Immortal Devices (12 page)

            “I don’t know what to do,” she said.

            “Maybe you should help us find him,” Cruces shot back, frustrated how Scarlett could now be in love with their mortal enemy. “That way, we can find the bow and undo this mess. Though how exactly we’ll find him now…”

            “He’s in a cave,” Scarlett said. “A big cave with statues around the entrance, that you have to approach from the sea. I saw it when I tried to contact Rothschild.”

            “Then that is where we have to go,” Tavian said. “We’ll need a boat.”

            Finding a boat meant going back into the town. Thankfully, the immortals there seemed to have found other things to amuse them since they had last been there, but still, the three of them took precautions. They bought cloaks at the first stand they could find them at and wearing them despite the heat.

            Cruces did not know anyone who could lend them a boat, but as he pointed out, so close to the sea, almost everyone would know someone who had one. It was simply a question of finding someone who was willing to do business with them. For Scarlett, the answer to that was obvious. She led the way back through the streets to the stand where they had bought what turned out to be the bow. Caesar was still there.

            When Scarlett asked, and Cruces supplied the coins, the dark haired young man was only too happy to admit that his cousin owned a small boat he wouldn’t mind them using, though Caesar would have to go along with them to make sure that the boat got back in one piece.

            “This might be dangerous,” Scarlett warned. She described the place they wanted to get to. “Do you know it?”

            Caesar nodded. “Yes, I know it. It is on an island not far from here. Not a good place. If you want to go there, though, I can take you. And I am going.”

            Scarlett had to admit that his willingness to help was hard to turn down. Caesar was even willing to shut down his stall immediately and accompany them down to the docks, where the boat waited. It wasn’t large, and Caesar’s cousin probably used it for fishing judging from the smell, but it was big enough for their needs, having both oars and a small mast.

            They made good time, out on the open water beyond the docks. Caesar turned out to be a good sailor, piloting the boat with ease. Cruces and Tavian also seemed to know what they were doing, and helped with the sails, so that they drifted along at a good speed with the help of the wind. That was good. The faster they travelled, the faster Scarlett could be back with Rothschild.

            They had been travelling for a couple of hours when Scarlett caught sight of the cliffs ahead. They were sharp, jagged things, surrounding an island, and in the middle of them there sat an opening so large that it could have swallowed a much larger boat than theirs. Slowly, they brought the boat closer.

            It was then that she heard the singing. The voice was female, and beautiful almost beyond words, but strangely familiar. It seemed to be coming from the rocks away to their left, right where they were sharpest and most dangerous. It was only as Scarlett looked over and saw the kelp clad form of a young woman sitting there that she remembered where she had heard singing like that before. It had been in the Athens market, where a siren had been singing by the fountain.

            Scarlett felt the small boat jerk as it heeled around, pointing them straight towards the immortal creature on the rocks. She looked back to see that Caesar’s face was enraptured, while nearby, Tavian was removing his shirt, obviously in preparation for throwing himself into the waters around them.

            Scarlett acted on instinct, tackling Tavian low around the legs. It was a dangerous move to try on a boat, and Scarlett braced herself for the possibility of hitting the water as they fell, but she had judged it right. They hit the deck together in a bundle, and Tavian pushed at Scarlett, trying to get up.

            Cruces, meanwhile, had moved over to Caesar. For one horrible moment, Scarlett thought he might have been caught by the song too, but then the vampire reached out to grab the tiller. The two struggled, and though Cruces clearly had the greater strength, Caesar fought hard, striking at the vampire and trying to knock him away.

            Scarlett had her own problems right then, though. Tavian shoved her back, and almost struggled to his feet. Scarlett managed to kick his legs from under him, but Tavian scrambled back up, looking at her furiously. Scarlett reacted in the only way that seemed safe, lashing out with a punch with her whole weight behind it. By luck as much as skill, she caught Tavian sweetly on the jaw, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.

            “I’m sorry,” she said, stepping past him to help Cruces with Caesar. Between them, they were able to drag the man over to the mast, and then tie him to it with lengths of rope taken from the boat. Caesar fought to get free, but quickly, Scarlett was able to take control of the tiller, steering them away from the rocks while Cruces secured Tavian the same way they had Caesar.

            “How were you not affected?” Scarlett asked once they were safe. “I thought a siren’s song drove all men mad with desire.”

            “I am powerful enough to ignore such a creature,” Cruces said. “The more interesting question is how you were able to ignore it, Scarlett.”

            “I am not a man,” Scarlett pointed out.

            “I had noticed,” Cruces replied with a smile, “but that is unlikely to be it. Sirens can affect all mortals. They make them feel that their greatest desire lays their way. It is men you hear about simply because most sailors are men. Yet you were safe.”

            “Perhaps it is my love for Rothschild,” Scarlett suggested. “I love him so much that no magical trickery could make me desire anything else.”

            Cruces shook his head. “Perhaps, though I doubt it. For now, it is enough that we are safe.”

            He nodded past Scarlett, to where the siren had been singing. She had stopped now, and stood on the rocks with her hands on her hips. With a gesture of annoyance, the immortal leaped from them out into the sea and disappeared from view.

            “It seems we are no longer interesting to her,” Scarlett said.

            “Or perhaps she simply does not dare follow us into the cave. Now, let us free the other two and bring Tavian around. That was some punch.”

            “It was what I had to do,” Scarlett replied.

            “Yes. Sometimes, we must all do things we do not like.”

            Scarlett was going to ask Cruces what he meant by that, but by then, the vampire was busy freeing the others. Neither man seemed angry at what had needed to be done to them, and their boat quickly resumed its passage towards the mouth of the great cave that dominated the coast of the island. Was Rothschild really in there? Scarlett hoped so.

