From the Deep - Jaine Fenn Read online

  Kelara nodded. Leaving Usniel in his gloomy throne room, she swam past constellations of nektons and up into the light.

  Her Naereids had been replanting kelp lost to the Chaos attack. She found them floating unmoving, stunned by the reverberations of the Everqueen’s anguish, or else huddled together, comforting each other.

  To me. We must arm ourselves!

  The Naereids responded as best they could, and Kelara marshalled them. They took their places on the borders of the forest, serpent-tooth spears out and gazes fixed on routes from above. But no attack came.

  When night fell and peace still reigned below, Kelara led a small party of her best fighters to the green-above. The darkness hid the worst ravages of Chaos and no further horrors greeted them. The land remained empty and barren under its crust of corruption, just as she had last seen it.

  Finally, with the raw wound of Alarielle’s cry fading, Kelara conceded there was no immediate threat.

  But her spirit would not rest.

  In the days following the Everqueen’s scream, Kelara patrolled her territory and trained her Naereids without cease. But the next move in the great conflict took a form she could not have imagined.

  She was swimming through the kelp forest in fitful daylight when the sky darkened overhead. A storm was brewing. Kelara’s sense of foreboding grew. Suddenly she felt a hint of hope and power, a distant song. She tried to focus on the entrancing soul-melody but it was faint, and not directed her way…

  All at once, an unearthly chill spiked down from above. The water overhead solidified, turning instantly to ice.

  Kelara did not think – she swam. Freezing water dragged at her limbs. She swam faster, angling downwards.

  The frigid, deadly front fell behind. Still she did not slow. Only when she reached the sea bottom did she turn and look back. A full third of the water above was solid ice. Around her, on the shadowed ocean floor, Naereids looked around in alarm; mercifully, those not on patrol had already been down here, tending the newly planted kelp holdfasts. But some had been too close to the surface to evade the ice. She called her sisters to her.

  Grab whatever will cut the ice, and split into search parties.

  Each group of Naereids took a section of now-frozen forest. Listen for your sisters’ cries! she urged the rescuers as they swam away.

  She herself led half a dozen Naereids to the nearest dark spot in the ice. Her mind touched that of Tiva, always one of the most measured and calculating at weapons practice, but now scared and on the verge of panic. Kelara drew her scraper and began to hack at the ice. Others joined her. Two had spears, which they jabbed and poked to loosen frozen lumps and work them free. Working together, the rescuers broke through. Tiva tumbled from her icy prison, shocked but unhurt save for bruised limbs and torn wave-wings – she had instinctively curled up tight when the ice engulfed her, protecting her body and head.

  The next Naereid they came across had been crushed to death before she could curl into a protective ball.

  Another faint echo of life from nearer the surface had Kelara and the Naereids frantically digging up through the ice. One of the spears broke and the Naereid using it drew her scraper. Kelara’s own scraper was half-blunted. They were still a full body-length away when the weak presence faded into death.

  As Kelara scanned the ice for more survivors, a sound too deep to hear yet too powerful to ignore boomed through the water. She stopped, her Naereids thrown into disarray by the thunderous reverberation. As the last echoes faded, the ice above began to crack.

  Kelara turned, looking for sanctuary, but though the frozen sea overhead graunched and grumbled, only a few lumps of ice broke free to bob under the ice-sheet. Even so, cracks showed all through the solid ice above her head now – which might make the rescue easier. She bade her sisters hurry to reach the last few trapped Naereids.

  Next they found Assani. Fleet of mind and body, Assani was one of Kerala’s most competent fighters. She had managed to break free by herself once the ice had cracked, leaving her full of confused fury. The second Naereid they freed was near death and was taken off to be nursed by her sisters. Nearby, another of their sisters was already dead: the movement of the ice had crushed the life out of her.

  No further calls for help came. Everyone who could be rescued had been.

  Do we go to your noble cousin now?

