidly cooled. From somewhere there was a deep rumble and hiss before a shaft of light broke the darkness, making Katya throw up a hand to s.h.i.+eld her eyes.

Silhouetted in a doorway stood the form of a Chada.s.sa, though it seemed taller than any Katya had seen before, the crest of spines that ran from the small of its back to the top of its skull more prominent than that found on most Chada.s.sa. As it stepped into the light Katya saw that it was a female, heavy b.r.e.a.s.t.s swaying as it strode towards them, flapping against a distended belly that could only be swollen by the presence of a child.

When the creature saw Zac in her arms it made a strange crooning sound and its crest s.h.i.+vered with a dry rattle.

Katya backed away, only to come up against a wall.

In her arms Zac made no sound. He held her eyes with his own and in them she could see no awareness of the danger they were in.

Before Katya could do anything, the Chada.s.sa s.n.a.t.c.hed Zac from her arms and retreated back through the doorway.

The shaft of light was extinguished as the door closed behind them and Katya dropped to her knees, howling as she was left in the darkness without her child.

The Chada.s.sa's name was Snil. She had mothered twenty-five younglings and her belly was taut with three more. Her fertility was legendry and her sp.a.w.n were highly valued for both their martial and leaders.h.i.+p skills. When Belck had told her that they had come into possession of the half-breed's son she had fervently hoped that she would be picked to nurse the child. And Belck had not disappointed her, picking Snil, out of all the potential Chada.s.sa mothers, to hold the extraordinary being in her arms.

She only wished she could have nursed him in the sea, but Belck had said that though the child may well have inherited his father's abilities, it was best not to risk drowning the wee one.

And so, Snil sat in a drained but damp chamber, as the infant struggled against her scaled hide, kicking against her belly with his tiny feet. She held him up before her and crooned a sing-song sound. What was this creature's name? What was it that his mother had screamed as Snil had spirited the child away?

Ah yes, Zac.

"Zac," she said, just about managing to vocalise the word. Snil hadn't the proficiency with the human language that some of the older, more learned, Chada.s.sa had, but she eventually got the hang of the infant's name. "I like you Zac," she giggled and s.h.i.+vered the spines of her crest. The sudden rattling sound made Zac pause in his protestations and stare at her with wide, deep eyes.

Such eyes and such colour! The dark pits of his pupils were surrounded by a vivid blue. It reminded Snil of the play of light through the shallows, reminded her of the time she had stood right on the edge of the human lands, just beneath the waves, and marvelled at the warmth of the sun on her face.

Snil rattled her crest again. Zac responded with a bemused smile and brought up his hands as though to grasp at the quivering quills. But she didn't want him to cut his delicate hands on her spines. "No, no." She chided, holding the child against her chest.

Snil knew exactly what Zac really wanted and she offered him a breast.

In momentary shock he pulled away from the vast dark nipple that she thrust at his face. But then, as her viscous milk started to leak from the swollen dug, Zac clamped a hungry mouth onto her and began to feed.

He was so much more tender than any of the children that had sprung from her loins, almost considerate. He closed his eyes and made sounds of satisfaction deep in his throat as he fed, his small hands raised, clenching and unclenching. Snil stroked the top of his downy head until Zac pulled away from the touch of her rough hand and began to cry.

"Shhh. Shhh," Snil soothed, guiding him back to her nipple.

She realised now that she'd be unable to comfort Zac in quite the same way she would one of her own. Snil knew so little about the humans. She only knew that the Chada.s.sa were supposed to hate them and covet their mastery of land. But she found it difficult to hate something as perfect as the creature in her arms. In comparison to her own kind it would seem that humans were a far more subtle and complex race, created for a greater purpose than to merely breed and kill.

Zac looked up at her and enclosed one of her fingers in a fist. She could feel a fierce heat emanating from his palm and a flush of warm contentment was beginning to spread across his face.

As he fed, Zac held her gaze and Snil felt that she could look forever into those deep blue eyes.

Suddenly Zac's hand tightened its grip and he gave a sound like a violent hiccup. His teeth clamped down on Snil's nipple and bit through, her dark blood was.h.i.+ng over his face. She tried to pull him away but, with a growl, Zac strengthened his hold. All the time he held her gaze, the darkness at the heart of his pupils growing to eclipse the brilliant colour of his irises until his eyes were a deep, uniform black.

Somewhere Snil thought she could hear chanting.

He is the Great Ocean.

He will Come Again.

In her womb, her unborn children began to writhe, the pain as they twisted around her guts and kicked and punched filled her belly with a raging fire.

The chant grew louder until it was all that Snil could hear.

The child in her arms, however, would not allow her to draw her eyes away from his dreadful stare. Snil could see beyond Zac's eyes, to something vast. Something that approached from an incredible distance, yet drew swiftly near and filled him with its midnight taint.

He is the Great Ocean.

He will Come Again.

There was an agonised mewling sound coming from somewhere and, with a growing sickness, Snil realised that it was the call of her unborn children. There was an intense, clawing pain and her belly began to distend as they pushed against the wall of her womb.

Pale tendrils emerged from Zac; from his eyes, nose and mouth. These wrapped themselves around Snil, sinking into her flesh, laying down lines of white-hot fire where they touched, until Zac was securely bound to her.

