by Jane Keehn
The storm had pushed the vessel off course and beaten the sails from the masts, forcing the ship onto hidden rocks not far from the mainland coast of Walpole, Western Australia.
A huge crack in the hull started to fill with sea water and the cargo of coal escaped out of the holes.
Some of the smaller pieces of coal floated on the surface, powdering the bay with a sooty black.
The belly of The Mandalay crashed against the tops of ancient limestone caves filled with swirling waves.
Meg called to her parents but they didn’t answer her and they didn’t come.
The ship groaned like a sick whale and a ripping sound sent a chill through Meg’s frail body.
She squealed into the wind with terror.
The gust blew her tiny voice far into the distance where no one could hear. A wave, as high as her cabin, flipped over the railing, crashing over her head, knocking her to the deck.
One of the crew slipped down the declining deck and lost his footing into the deep.
Meg screamed at him as he flew past her, lost forever at sea.
Her arms reached out; her hands grabbed for anything - for a shred of sail or a rope from a ladder or a splinter of mast but her hands remained empty, clutching at rivulets of water streaming underneath her.
With the last cracking groan of The Mandalay, as she lost her battle with the limestone reef, the ship’s figurehead, a golden-haired Mermaid, split at her tail from the bowsprit and was swept out to sea.
As the Mermaid plunged into the Bay, Meg was sucked away from the ship into the churning water.
Like a buoy on a fishing line, she bobbed about gasping for mouthfuls of air.
Her hands still reached out to stop the waves rising above her; to find anything to hold on to.
The wooden figurehead rushed towards her; they collided with such force that Meg had all the precious breaths knocked out of her.
Under The Mandalay’s sinking whirlpool, Black Tails were swimming against the force.
Faces pale and faces tanned lunged from the limestone caves lining the Bay.
Tribal leaders let out their battle cry to signal for back up Giluri from Morditj Island to gather in the bay - a lost ship had been struck by the storm and it lay punctured on the reef spewing its black poisonous contents over their hunting water.
Almost two score of Giluri Grey Tails forced their way through the dangerous water using their aqua skills to locate the drowning land-dwellers and carry them to safety.
A tribe of visiting black-tailed Yawk-Yawk slithered off the rock pools of the bay, to drag the ship’s passengers from the sea, giving them breath under the wreckage.
A young Boy-Gil moved faster than all the others. He witnessed the smallest land-dweller knocked unconscious by the ship’s wooden Mimi and slipped through the water, thrusting his fluke against the ocean; cutting the force of the waves and using it to propel himself forward.
The girl was limp, her pale face was framed by strings of her long, dark hair.
The Boy-Gil hoisted her on to his back with his strong, hunting arms and freestyled over the waves to the shore of his tribe’s hunting bay.
He breathed into her lungs so that they filled and she began breathing again under her own reflex.
The painted, wooden Mimi floated into the shallows where three young Yawk-Yawks gathered.
The Boy-Gil lay on the sand next to the girl, watching her breath.
Her eyes fluttered, she coughed a watery breath out of her body and took a fresh, rainy breath back in.
Meg slowly awoke to the storm on the sand and to a beautiful half-fish, half-boy who had fished her out of the sea so that he would never be alone again.
The End
Coming soon - "Acacia and Bobbi" - the sequel (and prequel) to "Kendra".
Acknowledgements
Cover images - copyright Emma Geary.
Karaoke lyrics are quoted with permission by the author, from -
“Souls Together, Worlds Apart”
by Christopher Keehn (the author’s brother)
A voice came from across the sea
Destined for my heart
Love knows no boundaries
Souls together
Worlds apart
Your gift
The Sun’s warmth to me
The Earth, the Moon, the Stars
A Goddess with great destiny
A beauty that will not surpass
To hold you once
Is that too much to ask?
Is it too much for my heart to take?
To forget you is an impossible task
You’re an angel from another place
The sky is blue
Because of you
Honey sweet for your taste
You’re an angel that’s come from heaven
To make my world a better place
A much better place
Thank you to my two built-in editors, my partner, Emma Geary and my sister, Beth Keehn.
Also to my friend, Michael Buckingham-Gray, for writing advice and encouragement.
Thanks to other friends who read early drafts of Kendra for their support.