"I'm sorry, but there's nowhere you can run to," Seras said.
"That's not true," Bestion said.
"Morat is gone, Bestion," said Kelos.
"Not Morat. The Isle of the Allfather."
"Do you even know how to get there? We have no charts for this area," Dunsany said.
"We don't need charts. We simply follow the call of the Allfather." Bestion raised a finger to Kerberos.
Spalding had had enough and he pushed his face into Bestion's before spitting his venom: "The only place that your blasphemies are going to lead us is the bottom of the sea."
"Which is exactly where you'll be going if you don't keep a lid on those convictions of yours," Dunsany said, steering the acolyte into the capable and firm hands of Jacquinto and Ignacio.
"Bestion, no offence, but how exactly do you expect us to follow this call?" Kelos said. "I hate to say it, but I can't hear it and I'm not sure that anybody else on board can either."
"There is somebody here who heeds the call quite clearly," Bestion said. "In fact, I'm almost certain that he has been hearing it all along."
"Is it... is it me?" Emuel said, stepping forwards. "Ever since I was taught to re-discover the song I have felt... something."
"No Emuel. The one who hears the call is the one who brought us all here."
Seras understood. "Silus."
"What is he talking about?" Katya said. "Is this what has been leading you away from me, Silus?"
Silus chose not to answer, instead he turned to Bestion. "It's Kerberos, isn't it?"
"Ever since I led you in communion with the Allfather I have sensed your unique bond with Him," Bestion said. "You still hear Him, don't you?"
"Yes."
"Guide us to the Isle of the Allfather, Silus. If the Chadassa mean to fight us with their god, then we shall simply have to call on our own."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Silus heard the island before he saw it.
The music rose and fell with the warm breeze that moved across the deck, sounding as though it were being played on a thousand discordant pipes.
Above him, Kerberos sat so large in the sky that the rim of the great disk touched the horizon. If he were to step from the
Llothriall
, Silus could almost believe that he would fall straight towards those endless azure clouds.
"How much longer?" Kelos said. "At this rate the Chadassa are going to overtake us before we even reach the island."
"We're almost there, listen."
"According to Bestion you are the only one who can hear the call."
"No, not the call. The music. Can't you hear it?"
For a moment the only sound was the crack of the sails and the creak of rope, but when the wind strengthened the ethereal piping surrounded them.
"What on earth is it?" Kelos said.
"I think that it's the Isle of the Allfather."
A low dark shape could now be seen on the horizon, crowned with what looked like a host of crooked towers. As they rapidly closed the distance to the shore, the music grew in volume.
There was the thud of feet on the deck and Silus and Kelos turned to see Bestion racing towards them. "It's the Isle isn't it? I heard the music."
More people were coming up from below now, drawn by the strange melody.
Once they were close enough to drop anchor, Silus could see that what he had taken to be towers were in fact irregular pinnacles of stone rising from the bedrock of the island. These structures were not manmade; rather they appeared to have been sculpted by the wind which fluted through the many holes in the rock, producing the weird cacophony.
"Jacquinto, Ignacio - prepare the launches," Kelos said. "The rest of you, prepare to disembark."
Silus didn't wait for the boats; instead he dived over the side and into the blood-warm water.
The sand here was so white and the water such a pure sapphire blue that he was reminded of the paradise of the Sarcre Islands. However, it wasn't only the sea that reminded him of Sarcre, for as Silus surfaced and began to wade towards shore, a low incessant buzzing filled his head.
Ahead of him, the dazzling sands suddenly ended in a line of dark rock and there stood the monoliths, marching away along the coast as far as the eye could see. They were half as tall as a man and encrusted in lichens and salt. On their surface were etched runes.
Silus tried to fight against the nausea that seemed to emanate from the stones, but a sudden dizzy spell put him on his knees. As the darkness crowded his vision, he only vaguely registered that someone was standing beside him.
"They're the same as the stones on Maladrak's Cauldron," Kelos said.
