Dragons on the Sea of Night (34 page)

This was the House of the Holy, where dwelled the God of Iskael, where, it was said, roamed the living God of the Catechists, where, so Bjork had told them, the Portal into Chaos had been created and sealed uncounted millennia ago.

Which part was the truth and which legend? Moichi, gazing up at that red glow, had the distinct feeling that they had entered a whole new universe, that the best they could hope for now was to adapt to the laws that pertained to Sin'hai and to no other place in the world.

But what were those laws? Clearly, the first one was fluidity. What was immutable in all other parts of the world of man was mutable here. States of being mutated as quickly as the eye could follow.

Moichi was still trying to figure out how to use this to their advantage when the ice storm lifted off the summit to rage high overhead. As it did so, the source of the feral red glow was revealed and Moichi knew that all of Bjork's worst fears had been confirmed.

The Portal to Chaos had somehow been opened and, even as they watched, transfixed, the first of its monstrous creatures emerged with a blood-curdling howl into the world of man.

SIXTEEN

H
OUSE OF THE
H
OLY

‘Die! Die!' a half-maddened Kaijikan shrieked
.

And, as if acquiescing to her demented demand, the Kunshin's head ballooned outward and exploded like a melon dropped from a rooftop.

But there was no blood and, as Chiisai watched in paralytic awe, her grip upon her father – or, more accurately, what had once been her father – was pried loose. In place of the docile Kunshin, loomed the armored and intimidating form of the Dai-San.

‘NO!'

All the legendary creatures embossed upon the articulated plates of his armor seemed to writhe as he strode toward Kaijikan. His hand, heavily encased in the six-fingered gauntlet manufactured from a Makkon's hand, closed around her neck.

She stared up in terror at his crested visage, surmounted by his high helm. ‘No,' she cried, ‘I sent you away. I made certain the bones of the snow-hare foretold the future as I would wish it. You should be on the other side of the world.'

‘But I am here.' The Dai-San's voice rumbled through the chamber, echoing painfully against the walls. ‘And I gave you your opportunity to embrace the truth, to remember and to mourn your sister as she had been. Your chance at repentance is gone.'

Kaijikan goggled at him. ‘But how did you know? I planned everything so carefully.'

‘Your ignorance of the Kaer'n was your undoing,' the Dai-San said. ‘Had you been able to see your sister for who she really was you would have come to understand the Kaer'n and their mystical relationship to this island. You would have known that they are the guardians of the delicate balance between mankind and Chaos.' He shook her until her teeth rattled. ‘Now, largely through your perfidy, that balance has been severely disturbed.' He drew her upward until her feet dangled off the floor. ‘Now you will help me ensure that it has not been irreparably ruptured.'

He threw her into a corner of the bath chamber, where she huddled, talking gibberish to herself. Then the Dai-San turned and, walking up to Chiisai, slid his hand out of his Makkon-hide gauntlet, gently stroked the side of her long, curving neck. ‘Have no fear, your father is safe with the Kaer'n, guarded from her sorcery.'

Chiisai, who was slowly regaining control of her nerves and muscles, said hoarsely, ‘You know who I am.'

‘I know everything,' he said. ‘Had I such power I would have intervened to save you, but not even the Kaer'n possess the wherewithal.' He smiled the smile reserved only for her. ‘You see, I have a special kinship with the Kaer'n. I am, in essence, one of them. I was made so through Bujun sorcery. They determined that a
human
champion was required to deal with Chaos. The Kaer'n have no desire for their …
consequence
in the scheme of things to become public knowledge.

‘As you know, they – and, to the same extent, I – have some of the essence of Chaos inside them. That makes them averse to change. We are true guardians – facilitators rather than agents. They have me – and I have Moichi. By virtue of my human form I have the power to do more than the Kaer'n; and Moichi has more power to enact change than do I.'

Then he did something quite extraordinary. He leaned forward, kissed her lovingly. ‘Do not despair for your humanity, my darling Chiisai. You are truly blessed. Like Eve, you are the first of your kind: a female Kaer'n. Until now, the Kaer'n have been unable to breed because there were no females. But now a new day is dawning for them – and for you. If you choose to help them, they, too, will have a chance at life.'

