Sam Sykes - Tome of the Undergates

‘Many,’ she said simply. ‘They have risen from the depths of the ocean that the Sea Mother has forgotten. They have tainted the waters, as they do all things, and blackened the sea such that no living thing remains between here and their temple.’

Her voice changed suddenly. What had begun as liquid song that slipped through his ears soundless became heavy and bloated, a salt-pregnant wave that seemed to steal the air from the sky as she spoke.

‘The fish shall be the first to flee, being closest to their taint. The birds shall be chased from the sky. The clever beasts shall hide where they can. The brave will die. As will all things that walk upon land. Mortals drown. Sky drowns. Earth drowns. There shall be an unholy wave born of no benevolent tide. Nothing shall remain. . save endless blue.’

Endless blue.

That phrase had passed through fouler lips before. Lenk tightened his grip on his sword, holding it firmly in his hand, but still in his lap. There would be time to dwell on cryptic musings later.

‘Swim to the point, then,’ he growled. ‘What does any of this have to do with the tome?’

‘Consider it a warning,’ she replied, unhurried, ‘passed through all children of the Sea Mother of what shall come to pass if that foul thing of red and black remains in the possession of the demons. It is a reminder of all that the Kraken Queen craves, all that her children seek to return her for.’

‘And the actual location of the tome?’

‘It is. . not here.’

‘Well.’ He slapped his knees with an air of finality. ‘Thanks for that, I suppose.’

‘Not here,’ she continued, undeterred, ‘but close. You are but an hour away from it, in fact.’

‘Now that is helpful.’ Denaos, who had previously been lying on his back and scratching himself, rose to his feet and stretched. ‘Let’s get it and put this whole fish and prophecy business behind us, aye? Screechy here knows where it is.’

‘I do.’ The siren nodded. ‘And I know what guards it.’

Denaos paused mid-stretch, sighed and sat back down.

‘Of course you do.’

Lenk was less rattled. It was rather apparent that the siren would not be telling them this purely for the sake of their aversion to being choked by ooze.

‘What do you want from us, then?’ he asked.

She stared at him without expression, spoke without hatred or fury.

‘I want you to kill, Silverhair.’

That figures.

‘Kill. . what?’

‘I take no great pleasure in asking you, but the plague must be cleansed. The Sea Mother’s dominion must be restored.’

‘So you want us to kill more Abysmyths.’

‘Curb as many symptoms as you can, yes, silence the coughing and the wheezing where necessary. But for a plague of this nature to be cured, the tumour must be cut out.’

Her lips pursed tightly, eyes narrowed as her utterance reverberated through them like a dull ache.

‘You must kill the Deepshriek.’

A moment of silence passed before Lenk sighed.

‘You’re going to make me ask, aren’t you?’

‘They. .’ The siren paused, looked at the ground. ‘It. . was once like myself. A child of the deep, a servant of the Sea Mother. . but no longer. Long ago, when the skies were painted red and She still befouled the mortal seas, the Kraken Queen sang to the Deepshriek and the Deepshriek listened. Now. . it is her prophet, the one who shall return its mistress and mother to the waking world.’ She looked back up at Lenk with a swiftness fuelled by desperation. ‘Unless you take the tome back to whatever foul hand it came from.’

Lenk hesitated at that, leaning back and sighing. Frankly, he thought, he could have done with just being told the location of the tome without hearing the inane claptrap of a deranged sea beast. As it was, the temptation of a thousand gold pieces was slowly beginning to lose its lustre.

He suddenly became aware of Kataria sitting next to him, a blank expression on the shict’s face. Leaning over, he yelled.

‘SHE SAID THE TOME IS-’

‘ I HEARD WHAT SHE SAID! ’ the shict snapped back violently. ‘The deafness wore off ages ago, you stupid monkey.’

‘Oh.’ He smiled meekly. ‘Well, great.’

‘Yeah-’

‘This. . is rather a lot to take in,’ Asper said breathlessly, as though just recovering from some unpleasant coitus. ‘Demons upon demons, tomes and diseases. . it’s hard to decide what to do next.’

‘If you’re an idiot, I suppose,’ Denaos replied. ‘Obviously, we run.’

‘It’s obvious to everyone without a spine, I suppose.’

‘I can guarantee you if we decide to go this route, the only spine you’ll be seeing is your own as some Abysmyth … Deepshriek. . or whatever rips it out and force-feeds it to you.’ He cast a glance about the circle. ‘Listen, I hate to reinforce your beliefs in my cowardice as much as I hate to be forced to be the voice of reason again, but let’s consider a few things.

‘First of all,’ he held up a finger, ‘we can’t harm the Abysmyths and it’s a decent bet we won’t be able to harm something with an even weirder-sounding name. Secondly,’ he gestured over his shoulder towards the carnage at the other end of the beach, ‘someone else seems to have tried to “cleanse” them without much luck.’

‘You speak of the longfaces,’ Greenhair replied.

‘Seems they get around, too.’ Denaos rolled his eyes.

‘I witnessed them. . from afar. I saw the fire and ice they wrought upon the land.’ She leaned back, as though reminiscing fondly. ‘They were tall, powerful, skin the colour of a bruise and eyes the colour of milk. There were many, females all but for one male, the one who slew the Abysmyth with a spear of ice.’

‘I take it these longfaces didn’t take the tome.’

