by William King
He took another step. “Why did you take the gem from the Triturids?”
“Is this to be an inquisition then, Guardian?”
“I am curious.”
“I am afraid I must keep the secret of the Teardrop of Leviathan to myself for a bit longer but rest assured the world will soon learn why. It is the key to my rightful kingdom.”
“I think King Aemon would disagree with you.” Kormak took another step.
The Kraken’s eyes narrowed and his mouth became a flat tight line at the mention of the king’s name. Pure hatred glittered in his eyes. “I don’t believe my brother has any say in the matter. And believe me, I will make a better king than he ever was.”
Once again there was the same sense of utter belief in the Kraken’s voice, a confidence that brooked no argument.
“You will never be king of anywhere,” said Rhiana. “You will pay for blood with blood.”
She advanced and for a moment the Kraken’s attention focused on her.
Kormak whipped his blade from the scabbard and moved towards the Kraken. Cat-quick, the sorcerer lifted the metal rod and parried the blow. Electric agony surged up Kormak’s arm, spasming his muscles. Stars flickered before his eyes. The smell of ozone filled the air. He had thought himself protected against magic but clearly this energy was not sorcerous. This was like being hit by a trapped thunderbolt.
Rhiana whipped back her arm and cast her harpoon-staff. It flashed through the air towards the Kraken. He stepped aside and the blade buried itself in the wall. With enormous effort Kormak forced himself to his feet. The Kraken’s eyes widened and he seemed to suddenly become aware of the danger he was in. He dived back through the door, shouting for aid. The armour gave his movement an inhuman sinister quality.
Rhiana leaned down and helped Kormak up, supporting him with one hand, while she held the package containing the armour in the other. With enormous effort, he stretched out his fingers and grasped the hilt of his dropped blade. He was not going to lose it now.
Feet thundered up the stairs. Rhiana tottered into the corridor. The sorcerer was nowhere to be seen. He would not need to fight himself when his men could do the killing and dying for him.
Rhiana pulled Kormak along towards the top of the stairs while he tried to regain control of his limbs. He reeled like a drunken sailor on a spree. A group of pirates appeared at the head of the stair. Rhiana whirled the bundled armour at their leader, catching him on the head with it. The man toppled and she leapt among them, striking left and right at them. A pirate fell with each blow, but they soon overcame their surprise and they had weapons and she did not.
Kormak half-fell into their midst, striking out clumsily with his sword. His razor sharp blade cut flesh and drew blood. In the half-light the confused pirates did not quite understand what was happening.
Control returned to his limbs. He began to move with his customary smoothness, cutting a crimson swathe down to the second landing. Soon he bled from a dozen small cuts. They stung more and more as the numbing effect of the Kraken’s magic wore off.
Behind him, Rhiana had picked up a cutlass and strode down the steps, striking anyone who seemed about to get behind Kormak.
Shouts echoed through the mansion. The pirates might be drunk but the prospect of battle had a sobering effect and sheer weight of numbers would be enough to pull them down in the end.
The Kraken’s men raced towards them as they reached the bottom of the stairwell. Kormak stepped to one side to let them pass, shouting, “Quickly! Someone tried to kill the captain.”
The drunken pirates met their comrades on the stair. Weapons clashed as fights broke out. Kormak knew the confusion would not last for long. He grabbed Rhiana by the hand and led her along the corridor in the direction of the entrance to the cellars.
Moments later they were racing downwards through the damp corridors. They slammed the door behind them and wedged it shut with Rhiana’s dagger. Kormak’s heart sank. He realised that the only way out was through the long water-filled tunnel and that the Quan might be waiting for them when they entered it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
KORMAK GAZED AT the dark shimmering surface of the pool. Rhiana stood at the edge, the bundle still on her arm. She studied Kormak with a critical eye. “Those cuts will need to be seen to. They may well attract sharks and other things once we are in the water.”
“We don’t have anything to bind so many wounds and we wouldn’t have the time to do so even if we did.”
“There’s another way,” she said. “You could get into the armour. It will trap any blood until we get back to the boat.”
“You’re determined to get me into it.”
“I would wear it myself but I don’t need it and I am not bleeding like a butchered steer.”
Kormak took a deep breath and contemplated the pool once. The sound of fists battering against the door echoed down the corridor. It would not take long for the pirates to break through.
“What exactly will this armour do for me?”
“It should provide you with air while you’re under water. It may also help you move. I suspect that Elder Sign will cause problems though.”
“I am not taking it off,” said Kormak.
“At least put the armour on.”
Kormak nodded. She unrolled the bundle and helped him into armour. The limbs of the suit were made from scaled metal, thin and flexible as cloth. It was heavy and cold as a suit of plate mail when he donned it. A strange tingling began as Rhiana’s fingers passed over the runes of the chestplate. The amulets on his chest heated. Crackling sounded in his ears.
Rhiana looked grim. “It’s not going to work properly while you wear that damn Elder Sign,” she said.
Behind them came the sound of shattering wood and howling voices. Splinters flew as men hacked at the door with blades.