Chiisai was about to tell him that she did not mourn for her old life, when she saw Kaijikan's fingers making signs in the air. She felt the first tuggings of her mind being separated from her body, and she did not think, merely reacted. She opened her mouth and her tongue shot out. Flames rippled along its length and they began to burn Kaijikan as Chiisai wrapped her tongue around the Keeper of Souls.

Try not to kill her
. She heard the Dai-San's voice in her mind.
She will be of use to us where we are going
.

But he did not know what it was like to have your mind locked away behind glass while someone else manipulated your body. She was terribly frightened and, besides, even as she burned Kaijikan would not give up her spell-casting. And so Chiisai did the only thing she could to stop her. She rolled up her tongue and Kaijikan with it. Then she bit down very hard, turning her mind far away as she masticated. She felt the hot squirt of Kaijikan's blood, the crunch of her bones. The spell disintegrated with her death. Chiisai swallowed again and again. Then she turned her head toward the Dai-San.

I did what I had to do
, she said in his mind.
What needed to be done
.

Do not worry
, he said.
We will find a way
.

Where are we going?
she asked.

The one place I never thought I would see
, he replied.
Chaos
.

The entire mountain-top resounded and shuddered to the howling of the Chaos beast. Behind them, rock slides and avalanches rumbled and crashed like an ocean in storm-tossed torment.

‘God of my fathers!' Hamaan cried. ‘What monstrosity is that?'

Terrifyingly, it looked human. It stood upright on two sturdy legs, had two powerful arms emanating from its massive shoulders, but that was where the resemblance ended. The head was a mass of writhing tentacles. A series of chilling, ophidian eyes ringed the crown, hidden and then revealed by the restless mass. Its howls of pain or terror or aggression increased, each echo feeding on itself exponentially.

The Chaos beast came through the Portal bleeding – or, at least, trailing the liquid stuff of Chaos. Clearly, it had not been an easy crossing. It took a step onto the mountain, its clawed feet digging into the icy rock, creating a mini-avalanche. All around it, rubble clattered in a fine icy haze. They could see its tail, slapping this way and that, balancing it on the way down.

It regarded them implacably with a baleful hostility more chilling even than the rarefied atmosphere of the summit.

‘
Which one?
' it shrieked, its eyes looking from one to another. ‘
I was promised reintegration. Which one of you is for Lorcun?
'

‘Get back!' Moichi called, but it was already too late. With incredible speed, Lorcun had gripped his wrist and was drawing him toward the writhing nest of tentacles.

‘
Reintegration!
' It shrieked. ‘
Now!
'

Moichi hacked at it with his dirk to no avail. And as he watched in horror, he saw the tentacles elongating like liquid as they snaked toward his face.

‘No!' Sardonyx cried.

Moichi felt the eerie sensation of slipping off the edge of the world, and his eyes closed though he struggled to keep them open …

The formation kept shifting. First, it appeared to be a mountain, complete with rills and ridges, the next instant, it presented itself as a conical staircase hewn out of red obsidian. In fact, the only stable element was the hue – a deep blood-red that shimmered and throbbed in the non-light of Chaos. All around them came the bellows and trumpets of an aural cacophony.

‘There are two Portals now,' Chiisai said again. She had told him this as they had raced across Ama-no-mori toward the lethal cave set high in the snow-covered scree. ‘The one we entered in Ama-no-mori is one Kaijikan forced me to open.' That was where they had stationed one Kaer'n to seal the Portal after all the rest of them had gone through. ‘But the main one – the one Kaijikan unlocked – is on the summit of the Mountain Sin'hai.'

‘That is where Moichi is,' the Dai-San said as they maneuvered through Chaos. ‘And I fear for him because–'

The spiral staircase – for such it appeared at the moment – shuddered beneath them and an abrupt downdraft threatened to hurl them – powerful wings and all – over the side.

‘What is it?' Chiisai cried, struggling to regain her balance.

‘Someone has been very foolish,' the Dai-San said grimly. ‘Dark sorcery is at play on the summit of Sin'hai, and no one may know the outcome of it now. What long-hidden powers may be released we cannot even guess.'

