Selkie Warrior

by Finn Black

  ‘It’s like a seal’s tail,’ Kaiko murmured. They stared as if hypnotised as the tips of Edwina’s tail began to rotate round and round, so fast it became a blur. The next moment, she slipped into the water and disappeared from view. The Outcast bobbed, abandoned on the ocean.

  Edwina had gone.

  ‘What the –?’ said Will, turning to stare at the other Nektons. ‘What was that?’

  Ant felt stunned, unable to reply.

  ‘That’s no ordinary woman,’ Kaiko said, wandering over to rest her hands against the window. Her breath misted on the Plexiglas. ‘She’s ...’

  ‘She’s a selkie!’ Ant finished for her. He’d read about the mythical creatures – humans on land, seals in the water. He’d never in his life imagined he’d see one with his very own eyes.

  ‘I didn’t expect that,’ said Will, scratching his head.

  Kaiko shook herself, as though coming out of a trance. Then she strode back to the control deck and cut the Aronnax’s engines.

  ‘Not easy to chase her in the sub,’ Kaiko said. ‘We’re not manoeuvrable enough.’

  ‘And in that selkie suit she’s too small to show up on the sonar,’ Will said. ‘We wouldn’t be able to distinguish her from a big fish or a dolphin.’

  ‘We could go after her in the Knights!’ said Fontaine. ‘Ant?’

  But Ant was already racing past her to the Moon Pool.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Ant climbed into the Shadow Knight. It was the quickest of the Aronnax’s exploration suits. The exterior was light grey, but it turned darker when in stealth mode, giving him a good chance of catching up with Edwina unobserved.

  Without waiting for Fontaine, Ant plunged into the Moon Pool and swam out from under the Aronnax. He fired up the jets of the Shadow Knight and zoomed through the water, following the direction Edwina had taken. Her velvety wetsuit looked like it could zip through the water like a seal, but it wouldn’t be as fast as his Shadow Knight – he hoped.

  The ocean floor sped below him, fronds swaying in his slipstream as he darted around rocks and skirted rainbow-coloured shoals of fish. He switched on the display screen on the inside of the cockpit, which was positioned so he could view it simply by raising his eyes. The hidden screen showed a magnified display of his surroundings, which allowed him to see further ahead – like having an onboard telescope. His heartbeat quickened as he glimpsed the outline of Edwina swimming ahead of him in the distance.

  She didn’t know he was behind her – yet.

  If I can just get closer before she looks round.

  Darting between rocks, he approached carefully. He no longer needed his display screen – he was close enough to make out the individual metal scales on her tail. The fin whirred in a blur, sending up columns of bubbles. He spotted the Jorange on her back, with the Circlotron inside. Jeffrey was swimming in tight, anxious circles inside his tank. Ant had to rescue him – and the Circlotron! But how?

  ‘What’s happening down there?’ came a familiar voice. Will was sending a message from the Aronnax.

  ‘I’ve found Edwina,’ Ant whispered back. He didn’t know why he was whispering, but it wouldn’t surprise him if Edwina had a way of intercepting their radio messages. ‘I’m going to try and grab the Jorange from her.’

  ‘You should have waited for your sister, Ant.’

  ‘It’s too late for that now,’ he messaged back.

  ‘OK, she’s not far behind you. Good luck.’ Will’s voice crackled. Luck – Ant was going to need a lot of that. He hadn’t actually planned what his next move was going to be. Maybe if I take Edwina by surprise I can pull the Jorange off before she knows what’s happening, he thought. Just a little bit closer ...

  Ant swam out from behind a rock, careful to avoid any sudden, jerky movements. He hovered in the water just behind Edwina. Jeffrey spotted him and stared pleadingly through the glass of the Jorange, his mouth opening and closing as if saying, ‘Help!’

  ‘Don’t worry, Jeffrey, I’ll save you,’ Ant muttered under his breath. He extended the Knight’s arms to grab the straps of the Jorange. Slowly, slowly ...

  No! A shaft of sunlight pierced the water and Ant’s shadow fell across Edwina. She realised she was being pursued, glanced round and with a flip of her metallic tail shot downwards. Desperately, Ant lunged to grab the Jorange, but the Knight’s pincers closed around empty water. He was too late.

