The Llothriall seemed to be straining beneath them, towards the horizon, and — despite his fear — Silus felt that same tug himself, deep within his breast.
After their tour of the ship they returned to the tunnel, following it back to Maladrak's Cauldron.
Before they reached the cave that led out of the side of the volcano, Dunsany put a hand out to them, gesturing for them to stop. Kelos joined his colleague at the head of the group, straining to hear whatever it was that had brought them to a halt.
After listening for a moment he ran his tongue over dry lips and said: 'There's no mistaking that taste is there?'
Dunsany shook his head.
Behind them the rest of the crew exchanged confused glances. Silus thought that he could hear a repetitive thumping sound, but that could have just been the waves crashing against the island.
'What's happening?' he said.
'Someone up there is using a lot of rather powerful magic.' Kelos said. 'Can you not taste that strange metallic taste?'
'Is it the Faith?' The panic in Katya's voice was clear to everybody and they too began to feel an edge of hysteria creeping up on them in the dark confines of the tunnel.
'No, it's not their style.' Dunsany said.
'Well, in that case it's probably just some dabbler in the esoteric arts. You do tend to get the odd mage on the Sarcre archipelago.' Father Maylan said. 'Apparently the peace of the islands is conducive to magical practice.'
'Whoever it is, it pays to be careful.' Dunsany said. 'Those with weapons, I suggest you ready them.'
A short distance from the mouth of the cave, a shimmering blue light painted the walls. The taste that Kelos had detected earlier was now heavy in their mouths, drying up their saliva and making it difficult to swallow.
Jacquinto and his comrades drew their swords and pushed past Dunsany and Kelos to look out.
Silus didn't like the expressions of sheer terror that contracted the faces of the smugglers or the way they stumbled back, but something else, something like the siren song of the sea-maidens of legend, made him push his way past them.
The entire island was cloaked in the sheets of indigo fire that poured from the standing stones, creating a dome that extended far above him. Silus realised that it was shielding the island from the creatures which stood on the shore, their wet scales reflecting the light of the magical barrier that crackled and hissed only metres before them.
The Chadassa were chanting something in their guttural language and each syllable, echoing in Silus's mind, made him take another step towards them.
Behind him he was vaguely aware of the sounds of more weapons being unsheathed and his hand strayed to his own sword, a part of him screaming its awareness that now was the time to fight.
But the chanting blocked out all thought and his hand fell away.
At the centre of the line of Chadassa stood Belck. The gem at the tip of his staff burned with an angry scarlet light and the creatures that flanked him were gesturing with their hands as they tore into the magical energy of the barrier. There was a sound like the heart of a thunderstorm and a hole started to open up in front of Belck.
Silus saw Kelos rush past him. The mage reached into a pocket in his jerkin and threw a handful of glittering shards into the air. These raced towards the barrier and began stitching lines of fire across the gap that was rapidly widening there.
Belck raised his hand and the arcane threads crumbled.
From behind the ancient creature, a Chadassa twice as wide and at least a foot taller than he stepped in front of Belck and thrust a misshapen, trunk-like arm through the hole in the barrier. The warped limb ended not with a clawed hand, but with a hole from which dripped strands of green slime. Two fleshy sacks on the underside of the arm collapsed as something erupted from the barrel of the creature's limb.
Kelos staggered back under the force of the impact and looked down at the thing that was now embedded in the flesh of his chest. It pulsed there for a moment — emitting a sound like a small animal being tortured — before it suddenly contracted, hundreds of thread like filaments whipping out of its body and around the screaming mage. Dark red lines crisscrossed Kelos's torso as he fell, the threads seared into his flesh. Dunsany and Father Maylan rushed over and started to tug at the thing attached to their friend.
As the two of them struggled, Silus watched with only mild interest.
In front of Belck the hole in the barrier continued to widen and he began to speak, his gaze fixed on Silus.
'The Chadassa have long awaited your coming, Silus. Stories of you were told to me when I was barely a hatchling, tales that I have told my own broodkin. We all know of the half-breed. And you know, Silus, that your place is amongst us. You know that it is your seed that will produce the Land Walkers. You know that this reality needs to be bathed in the waters of the Great Flood. Only then will we be able to swim the oceans of time and space together.'
Katya stepped into Silus's line of vision and he smiled briefly at her — as though he were imparting a greeting to a passing friend on the street — before returning his attention to the Chadassa ancient.
Silus remembered the vista that had greeted him through the transparent tunnel walls, how the ocean there had seemed so endless, stretching away into the midnight blue of the distance. He wondered what it would be like to swim there.
'You could swim forever with us, Silus.'
And he would swim forever with his brethren. Entire worlds would turn, suspended in the waters of the infinite ocean. They would be masters of all life, all matter.
Katya was shaking him now, but he barely felt her touch. Beyond her Dunsany had begun to pry the strange creature free of Kelos.
The hole in front of Belck was now almost big enough for the creature to step through, or for Silus to step out of.
'Come to us Silus. Be with us.'
Silus could see tears running down Katya's face. The words that she was saying failed to reach his ears. All he could hear was Belck.
Kelos sat upright, pulling the last of the vicious tendrils from his flesh. He was pale, sweating and covered in blood but he still managed to regain his feet with Dunsany's help.
And even though Belck's words began to fill his mind once more, Silus didn't fail to notice Kelos's finger pointing his way.
A cacophony of sound rushed in on him and Silus flailed back at the aural assault.
There was Katya screaming his name as she repeatedly pummelled his chest with her fists; Kelos's words of power pounding through his consciousness; the growl of rage from Belck as he realised that his hold had been broken, and a sound like a thousand summer storms as the barrier surrounding the island began to fail.
Silus's hand went to his sword as he looked at Katya's frightened face. She stepped back from him, as though expecting him to lash out, but when he put a hand on her arm she saw that he had come back to her.
With a gibbering scream something leapt through the hole in the barrier. It was smaller and faster than any of the Chadassa Silus had seen so far, and it launched itself at Katya with a feral cry. Silus was quicker, however, and the edge of his blade caught the thing across the skull as Katya fell back behind him.
The creature howled in pain but quickly found its feet and came after him instead. This time it cleared the arc of Silus's blade and was about to rake its talons across his face when Dunsany barrelled into it from the side, bringing the creature to ground.
The pinned Chadassa thrashed wildly beneath him as Dunsany gripped its skull. Silus could see the strain in his arms as he prevented the creature struggling against his grasp. Then, he wrenched the thing's head violently to the side and it stopped moving as its neck broke.
Kelos, panting with the strain of his injuries, rushed over and helped Dunsany to his feet.
Silus looked back to where Jacquinto and his comrades were cowering in the mouth of the tunnel, Emuel just visible behind them. They caught his gaze for a moment and seemed to be about to steal themselves to advance when the chanting of the Chadassa stopped.
'I suggest that we go, now.' Father Maylan said, already backing towards the cave.
