Sea Born (Chaos and Retribution Book 3)

by Eric T Knight

  On the other side of the room was a set of circular double doors. There was a horizontal depression in the doors, spanning about half the width. Set into the depression was a crystal. The crystal was several feet long and about as big around as a forearm. A yellow light emanated from it, pulsing slightly.

  “A glowing crystal,” Batu said. “I’m sure that’s a good sign. Can we leave now?”

  Karliss started towards it, but only made it about halfway across the room before he stopped. The crystal’s color had changed. It was now more orange than yellow and it was pulsing faster. Karliss rubbed his arms. He had a strange, prickly feeling on his skin. It was not a pleasant feeling at all.

  “Don’t come any closer,” he warned the others.

  “No chance of that,” Batu said. “Even from here I can feel it. It’s like snakes are crawling in my stomach.”

  “Any ideas what it is?” Hulagu asked. “Or what’s on the other side of it?”

  “No idea,” Karliss said.

  “Whatever is on the other side must be really important,” Batu said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because that thing was put there to protect it. You can’t open the door without removing it and who’s going to do that? I’m clear across the room and I feel terrible. Imagine what it’s like up close.”

  “How can you stand to be so close to it?” Hulagu asked.

  “I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem to bother me as much as it does you two.”

  “Comes with being the hero, I guess,” Batu said. Then, for no particular reason, he added, “I miss Sube,” and sighed a little.

  “You miss Sube, or you miss her cooking?” Hulagu asked.

  “Can’t it be both?”

  Karliss took a couple more steps forward. The prickly feeling intensified and he felt sick in the pit of his stomach. The room began to feel very hot.

  The crystal had gone from orange to red, and was pulsing faster.

  “Don’t touch that thing,” Batu warned.

  “I agree with him,” Hulagu added. Both of their faces were pale and they’d backed up into the short hallway, trying to get further away from the crystal.

  Karliss hesitated. What if the answer he sought was on the other side of that door? But what if he touched the crystal and killed himself? “Okay,” he said reluctantly.

  As he moved away the crystal changed from red to orange, and then back to yellow. He followed the other two back to the main room. Batu wiped sweat from his forehead and said, “Are you about done with the copying? If I don’t get outside and get some fresh air soon…I don’t know what I’m going to do, but it won’t be pretty.”

  “I’m with Batu,” Hulagu said. He looked a little like he wanted to throw up.

  “Why don’t you two go back outside and check on the horses,” Karliss said. “Let me finish up in here and I’ll come join you.”

  “Are you sure?” Hulagu asked. “I don’t want to leave you in here alone…”

  “Yes, he’s sure,” Batu said. “You heard him same as I did. See you in a bit, Karliss. Leave the crystal alone.” He was already hurrying out of the room as he spoke.

  Hulagu lingered behind. “You’re not going to go back in there and touch that crystal, are you?”

  “No, Hulagu, I won’t,” Karliss said, though the thought had already crossed his mind. He couldn’t leave here emptyhanded.

  “You don’t sound very positive.”

  “I won’t touch the crystal. You have my word on it.”

  Hulagu looked at him suspiciously for a moment longer, then followed Batu.

  Karliss went back to his copying. He finished a few minutes later. While waiting for the ink to dry so he could roll up the parchment, he took another walk around, hoping there was something he’d missed, something that might give him a clue as to how Unegen had translated the word of power.

  He walked into the room with the mummified body and stood looking down at it. “I wish you could talk,” he said. “I wish you could tell me how to translate those words.”

  He walked around the place for a while, looking at everything closely. He tried picking up the tablets, thinking there might be something written on the backs, but he couldn’t budge any of them. He couldn’t find the outlines of any more doors. There was nothing under the table. Eventually, discouraged, he ended up looking at the body again.

  He bent to examine it closer and for the first time noticed that one hand was clenched into a fist. Why? He looked at it from different angles, wondering if there was something in there. From one angle he thought he could see something bluish.

  He tried to pry the fingers open. When he did the whole hand broke off. “Sorry about that,” Karliss said, his face wrinkling in distaste. “But I guess you weren’t using it anymore.”

  He broke the fingers off, revealing a small, blue gem. “Look at that,” he said, and touched it.

  When he touched the gem something seemed to pass over him. The light in the room dimmed briefly, like a small cloud passing in front of the sun. He dropped the gem and looked around, suddenly disoriented. Where was he? He looked down at himself and was momentarily confused by what he saw. This wasn’t his body. It didn’t look familiar at all.

  Then the moment passed. He blinked, wondering what had just happened. It was as if for a moment he was someone else. He looked down at the gem. Whatever happened, it was caused by touching the gem.

  Using his janu to avoid touching it, Karliss picked up the gem and left the room. When he went over to the table he glanced at the tablets. For a split second he felt like he recognized the alien writing, but then it was gone. He felt a thrill of excitement. Was this how Unegen figured out the word of power? Did he also touch the gem?

  Karliss sat down in the strange chair. He unwrapped the gem, took a deep breath, and closed his fingers around it.

