Deosil, p.2
Deosil, page 2
“Not much of a sign to look for, then, since we don’t know who—or what—they wish to summon.” My eggs had gone rubbery, so I pushed them aside, fork scraping against my plate.
Whyborne’s mouth flexed down. “Then perhaps you’ll prefer this. Once this ‘king’ has risen, he’ll begin the subjugation of humanity. In the meantime, some sort of vanguard will gather to greet the masters and form the foremost of their army.”
“So we can expect the Fideles to try for Widdershins shortly before the masters arrive.” Finally, something solid, around which we could formulate a plan. When we arrived in Widdershins tonight, I’d go straight to Niles. Between the old families, the police, and the librarians, we had men enough to set a constant watch on land. Heliabel could take word to Persephone before we even touched the dock, ensuring the sea was guarded as well.
There came the sound of running feet overhead. A moment later, the hatch opened, and Basil dropped through. “There’s a ketoi here,” he said. “One of the Widdershins colony, I think. She wants to come aboard. She says she has a message for Fire in His Blood. That’s you, isn’t it, Dr. Whyborne?”
Heliabel rose to her frog-like feet, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Rupert, Whyborne, Iskander, and I hurried to rise as well. “The city is still some distance away. Persephone wouldn’t have sent a messenger unless something was truly urgent,” she said.
I hastened up the ladder behind Rupert and Whyborne, my mind racing. Persephone had no way of knowing we were even returning to Widdershins, and yet something so urgent had happened that she’d sent a messenger to look for us anyway. Would the messenger have swum all the way to the city of the Cornish ketoi, if need be? Surely that would be a long journey to make in haste for even the strongest swimmer among their people.
The ketoi clambered over the railing as we reached the deck. The dark swirls and markings covered more of her skin than the average ketoi, leaving behind only a small amount of pearlescent white. Her golden jewelry stood out all the brighter—as did the blood seeping from her wounds.
“Longfin!” Heliabel exclaimed. She rushed to support the other ketoi, who leaned heavily on a spear tipped with a swordfish bill.
“There’s no time.” Longfin’s eyes were bright and wild in her dark face. “They’re following me! Get ready to fight!”
The Endicotts didn’t have to be told twice. The words were barely out, before they were rushing to the railings. Sorcery flared in my shadowsight, and one of them sent up a flare to warn the other ships of the flotilla.
“Who is following?” Rupert demanded. “Or should I ask: what?”
“Sings Above the Waves called them nereids.” Longfin gripped Heliabel’s arm in one clawed hand. “They came in overwhelming force, from every direction at once. We had no warning—sorcery must have hidden them until they were at the very boundaries of the city.”
I felt as though the ship had dropped away from beneath me. The plans I’d already begun to formulate dissolved like foam. The masters’ vanguard had already arrived.
“No.” Whyborne swayed, his lips parted in horror.
“Other creatures attacked on the land.” Longfin’s dark eyes turned to his. “I’m sorry, Fire in His Blood. Widdershins has fallen.”
Chapter 3
Whyborne
Bands tightened around my chest until I couldn’t breathe, could barely think. Longfin’s words hung in the air, stealing the moisture from my mouth, the breath from my lungs, the blood from my extremities.
All the months of study, of striving; the late nights, the early mornings, the missed dinners. All the blood we’d spilled to keep Widdershins safe.
All for nothing.
“Something in the water, starboard side!” shouted an Endicott from the crow’s nest above.
Griffin ran to the railing, where Hattie, Basil, Christine, and Iskander had already gathered. The salty wind blew his overlong hair back from his face, and he gripped his sword cane in one hand. “There!” he called, pointing.
“Nereids,” Longfin said, readying her spear.
I could just make out three lights beneath the water, moving fast—and heading straight for us. They broke the surface just before they struck the side of the ship, and Basil gasped.
The nereids were like ketoi in some ways, and in others utterly different. Their bodies glowed from within with a sickly green luminescence. Rather than the coiling tendrils of anemones, their heads were adorned with the stiff spines of sea urchins. Their eyes were inhumanly large, their skin uniformly pale, and their bodies pared down to move like bullets through the water.
