Ocean Of Fear (Book 6)

by William King

  “They all drink here, do they?”

  The barman smiled. “Sometimes, when they come in off a voyage, and they stand their crew a grog or two.”

  “And the bartender as well, no doubt.”

  “Aye.”

  “Have one yourself then.”

  “Don’t mind if I do, sir. I am certain the owner won’t mind since I am he.” He poured a small tot of grog into a jug and clinked glasses with Kormak.

  “How about the Kraken?” The Guardian asked.

  The temperature in the room cooled. “Not that I would speak ill of any captain but why would you want to be going on a sorcerer’s ship?”

  “I’m not saying I want to sail with him. I am just curious.”

  “A bad thing to be curious about, sir, and no mistake. Those that are curious about the Kraken tend to be found floating in the harbour. He keeps himself to himself, never speaks at the Council of Captains. Never comes into a city tavern and stands a round, and his crew are a grim lot.”

  “They say he’s just returned to the city.”

  “They say right—he came in yesterday, riding a new ship, a sweet looking trireme, Siderean I would judge by the lines.”

  “That’s what I had heard.”

  “The oddest thing was that he sailed off in another galley, not the Kraken’s Reach. That’s his flagship and a monstrous size of one too.”

  “Maybe he went somewhere where he needed a vessel that did not draw much water. Upriver somewhere maybe.”

  “Such was the speculation,” said the bartender. “He’s a deep one the Kraken is and he keeps his schemes to himself.”

  “In any case he found a new ship or took it in battle. His crew is hard enough and he works all kinds of magic or so they say.”

  “I’ve heard that he can call his namesake from the bottom of the sea.”

  The bartender shrugged, uncomfortable with this topic of conversation. “That would not surprise me. It’s not the only thing he calls from the dark waters. He keeps company with the Dwellers in the Deep.”

  “Who would they be?”

  “Old Ones, sir, or so they say. They inhabited the seas around here afore ever the Old Kingdoms sank. Some of their descendants dwell in the lost cities yet.”

  Kormak looked at him. He made his expression disbelieving.

  “I’m just telling you what Rhiana and the other divers tell me. They’re the ones who make a living plundering the drowned ruins.”

  “And how would they do that?”

  “They’re the deep divers, sir, not me. You would have to ask them.”

  “Where would I find this Rhiana?”

  The bartender was suspicious now. He was wondering what Kormak was really after. “Along the waterfront or on the Blue Boy if it’s in harbour.”

  “Thanks,” Kormak said.

  The bartender pursed his lips. He seemed to have come to a conclusion about Kormak. “They never share their real secrets with the likes of you and me,” he said. “The divers are a secretive bunch.”

  Kormak finished his drink and left.

  He strolled along the pier, listening to men talk. It was not all deep sea sailors in the harbour. There were fishermen and lobstermen all with small boats tied to the jetties. He passed giant ocean-going traders, and sleek war triremes and every size and class in between. He sought for the recognisable lines of the Ocean’s Blade but did not see her.

  He ducked into a supplier’s shop and bought a spyglass and headed out to the end of the pier. He adjusted the viewfinder until eventually he saw the Ocean’s Blade moored out by one of the furthest islands, near the mouth of the harbour. There seemed to be a skeleton crew on board. He shifted his point of view to the mansion. It sat on a rock and seemed to take up all the space. The walls looked thick enough to resist a siege. The only obvious way on or off the island was via the pier to which the Ocean’s Blade was lashed.

  A few sailors came and went from ship to mansion but most of the local ships gave the place a wide berth. Kormak studied it. He supposed that you could get in via the pier but it was always guarded and it looked like a difficult place to fight your way into. It might go better if he took a ship out and scaled the islands low cliffs and then the walls of the mansion. There were windows there that looked as if they could be forced.

  He considered the approaches. He could hire a small boat to take him there but there was no guarantee that any of the locals would not betray him and raise the alarm. He supposed he could always steal a small vessel. It was not the best way to go about such a thing—without a floor plan of the building he would need to find his own way through and improvise. He’d done such things before but it wasn’t the easiest way.

  He studied the palace for most of the afternoon. As the day wore on, he became aware that a tall spare figure wrapped in a dark cowled cloak was watching him. The individual seemed to be looking out to sea but occasionally the head would turn in Kormak’s direction and then look away again.

  As the sun set, Kormak decided it was time to meet Jonas. He turned and walked down the dock. After a few moments, the cowled figure did the same. He padded up the gentle slope away from the harbour.

  The taverns were doing a roaring business. The streets were full of brawling, drunken sailors, walking barefoot through the mud. Behind him, the cowled figure threaded its way through the crowd.

  There was no sense in leading his pursuer to the rendezvous with Jonas. The figure appeared to be alone, so he ducked down a side alley and waited. The cloaked stranger paused at the entrance of the alley and peered into the darkness. It waited for a few moments, glanced sideways and then moved into the alley, still leaning on its staff.

  Kormak stepped forward with his hand on the hilt of his weapon and said, “Why are you following me?”

