The Souls of the Ocean (Book Two in The Tamarack Series)

by Ross Turner

  But then his response, if indeed it was his own response, surprised him deeply, even as he formed the words clearly and carefully in his mind, ignoring the fear and the dread he felt entirely.

  ‘If that’s what it takes to rid this world of your evil, then that’s the price we shall pay.’ Rose’s silent agreement set Cole’s statement as if in stone, and it seemed that the voices were somewhat taken aback.

  Finally they responded.

  ‘So be it.’ They said. ‘In that case, we will break you.’

  ‘You can try.’ Cole spat his thoughts back, his teeth clenched. The voices only laughed.

  ‘Oh not to worry Colvan, we will. Your mother, your father, your demon; they will all perish, and as you watch them die, you will be ruined.’

  Cole’s anger was building now, and there was little he could do to stop it. The drifting clouds overhead that had only a moment ago seemed harmless, were slowly morphing and merging together into a solid black mass: a single impenetrable blockade.

  ‘Not if I’m still breathing.’ Cole warned with deadly intention. The voices laughed again.

  ‘We are sure you will resist.’ They said. ‘But how can you possibly fare against us, knowing that everyone you have ever known, everyone you have ever cared about, is being tortured, mutilated, massacred? All because you struggle to defy us.’

  Cole had no answer, for these thought had not crossed his mind.

  ‘Oh yes Colvan. And we shall begin immediately, with dear, sweet, blind, Rosynn.’

  “NO!” Cole suddenly screamed, discarding that fact that the conversation had not been verbal. “I WON’T LET YOU!” His voice echoed across the dark plains, stretching far out into every distance for miles around, easily reaching his parents, who immediately rushed to find him.

  “COLE!?” Isabel screamed. “WHERE ARE YOU!?” But in the darkness it was impossible to see.

  Then, without even needing to cast out a searching thought, Cole sensed the demons leaving the ocean, infecting each island simultaneously. The anger and hatred boiling within him could be contained no longer. He could not let his friends suffer for his actions, but even as he battled with his dilemma, he knew he had no other option.

  How could he help them?

  The answer was painfully obvious.

  He couldn’t.

  “Cole!?” Isabel called again, spying the outline of her son through the darkness. “Is that you!?” She rushed towards him, her heart racing, hoping that he was ok, but she was thrown back suddenly by gale-force winds. She crashed into Zanriath and they were both sent sprawling to the floor, the wind whipping up suddenly all around them in vicious cycles.

  Looking up, struggling even to do that against the force of the raging elements, Isabel felt the rage emanating from her son, the frustration that had built coming to a head.

  “COLE!” She called again, more helplessly this time. “COLE NO!”

  But he could not hear her. The clouds swarming above crashed together and rolled over each other dramatically until eventually the pressure became too great to hold.

  A great bolt of lightning cascaded down to the ground, striking it with immense heat and fury, only a few metres from where Cole stood, followed ominously by the almighty roar of thunder from above. The storm clouds finally ruptured and the rains that would have taken days to fall otherwise were emptied in their entirety upon the open plains of Hinaktor.

  The storm shrieked and bellowed as the winds grew stronger and the thunder and lightning became evermore powerful and frequent. Within minutes the grounds were saturated, but the driving rain continued to fall, ceaseless in its attack.

  Isabel and Zanriath finally forced their way forward to their son and his demon, having to crawl most of the way through the sudden torrents of water and mud. At the centre of the storm, somehow they finally reached him, only to find that the anger Isabel had felt was slowly ebbing away, and with it the storm was calming, though it did not relent wholly.

  “Cole! COLE!” Isabel screamed over the noise of the wind and the rain and the thunder. A bolt of lightning crashed into the ground only feet behind her, but she did not care, she would not budge, determined. She gritted her teeth. “Cole stop it!” She urged. “Calm down! You have to calm down!”

  It seemed at first that her pleas had been wasted, but after a few moments, the winds did indeed drop, and Cole’s breathing slowly deepened.

  Eventually the rains slowed also, and the storm began to finally pass. But then, in only a matter of moments, the temperature dropped dramatically, and chills ran up and down Isabel’s spine vigorously, only intensified by her sodden clothing. The halting rain ceased and was replaced by gently drifting snowflakes, floating effortlessly down to cover the already soaking ground.

  Cole opened his eyes and laid his sight first of all upon his mother’s concerned face. The deep-rooted sorrow she saw in her son’s eyes in that moment was something that would haunt Isabel until the end of her days, even more so than all of her own hardships combined.

  The hopeless loss she saw, coupled with the self-loathing regret of blame and failure, was almost too much for her to bear. She choked for a moment before pulling her tearful son close to her in an almost crushing embrace, yet again relieved for not having lost him.

  Her husband looked on despairingly, and Rose, his young son’s demon and closest friend, shared in Cole’s terrible pain.

  All around them the snow continued to fall, and would likely not let up anytime soon. The chill air was biting and they were all drenched through, but none of that mattered for now, for Cole had learned a terrible and haunting truth. And this was a truth that was infinitely worse than anything he could possibly suffer alone.