C
loser to the cave, Scarlett could see the marble statues around it. They were sunk into niches in the rock, so that the contrast between the white of the marble and the black of the basalt was striking. Now that she was seeing them in life and not through a vision, Scarlett could make out their details as the small boat they occupied, bobbed closer.

            Those details were not pleasant. The statues were not the ones to be found back in town or in Cruces’ home. Those were grand, painted statues of men and women, gods and other immortals, who were invariably as beautiful as the sculptor’s art could make them. These were different. They were well sculpted, but they were not beautiful, because the things they showed could never be anything other than terrifying. There were great beasts and monsters seemingly composed of several animals put together, things out of legend and things out of nightmare.

            Scarlett mentally checked them off one by one as she identified them, picking out the griffon, the hippogriff, the manticore. There were a few that she could not identify though, stranger things that had no names in the legends Scarlett studied. Above them all, at the apex of the cave opening, sat a statue that was long and sinuous in design. It depicted a serpent, coiling around what appeared to be a boat in the same style as the one they were currently travelling in. It was enough to make Scarlett shudder.

            Mere statues were not going to stop her from getting to Rothschild though, assuming that he was indeed in the cave somewhere. Scarlett was going to find him, and then the nagging sense of loss that felt like a black hole within her would be gone. It was simply a question of getting to him.

            With Caesar as its pilot once again, the boat picked its way between the banks of rocks at the cavern’s entrance, until they were almost directly under the statues. The sail was down now, with Tavian and Cruces taking the oars instead to move the boat along. They moved another stroke along, past the entrance.

            Something fell into the water behind them with a splash, causing Scarlett to glance back to try to identify it. Judging from where it fell, it must have come from the row of statues above. There was not time to think about that for long though, because beneath them, in the water, something rumbled.

            “What’s that?” Scarlett asked.

            “I do not know,” Caesar admitted. “Perhaps…”

            The creature burst from the water in a shower of spray, its long, winding body still as thick around as Scarlett was tall. It was a serpent, though one with a head more like that of a lizard than a snake, and with rows of powerful teeth in its jaws rather than just a snake’s fangs. A crest of leathery skin surrounded its head, and its scales gleamed an iridescent silvery-blue as more and more of it shot up towards the ceiling.

            Then it plunged down.

            “Row!” Scarlett yelled, and both Cruces and Tavian hauled on the oars they held. It was barely enough. The plunging head of the serpent missed their boat by mere inches, sending a buffeting swell of spray over the side of the boat.

            “It will try to catch us coming up too,” Cruces warned, continuing to row hard. “Get ready to…”

            The serpent struck them this time. It was only a glancing blow, and Scarlett was glad of that, because those great jaws would easily have been enough to tear their boat apart had they fastened around it. Even so, it was enough to send her staggering, so that Cruces had to grab her wrist to keep her from falling into the water. The serpent plunged down again, missing them once more, though Tavian was able to lash out as it dropped, striking its head with the oar he held.

            Perhaps that was what prompted the creature to change tactics. Instead of making another of those breaching and plunging attacks, it rose to the surface slowly, its body forming a series of sinuous curves that mirrored the paths of the waves. Its tail flicked up and then down, striking the water and adding to those waves, so that a swell of sea water threatened to engulf the boat.

            “We have to turn!” Caesar called out, hauling on the tiller. Scarlett rushed over to help him as best she could, and together, they managed to turn the boat into the wave, so that it would not be swamped. Even so, Cruces and Tavian had to fight to stop the craft from being carried back into one of the walls of the cavern, while the water foamed over the side to drench them all.

            The serpent sent two more waves like that, each as big as the last. Each time, Scarlett and Caesar had to use all the strength they had to keep the boat aligned so that it would not capsize. Each time, Cruces and Tavian strained to keep them away from the rocks in the face of the tremendous force of the water.

            The serpent dove again then, and for several seconds, Scarlett lost sight of it. She knew it was down in the water somewhere, but she did not know what it had planned. In preparation for the moment when it might attack again, she drew the dagger her parents had given her. Cruces and Tavian seemed to have similar ideas of defending the boat, because they held their oars like quarterstaffs, ready to strike out at the monster should it come close.

            It surfaced again, close to the boat. Surrounding the boat, in fact, with the powerful coils of its body forming a ring of scales and muscle around it. Slowly, that ring tightened, and Scarlett guessed what it intended. It meant to crush the boat, and then pick them off one by one once the four of them hit the water.

            Scarlett wasn’t going to let that happen. She lashed out with her knife the moment the sea serpent was close enough, cutting a wound down its flank that made the beast roar in pain and anger. Cruces struck it with his oar, his vampire strength great enough to snap it. Tavian also struck out, his blows thudding home even though the snake’s scaly skin probably prevented most of the damage from getting through to it.

            None of that seemed to make any difference though. The blows were powerful, and Scarlett made the creature shriek each time she slashed at it, but they did not stop it from tightening its noose-like embrace around the boat. The serpent wrapped itself tightly around the small vessel, and squeezed despite their best efforts to prevent it. The boat creaked with the strain.

            Creaked, and then split. With a scream of tortured wood, the boat started to break apart. Scarlett clung to the side as the deck bucked, slashing at the monster around the boat with her dagger while both Cruces and Tavian continued to attack it with their oars. Cruces actually leaped onto the thing’s back, using his broken oar like a spear, yet still it made no difference. The serpent squeezed, and the boat buckled, its timbers splintering as the beast crushed them.