  “I was curious as to why someone else would be interested in the Kraken’s island.” The stranger’s voice was high and light. The eyes caught and reflected the distant light in an odd way.

  “Let me have a look at your face,” Kormak said.

  The figure shrugged back the cowl, revealing the face of beautiful woman. Her silver hair was cropped short. Her eyes were an odd shade of green. A milky film gave the appearance of blindness then it vanished and her eyes looked normal.

  “Satisfied?” the woman asked. Her neck looked as if there were two long scars running part of its length on either side.

  “Who are you?”

  “You’re not very polite.”

  “And you are surprisingly unafraid for a woman confronted by an armed man in a back alley.”

  She smiled. “I am armed and unlike you I can use this weapon in a heartbeat.”

  “You are assuming I cannot.”

  “A master swordsman, eh?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  “I’ve killed a few of those in my time.”

  “With a staff? In this limited space.”

  Her thumb moved slightly. A long silver blade emerged from the tip of the staff, turning it into a very sharp spear. “A staff is a formidable enough weapon in the right hands,” she said. “But a harpoon is even more so.”

  “It seems we have reached an impasse.”

  “No. I have a weapon drawn and you don’t. I would say you are at a distinct disadvantage.”

  Kormak shrugged. Her smile widened. Her teeth were very white and pointed.

  “You adopt a convincing air of nonchalance,” she said. “I would prefer not to test your claims by spilling your blood, so perhaps we can come to an accommodation.”

  “If you tell me why you were studying both me and the Kraken’s palace.”

  “Are you his guardian then?” She placed an odd emphasis on the word guardian.

  “No, I am just curious about your interest.”

  “Ah, now I can tell you are not a local,” she said, a faint mocking tone in her voice. Kormak briefly wondered what had given him away but he could see how she had come to that conclusion. Clearly she expected to be recognis
ed and her relationship with the Kraken was apparently a well-known thing.

  “I am an Aquilean.”

  “Yes,” she said, “I know. And those are rare enough in Port Blood that I might be expected to recognise one. Yours are not a sea-faring people.”

  “Apparently not,” he said.

  “Why don’t you tell me the truth,” she said. “It would spare us both a lot of bother.” She leaned towards him with the harpoon point.

  Kormak’s hand slapped the blade to one side, just behind the point. He moved forward, keeping his weight against the shaft so she could not swing it back. She dropped the blade and stepped back, drawing her dagger.

  “I would not have thought that possible if I had not seen it with my own eyes,” she said.

  “And thus the balance of power is restored.”

  “I still have a dagger,” she said. She did not sound so confident now.

  “And I still have a sword.”

  “I notice you have not drawn it.”

  “I was taught never to draw the weapon unless I intended to kill.”

  “That is somewhat reassuring,” she said. “Although it bespeaks an overconfidence bordering on the insane.”

  “Why were you watching me?”

  “We have an acquaintance in common, you and I, as well as an enemy.”

  “And who would that be?” Kormak asked.

  “The acquaintance is a Siderean priest who goes by the name of Jonas. The enemy is the man whose palace you studied so intently. Would you care for a drink?”

  Kormak considered her words. It was possible that she was one of the Frater’s contacts here. It was one way she would know his name. The other was that Jonas had been taken by the pirates and given up his name and description but that did not feel right. Port Blood was not a place for subtle traps.

  Keeping his eyes on her, Kormak bent down and picked up her spear. His finger’s found the concealed catch and he flipped it. The blade slipped back into its hiding place. He handed her the weapon and indicated she should precede him out of the alley.

  “Lead on,” he said.

  She led him into a tavern near the docks. A few men called out to her as they entered. A few men looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and envy. “Good evening, captain,” said the barman as she headed to a table in a distant corner.

  “Captain?” Kormak said as he took a seat opposite her. She had shrugged off her cloak now. She wore a leather vest that left her arms exposed. They were long lean and muscular. She flexed her fingers. There was a faint trace of webbing between them.

  “A courtesy title,” she said. “I own a ship therefore I am a captain. And no, in case you are wondering I am not a reaver. I am a diver.”

  “A diver? One of those who seeks artefacts from the Sunken Kingdoms.”

  “I don’t just seek them,” she said. “I find them. My name is Rhiana.”

  “Kormak,” he said. “You are one of the Seafolk.”

  “A true born child of Saa-Aquor.”

  She looked very thoughtful then added. “You sound like a priest.”

  “I am, as you have no doubt been told, a Guardian of the Order of the Dawn,” he said. “What is your connection with Jonas?”

  “In the past both his patron and his Order were clients of mine. They bought things I brought up from the Sunken Kingdoms. These days we have a mutual enemy.”

  There was no mistaking the glint in her eye or the malice in her voice.

  “The Kraken? Why do you hate him?”

  “He killed my sister Mika. She refused to sell him something he wanted. It belonged to me. He has it now.”

  “What does he have?”

  “A relic of the Sunken Kingdoms, found in the drowned ruins of Quama Rhi. A spell-engine of considerable value to the right person, a thing perhaps unique in the world today.”

