Ocean Of Fear (Book 6) (17 page)

“I knew I could trust you to see things at their darkest, Guardian,” said Jonas. His teeth were brilliant white when he smiled but there was no mirth in his eyes.

Zamara’s gaze flickered between the two of them. He was a Siderean. His nation’s great cities lay on its long coastline. Its wealth came from the sea. Its empire throve on maritime trade. He had witnessed what a single Quan could do with his own eyes. “We need to stop him,” he said.

“We need to kill him,” said Rhiana. “And we need to make sure that his dark knowledge dies with him.”

All of them nodded agreement.

Zamara laid out his charts on the desk. They were far less complete than the ones Kormak had seen back in the Kraken’s palace. They showed open ocean with a scattering of islands along with warnings of whirlpools and sea monsters and other things. The fancies of the cartographers had got the better of them. They had spent more time embellishing the cartouches than making the chart.

Even the Sidereans, the greatest seafarers among the Sunlanders, had very little knowledge of this part of the ocean. The borders of the maps were so elaborate because the map-makers knew so little about the area they were illustrating.

How had the Kraken come by his charts? He doubted he would ever get the chance to find out.

“If your memory is correct, milady,” Zamara said. “We should arrive over the Quaneth Deeps in less than a day. If we don’t overhaul the Kraken before then.”

“Or he does not summon another of his giant pets to be rid of us,” said Jonas. His tone was dark. Kormak could not blame him for that. The thought of encountering another such beast so far out in the ocean was not a reassuring one.

“If we encounter the monster we will be better prepared this time.” Zamara said. “We have pots of alchemical fire ready and you can bet the men in the crow’s nest are keeping their eyes peeled for any disturbances. There are men beside the war-engines day and night ready to spring into action as soon as the warning is given.”

Zamara was saying this as much for his own benefit as theirs. He seemed to need reassurance that all would go well.

Rhiana said, “He can only summon the monsters if there is one in the waters nearby.”

“How can you be certain of that?” Zamara asked.

“When you last encountered him, he did not summon a deep dweller straight away, did he? He did not bring one in to shatter your fleet when it waited in the river mouth.”

“True,” Zamara said. “But there must be plenty of monsters out there now.”

“No. And I will tell you when there are,” Rhiana said.

“And how will you know?”

“It is a gift of mine. It has kept me alive for a long time now.”

“Let’s hope you stay that way,” said Jonas. Rhiana gave him her ravishing smile. Clearly she was less worried about the ship going down out here than they were. That too was understandable. If worst came to worst she could swim home. The rest of them would not be so lucky.

“If we do overtake the Kraken, he has two ships to our one,” Kormak said looking at the captain. “How do you intend to deal with those odds?”

“If we can we will board and retake the Ocean’s Blade,” Zamara said. “And then we will sink the Kraken’s Reach.”

“That’s your plan?”

“He has no more than a skeleton crew on the galley, and we have a double compliment of warriors thanks to Captain Rhiana. My men know how to sail that galley. If we seize it, we can use it.”

He sounded like what he was, a desperate man trying to convince others they had a chance.

“There is at least one Quan on the Kraken’s Reach,” Kormak said.

“Then we shall rely on you to kill it, Sir Kormak,” said Zamara. “And the sorcerer as well.”

 
“Does anybody have anything to add? Anything you would like to share? Now is not the time to be keeping secrets. All our lives are going to be at risk before sunset tomorrow...”

No one said anything. “Very well then,” said Zamara. “You can get some sleep.”

It was clear he was going to be spending the night on deck, wrapped in his cloak. He was a diligent ship’s master.

KORMAK STOOD ON the forecastle, looking out into the night. Something slid through the water ahead of them, riding the bow wave. He sensed the presence of Rhiana behind him, caught her faint salty scent.

“The dolphin has been with us since we left Port Blood,” he said.

“How can you be sure it’s the same one?”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“It is your familiar?”

She laughed. “You think I am some sort of witch.”