One sank her claws into the side of the ship, beginning to tear at the wooden hull with startling strength. The other two climbed toward the railing, their mouths gaping open to reveal a forest of needle teeth, like those of a moray eel. The gills in their neck flared, then sealed away. Unlike the ketoi, they wore no decorations, no armbands or skirts of gold, and carried no weapons. Nothing existed to mark them apart from one another.
Mother’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of them. Then her expression firmed. “Longfin, with me,” she ordered—and launched herself over the side, at the nereid attempting to open a hole in the hull.
Longfin followed her without question or hesitation, despite her obvious exhaustion. I wanted to call out, to warn Mother to be careful, to do something—but there was nothing to be done. Mother was a sorceress in her own right; I had to trust she and Longfin would keep the nereid from sinking the ship.
The other two nereids reached the railing. Griffin lunged forward with his sword cane, but the point skittered off the creature’s hide. Hattie’s witch hunter’s daggers whistled as they cut through the air toward the nereid’s arm. Their keen edges bit deeper than Griffin’s sword cane, slicing the nereid’s rubbery skin and letting out a trickle of blood.
It wasn’t enough.
Griffin and Hattie both dropped back as the nereid slashed at them with wicked claws. Meanwhile, the other had clambered over the railing and leapt to the deck. One of the sailors rushed it, swinging a boathook. It ducked, fast as a striking snake. Its mouth gaped wide, jaw unhinging farther than what seemed possible.
The forest of needle teeth sank into the sailor’s arm, tearing away a hunk of flesh. He screamed and stumbled back. Then his screams choked off, and his body stiffened. A series of convulsions sent him to the deck, heels drumming and back arching. Basil ran to him, even as green foam formed on the unfortunate man’s lips.
“Their bite is poison!” Basil shouted.
A gunshot rang out, and the nereid jerked back before it could turn its attention to Basil. Christine strode toward the nereid, rifle drawn as she chambered a second shot and emptied it into its skull. It took two tottering steps toward her—then collapsed.
The other nereid charged forward, even as Griffin, Hattie, and Iskander closed with it. My heart pounded—I had to do something before one of them was bitten or killed. They were too close to call down the lightning, and a fire on the ship might reduce us to ashes alongside the nereid. There was nothing to funnel the wind; I’d only capsize the entire flotilla if I called up a gale.
“Whyborne!” Griffin called. “Fire!”
I channeled power into the sword cane, and its blade flashed red-hot a second before he thrust it at the nereid again. With a horrible sizzle, the point penetrated the tough hide. Its jaws gaped, as though it meant to scream, but no sound issued forth.
Iskander and Hattie closed from either side, their blades flashing in tandem. Within seconds, it dropped dead to the deck.
I ran to the railing and leaned over, searching the water. Blood stained the waves, and for a terrible moment I imagined it belonged to Mother. Then she surfaced through the red cloud, blinking seawater and blood from her eyes. Longfin emerged beside her.
Thank heavens.
“The nereid fled,” Mother called. “We wounded her, but not badly enough. I didn’t want to risk following her into an ambush.”
The other ships in the flotilla made their way across the waves, shouts ringing out as they tried to discover what assistance we needed. Rupert called back, but his words seemed to float past me, meaningless.
I turned slowly from the sea and back to the deck. The two dead nereids sprawled silent, their bodies rocking slightly along with the ship.
One by one, all eyes turned to me. Expecting answers. Or direction. Or…something.
But I had nothing to offer.
Chapter 4
Griffin
“These…nereids…aren’t of the Outside,” said the flotilla’s doctor an hour later. I’d never been introduced to the man, though I’d seen him among the Endicotts on the Isles of Scilly. At Rupert’s instruction, he’d conducted a hasty autopsy on the two nereids we’d slain on deck.
“We already knew that,” Hattie remarked. She sat on a coil of rope, sharpening her knives. “They ain’t turned to green slime, have they?”
