"It is not for us to ask what we want, but what He wants." Bestion said.
"I want my son back and I want to go home with my wife. I just want this all to end now."
"And it will Silus. When you call on the Allfather."
"Katya help me." Silus reached out and she took his hand, though a long time seemed to pass before she was willing to look at him. "I love you," he told her. "Believe that."
"I believe."
"Silus are you ready?" Bestion said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"For the gods' sake man, give me a moment!" Then he turned back to his wife. "Katya I love you and I can't tell you how sorry I am for drawing you into this."
"It's not your fault Silus, you're just different… chosen, I suppose. Just promise that you'll come back to me."
"I promise."
Beneath the gaze of Kerberos Silus took her into his arms, and this time Katya looked deep into his eyes.
In preparation for the coming battle Dunsany moved the Llothriall into the shelter of a shallow cave on the southern side of the island. The last thing he wanted was for it to be destroyed, leaving them with no way of escape. Then, he removed the gem that sat at the heart of the ship. Kelos had asked him to do this, saying that he and Emuel could channel the power of the stone for use in the defence of the island. It could also, the mage said, be used as a weapon if it came to it. Next, Dunsany distributed weapons from the armoury. He knew that most of his crew were handy enough with a sword — with the exception of Emuel — but he wasn't too sure about the Moratians or the Final Faith fanatics. Thankfully, the latter saved him the worry of what to do with them by taking to their ships and sitting not far from shore. Kelos's magic had ensured that the three remaining Faith vessels had reached the island intact, but his protection wouldn't be required for much longer. The disciples of the Faith planned to detonate their explosives at the first appearance of the Chadassa, taking down any in their path. It seemed that whatever happened they were determined to give their lives, and Dunsany had neither the energy nor the inclination to argue with them.
At least they should buy them some time, and time was very much what their success hinged on here. Now that they didn't have the support of the Calma they had little hope of defeating the Chadassa on their own. Instead they would have to rely on Silus successfully persuading whatever power resided in Kerberos to intervene. If he were interrupted before he could do this then their slim hope would turn into no hope at all. In truth, Dunsany thought that they were already doomed, but both Bestion and Kelos had persuaded him that this was the only path open to them.
"Silus has a unique relationship with the Allfather that I have never before seen, even in the most devout of our priests." Bestion had said. "If anybody can persuade the Allfather to intervene then it is he."
"Bestion may well be right, Dunsany," Kelos had argued. "Who knows what power Kerberos holds? Besides, the Chadassa are not just going to withdraw now that we have stymied their plans. They will want revenge."
"I have seen the wrath of the Lord of All with my own eyes," Spalding spoke up. "In the World's Ridge Mountains a great bolt of energy did fall from Kerberos and destroy the heathens and their vile den of iniquity."
There wasn't really anything Dunsany could say to that, and so here they stood waiting to take on an army from the sea.
Dunsany looked up at Kerberos. "Don't you dare fail us, you bastard," he said.
Silus lay back on the altar and gazed into the depths of Kerberos. The dark moon that plagued the planet's orbit clung to its face like a black canker. He could feel the cloak of negative energy it had wrapped around its host but, through it, Silus could also hear Kerberos's call. It was the same call that had plagued his dreams from the beginning, drawing him away from all that was safe and familiar and into a host of mysteries he still didn't fully comprehend.
The censers were lit and the smoke rose to the ceiling before settling over him in a choking shroud. The first few breaths were the hardest, but when Silus felt his body begin to lose its hold he relaxed.
He looked up at Katya, as though seeking her permission to leave. She nodded once and Silus let go.
Twilight dwindled swiftly below him as his spirit soared away from the temple, the words of Bestion's chanting following him.
Before he could fall into the lightning kissed depths of Kerberos, however, he was brought to a sudden halt, hanging before the dark moon.
He knew that this entity was the same as that which called itself the Great Ocean; the same being who had taken Zac from him, pouring its taint into the infant's soul. Silus stared into its implacable face, the pure black of its surface unrelieved by any flaw. It was like staring into nothingness itself and that, Silus realised, was exactly what the Great Ocean was. Nothing.
It no longer had any hold on him, and so he tumbled away from it and into Kerberos's arms.
Maybe the Chadassa aren't coming for us after all, Dunsany thought, maybe it's over already.
They had been waiting so long for something to happen that the gentle and repetitive sound of the surf breaking on the shore was beginning to lull him to sleep.
When the Faith ships exploded he dropped his sword.
The light from the blast left red ghosts flitting across his vision and he had to blink several times before he could see to where the ships had been.
A wave raced towards them, kicked up by the blast, crashing against the monoliths and soaking those who stood near the stones. Dunsany looked for Chadassa bodies in the wash but the only thing floating there was a human hand. On the index finger was a ring wrought in the shape of the symbol of the Final Faith.
Dunsany was beginning to wonder what had prompted the ships to detonate when something rose from the sea.
The giant ball of black spikes looked not unlike a sea urchin. It drifted towards the shore before coming to rest, bobbing on the swell. Dunsany had half a mind that this thing wasn't anything to do with the Chadassa at all, but rather was some benign seabed denizen which had been uprooted by the blast.
With a sound like a sneeze, a spike flew from the sphere. It pierced the chest of one of the Moratians standing further along the beach and exploded from his back, pinning him to the ground. He stood for a moment — knees slightly bent, back arched, gasping for breath — before sinking down the length of the spike, his blood a vivid scarlet on the white sands.
"Take cover!" Dunsany shouted as more spikes flew towards them.
Using the power of the stone from the Llothriall and Emuel's song, Kelos threw up a magical shield. However, it didn't encompass everybody and more spikes found their mark.
A Moratian woman ducked behind one of the stone spires, only for a spike to pierce both the rock and her. Another man was pinned to his friend as he turned to run; the spike entering the back of his head and continuing through his friend's right eye.
The barrage lasted no more than ten seconds and when it was over they had lost half their army and the survivors stood in a forest of shivering black quills.
"What the hell was that?" Jacquinto said.
"I suggest we fall back," Kelos said, as the sea began to churn.
"The monoliths should hold off the Chadassa," Dunsany said as he followed them in-land.
"Yes, but I don't know for how long and I don't want to be standing anywhere near the stones when they go."
"So what are we going to do?" Jacquinto said. "We can't just fight them all."
"We have to hope that Silus will come through for us," Kelos said. "Otherwise, gentlemen, it has been a pleasure sailing with you and I hope to see you in the next life."
There was nothing but clouds.
The first time that Silus had communed with Kerberos — in the temple on Morat — he had sensed something like a vast consciousness, a planet-sized intelligence that may well have been the planet itself.