by Matt Larkin
The Snow Queen stared at her with such feigned innocence Pele considered burning her to death right there. How dare this woman mock her? She was a daughter of Haumea. And this snow bitch was about to find out just who she was antagonizing.
Pele took another step toward Poli‘ahu, to stand a mere breath away. “I accept.”
20
The amount of mana coursing through this woman meant she was a more significant threat than Poli‘ahu had anticipated. Worse, this Pele had declared herself a queen of Vai‘i, and Poli‘ahu could not let that stand. But an open fight might turn against her. Was there any chance the woman would keep her bargain if she lost?
Probably not.
They trekked back up the slope, dragging their sleds behind them. The other woman said nothing.
No, Poli‘ahu didn’t really expect this Pele to adhere to any agreement. On the other hand, people would hear about her losing, and that would further sway the public into Poli‘ahu’s favor. The last thing the people of Sawaiki needed now was a war between kupua. Not like this.
Could she persuade Pele to just leave, though? Send her back to Kahiki or elsewhere in the Worldsea?
Again, probably not.
These kupua had come from Kahiki and had no intention of returning. Her sources indicated at least two very powerful kupua had come, one controlling the tides, and the other—this Pele, apparently—mastering fire and magma.
A sled race was as good a means to test this queen’s limits as any. Let her push herself in a contest she could never win. Who was the other queen, really? How much power did she hold? Poli‘ahu had to discover the answer.
It took maybe half of an hour to return to her place near the summit. By then, Poli‘ahu’s muscles ached. She wasn’t used to dragging a sled around. She could have simply dissolved the thing and formed a new one at the top, but then her guest might have accused her of switching them again somehow.
So now this other queen carried Poli‘ahu’s own sled, for all the good it was likely to do her. No, the woman clearly had too much pride to admit Poli‘ahu was simply better than her. Indeed, it was the epitome of arrogance to think anyone could defeat her in such a contest. Of course, up here, she could probably destroy this queen with her powers over the snow. Maybe she still would do so, whatever the outcome of this race. Truly, Pele was a fool to have sought her out here.
Smirking, Poli‘ahu hefted her sled. “Ready?”
“Do it.”
Poli‘ahu ran forward a few steps then threw herself onto the sled, kneeling to speed its flight. It skated across snow, rapidly building momentum. She spared a glance over her shoulder to see the other woman lagging behind, glaring at her, eyes burning like red hot coals. What in Lua-o-Milu? Was the Flame Queen possessed by a Fire spirit?
That changed things.
The next instant, Pele punched her fist into the ground. The mountain rumbled at her assault as if she had somehow damaged the stone itself. And it kept shaking, trembling in agony. A crack raced out ahead of the other woman, a spreading crevice that split so deep it swallowed snow from both sides. The crevice sped toward Poli‘ahu, now billowing out a curtain of steam.
She jerked her sled to the side, out of its path, sending herself dangerously close to the precipice. Even as she turned back, the crevice had arced around in front of her. Her sled was racing too fast for her to stop it in time. She was going to crash right through that scorching curtain—and it had to be ten feet thick at this point.
All she could think of to protect herself was enveloping her form and sled in a thick cloud of mist and snow flurries. She summoned it from all around her, forming more and more of the barrier even as the sled leapt the crevice, flying through the air. The mist and snow evaporated faster than she could reform it, allowing steam to scald her flesh even as the sled crashed down on the far side of the gap.
Poli‘ahu realized she was screaming in pain, and still her sled wasn’t slowing. Indeed, the other queen’s own had just raced past her. If Pele couldn’t win a fair race, she planned to cheat.
Well, no one beat Poli‘ahu on her own mountain.
She summoned a ripple of snow, using it to fling her sled forward with ever-increasing speed. When the Flame Queen looked backward, her face fell as she realized how fast Poli‘ahu was gaining on her. First, Poli‘ahu was going to thrash her in this race. Then she would freeze the woman to death for her temerity.
