Free Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver

you to despair. Father Maylan once told me that there are many paths to God.”
    “But there is no god, Silus. Look up. His absence is there for all to see.”
    Without the presence of Kerberos – or the Allfather, as Bestion called the deity – it was clear that there was nothing Silus could say to the priest that would reassure him. Though the settlers continued to try to reach out to him, Bestion was becoming increasingly distant, often walking far ahead of the main group. Silus worried that they would lose him in the desert, but each night he would return to the camp, sitting beyond the warmth of the campfires and gazing into the heavens, as though willing his god to return.
    There was, however, one person who seemed happy enough with the circumstances they found themselves in – Zac. He had fast made friends with Hannah and spent almost as much time with the girl and her parents as he did with Katya and Silus. This didn’t trouble Silus, he was happy that at least someone was making the effort to fit in. Zac had even picked up some of the language of Illiun’s people, conversing with Hannah in simple broken sentences. And Hannah wasn’t the only playmate that Zac had, for there were several children of varying ages amongst their party, some as young as six months. Silus had questioned Illiun on the wisdom of allowing children on the expedition, but he had dismissed his concerns, saying, “The families of our tribe do everything together. Besides, our sentinels will protect them from danger.” He nodded to the silver-eyed men, who stood impassively around the perimeter of the camp.
    Despite Illiun’s reassurances, Silus tried not to let Zac out of his sight, and any time his son wasn’t in his immediate vision his stomach would lurch and his mouth would go dry.
    The desert was silent on the night that Zac went missing.
     
     
    T HE WIND DIED just before sunset and the camp retired early, no one seeming in the mood for conversation or story-telling, each merely concerned with wrapping themselves up against the bitter cold and retreating into sleep. Even Zac appeared subdued, the serious expression on his face more befitting a man in his middle years than an infant. A song after feeding soon sent him into a deep sleep, his small body lying slack and warm in Silus’s arms. He settled his son into his blankets before stretching himself out beside Katya.
    Silus nuzzled his wife’s neck, inhaling the comforting smell of her as he planted small, gentle kisses just below her hairline. At first she didn’t respond and he feared that things were still broken between them, but then she arched her back, pushing her bottom against his crotch before reaching behind her and stroking the length of him through his clothes. Despite the cold they both quickly struggled out of their clothing – elbows and knees striking each other in the dark. They tried to be as quiet as possible, so as not to wake Zac, but when Katya mounted him neither of them could hold back. They made love urgently, almost clumsily, as though they had only just remembered how it was supposed to be done, and Silus came shortly after Katya.
    Katya looked down at him and smiled. “Hello.”
    “Hello,” said Silus.
    “Gods, but I needed that.”
    “Me too.”
    “Almost as good as that first time, out on the Ocean Lily .”
    “I’d only just met you. You shameless hussy.”
    “Shut it, fish boy.”
    “Ouch, hurtful.”
    Silus wasn’t sure which of them felt it first – that absence – but it was Katya who leaned over him to check on Zac.
    “Silus, Zac isn’t by you, is he?”
    By the fear in her voice, she clearly already knew the answer to that question. After everything that they had been through, to lose Zac now, out here where there was nothing, felt unutterably cruel and unjust.
    “Zac!” Silus’s call immediately alerted the camp. Bestion was already out of his tent and standing before them. “Have you seen him?”
    The priest shook