by Caney, Mark
A Novel by
Mark Caney
DOLPHIN
WAY
Rise of the Guardians
Published by Ocean Orb
© Mark Caney 2011
The right of Mark Caney to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act,1988.
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First Published 2011
Published by Ocean Orb
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ISBN: 978-0-9569968-0-0
For Anouk
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank these patient individuals for taking the time to give me their opinions and help as I assembled this book: Anita Burgh, Chris Davey, Elizabeth North, Graeme Gourlay, Harry Bingham, Jon Coon, Jüri Gabriel, Kate Beal, Laura Taylor, Mike Seares, Sarah Fecher, Theresa Kaplan and of course, my family.
DOLPHIN
WAY
Rise of the Guardians
The white gull snapped its curved beak deftly four times across a stone, as though to prepare it, to clean it, to sharpen it.
From a short distance away, Touches The Sky held his head above the water helplessly, watching the murderous bird. The inert form of a dolphin lay stranded on the sand of the little bay, well clear of the water, exposed to the intense heat of the tropical sun. Sky knew how that felt. He had nearly died that way once, many years before, and it would be a cruel and horrible death, your flesh drying and burning while the shocking weight of your own body crushed the air out of you.
The gull hopped nearer the battered dolphin, very close now to its nearest weary eye; sharply inclining its black capped head back and forth as it peered into it. Judging how helpless this creature was. If this should be its time. Sky leapt from the sea in frustration, letting out a rattling scream of anger as he crashed back into the clear water. The gull barely looked at him. It knew that the other dolphin was powerless to help its beached friend.
Sky surfaced again to watch the scene in nauseous horror. The battered body of Born Into Summer was completely inert apart from small movements of her eyes. The rake marks across her back and sides glistened with drying blood. Otherwise, her flesh was taut, dry. Her previously beautifully proportioned tail flukes had clear teeth marks and deep nicks in several places. Sky had never seen one of his kind so obviously abused by other dolphins before. He called her name once more, but she could not make a sound, would never reply. She did look towards him though, just for a moment, and there was the brief light of recognition there, perhaps of gratitude too. That at least a friend was close by at the end.
Sky recognised the moment when the gull made its decision. As it made the first strike, he dived. Dived deep and long, deep and long, shutting his own eyes tightly; trying to block out what he had just seen.
Chapter 1
“Beware the tool makers. Once they have tasted the power to change, they will not cease until all is changed. There will be no balance, no harmony, no beauty, when the tools are at last laid aside.”
As agreed, they swam in silence so that they would not alert their intended prey. Their powerful tails drove up and down as they sliced through the lazy swells, their smooth backs breaking the surface briefly here and there. Fleetingly, the rising sun gilded the fine spray from each expelled breath before it dissipated in the gentle tropical breeze. They kept in tight formation just below the undulating silver of the surface, their broken images racing above them. Below, they left no shadows. There was only the still depths of the open ocean, seemingly falling away forever in the frail light.
Touches The Sky held his position close alongside Deneb Rising. Like Sky, Deneb was a large and powerfully built young adult, and their leadership of the hunt had been unquestioned. From time to time Deneb made a low leap from the water to confirm the direction of the distant mass of excited seabirds. As he sliced back into the water, he ordered fine corrections to their course with small inclinations of his head. With a gesture, he urged the hunting party to greater speed as they closed with their quarry. Sky drove himself forward hard, trying to eradicate the memory of the scene on the beach the previous day. But he could not erase the image of that white bird with its cruel yellow beak — nor would he forget the final shudder that passed through Born Into Summer’s body before she passed beyond the reach of more pain. Sky was still stunned by what had happened, and had happened so suddenly. Sky had always admired Born. She was outwardly serious, yet always serene. Like one who knows some fine secret — some special, wonderful truth that allowed them to see the minor troubles and dramas of daily life as being as inconsequential as they actually were. She had taught Sky and the others a great deal; fragments of knowledge, elements of control, glimpses of the deeper meanings of the Way. Warnings of errors to avoid, of Ocean’s many natural dangers, and of the less natural ones too. The perverse, twisted logic of the Guardians, the strange, apparently self-destructive workings of the Walkers. But mostly, Sky remembered her complete trust in the Way. Clarity of thought; perfectly attuned to Ocean. All the self assuredness of one of the elders in one not much older than Sky himself. He remembered her full of life, skin smooth, eyes shining, ready to help anyone wishing to learn, and especially patient with Sky. Trying to make him take his responsibilities seriously, telling him that there must be more to his life than games from now on. He had never really understood. And then, unaccountably, she had been driven to that beach, to that waiting gull.