“I have heard it said that the Sea Folk bonded with dolphins and seals and other aquatic creatures, even whales.”

“Your education covered that did it?”

“My education covered many things.”

“I’ll bet.”

“Is it your familiar?”

“You don’t give up do you?”

“It’s not in my nature.”

“Yes. It is my familiar. What are you going to do now? Ask the priest to burn me?”

“No.”

“I thought that is what your Order did, when it wasn’t bribed to leave well alone.”

“My Order hunts Old Ones who break the Law. Men too, mostly wizards.”

“I have heard otherwise.”

“Perhaps because it sometimes is otherwise.”

She came round to stand beside him. He was very aware of her nearness. Her strange eyes caught the light. At that moment she did not look very human. “My Order consists of men. Some men are weak. Some men take bribes. It does not mean that all men do.”

“You exonerate your brethren so easily don’t you? It’s always easy for you priests.”

“I am not a priest. I am a soldier.”

Her mouth twisted in a faint moue of disapproval.

“You don’t like priests, do you?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“They don’t like me. They don’t like anybody who is not what they define as human.”

“People are like that.”

“Again, you let your people off so easily.”

“I know what it is like to be an outsider,” he said.

“At least they think you are human.”

“I know some people who think Aquileans have horns, tails and cloven hooves.”

She laughed. “Do you?”

“Only the hooves. That’s why I wear boots.”

“Was it part of your cunning plan to infiltrate the Order of the Dawn?”

“Yes. What’s it like?”

“What’s what like?”

“Being down there in the depths, swimming among the rubble of kingdoms.” He was curious, as he often was about things he would never experience. It had led to some interesting conversations with Old Ones in his time.

“It’s strange and it’s beautiful. There are things that can stagger you with their loveliness. There are monsters that would give you nightmares. Well maybe not you, but you know what I mean. It is home for me in a way that the surface never really will be. It’s funny I sometimes think I have more in common with the Quan than with you surface dwellers.” She said it as if confessing to an unmentionable sin.

“They say the Old Ones made your people, just as they made the Quan.”

“They did not make the Quan. In ancient days the squid folk fought with the Old Ones and lost. Dhagoth enslaved those who survived. He made them his servants and his hunters. He used them to fight his enemies. He turned their last Leviathan into his palace. At least so my people believe.”

“The Old Ones did make your people though.” He was not sure why he was pushing that point home. Maybe he just wanted to get some reaction, see some emotion appear in those extraordinary eyes.

“So the Elders used to claim. They took ordinary human fisher-folk and transformed them. That is why we are still blood kin to the people of the Land. We still have much in common even if the Old Ones altered our lungs to let us breathe under the sea. The Quan came from somewhere else though, a different world beyond the sky.”

Kormak paused to consider the vista of the vast expanse of time and space conjured up by her words. How little they knew of the Old Ones and what they had done. They had bent entire peoples to their will before civil war brought their empire crashing down. Now all that was left were a few survivors of a race that had once been close to gods.

He thought of the gigantic statue he had seen emerging from the sea. Perhaps the same was true of his own people. Perhaps those who claimed that the world was caught in an inevitable downward spiral to chaos and destruction were correct.

“You are looking unusually thoughtful,” Rhiana said.

“It happens sometimes,” Kormak said. He smiled. “The fit always passes though.”

“Ever the man of action, eh?”

“Yes,” he said.

“I think you do yourself a disservice.”

Kormak shrugged and looked into her alien eyes, wondering what was passing through her mind. “We will see action soon enough,” he said.

She looked off into the distance, in the direction in which he suspected the Kraken’s craft lay. “I wonder what he is up to. He has spent years planning this and as much treasure as any man could use in a normal lifetime.”

“Some men desire things other than money. Some use it as a tool.” He did not want to tell her what Jonas had told him about the Kraken’s relationship with King Aemon. He had been given the knowledge in trust. She might have heard the Kraken talk about his brother, but he did not need to confirm any suspicions she might have.

