Call of Kerberos: Twilight of Kerberos, The - Jonathan Oliver Page 0,35

go blind for half a day."

Kelos screwed the narrow end of the gourd to the mouthpiece of the hood.

"Now Silus," he said, raising his voice, "you should be able to breathe. Give me a thumbs up if all is okay."

Silus felt a moment of claustrophobia as he heard Kelos's muffled voice through the thick hood. There was a strange taste in his mouth that reminded him of rock dust and honey but when he took a breath, the air was cool and pure.

He raised his thumbs and nodded.

"Excellent." Dunsany said. "Right, I suggest the rest of you get suited up and then we can have a look at what's out there."

Chapter Ten

They descended roped together, each carrying a glowing stone to light their way. When they entered the circle of towers Silus looked down and tried to see through the gloom below them, but whatever awaited them there was hidden for now.

Behind Silus trailed the three smugglers, followed by Father Maylan. Watching them climb into the strange suits had been a comical affair. As Jacquinto had pulled the suit over his legs he had leaned on Ignacio, knocking his brother into the renegade priest. Maylan had then stumbled into Ioannis and the two of them had tumbled to the floor. Katya had come to see the men before they ventured forth and, despite her tiredness and the worry that lined her face, she managed a chuckle at the sight of them in their various states of disarray, looking like some strange new race of sea creature in their bizarre garb.

"Any sign of danger, any sign of the Chadassa, I want you out of there," she said.

"Of course," Dunsany replied. "Don't worry, we'll be perfectly alright."

Katya had then touched her forehead to the hood of Silus's suit, mouthing I love you, before watching him follow the crew through the portal in the side of the ship and out into the sea.

The sudden cold that Silus had expected on entering the water didn't come. Instead there was just the warm embrace of the suit as he swam away from the Llothriall, his breath echoing hollowly and the beat of his pulse amplified by the confines of the hood.

Silus followed Kelos and Dunsany, the glow of the stone in the mage's right hand bobbing ahead of him like a will-o'-the wisp. Fish and other marine creatures swam in close, attracted by the illumination; some responding with their own bursts of light, briefly defining strange piscine forms in the darkness.

As the crew were rounding the curve of one of the towers they were suddenly confronted by the reflection of their glowstones in the pupils of an enormous fish. It opened its mouth and inflated to twice its original size, its gullet a dark tunnel lined with barbs. Pseudopods extended from the brow of the creature to paw the water around Kelos, one exploring the hood of his suit. Silus hoped that the probing tentacle wouldn't puncture the material, but the creature clearly didn't regard Kelos as prey as, after a moment's exploration, it swam away.

Kelos made sure that it was out of sight before giving the hand signal to proceed.

They followed the towers down and soon the surface was lost to view. Silus wondered how far below them lay whatever supported these mighty columns, or whether there were just the towers themselves, leading to unfathomable sunless depths.

He was beginning to think that this was indeed the case when the glow from their lightstones finally revealed dark shapes beneath them.

The towers rose from a vast mound of rock, its sides dropping precipitously away. There was no hint of design or purpose to the mound and the only thing to show that hands other than nature's had shaped the stone were the magnificent pillars rising from it.

Silus was beginning to wonder how they were going to find a way in when he saw what he took to be a window in the side of one of the towers. Signalling to the others to follow he swam in close, but could make out only his reflection and nothing of whatever lay inside. He put out a hand and tried to clear the glass, but instead of coming up against a solid surface it passed straight through. Silus cautiously flexed his fingers, but could feel nothing on the other side. He withdrew his hand and looked at it, but it didn't appear to be any different.

The others had now clustered around him and, giving them a nod, he