The next couple of days, Cormac and Melusine explored Pacifica, spent time with Ronemun and Aremy's sons Conn and Art and the Young Egan even got a new attire, very much like Ronemun's. Looking into a mirror, Cormac was not entirely sure if he felt ready for such a heroic attire just yet. Despite what he might have felt, Melusine sat nearby and smiled at him with a dreamy look in her eyes while five-year-old Art argued with his twelve-year-old brother. What about? Rather trivial matters, like if the colour orange looked better on armour than green.
Looking at the hinged cuff bracelet upon his left wrist, Cormac then looked at his manica that did not really leave any room for something as decorative as bracelet. He supposed it was strange to not have a pair of bracelets, but at least his left arm wasn't completely bare.
The attire was well-suited for the water and did not drag at all, but still Cormac was not sure about it just yet. Turning to look at Melusine, Cormac nervously asked: "W-What do you think?"
Still smiling at him with that same dreamy look in her reddish-brown eyes, the Helena of the Deep answered: "I think you look positively handsome."
A small blush appearing on his ruddy countenance, Cormac looked over at his cousin's. Still arguing on what colour looked best on armour.
Turning his head in the Young Egan's direction, Conn asked: "What do you think, Cormac?"
Giving a shrug, Cormac gave the simply answer of: "I haven't been down here long enough, but I am quite partial to the colours your father and I wear. Takeo's golden armour looked rather garish in my opinion."
By the light of the glowing crystals, Cormac saw in the hallway outside of the room that he and the rest were in, something dark and sinister. Swimming a bit closer, he saw that isn't as much dark as it was reddish-brown… It was an octopus, very much like the ones he and Melusine had encountered at the vampires' citadel, even being the same size. When Melusine saw the cephalopod as well, she bolted up in alarm. Conn and Art however were very much undisturbed by the appearance of the octopus.
Little Art swam over and said to the octopus: "Shoo! Go away!" Alas, the octopus showed no inclination to leave and only proceeded to make its way into the room until Conn swam over and immediately, the cephalopod began to grow wary.
To the surprise of Cormac and Melusine, the octopus proceeded to exit the room. The former then asked his cousin: "That minor communicative telepathic ability of yours?"
Nodding, Conn said: "That's right and I presume you may have encountered it before."
Nodding in return, Cormac supposed they had. No doubt Uikesh had used his to summon those two octopi.
"W-What was that doing up here in the palace?" Melusine asked, sounding in Cormac's opinion more than a little frightened.
"Behmeroh's 'children'…" began Conn with air quotes. "Have a tendency to get up here from the ruins, even getting past the spirits of statesmen past. The ones that do get up here, tend to be troublesome and dad says that the closer you are to Behmeroh the less powerful your telepathy is on them. It even gets to the point that it is nonexistent."
"What is Behmeroh?" Cormac inquired, wishing to know more. He had heard Aremy refer to Behmeroh as Phmyn's son, but what did he look like? What did Phmyn even look like? Did paterfamilias and soon look quite similar?
Alas, neither Conn nor Art were given time to answer. Through the ceiling of the room came Behen and with the speed of the arrow from the Tatar's bow, he said: "Takeo and his army are approaching! Quick, all of you to safety!"
Drawing his brand from its case, Cormac swam up to the Councillor's Apparition and said: "I can help! I have my brand, let me fight alongside Ronemun, Aremy, Sheth and the rest!"
Shaking his head, Behen replied: "This is too dangerous, son. You are simply not yet ready for action of this magnitude. Now quickly, we have no time to discuss this! To safety, quickly!"
And to safety, Behen did bring Cormac, Melusine and the two princes. In a chamber beneath the palace where many a statue and work of art lay, did the four wait, while Behen made an exit through the ceiling to see how the battle went. Thus, all alone, Cormac looked at the various works down in the chamber. He was more than a little disgruntled. He wanted to fight alongside Ronemun and everyone else, defend Pacifica, but on the other hand, perhaps being present to defend Conn and Art was more important. They were the sons of Ronemun and Aremy, they were the future of Pacifica, their protection was of the utmost importance… Still… That didn't change the fact that Cormac wanted to see the action, while he was for all intents and purposes in the storage room of the royal art gallery.
Feeling a hand upon his left shoulder, Cormac turned his head and saw Melusine, giving him a smile. Softly, she whispered: "I'd prefer you were right here with me, Cormac. I'd be so worried about you."
