Kelos had seen the look in Silus's eyes and he realised what was about to happen.
"Silus, please don't."
"I'm warning you," Jacquinto said. "Don't make me have to kill you."
Silus's hand shot out, grabbed Jacquinto's face and pushed. The smuggler tumbled across the room and came up hard against a bone arch, his skull connecting with an audible crack. There was a cry of rage as Ignacio slammed into Silus's side, but he didn't shift, even under the weight of the heavier man. Instead Silus turned and twisted Ignacio's hand until he dropped his blade with a cry of pain. Then Silus turned back to Dunsany.
"Silus come back to us," said Father Maylan, but he didn't approach. "This isn't you."
Silus ignored the priest and looked into Dunsany's eyes.
Kelos ran at him and started pummelling him with his fists, but he knocked him aside and reached for Dunsany's weapon.
"You don't need this."
Dunsany's face was slack as Silus held his gaze, and he knew that the mariner was looking into the darkness that burned in his eyes, the call of the Great Ocean reaching out to him.
Silus ran his hand over Dunsany's head and cradled the back of his skull.
"This isn't so bad really, is it Dunsany?"
"No," Dunsany's voice was dead. "This isn't so bad."
"It's just like going to sleep really. It will be easy."
"Just like sleep."
Silus looked back at Kelos. The mage was picking himself up from where he had been thrown. As he gained his feet, Silus put the knife to Dunsany's throat. Then, when he was sure that Kelos was watching, he drew the blade across the flesh.
There was an explosion and spray hit Silus's face. It was too cold for blood though, and he soon found himself standing ankle deep in water.
Silus wondered why the bone shard in his right hand was covered in blood, and then he looked, in horror, at Dunsany choking as scarlet liquid welled from between his fingers.
Silus tried to reach out to his friend, help him staunch the flow, but the sea finally found its way into the Chadassa ship and pulled him into its cold embrace.
Chapter Twenty
Silus tried to roll over on to his side as something tickled his stomach, but found that he was hemmed in. The tickling sensation continued and he brushed it away with his arm.
"Katya stop it. I'm trying to sleep."
Suddenly there was a sharp, jabbing pain and he woke up fully.
Silus looked down to see two giant trilobites crawling over his torso, probing the wounds that he had sustained in the destruction of the Chadassa craft. There was another burst of pain as one of them worked at a deep cut on his chest. Silus tried to drag the giant insect off, but it hung on tight as a limpet and pulling at it only caused him more pain.
All Silus could see from the confines of the narrow, coffin-like box he lay in was part of one wall and the moist ceiling above him.
"Katya? Dunsany? Kelos?"
There was no reply and he tried to climb over the side of the box. The trilobites stubbornly clung to him as he raised himself. He staggered towards an archway before a rapidly approaching shadow drove him back into the room.
Belck caught Silus before he hit the floor.
"You shouldn't be up and about before the creatures have finished their work," the Chadassa said, helping Silus sit. "Ah, there you go."
With a high-pitched twitter, the trilobites scurried down Silus's torso and out through the archway. He looked down at himself and saw that the wounds that criss-crossed his chest had been expertly stitched shut. When he touched them they weren't even sore.
"We are not interested in hurting you, Silus." Belck said.
"What happened to Katya and Zac?"
"They are safe, but they need not concern you now."
"And the crew, my friends?"
"No doubt killed in the inept attack launched by the Calma."
Silus couldn't remember the attack. The last thing he remembered was following the Calma as they fought their way through the Chadassa ship.
"Those creatures, the Calma, you used them, changed them," he said. "The Great Ocean showed me how your race was grown from their kind."
"That is true, but we changed for the better. Just as you have been changing, Silus."
"What do you mean?"
"You really don't understand how different you are, do you?"
Silus struggled to his feet and shrugged off Belck's touch. He was sick of ancient prophecy, sick of being the chosen one to a twisted aquatic race that had done nothing but bring pain and death into his life.
"If I cooperate, will you let Katya and Zac go?"
"If you do, then they will be well looked after, yes," Belck said.
"And what will happen to me?"
"You are to be prepared for the Queen. By breeding with her you will father the Land Walkers."
"Will it hurt?"
"Your body will be consumed but you will find it to be a joyous and fulfilling experience."
The thought of his own death didn't move Silus in any way. In fact, he was so exhausted, so drained by grief and worn down by fear that he found it difficult to feel anything.
"Gods, what am I?"
"Let me show you."
Belck ushered Silus into a wide corridor. Stone arches covered with molluscs stretched away into the gloom, while the floor was slick with rotting seaweed. The walls were decorated with murals depicting, for the most part, the Chadassa battling the Calma. Whatever artist had carved these reliefs clearly delighted in cruelty, for the most intricately worked parts of the stone were the scenes depicting slaughter.
Other reliefs were more simple, portraying nothing more complicated than a vast black disk.
"Is that…?"
"The Great Ocean, yes. The father of the Chadassa. It is to His infinite waters that we shall soon return, when the time of the Great Flood is finally brought about and all reality is changed."
"What exactly is the Great Ocean?"
"I have told you, it is our creator, our god."
"And what is the Great Flood?"
"It is the time when the Great Ocean will change all reality so that it will be as the Great Ocean. Then we will swim together, forever in His infinite waters."
"You don't actually know what that really means though, do you Belck?" Silus said. "You sound like a member of the Faith, blindly following their god wherever they are told, even if they don't understand why."
Another Chadassa passed them and raised a hand to Belck in greeting. "The Great Flood be upon us," the creature said.
"I… I… yes, the Flood," Belck stammered, clearly thrown by Silus's interrogation.
Recovering himself, Belck gripped Silus by the shoulder and marched him into a room that was bathed in the diffuse light of the sea. Only a thin, translucent membrane separated them from the water beyond.
"Now, Silus, behold your natural habitat. We drained the rooms you passed through so that the shock of the water would be lessened, but you, like us, can breathe water. I will show you how."
With his hand on the small of Silus's back, Belck pushed him through the membrane and out into the sea.
As the chill water gripped him, Silus instinctively closed his eyes and started to struggle for the surface.
Belck, however, held him firm.
Be still, his voice came. Open your eyes.
Silus had expected the sting of salt water, but he could see clearly and without pain.
Now, breathe.
Silus shook his head and tried to kick away from the Chadassa again, but he couldn't move.
Breathe, Silus.
Silus looked up and realised that he couldn't see the surface. Even if Belck let him go, he would drown before he could reach air.
After a moment it became clear that he had no option but to take a breath. As water filled his lungs, he fought panic. Even though he had prepared himself for death, when he was faced with its inevitability he still railed against it. He struggled against Belck as his chest tightened with the coldness of the water that was now inside him, but the Chadassa's grip remained firm.