The Call of Kerberos Part 22

The Great Ocean placed its clawed foot on his head and pressed down with all its strength.

As his skull shattered, Belck got a taste of the oblivion that would be brought to his people and all reality, before it overtook him and he was no more.

Chapter Twenty-One.

Kelos realised that something Dunsany had once told him was wrong. Drowning was not easy.

There was no feeling of soporific calm as his lungs filled with water, no sense of sinking gently into an eternal sleep. Instead, he thrashed his limbs and clawed for the dim light far above as a deep cold gripped him.

Then, as consciousness began to slip away, there was anger and despair. This was not how it was supposed to end. Kelos had wanted to reach a fine old age, living out his retirement on some sun-kissed island with Dunsany. There they would be far from the Final Faith, the politics of a divided nation and - more importantly - the rest of the human race. He had wanted to die looking up into Dunsany's eyes as they wished him a last goodbye, not consigned to a watery grave like some anonymous mariner.

But all that wasn't to be, so Kelos let go.

Seconds later, or so it seemed, he found himself kneeling on a stone floor, throwing up an apparently endless stream of water. Emuel knelt beside him, a look of concern on his face as he rubbed Kelos's back.

"Let it come. You're safe now."

Once the nausea had pa.s.sed, the eunuch helped Kelos to his feet and he saw his new surroundings for the first time.

They were in a gla.s.s dome, beyond the walls of which moved the same creatures that had attacked the Chada.s.sa vessel. Kelos watched their graceful forms as they darted between the towers and over the domes of a glittering citadel. The Calma shared some of the same features as the Chada.s.sa, being bipedal creatures of roughly the same size. But where the flesh of the Chada.s.sa was dark-scaled and rough, these creatures' hides s.h.i.+mmered in the diffuse light trickling down from above. Thin, silvery tails grew from the small of their backs, with which they propelled themselves swiftly through the water. From either side of their jaws hung small globes of light, reminding Kelos of the lures of anglerfish.

"The Calma," Emuel said. "They saved us when the Chada.s.sa vessel was blown apart."

Kelos began to remember.

The expression on Silus's face as Belck's influence began to take hold.

The shard of razor sharp bone in Silus's hand.

Dunsany's blood trickling between his fingers as he clutched at his throat.

"Dunsany, where is he?"

"The Calma are taking good care of him, though he is still weak," Emuel said. "He lost a lot of blood, Kelos."

"I need to see him."

Emuel led him through a series of tunnels, each linked by more gla.s.s domes. On the way they pa.s.sed several Calma and, at one point, Kelos thought he heard the raucous laughter of Jacquinto and Ignacio coming from a chamber.

"Sounds like somebody else is being well looked after too," he commented.

"The Calma have been most hospitable."

They reached a small, dim room. Through the gla.s.s ceiling Kelos could see the fronds of fern-like plants moving in a gentle current. Fragrant lamps burned in niches on the wall and in the centre of the room, on a low mattress, lay Dunsany.

He was pale and his breathing was uneven. The scar at his throat was the dark red of raw liver. As Kelos and Emuel stood over their friend a Calma entered the room.

"Your friend is in a deep sleep," the creature said, "but we have made sure that he is not in any pain."

"When will he wake up?" Kelos said.

"At the moment, we don't know."

Kelos bit back the tears that threatened to come and knelt beside his friend. "You stupid b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Look what you've gotten us into now."

Kelos had never seen Dunsany looking so frail, it was almost as though it wasn't him lying there but some poorly realised wax replica. Dunsany's hand was cold and when he squeezed it there was no response. The tears came then and the grief that they brought was ma.s.sive and debilitating. Kelos didn't think that he'd be able to contain it. When he looked up, Emuel and the Calma had gone, leaving him alone with his friend.

Had he the magical knowledge to reverse the damage and pull Dunsany out of his deep sleep, he would have performed it in an instant. But such a thing was beyond him. Instead, Kelos took a fragment of tree bark from the pouch at his belt and lit it from one of the lamps. He let it burn for a while before blowing out the flame. Intoning the words of a spell he blew the smoke towards Dunsany's open mouth where it insinuated itself between his lips. Dunsany's breath caught and he gave a small cough, but then he was breathing easily again and the lines of tension were smoothed from his face.

