Salt Storm: The Salted Series: Episodes #31-35

by Galvin, Aaron

  I don’t know how I found my way, said Kellen, fighting against the memory of his wounding and then falling into darkness as his blood swirled around him. Staring into Nyx’s gaze, Kellen forced a smile, reminded of both the mother he knew ashore and the one before him who he had first witnessed when awaking in the deep. I don’t know how all this happened, but I’m glad you were there to find me. That you’re here with me now.

  I am always with you, my son, said Nyx, rising above him with a swish of her tentacles to give him a cold kiss upon his brow. She relented a moment later, sinking back down to look at him eye-to-eye once more. And I shall never doubt you.

  And Erebus? Kellen asked. All the other Sancul we’re supposed to meet? What about them?

  Leave them to me, said Nyx. Your father too. Despite all that time has passed, I fear he is now as he was then before your maiming. Still holding to his old ways and his own sense of right from wrong.

  And he thinks I’m wrong . . . said Kellen.

  No, said Nyx, sweeping in to embrace him once more. No, my son. It is because you were right that your father yet holds to his resentment. Why he clings to your silent and stilted brother still, rather than dare himself to face you and your questions. Your judgement. Aye . . . say rather why he will not face you and admit his own failings.

  What failings? Kellen asked. What did I ever do to Erebus to make him hate me so much?

  Nothing of your own fault, said Nyx, offering him a small, but sad, smile. The birth of you and your brother was but a pair of wedges between he and I. From the moment I held you and Hypnos both, your father understood that he then became the lesser of my focus. Aye, that I would forever after serve my sons’ needs over my selfish wants and your father’s also.

  Then why don’t you look to Hypnos too? Kellen dared to ask, noting the furrow of her brow as he did. Why don’t you try to help him speak?

  Speak? Nyx scoffed. No. Your brother’s mind is broken. If not for the love I bear your father, I would have mercifully ended Hypnos’s suffering long ago myself. Aye, and sent him on to find you in that other shadowed realm, Beyond, that the pair of you might be rejoined and wait for me there too.

  Kellen recoiled at the ease with which she had implied her notion of a merciful act to free Hypnos of his current condition. His mind isn’t broken though. Kellen thought to himself, reflecting on the conversations he and Hypnos had together inside a dream state that the meek Sancul had brought him into. Hypnos is alive and well inside whatever dream world of his that it is he pulled me into. Kellen trembled at the memory. And Moros lives there with him too. Kellen chewed on the knowledge he had witnessed, wondering what he could say to help Nyx understand, remembering all the while of Hypnos’s continued warnings to not speak of their conversations together in that dream-like realm of subconscious sleep.

  Nyx stirred in front of him. What is it, my son? She asked. What troubles you?

  Hypnos, Kellen answered her, pausing to choose his words carefully to be wary of Hypnos’s warning to not betray him to Nyx or the other Sancul. It’s just . . . I don’t like seeing him how he is now.

  Nor I either, said Nyx. But I fear our Hypnos will never return to us as he once was. In truth, his sickness grows stronger with each passing day.

  Sickness? Kellen asked.

  You have not noticed? Nyx asked, her brow furrowing.

  I have, Kellen lied. But, when I asked Erebus, he said it was because Hypnos had used his powers to bring down the whale whose blood helped to heal me.

  Your father would believe that, said Nyx, her lip curling. And he would be wrong there also. It is a sickness long held that weakens your brother now, my son. A deathly one too, I fear. It takes a mother to know. Of late, your brother will not eat more than a few morsels. Even then, he does so only at your father’s constant prodding of him. To my mind, aye, and my father’s also, I believe Hypnos has fought against the sickness that weakens his mind and body all these long years, if only that he might see you return again. Now that you have, I think our Hypnos understands he no longer needs to struggle against the feverish sick burning through him.

  You think he’s really dying, then . . . said Kellen.

  Nyx frowned. I think your brother has been dead to this world since you left it, my son. The pair of you were never far from one another. She touched her belly as if she could feel the pair of them stirring within her still. Finding her movements watched by Kellen, Nyx offered him another sad smile. Your departure from this world harmed us all, my son, but none more so than your brother. I hold no doubt Hypnos would have followed you on to the next life too were it not for the likewise love that he bore for his own children and your father too.

