The Call of Kerberos

by Jonathan Oliver

  "Well the problem we have is that we can't get our stone to, um... work." Dunsany said. "You see, Emuel used to be able to unlock the power within the stone through song. But the elven runics that enabled him to do that have been broken by sorcery."

  "My friend, I'm afraid that this talk of elven runics makes no sense to me. Are these the marking on your friend's flesh?"

  "Yes." Kelos said. "They are elf songlines."

  "May I examine them more closely Emuel?" Win said.

  Emuel looked up from his plate. He was humming to himself and the beatific smile that Dunsany had noticed earlier was still on his face.

  "The songs are here," he said. "The singing is all around us."

  Jacquinto leaned in close to Emuel, as though he was talking to a nearly deaf elderly relative. "Emuel. The nice man wants you to take your shirt off. Can you do that?"

  "Yes, of course Jacquinto," the eunuch said. "There's really no need to shout."

  Win gasped as Emuel took off his shirt and moved to run his hands over the text covering the eunuch's torso.

  Jacquinto raised his eyebrows at Ignacio but said nothing.

  "It is the holy text," Win said. "Emuel, your flesh is covered in the scripture of the Allfather."

  "But that's not possible," Kelos said. "Those are elf runes."

  "And this scarring on his chest, is where the text was damaged?" Win said, pointing to the still painful-looking wound.

  "Yes, with the songline broken he no longer has access to the power of the stone." Dunsany said.

  "It is possible that the high priests may be able to do something for your friend. They will certainly want to meet him."

  "That is good news," Dunsany said. "The only other thing that you may need to know is that when we came to Morat, we were fleeing from some rather unpleasant creatures."

  "Well, I really wouldn't worry about them. With the power of the Allfather, there is no way that they can trouble you here."

  Chapter Sixteen

  No one in the Final Faith knew what the planetary body now hanging before the face of Kerberos signified. Nowhere within the holy texts was there mention of the coming of the moon. But the biggest challenge the Faith was now facing was not this sinister new conjunction, but the increasingly panicked questions of the laity.

  The people couldn't fail to notice the dark spec on the face of Kerberos and many were taking it upon themselves to proclaim it to be a sign of the end times. It didn't help that some of the clergy, in the more rural parishes, were going along with this assessment, preaching services full of the threat of damnation.

  It was decided that, in order to staunch the panic before it spread to every community and began to destabilise the Faith's hold on their flock, there would have to be a proclamation from Katherine Makennon herself.

  When the next Tenthday rolled around, therefore, Makennon stood on a high balcony at the cathedral at Scholten and - looking down on the mass of people gathered in the great square below - made her pronouncement.

  These were not the end times, she proclaimed, starting with at least a small note of comfort. This was, however, a time to be afraid, for the dark manifestation on the face of Kerberos was the eye of the Lord of All. He was gazing down on Twilight and taking stock of his people, for their morals had become lax and their behaviour questionable. Any man, woman or child the Lord of All found lacking would be judged with the full force of his fury. So, the people should look up at Kerberos and take it into their hearts to change their ways.

  Much to Katherine Makennon's relief the proclamation seemed to work. Sometimes, she considered, the best panacea for fear was fear itself, because through wielding it one could control the people.

  Over the next few days, reports coming in from every major city in the Empire showed a fall in crime across the entire region. There was also a fall in the number of heresies being committed. There were even stories of heretics willingly giving themselves up to the cleansing fires of the naphtha gibbets, claiming that now they could see the face of the Lord of All, they had come to realise the true horror of their sins.

  All in all, Makennon considered, the arrival of this new planetary body had turned out to be no bad thing. Church attendance was up, collection plates brimmed with coin and the masses submitted to even the harshest decree.

  This renaissance of faith, however, was not to last.

  Days after the dark moon had moved into conjunction with Kerberos, the attacks on the coast began.