Equally as softly, Cormac replied: "I know, Melusine, I just want to help."
"You might be more of a hinderance." Commented Melusine. "It isn't like we've seen a full-scale assault like this before."
Under his breath, the Young Egan uttered: "Technically speaking, we still haven't." What was going on up there? What manner of battle was going on? Were people riding sharks? Some sort of giant seahorse? What was going on up there? He wanted to know!
Shaking his head, Cormac looked over at a statue and wondered who it was of. It depicted a Profound One with the head of a dragonfish. Was it Ronemun, Uikesh or someone else? Alas, he knew not. Looking at the shield in the statue's hand, a shield in the likeness of an ammonite shell, Cormac thought back to the gong in the courtyard of the vampires' citadel. What did it mean? Was it connected to Phmyn in someway? How was he to know? Phmyn, Ikne, Sutec and now Behmeroh, what were these gods? At least with Adnarim he and Melusine had seen a statue of the goddess, but what did Phmyn, Ikne and Sutec even look like? That Ikne and Sutec were called Paterfamilias and Materfamilias suggested that they may have been Profound Ones, or something similar. If Goidel Glas, a man fathered by a Scythian prince and born of an Egyptian princess, had been the father of the Gaels, then what was the father of the Profound Ones? Were Ikne and Sutec even truly divinities or were they like Roman Emperors such as Augustus, Claudius and Vespasian, who were deified after their passing?
A chill suddenly running up his spine, Cormac drew his brand from its case and looked around. A concerned Conn asked "What is it, Cormac?" but Young Egan could not answer. His mismatched eyes darted back and forth, his head looked back and forth, but he could not quite figure out what was causing this feeling of his.
And then he noticed something in the back of the room… A crack in the wall, a large one and coming through it was one of those king-sized octopi!
Dashing forward, Cormac used his brand to sever a pair of tentacles reaching towards Melusine. Wherefore? The only reason Cormac could see was that she was the closest.
Backing away from the wounded and angry cephalopod, Cormac heard Melusine ask: "Are there usually more than one getting up here in a single day?"
"Not really." Conn answered. "There usually has to be something going on to get more than one up here."
"Like an attack by some Phmyn worshippers?" Cormac asked, realizing what was going on as more king-sized octopi came through the crack in the wall. Behmeroh was sending them to aid Takeo's forces!
Immediately, Melusine grabbed one piece of art, a knife, much to Conn's consternation. The Crown Prince of Pacifica even objected to the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden grabbing that, loudly exclaiming: "That is a work of art!"
Looking behind his shoulder for a moment, Cormac saw that the knife was made of gold. He wasn't sure if a golden knife would do that much, but at least it was something.
"It's a knife too!" Melusine countered. "And today it will do what knives are used for instead of sitting on a pedestal!"
Smiling, Cormac watched as Melusine took her place beside him. His only wish was that she had something with a bit more reach, but alas there were no spears or any such thing in the chamber. Still, even if she only had a knife, it was great help.
Looking on at the octopi, the Young Egan suddenly felt a feeling of unease. He and Melusine were two and the octopi were five. From the corner of his eye, Cormac could even see Melusine trembling and hear her mutter about needing something better than a knife.
"I think a retreat is in order." Commented Cormac and from the corner of his eye he saw the Helena of the Deep nod in agreement.
With no other choice but to retreat, the four fled the chamber. Or at least, they attempted to. Conn, Art and Cormac may have been able to get out of the chamber, but just as Melusine was halfway through the closing doors, a long, leathery, reddish-brown tentacle took hold of her tail and proceeded to drag her back inside the chamber.
Quick to the rescue of the fair damsel like a knight in shining armour, Cormac reached out and took Melusine by the hand, pulling with all his might to pull her free from the grip of the terrifying tentacle. Alas, more tentacles took hold of the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden's tail and soon she was wrenched into the chamber. Melusine was only just able to cry out for Cormac, when another tentacle was placed over her mouth.
Watching as his compeer, his companion, the one who was the other half of his soul, was dragged into the chamber where Behmeroh's children were, Cormac threw caution to the winds and dashed into the chamber, swinging his brand about and hacking at the octopi that dared attack him, while the one that had Melusine in its grasp was returning to the crack in the wall while the Helena of the Deep struggled to get free. Wherefore? What was it doing? Was this more than a simple attack to aid the worshippers of Acclaimed Avatar Phmyn, Paterfamilias Ikne and Materfamilias Sutec? Or was Behmeroh hoping to lure the Young Egan down and trick the boy into somehow releasing him from his prison?