“Well,” she said. “Too late to worry about things now. Unless you are keen to make a heroic last stand against an entire ship’s crew, I suggest we take our leave.”
She dived headlong into the water. Kormak stood for a moment, looked at the pool and then back to the entrance through which the pirates would come. Waiting here and getting himself killed would do no one any good. He jumped into the water.
Darkness rippled over his head. Rhiana’s glowing pearl lit the way into the narrow tunnel. He shuddered at the thought of passing back through it in the bulky armour. He cursed the merwoman for persuading him to don it.
The suit grew warmer but it did seem easier to move in once he was immersed. It flowed naturally with his movements. The crystalline visor made it easier for him to see in the gloom. The weight did not drag him down. Magic was at work here.
He did not dare to breathe.
Rhiana beckoned for him to follow and then swam on ahead. He followed her into the long dark tunnel. It seemed even more claustrophobic now that he wore the armour.
He forced himself through the gap, wriggling more than swimming. The crystal of the helmet grated against the stone, but the translucent material did not chip or shatter.
He kept moving. He was tired from the effort of fighting. His lungs were going to burst. His amulet grew hotter against his chest. He caught the smell of ozone within the suit.
He came to the bend in the tunnel but this time he was ready. He squirmed around and kicked out with his feet so that they hit the stone of the wall and propelled him forward. The impact jarred his whole body.
The greenish glow of the pearl lit the way ahead. His scabbarded sword dragged along the ceiling of the tunnel, slowing him.
Weariness and pain were taking their toll. His lungs felt as if they were going to explode if he did not take a breath.
The air left an acrid chemical taint on his tongue. He took another gulp, not sure what would happen once he had exhausted the air in the crystal helmet. He had heard of miners choking to death on bad vapours deep underground. Perhaps this would happen to him.
He pushed on along the tunnel
and out into the dark waters of the harbour. Ahead, Rhiana swam up towards a dark shadow that could only be their boat. Beneath him he thought he saw other dark shadows, heading upwards.
What were they? Sharks? Quan?
He pulled for the surface as strongly as he could, not wanting to be caught by anything large rising in these cold dark waters. Dizziness assaulted him. His breath emerged in ragged gasps. The Elder Sign burned against his chest.
He forced himself to keep swimming, moving upwards until his head broke the surface. He clawed at the seal of the helmet, trying to find the clasp, afraid that he would drown in the poisonous vapours while all around clean air blew past him on the harbour winds.
Nearby a dark fin broke the water’s surface and began to move towards him. He kept going towards the side of the ship, praying to the invisible sun that he would reach it before the fin reached him.
Rhiana pulled herself over the side of the small craft. The crew and Jonas greeted her.
He grew dizzier and dizzier. He considered stopping and drawing his sword. The open water between him and the boat looked like a short distance but at his swimming speed it might as well be the length of the harbour.
The boat came closer. The fin was closer still when he looked over his shoulder.
He emptied his mind, ignored his aching muscles and lungs, took one more stroke and then another. He reached the wooden side of the little craft. Rhiana reached over to pull him aboard. Other hands reached down to help.
Something touched his leg, pushing him up from below, out of the water and into the boat. He flopped down onto the wooden boards. Rhiana reached down and unhooked the helmet. He drank in the clean air. He luxuriated in the salty tang, the stink of the harbour, the distant blazing lights, the feeling of still being alive.
The shark had not attacked him.
Something heavy splashed. Droplets of water landed on his face, showering over all the sailors. A weird honking noise sounded. A sleek, finned shape flipped itself through the air and returned to the water.
He realised he had made a mistake. The fin belonged to a dolphin, not a shark.
He pulled himself upright and looked out at the lights of the Kraken’s palace. Men swarmed the walls now, carrying lanterns and torches. More pirates, brandishing swords, raced along the jetties to the moored boats. It was only a matter of time before they spotted Rhiana’s small craft.
“Get us out of here,” Rhiana said, her voice little more than a whisper. “Row. And someone give me a hand with the Guardian’s wounds.”
Without waiting for another word, the sailors began to pull towards the distant line of warehouses.
The tavern was brightly lit even this late at night. The sailors seemed happy. Rhiana had stowed the armour they had taken away in an oilskin wrap. The unguent Jonas had applied to Kormak’s wounds dulled their pain. Kormak was happy to be dressed once more in his tunic and britches. He longed for the reassurance of wearing his old armour. It had been a long and nerve-wracking night.
Jonas sipped at his wine and cast his glance between Kormak and the diver captain. “Well,” he said at last, “Did you get him?”
“He escaped us,” said Rhiana. “But we did at least reclaim my property.”
“That is a great consolation,” said Jonas. Irony dripped from his tone.
Kormak remained silent. Anything he said would sound like an excuse for failure, and with good reason. He had failed. The Kraken lived and could still go about whatever schemes he had devised. Worse than that, he knew that Kormak hunted him. He had lost the vital element of surprise. His target would take counter-measures. In this city, those might prove to be formidable. The Kraken was a captain as well as a sorcerer, and he was rich. He would be able to find powerful allies.