She had a point. Creatures of the Outside, from the yayhos to the rat-things, tended to disintegrate shortly after dying in our world.
“Despite their outward differences,” the doctor continued, “there are enough structural similarities between ketoi and nereid to suggest they are in fact the same species, or very closely related.”
Heliabel watched the doctor with distrust. Or perhaps it was simple dislike; if he’d been dissecting ketoi, it was because they’d been captured and killed. “Then why have we never encountered them before?” she asked.
“That I can’t say.” He rubbed absently at his thin mustache. “I did make some observations that trouble me. The brains of ketoi have a sort of gland or organ not found in pure humans, which I theorize is what allows them to hear the dwellers in the deeps, as well as the song of the summoning stones.”
Whyborne hadn’t spoken since the battle, merely sat in one of the deck chairs and stared at his hands. Now he frowned and rubbed at his forehead, as though he might feel it through his skull.
“In these nereids, the gland is much enlarged. In compensation, perhaps, the areas believed to be involved with decision making and emotion are smaller than usual.”
“Which implies what, exactly?” Rupert asked.
The doctor spread his hands apart. “That they could be more easily controlled by outside forces? That they hear their god more clearly? I could theorize all day, but I can’t say anything for certain.”
“I see.” Rupert folded his arms with a sigh. “Thank you, Huang. If you could take a look at poor Donal below, I would appreciate it.”
The sailor bitten by the nereid had succumbed to its poison with shocking quickness. According to Longfin, the ketoi were immune to the venom, so at least they had some advantage. But if the nereids were as numerous as Longfin had implied, Persephone’s forces would have a fight on their hands no matter what.
I did my best to put aside my worries for now. The doctor took his leave, and silence settled over the deck, broken only by the creak of rope and the endless whisper of the sea against the hull. Eventually, however, Whyborne stirred.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “This is my fault.”
Christine perched on one of the deck chairs, enjoying a post-battle snack of toast and jam. At Whyborne’s declaration, she lowered her toast to her plate. “Don’t be absurd.”
“I’m not.” He looked up at last, but his gaze went to me rather than to Christine. “Griffin told me not to come. Father did as well. I let myself be guided by my own pride rather than their good sense. I left Widdershins undefended, at the very moment I was most needed.”
The misery in his voice wrung my heart. “If you hadn’t come, we would all be dead. Nyarlathotep would be alive and free to use Morgen’s Needle for whatever mischief it had planned.”
“And you wouldn’t have the key to the Codex,” Iskander added.
“For all the good it’s done!” Whyborne rose to his feet, fingers curling at his sides. “Without the full manuscript, we’re no better off than we were before.”
I silently damned Justinian Endicott once again. If he hadn’t practically handed over Balefire to Nyarlathotep, if he’d not been ruled by fear, we wouldn’t have been forced to leave Widdershins. Perhaps we might have negotiated for the key months ago, and been prepared when the vanguard arrived.
But he had, and we weren’t.
“We would have had no forewarning of the attacks even if you’d stayed,” I said, as calmly as I could. “Persephone was there, and if she and her forces couldn’t turn back the nereids, there’s no reason to believe you would have had better luck on the land.”
“Griffin’s right,” Christine put in. “On the other hand, you did leave, and we do have the key. We just need to get to the museum and give you time to translate the full Codex. Then we’ll kick the masters back to whatever hell they crawled out of, and finally get back to the important things in life. By which I mean my next dig site.”
A reluctant smile twitched one corner of Whyborne’s mouth. “Obviously. I’m so sorry saving the world has interfered with your work.”
“It has been a trial,” she agreed.
I turned to Longfin. “You said other creatures attacked on the land. Do you know what they are? Or what’s happening in the town itself?”
“No.” Longfin crouched on the deck, her arms wrapped around her knees, her fins jutting out awkwardly. “I understand you wish to return as quickly as possible. But I have to warn you, there’s some sort of difficulty with ships entering Widdershins waters. Something has caused them all to turn back.”
“Magic?” Rupert speculated.