The Flame Queen waved her hand and the mountain shook again, breaking apart. A river of lava—lava!—surged forward in front of Poli‘ahu’s sled. The molten earth was quickly turning her beautiful mountain into a wasteland of slush, steam, and toxic vapors.
And she could not stop herself from crashing into it. Instead, she poured mana into the snow beneath her sled, using it to build a ramp and fling herself upward. Her sled flew through the air once again as snow plummeted below her, cooling the lava, though destroying itself in the process.
Her teeth slammed together as the sled touched down with such force it almost threw her free. But it kept its momentum, and she was still gaining on Pele. A fountain of lava exploded in front of her like a geyser, spilling its molten death all around her.
Poli‘ahu jerked her sled to the side, trying to avoid it like she would a tree. Except this tree rained fire on her. Spots of it struck the sled, sizzling and melting through the ice almost instantly. Another fountain blossomed in front of her, and again she darted around it, so close she felt its heat would burn her skin right off.
She glanced back only to see her kihei, streaming in the breeze, was on fire. Kāne! She tore free its clasp and let the cloak fly away in the wind.
Poli‘ahu extended a hand behind herself, using snow to speed her way once again. Her sled launched past the Flame Queen’s and Poli‘ahu cast a withering gaze at the woman who had declared war on her home. Well, maybe it was time Pele learned just what the mountain could do to defend itself.
She eased her power out of the snow behind her and instead reached up to the mountain shelf above. Already the snows were loosened, trembling from the torment the other kupua had wrought. Poli‘ahu jumped off her sled and drew both hands in toward her chest, calling the snows to her.
High above, a curtain of snow rose, accompanied by a cacophony fit to rival any eruption the Flame Queen had wrought.
And then the avalanche began.
Poli‘ahu called more and more of the snow, endless tons of it to cleanse and bury the interloper. She allowed her form to become mist and flew past the Flame Queen, relishing the look of horror on the other woman’s face as she saw her end.
And then the avalanche crashed into Pele and carried her right off the precipice.
21
The cascade of ice and snow pitched over the cliff’s edge like a waterfall passing over Kamapua‘a’s head as he climbed. Stray rocks and ice chips pummeled him until he lost his grip on the mountain and skittered downward. The skin on his knees ripped open before he caught himself, one hand grasping an icy rock. He was spun around, staring at white oblivion rushing before him.
A glowing ember in the midst of the snow plummeted past him.
The one he’d heard about, who’d come up here. The shitting flame kupua.
The sound of the mountain passing overhead was like the roar of a mo‘o, except unending. A constant, deafening, all-consuming current that swallowed even the sound of his own screams.
“Stupid shit-shitting shitters!” Not being able to hear the sound of his own voice only made the terror worse.
Even as the avalanche finally ebbed, giving way to a few final tumbling pebbles, a fresh pit opened in his stomach. That ember had to have been Pele. Stupid lava woman had gotten herself thrown off a mountain.
Even Kama knew better than to do that.
And if she had lost consciousness in the fall, she wouldn’t be able to melt the snow around her. It would suffocate her.
Well, pig shit.
He looked down. The falling snows had filled in
the base of the cliff so that the drop was maybe a hundred feet. If he landed on rock, a fall from that height might kill even a mighty wereboar.
It was not his problem. He’d come here to kill Poli‘ahu. Or else marry her and carry her off somewhere where she couldn’t hurt Kama’s kin anymore.
Sure, maybe he couldn’t do much for his nephews what with being banished and shit.
But killing the Snow Queen would’ve gotten all forgiven.
It was a fine plan.
Of course, he’d heard this Pele was allied with Aukele. Kama barely knew his half-brother, but maybe saving her would earn him some reward, too.
Shit, shit, shit. Ugly stinking pig shit.
He spun around, back toward the cliff, and braced himself with both feet. Then he kicked off it, propelling himself as far away from the rocks as his legs—mighty legs!—could carry him. For a moment, he was flying.