Sky was brought back to the moment by a sound. He glanced across at Deneb who looked back meaningfully at him without breaking the pace. He had heard it too: the faint buzz of another dolphin’s sonar — they were not alone here. Sky listened carefully, and there it was again. Nearer still this time; and clearly just one lone dolphin — strange.
Sky tilted his body to one side as he swam so that he could look down. They had begun their sprint towards the birds barely able to see in the dim light, and without echolocation it had been almost like swimming blind. Now, the light was increasing and he could see the sun begin to penetrate the darkness of the deeper water. The wavering shafts of light picked out occasional tiny flecks of life in the clear water and hinted at the presence of the seabed far below him in the indigo depths. But apart from the rest of the hunting party there was no other dolphin in sight.
He broke the surface in a low leap, exploding from the water at the peak of the long swell so that he could look ahead. They were drawing close to the birds now and in the brief time he was airborne he could hear their screams. Some were bobbing agitatedly on the surface, some diving into the water, others squabbling noisily. Sky tried not to
remember that lone gull on the beach. Tried not to feel anger at these other birds. They were just fulfilling their allotted role on Ocean. The sound of their screeching vanished abruptly as he fell back into the sea.
Suddenly, the dolphins’ object appeared ahead of them through the blue of the water. A wall of living mercury: undulating, shimmering, an equivocal, giant beast. Deneb gave a pair of short jerks with his head and the party split into two; seven circling to one side of the silver cloud with him, six to the other led by Sky. As though in a well choreographed dance, they circled the shoal of sardines in opposite directions. They snapped at the fish to drive them closer. Three of the dolphins repeatedly dived to the bottom edge of the shoal where they sent up curtains of bubbles to panic the little fish into herding tighter together.
Before long the shoal was a densely packed shining ball, its members terrified and confused. While the other dolphins continued to force them together, two dived to the bottom of the shoal and with sharp, menacing movements began to force the sardines towards the impassable wall of the surface. Soon the shoal was as closely packed as it could ever be. The little fish were showing signs of fatigue as their multitude began to deoxygenate the water in which they swam.
Now, at last, Deneb broke the silence. ‘Enough: let’s eat,’ he called in a strong voice. ‘Who will dedicate this meal for us?’
No one replied.
‘Come on then little brother, you do it!’
Sky smiled to himself. Although not really brothers, they were as close as if they were and it felt good when Deneb called him that. Like having a family again. He paused for a moment then called out clearly above the clamour: ‘We thank Senx for these points of light that we may shine the brighter. We honour them for their gift to us this day.’
‘Good!’ Deneb Rising cried. ‘Now let’s eat, and quickly. We don’t want the Cleaner to get too much from all our hard work.’
With that, two of the dolphins broke away from their circling and cannoned into the seething mass of fish, snapping up the sardines left and right. The tiny fish attempted to scatter, but they were too tightly packed and the dolphins proceeded to gorge themselves. Two by two, they broke away from their encircling patrol and feasted on the oily tasting fish, while their fellows kept the panicked shoal packed together at the surface. The seabirds wildly entered the hunt in earnest as the fish made the water surface boil.
Soon Deneb called out again above the clamour: ‘How many have your lot taken Sky?’
‘Sixty-three, no…sixty-five now,’ Sky shouted back as he shot past, ‘we’re unstoppable!’
‘Oh no you’re not! We’ve had our shares of the quota already, and you need to take your last few morsels and we’ll head home. The Council is going to be happy to hear that there’s still some prey at least out here.’
They soon moved away from the writhing ball of fish which still swarmed about mindlessly. As the dolphins left, Deneb Rising called to Sky again. ‘That was the best hunting in many moons.’
Sky nodded. ‘And we’re not the only ones to appreciate it. Look: just as you expected, they’re here already.’ He gestured downwards. There, could be seen several large, slender shapes rising from the depths, moving silently towards the shoal. One of them diverted leisurely from its path to snap up a falling fish tail, the others were moving purposefully; drawn by the traces of blood in the water.
Deneb watched for a moment then turned to Sky again. ‘Never mind them, did you see him — the lone zeta?’
Sky was confused for a moment, then remembered them having heard the sound of a dolphin’s sonar as they had approached the shoal.
‘No, I didn’t. Did you recognise the voice?’
‘No. But he was Ka-Tse. We should keep an eye out for him.’
Sky nodded. Even though the stranger was Ka-Tse — a bottlenose dolphin like them — it was best to be wary. Very few dolphins would choose to travel alone so the stranger may well be an exile. There was usually some good reason for them to be alone.
They swam away, leaving the sharks to their business. Sky moved alongside another young adult male who was singing happily to himself. His pale grey stocky bulk contrasted sharply with Sky’s dark, toned body. Sky tried to lift himself from the dark thoughts that were coming back to him again now the excitement of the hunt was over, and brushed against the other dolphin’s side companionably. ‘So, Muddy, you seem in good spirits.’