  Kelara considered Assani’s question. Both the sudden freeze and the strange concussion that had partially thawed it had come from above, so they would be safer in deeper water. They could run away. Hide. Regroup. Wait out the storm. Usniel would no doubt applaud such a move.

  She looked up. Patches of open water showed overhead, areas the ice had not touched, or where it had been shattered. Whatever this latest menace was, it came from up there. They had hidden away for too long; they had done nothing and now the fight had come to them. Kelara had acquired a serpent-tooth spear during the latest rescue and now raised it high, thrusting its point towards the green-above.

  No. We go to war!

  Yes! Assani’s fierce joy was echoed by her sisters.

  Kelara sent her speediest swimmers for the last of the weapons. While spears and javelins were handed out, she scanned the sea with all her senses, wondering where they could best lend help.

  Further out to sea, the water remained unfrozen. Here, great lumps of oily darkness were dropping into the water. They bobbed, then floated. A chill colder than ice went through her. Even at a distance, the stench of foul magic was unmistakable. As another dark mass plunged into the water, then rose and froze in place, Kelara sensed its corruption as a nauseous reek, a bitter taste at the back of her throat that put her very soul on edge. She had no idea what the vile substance was, but it radiated Chaos.

  She pointed with her spear. This way, my sisters. Drive the taint from our waters!

  She longed to take on the freezing darkness, to eject its defiling influence from her sea. But as she swam towards it, she sensed both the size of, and the magical power emanating from, this putrescent parody of ice. Some foul master of magic was creating a great and abominable construct, reaching out across the open water. Such sorcery was beyond her ability to combat.

  Hold! We must be cautious.

  She led her Naereids to the edge of the ice away to one side of the Chaos structure. Then she stuck her head out of the water.

  The green-above was white. Kerala had seen snow before, but this was a blizzard fit to scourge the world. No scent of corruption tainted it, but the wintery gale swamped all vision and drowned every sound beneath its howl.

  Then, through a gap in the whirling snow, she saw figures. At first she thought them shore-dwellers – men. But these were some peculiar combination of man and beast. Though they stood on two legs, their heads bore great curling horns. They wore ragged furs and skins, and even the snow could not hide their stench – a stench that was more than physical. These were creatures of Chaos. There were perhaps three score of them, meaning her Naereids outnumbered them four to one. At last, a threat they could combat.

  She selected those who had some skill in fighting out of the water, the best part of a hundred Naereids in total. Follow me, she instructed. We can take them before they know we are here.

  Kelara hauled herself up onto the ice shelf.

  The beastmen, with no inkling danger lay in that direction, had their backs to the water.

  The Naereids crept forward in a line, keeping low, weapons in hand. The Chaos creatures remained oblivious, intent on events near the bridge-like structure. Whatever was happening over there, it was hidden by the whirling snow.

  A little nearer… she told her sisters. Too far away and they would not have the range. Too close, and their foes might sense their approach. When Kelara judged the distance right, she held up a hand. The Naereids stopped at once.

  Now!

  They hurled their javelins.

  A third of the beastmen fell, skewered on thin bony blades. Would these foul creatures explode like the ensorcelled underwater invaders? she wondered. But they just dropped to the ice, gargling and screeching, much to her savage delight.

  The surviving beastmen turned to face the unexpected threat.

  Attack!

  The Naereids rushed forward, Kelara at their head. The ice slid away from her damp, webbed feet, and she fought to stay upright. From the corner of her eye she saw two of her companions fall, while others stumbled, then caught themselves. Up here they were the clumsy ones.

  Their opponents had their weapons drawn now. One scowling individual threw a rusty hand-axe, and a Naereid fell with a whistling shriek. The beastmen stood firm, braced to meet the charge, but the Naereids did not falter.

  Kelara targeted a big brute with a broken horn and a necklace of red-stained fingerbones. Her first thrust was clumsy, the spear too light in her hand. The beastman knocked her blow aside. Kelara ducked under his pitted sword.