Even though Kelos was unable to free Dunsany from the clutches of his unnatural sleep, he knew that whatever dreamscape his friend was now traversing, he was doing so holding Kelos's hand.

"Sleep well, my friend. Look for me in your dreams."

Kelos stayed by Dunsany's side for a while longer, before leaving the room to look for the rest of the crew.

All Kelos had to do to find his companions was follow the sound of Jacquinto and Ignacio's laughter. He entered the room to find them practically bent double with hilarity. Clearly the scabbed-over wounds that they sported were no longer bothering them as Jacquinto was just reaching the punch-line of a particularly filthy joke and Ignacio was begging him to stop. Sat around a table, in the centre of the room, were the rest of the crew. Without Silus, Katya and Zac the gathering now looked somewhat diminished. Father Maylan was slowly sipping from a gla.s.s and watching the two smugglers with a bemused expression and Emuel was conversing with the creature at the head of the table. This Kelos recognised as Seras, the Calma who had led the attack on the Chada.s.sa vessel.

When Kelos sat down and the smugglers saw the expression on his face, they immediately brought their jocularity to an end.

"I'm sorry about Dunsany," Jacquinto said. "We're all praying for him."

"But try not to worry too much, eh?" said Ignacio. "The Calma will have him fixed up in no time and then they'll take us all home, right?"

"No," Emuel said. "We have to rescue our friends. We can't just leave them behind."

"Silus tried to kill Dunsany," Kelos said.

"Besides," Father Maylan said, "we don't even know whether they're still alive. We only just managed to survive the explosion as it is."

"They're alive," Seras said. "The Chada.s.sa would not allow their greatest prize to perish and we must not allow Silus to remain in their hands."

"Silus tried to kill Dunsany," Kelos said again. "He almost succeeded. I don't know whether I can bring myself to face him again, I'm sorry."

"But that wasn't him. He was under Belck's influence, you saw that," Emuel said.

"And if we do go and rescue him, what state do you think he will be in then?" Kelos said. "You know what power he has. He could kill us all. I'm sorry but we're out of this fight Emuel."

"You are not out of this fight," Seras said. "None of us are. If Silus is not rescued then it will mean the end of everything."

"The end of everything how?" Father Maylan said.

"When Silus mates with the Chada.s.sa Queen it will give rise to the Land Walkers. This new breed of Chada.s.sa will lay waste to your land, killing every human in their path. They then plan to perform a dark ceremony in the World's Ridge Mountains that could alter reality irrevocably. Everything we know would be destroyed."

There was silence around the table for a moment then.

"That bad huh?" Jacquinto said.

Ignacio tried to bite back his laughter but he couldn't contain it.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's just the look on Maylan's face!"

"This is not a f.u.c.king game!" Kelos shouted, rising from his seat.

"I'm sorry," Ignacio said, with more sincerity this time.

"And how do the Calma fit into all of this?" Father Maylan asked Seras. "A few days ago we weren't even aware that there was another marine race like the Chada.s.sa."

"We are not like the Chada.s.sa! They are a corruption of our form. They are alien to this world." Then, seeing the reactions of the crew to his outburst, Seras calmed. "I apologise, but the Chada.s.sa and Calma have been at war for millennia. Much of that time we have spent in hiding - the citadel here is almost all that remains of our civilisation - but when news of the Hybrid reached us, we knew that we had to intervene."

"Sorry," Kelos said, "did you say 'hybrid'? Who is that exactly?"

"The one the Chada.s.sa call the half-breed. The one you know as Silus. The one for whom, for countless years, the Calma have waited to join us and banish the Chada.s.sa threat for all time, leading us in a new era of peace."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Kelos said, "but I thought that it was the Chada.s.sa who saw Silus as some kind of 'chosen one'?"

"To the Chada.s.sa, Silus is merely a p.a.w.n to be used to bring about the terrible wrath of their G.o.d, this thing they call the Great Ocean. But to the Calma he represents hope. After all, it is our blood that runs in his veins. Our race who helped to bring about his birth."

The crew were looking at one another now with confused expressions. Jacquinto appeared to be about to say something but Kelos raised his hand to silence him before he could begin.

