The Llothirall shuddered as the sea warped around it. Kelos closed his eyes as the geometry of the cabin ruptured, the scene before him breaking into a kaleidoscope of disparate fragments. He heard Jacquinto say something, but his voice seemed to be getting further and further away.
Kelos tied the threads of elemental power together, spoke the closing words of the spell and unfolded the sheet.
The noise of the Chadassa bombardment stopped suddenly and the quiet was only broken when Jacquinto dropped to his knees and vomited.
"What the hell did you do?" he said, after the last spasm had died away. "It felt like being turned inside-out."
"I simply brought our destination closer to us, thus facilitating a swift exit and avoiding the need for a lot of tedious sailing. We are now not far from the Calma's city. Look."
But through the porthole, they saw not the glass domes of the city but a pall of thick black smoke boiling swiftly and steadily to the surface. Above, they could just make out the keels of a fleet of ships, from which fell a steady rain of dazzling white fire.
"I thought that you said the Llothriall was the only ship capable of sailing the Twilight seas," Jacquinto said.
"It is."
"Then who in the name of the seven hells are they, and why are they attacking the Calma?"
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Llothriall surfaced and, at a gesture from Kelos, the covering that had enclosed the deck dissolved, bright sunlight washing across the boards as it fell away. He chose to keep the masts down and the sails furled for now, not wanting to attract the attention of the fleet of eight ships that sat some thirty yards from starboard.
Whatever Kelos had been expecting to see on breaking the waves, it certainly hadn't been the symbol of the Final Faith, painted in red on the white of the ships' sails. For a moment he thought that the Faith had managed to repeat the success of the Llothriall, but then he saw that these vessels weren't suited to the Twilight seas at all. Already several were sporting rents in their hulls where the waves had battered their way in and, as he watched, one of the ships took a sudden nosedive. The men and women who fell from the deck were sucked under in her wake.
This, however, did not detract the remaining ships from their task.
Gun ports stood open along each vessel and through these were being pitched weighted barrels that burned with a blinding light. Even as they sank the flames were undiminished and Kelos wondered what kind of fire burned underwater. His awe at this peculiar sorcery, however, was broken by the realisation that if they didn't act soon the Calma city would be entirely destroyed. More importantly, Dunsany was somewhere down there. For all Kelos knew he could already be dead.
Kelos raised his hands. The Llothriall's masts rose from the deck and the sails unfurled. He grabbed a speaking tube and shouted down to Emuel to begin the song. As the deck shuddered beneath him, Kelos brought the Llothriall about, swiftly cutting a path towards the Faith vessels.
He ran to the prow as they neared, raising his arms and shouting, "Stop! You're killing them!"
Perhaps it was Kelos's plea, perhaps it was the realisation that the Faith's fugitive ship was amongst them, but the bombardment finally came to a halt.
By the time the Llothriall reached the fleet, more of the Faith's ships had succumbed and only three remained. Kelos realised then that this must be a suicide squad of some kind, sent to enact Makennon's vengeance with no hope of returning.
As they came alongside, Kelos extended the Llothriall's protective field to encompass the diminished fleet, before leaping onto a neighbouring deck, only to be immediately seized by men in robes.
"Let go of me! What are you doing?"
"You are a fugitive of the Faith. We are detaining you in the name of the Anointed Lord."
"For god's sake, we're trying to stop you killing the Calma."
"The Calma? What are the Calma?"
As if summoned, a Calma vessel surfaced nearby. A door dilated open in its topside and out stepped Silus and Katya, followed by several of the creatures. The craft drifted towards the ship and the small party climbed onto deck.
"Those are the Calma." Kelos said, nodding towards the creatures. "Now why did Makennon send you to kill them?"
A man with the symbol of the Faith tattooed onto his face backed away from the visitors, his hand going to the dagger at his belt, but before he could wield it, one of his shipmates had knocked it from his grasp.
"No. Leave them. They're not your enemy, the Chadassa are."
"The Chadassa," Kelos said. "What do you know about them?"
"They have been attacking the Twilight coast. Makennon's inquisitor — "
"Fitch?"
"Yes, Querilous Fitch. Through his methods of interrogation he managed to get one of the Chadassa to give up the location of its base here. Makennon's mages teleported us in to destroy it."
"You'd give your lives for her?"
"Gladly, it is the most holy duty one can perform."
"Then I'm afraid," Kelos said, "that your colleagues have died in vain. The Chadassa citadel does not lie below you. It is the Calma who reside here and they are peaceful, no threat to Twilight. The Chadassa have tricked you, sold you a lie. As you have been destroying the Calma's home a new breed of the Chadassa are marching on Twilight."
"Lord of All, what have we done?"
"Is there any way of getting a message back to Makennon?" Kelos said. "If Twilight is pre-warned then they may be able to defeat the remaining Land Walkers."
"Spalding, our mage, should be able to help you reach her. Spalding?" The man with the tattooed face stepped forwards. "Take this man below. He wishes to converse with the Anointed Lord."
Spalding sketched the symbol of the Faith in the air, before nodding to Kelos to follow him.
An intense chemical smell emanating from the gun decks- a marriage of bad eggs and burning hair — hit Kelos as he followed the mage down a short flight of narrow steps. Compared to the Llothriall, the Faith ship was squalid and cramped. Kelos's shoulders brushed the sides of the narrow corridor, and twice he stumbled in the candlelit gloom, falling over ropes and thudding into crates. Eventually they reached a box room, the walls of which had been daubed with the symbol of the Faith. In the centre stood a pedestal supporting a bowl of water.
Kelos shuffled in beside Spalding and looked up at him expectantly.
"So, are we going to talk to her, or did you just want to get close to me?"
Spalding looked down at Kelos with something like contempt before waving his hand over the bowl.
A soft glow suffused the room and Makennon's face came into focus upon the water.
"Spalding, is it done?" Katherine Makennon said. "If so you have my blessings. May the Lord of All take you into his arms."
Spalding nodded at Kelos and the mage leaned over the bowl.
"Hello Katherine."
Shock briefly crossed Makennon's features only to be quickly replaced by her usual cold expression.
"Kelos. You're not dead."
"No, I'm not. Although your fanatics have been doing their best to rectify that."
"Do you still have my ship?"
"Yes, and we'd like to keep it if it's all the same to you. Anyway, this isn't a social chat Katherine. You have sent your suicide squad on a wild fish chase. The Chadassa aren't here, they've tricked you. Your boys have been killing the wrong creatures."
"Kelos, if you're trying to sell me on some- "
"No, listen to me for once! The Chadassa are going to launch another attack against Twilight, but this time with a new breed of creature. We managed to destroy the majority of them, but some got away. Now, if you prepare your best Swords you have a chance of defeating them, but you have to mobilise now. Drag Pontaine into this if you have to. The Land Walkers must not be allowed to reach the World's Ridge Mountains."