Alas, Cormac knew not and he had not the time to dwell on such questions! Melusine was in need of rescue!
Continuing to hack at the attacking cephalopods, Cormac suddenly felt the tentacle of one of the beasts wrap around his neck, pull him down and proceed to squeeze, albeit not too tightly. It seemed Behmeroh's children knew what the plan was and killing the rescuer of the damsel in distress would be detrimental to freeing their paterfamilias. No, they would not kill, but render unconscious was something that they could indeed do and would!
Thrusting his brand into the body of the octopus, Cormac gave a sigh of relief as he felt the tentacle loosen as the cephalopod expired. Sitting up, he looked around to see four octopi that were deader than Julius Caesar. That just left the one that had gone through the crack in the wall and taken Melusine with it. Swimming over, the Young Egan could see that it was big enough for a person to fit into. Perhaps calling it a crack was not exactly accurate, but on the other hand, Cormac had little idea what else it could be called.
"You can't seriously be thinking about going after that thing by yourself!" Turning, Cormac looked at Conn. His cousin was floating there with his arms crossed while Art looked from behind his elder brother.
Nodding, Cormac answered: "That demon has Melusine and I am not going to wait until your dad and everyone else can help to go and rescue her!"
And with that, Cormac went through the crack in the wall. If his cousins had any objections, he didn't hear them. The only thought on his mind was rescuing Melusine, even if it meant giving his life to save her.
Giving his life? Yes, that was exactly what he would do, if need be, but in his heart, he hoped that wouldn't be the case. He hoped that there would be many happy years for him and Melusine for he could assuredly say that she was the other half of his soul, he loved her, maybe he had loved her from the moment he first laid eyes upon her or had grown to love her over the course of their journey from Ireland to Pacifica. Whichever the case may have been, the fact was that he loved her and he could not, would not abandon her!
The further down the passage he went, the darker things became and Cormac grew to wonder what would happen if there was a fork in the passage. If there was, how was he to know where Melusine had been taken? Perhaps if there was a fork in the passage, both paths eventually met up again, making the taking of one over the other completely irrelevant. But, if that was the case, then how did he know that he was not going to have some opponent waiting on the side with the other path?
He supposed that if that was the case then that was the case.
Emerging in a wide-open chamber, Cormac took a quick look back and forth. Was this the vaults or had Behmeroh's children found a way to get up to Pacifica from the ruins by bypassing the vaults completely? If these were the vaults, they did not look very vault-like to the Young Egan. White walls and pillars with some sort of blue material in a large circular design every few feet or so upon the walls… What was this place?
Noticing an apparition of a Profound One staring at him, he realized that this must have been the vaults. Swallowing nervously, Cormac gave a bow only to hear the apparition say: "No time for formalities, boy! That girl needs saving!" Pointing down the hall, the apparition told him: "That devil dragged her down that way, there is a hole leading down to the ruins!"
"Why did you not help her?" asked Cormac.
"Some of that blow-hard Takeo's men have managed to get down here!" replied the apparition. "The defense of the vaults is of the utmost importance!"
What the apparition had said hit Cormac like a truck. Some of Takeo's men were down here? Was Takeo down here? How had they managed to get past everyone defending Pacifica? Had the defenders been defeated or was the attack merely a distraction so Takeo could lead a battalion of his warriors into the city undetected?
Alas, there was no time to dwell on that. Thanking the apparition, Cormac went in the direction the long-deceased statesman had pointed in. Upon finding the hole, Cormac once more felt a chill run up his spine. What was waiting for him down there? No doubt an army of octopi that had Melusine captive, but Behmeroh was down there too. It seemed that that day he would see what a deity of the Deep looked like.
Down through the hole Cormac swam, finding himself illuminated by phosphorescent stone, glowing an unnatural shade of green. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about not being able to see.
Tightening his grip on the hilt of his brand, the Young Egan swam on, looking at the ruins of the Pacifica of old as he did. The whole place seemed strange and somehow evil and it was no question as to wherefore. With Behmeroh being trapped here there was no question that there would be something terribly sinister about the place. The various statues, their countenances seeming more like those of snarling demons than of humans, all stared menacingly down at Cormac and he was left to wonder if these were truly statues or some manner of grotesque to scare away evil spirits.