“Or perhaps he plans on living longer than a normal lifetime. The Quan had that secret and if he becomes a lifestealer then he will have it too.”

Kormak considered this. He had met many men whose ambitions had reached far beyond those of ordinary mortals. He had killed most of them.

He wondered if he would succeed this time or whether it would be his own life that ended. Every time he set out on a mission that possibility arose. The odds foretold that one day death would claim him as it had claimed other Guardians.

It came to him then that the sea made him uneasy. He did not like being confined aboard a ship. He did not like the idea that if this floating wooden platform was lost so was his life. His skill at arms would make no difference so far out of sight of land. Mortal strength would not save him. He relied on this vessel and its crew.

Their vessel was huge and strong, but he had seen seas whose waves could swallow it like a shark taking down a minnow. He thought of the Kraken and the giant squid he had summoned. If such a thing were to attack them now, it would not matter whether he could kill it. They were too far from land to ever make their way back.

“What troubles you, Sir Kormak?” Rhiana asked.

“I find I do not like the idea of spending too much time at sea,” he said.

She smiled that dazzling smile. “I am the same on land. I never really feel at home there in the thin air and bright sunlight.”

Her smile vanished like the moon going behind a cloud. “I fear though that this matter will be resolved beneath the water. There is no land at the spot marked on the Kraken’s charts. He seeks something beneath the sea and if I read those charts aright it will be down deep. I fear that is where Leviathan lurks.”

And there it was, Kormak thought. She had put her finger on what was troubling him. He had a foreboding that he was going to have to go deep beneath the waves and face the Kraken and the Quan in their own environment.

“You don’t think we will overhaul him before he reaches it.”

She shook her head. “Not with these winds and these currents. We will not be too far behind him though. At very least we will have the opportunity to sink his ship. Perhaps we can do it before he goes into the Deeps.”

“That’s something at least,” Kormak said.

 
“If he does go below I will follow him,” Rhiana said. She waited for him to say something.

“As will I,” he said. “I have come this far to get him. I will go as far as it takes.”

The sun’s light on his face woke Kormak. He had slept on the sterncastle wrapped in his cloak. Rhiana stood nearby, hand cupped over her eyes, looking into the distance.

“They will spot the Kraken’s ships soon,” she said.

Kormak pulled himself upright. “You think?”

“I know.” She sounded certain. He did not bother to ask her how she could be. She had senses other than he did and she could use those of her familiar too, no doubt.

The lookout cried
sail ho
from overhead. Zamara shouted orders. The drums started beating, summoning the crew to their battle stations. Frater Jonas stepped up to the sterncastle and began to bless them all. For once the sailors stopped swearing and mouthed the words of the prayers. At such a time it did not hurt to make sure you stood in the Light of the Holy Sun. From force of habit, Kormak found himself saying the words himself.

Rhiana picked up a long spear she had brought. It looked like a harpoon. She tested its balance. She looked uneasy as the crew made their devotions.

Ahead of them the sleek lines of the Ocean’s Blade pierced the horizon. Someone aboard the ship had noticed the pursuit. Its many oars moved like the legs of a centipede as the trireme came round to face them.

It brought its ram into attack position and narrowed the ship’s profile, making it a harder target for their missile weapons. It came to Kormak that they could lose this fight even if they won it. If the beak of the ram stove in their sides, the Sea Dragon would go down along with its prey. They would never make it home to land.

A short distance from the Ocean’s Blade lay the Kraken’s Reach. It too was preparing for war. Men flooded onto its decks and began to man catapults and ballistae. The sea anchor was being hauled up and sail added as the ship swung around into a position to attack.

Kormak took a deep breath and ran through the calming exercises he had been taught back on Mount Aethelas. He would worry about such troubles when they happened.
 

More and more crossbowmen moved around him, taking up firing positions on the forecastle. The ballista was crewed. The acrid tang of alchemical fire made Kormak’s mouth dry. Rhiana’s nostrils flared in distaste. Incongruously the dolphin flashed from the water as if leaping with joy.