  From every major port in Vosburg, reports flooded in of creatures walking out of the sea and launching vicious assaults on the populous. The military were stretched almost to breaking point defending the maritime provinces, and the channelling of resources away from the in-land cities meant that crime rose steeply in these areas. The Final Faith were forced to bolster the Empire's troops with detachments of the Order of The Swords of Dawn and, as a result, some heresies were now going unpunished, as all available Faith troops were put to use against the Chadassa menace.

  The fighting was intense and casualties on both sides were high. For a while it seemed that some of the major ports would fall. But Freiport suddenly joined the conflict - briefly allying with a nation that they had openly spurned for years - and, with a last desperate push, the creatures were driven back into the sea.

  Some of the smaller coastal settlements, however, had not had the might of the Empire to back them up and entire generations had been slaughtered, villages reduced to rubble before the sea demons - their hunger apparently sated - had withdrawn.

  But not all of the creatures had escaped. A special cadre of the Order of The Swords of Dawn - under the supervision of Querilous Fitch - had managed to capture a handful of prisoners. And now that the Final Faith had the Chadassa back in residence at the dungeons in Scholten, they would use all means at their disposal to discover the true nature of their plans.

  Silus sat and watched Katya and Zac sleep.

  The bedchamber to which Win had taken them was opulent but dusty, though Katya hadn't complained and she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Beside his mother, Zac had burbled and cooed for a while before joining her in slumber. Silus would have joined them himself but, even though he was more exhausted than he had ever been, he couldn't sleep. Instead, he sat in a chair by the window and watched his wife and child, the soft light of a torch burning outside playing across their faces.

  With a pang of regret, Silus wondered what he had brought upon his family.

  His son had been born in exile and his wife was no longer sure just who her husband was, or what he would become. And then there were the Chadassa, determined to tear Silus from the people he loved and use him as a pawn in their unfathomable plans.

  Katya stirred in her sleep, a hand coming up to weakly paw before her face, as though trying to ward off whatever phantom was haunting her dream.

  He could just give himself up to the Chadassa, Silus considered. Maybe if he surrendered himself to the fate they so clearly thought was his destiny, then they'd leave Katya and Zac alone. Kelos had shown him how he could communicate with the denizens of the sea. All he had to do was reach out with his mind and find their song.

  Silus closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound of his breath, on each inhalation and exhalation.

  He left behind the three people in the bedchamber, he left behind the city riding on the back of its vast wave and then he was out over the water, listening to the songs of the creatures who moved below.

  Silus searched for the call of the Chadassa but as he began to detect a whistling roar amongst all the other songs - sounding like the howl of wind through an abyss - another more urgent cry reached his ears.

  This cry was filled with a dreadful and urgent need. At its core was a fear of loneliness that Silus couldn't ignore. He followed it back over the water to find himself back in his body, staring at Zac as he wailed and wailed.

  Silus picked up his son and the child's cries stopped. Zac's body against
his own was warm and he could feel the rapid beat of his son's heart as he pressed him to his chest. It soon slowed as Zac settled against him and Silus swayed him from side to side.

  "Shhhhhh. Shhhhhh. It's okay. It's all okay now."

  And as Zac's small fists bunched in the folds of Silus's shirt and those large, tearful eyes looked up into his own, he made a decision that when it came to it, when the Chadassa came for him, he would stand and fight with everything he had.

  The next day, the crew accompanied Win as he led them to the centre of Morat.

  They had risen early and, after a hearty breakfast, followed the Archduke as he descended the narrow stone steps leading from the palace. When they reached the bottom Silus looked up and he could just make out the sky far above, as though he stood at the bottom of a deep well. The dark speck that they had noticed on arriving at Morat still marred the face of Kerberos.

  "A sign that does not bode well, I fear." Win said, following Silus's gaze.

  A domed building stood at the centre of Morat and across its surface, picked out in delicate curlicues and flourishes of stone, was the same script that decorated Emuel's body, and it burned with a vivid illumination.

