The tearing of wood continued, growing louder.
Rakau’s beats upon Nakoa’s face became more frantic, full of rage and pain. Kaimana knew her friend was losing himself, that Nakoa’s torture was stopping him from thinking about what he was doing, was forcing him to act like a wounded animal.
She felt the fingertips of despair creep up her spine, threatening to take her by the throat. Not letting herself be overcome, Kaimana looked around and spotted Eloni’s jade knife, now forgotten on the courtyard floor beside her.
Kaimana looked again at the war god just steps away, taking glee at the pain he was inflicting upon her friend.
Bad things come to mortals who interfere in the affairs of the gods.
Kaimana paused only for a moment. Let the bad things come. I’ve got a taniwha to help see them off.
She ran forward, knife held above her head, and threw herself at Nakoa’s leg, driving the blade as hard as she could into his flesh.
It was a shallow cut, and the war god kicked back against her, throwing Kaimana hard to the ground once again. The god turned to look at her, nostrils flared, lips curled in anger.
“You dare?” he bellowed at her.
Kaimana’s blood rushed around her body, her breath quickened. She was excited. Elated.
“Yes, we dare.”
Rakau’s jaws clamped down onto Nakoa’s shoulder, causing the god to scream in pain. The taniwha shook the war god briefly, then threw him to the dirt. Nakoa’s shoulder was red now, the blood from his wound seeping into and staining his woven armour. The god tried to lift himself up, but found that his arm would not move anymore, and collapsed back down. Rakau lowered his head and growled at Nakoa, readying himself for the kill. Kaimana noticed the multitude of nearby warriors drawing their blades.
She ran to her friend’s lowered head, and jumped up onto him, sitting on his neck.
“Rakau, we’re done here. Let’s go.”
The taniwha stopped growling and turned his head to the hole in the temple wall he had caused some weeks ago. With a run and a bound, the taniwha and the ocarina player disappeared into the night.
A tale from the Crescent Atoll
Nyree had gone to the beach to kill herself.
She had stolen a black potion from the medicine woman’s hut, and knew it would do the job. Her death would have been quick and quiet, if not for the young woman Nyree spied when she reached the beach.
The girl was a stranger, that much was clear. She looked wilder than other women from the island, with hair that needed combing, a crooked nose that seemed to have been broken and then set badly, and a bare shoulder on which Nyree could see puckered and scarred skin. The woman was resting against a fallen tree that had been washed up onto the beach, and was playing music on a small, unadorned ocarina.
The music the stranger was playing was beautiful, haunting, and somehow incomplete.
Nyree could not help herself - she walked up to the stranger, and the woman stopped playing at her approach.
“That was beautiful,” Nyree said, still wary of this new face.
The stranger smiled, somewhat sadly. “Thanks.”
“Does playing always make you sad?” Nyree asked.
The stranger looked surprised for a second, then gave a laugh. “It depends what I’m playing. What about you? Does hearing music always make you sad?”
Nyree could not help herself. At that question, she burst into tears. The ocarina player quickly rose to her feet and comforted the islander.
“What’s wrong?” the stranger asked.
Nyree shook her head, unable to speak through her sobs. The ocarina player led her to sit on the sand with her back against the giant log. Nyree noted how much the log had been chipped at and marked by the elements, but had no more time to think of this because of the new face that arrived on the beach from the village.
“Nyree! Do not do it!”
It was Heeni, Nyree’s best friend. At the sight of the pretty girl, Nyree’s grieving face turned into a sneer.
“It’s her. She’s the one who broke my heart.”
Heeni reached her friend, quickly nodded her head to acknowledge the stranger on the beach, and then fell on her knees, begging. “Please, do not kill yourself, Nyree.”
The ocarina player was surprised. “Is this true? You came here to die?”
“Yes,” Nyree spat, angry eyes still locked on Heeni. “She has taken everything from me, I have nothing left to live for.”
The ocarina player’s eyes narrowed. “What’s happened?”
“My betrothed,” Nyree said. “The man I have loved since I was a little girl, we were to be married. She seduced him and stole him away from me.”
It was now Heeni’s turn to cry. “Please forgive me, Nyree. It was he who seduced me, and I was too weak to resist. I did not want to drive you to this.”
The ocarina player rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You really were planning on killing yourself because of a man?”
Nyree said nothing, but continued to lock her hateful gaze on her former friend.
“You two were friends once, right?” the stranger asked.
Heeni nodded. “Best friends, yes. That’s why I would never want to hurt her.”
The ocarina player grinned. “Best friends.” She stroked the side of the fallen tree. “Listen, I don’t know much about men, but I’ve been learning a lot about friends.” She stood up, putting her unpainted ocarina into a pouch at her waist.
“The friendship you have, it is worth everything.”
The woman pointed at Heeni. “You hurt your friend. You did something really stupid. That was bad, and you should have warned her when you knew something was wrong, but now you’re asking for forgiveness.”
She turned to Nyree. “That silly man isn’t worth your life. He certainly isn’t worth losing her, either. Listen to your friend. I know she hurt you, but listen to her, remember all the good things about having her in your life, and never let that go again.”
Nyree stood up, angry now. “How dare you. What makes you think you know my pain? What gives you the right to talk to me in this way?”
The ocarina player gave a thin grin. “I’ve been around, seen a thing or two. Learnt some lessons. Stick with your friend, no matter what. Keep her close and all your other troubles will wash away with the tide. You’ll make each other happy.”
The stranger slapped the side of the fallen log. “I think it’s time we were leaving.”
The log began to shake. Nyree and Heeni both gave screams, instinctively held each other’s hands and backed away from the vibrations.
The log pulled itself out of the sand, and turned to look at the two girls with its green eyes. Then it turned to the ocarina player and smiled.
Together, the ocarina player and the taniwha waded into the sea, and Nyree and Heeni watched as the young woman got onto the monster’s back.
“You know who that is?” Nyree whispered to her friend, otherwise rigid with fear. “That’s Kaimana, the Taniwha Girl.”
“I know,” Heeni whispered back. She squeezed her friend’s hand, and Nyree squeezed it back. “Thank Leinani, we’re lucky to be alive.”
They watched Kaimana ride her taniwha towards the horizon.
On her friend’s back, the young woman was smiling, content, looking forward to whatever came next.
Where the Waters Turn Black (Yarnsworld Book 2) Page 24