And that scared him more than anything.
Ever since Kelos had shown Silus how to open his mind to the creatures of the sea, he had been aware of the abundance of life that moved beneath them. But it was not the only life he could sense now and he soon realised that the urgent whisper that he had been hearing, that seemed to underlie everything, came not from the sea, but from Katya's womb.
Katya clutched Silus's hand as a contraction gripped her. It was the second in the last hour and he could tell that she was beginning to panic.
'Not long now and I promise that you'll have something more stable than the deck of a ship beneath you.'
'I really hope so. I have a feeling that this one isn't going to want to hang around.'
Silus knew. The urgent whisper had grown in volume. In fact, the voice was so clear now that he could tell that they were going to have a son.
Katya breathed deeply as the pain passed. She looked exhausted and Silus wished that he could take away the fear that he saw in her eyes.
'You should get some sleep,' he said. 'You've gone through more than any expectant mother should endure. But when our son is — '
'We're going to have a son? Silus, how do you know?'
'I… I can hear him. He's speaking to us.'
'Like you could hear the creature that's towing the ship?'
'Something like that.'
'What's he's saying?'
'It's not words I can hear, so much as the voice of his urgency. He's almost ready to come into the world.'
'How can you hear these things Silus? Where did this power come from?'
'I don't know. It just seems to have been awoken somehow.'
'You're changing?'
Silus thought of the vision that the Chadassa ancient had shown him and the vision of the battle at the underwater citadel, how he had felt the joy of the fight overtake him.
'I'm still me,' he said and kissed Katya's forehead. 'Still the fisherman from Nurn you fell for.'
But something about the look that Katya gave him told Silus that she was no longer so sure.
Katya's waters broke on the third day after they had harnessed the ship to the leviathan, and Silus immediately went into a state of full-blown panic. Fortunately Father Maylan had helped deliver children in his parish on many an occasion and was fully conversant in dealing with fearful new fathers.
'First thing Silus — and this is very important — drink this.'
Silus took the bottle of flummox and necked half the contents. Beside him Katya shot her husband a filthy look.
'In case of emergency drink first huh?' she said. 'Great advice. I'd always wanted to give birth on a ship with a half-cut husband by my side.'
'Now Katya, don't say anything you don't mean,' Maylan said, before rolling up his sleeves.
'Okay, in that case I won't say I wished that Silus had never met Kelos and that I wished we'd never been forced onto this voyage.'
Silus gripped Katya's hand and kissed her on the forehead. 'I'm so sorry Katya. Father Maylan will see us through this. Don't worry.'
Katya screamed as another contraction hit and Silus looked at the priest, urging him to do something.
Maylan knelt down and hooked a pair of spectacles over his ears. 'Oh yes, all quite normal down here I can assure you. Nothing to worry about at all. Now Katya, I want you to start to push… now.'
Silus cried out in pain at the same time as his wife, as his hand was crushed in her grip.
'That's it Katya. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.'
Father Maylan did something with his hands and Silus was alarmed to see him wipe blood off them a moment later. The priest caught the panicked look on Silus's face and shot him a reassuring smile. 'Really Silus, don't worry. The blood is all part of it. You're going to have to get used to a certain level of mess. All part of the magic of childbirth.'
'Magic!' Katya shouted. 'I'm sure you wouldn't say that if you were in my position.'
'Don't worry Katya. We'll soon be there. And another big push. One, two, push.'
The sweat was pouring off Katya now and Silus brushed the hair out of her eyes. Every time she screamed out, every time she had to give another push his heart lurched and a terror gripped him that something would go wrong. He knew women who had died giving birth. Strong, healthy women. And here was Katya, miles out at sea with not a midwife overseeing proceedings, but a priest on the run from the Final Faith.
The ship shuddered and the light coming in through the porthole dimmed as the sun moved behind Kerberos.
'That's it, I can see the head. Another big push now Katya.'
The ship lurched again and Maylan stumbled into the wall. Above them the lamp swung wildly on its fastening and the flame within died.
And then Silus and Katya's son gave voice to his arrival in the world.
Maylan got to his feet and staggered over to Katya. He reached between her legs, urging her to push one more time as the cries of the infant grew in volume.
'You've done it Katya,' Silus said. 'We have a son. My gods, we have a son!'
'You do indeed,' said Maylan, a grin on his face, holding aloft the child, his arms coated in birthing fluids.
After cutting the umbilical cord he gave the boy to Katya. The child struggled in her arms for just a moment, until she helped him find her breast, and then the only sound in the room was the gentle, content sound of his suckling.
Silus looked at their boy and, instantly, it was love. In Katya's eyes was the self same look.
Father Maylan was the first to break the quiet.
'And have you thought of a name for the wee chap?'
Katya looked up at Silus and he said: 'Zac. His name is Zac.'
'Zac,' she repeated as though trying it out. And then: 'Yes. Zac.'
'Congratulations. Both of you.'
'Maylan. I really can't thank you enough.' Katya said.
From above them there was the thunder of feet on deck. Silus heard ropes creak as somebody scrambled up the rigging.
And then there was the call they had so desperately been hoping for these last few days.
'Land Ahoy!'
Chapter Fifteen
The city sat atop a rock plateau, supported by the sheer walls of iron green cliffs rising from the sea.
As the leviathan drew them closer, Dunsany could see something moving down the cliffs. He focused his telescope and what he saw just didn't make sense
What he had taken to be walls of green stone were in fact the sides of a vast wall of water. The city was not supported by a series of cliffs but, instead, was riding on the crest of an enormous wave, frozen in the moment just before it would have fallen into an avalanche of frothing surf. And the things descending the wave, moving swiftly down its vertiginous sides, were ships.
The leviathan brought them to the foot of the wave and the ship keeled to port as they stopped side-on to the water. The creature gave a great shudder and expelled a plume of spray. As it let out a bellowing call, Kelos moved to the prow and looked down.
'It's time to part ways with our friend. Ignacio, Jacquinto, give me a hand with these ropes.'