As love killed sheep and so killed Berowne, as he had said, thus did the grotesques scare Cormac, but not so much as to chase him away. They were merely things of stone and only a fool ran from statues.
Continuing on, Cormac found himself in the center of the ruins where an unconscious Melusine lay upon the cold hard stone… But where was the octopus that had brought her down here? Taking a quick look back and forth, he could see a fair share of cephalopods of the octopus variety watching him from the various ruined buildings. Strange buildings, somewhat East Asian and at the same time Mesoamerican in appearance. It seemed the Profound Ones had based Pacifica's architecture on that of when it had been on the Surface, all while introducing their own elements to it.
Growing cautious, Cormac looked over at the octopi. They were just sitting there, watching him. Wherefore? What were they waiting for? There must have been forty of them, they could have swarmed him and that would be the end of it… Unless…
Looking at a large temple nearby, Cormac's eyes widened as he saw what must have been the largest octopus in all the world. It had to be fifty feet tall, blacker than pitch and with glowing blue eyes.
No, it wasn't just an octopus. That was Behmeroh, trapped here in the ruins, waiting here to be released, but what was keeping him from escaping? He was an octopus and they could escape through the tiniest cracks… Was it possible that the hole that led up to the vaults was too small for him or was it another reason? Could it be that the mages of old had trapped him down here? If that was the case, then what had stopped later mages, ones who worshipped that unholy trinity, from releasing him? The possibility that he would destroy their civilization? Whatever the reason was, Cormac would have to ask about it later.
Approaching the unconscious form of Melusine, Cormac placed a hand upon her cheek. When her reddish-brown eyes opened, a smile came to the Young Egan's face. If only it had been under better circumstances. Being surrounded by at least forty octopi the size of shire horses while one that must have been whale-sized looked down upon them was certainly not the best of circumstances.
Only half awake, Melusine stared into Cormac's mismatched eyes and asked: "C-Cormac? Where are we?" Growing more aware of her surroundings, the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden bolted up. First looking at the various octopi staring at them, she finally turned and then did she see Behmeroh. "Oh, my goodness! What in Heaven's name is that?"
"Behmeroh it would seem." Cormac replied. "I just hope Phmyn isn't an even more colossal octopus. Do you hear them saying anything? Do you hear him saying anything?"
"I don't hear anything from them." Melusine answered, swimming behind Cormac, placing her right hand upon his left shoulder and holding onto his arm with her left hand. "But from him… Just the same thing over and over again… Release me!"
"Even if I knew how to do that I wouldn't!" Cormac exclaimed, glaring into the glowing blue eyes of the colossal octopus. "I would sooner release Satan from the Ninth Circle of Hell than I would this thing!"
"Release Satan? What an odd thing for a Christian to say." Turning, Cormac and Melusine saw Takeo standing before them with his brand drawn. "Surprised? I don't doubt it. If Ronemun had been fooled by that little distraction provided by my forces then why shouldn't you two? No doubt you heard about my goals, but the way I see it, why not release Behmeroh and rebuild a Pacifica that is perfectly loyal to me?"
"What about all the people who will be killed?" asked Melusine. "All the families! The fathers, the mothers and the children!"
Chuckling darkly, Takeo replied: "Sacrifices must be made."
Swimming toward the Would-Be Deep Lord, Cormac held his brand aloft. "I might not know what has to be done to release this demon of the depths, but I won't allow it to be done! I'll fight you!"
Takeo raised a brow, interested at what the Young Egan had said. His eyes scanning Cormac's new attire, much like that of Ronemun, his hated enemy, the Would-Be Deep Lord eyed Cormac's head and left arm, those unprotected spots. He could have beheaded this boy, but at the same time Cormac interested him. A little bit of fun before releasing Behmeroh could be had, the Son of Phmyn could wait a little while longer before being set free.
Glancing at Melusine, a worthy addition to his future seraglio just as Aremy was, Takeo smiled as he saw the fear and worry in the reddish-brown eyes of the Surface-Born Merrow-Maiden. Seeing a distraught look on her face when he ultimately grew tired of toying with Cormac and just outright killed him would be nice. Yes, very nice indeed.
His voice a growl, Takeo uttered: "I accept the challenge."