  Twisting and turning like an eel, Edwina made for a nearby coral forest. Silvery fish darted in and out of glowing fronds of green, red, yellow, orange, turquoise and purple. The beautiful delicate forest took his breath away, but he had no time to admire the view. He glanced round, looking for any sign of Fontaine but … I can’t wait! I have to go after Edwina.

  ‘I’m going into a coral forest,’ he messaged. ‘We’re south-west of the sub!’ Then, without waiting for an answer, he plunged into the coral.

  He looked around wildly. There! He could just make out the shape of Edwina, but she was zigzagging in and out of the coral and it was hard to keep track of her. As he moved deeper into the forest, the water filled with silt and sediment and it became more and more difficult to see anything. He realised that the coral must have been damaged by the cyclone, and Edwina was taking full advantage of the camouflage.

  Ant’s shoulders slumped inside his Knight. He had completely lost sight of her. There was no point zooming along in the wrong direction. He came to a stop beside an underwater mountain that rose up beside the coral reef. The mountain towered steeply over him, rising all the way to the surface. Ant stared around to see if he could catch a glimpse of Edwina. Maybe she’d dodged round the other side?

  He would get a better view if he rose closer to the surface, he decided, away from the clouds of coral dust. Then he might be able to spot Edwina from above. The suit powered him up towards the summit of the mountain. Near the ocean surface it flattened out to form a shelf that was littered with large flat mottled stones. Ant began to swim slowly around, scanning the depths below him, pushing against the stones to propel himself along.

  Suddenly, he heard a clunk and felt a sharp blow against the armoured pincer of his Knight – a blow strong enough to push him back through the water. What the –?

  He glanced back.

  ‘It can’t be,’ he whispered.

  One of the stones was moving slowly towards him. Not rolling in the tide or sliding across the shelf but … swimming! Those were fins, moving through the water as a hinged jaw gradually opened and closed. A pair of bulging eyes snapped open. The stone wasn’t a stone. His mind scrolled through all the creatures he’d seen in the ocean. An image clicked into place.

  He radioed through to the Aronnax. ‘There’s a giant stonefish down here!’ he gasped.

  ‘Wow! How big?’ came Will’s voice.

  Ant did some rapid calculations, his eyes scanning the creature. ‘Giant – at least two metres.’ Thank goodness for his armoured suit! If he’d put an unprotected hand or foot on it, it would have stabbed a poisoned barb into him for sure. And that would not have been fun.

  He heard a crackling sound down the line. ‘The stonefish is the most venomous fish in all the oceans, Ant!’ He could hear the tension in his mother’s voice. ‘Please – be careful.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ he reassured her. She’d kill me if I died from a stonefish jab, he thought, joking grimly to himself.

  He stared as the stonefish lazily moved through the water. It was enormous. And ugly enough to win prizes. Its skin was knobbly and mottled grey and brown like the surrounding rocks. It had bulbous black eyes and a crumpled, downturned mouth that made it look like a grumpy old man.

  Ant wondered how old it must be to have grown to such a size. There was something stately, almost regal about its progress. Did the people on the island know about this creature, he wondered?

  Then something seemed to click in his mind. Of course they knew! He remembered Dr Fesuzia checking Edwina for poisoned barbs, and saying that the
king wouldn’t like it if the salinity of the water increased. This monstrous old stonefish was what they called the king!

  The stonefish continued to swim, its fins flapping gently but moving with surprising speed, and Ant followed a little way behind. He was fascinated by the strange creature – so big, so ugly, so dangerous, yet so oddly graceful.

  And then, a little way ahead, he spied Edwina. She had her back to him and was slowly moving through the shallows. She must have thought she’d escaped and was working out her next move. The Jorange was still strapped to her back and Ant could see the tiny purple and gold shape of Jeffrey.

  The stonefish seemed to spot Edwina too. It accelerated and started to swim purposefully towards her, clearly furious at not one but two trespassers in its underwater realm.

  ‘Edwina!’ shouted Ant through his radio mic, waving his arms to attract her attention. So much for going undercover. Edwina might be his enemy but he couldn’t let her get stung by a giant stonefish. ‘Look out!’

  Startled, Edwina turned. The stonefish was almost on her.

