in the vast womb of the Chadassa Queen.
"In order to persuade you that our course of action is the correct one," Kelos said, "let me show you something of the Llothriall's abilities. Emuel, I'll need you in the stone room. The rest of you follow me."
The only one not to follow him onto deck was Bestion. Jacquinto and Ignacio offered to go and fetch him but Kelos told them to let him be for the moment.
The deck shuddered beneath them as Emuel began a new song. In a perfect circle, surrounding the Llothriall for about a mile, the sea suddenly became still, its surface now as smooth as a mirror.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jacquinto said as Kelos prepared himself. "I mean, have you actually tested whether the Llothriall really can sail underwater?"
"No, but have faith. Go, do your thing."
Jacquinto and Ignacio hammered free the heavy wood bolts that were threaded through the base of each mast. Kelos then called up a light breeze that lifted the sails and furled them tightly around each one. He then brought his hands up sharply, like a conductor calling for more volume, before bringing them down just as suddenly. As soon as he did this, the three great masts dropped, telescoping into themselves with a soft hiss, until they were flush with the deck.
Behind Kelos, the men and women watching him drew closer to one another as they found themselves standing on a vast ship without sails. The sky all of a sudden seemed that much wider and deeper above them.
But the transformation of the Llothriall was far from complete.
Kelos raised his arms again and brought his palms together. He said a word that had no meaning to his audience but which seemed to whisper deep inside their minds, eliciting a shiver from each individual as they felt the magic now working around them. The Llothriall began to grow, the wood of the hull to either side flowing above them, each edge curving towards the other before joining together, closing above them like a clam shell, sealing them in what many now felt to be a huge, lightless coffin. But Kelos coughed and said "my apologies," and then light began to filter in as organic portholes blinked open down the length of the ship.
"The beauty of the Llothriall," Kelos said as his audience rushed to the windows, "is that she is as proficient at sailing beneath the waves as she is upon them."
There were gasps from those looking through the portholes as the Llothriall began to sink. No, not sink, Kelos thought, that would suggest that they were trapped in some kind of shipwreck. What the Llothriall was actually doing was submerging, the magic that now suffused every part of the vessel taking her into a gentle descent. Kelos couldn't help a huge grin plastering itself onto his features. He had wanted to try out this ability of the ship ever since he had first read of it.
There was the hiss of air being pumped through the great chamber in which they now stood and the light filtering through the portholes soon faded to a deep aquamarine.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Kelos said, "welcome to the world beneath the waves."
It was so quiet.
The only sound that reached Kelos as he sat reading in the dayroom was the low murmur of Father Maylan's prayers. Usually there would be the sound of Jacquinto and Ignacio calling to each other from the rigging or playing dice, but tonight it was almost as if Kelos and the priest were the only ones on board. The rest of the crew and passengers had decided to get some sleep.
Kelos was too restless to sleep. He kept thinking about Dunsany. The prospect of his closest friend never waking up again scared him almost as much as facing the Chadassa in battle. He had tried to distract himself with books, but he'd been reading the same page on Brotherhood beliefs and heresies for the last hour and it was doing nothing to keep his mind off things.
He didn't realise that Father Maylan's litany had come to end until a knock at the door made him jump.
"Come in."
It was Bestion. "Mind if I join you? I couldn't sleep."
"I'm surprised that anybody can. Of course not, please."
Bestion gently closed the door before taking a seat opposite the mage. For a moment he didn't say anything. Instead he sat looking down at his hands. However, when he looked up and glanced over Kelos's