The pain was so intense now that she couldn't help but cry out and Zac added his voice to the cacophony as the flesh of Snil's belly finally ruptured.

With the hideous screech of the unborn, three partly formed Chada.s.sa heads thrust themselves into the air and joined in with the chant that echoed all around her.

He is the Great Ocean.

He will Come Again.

Snil looked down at the twisted progeny that clung to her ruined torso. The darkness that filled the creature that had been Zac flowed from him and into her, enveloping her in an impenetrable night.

All that Snil could sense now was the endless chant as something ancient and evil rushed into her body.

Belck had told them all to look to the coming of the Great Ocean, to glory in his infinite presence, but now that Snil was filled with that dark and hateful water, she realised that the Chada.s.sa had pinned their hopes onto nothing at all.

Belck stood at the edge of the canyon and stared into the darkness. Behind him, the water s.h.i.+mmered with the heat rising from the great mound of the Queen. The ma.s.s of flesh s.h.i.+vered and twitched in antic.i.p.ation of the union that would make her eggs sacs teem with life. Belck should have felt joy at the prospect, but instead a fierce doubt ate away at him.

What exactly is the Great Ocean?

The truth was that Belck didn't know the answer to Silus's question. Even after all these years of indoctrination into the mysteries of the faith, Belck felt no closer to his G.o.d. Even having stared into the face of the Great Ocean itself, he felt no bond with the Chada.s.sa's creator. Yet, because of his lineage, Belck had been chosen to lead his people towards the time of the Great Flood. And just what great new age was it that he was supposed to be the herald of anyway? Belck had spoken of it often, had even stirred up crowds of Chada.s.sa into rapturous religious frenzy with prophecies concerning the arrival of the great event, but in all that time he had never truly understood what it was.

Once all reality was as the Great Ocean what then? What would there be for the Chada.s.sa to do? Swimming together through infinity, all time and s.p.a.ce being one vast sea may be a wonderful image with which to empower a sermon but it meant nothing to Belck when he thought of the Chada.s.sa's future.

He sensed movement behind him and turned to see something striding towards him from the encroaching gloom. It looked like another Chada.s.sa but there seemed to be something wrong with the creature, for as it advanced it moved with a shuffling gait, occasionally going down on one knee as though it had only just learned how to walk, kicking up clouds of silt as it did so.

How can you, who have seen my true face, doubt the plan that I have for your people?

The gait of the creature was growing more confident with each step it took and soon it was approaching him with purpose.

Belck could now see that the creature was Snil, the nurse that he had a.s.signed to look after Zac, but the voice that had spoken was not hers. As she drew closer, the terrible change that had been wrought upon her made Belck take a step back, closer to the edge of the trench.

Snil, what happened to you?

Do you not recognise your G.o.d? said the malformed infant that clung to her breast. Belck realised that it was Zac, though, somehow, his flesh had become fused to Snil's. said the malformed infant that clung to her breast. Belck realised that it was Zac, though, somehow, his flesh had become fused to Snil's.

He is the Great Ocean, He will Come Again, chorused the heads of the Chada.s.sa infants that thrust from the ragged hole of her belly.

You have failed me Belck. Your doubts speak louder than your praise. Your prayers are not expressions of your joy and awe in my presence, but expressions of your fear.

With an encroaching fear, that threatened to break out into full blown panic, Belck realised that he may not know his G.o.d, but his G.o.d certainly knew him. Belck looked at what had been done to Snil and knew that the Great Ocean would use them all just as ruthlessly.

You possess none of the fire of your forebears, Belck. You are a disgrace to their memory.

The thing that had been Snil reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder, the pure black of her eyes had misted into the milky white of the dead. Zac, hanging in his fleshy webbing, looked up and smiled. But it wasn't Zac and, in his eyes, and the eyes that stared from the ruins of Snil's womb, Belck saw the same thing.

Nothing.

This oblivion was not what he desired for his people at all. This was not the glory that the Great Ocean had promised them. Belck realised then that he had to let them know, otherwise they would all march blindly into the abyss.

He shook off the thing's touch and started to hurry back towards the city.

Zac's mouth snapped opened and a thick tendril of flesh erupted from it, to wrap itself around Belck's neck and bring him cras.h.i.+ng to the seabed, a cloud of silt rising around him as he landed. Belck struggled against the creature's hold but it tightened its grip and soon he couldn't move at all.

He looked up into the eyes of the Great Ocean and his G.o.d stared down at him without pity or remorse from behind the Chada.s.sa's dead eyes. Then, the unborn creatures crawled free of Snil's womb and kicked their way towards him. They landed on his chest and, for a moment, the cord that still joined all three of them to the womb prevented them from progressing any further. One of the infants bit through the rope, however, and severed the connection. It seemed all that they wanted now was affection, because they started to nuzzle against Belck, their mewling sounding like a plea for the milk he could not give them.

But the creatures were not nuzzling. Instead, they were looking for a vulnerable area of Belck's flesh. Finding it, they began to burrow into his hide. Even though they were tiny, they had none of the weaknesses of the unborn and were soon gnawing their way towards his heart.

Belck screamed and begged his G.o.d to make the pain stop, and his G.o.d obliged.