by Caney, Mark
‘Well, you have always had a fine singing voice Sky. I wondered if you might sing me a particular song that day.’
Sky smiled sadly at him. ‘Of course, Jeii. I shall sing it with all my heart.’
Chapter 8
“Feed them hard truths as you would feed them
a sour meal — in small bites”
- The ‘Seer’ Stone Eyes (13,222 -13,264 post Great Alluvium)
She was alone again in the warm tropical night, gliding through a velvet sea to her forbidden lover. The swell lazily lifted and fell about her, casually tossing breakers onto the nearby shore. Dusk could hear each one drawing itself up — like, she imagined, some huge eel: dragging a mouthful of coral fragments, shells and sand into its jaws before idly lunging forward and spewing it back onto the steep shelf of the beach.
Although the full moon would come up later, for now it was very dark; yet the starlight alone was enough to allow her to clearly make out the white beach whenever she leapt from the water. She leapt often that night. She leapt for the sheer joy of it. She leapt to see the stream of bright phosphorescence she created as she fell back into the welcoming water. She leapt to admire the beauty of the night sky.
Dusk took a special pleasure in looking at the sky. Of course, like all dolphins she used the stars as her calendar, clock and compass; but she had studied them in much greater detail than most during her apprenticeship as a Starwriter. She enjoyed being able to name almost every point of light she saw. On this perfectly clear night, the most distant white cloudy belt of stars stretched in a band from one horizon to the other, marking the edge of the galaxy in which Ocean floated. Dusk even made out one of the “New Stars” — strange, tiny points of lights moving swiftly across the sky. They were not stars at all of course, but their origin was mysterious. The Starwriters’ meticulously kept records showed that they were a recent phenomenon: only in the last fifty years or so had they started to appear. There were various theories about them, including some that Dusk considered far fetched, like that they contained visitors from the stars who orbited Ocean in great shining, water filled orbs. She thought that the more likely explanation was that they were connected somehow to the Walkers, but what their purpose might be no one knew.
She arrived at the rock arch where they usually met. She was just on time, with the upper edge of the moon beginning to appear above the sea surface. Soon the whole disc was up, painted a dirty orange colour by the sand and dust blown from the land. She made her signature call: ‘It is I, Fades Into Dusk!’
Silence. She hated it when she was here alone, calling into the night; not knowing what the silence meant. She always tortured herself with possibilities.
He was not coming.
He did not even remember — she was so unimportant to him.
He was with someone else.
He was dead.
He wanted to end it.
She tried to imagine how she would act to each scenario if it was true. She tried to work out which one was worse.
She watched the moon rise by the height of its own diameter nine times. As she counted each one she called again. The oppressive silence of the replies was louder each time. At the tenth diameter she gave up and started swimming slowly towards the area where Storm Before Darkness’ clan usually spent the night. That was how she named them to herself. Storm Before Darkness’ clan. His clan. She shook her head. That was not what they called themselves. She was just trying to trick herself with words, not naming the thing of her fears, like she had done as a child. It was like the time she and her two best friends had resolved never to say the names of the great black and white pack hunters. The older children would try to frighten them with stories, but the three of them had agreed that if they never said the monsters’ names out loud, they would be safe from them.
Now she was making the same pretence with Storm and his clan. And she wasn’t a child anymore. So she would just have to face facts and call them what they were: the Guardians. She was meeting and talking to Guardians, directly against the clear orders of the Grand Council. Punishment: exile.
But at least, she told herself, she was not swimming with the Guardians — not a member of their clan. Storm had tried to persuade her, but she resisted. Claimed that she must finish her studies. He did not argue too fiercely against this — he seemed to be encouraging her to finish her Starwriter training in particular, and she appreciated his understanding. He was thoughtful that way.
Now there were voices in the water ahead. She moved up into the shallows and could see clearly now where the moonlight reflected from the white sandy patches. She disturbed a little foraging reef shark which moved quickly aside, concerned that it might become a meal itself.