‘Let us make all haste, then.' Chiisai glanced back over her shoulder at the host of Kaer'n who most willingly followed her and the Dai-San.

‘That would be wise,' the Dai-San advised. ‘Show us the way to the Portal on Sin'hai.'

‘No problem, I–'

Then, in the wink of an eye, the blood-red staircase was gone, and so was the mountain. They flew through darkness.

‘Something has happened; I cannot see,' Chiisai cried. ‘I have lost all sense of direction.'

‘The sorcery is affecting us here in Chaos.' The Dai-San cursed. ‘Why can't people do as they are told?'

‘I must orient myself,' Chiisai said, ‘but I can find no landmarks.'

And then out of the utter blackness of Chaos, she heard a voice:
I am here. Can you hear me?

Yes!
Chiisai said in her mind.
I hear you
.

By the God of my fathers, I thought surely I had lost you forever!

Sandal

Yes! I know the way to the Portal. It was how I was brought through by the Makkon
.

Just a moment
, she said and, turning to the Dai-San, told him, ‘I have found our path to Sin'hai.'

She was using her sorcery against Bjork's warning. He wanted to tell her to stop but as in a dream he was mute. Lorcun's foul stench rolled over him and he gagged. The tentacles were almost at his face. Then one brushed his skin in a cold kiss and he jerked his head away. But they were coming on. In an instant they would suck him in and Lorcun would begin the process of reintegration, his gelatinous essence absorbed through Moichi's skin. If only Sardonyx's sorcery could stop him.

He felt the sensation of dislocation, of falling, falling in a dream. Then, in a sudden quake, he was jolted to full consciousness. His eyes flew open in fear. What had happened?

He saw Lorcun throw its head back and howl in glee. ‘
Power!
' As it began feeding. ‘
Yes, yes! More power!
'

When Sardonyx realized that it was absorbing her power as quickly as she manufactured it, she quit, understanding Bjork's warning. In despair, she watched the Chaos beast dragging Moichi toward it. She swung her katana at it again and again until she was sobbing with the effort and frustration. She swung her weapon over her shoulder preparatory to striking it again, when she was pushed roughly aside.

‘Stop it!' Hamaan said. ‘Can't you see that has no effect? There is only one way …' And so saying, he rushed at Lorcun, shouldering Moichi aside with such startling power that Lorcun's grip was momentarily loosened. Hamaan used the opportunity to hurl his brother away into the snow. Then he leaped to embrace the Medusa's head of the Chaos beast.

‘No!' Moichi shouted.

But Lorcun wasted no time, engulfing Hamaan within a sea of tentacles. Moichi rose to his feet, heard his brother's screams of outraged pain and fear. Moichi stood beside Sardonyx. Both held weapons that were useless. But he had to do something. He could not stand helplessly by while his brother absorbed Lorcun's essence.

Overhead, lightning forked and cracked, spilling all across the sky, turning it the color of blood, running like ribbons in the rain. Above them, the Portal was flickering as it filled with restless shadows. It appeared as if more Chaos beasts were making the crossing, and his soul was filled with dread. Not for himself – he could deal with his own demise, and perhaps that of Sardonyx, but what would happen to the world after they were gone? Who would protect mankind? Not Bjork. How he wished his bond-brother, the Dai-San were here. How he needed his strength and power now.

But you have your own power
, a voice said in his mind. He looked to Sardonyx but she was concentrating on Lorcun's reintegration with Hamaan. Who had spoken then?

At that moment, a titanic bolt of lightning struck the towering rock formation just to his right and he saw, instead of the kinetic energy dissipating into the ground, a bright shower of azure sparks. Lorcun, busy with his ritual, yelped as several of the sparks burned his hide.

His heart rate quickening, Moichi ran to the spot the lightning had struck and saw laid bare a patch of dark gray metal. He hacked at a newly made fissure, saw that the entire formation was riddled with the metallic substance. It was this that was attracting the lightning. Everything is transmogrified here, he thought again and, calling to Sardonyx, bade her break off as much of the fissured rock facade as she could to expose the metal.

The lightning forked and boomed. It streaked down, attracted by the exposed patches of metal ore. Sparks bloomed and faded all too soon. Moichi knew he must risk everything to get Lorcun closer to the formation – even death.