Muddy River Mouth’s eyes beamed back at him. ‘Oh, yes I am. I haven’t eaten so well for a long time. I am going to make the rest of the clan just hate me when I tell them about this.’
‘You’re so full of fish you’ll likely sink out of sight before we get there!’
The larger dolphin snorted. ‘I can promise you that I could’ve eaten a lot more. I know we need to have them, but these quotas make no allowance for those of us who simply need more food.’
‘Well, the Gathering starts soon. I’ll personally request that you be allowed to talk to the Elders on behalf of special cases like yourself.’
‘I wouldn’t dare speak to them! Do you really think that they’d even listen to me anyway?’
Sky looked gravely at Muddy. ‘Oh yes. They’d realise the seriousness of your situation as soon as they saw your poor, emaciated, little body before them.’ Sky forced his eyes to smile a little. It was not Muddy’s fault that Born was dead.
Muddy looked about to give Sky a nip on the tail when they both realised that Deneb and the others had halted just ahead of them. Sky stopped himself beside Deneb, keen to see what was happening; Muddy hung back cautiously. Sky immediately saw why they had paused. A single dolphin was approaching them hesitantly. He moved a little stiffly, awkwardly, like he still nursed some old wound. Although he had pale undersides and dark grey back like most of them, there was something unusual about the skin on his back; like an old mottled scarring just faintly visible.
He stopped, announcing himself formally.
‘It is I, Rain Ending!’
Deneb replied on behalf of the hunting party, ‘It is I, Deneb Rising of the Dune Coast Clan! My companions are also of that clan.’
The stranger dipped his head in acknowledgement.
‘Greetings to you all. I hope your hunt went well.’
‘It did, thank you. But you did not name your clan.’
‘No…I have none. Have not had for many years now.’
Deneb glanced at Sky, a question in his eye. The others would be wondering too. Sky thought it best to put the question that was in all of their minds. He moved forward a little.
‘It is I, Touches The Sky!’
‘Greetings…Touches The Sky.’ The stranger looked long and hard at Sky, staring almost rudely.
‘Are you here because you wish to join our clan, Rain Ending?’
‘No, that is not my intention. And I’m not an exile in case that might be a concern.’ He still stared at Sky, making him uncomfortable. Then his gaze fell on Sky’s right pectoral fin. The very tip of it was missing, the result of an injury he had suffered when he was very young. Nothing unusual: most dolphins had scars, so Sky thought it odd when the stranger commented on it.
‘Touches The Sky, that injury to your fin — is it old?’
‘Yes, from when I was small, I don’t even know how it happened really. Why do you ask?’
‘I just wondered…if it was something that bothers you…but obviously not. You must have a good Healer in your clan. And that is why I’ve approached you— I have an old injury — a very old injury — it’s always caused me some trouble but recently it’s become worse. If you have a Healer in the Dune Coast Clan I’d like to seek their advice. Just advice, that’s all; then I’ll be on my way.’
Sky and Deneb exchanged glances. There was nothing threatening about such a request. Deneb answered. ‘We have two Healers at present and they are both skilled. We’ll have to seek permission from the Council of course, but your request sounds very reasonable. Follow us back to our clan and we’ll
see if we can help you.’
Deneb asked two of the party to accompany Rain Ending in case he might have trouble keeping up with the group. He was a little slower and soon he and his escorts were trailing at the back of the company. When he was well out of earshot Deneb spoke softly to Sky: ‘Do you know him, Sky?’
Sky had no memory of the stranger and shook his head.
‘Well he seemed very interested in you. Let’s keep an eye on him just in case. Any lone zeta is suspicious but the way he acted while he was speaking to you was strange. Very strange.’
‘Do you think he might be connected with what happened to Born?’
‘I doubt it. If it was other zetii that drove her on to that beach as you believe it would have to be more than one. And they’d have needed to swim much faster than he can. But that whole idea seems incredible to me! Zetii deliberately killing a fellow zeta? What about the Way?’
Sky screwed up his eyes then opened them again wearily. ‘I know, it seems fantastic, but there are stories, these Guardians — they are supposed to be turning all the old rules upside down — corrupting the Way. Maybe it’s something to do with them.’
‘But, why? Born was such a lovely zeta, would never hurt anyone.’
‘Look, Deneb, I saw her body! I saw the marks on her and I am sure they were made by zetii. Someone chased her, hurt her, and scared her so badly that they drove her up onto that beach. And then they left her there to die.’
Deneb looked at his friend compassionately. ‘And you saw her end, my friend. It must have been hard, especially for you.’
‘But why couldn’t I have arrived just a little earlier — when I might have saved her?’