She could make out a number of dolphins still on the bottom— one here and there occasionally rising slowly to breathe — all of them clearly asleep. She stopped using her sonar to avoid disturbing them. A little further was the source of the voices: seven young adult males had just returned from a night hunt and were talking in low tones about it. She was about to swim past when one broke away and approached her.
‘Hey, beautiful, where’s your manners? Aren’t you going to announce yourself?’
Her first reaction was to try to avoid this obviously flirtatious approach but then thought that if Storm could not be bothered to turn up to their meetings he could hardly complain if she spent time with other males.
‘It is I, Fades Into Dusk!’ She knew that protocol demanded she should have properly added “Of the Dune Coast Clan”, as she was greeting a member of another clan, but then she felt almost a member of this clan. Almost, but not quite.
‘And it is I, Catches In Air! And you can call me Catches. Why haven’t I met you before?’ He swam next to her, trying to gently direct her course away from his friends who trailed idly behind them.
‘I like to spend time alone sometimes. And I’m new here. And enjoying a swim by myself, thanks.’
‘Pretty name for a pretty girl. Did you change it when you arrived?’
Dusk shook her head. It was common for many of the Guardians to choose a new name when they joined — “everything changes when you become a Guardian” they said.
He carried on, ‘There seem to be lots of new clan members recently. At last all these zetii are coming to their senses.’
‘They hope to start a new life here I suppose.’
‘They realise there’s no other choice! They’re tired of the indecision of those ancients that ran their old clans. Not only that, they’re starting to realise that their precious Way is dead.’
She glanced at him sharply, unsure if he actually meant that or if he was just being provocative to show off.
‘Is it dead then?’
‘Well, the version that most zetii grew up with is. All that stuff about living in harmony with the environment, the Ka-Tse keeping their proper place, self sacrifice for the good of Ocean — all that. Of course the Guardians still have the Way, but it is the new Way, with the Ka-Tse in their real proper place; as the dominant species in Ocean. Now, why don’t I take you for a swim along the shore just over here?’ He started to press against her side to try and guide her away from the clan.
She snapped her jaws at him in exasperation. ‘I said no! Tell me more about these other zetii instead — those not Ka-Tse. What happens to them now then?’
Catches gave up trying to redirect her physically, but stayed close to her side as he continued sulkily. ‘The Seer told us the Way was never meant for them. They’re smaller than us, weaker than us — and stupid mostly. They need to keep in their own corners of Ocean and stay out of our ranges.’
‘I see. And what if they don’t want to?’
‘Drive them out of course. If we have to. We can do it.’
‘Just the Guardians? There are so many of the others.’
‘Of course! But when all the Ka-Tse join together against them we can. Can’t we stop talking about this stuff and just go for a little swim? I kn
ow this lovely little bay near here…’
Dusk shook her head. Inside she was shocked at this youth’s aggressive beliefs. Surely he was just boasting and did not really believe this nonsense?
‘It’s hardly likely that the Ka-Tse are suddenly all going to join together against the other zetii though, is it?’
‘Oh yes, it is. And not far off. Kark Du has it all planned. He said that…’
He suddenly cut off as one of his friends bumped him hard from the side. Catches turned to him in anger but the friend whispered something urgently to him. He turned back to face her, wide eyed, suddenly quiet. She prompted him: ‘You were about to tell me what Kark Du said?’
The friend answered instead. ‘Greetings, Fades Into Dusk. If you’re looking for Kark Du Storm Before Darkness, I know that he was called away urgently to meet a messenger. He may not be back till dawn.’
‘I see. Thank you, that’s helpful.’
He dipped his head slightly and led the still stupefied Catches In Air away.
