However, the visitors had left something behind. The magnificent vessel they had arrived in - the
Llothriall
.
The ship lay anchored near the ruins of the palace and Bestion had visited it often, mainly to study the stone that sat at its centre. This was clearly the sister of the stone of the Allfather. Indeed, it had begun to respond to the death song that now emanated from the temple, harmonising with that melancholy hymn as though in sympathy. Bestion had contemplated taking the
Llothriall
, loading up the survivors and leaving Morat. But while the stone of the Allfather still sang he could not leave his home, not while there was the merest chance that He would call them into His arms. For surely the Allfather could see the suffering of His people, surely they were now worthy of His forgiveness? Bestion was beginning to wonder, however, whether the Allfather cared at all.
The room shook and Bestion was thrown out of his chair and over the desk. He rolled across the floor, the pages of his journal fluttering around him, before coming to rest at the foot of the altar. A crack appeared in the chapel wall and through it Bestion could hear the churn of the angry sea. He closed his eyes and waited for the water to find him. But then he heard the song of the stone, and this time it wasn't a song of death.
"Bestion, Bestion!" It was Joseph, one of the Stone Seers. "The stone, Bestion! It's calling to something. Something is coming."
Maybe this was it. Maybe the Allfather had heard their prayers after all. Suddenly Bestion felt ashamed for ever doubting his god.
He followed Joseph and saw that something of the former brilliance of the stone had returned. The grey veins that had begun to marble its face were filling with a glow like the gentle fire of sunset.
"When did this begin?" Bestion said.
"Just a moment ago. The song suddenly changed. We believe that it is a call."
"To whom, the Allfather?"
"We don't think so."
"Then who?"
"Captain Tyron has spotted something approaching Morat from the east."
Bestion felt a chill grip him then as he remembered the maw that had risen from the sea to devour them. Joseph noticed his pallor change and placed his hand on Bestion's arm. "If Morat was in danger from this thing, I can assure you that the cadences of the song would be far different. Come on."
Bestion followed Joseph out of the temple and across to the next island in the archipelago.
The fragments of the broken city now orbited the power of the stone, each small island linked by a hastily constructed bridge. Bestion looked around him at what they had lost and wondered how much longer they could survive.
Six islands away from the house of the Stone Seers Captain Tyron stood on an outcrop, watching the approach of a strange mound that moved swiftly through the water towards them, sending up plumes of spray in its wake.
"I spotted it on the horizon not long ago," the Captain said as they approached. "And when I trained my glass on it, I saw what appeared to be a human riding on its back. Look."
The Captain handed his telescope to Bestion.
There was indeed something riding the mound of grey-green flesh, a figure with its arms outstretched and head raised. Bestion adjusted the magnification and the tattooed face that sprang at him out of the mist of spray was instantly recognisable.
"My God, it's Emuel. The strangers are returning! They must be the ones the ship's stone is responding to. Maybe they have brought Silus with them, maybe there is hope after all."
The
Llothriall
sat not far from where Bestion and the two men stood and as the strange mound neared Morat, he could have sworn he saw the ship shudder, the wood of its hull briefly flaring with lines of magical fire.
The mound slowed as it drew alongside the small island and a hole dilated open in its surface. Through this scrabbled Kelos, Father Maylan, Ignacio and Jacquinto. Bestion got Captain Tyron to lower a rope and soon the visitors were before them.
"Gentlemen, I had thought I'd never see you again," Bestion said, taking each of their hands in turn.
"And we had not reckoned on seeing Morat again," Kelos said. "I had thought it destroyed."
"It may as well have been, as you can see. Sadly, what little we have won't hold together for much longer. It is only through the stone that we have managed to save this much and there have been few survivors. How did you find us?"
"We followed the song." Emuel said. "We sought the
Llothriall
."
"Well you've found her and your vessel has certainly faired better than our city. Anyway, after your journey you must be hungry."
"Starving," Kelos said. "But time is not on our side. Silus is in great danger, as is the rest of our world."