“Blast.” Whyborne began to pace. “The nereid that escaped will surely alert the rest of her kind to our presence. If we counter whatever spell is keeping ships from entering Widdershins, they’ll be waiting to meet us in force. Unless Persephone keeps them distracted.”
The tendrils of Longfin’s hair coiled restlessly. “I must return to Sings Above the Waves. Perhaps I can carry messages back and forth…?”
“That sounds risky,” I said. “And not just to you. If you or another messenger was caught or killed, any plan we made would likely fall apart.” I turned to Whyborne as he paced. “I think our only choice is to go overland.”
Hattie cocked her head. The patch over her ruined eye gave her a piratical look. “If I was the Fideles, I’d have lookouts in neighboring towns, waiting for us to put in. The Melusine ain’t exactly inconspicuous.”
She had a good point. I considered the tactics we used back in my Pinkerton days, when much of my work consisted of tracking fugitives. “We must assume they’re watching the docks and the hotels. The roads into Widdershins as well.”
Whyborne stopped his pacing. “Then what are we to do?”
Rupert folded his hands behind his back. “We split up. The ships of the flotilla carrying noncombatants will turn south and seek refuge elsewhere.”
It seemed we were thinking along similar lines. “I don’t know how much help she can offer, but my cousin Ruth lives in Baltimore. If your people tell her I sent them, she’ll do what she can.”
“Thank you,” Rupert said, inclining his head to me. “Some of the other ships can go north to Salem. If the Fideles are watching the docks there, they’ll have a fight on their hands. Similarly, the Melusine will put in at Boston.” He paused. “But not until after Dr. Whyborne and a few others take our remaining lifeboat and land on a stretch of coastline outside the city.”
I would have preferred the Endicotts enter Widdershins with us. But so long as I was wishing, I would have preferred for none of this to have happened at all. “A sound suggestion. We can slip into Boston and go to the Pinkerton office. I have friends there, who will let me use their phone to call Whyborne House. Once we talk to Niles, we’ll have a better idea of what to do next.”
“Agreed.” Rupert’s lips thinned. “I’ll call a meeting of all the captains. The Thessalonike is larger than the Melusine, so we’ll gather there. In the meantime, Dr. Whyborne, choose who will go ashore with you.”
“I’m going, of course,” Christine said as Rupert departed. “And Kander.”
“And I,” I said. “Heliabel?”
She looked to her son…then shook her head. “I’m made for the sea. My place is with Persephone now.”
Whyborne didn’t say anything, only nodded. His gaze fixed on the waves, hiding his thoughts from me.
“I think the four of us will suffice,” I said. “Iskander and I will gather what we need for the journey up the coast to Widdershins. Christine, Whyborne, I suggest you take the opportunity to rest.”
Christine looked as though she wished to argue, but couldn’t. “Oh, very well. Kander is much better at organizing than I am anyway.”
Whyborne remained staring out at the waves as the three of us started below. “My dear? Are you coming?”
“In a bit.”
I hesitated. We didn’t have a great deal of time, but… “Do you want to talk?”
“Not really.”
I longed to have the words to lift the unhappiness from his shoulders. “I know what I said before we left Widdershins. I argued for you to stay. But I didn’t know we were going to encounter Nyarlathotep. If you hadn’t gone, if it controlled the Needle still, there’s no telling what damage it might do. Reweave the arcane lines to starve the maelstrom of power, or flood it to scour earth and sea of life, or something I can’t guess at. You made the right choice.” I paused, then added. “None of this is your fault.”
He didn’t answer. The wind ruffled his hair, and the sunlight shaped his beloved features. His hand rested on the rail, the black pearl of his wedding ring gleaming. I watched him for a long moment, then turned and went below, leaving him to his thoughts.
Chapter 5
Whyborne
I stood alone for a long time, watching the heaving waves. Salt spray coated my lips, and the endless sea wind relieved the growing heat of the day. There came a splash as the lifeboat lowered to take Rupert to the Thessalonike, where he would meet with the other captains and give them their orders. The flotilla bunched together, at least for the moment, the other sailors and passengers visible as they moved about on the decks.
