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.
"Take cover!" Dunsany shouted as more spikes flew towards them.
Using the power of the stone from the Llothriall and Emuel's song, Kelos threw up a magical shield. However, it didn't encompass everybody and more spikes found their mark.
A Moratian woman ducked behind one of the stone spires, only for a spike to pierce both the rock and her. Another man was pinned to his friend as he turned to run; the spike entering the back of his head and continuing through his friend's right eye.
The barrage lasted no more than ten seconds and when it was over they had lost half their army and the survivors stood in a forest of shivering black quills.
"What the hell was that?" Jacquinto said.
"I suggest we fall back," Kelos said, as the sea began to churn.
"The monoliths should hold off the Chadassa," Dunsany said as he followed them in-land.
"Yes, but I don't know for how long and I don't want to be standing anywhere near the stones when they go."
"So what are we going to do?" Jacquinto said. "We can't just fight them all."
"We have to hope that Silus will come through for us," Kelos said. "Otherwise, gentlemen, it has been a pleasure sailing with you and I hope to see you in the next life."
There was nothing but clouds.
The first time that Silus had communed with Kerberos - in the temple on Morat - he had sensed something like a vast consciousness, a planet-sized intelligence that may well have been the planet itself.
Now there was only the storm.
As he fell through the lightning and the wind he called out to his ancestors, whose spirits surely resided here, but there was no response. In fact, it felt to Silus as though he truly were the only living thing here.
Then what had been calling to him?
"What are you?" Silus shouted.
"What are you?"
Just an echo, Silus thought. Though hadn't those last few words seemed to overlap his own?
"What are you?"
"... you... you... you... you..."
The single word echoed around him and kept on echoing, as though it had become trapped within the clouds.
This was pointless. Bestion was mistaken. There was no benevolent and just god here.
Silus began to search for the thread that would lead back to his body.
"... you... you... you... you..."
"Shut up! Bestion, help me!"
"... you... you... you... you...."
The thread wasn't there, but then something about the word cut through his panic and made him stop and think.
You.
You.
You.
There was something here. He was here. Silus had been looking in the wrong place. Even before the ritual had been completed - even before he had left his body - Kerberos had entered into him.
Silus reached out and the lightning arced around him in a nimbus of power that lit up the clouds for miles around. He reached even further and now he could hear the roar of Kerberos itself as it turned in the void, could feel the immense energies that held it together.
At the heart of the storm, at the centre of it all, Silus burned.
"... you... you... you... you..."
"Yes," Silus said, "me."
Kelos watched the others nervously watching the shore as they took up their fallback positions.
The blue fire burst from the monoliths and a dome of shimmering energy closed around the island. Kelos felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as, at his feet, the stone from the Llothriall began to pulse in sympathy with the magic. Beside him Emuel was singing, the tattoos that covered his body dancing to the strange rhythms he weaved. Along the line, the rest of the crew stood with their weapons readied. Only a handful of the Moratian refugees stood with them, the rest having fallen in the attack by the urchin thing. Kelos was impressed that the survivors had chosen to fight on, even as the blood of their comrades sank into the blazing sands.
There was still no sign of the Chadassa themselves, though they must have been close else the monoliths' power would have remained dormant.
The sea began to withdraw then, as though the tide were going out, though no tide that Kelos had seen had ever retreated so rapidly. Already the sea was five hundred metres from where they stood on the beach, and thousands of dying fish lay flopping in the wet sand while crabs raced to keep up with the dwindling tide. Now seaweed draped rocks were uncovered, some the size of houses, and among them Kelos could see the wreck of an ancient ship.
Beyond that the water fell away even more swiftly, revealing the Chadassa army.
There were thousands of them and, at their head stood the Great Ocean, clothed in the ruins of Snil's flesh. Zac still hung from the Chadassa's torso, giggling as the dark god's energy coursed through him. Bringing up the rear, like a line of siege engines, was a phalanx of monstrous crustaceans.
"Gods, they're not leaving anything to chance are they?"
Indeed, Kelos considered, why did the Chadassa feel the need to put such a mighty force up against just a handful of humans?
Then, even in the face of such overwhelming odds, Kelos felt hope renewed. Because, if the Chadassa were leaving nothing to chance that meant the Great Ocean knew what Silus was doing at the temple, and feared that he would succeed.
When he saw the Great Ocean give the signal to advance, Kelos reached for the threads of elemental power before dropping to his knees and burying his hands in the sand. Channelling a thread of energy from the Lothriall's stone he spoke the words of an elven spell. It had originally been created to protect a coastal town against raiders. Whether or not it had been successful Kelos didn't know, as he'd never found the town on any ancient map of Twilight. That was the thing with practicing Old Race magic, he considered. Sometimes you only had a vague idea of the results you were going to get.