"At least spare a moment to tell me your tale. Perhaps we can help?"
Kelos looked unsure, but at the urging of the rest of the crew he finally relented.
When they had finished their story, Morat finally began to fall apart.
Bestion and his guests only just managed to flee the chapel before it fell down around them and Jacquinto took a glancing blow to the head from a falling shard of masonry. The most appalling thing about the death of Morat was not the scale of the destruction or the sound of buildings tumbling into the sea, but the silence coming from the house of the Stone Seers.
As Bestion rushed into the building, not willing to believe that which he could no longer hear, Kelos raced after him.
"Bestion bring whoever you can find, we need to get out of here now."
The cradle that had supported the stone for millennia shattered, shards of rock skittering across the floor as dust filled the air. For a moment the stone remained where it was, gently rocking from side to side. Then it dropped through the floor and into the sea below, a huge plume of water erupting from the hole it left behind.
Bestion and Kelos raced from the building to find the crew standing outside, trying to decide on the best route back to the ship, aware that they had only moments left before the whole of Morat sank.
The many islands that made up the ruins of the city were now beginning to drift apart, ropes snapping as the bridges that had connected them were torn in two.
"For Gods sake what is wrong with you lot? Don't just stand there,
go
! Get to the
Llothriall
!" Kelos shouted.
Following the crew Kelos all but carried Bestion across the first of the bridges, the supporting ropes beginning to unravel even as they raced over the planks. At one point Ignacio's foot went through a rotting board, shards of wood gouging into his ankle. Emuel tore the smuggler free, supporting him across the remaining span. As the crew cleared the bridge the island they had left behind cracked into two huge pieces and rapidly sank.
Bestion stared at the place where the house of the Stone Seers had been and then started to turn as the wave thrown up by the sinking island rushed towards them.
The island on which they now stood was suddenly shoved forwards by the wave. One of the Moratian survivors who fled with them stumbled as he tried to clear the gap to the next island, only to fall between the two islands just as they clashed together. Bestion looked away as a geyser of blood fountained into the air, but he could still feel the warm rain on his skin as they made it to the next rock in the chain.
Bestion looked towards where the
Llothriall
was anchored and realised that they were rapidly running out of stepping stones. As they leapt over the gap between one chunk of rock and the next the sea was already beginning to lap at their heels. He could see the strange, mound-like vessel that had brought the crew to the island skirting the scene of the tumult, as though it was searching for a way in to help them. However the sinking islands were packed too tightly for it to reach them.
The next island they leapt to lay just below the surface but, with a lurch, it suddenly rose from the water. And then Bestion saw the next island rising also, and the next, creating a clear path of stepping-stones to the ship.
"What's happening?" he shouted to Kelos, but then he saw.
Emuel was singing.
The stone of the Allfather may have died but it was now the stone on the
Llothriall
that was forging them a path as Emuel reached out to it. Ahead of them the ship blazed with the power of the song. Bestion gestured to those remaining survivors who were close enough to follow as they made their dash towards safety.
Kelos and Father Maylan were first on deck and they hurried to get the ship ready for departure as Emuel continued to weave his spell. Bestion held back for the moment, helping any of those who had escaped the tumult leap onto the ship. Beside the crew there were pitifully few survivors. He counted only a dozen or so before the eunuch's song began to lose hold and Morat finally sank below the waves.
The
Llothriall
was borne up on a sudden swell that whipped it into a spin, those on deck reaching for the handrail as their feet went out from under them. Above them all Jacquinto and Ignacio barely managed to hold on to the rigging as they worked at the sails. But then, with a crack, the silks unfurled, throwing rainbow swirls of light across the deck as they caught the sun.
They rode the crest of the wave thrown up in the wake of the sinking city. Bestion looked back but could see nothing to mark the place where Morat had been. He finally found his legs, managing to stand as the ship stabilised beneath him. He left the rest of the crew and survivors behind him and moved to the prow of the
Llothriall
. There he looked up at the Allfather and, closing his eyes, he reached out in prayer. Yet this time he did not ask for forgiveness, or offer up thanks for his safety. Instead, he directed his anger at the azure sphere and offered up his rage to the god who had abandoned them.