Dusk paused for a moment, then decided she had better leave. She turned and made off away from the Guardians, towards her own clan. She thought about the strange conversation with the youth Catches. It had been different from any she had had with a Guardian before, they always seemed a little careful of what they said. Catches had said disturbing things. She was sure he must have just been showing off. Storm had made some harsh statements about what needed to be done, but always justified them with the crisis that forced them. He was fond of quoting: “Hunger makes the bitter fish sweet”. He had never said anything to her about dominating the other zetii. Yes, that must be it. Catches was just a typical young male, showing off to impress her for the usual reason that young males showed off. All that stuff about driving out the other zetii — he must be exaggerating.
Chapter 9
“Anger sullies the pure heart.”
- Forgotten Thunder (8,111 - 8,159 post Great Alluvion)
A fresh south easterly had been building the sea swell, and large, rolling breakers crashed against the lonely beach. Sky and Muddy raced along the rearing edge of the breakers; enjoying the fleeting novelty of a vertical wall of water beside them. Just before each wave broke, they could clearly see out from the face of it and make out the tall palms on the shoreline that were being buffeted by the gusty wind. The dolphins darted through the mayhem of the surf zone; only their finely tuned reflexes and sheer power stopping them from being thrown bodily onto the beach.
Muddy was the first to tire. ‘Come on Sky, let’s go deeper now. That was great but exhausting. I need something to eat, we’ve been swimming since dawn.’
Sky followed Muddy reluctantly into the calmer depths and they searched for food as they continued their swim eastwards parallel to the shore. Sky begrudged any delay; he badly wanted to find Rain Ending, and was acutely aware that he had only a limited amount of time in which to do so. All they had to go on was that he had mentioned to one of the clan’s Healers that he tended to stay around a large isolated coral reef near the coast in this direction. Sky knew that they might well not find him at all, and the delay while Muddy looked for food chafed at him.
Eventually they located enough small bottom dwelling fish to meet Muddy’s immediate needs, and Sky was able to persuade his grumbling companion to resume their fast pace eastwards.
It was almost dark when they reached a large area of coral rising from the sandy seabed a little off the shore.
‘This fits the description,’ Sky said. ‘Now, will he be here?’
‘Well, I hope you’re not expecting to start looking for him now. I’m exhausted after that swim. Let’s just see if there are any titbits to be had and then get some sleep. We’ll search in the morning.’
‘Muddy, I’ve only got two days to find him in! You sleep if you have to, I’m going to start going around the reef. I’ll wake you at midnight and you can help me.’
Muddy complained bitterly at the thought of so little sleep but eventually agreed. Sky left him and followed the edge of the reef around until within a couple of hours, he was back to where he had begun, having seen or heard no sign of other dolphins. Muddy lay resting on the sand, occasionally half drifting, half swimming upwards to breathe without waking. Sky surfaced to look at the night sky: it was still not midnight, so he snatched a little sleep himself.
A while later, Sky woke from a troubled dream. He had been confronting his father, a dimly seen, unclear figure, who had been angry with him for some reason. Sky had the feeling that his father had left because of him; something he had done wrong; and he had wanted to make amends somehow. But his father wouldn’t speak to him or answer his questions. At last his father said in a strange voice: “It’s out of alignment with the new Ocean. Out of alignment. That’s why they’re all dead. Out of alignment.” He was still repeating that as Sky rose from the strange dream.
Sky woke Muddy and they searched the surface of the submerged reef for the remainder of the night, easily navigating in the darkness with their sonar. In the morning they searched the nearby coastline, but with no sign of the lone dolphin. That afternoon Sky suggested they try the deeper water out to sea from the reef, and so they crisscrossed the upper regions of the deep water far from the shore. It was there that they finally heard the distant but distinctive rapid clicks of another dolphin’s sonar. They followed the sound and to Sky’s great relief it was Rain Ending.
‘It is I, Touches The Sky of the Dune Coast Clan!’
‘And I, Muddy River Mouth of the same!’
‘And I, Rain Ending!’