The spell cast, he looked up. The Chadassa hoard were even closer. Kelos spoke the last word of the spell again, borrowing yet more power from the stone, but nothing seemed to happen.
But then, with a dull thud, the sand beneath the first wave of the Chadassa army turned to liquid and they were quickly sucked under. Kelos estimated that he had taken down at least three hundred of the creatures.
A cheer went up from the line of human defenders, but they were far from out of the woods. Kelos's magic would only stretch so far, and once the power of the monoliths was breached they had only a dozen or so swords against thousands of wicked talons.
In a matter of seconds the Chadassa regrouped and the next wave came for them, this time with the Great Ocean itself at its head. The line of gigantic crustaceans launched rocks at the island as they followed. For one brief moment Kelos managed to pull the fallen missiles into the form of a rock elemental, which ground several Chadassa into paste before a counter spell from the Great Ocean took it down.
Above them, light strobed across the surface of Kerberos and it looked to Kelos as though the planet were beginning to turn more swiftly.
The magical barrier that protected the island was now screaming with the force of the Chadassa against it and Kelos could see several of their mages working to undo the power of the stones.
He remembered how swiftly the stones on Maladrak's Cauldron had fallen. On the Isle of the Allfather they fell in less than half the time.
Silus could no longer tell which part of him was Kerberos and which was his own spiritual essence. Even though he had no body, he felt each flash of lightning, each rumble of thunder as a deeply physical sensation.
When he looked down at the blue-green globe that turned below him a lance of energy erupted from his mass and struck the planet. He felt the deaths of some of the Chadassa as the bolt hit and a shockwave rippled through the dark moon in his orbit. Silus's laughter raced through the clouds as Kerberos began to turn faster and faster. He reeled drunkenly for a while, but he was careful lest he turn too fast and dissipate himself into space.
Silus slowed down, turned his face away from Twilight and stared into the star flecked void.
Wouldn't it be something, he considered, to just leave Kerberos behind? To send his spirit out as far as it would go. Perhaps he would find a new world more beautiful and less troubled than his own. He was almost tempted to let go, but as he turned to look back at Twilight he could feel the needs and fears of the people there, and he could feel the taint of the Chadassa that lay itself across all creation.
Silus gathered the storm within himself. For the first time in millennia Kerberos was perfectly still. He enjoyed the peace for a time as the turbulent energies built within him.
Then, Silus opened his eyes, reached down and touched Twilight.
They began to run, even before the first of the monoliths exploded.
Father Maylan was the fastest - his robes flying out behind him as he sprinted away from the shore - but then he was the least encumbered of them, carrying, as he did, only a lightweight dagger. Kelos's progress was rather less swift, as he had the stone from the Llothriall in his arms. There was no question of leaving it behind. Without it, their ship would be next to useless. He almost regretted asking Dunsany to remove it now.
The last to join the retreat towards the temple were Jacquinto and Ignacio. Ignacio even made a stand for a short time, side by side with one of the Moratians, throwing rocks at the swarms of Chadassa racing towards them. However, when a considerably larger stone than the ones they were wielding flattened the man from Morat, Ignacio decided to run.
"Emuel, try to keep up," Dunsany shouted at the eunuch, who was beginning to lag behind. Even as he ran Emuel was singing, though the song did little to protect him as a spear glanced off his shin. He stumbled and fell, but before the Chadassa could reach him, one of the Moratians threw himself in front of the eunuch. Emuel regained his feet and, as he fled, he tried to block out the sound of his rescuer being eviscerated.
Dunsany looked back to see that the Chadassa were gaining on them. The sound coming from the throat of the Great Ocean as it led the charge was like nothing he had ever heard. The long, ululating wail seemed to speak of the darkness of space, the emptiness of the void and the oblivion it would bring to their world.
Ahead of him, Dunsany could see the grove where the temple stood and from within he could just make out the sound of Bestion's chanting.
"Get inside," he shouted to his companions. "We may be able to barricade the entrance."
"That's a terrible idea and you know it," Jacquinto said. "Face it, we're done for."
"This is not a time for arguments," Kelos said, gesturing with his hands. Behind him the stone spires began to explode, showering the Chadassa with fragments of burning rock. However, it did little to slow their advance. "Silus will come through for us, you'll see."
"Well I have yet to see any evidence of his - "
Jacquinto fell silent. For a moment Dunsany thought it was because he had been struck down, but then he turned and noticed what had made the smuggler gaze in awe-struck silence.