  But indeed, he would not suffer alone, for it appeared that it would be the ones he loved that would suffer in his place. The mere thought of such a heartless act cut deeply at his already wounded heart.

  How could he possibly endure such a thing?

  He did not know.

  So, for now at least, he clung to his mother, and his Rose was there also, supporting him whenever his will threatened to fail. He simply could not let the lost souls claim his family. At least he could protect them - but what of Rosynn? It seemed there was nothing he could do to save her.

  He sighed deeply.

  And as he did so, all around him and his family, the cold ebbed in, joining with the darkness in torturous harmony.

  It appeared then that, by means of either nature of fate, the dark cold of winter was finally upon them.

  33

  The snowfall did not relent. Rose battled through the whiteout carrying her three sombre friends, forcing her way further and further south through the bitter and driving winds.

  The pain her Cole felt was something that only Rose completely understood, partly because of their intimate connection, and partly due to her kinship to Thorn. He was, in essence, her family, as were the others demons, though not as closely related. And yet, it seemed the task placed upon her and Cole would force her to harm her own kind. She sighed, not resentfully, but sorrowfully, as she charged tirelessly through the rapidly piling snowdrifts.

  Isabel and Zanriath however, were struggling to understand Cole’s ever-evolving turmoil, as they had not the benefit of such insight, and their son had not spoken since he had created the storm. They had no way of knowing that, even as Isabel sensed the demonic numbers rising and their ranks swelling and spilling and surging from the ocean and onto the four islands, that there were certain individuals they were specifically targeting first.

  All they could do was press on and keep fighting their cause. Both Cole and Rose knew this was their only option, and so they pushed hard through the hostile elements, not once yielding.

  As the day brightened, though there was little light since the overcast sky and falling snow had blanketed the island almost entirely, visibility improved, even if only slightly.

  It was when Rose came to a sudden ploughing halt amidst a thick bank
of snow that Isabel knew something was wrong. Cole dismounted silently and his parents followed his lead cautiously. He and Rose stared piercingly into the grey before them for some time before Isabel and Zanriath began to make out the dark figures approaching ahead.

  Carefully, so as not to be detected, Isabel sent out a probing thought into the haze. Cole turned his head and gave his mother a knowing look as she opened her eyes. She nodded silently in response and looked to her husband warningly.

  Cole and Rose sidled slowly to the left, keeping as low as they could in the bank of freezing cold snow, chilled to the bone. Isabel stayed put, and Zanriath crept cautiously out to the right hand side, crouching low also.

  The demons were drawing closer now. There were five of them: one on two legs and the rest on four, skulking through the falling snow. Cole had sensed their wandering presence ever since they, and countless others, had slunk up out of the ocean and onto the island.

  It did concern him however, that they had covered so much ground so quickly. They must have surfaced much further to the south to be here already.

  Suddenly, they seemed to become altered to Isabel’s presence, as she still stood tall, her black silhouette a stain against the murky backdrop. The demons began to fan out and close in around her from all angles, stalking her in the gloom, unaware that Cole and Rose and Zanriath were keeping a low profile in the foggy light of the plains, hunting the hunters.

  At the last second, just as the group prepared to ambush Isabel, assuming she was unsuspecting of their presence, chaos broke loose.

  Isabel had secretly been building her will, containing and concealing it carefully. With a single incantation she released her power, combining her will with that of her amulet. She targeted the demon most central to the pack, which she presumed was leading them.

  Her guess was correct and, as she struck the four-legged beast, the unmistakable scream of death, the sound of the lost soul being forced from the body of its host, echoed out into the darkened day. The four remaining demons halted in momentary confusion, their leader defeated.

  That precious second was all that was required.

  In an instant, a second scream followed, then a third, and a fourth. Rose sunk her lethal jaws into the neck of the second blurry monster, bringing it to the ground in a twitching heap of bloodstained snow. Cole and Zanriath dispatched two more simultaneously with demonic and elemental attacks, the horrendous screams confirming their success through the haze.

  However, the fifth demon, awash with screaming and death and confusion, did not stand its ground. In a desperate attempt of self-preservation, it skidded and scuffled as it scuttled to turn and flee, its legs grinding huge banks of snow to slush as they churned.

  Cole could not let it escape, lest it warn its kin and bring their countless numbers down upon his family.

  He would not let it escape.

  There was no time for a demonic strike, and in the precious seconds he had before the demon vanished into the gloom, an elemental attack would not be adequate.

  And so, almost without thinking, and before his on-looking parents, he did what he knew he must. Isabel and Zanriath knew also they could not let this beast escape; yet they were both powerless to stop it, for it was almost already out of view.

  Such were the circumstances that forced Cole to call upon his third ability.

  Young Cole gathered his will and directed his energy into the fleeing monster, unsure of what he was trying to achieve, but somehow knowing that it had not been done before. Not that that mattered in the slightest.

  He said nothing, yet his strength began to fail him as his will flowed freely from him, and he was forced to lean heavily upon Rose for support.