It kinda felt like falling.
He hit the snow with such impact he was buried fifteen feet deep. Snow scraped his arms and legs and chest as he pitched downward. No rocks though. That was a blessing. He rubbed his nose. Shit, was it cold down here.
He bucked and thrashed, managing to dislodge his legs while pouring a fresh helping of snow on his head. Yeah, there was no going straight up outta this hole. But maybe he could burrow like a worm. Grumbling, he dug his way upward at an angle. It was hard being a worm. Way harder than swimming. And colder. Worms must be cold little shitters.
He dug until at last he breached the surface, then hefted himself up. No time to waste.
“Pele!” He climbed to his feet and trudged around the snow. He stomped across the seemingly endless stretch of white. “It’s time to get hot for me, your royal emberness.”
No answer.
“Aloha! Fire Tits! Come light me up!”
There was no way. She couldn’t be dead. Kama would shitting kill her if she was dead and he’d just thrown himself off a shitting cliff for her.
He raced across the slope, stopping occasionally to rummage through the snow. Shitting shit shits. She had to be here somewhere.
Running on, his foot slipped on ice and he spun around to land face first on a thick chunk of it.
“Ow.”
What was an ice block doing in the middle of the snowfield? And inside it, a shadow. A woman.
“Pele …?” Kama pushed himself up on his arms to allow sunlight to reflect on the ice.
She was trapped in ice. Did the Snow Queen do that on purpose? Or maybe Pele had melted the snow but it had refrozen around her. It was shitting cold up here, after all.
Kama punched the ice block. The impact sent a shock coursing up his wrist and into his elbow. It split open his knuckles, but the ice cracked too. He pounded it again and again, his blood smearing the ice until he could no longer clearly make her out inside it.
“Shit, well, that’s thoroughly incontinent.”
Kamapua‘a roared, slamming both fists against the ice over and over. Shards of it embedded in his palms, his forearms. They flew free until he managed to break away a chunk of it the size of his torso. He tossed the chunk aside and kept digging, pounding, smashing.
And then, impossibly, blessed radiance began to glow beneath the ice. The glow intensified and all at once the entire block evaporated in a cloud of steam that sent Kama tumbling down atop Pele.
In an instant he had rolled over to look into her eyes. They stared up at the sky, not even seeing him. Her breath was faint, uneven. By the akua, she was gorgeous. Kama wrapped bloody arms around her and pulled her close, hoping to share his body heat with her.
“Stupid Lava Girl. Gotta start a shitting avalanche. You should learn hula. It’s a way better use of your time than mass destruction. Or surfing, commune with the … well, you probably don’t commune with the ocean. Shit, even lava surfing would be better than burying yourself alive.” He shook her a little, but she had shut her eyes. “Your queenliness?”
She gave no answer. But he could hear her heartbeat, too faint for his liking. The Flame Queen was out cold. And he couldn’t leave her here alone, which meant he had no way to easily go after Poli‘ahu at the moment.
Oh well. For now, all he could do was try to keep Pele warm and safe.
She was, after all, shitting beautiful.
22
Despite the fatigue, sleep would not come to Namaka.
She could not forget the feeling of Ake, grinding her flesh on rough rock. Couldn’t forget, so instead she focused on what she’d seen before that. Anything to keep from thinking about what Nyi Rara had done to her.
Images of the visions the Urchin had shown her played behind her eyelids, each so faint as to be ungraspable. The intangible realities of the past and future were a torment, but one she craved again. Of course the mer had built Mu upon such a wonder, eager to bask in the magnificence of primal life. The entity flowed with such mana that being in its mere presence had infused her with a fresh zeal for life.
Maybe that was how mortals felt about being with a kupua. None of that mattered now, though. All that mattered was another chance to see, to understand. To stare into the unknown and begin to comprehend the mysteries of life.
No, she wasn’t going to sleep now.
She had to know.
Had to keep that as her focus.