  “Could you be more specific?”

  “A battle suit for making war beneath the ocean.”

  “Functioning?”

  “It could be made to work by an artificer of sufficient skill. Mika was such a one. He killed her in her shop, while I was at sea, and he took the engine. She was the only kin I had left.”

  “I have seen him wearing it,” Kormak said. “The armour is the work of the Old Ones. It looks like living flesh moulded to the wearer’s body.

  “No,” she said, “it is metal, perhaps of Solari manufacture.”

  “That is not what I saw him in.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “You are sure?”

  “Never more so”.

  “Perhaps he has found something better. No matter. He still owes me for what he took. You are an Aquilean. You know what a blood-debt means.”

  “Blood for blood, death for death.”

  “Yes.”

  “I had not heard the Seafolk went in for such things.”

  “I am inaugurating a new tradition.”

  “The Kraken has allies.”

  “The Quan. There is ancient hatred between such of them as survive, and my people.”

  “I had thought them all gone from the world. The great library at Aethelas claims that to be the case.”

  “Not all of them—some of the monsters still exist in the deeps. My people hunt them when they find them. They return the favour.”

  “What is the connection between the Kraken and the Quan?”

  “I don’t know. For years he sought any relic of the Quan or any book that contained the faintest hint of knowledge concerning them. He was obsessed. He quizzed both Mika and I about what we knew of the Quan, paid well for the knowledge.”

  “And what do you know of them?”

  “They are vampires of a most peculiar sort.”

  “Vampires?”

  “They drink the lives and the souls of their victims. Take their memories too.”

  Kormak thought of his encounter with the Stealer of Flesh, Razhak. “I have had experience of such.”

  “Yes, judging by your expression I can see you have. During the dark of the moon, for the past several months the Kraken has fed the Quan victims. Some of them were my friends.”

  It was exactly the sort of dark sorcery he was sworn to stop. “I can see why you hate him.”

  “Can you?” Rhiana sounded amused. “You look like the sort of man who seeks vengeance. I never thought I was the sort of woman. I find myself uncomfortable with hating someone so intensely. I wish to put an end to the person and thus the hate.”

  “I don’t think it works that way,” said Kormak. “What is lost is always still lost. You can’t ever get it back.”

  She shrugged. “Nonetheless I am compelled to seek satisfaction in this matter. That is why I passed on the information I did to Jonas and his friends. I have never seen myself as a spy either.”

  “It seems to me that the Kraken is well protected.”

  “Better than you perhaps think. The Quan guard the waters around his island. They have done so since he returned from a long voyage last year. They come and go from the mansion by night. There is a deep well deep in the Kraken’s house where he communes with them and they bring him dark knowledge.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I know the Quan hunt the waters for I have seen them. There is an underwater entrance to the mansion—I have scouted it.”

  “Despite the presence of the Quan.”

  “I do not fear them. I am not without sorcery myself.” She reached out and touched his hand. A frown knitted her brow as she concentrated. The amulet against his breast grew warm.

  “Either your mind is a blank or you are protected by powerful wards.”

  “I would advise you not to do that again. I might see it in an unfriendly light,” Kormak said. “I do not like people trying to work magic on me.”

  “You felt something then?”

  “Yes.” He thought it best not to explain the nature of his defences or how he had divined what she was doing.

  “I meant no harm. I merely wished to demonstrate
to you why I do not fear the lurkers in the deep.”

  “And how do you know what goes on within the palace?”

  “There are girls who visit with his crew. They must be paid ten times the normal amount to do so but there are always some who want the gold. When drunk the crew sometimes talk to them. When the girls are drunk they sometimes talk to me.”

  “You believe we should work together against the Kraken.”

  She smiled. “Unless I miss my guess, you will try to kill him anyway, and I am not about to be robbed of my vengeance. It would be best if we did not work at cross-purposes.”

  “I agree.”

  “Good,” she said. She sounded pleased.

  “I have business elsewhere,” said Kormak. “But I propose we meet here again before the tenth bell.”

  “As you say.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  KORMAK RETURNED TO the inn they had used the night before. Frater Jonas was there, nervous at being on his own in a city full of pirates.

  “Sir...I mean Kormak, I am pleased to see you,” said Jonas. He sounded sincere. Given the way two hard looking men at the next table stared at them, Kormak could understand why. He met their glances and held them till they looked away.

  “Did your business go well,” said Kormak. He spoke in a low murmur now so that no one could overhear. Judging by the amount of drinking going on that was not very likely but you never knew who might be a spy. Plenty of other whispered conversations were taking place so no one would think it at all unusual.

  Jonas nodded.

  “I ran into someone who claimed to know you. Her name was Rhiana.”

  “She found you then? She said she would seek you out down by the docks. I told her not to, but she can be stubborn.”

  “Next time let me know when you’re going to put someone on my trail. I might have killed her.”

  “I did not know that I would find her so quickly or that she would seek you out. Otherwise I would have. My apologies if I caused you any problems.”