"And how are you going to rescue Silus?" Kelos said. "After all, the Chada.s.sa seem to be a formidable force with greater numbers than yourselves."

"It is true that our numbers are not what they once were, but it is imperative that we at least try. The alternative is unthinkable."

"Just what is the alternative?" Father Maylan said.

"The end of everything. All will be as the Great Ocean, an infinity of nothingness."

Seras sounded weary and already half-defeated. Kelos realised that he had little hope that the Calma would succeed against the Chada.s.sa. His heart sank as he looked around the crew. All were exhausted and demoralised, though some - like Jacquinto and Ignacio - were managing to hold back any outward signs of distress. Kelos himself tried to put aside his hatred for Silus and what he had done to Dunsany. After all, as Maylan had pointed out, he had been under the influence of Belck at the time.

"Seras, if we could help you we would," he said, "but I don't think that five men could make much of a difference. If we still had the Llothriall Llothriall then maybe we could be of some help, but all we have is ourselves." then maybe we could be of some help, but all we have is ourselves."

"Actually," Emuel said, "the Llothriall Llothriall may not be lost." may not be lost."

"But it would have been destroyed in the attack on Morat, surely?" Ignacio said. "I mean, that thing swallowed a city whole whole. It would have obliterated a simple s.h.i.+p."

"And yet the song remains," Emuel said.

"G.o.ds, you can still hear it?" Kelos felt an edge of excitement now and, with the hope it brought, he began to see some sort of future for them all.

"On Morat," Emuel said, "the Stone Seers showed me that there are many paths to the song. Many ways to open yourself up to its influences. The Faith may have thought that they destroyed my connection to the stone but that's because they only understood a part of its magic. But now I am beginning to hear the call of the Llothriall Llothriall once more." once more."

"Do you think you will be able to lead us to it?" Kelos said.

"I think so, yes."

"Excellent." Kelos turned to Seras. "How long can you wait before you attempt the rescue?"

"Not long, three days at most."

"Emuel?"

"The song is close. It shouldn't take us long to find its source."

"Seras, will you be able to help us? If we can find our s.h.i.+p then you will have powerful magic at your disposal which could secure your victory."

"I can provide a vessel that will speed you to your destination, yes."

"Then I suggest that we leave right away. The sooner we find our s.h.i.+p then the sooner we can rescue Silus and bring this to an end."

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Sleep didn't come easily. Especially not with the sound coming from the cell next door. Silus didn't know what manner of creature the Chada.s.sa had incarcerated there or what they were doing to it, but its cries shook the walls of the tiny room in which he lay.

The sound of voices approached, raised in song. For a moment they overrode the cries coming from the neighbouring cell before silencing them completely, as though the creature residing there had forgotten its agony to listen to the strange hymn. Then there was the sound of bolts being drawn and then a jagged shard of light leapt into the room, startling Silus and making it difficult for him to define the shapes standing in the doorway.

A Chada.s.sa male stepped into the room, its hide marked by the symbols of ritual scarification. "It is time for the Queen to receive you."

Silus felt the last traces of hope burn away then. The crew of the Llothriall Llothriall were dead, his wife and child incarcerated somewhere in this G.o.ds-forsaken place and now he was going to be forced to mate with the Chada.s.sa's queen. were dead, his wife and child incarcerated somewhere in this G.o.ds-forsaken place and now he was going to be forced to mate with the Chada.s.sa's queen.

Silus looked at the creatures that had crowded their way into his cell, still singing that seductive, yet horrific, song. Desperately hoping for an ally, he looked for Belck amongst the throng.

"Belck, tell your people what the Great Ocean really desires for them, for all of us. Tell them Belck, you must have realised the truth, I saw it in you."

"Belck is not here," the creature standing over Silus said. "He too will be preparing for the ceremony."

Silus held his body rigid as the Chada.s.sa tried to drag him from the cell. He wasn't going to make this easy for them and twice his captors dropped him. As he was manhandled down the corridor, the screaming from the neighbouring cell started up again, this time with more vigour as though to protest at the song being taken away.

Silus and the Chada.s.sa choir descended the spirals of the prison tower until, pa.s.sing through a membrane, they entered the water. Again, Silus's first instinct was to fight against the sea that filled his lungs, but soon he was breathing easily.