'The thing showed me a vision. But it may mean nothing. It may just have been leading me along.' Silus said.
'Even so,' Dunsany said, 'it was something important to them.'
As Silus explained what the thing that called itself Belck had revealed to him, Katya looked at her husband in bemused horror. For the creature to have thought that Silus was one of them was just beyond ridiculous.
'I must say that it does seem unlikely.' Kelos said. 'For a start you display none of the traits of these Chadassa.'
'Half man, half fish!' Ioannis laughed. 'One tattooed maniac, a renegade priest, two ex-members of the Faith, a pregnant lady and us. Yup, this is far more entertaining than sneaking in crates of booze by dusk.'
'Sorry, but you seem to be presuming that we're part of the crew.' Silus said.
'As Kelos has already pointed out, Katya will be well looked after here on Sarcre and you will be paid handsomely for your time.' Dunsany said. 'Besides, it is likely that the first expedition will only be for about four weeks. After all, we don't know that there is anything beyond Twilight.'
'Apart from sea demons.' Kelos said.
'Dunsany, have you ever been married?' Katya said. She felt an anger that was threatening to unleash itself on the people surrounding her, but as she spoke to the sailor, her voice was calm and level.
'The sea is my mistress.' Dunsany said.
'Your right hand is your mistress.' Ignacio said and Ioannis slapped the table as he roared with laughter.
'You men are clearly a bunch of cretins!' Katya shouted. 'What you are proposing is not going to be some jolly boy's outing, it is going to be your deaths. Firstly you have the Final Faith on your tail and, secondly, even if you do manage to make it beyond Twilight those sea demons are going to tear you apart.'
'I would have to agree with my wife.' Silus said. 'This expedition, everything about it, sounds preposterous.'
'Ah, but you have yet to see our unique ship.' Dunsany said. 'Did you know that it can actually sail under water?'
'For that matter I too have yet to see this ship.' Father Maylan said. 'In fact, we just have the words of yourself and Kelos regarding the pedigree of the Llothriall.'
'It better be as good as you say,' Ioannis said. 'For every day that we sit here talking about plans and theorising we are losing money.'
'If you're going to sail away from all these problems, then you better have something that is nothing short of spectacular.' Katya said.
'In that case — and to forestall further argument — I suggest that we all make a visit to the Llothriall.' Dunsany said. 'Katya, can I persuade you to come along?'
Katya's gaze still burned with anger, but eventually she nodded and it was she who was the first to follow him as they left the house.
Querilous Fitch looked up from his notes as they brought the prisoner into the room. This time the thing did not fight against its restraints as it was bound into the chair. Its head lolled against its chest and the pitch black of its eyes had faded to a dark, milky grey.
'Good God! How much sedative did you give it?' Fitch asked one of the warders.
'Not enough. Bloody thing near tore off Mitchell's arm when we went to fetch it. Took three of us to hold it down while we administered the needlereed. Ask me, the creature should be in chains twenty-four seven.'
'Yes, well it's a good thing that the treatment of the prisoner isn't down to you then is it? I don't think that you realise the importance of the Chadassa to the Anointed Lord. You may go now, if I need you I'll call.'
The guards left the room and Querilous turned up the lamps before wheeling his tray of instruments to the side of the restraining chair.
After its outburst of a few days earlier the creature had been stubbornly uncommunicative. However, in that time — and through his various techniques and manipulations — Querilous had learnt a great deal.
The Chadassa male currently in his custody was hundreds of years old and one of a race of many, although it was nowhere near as populous as that of the humans who dominated Twilight. The creature's natural habitat was the sea, though it could survive on land for short periods, which went some way to explaining why the Chadassa's attack on Turnitia a few months previously had been brief.
Through Querilous's sorcery he had managed to open a psychic link between the creature and its brethren beneath the waves. Now his questioning could touch not just on the knowledge of their prisoner but the knowledge of all the Chadassa. All without them being able to detect the human mind amongst them.
Sometimes, Querilous thought, I am quite quite brilliant.
He extracted a small measure of fluid from a vial and injected it into the creature with a needlereed.
Slowly, its eyes began to darken and its head rose from its chest. Querilous doused the creature with salt- water as it regained consciousness. Crouching before it he then looked for any sign of recognition, but the thing stared at him just as blankly as before.
'Oh, you can remain as coy as you like, but you'll find it very difficult to escape my touch this time.'
Fitch pulled the creature's head back and tightened a strap around it. He checked that the restraint was secure before running his hands over the dark, scaled scalp. Where he had cut the spines from the creature's skull they had started to grow back and as Querilous filed down the stubs, the thing in the chair let out a low growl.
'Ah, it makes a sound! Good to know that you're still with us. Now, just relax, this won't take long at all.'
Querilous's fingers sank through the scalp of the creature and into its mind. He felt it try to fight back but, this time, the Chadassa was no match for Fitch. Hearing the repetitions of an ancient mantra in his mind, Querilous pushed through the creature's resistance and suddenly he was surrounded by the whispers of its brethren as the psychic barriers fell away.
… all burned… He comes… half-breed… half-breed… lost… final cycle… Brood…
Words and images crowded Querilous's mind but in the storm of sensory information he recognised a familiar phrase.
'The half-breed, what is that?'
Again the creature tried to push against his questioning. It tried to reach out to its brethren, warn them that there was an alien mind amongst them but Querilous tightened his grip and the creature howled in pain.
'I think that you'll find challenging my talents is a bad idea. Do it again and I'll boil your brain in your skull. Now, let's try again. What, or who, is the half-breed?'
Querilous could feel a ripple run through the collective minds now open to him and an image began to form. He recognised Nurn immediately. How could he forget that shabby little coastal town where he had once holidayed with his mother? There was a fishing boat approaching the harbour and the image swam to focus on the man leading the craft to shore.
Half-breed.
'Him? That man is the half-breed that is so important to you?'
Half-breed. Lost.
'Lost? How? Show me.'
Again, the image in his mind began to swim and this time the sounds of screaming and the roar of fire accompanied it.
Nurn was awash with the Chadassa as they smashed apart the town, eviscerating anybody who got in the way. By the docks Querilous could see the 'half-breed' surrounded by more of the fish demons. A woman was standing near to him and the ancient creature with the staff that he had seen before in the prisoner's thoughts loomed over the fisherman. Suddenly there was an explosion of magical energy and the ancient one was flying across the harbour as a boat rushed towards the shore. At its helm was a face Querilous recognised very well.
'Kelos!'
Querilous watched as Kelos rescued the fisherman and the woman before turning the boat away from the shore. Soon they were cutting across the waves with a supernatural swiftness.
Half-breed! Lost!
Querilous was buzzing with excitement now. He had found a lead to one of their ship thieves and, if his reckoning was correct, he thought he knew where Kelos's rescue boat had been heading.