  She jackknifed and tried to dart past it to safety. But the stonefish lunged at her and caught the strap of the Jorange in its jaws. There was a brief struggle. Edwina’s eyes bulged in panic. Then, in desperation, she shrugged off the other strap and swam away, her tail corkscrewing like crazy. She vanished into a forest of seagrass some way off – leaving the stonefish with the Jorange dangling from its mouth. Jeffrey was swimming around in panicked circles.

  ‘Good boy!’ said Ant, approaching slowly. He held out a pincer. ‘Good king! Let’s have it, then.’

  The stonefish gave him a defiant stare as it slowly backed away. Hmm, this isn’t going to work. The fish executed a sudden turn and disappeared with its prize into a fissure between two rocks. The gap was too narrow for the Shadow Knight to follow.

  And meanwhile, Edwina was hiding out in the forest of seagrass.

  I could use some help right now, Ant thought.

  ‘Next time,’ came an annoyed voice, ‘I suggest you wait for me.’

  Ant whirled round to see the White Knight drawing up beside him. ‘Fontaine!’ he cried.

  Ant Nekton had never been so glad to see his sister.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  ‘What are you, crazy?’ Fontaine demanded. ‘Rushing off on your own without waiting for me – anything could have happened!’

  ‘Plenty of stuff did happen,’ Ant replied. ‘I found Edwina!’

  ‘Where is she, then?’

  ‘In there.’ Ant pointed to the forest of seagrass. ‘I lost her again.’

  Fontaine quickly inspected Ant’s Knight. ‘And where is the Jorange?’

  Ant bit his lip. ‘In there.’ He pointed to the fissure. ‘A stonefish has got it.’

  ‘Well, you have done well,’ said Fontaine, floating beside him. ‘So, now what?’

  ‘We need to find Edwina. But we also need to rescue Jeffrey before that fish eats him!’

  ‘Mum? Dad?’ Fontaine spoke into her radio mic. ‘We’re kind of in a situation here.’

  ‘What sort of situation?’ came Will’s voice.

  ‘We know where Edwina is – sort of. And we know where the Jorange with the Circlotron is – sort of. So ...’

  Ant joined in the conversation. ‘Dad? The stonefish has stolen the Jorange!’

  ‘OK, now you really need to be careful!’ came Kaiko’s voice. ‘The poison from even a small stonefish can be deadly, and what did you say this one was? Over two metres long!’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mum, we won’t take any risks. It really is a beauty though – you should see it! I’m pretty sure it’s what the islanders were calling “the king”. And it’s got Jeffrey and the Circlotron in a crevice in the side of an underwater mountain!’

  ‘That’s ... interesting,’ Will said slowly. ‘A mountain, you say? And the fish is called ... the king?’ The sound of Will snapping his fingers was clearly audible over the radio. ‘Listen, the Indonesian word for “stone” is batu. King Batu – remember? That’s what the riddle means – the Child of the Mountain is the stonefish!’

  ‘That definitely means we’re on the right track!’ Ant said.

  ‘Yeah, OK, but what do we do right now?’ said Fontaine.

  ‘The priority is to get the Circlotron back,’ said Kaiko.

  ‘And Jeffrey!’ Ant chipped in.

  ‘Yes, and Jeffrey. Do that and return to the Aronnax,’ Will said.

  ‘Don’t approach Edwina,’ Kaiko said. ‘She could be dangerous!’

  ‘Yeah, like a stonefish isn’t,’ said Fontaine sarcastically.

  ‘Stay safe, kids,’ their father said. ‘And keep us posted, OK?’

  ‘OK.’ Fontaine turned to Ant. ‘All right, so how do we get it out of there?’

  ‘I reckon it’s hungry,’ Ant said. ‘That’s why it took Jeffrey. It can’t get at him, but if it breaks the glass ... !’ He felt his heart flutter with anxiety. No way could he let his best friend in the whole world be swallowed up in that stonefish’s grumpy mouth!

  ‘We have to tempt the fish out,’ said Fontaine, talking slowly as a plan formed in her mind. A cloud of shrimp swam past, their tiny legs scrabbling as she watched them plunge into a forest of seagrass. ‘Stonefish eat crustaceans, right?’

  ‘Do they?’

  ‘Sure they do.’ Her face shone with excitement as her eyes snapped back to Ant. ‘And over there is a massive great forest of seagrass – where those shrimp hang out.’