The Chadassa had come to a halt, but clearly not at the Great Ocean's command. The god paced up and down the ranks, berating its soldiers. Though it killed several as a lesson to the others, none of the Chadassa even moved to acknowledge the deaths.
"Is this it?" Kelos said.
The Chadassa sank slowly to their knees, settling so gently on the sand that they didn't make a sound. Then, from every eye socket and from every mouth streamed the light of Kerberos as the Chadassa began to sing.
The sound was deafening but glorious.
"My God," Emuel said, "it's the song." Then he turned to the temple and shouted: "Bestion, it's the song."
The strong, high note washed over them all for a second more before falling in pitch and then ceasing altogether.
The Chadassa remained where they were, but now smoke rose from their empty eye-sockets and their open mouths. Gulls descended on the corpses, drawn by the smell of cooking flesh.
The Great Ocean howled at the death of its children, before turning its fury on the humans in its midst.
Far from the Isle of the Allfather, on the coast of Turnitia, the Land Walkers burst from the sea only to be faced with a vast army wearing the crossed circle of the Final Faith.
Though the army before them was formidable, the Land Walkers raised their voices and charged. They had advanced no more than halfway up the beach, however, when a pure, holy light blazed from their eyes and mouths and they dropped dead.
"Well done Anointed Lord," said one of the knights, turning to Katherine Makennon. "Truly such abominations are as like wheat to the scythe before your divine presence."
"Thank you Alonkin," Katherine Makennon said, "but, really, it was nothing."
The Great Ocean's howl was that of a parent bereaved, but Jacquinto didn't give the creature time for its sorrow as he swung his sword. The blade was caught before it could connect and the steel shattered in the creature's grip.
Ignacio, seeing the danger his comrade was in, followed with his own attack. This time the weapon connected, but when the smuggler drew back to strike again, the creature grabbed his skull.
Jacquinto was showered with his brother's blood as the Great Ocean brought its hands together, but he still managed to scramble out of the way when the creature turned its attention on him.
Kelos stepped into the monster's path and raised the stone from the Llothriall, speaking words from a long dead tongue as he channelled the power of the gem.
The Great Ocean stood its ground against the sudden gale that howled around it, before taking the stone from the mage's hands and turning it into dust.
Kelos stared in numb horror as hope blew away on the wind. Emuel was shouting something at him, but, though he could see the eunuch's lips moving, he couldn't hear his words.
The pitch black eyes of Zac looked up at him from where was he was fused to the monster's breast. "Give Silus to me now and your deaths will be painless," said the Great Ocean through the infant's mouth. "Otherwise, your agony will be ten times worse than this."
The Great Ocean strode towards Father Maylan, brushing aside a Moratian as he attempted to defend him. The creature reached towards the priest and the half-born foetuses scrabbled out of the ruins of its body, to swarm over him. Father Maylan screamed as the tiny creatures burrowed into his flesh. He tried to pull them away but they were too slippery and soon they were moving under his skin.
Kelos looked away as the aborted Chadassa fed. Emuel was tugging on his sleeve now and, this time, he could hear what the eunuch was saying.
"Run."
Silus felt the deaths of his friends as the Great Ocean took their lives and the storm gave voice to his sorrow. The Chadassa may have been destroyed but the father remained, the shadow of the black moon moving across Kerberos testament to this fact.
He searched for the sound of Bestion's chanting and when he found it the words seemed less sure of themselves, as though they were being spoken under duress. However, with them Silus regained the thread that would lead him back to his body.
But he didn't follow it home just yet.
Instead he left Kerberos and moved across the surface of the dark moon. Below him a ripple passed through the orb as it sensed his presence. This thing was as much his true father as it was the Chadassa's. When it reached out to him he didn't fight its embrace, even though he was repulsed.
Though the Chadassa had been everything he didn't want to be, Silus gave up a part of himself to their god.
The Great Ocean poured into him and when he felt himself beginning to drown, he fell back towards Twilight, carrying its tainted waters within him.
Dunsany and Jacquinto held the main entrance for a time but soon the Great Ocean had them backed into the temple.
Parrying a swipe of its claws Dunsany tried to push it into the pool in the main chamber, but it lashed out with its other arm, scoring a series of deep slashes into his chest. When the blood began to flow Dunsany decided to retreat, though there was nowhere to retreat to. Behind him Silus lay prone on the altar while Bestion chanted over him, lost in his devotions. Katya stood beside them and she had been the only one to look up as they barrelled into the temple, a howl of grief erupting from her when she saw what had happened to Zac.
"He is the Great Ocean," the child said, giggling. "He is the Great Ocean. Praise him."
"Katya, get out of here." Dunsany shouted, before bringing his sword down in a wide arc. The blow connected with a hollow sound before the sword was swept from his grip. The weapon skittered across the smooth marble floor, coming to rest at Katya's feet.