Slowly, she made her way back to Kuula Palace. Most of the mer, save the guards, had long since drifted off to sleep in communal grottos.
Nyi Rara made no objection to Namaka’s journey back toward the Urchin.
She knew the mermaid could hear her, feel her intent, but said nothing. Probably that meant the mermaid needed to understand the truth of the visions as desperately as Namaka herself did. That or, perhaps, Nyi Rara was ashamed of herself for what she’d done.
Oh, the mermaid should be ashamed. By taking such liberties without bothering to ask, Nyi Rara had effectively raped her.
You are a host!
And Nyi Rara didn’t want her to forget it, did she? Not even if it took casual cruelty to remind Namaka that Nyi Rara was not remotely human.
Well, no forgetting that now.
She forced the thoughts down, trying once more to focus on the Urchin’s visions.
Maybe the Urchin had shown Namaka the he‘e because of the value of their alliance. She had seen … something. A he‘e the size of a small mountain. Was that Kanaloa himself? She didn’t even know if what she was seeing was something happening as it was revealed to her, had already happened … or would yet unfold.
There were too many questions.
The way back to the gorge was winding, confusing. Or would have been, had Nyi Rara not suddenly seized control of her body when she took a wrong turn. Silent once more, the mermaid guided them on, diving deep. Was she wondering all the same questions? Or had the visions differed for her?
They are different for everyone.
And what had Nyi Rara seen?
The mermaid princess made no further answer, just dove into the gorge without hesitation. Down the long descent and through the tunnel the only sound Namaka could hear was the swish of her tail and the increasingly rapid pounding of her heart.
Wait … had Nyi Rara done what she did because of her visions?
The mermaid offered no answer.
They broke into the Urchin’s massive chamber to find the priestess waiting for them. “I wonder which one of you started the journey here?”
“I did,” Nyi Rara said, using Namaka’s mouth.
“Did you? You play a dangerous game with your host, child. You dart between dominance and partnership, do you not? Toying—if only that—with the idea of symbiosis.”
“To allow that would be … disgraceful.”
Disgraceful. Namaka mentally growled at the mermaid inside her. Compared to what, disgraceful?
“It has been done,” Opuhalakoa said. “On the rarest of occasions. In the old world, men used to use the Art to attempt just that. Or even to try to draw a spirit inside and mast
er it. They sought the powers of the Spirit Realm without paying the price. Most, of course, paid far more than they could have imagined.”
“But it would be my choice. I allowed this human such an indulgence.”
The priestess nodded. “You know you cannot achieve what you want here.”
“I need to see it again, understand better.”
All right, what in Milu’s dark domain were the two mermaids talking about? Namaka pounded against the sides of her skull, trying to take control. The mental backlash Nyi Rara sent at her was like being slapped by Milolii’s tail, full force. It left her so dazed she missed whatever Nyi Rara said next.
She caught the priestess’s answer, however. “The Urchin shows you what it will, when it will. You cannot command an answer from it, Princess.”
Damn it. Namaka needed to know what it had tried to show her before.
Be still.
A thought hit her then … The visions, hard as they were to interpret, represented a power perhaps greater than even Namaka’s kupua power. And that had to be why Hiyoya was pressing their borders so determinedly. They wanted to control the Urchin. Their people could grow flush with its mana and their rulers wise off its shared knowledge.
You are more intelligent than you first seem.
Funny, she felt a fool for not having seen all this yesterday. She was one piece in a complex game being played out across all the Muian Sea.
But you are a valuable piece.
The Urchin had shown Nyi Rara something of symbiosis, hadn’t it? The mermaid’s silence answered her question for her. The Urchin didn’t give answers, only helped a person to understand the questions. To see connections.
Whatever Nyi Rara had seen had terrified her. To the point she felt the need to prove herself superior to Namaka …
And did that mean everything the Urchin had shown Namaka was also connected? Her people, their deaths. The he‘e, Mu, even … the rest of it. All part of a larger whole that, if she could but understand the connections, she might begin to unravel.