  She remained strong for him and, just before the demon had made good its escape, it vanished, dissipating into tiny black particles, scattering into the air all around the spot where the beast had just stood. The particles hung heavily in the mist for a second or two, looking almost as if they were going to drift harmlessly to the ground, before they were whisked away by the still chill wind, and were carried far out of sight, vanishing from existence.

  This time there was no scream, no noise of any kind, and Isabel had sensed nothing demonic either. She looked wide-eyed to her husband and they both turned to their son, unsure exactly what had happened, but equally both having witnessed the impossibility that had just occurred.

  Cole was gasping for breath and was leaning heavily, almost entirely, on Rose. His legs were weak and shook violently under his weight.

  “Cole?” Isabel said worriedly, approaching him with Zanriath, helping their son up onto Rose’s back. He lay there for a moment, feeling only the strong pounding of Rose’s heartbeat, exhausted.

  “What happened Cole?” His father asked him, his voice quiet, only just carrying above the rush of the wind. Between heavy breaths and over the still-prevailing wail of the snowstorm, Cole wheezed an answer.

  “I couldn’t let it get away. It would only bring more back…” He managed.

  “Yes.” His mother said gently, cupping his face. “We know.” She assured him. “But what happened? Are you ok? What did you do?” Cole nodded wearily.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” He said first, almost slipping fully into a heavy sleep, having to force himself to remain awake. “There wasn’t time to do it any other way.” He said sadly.

  “What did you do?” Isabel asked again, worried now as the semblance of an answer formed in her mind, even before her son spoke the words.

  “I stopped it. I made sure it could never harm anyone ever again.”

  “You killed it?” Zanriath asked. But the look in his wife’s eyes told him that his son had not killed the demon, and that something much more profound had just occurred. And indeed Cole confirmed Isabel’s suspicions, just before he passed into an unconscious doze.

  “No.” He croaked, shaking his head wearily. “I stopped it. I removed it.” His parents looked on imploringly. Cole looked back at them through hazy eyes. “It no longer exists.” Then he was gone. His eyes rolled and he blacked out completely.

  Isabel and Zanriath looked between each other warily. Zanriath was still disbelieving.

  “What happened?” He asked his wife as he laid a thick cloak over his sleeping son, looking urgently for some kind of confirmation. “Did he send it back to the demonic realm?” But Isabel shook her head, almost mournfully.

  “No.” She said quietly, somehow her whisper carrying more easily over the wind than a shout. “He didn’t banish it, or kill it. He unmade it.”

  “Unmade it?” Zanriath replied uncertainly.

  “Yes.” She said, looking cautiously at her son. “There’s a lot more to Cole’s power than we first thought.” She mused warningly. “He willed that demon out of existence, and his will did as he commanded.” Then it was Zanriath’s turn to look concerned.

  “No one has that power.” He said, numbed entirely now, by either the cold of the storm or by the chill of his son’s act, he did not know. “Not even the Gods.” Isabel nodded in response.

  “I know.” She responded quietly again, her voice almost lost to the wind, unsure what to think.

  They moved off again silently, knowing that if they remained stationary much longer they would all surely die of cold. After a few minutes Zanriath spoke again, his voice wavering a little.

  “What are we going to do Isabel?”

  They both felt out of their depth.

  “I don’t know.” She admitted. “I think for now we can only carry on.” She looked out into the grey haze still obscuring their path, and sighed deeply. “This complicates things. We need to be much more careful. His power is still growing. If he loses control of it now, I don’t think it will matter how powerful Thorn is, or how many demons there are, there won’t be a world left for them to ruin.”

  The snowfall did not abate for several days, and it continued to successfully slow their progress, that and the task of avoiding the worst of the demons that roamed
freely now, undoubtedly wreaking havoc on every island. This was exactly what they had strove so hard to warn everyone about. Isabel only hoped that their efforts hadn’t been wasted, and that the people were indeed ready.

  They continued to the south, well aware that there was one final place that hadn’t had any warning, though Isabel imagined that they were well aware by now, for the demons loomed everywhere.

  Cole soon awoke and recovered his lost strength, though he did not speak to his parents of what had happened, nor of the evermore-haunted look that besieged him.

  Eventually, after two further days of struggling against the blinding snowstorm, they reached the Southern Armouries, only to find that, having the advantage of access to the ocean, the demons had indeed got there first.

  And so, although the falling snow had finally halted, and the sky had cleared somewhat, that only allowed Isabel and her family a less impaired view to the carnage laid upon the southern-most part of the island of Hinaktor.

  The Southern Armouries were under siege.

  As they approached, their dismay was matched only by that of the struggling survivors who fought on still against the black masses engulfing their home, wreaking havoc in its purest form.

  Resolutely, and without hesitation, Isabel and her family dove into the heat of the battle, with demons circling all around, and continued their struggling fight for survival: their own, and that of the human race.

  34

  The instant her passengers leapt from her back, Rose charged forward and crashed with ground-shaking force into the first unsuspecting demon she could reach. The beast, caught totally unaware, reeled backwards, and Rose clawed and slashed and raked at the fiend’s exposed face and chest. Ripping flesh from bone almost without effort, her ferocity was terrifying, and her effectiveness was nothing short of brutally feral.