halt to his descent, but succeeded only in scraping his face and palms. The sting of the saltwater in his wounds was immediate and he came to a stop, suspended upside down beneath the overhang of a rock shelf.
The worst thing that he could do, he realised, was panic but, even so, he felt a very real fear begin to buzz through his nerves as he struggled with the knot at his ankle. Taking a knife from his belt he jabbed at the tangle of rope but all he succeeded in doing was cutting his fingers and losing the blade to the sea.
Silus knew that he had only seconds before his oxygen-starved body forced him to take a breath and he drowned. But as he fought with his entanglement he began to realise that his chest wasn't burning with the need for air and, strangely, his vision was crystal clear. Down here, in the shadow of the rock shelf little light penetrated, but Silus could see everything with a startling clarity.
It was then that he looked round and saw that he was in even greater danger than he had first realised.
Their clawed feet dug into the seabed as they strode towards where he hung, kicking up clouds of sand. Silus estimated that there were at least twenty of them. At their head marched one more gnarled and misshapen than the rest, holding a staff half again as tall as itself, a scarlet gem burning malevolently at its tip. The creatures stood as tall as a man and were covered in scales that looked as though they could stop the sharpest of arrows. Great black eyes bulged from either side of narrow heads filled with hundreds of needle-like teeth. From the small of their backs to the top of their skulls ran a line of barbed spines that flexed with the movements of the current, as though they aided the creatures in sensing their environment.
Silus knew that even if he could sustain his held breath, when the monsters reached him he would be finished. His heart broke as he realised that he'd never see Katya again and that he'd never be a father to their unborn child. Closing his eyes he sent up a prayer to Kerberos, calling on his ancestors to either accept him with open arms or send their aid. When he opened his eyes again the creatures were moving below him and Silus braced himself for a slash from those wicked talons.
But the creatures continued to march on as though they hadn't seen him at all, and soon the last had passed beneath him.
And now fear really did begin to take hold because, watching the retreating backs of the creatures, Silus realised where they were heading.
They were marching towards Nurn.
Silus's fingers scrabbled again at the knot that ensnared his ankle. His lungs really were beginning to burn now and a lethargic weakness spread through his hands.
Suddenly his vision was obscured as shoal of brilliant and multi-coloured slivers of light engulfed him. Gemfish, he realised as they swirled around him, tickling him with flickers of their tails. Perhaps these were the emissaries of Kerberos, who were to escort him to his resting place amongst the clouds.
His stomach lurched as he dropped several feet. Silus realised then that he could move his ankle. He was free, the gemfish had chewed through the rope that had bound him.
His vision started to blur as he kicked for the surface and when he finally broke through the waves, the breath that he took seemed like it would go on forever.
Even though he wanted to do nothing more than lie on the deck of his boat and breathe in the fresh, cool air he knew that he had to alert Nurn to the danger that was heading their way.
Silus pulled up the rest of the anchor rope and set the boom. As the sails took the wind he just hoped that the Ocean Lily would prove to be quicker than the things that marched along the seabed below.
In the small barracks five of the Nurn guard were rolling woodrene bones. Already they had played six rounds of cards — in which one of them had lost almost a week's pay — and many more games of dice. This was the way it went most nights.
'You know what? I think that was my last throw,' said Officer Stinton. 'Besides, it's probably time that I went on patrol.'
'And I think that it's probably time that you sat back down and gave me all your money.' Officer Tolley said, leaning back in his chair and giving his friend a condescending smile. 'Come on Stinton, don't be such a pussy just because you lost a couple of pieces.'
'Yeah, we'll give you a chance to win it all back, honest.' Officer Bardsley said, his gold tooth catching the light of the lamp as he smiled
'To be fair to Officer Stinton,' said Officer Springer. 'We do have a job to do.'
'Yeah, and that job is to take Stinton's money and then go and get pissed.' Office Mooney grinned, looking at the wealth that he had gathered that evening.
'Really, I'd love to be a further part of your games, but Nurn is not going to police itself.'
As Officer Stinton left the barracks he could see someone running towards him. It was the fisherman, Silus, and he looked to be in some distress. Stinton made sure that his sword was secure and then went to meet the citizen.
'Ring the alarm bell now.' Silus said as he struggled to regain his breath. 'Summon every volunteer you can. We're under attack.'
'Silus, calm down. Attack from whom?'
'From the sea. They're coming from the sea.'
'Who are coming from the sea?'
But Officer Stinton's question went unanswered as Silus ran for home, and he was no closer to understanding whom their assailants were when they burst from the waves.
The alarm bell was ringing and, as Silus rushed Katya from their home, they could see a plume of smoke rising above the harbour.
The first body that they came across was Officer Springer's. He knelt on the cobbles as though in an act of penitence, his head on the ground turned at an angle that shouldn't have been possible. A shard of vertebrae protruded from the back of his neck. From the cracked stones of the road beneath him it looked like he'd fallen from a great height. It was almost as though he'd been thrown.
Silus knelt beside the fallen guard and prised the sword from his stiff fingers, passing the weapon to Katya before unsheathing his own blade.
'We may have to fight,' Silus said. 'There may be no other way to protect our child. We'll try and make it to the Ocean Lily and get to Vosburg. We'll make sure that you're safe there and then we'll get help.'
Katya nodded and kept a tight grip on Silus's hand as they ran towards the harbour.
The clash of weapons and the cries of the injured — both human and inhuman — were clearer now. Flames had started to spread to more of the buildings and, as Katya pulled Silus to a halt, they saw the roof of The Necromancer's Barge cave in. Someone flailed out of the building, a human torch that screamed so shrilly it could have been either a man or a woman. The blazing figure got only a few feet from the tavern before it keeled over in the street and was still.
A hideous form emerged through the smoke shrouding the end of the street. Katya cried out as it put one huge, clawed foot on the skull of the burning corpse. The noise that echoed off the walls with a sharp, yet wet, report as it stamped down was not something they would ever forget.
'Stay close to me!' Silus shouted, raising his sword as the creature advanced.
His first blow skittered across the beast's scales, deflected by tough hide. As he moved in again, Katya swung her own blade at its ankles, but the creature stepped out of the arc of her attack and raked its claws across her face. Had she been a step closer Katya would have been blinded. Instead four wet, red lines opened up on her cheek.
On seeing his wife's injuries anger boiled up in Silus. With a yell he put all of his strength behind his next attack. He could see himself in the pitch-black orbs of the thing's eyes as he leaned in close, the tip of his blade catching in a gap between scales. For a second Silus thought that the flesh there was too tough to penetrate, but then there was a sound like lobster claws cracking and the creature howled in pain. But before he could withdraw his blade, Silus's head was caught in the creature's claws and he went over with it as it fell.
They landed heavily in the street, Silus sprawled across its body. Hot, sour breath blasted into his face as the creature increased its grip and began to speak.
The words were guttural, harsh and not in a language that he understood. Silus fought to pull away but the pressure on his skull increased. The pain that arced between his ears was worse than anything he had ever experienced and he let out a keening wail, not quite believing that such a sound could be coming from him. The darkness that crowded his vision streamed from the creature's eyes and into his. The thing's words were clearer