“It might be more useful than you think,” said Rhiana, unabashed by Jonas’s tone. “When properly configured that armour will let a man dive to the very bottom of the ocean.”
“Why would we need to do that?” Jonas asked.
“Wrong question,” Rhiana replied. “You should be asking why the Kraken needed to do that.”
“And I suppose you have an answer,” the priest said.
“He needed it to make contact with the Quan. They appeared about a month after he took the suit. The timing would be about right.”
“Fascinating,” said Jonas, in a manner that suggested his patience was wearing thin.
“And I learned something else. I saw the charts he was looking at. I know where he is heading.”
“Please don’t keep us in suspense, my lady,” said Jonas.
“He’s heading out to the Quaneth Deep.
“And what will he find there?”
“It’s not a place anybody goes, not even divers.”
“So you don’t know?” Jonas said.
“It is shunned for a reason. There are dark rumours about the place. It is right on the edge of the Sunken Kingdoms and the seabed there falls off steep as a cliff and maybe deep as a mountain is tall. The sea there is blighted and that blighting seems to rise out of the depths.”
Jonas gave a grim smile. “I must admit it does sound like exactly the sort of place I would expect the Kraken to go, but what was he seeking there?”
“Something connected to the Quan,” said Rhiana. “Legend has it they come and go from the Deep sometimes, the few of them that are left.”
“He picked up the Teardrop of Leviathan in Triturek,” said Kormak. “I doubt that is unconnected. Have you made any headway with those notes you collected from his ship?”
“Alas I have not had the time.”
“A pity. They might have given us some clue as to what he is up to.”
Jonas shrugged and said, “Well, Sir Guardian, what do you think we should do now?”
Kormak considered the options. “If worst comes to worst we should prepare ourselves for a long sea voyage,” he said. “It seems that sooner or later the Kraken is going to seek the Quaneth Deeps.”
Kormak looked at Rhiana. “Do you have a ship?”
“A small craft. It would be no match for the Kraken’s vessel and my crew is only a fraction of the size of his.”
A man entered the tavern, glanced around and made straight for the table. It was Terves garbed in a tunic and white shirt but still carrying himself with the gait of an old soldier. He made straight for the table and almost saluted when he reached Kormak.
“What are you doing here?” Jonas demanded.
Terves gave him a grim smile. “Looking for you. I’ve searched near every tavern in this hellhole town too.”
“Where’s Zamara? What happened to the Sea Dragon?”
“Best come and take a look for yourself. It will soon be light outside anyway.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ZAMARA’S SHIP NO longer flew a Siderean flag. It had been hastily painted black and it flew a black flag.
Zamara was no longer dressed as a noble of the Siderean court. He wore a simple red coat with a scarf tied around his head. His marines had removed the Star and Dragon emblem of Siderea from their shields, overpainting them with scores of new patterns. They peered over the sides of the ship as if expecting it to be stormed by the pirate hordes at any moment.
“You make a convincing looking corsair,” said Kormak as he surveyed the young nobleman.
Zamara gave a sour grimace. “I may have to become one in the not too distant future, if I cannot report success to His Majesty.” He shot a glance at Jonas to see how the priest took this. It was clear he was not entirely joking. His eyes lighted on Rhiana and he paused for a moment then gave her a smile. She smiled back.
Jonas said, “You took the ship into some backwater and repainted her, didn’t you? Shortened the masts, scuffed up the crew. A quick job of camouflage and then you came in.”
“It was pointless waiting out on the sea-lanes when the man we seek is in here.” He sounded convinced of that. Kormak remembered his first impressions of Zamara. The captain still sought glor
y. And he had no reason to return and report failure. It would cost him his head.
“Your help would have been useful last night,” said Jonas.
Kormak doubted that. There were not enough marines here to have made a difference storming the fortified manor. At least now, they had a ship with which to pursue the Kraken.
Even as that thought occurred to him, he saw the long lean form of the Ocean’s Blade moving away from the docks and out to sea. Her oars splashed rhythmically through the water. Zamara’s eyes followed his former flagship like those of a jealous lover watching an old flame depart with a new man.
Behind the Ocean’s Blade came the Kraken’s Reach, more massive even than the Sea Dragon. On her sterncastle stood the familiar commanding figure of the sorcerer. He surveyed the harbour with total arrogance. He knew every eye was watching his departure and wondering where he was going.
Just for a moment, Kormak saw a black-cowled figure looking out from one of the portholes in the sterncastle. At least one Quan lurked on board.
“Get ready to haul anchor, dogs,” Zamara bellowed at the crew. Kormak studied the two departing ships and did a quick head count. They pirates outnumbered them and they hunted two ships. The odds were not very good even with Rhiana’s men along to bolster their numbers. They had no choice but to pursue though. The alternative was to let the Kraken get away.
Rhiana looked at Zamara. “Give me an hour. There are things we need to find.”
“I am not sure I can. We might lose him.”
“I know where he is going,” she said. “And don’t worry, we will catch him.”
Zamara looked like he might disagree but Rhiana gave him a winning smile then looked at Kormak.
“We may need the armour,” she said. “I’ll have my men bring it.”