  Children? Kellen asked. Hypnos has kids?

  Nyx laughed. You do not recall them either? she asked. Pity. They will be most disheartened to receive such news. Aye, though, Hypnos has his children, she continued, her gaze sharpening as she did. Though in truth they are children no longer. Your niece and nephews have long since grown, my son. You will meet them again, soon. Father means for us to journey onward to them and all our kin long hidden away in shadow. He claims our victory here will soon spread for all in the Salt to hear and tremble at, our ascent serving to call the banners of all our people. I have little doubt that even now the Thousand Sons of Somnus await us, aye, and with all their Shadowed Sisters too. She touched Kellen upon the cheek once more. No doubt the ones we left to watch over and wake them will be anxious to see their favored uncle returned as well. Her smile widened. Aye, the Oneiroi Three will be most pleased to see you again, my son.

  Aw-nee-what? Kellen asked.

  The Oneiroi Three, Nyx clarified. Your nephews and niece. I feel them watching us in the darkness even now with the powers your brother gifted them. She closed her eyes in revelatory vision. Watching . . . listening. She reopened her eyes. They wait for us at the root of Lethe with the Mother of Masks.

  Kellen glanced around the darkness, his skin prickling again, though he saw no sign of other Sancul around them. I don’t understand, he said to Nyx. We’re going to them?

  Aye, said Nyx, reopening her eyes. A dark journey lies before us ere we reach the Dream-Weavers’ cave and gather all our strength for the final ascendancy.

  But what about Hypnos? Kellen asked. You said he was sick . . .

  He is, my son, said Nyx. And Father believes it may well be the Oneiroi Three and their masked mother are the only hope for Hypnos. His only chance to survive and witness all that we have labored over in your absence to come to fruition.

  Doubt nagged at Kellen as Nyx pulled at him to follow her out of the Orphan Knoll dungeons.

  Nyx turned back. What troubles you my son?

  If these Oneiroi can help Hypnos, why haven’t you taken him there before?

  Nyx smiled in such a way that set Kellen to shivering anew. Because you were not here then, my favored son, said she. Nor was the power that you took with you when you left this world to explore that other mystic realm, Beyond, for still more answers to the deepest mysteries of all.

  Kellen nodded then, if only to sate the questioned look in her eyes at his continued queries. He followed Nyx out of the water-filled dungeons, then left the drowned fighting pits and the Selkie dead behind to seek out the other Sancul.

  ***

  The pair ascended in their swim to reach the others, finding Kanaloa alongside Erebus atop a cliffside stairs. Reaching them, Kellen remembered once having looked down upon the Selkie fighting pits from the same vantage point he swam over now.

  The largest and strongest of the Sancul, Erebus seemed to hover off the stony floor, his tentacles spread wide, over and across the cliffside like far-reaching moss that had never known a trimming blade. He used a pair of his monstrous tentacles to gingerly hold and maneuver the most withered of the Sancul.

  Hypnos rested in his father’s tentacle grip, his head lolled back, his eyes dimmed. In them, Kellen saw nothing of the former light that he recalled blazing in the sickly S
ancul’s gaze when Hypnos had used his powers to bring down the Ancient whale and help to heal Kellen’s shattered form.

  Kanaloa, the elderly priest of darkness and deep, tread water over them both whilst using a pair of his own tentacles to touch on either side of Hypnos’s head. Seeing them bonded, Kellen imagined the sickly Sancul like an outlet that Kanaloa used his tentacles to reap power from.

  Despite his father’s grasp to hold him, the whole of Hypnos’s body trembled like one with a cold they could not shake, nor hope to be warmed of.

  Nyx settled in beside them. How does he fare, husband?

  Not well, said Erebus. I fear the journey here has sapped him of what little strength he had remaining to him after using his powers on the Ancient beast in Mnemosyne. I do not think it wise to move him for this journey the pair of you have planned. He gave a threatening look to the elderly priest beside him.

