Call of Kerberos: Twilight of Kerberos, The - Jonathan Oliver Page 0,103

shoulders brushed the sides of the narrow corridor, and twice he stumbled in the candlelit gloom, falling over ropes and thudding into crates. Eventually they reached a box room, the walls of which had been daubed with the symbol of the Faith. In the centre stood a pedestal supporting a bowl of water.

Kelos shuffled in beside Spalding and looked up at him expectantly.

"So, are we going to talk to her, or did you just want to get close to me?"

Spalding looked down at Kelos with something like contempt before waving his hand over the bowl.

A soft glow suffused the room and Makennon's face came into focus upon the water.

"Spalding, is it done?" Katherine Makennon said. "If so you have my blessings. May the Lord of All take you into his arms."

Spalding nodded at Kelos and the mage leaned over the bowl.

"Hello Katherine."

Shock briefly crossed Makennon's features only to be quickly replaced by her usual cold expression.

"Kelos. You're not dead."

"No, I'm not. Although your fanatics have been doing their best to rectify that."

"Do you still have my ship?"

"Yes, and we'd like to keep it if it's all the same to you. Anyway, this isn't a social chat Katherine. You have sent your suicide squad on a wild fish chase. The Chadassa aren't here, they've tricked you. Your boys have been killing the wrong creatures."

"Kelos, if you're trying to sell me on some- "

"No, listen to me for once! The Chadassa are going to launch another attack against Twilight, but this time with a new breed of creature. We managed to destroy the majority of them, but some got away. Now, if you prepare your best Swords you have a chance of defeating them, but you have to mobilise now. Drag Pontaine into this if you have to. The Land Walkers must not be allowed to reach the World's Ridge Mountains."

"How do I know that you're not spinning me lies?"

"Tell her Spalding, you've seen the Calma."

For a moment he thought that the fanatic wasn't going to say anything - was perhaps mute - but after staring at Kelos as though he were going to kill him, he leaned over the bowl and said, "It's true. The Chadassa are not here. There are... other creatures."

"Makennon - Anointed One - we can use the Llothriall to fight the Chadassa," Kelos said. "After all, wasn't that what the ship was intended for all along, to be a holy weapon? And we have some of your most fanatical followers to fight beside us."

Katherine Makennon's head turned to one side and Kelos could hear her speaking to someone out of view. After a moment she turned back to them.

"When you have defeated the remaining Chadassa forces you will return the Llothriall to us."

"Like f -" Kelos caught himself in time. "Of course Anointed Lord. We shall return directly to Turnitia once the battle is won. We shall, of course, be treated with leniency?"

"Goodbye Kelos."

The image in the bowl dissolved.

They were going to need a bigger boat, Kelos considered, as he ushered the remaining Final Faith fanatics on board the Llothriall. At this rate, if they picked up any more refugees they would have to sleep three to a bunk. He had no idea what they were going to do with them once the battle was over. Makennnon had demanded that he return the Llothriall to Turnitia, but Kelos had absolutely no intention of doing so. He had only warned her of the impending assault by the Land Walkers because he had dreaded the consequences otherwise.

As they descended in the Llothriall to the Calma city the last of the fires were dying out. Kelos almost wished that the shroud of smoke had remained, because now that he could see the extent of the devastation he realised what little hope they had against the Chadassa. All but a handful of the glass domes had been shattered - though Kelos's horror was somewhat alleviated when he saw that the dome Dunsany had been recuperating in still stood - while the rest of the city seemed to have melted into the seabed. Within the soot stained ruins he could just make out the few surviving Calma, pulling the dead and dying from the rubble. Silus was out there already, doing what he could to help. Kelos would have offered his own assistance but, as he pulled on an underwater exploration suit, he had thoughts for only one man.

Dunsany.

Once out of the ship he headed for the glass dome. There Kelos could