  Like before, he had the sense of something passing over him. A powerful shudder shook his body. He felt very strange. Something seemed terribly wrong. He looked at his hands and got a terrible jolt.

  They weren’t his hands.

  Alarmed, he jumped to his feet and backed away from the table. This wasn’t his body. Two of his arms were missing. What was going on?

  He heard a sound behind him and spun. There were two strange creatures over by the door, staring at him.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Who are you and how did you get in here?” he barked at them.

  They replied, but their words were gibberish. He backed away. They didn’t look like Devourers, but who knew what the denizens of the Abyss were truly capable of? He needed to use one of the control words to summon Shapers to defend him, but when he tried to say the words he found he couldn’t remember them.

  The strange creatures spoke again. Then they rushed at him. He tried to fight them, but he felt dizzy and weak and they quickly overpowered him. The big one held him tightly while the smaller one pried open his hand. He yelled at them to stop, but they ignored him.

  Karliss blinked. Hulagu had him in a bear hug. Batu was standing in front of him with an frightened look on his face. The blue gem was lying on the floor. “What happened?” Karliss asked.

  “Is it really you?” Batu asked suspiciously and poked him with one finger.

  “Yes, it’s me. You can let me go now, Hulagu.”

  Hulagu released him. Batu relaxed, but he was watching Karliss closely.

  “We got in here right about the time you jumped up from your seat. You shouted something at us in a language I’ve never heard before,” Hulagu said.

  “You looked at us like we were complete strangers,” Batu added.

  “You were. I didn’t recognize you at all. I didn’t recognize myself.” Karliss looked down at his hands. “I remember thinking that two of my arms were missing.”

  “What?” Batu asked. “Are you saying that you thought you were that thing in the other room?”

  “I think so.”

  “Where’d you get the
gem?” Hulagu asked.

  “He had it in one of his hands. After the first time I touched it, I looked at the tablets and had a feeling I almost knew what they said.”

  “So naturally you touched the gem again,” Hulagu said, “without telling us or anything.”

  “I thought it would be okay.”

  “Wait a minute,” Batu said. “You touched a strange gem you found in a god’s dwelling, that made you think you were someone else, and you thought it would be okay to touch it again? Are you mad?”

  “When you put it like that…” Karliss said.

  “You didn’t also touch the crystal, did you?” Hulagu asked.

  “No.”

  “That’s something. Did it work?” Hulagu asked.

  “Did what work?”

  “Can you read the words now?”

  “I don’t know.” Karliss hurried over to the table and looked at the tablets. “I can,” he said in wonder. He opened the ink, dipped the quill and began writing the words down as quickly as he could. By the time he got to the last couple of words his memory was starting to fade, but he thought he got them down right.

  “Any idea what the words do?” Hulagu asked him.

  “No. Maybe if I touch the gem again I can—”

  “No!” they both said together.

  “That’s a terrible idea,” Batu added.

  “The worst,” Hulagu agreed. “I thought we’d lost you.”

  “I came back though.”

  “This time,” Hulagu said grimly. “What if next time is different?”

  Karliss carefully wrapped up the gem and stuck it in his pocket. “I won’t touch it until I’ve tried everything else first, but I’m not leaving it behind.”

  They left the room and made their way back through the cave. “I’m glad we came back to check on you when we did,” Batu said.

  “We started to worry about you when you didn’t come out.”

  “We already saddled the horses so we can leave right away,” Batu added.

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to leave yet,” Karliss said. “I want to look around some more and make sure I didn’t miss anything.”

  “You got the words of power,” Hulagu said. “What more do you need?”

  “Well, for one I don’t know what they do. That would be useful, don’t you think?”

  Before Hulagu could reply, Batu, who had gone on ahead, reached the mouth of the cave and came to a dead stop.

  “Oh, crap…” he said.

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  “That can’t be good,” Hulagu said.

  At the foot of the scree slope scores of the barefoot strangers were gathered. They were all staring up at the three youths.

  “Where’d they come from so fast?” Batu asked. “They weren’t here a few minutes ago.”

  “Do you think you can handle this many of them at once?” Hulagu asked Karliss.

  “I don’t know,” he replied, “but I’m hoping I don’t have to. None of them are pointing anything at us.” It was true. Though all of them were clearly armed with spears, bows and knives, no one was threatening.

  “Let’s go down and see,” Karliss said, and he led the way down the scree slope.

  As he got closer he could see that although they were all dressed in raw furs like the ones they’d seen before, there was something added now.

  “I guess we know who made those bone sculptures,” Batu said.

  Every one of the strangers was wearing bones. They had bones on necklaces, bones hanging off their shoulders, from their belts, tied in their long hair. All types and sizes of bones, from complete snake skeletons to human hands and even skulls. Some were wearing so many bones it was almost armor, covering their bodies almost completely. At the front of the silent mass, standing in the middle with his arms crossed over his chest, was one man who was taller than the others. He had a human ribcage tied to his torso, the ribs splayed to curve around his body. Tied to the top of his head was the top of a human skull. The jaw was tied beneath his jaw. Fingerbones hung from his ear lobes. His whole face had been blackened with ash.