‘No. By that time, the servants of the Deepshriek had taken it into their temple.’

Lenk paused, stared hard at her. ‘What temple?’

She regarded him unflinchingly. ‘I will show you.’

‘Well, that’s. .’ Denaos could not find the words to describe the sight looming before him. ‘That’s. . uh. .’

‘Impressive,’ Lenk muttered.

‘Ominous.’ Dreadaeleon nodded.

‘Vile.’ Asper blanched.

‘Yeah,’ the rogue said, ‘something like that.’

Like the hand of some drowning stone giant, scraping futilely at the sky as he took his final breath, the granite tower rose to claw at the orange clouds above. A plague of algae scarred its great hide, holes riddling its weathered skin like rocky wounds.

Brackish waves licked against the tower’s base, rising and falling to expose the sturdy reef it had been wrought upon. Each time the waves recoiled from the stones, a jagged chorus of rusted spears, blades and spikes embedded in the rocks glistened unpleasantly with the fading sun.

Stomachs writhed collectively as the companions stared upon the impressive mass of impaled corpses in varying stages of decay held fast by the red spikes. Amongst the panoply, a few protrusions impaled incautious sea creatures; many more bore arms with fingers, legs with toes, bodies swaddled by clothing.

Lenk still had trouble believing they hadn’t seen it before. Even ensconced on the far side of the island from where they had crashed, the thing was imposing enough to command attention from miles around.

‘This is their temple,’ Greenhair explained with a shudder. ‘They conduct their rites and sermons within.’ She narrowed her eyes upon the tower. ‘Mortals once lived here, long ago. In those days, they called it “Irontide”.’

‘And they aren’t here any more?’ Asper pointedly turned her head away as the waves recoiled once more. ‘Who. . or what drove them away? The demons?’

‘Other men.’ Denaos spoke before the siren could. ‘Irontide has a rather colourful repute amongst certain circles.’

‘Circles that begin and end in activities I’ve doubtless no pleasure in hearing about,’ the priestess muttered. ‘But do go on.’

‘Fair enough.’ The rogue shrugged. ‘As you probably know, the main export of the Toha Nations is rum, that being the only place in the world the drink’s made. As a result, Toha was quick to extort as much tax gold as they could from other nations desiring the drink. Seeing a profit to be made, pirates were quick to sell illicit barrels of the stuff for far cheaper.

‘Towers of this design,’ he gestured for emphasis, ‘were originally storehouses and protection against the Toha Navy.’ He pointed to the stone-scarred reaches of the tower’s battlements. ‘You can see there what the Navy’s catapults thought of that .’

‘I see.’ Asper swallowed hard. ‘And. . the spikes?’

‘First, they were for protection. Then they were used to make examples.’

‘Disgusting.’ She grimaced. ‘What a vile trick that so many lives should be wasted over a drink that has no purpose but to turn good people into sleazy harlots and swillers.’

‘That’s not entirely fair,’ he replied brusquely. ‘The same, after all, could be said of any faith.’

‘You’re actually comparing a house and faith of the Gods to smuggling?’

‘They seem fairly alike to me. Crime and religion are the only two things that people are willing to both die for and kill over.’

‘Regardless of who lived here for whatever reason,’ Lenk interjected, taking a step forwards, ‘it appears to have new residents.’

It was plain to see what he spoke of.

Plain and gruesome against the setting sun, a flock of feathers and bulbous eyes formed a white and writhing crown atop the giant. They milled about in great numbers, offering glimpses of hooked noses and yellow teeth that chattered endlessly.

‘Omens,’ he muttered.

‘Ah yes,’ Greenhair said coldly, ‘the choir.’

Before Lenk could make any agreement, something caught his eye. At the centre of the huddled mass of parasites, a particularly large white tumour pulsated and writhed. He squinted; though it was larger than anything with feathers had a right to be, he could discern no features. He glanced over his shoulder, beckoned to Kataria.

‘Have a look.’

She nodded, stalking up beside him, and stared long at the tower. The assembled, in turn, stared long at her, expectant as a grimace crossed her face.

‘What is it?’ Lenk dared to ask.

‘I really have no idea.’ Her grimace became a frown as she squinted, trying to find the words. ‘It’s. . big. . like one of the Omens, except. . bigger. I don’t know. . it’s got hands and a face, but. . it’s upside-down, all angular.’ She scratched her head. ‘Well. . hell.’

‘As good a descriptor as any,’ the young man muttered. ‘How many Omens?’

‘At least twenty, though they all move around so much it’s hard to tell.’

‘Scavengers.’ Greenhair’s voice was rife with loathing. ‘They feed on the dead and grow glutted on suffering. What you have seen, Notch-ear, is their. . enlightened form.’

‘Form?’ Asper’s eyes went wide. ‘Omens. . change?’

‘As they feed, yes. They are heralds, after all, and as they change, so too does the Kraken Queen grow in strength.’ She frowned. ‘To see one here, so soon, is. . troubling.’

‘They don’t seem to have seen us,’ Kataria noted.

‘Nor will they, should we keep our distance,’ Greenhair replied. ‘In their smallest form, they are unthinking, oblivious. The greater one is present to ensure that they attack only what they are meant to attack.’

‘A watchdog.’ Lenk nodded. ‘With a pack of flesh-eating seagulls. Makes sense, given the circumstances.’