Outcast Chronicles - Sanctuary Part 53

*The brotherhoods aren't going to keep them out, Imoshen.' Egrayne gestured to All-mother Melisarone's small three-masted ship, which had already been overrun. *They'll be on our deck in a matter of moments.'

Down on the mid-deck, Hand-of-force Kiane strode about, shouting. *Prepare to repel boarders!'

Imoshen surveyed the fleet. Every ship was now overrun with raiders.

*Oh, dear,' Egrayne muttered, pointing to the mid-deck.

It was such an inappropriate response, Imoshen almost laughed. She looked down to find Tancred sauntering across the mid-deck, dressed in mismatched armour. *How did he...'

She'd sent him to the hold with the children, but he must have come back and scavenged discarded armour. It would not have been so bad, if the geldr hadn't begun to follow Kiane around, mimicking her actions.

*Tancred? Come here.' Imoshen beckoned. *I need you.'

He trotted over and climbed the steps.

*Stay here,' Imoshen told him, then turned to her voice-of-reason. *Can you sense if there's a power-worker amongst the sea-vermin?'

*Let me see.' Egrayne closed her eyes, summoning her gift.

*Tancred play, too.' The geldr promptly reached for Egrayne. The moment his hand closed on hers, he gave a cry of pain and crumpled forward.

Imoshen tried to catch him, struggling with his weight and the amour's. This close to him, she could detect that his gift defences were down and his power activated.

She glanced to Egrayne.

Her voice-of-reason frowned, pity twisting her lips into a grimace of regret. *He touched me at precisely the wrong moment.'

*Not your fault.' Imoshen glanced around. *Help me get him into the cabin. Then you can try again.'

As they took Tancred's shoulders and feet, power that was neither male nor female but something *other' exuded from the geldr.

*He's gift-working,' Egrayne whispered, her face turned away, mouth tight with distaste. *How can he, when he's never been trained?'

*Tancred knows the higher plane. He fears it,' Imoshen revealed. *He told me in one of his more lucid moments.'

*Fiant take him,' Egrayne cursed. *Someone will have to stay with him.'

They carried him down the pa.s.sage to Imoshen's dimly lit cabin, then laid the big geldr on the floor in the corner. The four empowered lads defending the bolted shutters across the stern windows looked to Imoshen and Egrayne in surprise.

A scream echoed from the mid-deck. Deep, eager voices roared as the sea-vermin boarded. Although she'd known their attackers were almost upon them, Imoshen flinched.

The lads shifted uneasily. Imoshen sensed their fear.

Saffazi ran in from the bathing chamber. *Did you hear...' She stopped, seeing the geldr laid out in all his borrowed glory. *What's he doing up here?'

*What are you doing up here?' Egrayne demanded. *I sent you below.'

Saffazi raised defiant eyes to her choice-mother. *I'm warrior-trained. This is where I should be.'

*We've lost so many initiates, we can't afford to lose you.'

*If the ship falls, you lose me. You lose everything.'

Running footsteps on the high rear-deck above made the empowered lads duck their heads and eye the ceiling uneasily.

Imoshen grabbed Saffazi's arm, pulled her close and gestured towards the lads, skittish as colts. *Safi, I need you to put some steel in their spines.'

Saffazi nodded and brushed past her choice-mother. *Watch the windows, lads. If the sea-vermin force the shutters and try to get through, poke their eyes out!'

The lads took heart. Aged thirteen and fourteen, they were used to taking orders from the sisterhood's hand-of-force.

*Don't tear the veil...' Tancred slurred his words. *Something will come through. Don't... too late. Watch out. It's hungry!'

Egrayne grew pale. *He's not on the higher plane, he's on this one. And I think he's found the power-worker.'

Imoshen dropped to her knees beside the geldr. *What's hungry, Tancred?'

There were different cla.s.ses of empyrean predators, some more dangerous than others. Some hunted in packs, some could be tricked or evaded and some not even the most skilled gift-warrior could escape.

The geldr's eyes darted about behind his closed lids. *Here it comes...' He whimpered.

Imoshen looked over the geldr's body to Egrayne. *I'll try to bring him back.'

*No. I'll see if I can do it.' Egrayne placed her palm on his bare skin and closed her eyes.

Imoshen waited anxiously.

*The G.o.d of the sea,' Tancred mumbled. *Pretty, blue fire. So pretty...'

*A fiant!' Egrayne pulled back as if burnt, eyes springing open. *It's not the sea G.o.d. It's a fiant. It's casting illusions on the higher plane.'

Imoshen took the geldr's hand in hers. *It's an illusion, Tancred. That pretty image is what the Mieren power-worker sees. The fiant has plucked the image from the power-worker's mind so it can get close to him. Don't let down your guard. Don't let the fiant see you, Tancred!'

The geldr smiled. *He's going to let the sea G.o.d ride him a"'

*Foolish Mieren!' Egrayne lifted horrified eyes to Imoshen. *The power-worker thinks it will make him powerful, but it will consume him.'