  “That guy is making me nervous,” Batu said. “I don’t want any parts of me hanging off him.”

  They reached the bottom of the slope and faced the silent warriors.

  “What do we do now?” Hulagu asked.

  “Don’t reach for a weapon,” Karliss said.

  “No chance of that,” Batu said. “I may be dumb, but I’m not that dumb.”

  Then, as if responding to some unspoken command, the strangers parted. A lane opened up down the middle of their ranks.

  “I think they want us to leave,” Batu said.

  “Me too,” Hulagu agreed.

  Karliss took a deep breath and walked into the opening. He and his friends made their way through the massed strangers, the only sound that of bones clinking against each other as the strangers turned to watch them when they passed. With every step Karliss’ skin prickled as he waited for the first arrow or spear thrust, but nothing happened.

  They reached the far side and found three of the strangers waiting, holding their horses. They held out the reins when the companions walked up.

  “Nice of them not to eat our horses,” Batu said.

  Karliss took the reins handed to him reluctantly. “I wanted one more look around in there.”

  “Maybe next time,” Hulagu said. “Now are you going to get on your horse or do I have to tie you on?”

  When they were all mounted, one of the strangers came up and handed Hulagu a stick from which hung two freshly-skinned rabbits. Hulagu took the rabbits with a nod of thanks. After handing the rabbits over, the man stepped back and pointed at the crack in the rocks where they entered.

  “Seems pretty clear to me,” Batu said. “Let’s go.” Without waiting for the others, he spurred his horse to a trot.

  Karliss and Hulagu followed. At the entrance to the defile, Karliss turned and looked back. The strangers were still standing there, watching them.

  “I have a feeling I’ll be back here,” he said, then followed his friends into the defile.

  Chapter Twenty

  “What was that all about, do you think?” Batu asked once they’d made it through the defile.

  “I think that’s a holy place for them,” Karliss said.

  “That would explain the bone things and the fact that none of them live in there,” Hulagu said.

  “Well they can keep it,” Batu said. “I’m happy to be done with the place.”

  “I would’ve liked another day,” Karliss said.

  “But you got what we came for,” Batu said.

  “I did. I wish I knew what the words do.”

  “Can’t you just experiment with them?” Batu suggested.

  “I’m probably going to have to, but I’m not that excited about it. These things are dangerous. There’s no telling what I might unleash.”

  “Let us know when you get ready so we can watch from far away,” Batu said. “It’s safer for everyone like that.”

  “I wonder who built that place,” Karliss said, “and what it’s for. I wonder what’s behind that door?”

  “No one will ever know,” Batu said.

  Something occurred to Karliss then. “Kasai said he was looking for a key and once he found it he would rule the world. Maybe the key is what’s behind that door.”

  “All the more reason to leave the door closed,” Hulagu grunted.

  “Maybe if I hold onto the gem again I can find out,” Karliss said.

  “But not right now, right?” Batu asked.

  “This is not a good time,” Hulagu agreed.

  “I wasn’t planning on doing it now. And I’ll be sure to tell you when I do.”

  “When he does, I say we tie him up,” Batu said.

  “He would be easier to handle that way,” Hulagu said.

  “No one’s tying me up.”

  “Only a suggestion,” Batu said.

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  Tha
t night Karliss dreamed.

  He was falling. He fell for a long time. He struck the ground hard and lay senseless. When he recovered enough he sat up and looked around.

  He was sitting on barren rock. There were no plants of any kind growing anywhere. Thick clouds filled the sky. It was raining and the rain had made puddles on the bare rock. Nearby was the sea. The waves crashed against the barren rock. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.

  Around him were others of his kind, all sitting up and looking around in confusion as he was. Two more fell out of the sky and struck the ground. Though they were formless—as he was—he recognized some of those around him, but he did not know their names. Nor did he know his own name. He tried to remember who he was, where he had come from, but he could find only hazy images of another world that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

  They had a purpose, he and his fallen brethren. Something they were supposed to do. He pondered it, trying to remember what it was. Vaguely he remembered that they had come here, to this lifeless planet, to protect something. The masters had hidden something and he and his brethren were here to protect it. There were frightening beings that wanted whatever it was. They would do anything to possess it.

  He tried to remember what the thing was they were supposed to protect, but he couldn’t. All he knew was that if the frightening beings got hold of it, the consequences would be dire. But how could he and his brethren protect this thing if he couldn’t remember what it was or where it was? The thought alarmed him.

  He remembered something else: some of the masters were supposed to be here on this world. The masters would meet with him and the others and give them their orders. The masters would give them their purpose. But where were they? Why had they not shown up?

  He saw movement and turned his head. Someone new had arrived. A tall being wreathed in shifting shadows, two ice-blue eyes gleaming in its head.

  He had a sense of danger and he tried to get up and run away, but his limbs were not yet formed and he could do nothing with them. His brethren were also trying to flee, but the most they could do was wriggle helplessly. The shadow being strode among them and as he went shadows poured out of his body like smoke and wrapped around them.