  Having to fight on land robbed her of a whole dimension, but she was already adjusting to the lack of water resistance. Hand to hand, such free movement was a boon – she was faster than her opponent. While it was still completing its sword-swing, she brought her spear up from below, piercing the creature’s side.

  The beastman grunted and staggered back, but did not fall. She had missed its vital organs.

  She tugged the spear free, dodging to the side as her enemy’s rusty blade sliced the air. She extended the movement to pirouette on the spot, using the slippery ice to her advantage.

  Her opponent was fazed; his next strike fell short. That was the chance she needed. Releasing her momentum, she stabbed side-on, spear braced in both hands. Her blow punched straight through the beastman’s chest, cracking ribs. It howled in agony, dropping even as she pulled her weapon free with a spurt of dark blood.

  Another foe loomed out of the snow. This one was squat, with a single eye, the other just an oozing, infected scar. Kelara, elated at her success, thrust her spear into its remaining eye before it could raise its weapon. It screeched, warped hands clutching at the ruin of its face, and fell backwards.

  She pulled her weapon from the beastman’s head and looked around. The nearest Naereid, Chella, was holding off two beastmen. Kelara sprang forward, plunging her spear into the back of the larger foe. It whirled. The spear, half embedded in its back, was jerked out of her hands.

  Her opponent nearly matched her in height. It snorted through its pock-marked snout and raised a barb-ended chain flail. With its free hand, it reached back, knocking the spear free. The weapon slid away across the ice.

  Kelara went for her scraper – even half-blunt, it should cut through this creature’s hairy flesh, if she could just land a blow.

  The beastman began to whirl his flail overhead. Kelara took a step back, searching for an opening.

  When the flail swung away, she darted forward, slashing at the exposed neck. Her scraper met only air.

  The flail flicked down. Kelara dodged back, though not before a barbed hook nipped at her head-fronds.

  She needed her weapon. Sparing a glance beyond her opponent, she saw whirling snow and grappling figures, but no spear.

  The beastman grinned, viscous slather dropping from its jowls. It brought the flail around again, this time sweeping low, aiming for Kelara’s legs. She jumped straight up. When she landed, she stepped back. Retreat was her only option. This was not a battle she could win.

  Even as she thought this, her opponent gasped, and looked down. There was her missing spear! Its point protruded from the creature’s chest.

  With a strangled grunt, the beastman pitched forward.

  Hah!

  Kelara recognised the shout of triumph as Finala was revealed, standing behind the now-fallen beastman. The Naereid drew Kelara’s spear from the twitching body and offered it back to her.

  Thank you, sister, said Kelara as she took the weapon. She sensed Finala’s pride at saving her, returning the favour from the first battle beneath the ice.

  Finala must have come from a way off, as the two nearest Naereids were engaged in their own duels. As Kelara watched, Chella stabbed her remaining opponent in the guts, twisting the spear as it went in. The creature folded and fell.

  With no threat nearby, Kelara surveyed the battle. It was all but won, with the last few heavily outnumbered beastmen being brought down. Bodies lay strewn across the snowy landscape, and ichorous blood steamed on the ice. Kelara reached out in a silent roll call. All but three of her Naereids answered. More losses to mourn, but they had won.

  Her triumphant joy fled when a sudden gust of wind blew the snows clear for a moment. On the far horizon, beyond the sea of ice, loomed a mountain where no mountain should be. Nearer, on the ice itself, a terrible army was revealed. Unspeakable creatures beyond count marched, scurried, shambled or crawled towards the dark curve of the Chaos bridge: giant pot-bellied man-things with lesion-covered skin; a chittering horde of hunched and robed figures; hulking tribesmen in rust-red armour. Further off, their true size impossible to gauge due to distance, hunched figures rode monumental beasts covered in mangy fur, or bloated with rolls of pale, pestilent flesh. And everywhere, on ragged robes, on battle-worn shields, on flapping banners of tanned skin, she saw a three-lobed sigil. This had to be the mark of one of the great powers of Chaos, perhaps even the unspeakable entity the shore-dwellers had referred to as the Father of Plagues.