*Come back, Tancred,' Imoshen whispered in his ear. *Come home before the fiant notices you.'

No response.

She dropped her defences and reached for him just as the geldr arched, eyes rolling back in his head.

Egrayne grabbed Imoshen, dragging her away.

*He needs me.' Imoshen twisted, trying to escape, but Egrayne was stronger.

They both gasped as Tancred went still.

Imoshen gasped. *Is he...'

Tancred gave a grunt of pain and woke. He sat up, blinking. For a heartbeat, the geldr looked startled. Then he doubled over, dry retching.

The instant Egrayne relaxed her grip, Imoshen darted over to kneel and rub his back. *You did well, Tancred. You a"'

*Leave him, Imoshen.' Egrayne pulled her to her feet.

On the deck above them, they heard running footsteps, shouts, thumps and the clash of metal on metal.

Tancred lifted his head, eyes red-rimmed with tears. He frowned. *What's that?'

*Raiders,' Imoshen said.

The geldr's eyes widened. *The sea G.o.d's coming!'

He scrambled away from them. Flipping open a chest, he tossed everything onto the floor, then stepped in and tried to make himself fit, but he was too big. Next he ran to the changing screen and ducked behind that. It fell over.

The empowered lads laughed.

The geldr whimpered.

In frustration, Imoshen strode across the cabin, grabbed a staff and shoved it into Tancred's hands. *Use this. Hold them off.'

*Nothing can kill what's coming.' The geldr stared at the staff, then dropped it. *It's going to devour us all!'

Imoshen slapped Tancred's cheek. But it didn't clear his mind; the geldr dropped to the floor with his arms over his head and began to rock back and forth as he sang a nursery rhyme.

The lads didn't laugh this time. They shuffled their feet and looked away, terrified.

Imoshen spun around to confront them. *Ignore him. The geldr's lost his wits again.' But this time he hadn't. *It's your job to hold the windows. I'm relying on you. Safi's in charge.'

Then she strode to the cabin door, where Egrayne waited.

They stepped into the pa.s.sage.

*Tancred's right,' Egrayne whispered. *Only a gift-warrior can force a fiant back to the empyrean plane. If it comes aboard, I'll deal with it.'

*You're my voice-of-reason.'

*I was a gift-warrior before I was anything else. I took the vow.'

*No.' Only the greatest gift-warriors from the sagas had killed fiants and returned to tell the tale. Banishing the fiant would kill Egrayne. *But I need you.'

*Need me? I'm out of my depth. I feel useless, have done since I left the Celestial City. Nothing makes sense anymore.'

*We're all scrambling to keep up.'

*True, but you thrive on it.' Egrayne looked pale. *I hate it. I know I can do this. Anyone weaker will be consumed before they can drag the fiant back to the higher plane.'

Imoshen didn't want to lose Egrayne. The big woman had befriended her when she first joined the sisterhood, had guided her and advised her these last thirteen years.

The hinges screeched as a shutter was torn loose. The sound of breaking gla.s.s followed.

They both turned. Through the half-open door they saw Saffazi drive her staff into an attacker's face. The lads leapt to her aid and cheered when they drove the sea-vermin back.

*Someone must do this, Imoshen.' Egrayne was implacable. *The fiant craves our power. How many T'En will you sacrifice before you let me deal with it?'

Imoshen's heart sank. Egrayne was more than her voice-of-reason. She was her friend.

Hand-of-Force Kiane thrust open the door from the deck. *We need you, causare.'

*I'll be right there.'

*We need to entice the fiant onto this ship,' Egrayne said. *We need a display of power.'

*I know just the thing. The air is rich with the foretaste of lightning. I'll call the blue flame. It's wild power. It'll attract the fiant.'

Chapter Thirty-Nine.

RONNYN JUMPED AS something thumped against the exterior wall of the cabin. They all turned to face the shuttered windows.

*Lower the lamp, Parnia,' Sarodyti whispered.

They stood silent, in the dim cabin. Waiting.

Ronnyn glanced to Sardeon.

Another soft thump and scuffle. Ronnyn's heart pounded uncomfortably.

*They're climbing up the ship,' Sarodyti whispered. *Let's hope they pa.s.s us by.'

A thud interrupted her, followed by the creak of wooden panels being prised apart.

*Those shutters won't hold for long,' Sarodyti muttered.

Shouting from above told them the raiders had reached the foredeck.

More wooden shutters creaked in protest. There was a grinding of wood as the first shutter's hinges were torn loose. A fierce, strangely-painted face looked in through the window. For a heartbeat, the sight was so incongruous, no one moved.

The sea-vermin punched in the window's gla.s.s, smashing the fine wooden frames.

Vittor sprang forward, driving the makeshift spear into the man's head. The empowered lad was a little clumsy with his right arm, but the sea-vermin grunted and fell backwards. Immediately, another appeared in his place.