  Kanaloa’s eyes fluttered open. And yet we will bear our Hypnos away all the same. His tentacles pulled away from Hypnos. For your wounded son wishes it of us.

  Erebus sneered. How do you claim to know what my son would wish?

  He has shown me the way, said Kanaloa. Just now when I touched him and asked him speak to me.

  Strange he should do so for you now, but has never answered my begging of the same, said Erebus.

  Or perhaps he understood you would not listen, Kanaloa chided him. Perhaps you did not ask the proper questions he desired to answer.

  Nyx used one of her tentacles to reach out and graze the arm of Erebus to quiet him. Then, she looked to Kanaloa. What did Hypnos say, Father?

  Truly, now, as all the times before, he said nothing, said Kanaloa. It was that which he showed me that spoke of his desire – a bed of ebony-make, and a pair of ancient doors amid the likewise darkness.

  Doors? Erebus asked.

  Aye, said Kanaloa. One of glistening, coral ivory, the other liken to a truss brimmed with reef and sea-grass that fluttered in the currents.

  Nyx stirred. What lay beyond the doors, Father? Did you open them?

  No, for the sight beyond and choice of which to enter was not offered unto me, said Kanaloa, his focus drifting toward Kellen.

  Me? He asked.

  Aye, favored one, said Kanaloa. I saw the choice lain before you whilst Hypnos lay upon his bed of ebony-make, tended to by his lady wife, the Mother of Masks.

  Mother of Masks, indeed, Erebus spat the moniker. What good should come of us taking Hypnos back to that wretch and his former home? She had no use for Hypnos after his maiming. Why should she look to tend him now?

  Time heals many wounds, my son, said Kanaloa.

  Does it heal abandonment? Erebus asked. For that be all that I saw my son’s precious wife and their children do for him. Or two of the Oneiroi Three, rather. Morpheus at least had some sense about him to come and visit his father whenever he managed to sneak away before the others took him back.

  Peace, husband, please, said Nyx.

  Erebus scoffed. Aye, I should think to keep such peace by remaining here with our son, he said to Nyx. Perhaps you ought to allow Hypnos and I to stay here whilst you take this supposed other one with you. He glared at Kellen. What say you to these ill plans, Creature? Was the destruction of this despicable hall of villainy not all that you saw in your supposed visions? Not enough murder and death for you here? Hmm? No, you see still more for us and our people. He clutched Hypnos closer, his voice softening. Or perhaps you’re coming among us was for a deeper purpose . . . to destroy us from within and set us to civil war again, perhaps?

  Kellen’s experiences with his own father ashore reminded him it was better to keep silent when anger took an elder. Though he had often given himself over to his resentment rather than reason ashore, he needed only look to the unmatched strength of Erebus adorning the surrounding cliffside to reconsider such impulses of childish aggression.

  Again, Nyx came to his aid. Husband, she said softly to Erebus. You wrong him to speak so now.

  Do I? Erebus challenged her. I think we had all finally come to know some greater peace since the last war, after Moros were vanquished. I find the old ways of in-fighting and doubt oddly returned now with the emergence of this . . . Creature . . . that you and the others would have me believe is our dead son resurrected.

  Kanaloa chuckled. Even still you slander him so? After all you have seen, Erebus . . . how is it you fail to recognize that the one who swims before you is indeed your son, Moros, returned to us?

  That creature is not my son, Erebus thundered, using one of his tentacles to point at Kellen’s chest. With the others, he raised Hypnos for all to look upon. Here is the only son I have left. I will not see him brought to further harm for whatever shared plans the rest of you hold so dear.

  It is not our plans alone, my son, Kanaloa whispered. Hypnos would have this destiny also . . .

  Speak not to me of destiny, old one, Erebus spat. Nor of my son’s supposed wants.

  Kanaloa swam closer. Let Hypnos show you himself, then. Reach out, Erebus, said the eldest of the Sancul, curling the tip of one of his tentacles around another belonging to Erebus then bringing it toward Hypnos’s temple. Aye, reach out . . . Kanaloa whispered. Let you ask your fallen son what he would have of us now. Ask him to show you the way to his healing . . . or say rather, what may be his final request.