  What could they do against such a fearsome multitude? She and her sisters had despatched a few unwary outliers, but that was nothing. This army could roll right over them without noticing.

  Should she send word to Usniel, to let him know the war had come to them at last? Surely this would convince him to join the fight. If he could rouse the young serpents from the dreaming depths, they could turn the tide of this battle.

  Even as she pondered, a brief flash of wonderment lit her spirit. She thought it came from the direction the monstrous army was heading. But it was faint, gone as soon as she focused on it.

  Did you feel that? she asked her companions.

  Yes!

  The Everqueen!

  Just an echo.

  So weak…

  Back to the water! instructed Kelara.

  She divided her forces into a dozen shoals. Find out what is happening, my sisters. Go out under the ice in every direction. Look above wherever the ice is clear, though make sure you are not seen. Discover all you can of these momentous events, both above and below. Go with all haste, then return here.

  While her Naereids scouted further afield, Kelara surveyed the extent of the ice around her kelp forests. Though she itched to join the fight, the odds were overwhelming; and while she waited to find out what could be done, she must look to the part of the sea she was responsible for. The ice was thickest along the shoreline, a solid rim. Farther out it fragmented, forming fissured promontories. Her forests would take harm from being frozen, but would survive – provided the forces of darkness did not win here today.

  Once she knew the kelp forests were safe, she headed back to the rendezvous point.

  One of the first scouting parties to return reported that the unfrozen sea ahead was dotted with broken ice and small bergs.

  A second shoal, sent to find the extent of the open water, confirmed that the Chaos structure whose wrongness still polluted the sea was indeed a bridge; on its far side the ice remained pure.

  A solid sheet of ice must have covered this part of the sea in the initial, magical freeze. Later, it had been partially shattered in the centre of the sea – perhaps when that great concussion sounded. But then, some unspeakable sorcery had been employed to bridge the gap between the two ice shelves.

  Most likely the ice extended all the way to the far shore of the Sea of Serpents. Any remaining doubt she had was banished: this was the site of a great confrontation between the forces of the Everqueen and the minions of Chaos.

  All her scouting parties were back now, save one. She had sent swift Assani the furthest. Had she been discovered?

  Then a familiar mind touched hers. A moment later a score of lithe forms came arrowing through the water.

  Assani! What did you find?

  We scouted the shoreline on the far side of the gap, as you instructed. Even through the ice, we heard the commotion. We went above, to see two armies facing each other up on the ice. A host of woodland folk are ranged against the Chaos army, but they are sorely outnumbered.

  Kelara could not let the sylvaneth face this threat alone. Yet to intervene was to invite the rapacious gaze of the enemy, and despite her earlier bravado, her Naereids were no combat-ready army. But this was not about the survival of one of Ghyran’s minor peoples; the future of the whole Realm of Life was at stake.

  We must help them!

  With Assani leading the way, Kelara and the Naereids swam as fast as limb and frond would propel them. To her relief, their path did not bring them close to the dark bridge.

  The ice remained unstable at the edges, but when they reached the far side, the fissure Assani had used was no longer obvious. The ice was growing mushy, giving no easy access to the world above. We must find a way through! Kelara exclaimed.

  The Naereids split up, searching for a route. A short while later a shout came: a patch of clear water and stable ice had been found. Kelara beckoned Assani to follow her while she bade the rest of her sisters wait for them.

  When she climbed out of the icy water, Kelara saw that the snow ahead had abated. Some way off, she saw the backs of hulking treelords and fleet dryads. She had come up behind friendly lines. Beyond their swinging branches and plunging scythes, she glimpsed the snarling faces of warped tribesmen, packs of slavering hounds and the occasional larger figure: half-naked, long-limbed creatures with craggy, malevolent faces and scabby skin, swinging massive clubs or hurling boulders.