Call of Kerberos: Twilight of Kerberos, The - Jonathan Oliver Page 0,51

sphere moved into the exact centre of the face of Kerberos.

"'With the dying of the light, our dark God comes.'"

"I - I'm sorry Brother Querilous, but I'm not sure I follow. Is something wrong?"

"Yes Brother Incera, something is wrong." Querilous descended from the telescope and fixed the astronomer with a determined, yet disturbed, gaze. "I will assign several advisors to work with you as we chart the progress of this... thing. You will report back to the Anointed Lord and I on a daily basis. And, if I were you, in the meantime, I'd make this place somewhat more habitable."

Querilous strode from the room, scattering cats in his wake.

Brother Incera listened to his footfalls as they descended the spiral staircase and knew that the thirty years of peace he had enjoyed were now over.

Ioannis's body rode the waves - a tiny barque on the fierce seas - before a sudden swell washed him under.

Father Maylan closed his well-thumbed prayer book and sketched the symbol of the Many Paths in the air with his right index finger. The words that he had said as Jacquinto and Ignacio had committed their friend's body to the sea had seemed to resonate with the two men and, for a while, they prayed together in silence.

Ioannis had died while Silus and Katya had been entangled in the grip of the leviathan. Kelos had desperately tried to help him cling to life, but there had been nothing he could have done. Ioannis's wounds were so severe that his bleeding couldn't be staunched, and what few medicines and poultices there were on board had proved to be next to useless.

Jacquinto and Ignacio watched the place where their comrade's body had been swallowed by the sea before emptying his tobacco pouch and hip flask into the water.

"Go well, my friend." Ignacio said.

Father Maylan placed a hand on his shoulder. "All paths lead to Kerberos."

Beyond the three men the rest of the crew stood at a respectful distance, having already said their goodbyes and not wanting to interfere in the intimacy of the ceremony. Silus held Katya close and, beside him, Kelos supported a pale but sufficiently recovered Emuel, while Dunsany stood with his head bowed.

They all looked up at the sound of a rope snapping and falling heavily to the deck.

Ignacio swore and raced to the prow of the ship, where he tried to stop the rope going over the side. He managed to catch it before it slipped over the rail, but his strength was as nothing compared to that of the creature on the other end, and his hands were badly burnt as the rope was jerked violently into the water.

"Silus, can't you do something?" Ignacio shouted, stuffing his sore hands under his armpits. "It's your bloody pet!"

Silus stood at the prow and looking at the leviathan that guided the Llothriall under harness, he urged it to slow its pace. As the creature responded, the ropes that led from the ship to encircle it lost some of their tension.

"I can tell you now that I'm not going down there to bring that rope back up and re-secure it. It was painful enough the first time." Ignacio said, looking over the side of the ship. "Who's idea was it to use this creature anyway?"

Belck was not angry, though the manner in which Findol delivered the news of the ruroth's failure suggested that he expected some severe reprimand. But they had not failed, Belck considered. Not really. They still knew exactly where Silus and Katya were. The fact that Silus had managed to break through the conditioning of the ruroth and tame the creature showed that he was changing faster than any of them could have hoped. Their plan may have to evolve a little, but it had in no way been broken.

Besides, now was surely not the time to wallow in defeat, for their God had finally come amongst them.

Belck could sense the excitement of his kin as he donned his ceremonial raiment and made his way to the temple. In all the history of the Chadassa they had never been so close to the time of the Great Flood. The time when all reality would become the dark sea from which the Chadassa had sprung and to which the Chadassa would soon return. The Old Races were all but extinct and now it was the turn of the humans to follow their ancestors into the night.

That a human would help to bring about this new era