  ‘That’s where Edwina’s hanging out too,’ Ant reminded her.

  But Fontaine took no notice. She launched her Knight towards the seagrass and tore up a great clump of it with the robotic arms. Then she swam back to the stonefish’s lair and shook the seagrass through the water, making the strands dip and sway. ‘Dinner-time!’ she cried. Instantly a crowd of translucent shrimp tumbled out and drifted in the water in front of the fissure.

  Ant thought he saw a slight movement in the darkness – and the next moment, the stonefish cautiously emerged. The strap of the Jorange was still gripped in its jaws. Jeffrey was swimming around inside, his eyes popping with anxiety.

  ‘Whoa!’ said Fontaine. ‘You weren’t joking, were you? That is one massive stonefish. Don’t get too near it, Ant – if that stung you, you’d die in horrible, terrible agony.’

  ‘Yeah, thanks for the heads-up.’

  ‘Come on, King Stoney!’ said Fontaine. She shook the seagrass again and more shrimp floated out. ‘Come and get this lovely shrimp buffet, yum yum yum!’

  The stonefish’s eyes widened. It eased forward, raising a cloud of sand. Its jaws opened – and the Jorange drifted free.

  Ant sprang forward and grabbed it, cradling it in the robotic arms of the Knight. ‘Jeffrey, I’ll never let you go again!’

  Jeffrey swam around, wagging his tail fin.

  But Ant noticed something else.

  ‘Fontaine,’ he called, ‘I think the Circlotron has switched on somehow.’

  ‘I’m kind of busy right now, Ant,’ she replied.

  The stonefish was now hungrily hoovering up the shrimp. Fontaine had to give it a wide berth as she swam round to Ant’s side to look. ‘Hey, what’s this?’ she said, pointing into the cave.

  Engraved on the rocks just outside the stonefish’s lair was a symbol – an image of a long, sinuous serpent, its body twisting and turning and its jaws wide open with a forked tongue protruding. Ant frowned, staring at the piled-up rocks of the stonefish’s lair. He felt his skin prickle as he noticed how the rocks were piled neatly on top of each other to create a perfect arch that had defied centuries of tides to remain standing.

  ‘That’s no normal lair,’ he murmured. ‘That’s human built.’

  ‘Or Lemurian built,’ added his sister. ‘The carving of the snake, does it remind you of anything?’ The style of it recalled mystic etchings Ant had seen on …

  ‘The Circlotron!’ the two of them said together. Almost at the same moment, the Circlotron wh
irred further into life inside the Jorange. Ant’s backpack was still hanging from the arm of his Knight and he felt the vibrations of its energy travel down the arm. The Circlotron shot a beam of light through the murky ocean, lighting up the etching of the snake.

  This was just what had happened beside the dragon’s cave, when Ant had spotted the etching of the child and the mountain. Almost at the same time, the Circlotron had juddered into life, a matching image glowing on its rim. There was no doubt about it – Ant’s Circlotron was guiding him along a route, lighting up to let him know each time he’d found the next clue.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve found this lair,’ Ant said. He looked nervously around to see if anyone else might have spotted the beam of light – someone like Edwina.

  Will’s voice came through on the radio. ‘Any luck?’ Ant and Fontaine shared a glance – where to begin?

  ‘Yes, we’ve got the Circlotron,’ reported Fontaine.

  ‘And Jeffrey!’ said Ant.

  ‘Oh, yeah, and the fish.’ Fontaine rolled her eyes.

  ‘See, Jeffrey, I told you she cared,’ Ant said, and his sister grinned.

  ‘Good work,’ Will said. ‘OK, you two. I want you to come straight back.’

  ‘And so do I!’ came Kaiko’s voice. ‘Quickly.’

  Ant figured they could fill their parents in on everything else once they were back on board.

  ‘Race you back to the Aronnax, Ant!’ Fontaine said, and zoomed away.

  Ant started to follow her, but then slowed down to look back at the seagrass forest. Edwina was still in there … somewhere. Why had she been so determined to steal the Circlotron? And how did she even know about it? It was a mystery. And mysteries were there to be solved.

  He spoke into his radio mic. ‘Fontaine? While we’re here, it seems a shame not to track Edwina down, find out what this is all about. Why does she want the Circlotron? And how does she know about it?’