  Final request? Erebus hesitated, his tentacle pulling away from the face of Hypnos. No . . . He slithered free of the elder’s grasp. I will not be lured by your taunts and tricks, Kanaloa. You think I do not know that by doing so you should show me whatever desires I would wish to have? I know your wares, wizard.

  Nyx swam forward, taking up her father’s claim over Erebus. And mine, husband? She asked, using her own lighter grip to touch upon him. Do you think I should play such tricks upon you too?

  Doubt clouded the face of Erebus. In truth, wife, I fear the answer there also. Now, more than ever before.

  Ask him, she whispered, bringing Erebus’s tentacle toward their sickly son. Ask our Hypnos what he would have us do for him now . . . and let you ask your questions without doubt to cloud your sight and mind. She took her own tentacle away, leaving the choice to Erebus as to move forward or no with the decision. Aye, husband, she whispered, even as she drifted away from him and swam closer to Kellen instead. Let you ask our Hypnos with the same love and care that you have watched over him with since we brought him into this world. If it is truly a final request that he wishes of us, let you ask our dear Hypnos what he would have of us before he journeys Beyond.

  Kellen’s skin tingled as Nyx swept behind him and placed her cold fingers upon his shoulders as if meaning to steady her position in the water. Despite her moving behind him, however, Kellen could not take his gaze away from Erebus upon the cliffside.

  The monstrous Sancul was seemingly loathe to touch the feverish face of his stilted son, the question of whether he dared to do so or no living in the dark eyes of Erebus.

  Kellen tensed when the father made his choice, resting the smooth side of his tentacle against his son. Show him, Hypnos, Kellen prayed then that the sickly Sancul would hear and read his thoughts as he had always believed Hypnos capable of. Show Erebus the same things you have done for me. That you’re still alive and well inside. He squinted when the dimness in Hypnos’s eyes began to spark and Erebus’s tentacle stiffened with a seeming electric, invisible charge. Show him that Moros is alive somewhere in there with you too, Hypnos. Kellen’s eyes widened at Erebus grunting, his face twisting for the lingering bond between the Sancul father and son. Show your father how we can get rid of Moros for good and all.

  Hypnos’s eyes had not come to full blaze before the light in them died. The sickly Sancul’s body faltered also, his shoulders slumping, head lolling back like one passing out into an unconscious state.

  Erebus too fell back, released from whatever hold that Hypnos kept him transfixed by. Panting, Erebus looked from one Sancul to the other, lingering on Kellen last of al
l.

  Kanaloa grinned. Do you see now, Erebus? That which your son would have of you?

  Aye, Erebus croaked, his haze never leaving Kellen’s. I see it now.

  What? Kellen wondered, goose-pimples prickling up his arms as Nyx released her hold over him to swim back to Erebus instead. What did you see, Erebus? He glanced at the slumbering Hypnos too. What did you show him, Hypnos? Not Moros, Kellen gathered. If Erebus had seen Moros there, he would probably kill me right now for having proof of all the lies I’ve told to survive this far.

  For whatever Erebus saw, he made no mention of it as Nyx came to embrace him. Even then, he gave her no affection. To Kellen’s mind, Erebus paid no mind to any other among their company but him.

  The surrounding water trembled with the self-made current of Kanaloa lifting off from the cliffside. Come then, my family, he said. Let us seek out Black Keerie and lure her from this place that we might all swim away together.

  Nyx beamed at the eldest Sancul. To the Cavern of Somnus then, Father? She asked. To the Mother of Masks and her Oneiori Three.

  Aye, we shall see them all in due time, said Kanaloa. But, first, we go to meet with another. For weak and sickly as our Hypnos may appear, it seems to me now that he holds to some inner strength . . . some want to see us victorious in the coming war . . . and he has shown me the way to still more allies too.

  Moros, he means, Kellen thought, but did not say, he not knowing whether Kanaloa spoke such things to tempt into speaking or no. Did you see living him in there with Hypnos like I did, Kanaloa? Did Hypnos show you that too? And if he did, why now and not ever before?

  A thousand questions of similar note ran through Kellen’s mind, and with none of the answers to come as the Erebus gathered up Hypnos to swim away after Kanaloa.