"That... that's nice," Silus managed. "Just help me get past the bloody things."
He felt a hand under each armpit and then he was being carried forwards. As he drew level with the stones there was a second of intense pain before he blacked out.
When he came to he was lying on the ground and the sun was just beginning to edge into Kerberos's shadow.
"Well that is good news," he heard Kelos say.
"What is?" Silus said, getting to his elbows.
"The monoliths. They'll make the island a lot easier to defend against the Chadassa."
"More importantly," Bestion said, offering Silus a hand up. "They'll buy us time as we call on the Allfather."
Once the last of the
Llothriall's
passengers had reached the shore, Dunsany set about forming them into groups, which he then sent to scout out the island. It didn't take long for them to return, as they discovered that the island wasn't much bigger than the smallest of those in the Sarcre archipelago. The monoliths surrounded the Isle on all sides - even topping the sheer cliffs on the southern edge - and everywhere were the twisted stone spires, channelling the wind into the ethereal music that they had first heard on the ship.
In all, Silus considered, there wasn't a lot of land to defend, but then there weren't that many of them to defend it.
As Dunsany set about allocating tasks and forming up their defences, Bestion led Silus and Katya to the temple.
The low round building stood in a grove of trees whose perfume was almost as powerful as the incense sticks Bestion lit once they entered the cool interior. An anteroom opened into the main chamber where a bridge crossed to the island that sat in the centre of a wide, shallow pool. There, flanked by metal censers, stood a simple stone altar. Above them a wide circular hole in the roof let in the light of Kerberos, the azure planet entirely filling the aperture.
As soon as Silus stepped up to the altar silence fell on the temple. Not even the music of the wind reached them. He noticed that Bestion was looking at him with a kind of awed reverence. For a moment he thought that the priest was about to sink to his knees, but when he turned his full gaze on him, Bestion was frozen where he stood.
"What's happened to your eyes, Silus?" Katya said.
"What do you mean?"
"Truly He has touched you," Bestion said. "Truly you are His avatar on our world."
"What are you talking about? Katya, what's going on?"
But neither of them would answer him, so Silus knelt down by the water and looked at his reflection.
The light of Kerberos streamed from his eyes.
"You must be prepared to come into His presence," Bestion said. "His call has drawn you here and His call will draw you into His arms. Are you ready?"
"I didn't want this," Silus said. "Katya, you have to believe that I didn't want this."
"It is not for us to ask what we want, but what He wants." Bestion said.
"I want my son back and I want to go home with my wife. I just want this all to end now."
"And it will Silus. When you call on the Allfather."
"Katya help me." Silus reached out and she took his hand, though a long time seemed to pass before she was willing to look at him. "I love you," he told her. "Believe that."
"I believe."
"Silus are you ready?" Bestion said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"For the gods' sake man, give me a moment!" Then he turned back to his wife. "Katya I love you and I can't tell you how sorry I am for drawing you into this."
"It's not your fault Silus, you're just different...
chosen
, I suppose. Just promise that you'll come back to me."
"I promise."
Beneath the gaze of Kerberos Silus took her into his arms, and this time Katya looked deep into his eyes.
In preparation for the coming battle Dunsany moved the
Llothriall
into the shelter of a shallow cave on the southern side of the island. The last thing he wanted was for it to be destroyed, leaving them with no way of escape. Then, he removed the gem that sat at the heart of the ship. Kelos had asked him to do this, saying that he and Emuel could channel the power of the stone for use in the defence of the island. It could also, the mage said, be used as a weapon if it came to it. Next, Dunsany distributed weapons from the armoury. He knew that most of his crew were handy enough with a sword - with the exception of Emuel - but he wasn't too sure about the Moratians or the Final Faith fanatics. Thankfully, the latter saved him the worry of what to do with them by taking to their ships and sitting not far from shore. Kelos's magic had ensured that the three remaining Faith vessels had reached the island intact, but his protection wouldn't be required for much longer. The disciples of the Faith planned to detonate their explosives at the first appearance of the Chadassa, taking down any in their path. It seemed that whatever happened they were determined to give their lives, and Dunsany had neither the energy nor the inclination to argue with them.