Dunsany closed his eyes as the god pressed forward, waiting for the killing blow, but the Great Ocean paid him no heed and instead walked towards where Silus lay.
The remaining members of the crew looked on helplessly as the monster approached. Kelos reached out to Katya as he saw what she was about to do, but it was too late.
She rounded the altar and charged the Great Ocean, Dunsany's blade held before her. The creature watched her come with a mild disinterest and didn't even cry out as the sword sank into its chest to the hilt. Katya kept her grip on the pommel and pushed until she was face to face with the creature.
The dead white eyes of the ruined Chadassa body writhed with maggots. Only a small trickle of blood covered Katya's hand where she held the sword. There was a tug on her chest and she looked down to where Zac was fused to the creature. She had thought her son dead, but somehow this was worse.
A wide smile split the infant's face as it looked up at her, but it wasn't a smile of recognition. It was a smile of malice, a smile that said it would bring death to them all.
Zac's small hand pushed her gently back, until she was bent over the altar with Silus beneath her. Foul smelling liquid gushed from the Chadassa's corrupt body to cover her.
"He is the Great Ocean. His time is now," said the voice coming from her son and, beneath her, Silus's body stirred. "He is the Great Ocean. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him."
The chanting was so loud it overrode Bestion's own words. Katya looked up at the priest, pleading with him to break out of his prayerful meditations, but he did not stir, even with the presence of something so foul in their midst.
Then another voice joined with the Great Ocean's as Silus sat up on the altar.
"I am the Great Ocean."
Katya turned and when she saw the darkness that filled her husband's pupils she backed away in horror.
"Yes, that's right Silus," the Great Ocean said. "That's right, join with me."
"I am the Great Ocean."
The darkness streaming from his eyes, Silus reached out. His hands went to Zac and held him. There was a deep rumble of thunder and, above them, a sheet of blinding light suddenly washed across Kerberos. It was almost as though the planet had blinked.
As the echoes of the thunder died away the sound of a child crying filled the temple. Katya looked over at her son to see a pure azure light pouring from his pupils. The flesh that had bound him to the body of the monster melted away and Silus lifted him free from the hideous caul.
"Silus, what are you doing?" said the Great Ocean.
Silus ignored it and placed his son in Katya's hands. As he did so the light went out of Zac's eyes, to be replaced by the deep blue gaze she had first fallen in love with. This time when the child cried, it was with an entirely human voice.
"Silus, you are my son. We are the Great Ocean," The dark god said, doubt now tingeing its voice.
"No, you are the Great Ocean, I am something else. We were both born of Kerberos, yet you choose to seed this place with your own taint. A taint that I carry within me only to deliver back to you a thousand-fold."
Silus gripped the monster's skull and let the dark water of the Great Ocean pour back out of him. With it, though, came an energy more ancient, more powerful - that of Kerberos itself.
Silus maintained his grip as the creature dropped to its knees and he didn't let go even when it began to burn. Soon there were only ashes on the temple floor where the Great Ocean had stood.
Bestion's chanting came to an end and he opened his eyes.
"What happened? I heard the voice of the Allfather."
But Silus didn't say anything. Instead he went to Katya and Zac, knelt and put his arms around them.
Listening to his son cry, Silus thought that it was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard.
Soon the Isle of the Allfather was awash with great buzzing clouds of flies as the Chadassa's bodies rotted. A nauseating stench washed over the island and made it difficult to venture anywhere other than the temple. When the supplies on the Llothriall ran low it was clear it was time to leave.
"Where are we going to go without the power of the stone?" Silus said. "The waters may be calm around the isle, but out there are currents that will rip apart the ship in seconds."
It seemed to him that they had escaped one disaster only to head into the jaws of another.
"There are a chain of smaller islands not far from here," Bestion said. "We could head over there."
"And what then?"
"I hadn't thought much further than that if I'm honest."
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Dunsany said. "The ship can hold her own for a while I'm sure. We don't need magic all the time after all." Kelos looked up at him and smiled. "Besides, if it gets too rough on board Silus can always swim alongside. Maybe he could call the creatures of the deep to our aid."
So, with the sales billowing they left the Isle of the Allfather behind. As they turned hard to starboard the sun was just coming out of Kerberos's shadow. There was nothing to mar the azure sphere now, the Great Ocean had vanished.
Silus held Katya tight as the shore moved out of sight over the horizon. In her arms Zac stirred sleepily. Silus wondered how much Zac had inherited from his father and, more, he wondered how much his time in the grip of the dark god would have tainted him.
Silus swore that as his son grew up, he would teach him to fight.
THE END