towers. As they rapidly closed the distance to the shore, the music grew in volume.
There was the thud of feet on the deck and Silus and Kelos turned to see Bestion racing towards them. "It's the Isle isn't it? I heard the music."
More people were coming up from below now, drawn by the strange melody.
Once they were close enough to drop anchor, Silus could see that what he had taken to be towers were in fact irregular pinnacles of stone rising from the bedrock of the island. These structures were not manmade; rather they appeared to have been sculpted by the wind which fluted through the many holes in the rock, producing the weird cacophony.
"Jacquinto, Ignacio - prepare the launches," Kelos said. "The rest of you, prepare to disembark."
Silus didn't wait for the boats; instead he dived over the side and into the blood-warm water.
The sand here was so white and the water such a pure sapphire blue that he was reminded of the paradise of the Sarcre Islands. However, it wasn't only the sea that reminded him of Sarcre, for as Silus surfaced and began to wade towards shore, a low incessant buzzing filled his head.
Ahead of him, the dazzling sands suddenly ended in a line of dark rock and there stood the monoliths, marching away along the coast as far as the eye could see. They were half as tall as a man and encrusted in lichens and salt. On their surface were etched runes.
Silus tried to fight against the nausea that seemed to emanate from the stones, but a sudden dizzy spell put him on his knees. As the darkness crowded his vision, he only vaguely registered that someone was standing beside him.
"They're the same as the stones on Maladrak's Cauldron," Kelos said.
"That... that's nice," Silus managed. "Just help me get past the bloody things."
He felt a hand under each armpit and then he was being carried forwards. As he drew level with the stones there was a second of intense pain before he blacked out.
When he came to he was lying on the ground and the sun was just beginning to edge into Kerberos's shadow.
"Well that is good news," he heard Kelos say.
"What is?" Silus said, getting to his elbows.
"The monoliths. They'll make the island a lot easier to defend against the Chadassa."
"More importantly," Bestion said, offering Silus a hand up. "They'll buy us time as we call on the Allfather."
Once the last of the Llothriall's passengers had reached the shore, Dunsany set about forming them into groups, which he then sent to scout out the island. It didn't take long for them to return, as they discovered that the island wasn't much bigger than the smallest of those in the Sarcre archipelago. The monoliths surrounded the Isle on all sides - even topping the sheer cliffs on the southern edge - and everywhere were the twisted stone spires, channelling the wind into the ethereal music that they had first heard on the ship.
In all, Silus considered, there wasn't a lot of land to defend, but then there weren't that many of them to defend it.
As Dunsany set about allocating tasks and forming up their defences, Bestion led Silus and Katya to the temple.
The low round building stood in a grove of trees whose perfume was almost as powerful as the incense sticks Bestion lit once they entered the cool interior. An anteroom opened into the main chamber where a bridge crossed to the island that sat in the centre of a wide, shallow pool. There, flanked by metal censers, stood a simple stone altar. Above them a wide circular hole in the roof let in the light of Kerberos, the azure planet entirely filling the aperture.
As soon as Silus stepped up to the altar silence fell on the temple. Not even the music of the wind reached them. He noticed that Bestion was looking at him with a kind of awed reverence. For a moment he thought that the priest was about to sink to his knees, but when he turned his full gaze on him, Bestion was frozen where he stood.
"What's happened to your eyes, Silus?" Katya said.
"What do you mean?"
"Truly He has touched you," Bestion said. "Truly you are His avatar on our world."
"What are you talking about? Katya, what's going on?"
But neither of them would answer him, so Silus knelt down by the water and looked at his reflection.
The light of Kerberos streamed from his eyes.
"You must be prepared to come into