Free Wrath of Kerberos by Jonathan Oliver Page A

his head and Katya ran over to where Hannah’s parents were sleeping. They were struggling into wakefulness when she opened the flaps of the tent and when they saw Katya’s face they immediately looked around for their daughter. But, like Zac, Hannah wasn’t there.
    Illiun stood outside the tent, one of the silver-eyed men by his side. “Katya, what’s wrong?”
    “Hannah and Zac are missing.”
    “You know the children?” Illiun said to his servant, who nodded. “Good, then take another with you and search the area.”
    Two of the silver-eyed men set off into the night and Silus moved to go with them.
    “No,” Illiun said. “They will find them. There’s no sense in you going. The sentinels are far better equipped to deal with any dangers they may face out there.”
    “But Zac’s my son, Illiun. I can’t just do nothing.”
    “Illiun is right,” Shalim said. “The sentinels will find our children.”
    Though astonished at the seemingly calm and accepting manner of Shalim and Rosalind, Silus decided to put his trust in their leader. After all, these people were more familiar with this world than he.
    After an hour of waiting, staring into the campfire and gripping Katya’s hand, Silus was becoming restless.
    “Let me go and help look for them,” he said, getting to his feet. “Illiun, trust me, I can fight.”
    “I have no doubt of that, Silus, but can you see in the dark? Can you scan miles of terrain while moving just a few yards? The sentinels will find them.”
    In the third hour of waiting, several other members of the camp were growing restless, some whispering to each other and looking over at Illiun with expressions of concern. Their leader, however, did not stir. Instead he sat and waited patiently, as though utterly certain of the children’s safe return.
    In the fourth hour of waiting one of the silver-eyed men knelt down and conferred with Illiun. Silus was close enough that he could hear what the sentinel said.
    “Units four and seven have stopped reporting in.”
    “‘Stopped reporting in’?” Silus said. “What does that mean? You said that we could trust these things, Illiun.”
    For the first time since Silus had met him, Illiun looked unsure of himself.
    “Fark this,” Silus said. “We’re going after them. Kelos, Dunsany, Bestion, Katya – you’re with me. Anybody else who wants to help, you’re very welcome, though I suggest that you arm yourselves first.”
    Katya looked relieved that they were finally taking action, while Dunsany belted on his sword with a look of satisfaction, almost as though he had felt the embrace of an old friend.
    “We’ll find them,” Silus said to Katya. “I know that they’re alive.”
    “Really. Is this prescience another one of your powers?”
    Silus said nothing, already aware of just how dreadful the consequences would be for him and Katya if they didn’t find their son.
    Shalim and Rosalind joined them as they set off, as did Illiun and a handful of others, including one of the sentinels. They called out to the children as they went, although the night seemed to swallow their voices almost as soon as they were out of their mouths. The desert was still and the light of the campfire faded quickly behind them. The going became harder as the slopes of the dunes became more pronounced. They would struggle uphill, ankle-deep in sand, only to reach the crest of the hill and find themselves struggling to keep upright as they half-tumbled down the other side. After mere minutes of this, Silus’s ankles were singing with pain.
    “Surely they can’t have gone far?” he said to Katya. “I mean, why would they even have wandered away from camp? What is there to see out here?”
    “Perhaps they were taken,” Katya said.
    “Don’t say that. Please. We must hope for the best.”
    They crested the next rise, to see a scattering of huge stones protruding from the sand: boulders, scoured smooth by the desert winds, their surfaces so