  "This is the seat of Morat. The engine house of our city. Gentlemen - and lady - welcome to the house of the Stone Seers. The text covering the building is the holy scripture, taken from the Book of the Allfather."

  "The songs," Emuel said. "My Lord, the songs!"

  "Win, this holy text of yours? Do you know who wrote it?" Kelos said.

  "It was a gift from the Allfather. He sent it out with his people."

  As they walked over the threshold, the song suddenly rose around them and Silus wondered whether this was what Emuel heard every time he communed with the stone on the ship. Silus had never heard anything so beautiful. He turned to Katya, to see tears rolling down her face. In her arms, Zac squealed with delight and clapped his hands.

  Inside, dozens of robed people hurried through a wide hall, looks of deep concentration on their faces. As they passed Silus noticed that they sang softly to themselves. On their robes was the same script that covered the exterior of the building.

  "The Stone Seers," Win said. "These are the men and woman who maintain the ancient song and make sure that its rhythms never fail."

  They moved across the smooth, highly polished floor to a set of double doors framed by a vast arch. The doors stood four times as tall as any of the crew and looked as though they had been carved from bone. Into the yellowing material had been worked the story of Morat.

  At the centre - and overlapping the two doors - was Kerberos, the clouds that covered its surface picked out in delicate folds and arches of bone. Below this, dozens of humans were depicted falling away from Kerberos, expressions of anguish and remorse on their faces. A great stone rode in their midst and linking them together were lines from the holy text. These travellers through the void were heading towards the city of Morat, which rode its great wave at the base of the doors.

  Win put his right hand on the fresco and, with a click, the doors swung open.

  The song increased in volume, rolling out of the chamber on a breath of warm, perfumed air. The room into which Win now led them was dominated by a vast stone sphere, its summit almost touching the ceiling. But for its size, it was identical to the Llothriall's stone. Veins of magical energy played across its surface and out across the walls, where it illuminated the lines of the holy text that had been worked into the stone. Around the circumference of the cradle supporting the stone was a ring of eight lecterns. At these stood more robed figures, their voices raised in the ethereal song that filled the room with its powerful resonance. Around the edges of the room stood more of the Stone Seers, waiting to take over from any of the singers who tired. Maintaining the song clearly involved considerable exertion, for those who were led away from their lecterns to be replaced with others of their kind were often pale and drenched in sweat.

  "It is crucial that the song never falters," Win said. "For if that happens, Morat would be truly lost. It is the power of the stone that leads us on the path the Allfather laid down for us, and shapes the sea to carry us."

  "And are all your stone seers eunuchs?" Kelos asked.

  "Well no, why would they be?"

  "Emuel, our seer, was emasculated in order that he would be able to attain the correct pitch in which the song is to be sung."

  "How can somebody be so cruel? It is the rhythm, the cadence that is essential to maintaining the song. Pitch has nothing to do with it."

  "I notice also that your Seers are not tattooed like Emuel."

  "I must admit that I was wondering why the holy text had been needled into his flesh."

  "It is a magical mnemonic," Kelos said. "The tattoos allow the song to flow through Emuel. It is this that enables him to unlock the power of the stone on the Llothriall. As you have seen, however, his flesh has been marred and the songlines broken."

  "But the song can be learnt. Anybody can, theoretically, be taught how to become a Stone Seer."

  "You mean," Emuel said, "that none of what I have been through was necessary?"

  Silus noticed that the eunuch had his fists clenched and his shoulders were shaking. He had never seen Emuel so gripped by anger and he took a step back, putting himself between Katya and Zac and the eunuch.

  "I'm afraid not," Win said. "Who was it who did these dreadful things to you?"

  "My faith did this to me. Those who taught me the lessons of the Lord of All and who nurtured me from acolyte to Enlightened One, did this to me. I gave them my soul and my flesh and they used me. And to what end?"