At least they should buy them some time, and time was very much what their success hinged on here. Now that they didn't have the support of the Calma they had little hope of defeating the Chadassa on their own. Instead they would have to rely on Silus successfully persuading whatever power resided in Kerberos to intervene. If he were interrupted before he could do this then their slim hope would turn into no hope at all. In truth, Dunsany thought that they were already doomed, but both Bestion and Kelos had persuaded him that this was the only path open to them.
"Silus has a unique relationship with the Allfather that I have never before seen, even in the most devout of our priests." Bestion had said. "If anybody can persuade the Allfather to intervene then it is he."
"Bestion may well be right, Dunsany," Kelos had argued. "Who knows what power Kerberos holds? Besides, the Chadassa are not just going to withdraw now that we have stymied their plans. They will want revenge."
"I have seen the wrath of the Lord of All with my own eyes," Spalding spoke up. "In the World's Ridge Mountains a great bolt of energy did fall from Kerberos and destroy the heathens and their vile den of iniquity."
There wasn't really anything Dunsany could say to that, and so here they stood waiting to take on an army from the sea.
Dunsany looked up at Kerberos. "Don't you dare fail us, you bastard," he said.
Silus lay back on the altar and gazed into the depths of Kerberos. The dark moon that plagued the planet's orbit clung to its face like a black canker. He could feel the cloak of negative energy it had wrapped around its host but, through it, Silus could also hear Kerberos's call. It was the same call that had plagued his dreams from the beginning, drawing him away from all that was safe and familiar and into a host of mysteries he still didn't fully comprehend.
The censers were lit and the smoke rose to the ceiling before settling over him in a choking shroud. The first few breaths were the hardest, but when Silus felt his body begin to lose its hold he relaxed.
He looked up at Katya, as though seeking her permission to leave. She nodded once and Silus let go.
Twilight dwindled swiftly below him as his spirit soared away from the temple, the words of Bestion's chanting following him.
Before he could fall into the lightning kissed depths of Kerberos, however, he was brought to a sudden halt, hanging before the dark moon.
He knew that this entity was the same as that which called itself the Great Ocean; the same being who had taken Zac from him, pouring its taint into the infant's soul. Silus stared into its implacable face, the pure black of its surface unrelieved by any flaw. It was like staring into nothingness itself and that, Silus realised, was exactly what the Great Ocean was. Nothing.
It no longer had any hold on him, and so he tumbled away from it and into Kerberos's arms.
Maybe the Chadassa aren't coming for us after all
, Dunsany thought
, maybe it's over already
.
They had been waiting so long for something to happen that the gentle and repetitive sound of the surf breaking on the shore was beginning to lull him to sleep.
When the Faith ships exploded he dropped his sword.
The light from the blast left red ghosts flitting across his vision and he had to blink several times before he could see to where the ships had been.
A wave raced towards them, kicked up by the blast, crashing against the monoliths and soaking those who stood near the stones. Dunsany looked for Chadassa bodies in the wash but the only thing floating there was a human hand. On the index finger was a ring wrought in the shape of the symbol of the Final Faith.
Dunsany was beginning to wonder what had prompted the ships to detonate when something rose from the sea.
The giant ball of black spikes looked not unlike a sea urchin. It drifted towards the shore before coming to rest, bobbing on the swell. Dunsany had half a mind that this thing wasn't anything to do with the Chadassa at all, but rather was some benign seabed denizen which had been uprooted by the blast.
With a sound like a sneeze, a spike flew from the sphere. It pierced the chest of one of the Moratians standing further along the beach and exploded from his back, pinning him to the ground. He stood for a moment - knees slightly bent, back arched, gasping for breath - before sinking down the length of the spike, his blood a vivid scarlet on the white sands.