The older dolphin looked at the two friends suspiciously. ‘Have you come all this way to find me? I suppose your curiosity is aroused young Sky?’
‘Yes it is. I was hoping you could tell me more about my family, my old clan.’
‘A zeta does not choose this life because of his love of conversation. I am not a great one for explanations. In fact talking of any kind. I’d rather be on my way.’ He nodded to them and then turned as if to go.
‘Wait! That’s hardly fair. You were ready enough to speak to other members of my clan about me! Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused me?’
The other paused, reflecting. ‘Well, yes, that’s probably true. It was not my intent, just the surprise at seeing another survivor…after so long.’
‘You recognised my name?’
‘Vaguely. But it was the missing tip of your fin that reminded me. I was nearby when you lost it.’
‘Really? I never knew how it happened — it was before I can remember and there has been no one to ask.’
‘Of course. It was a simple enough thing; as a little one you strayed too close to a big triggerfish nest. The owner gave you a good bite and a scare. Your mother was mortified I remember.’
‘My mother? You knew her?’
‘Yes, and your father. Come on then you two. Swim with me and I’ll tell you what I remember.’ He turned and started to swim again then suddenly jerked to a stop, his back arched and eyes full of pain. He twisted in torment and began to sink into the depths. Quickly, Sky put his head beneath him and, with Muddy’s help, lifted him to the surface to breathe.
Rain Ending lay there panting for a short while then the spasm seemed to pass and he slowly relaxed. Soon he could move again. ‘Excuse me. A problem I have with my spine. It comes more often these days, but usually passes quickly.’
‘Is that why you wanted to see our Healers?’ Muddy asked.
‘Yes. They have suggested some changes to my diet and exercises that will alleviate the pain and help to reduce the severity of the attacks. No cure, unfortunately.’
When he was recovered enough they swam on together and Rain Ending seemed to try to answer Sky’s questions as well as he could. He had known Sky’s parents; not well, but thought them to be well liked zetii who fitted in with clan life. He had been amongst the clan the day they had heard the terrible sounds, and had found himself stranded on the beach like the others but clos
e to Sky’s father. They had been on a different part of the beach to most of the clan and although he had expected to die there, the waves there had eventually lifted him off, along with two other dolphins. One of them was Sky’s father.
‘Was my older brother one of them too?’
‘Your brother? What is his name?’
‘Still Bay. He was a couple of years older than me I think.’
‘Then no. I didn’t know who the other one was at the time; you have to understand we were very confused and couldn’t hear properly for weeks, so we didn’t talk then. But I heard the other’s name later…when I heard where they had gone…I don’t remember what it was but it wasn’t Still Bay, I’m sure of that. I’m afraid your brother stayed on that beach with your mother.’
‘And what did you hear about my father?’
‘That he was heartbroken at losing all his family. Heartbroken and angry — very angry. He wanted to blame someone, anyone. He came across the Guardians. Their strange philosophy must have appealed to him somehow while he was in that state — gave him a way of rationalising things while he was desperate to find a reason for it all. Maybe it gave him a focus for his anger.’
‘So it’s true,’ Sky murmured, half to himself, ‘my father is a Guardian. I was dreading hearing you say that.’
‘Well, it gets worse,’ Rain Ending replied grimly. ‘Last I heard he wasn’t just a member of the Guardians. He was the leader.’
Chapter 10
“When no dawn is looked for
Comes the full weight of night
Ocean spares not a favour
If you’ve no strength to fight”
Last Pebble (5,155 - 5,189 post Great Alluvion)
Sky and Muddy followed at a distance behind Rain Ending as he swam out over the deep water of the open sea, looking for shoals of small fish to eat. Muddy shook his head vehemently. ‘Knowing what you do know, don’t even think about trying to find your father! You know what would happen. Any deliberate contact with the Guardians means exile. And don’t think it wouldn’t happen to you t happ there are zetii in the clan just looking for an excuse to blame you now.’