  Emuel's voice had risen to a shout. Some of the seers at their lecterns turned towards the disruption. Noticing the look of concern on their faces, Win began to usher the crew towards the doors.

  "Emuel, I think that perhaps any arguments are best saved for outside. We don't want to disturb the Stone Seers."

  "Yes, come on Emuel. It's not all bad news." Kelos said. "Win has said that the song can be taught. That means you can learn it again. They can fix you."

  "Fix me? Fix me!"

  "I - I mean heal, obviously."

  "You don't care, do you Kelos? None of you really care what happens to me. I'm just a useful object to you people. You know, I was happy in my Drakengrat parish. My congregation loved me and we all shared in the glory of the Lord of All. But then I had to go and give myself to Makennon's cause when she came a-calling, only for her sorcerers and alchemists to turn me into a walking blasphemy! And then, you had to go and kidnap me, taking me on this dreadful voyage which is likely to kill us all!"

  "Emuel, come on. Calm down." Dunsany put a hand on his shoulder.

  "Get off me!" Emuel shouted, and shoved Dunsany hard in the chest.

  Dunsany fell against one of the Stone Seers, sending him crashing to the floor, his lectern falling beside him.

  For the first time the song faltered.

  A great shudder passed through the room and a fine rain of dust fell from the ceiling. Silus felt his ears pop as the air pressure suddenly dropped. Immediately, several of the stone seers rushed to help their colleague to his feet as another of their number quickly took up his part in the song.

  The walls groaned and Silus could have sworn he saw one of them begin to sag, as though it were melting. But, with the harmony of the song restored, the room began to stabilise and Silus saw Win breathe a sigh of relief.

  Dunsany brushed himself down and walked over to Emuel, holding out a conciliatory hand. But the eunuch shot him a murderous look and stormed from the building

  "I think that it's time we left," Win said.

  Back outside there was no sign of Emuel.

  "Perhaps one of you should go and look for him?" Katya suggested.

  "No, I think that it's best if we leave him to work it out of his system." Dunsany said. "I don't think that anything any of us could say would calm him down right now."

  Win nodded and gestured to
a passing Stone Seer. "Arklyn, would you see to it that our friend is okay? Perhaps you could speak to him of the song. It does have many healing properties."

  The seer nodded and set off in the direction Emuel had taken.

  "Do not worry my friends," Win said, turning back to the crew. "Emuel will be in good hands. Now, shall we return to the palace for refreshments?"

  Later, as they sat down to lunch, Emuel returned. He was considerably calmer than he had been before and he was humming a tune under his breath. Kelos offered him a drink but he refused and, instead, went to his room, saying that he wanted time to pray and consider what he had learned.

  "Well, it's certainly been an eventful day," Kelos said, sitting down and helping himself to a hunk of bread.

  "Win, I'm curious to learn more about Kerberos, the Allfather," Silus said. When I was a young man, I often wondered what it would be like to fly through those azure clouds and see whether anything more lay beyond them. Ever since I was a child I've heard its call."

  "Silus, if you ever feel like remaining on Morat, I'm sure that we can find you a role amongst the priests of the Allfather," Win said. "You certainly talk like one of them."

  "Yes," Kelos said, "he is a most unique individual."

  For a moment Silus glared at Kelos, afraid that he was about to tell Win of his burgeoning powers and his link to the Chadassa but, instead, the mage smiled and poured himself another glass of wine.

  "I'd like to meet the priesthood, certainly," Silus said. "For many nights now I have been dreaming of Kerberos. I would have dismissed these dreams as nothing but fantasies, but they've come to me night after night."

  "But dreams don't necessarily mean anything do they?" Katya said. "I mean, we all have them."

  "Yes, but it's almost as though Kerberos itself is trying to tell me something."

  "Oh, here we go," Jacquinto laughed. "Apparently, fish boy here is the chosen one."

  "No, don't mock," Win said. "Visions are just one of the ways the Allfather communicates with us. Perhaps a visit to the temple would not be such a bad idea after all."