Eventually the wave upon which the
Llothriall
rode lost its power and soon they were calmly negotiating the hills and troughs of the Twilight seas once more.
Emuel had sung the last verse and was now helping Father Maylan tend to the most severely injured of the Moratian survivors. Jacquinto and Ignacio were spending their time either up on deck, in the rigging or scanning the horizon for any signs of danger. Bestion, meanwhile, had found the darkest corner of the hold in which to lose himself; refusing offers of food, drink or friendship.
To starboard followed the Calma vessel that had brought Kelos and the crew to Morat. Kelos had yet to introduce the survivors to the aquatic humanoids, reasoning that now was not the best of times to reveal this strange new race to the Moratians. But time was something of a luxury and so, once enough of it had passed for the passengers to have at least begun to compose themselves, Kelos called a meeting.
He didn't think that the hollow-eyed survivors who stared at him from the edges of the cramped day room were ready for war, but that was precisely the reality they would now have to face up to. It didn't stop Kelos from feeling like an utter bastard, however, when several of the Moratians broke down and cried after he had explained the situation.
"If we allow the Chadassa to see their plans come to fruition then it will not just be Morat we'll have lost but the whole world," Kelos said. "I understand that now is not the time you want to be dragged into a conflict you did nothing to create, but if we lose Silus we lose all hope. The Land Walkers must not be allowed to march."
"The Allfather has abandoned us," Bestion said. "What does it matter if we die?"
"Look, it was the Chadassa who were truly responsible for the destruction of Morat," Jacquinto said. "Don't you want revenge for that?"
"And after we have taken our revenge what then?" said a thin woman. "Once we rescue this Silus, won't the Chadassa just come for us again?"
"If we stop the Land Walkers from being born, then the Chadassa won't be able to effectively attack Twilight," Kelos said. "Then, with the Calma's aid we will have our chance to regroup and put the Chadassa down for good."
"And then maybe once this has all blown over we can search for new land," Father Maylan said. "Help you to build a new Morat."
"So, you want to sail us into enemy territory, put our lives at risk," one of the few remaining Stone Seers said, "while you attempt to rescue a man most of us have never heard of, let alone met?"
"Believe me," Kelos said, "the
Llothriall
is one of the safest places you can be in that situation. This is no ordinary vessel."
"Yes, surely you have heard the song?" Emuel said.
The Moratians didn't look convinced, but Kelos didn't have time to string out the argument any further. Already a deadly new army could be gestating in the vast womb of the Chadassa Queen.
"In order to persuade you that our course of action is the correct one," Kelos said, "let me show you something of the
Llothriall's
abilities. Emuel, I'll need you in the stone room. The rest of you follow me."
The only one not to follow him onto deck was Bestion. Jacquinto and Ignacio offered to go and fetch him but Kelos told them to let him be for the moment.
The deck shuddered beneath them as Emuel began a new song. In a perfect circle, surrounding the
Llothriall
for about a mile, the sea suddenly became still, its surface now as smooth as a mirror.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jacquinto said as Kelos prepared himself. "I mean, have you actually tested whether the
Llothriall
really can sail underwater?"
"No, but have faith. Go, do your thing."
Jacquinto and Ignacio hammered free the heavy wood bolts that were threaded through the base of each mast. Kelos then called up a light breeze that lifted the sails and furled them tightly around each one. He then brought his hands up sharply, like a conductor calling for more volume, before bringing them down just as suddenly. As soon as he did this, the three great masts dropped, telescoping into themselves with a soft hiss, until they were flush with the deck.
Behind Kelos, the men and women watching him drew closer to one another as they found themselves standing on a vast ship without sails. The sky all of a sudden seemed that much wider and deeper above them.