Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians (38 page)

Sky turned to the shocked Deneb. ‘Quick: go to the clan, tell them what’s happened! I’ll distract it.’

Deneb started to protest, but Sky shoved him out in the direction of the clan’s bay. Then he moved out into the open in front of the shark which eyed him warily. ‘Go!’ Sky hissed to Deneb.

Deneb took a last look then turned and swam off as fast as he could. Sky watched him disappear; wanting to be sure that he would get clear of the Cleaner. All the blood from the severed body of the guard would attract more of them soon. Sky taunted the shark for a little longer, staying just out of its reach. Then it lost interest, remembering the half eaten body on the seabed. It nosed it again, as though trying to decide whether to try and eat it too. Sky slipped past it, and headed after Deneb as fast as he could across the reef.

Sky was elated. The wound on his head was still hurting badly. But he had done it! He had helped Deneb get away in spite of the odds. Now, he just had to convince the clan…a cry of rage shattered his thoughts and Sky felt a huge blow from above into his back, driving him onto the reef. He was flipped over onto his back and found himself lying in a hollow in the rock with the huge form of Storm looming over him. Storm’s eyes were narrow with fury and his voice was icy. ‘How dare you! You will die for your interference! Just tell me why you’ve done this before I kill you.’

Sky’s back hurt terribly and he knew that if Storm charged him now he had no chance but he did not feel afraid. He answered with a strong voice, glad that he had ruined the Guardian’s plans. ‘Because you are insane and have to be stopped. Because of what happened to Dusk. Because you killed my father, the last Kark-Du of your clan.’

‘
Your
father! He was not
your
father! What’s your name?’

‘
I am Touches The Sky and he
was
my father.’

Storm looked taken aback. ‘Touches The Sky died on a beach with my mother a long time ago. Only I and my father escaped that day.’

‘
No! I escaped too! But my brother’s name was…’

Storm gave a harsh laugh. ‘Still Bay. That
was
my old name until I embraced Stone Eyes’ teaching and joined the Guardians. So, my little brother survived!’

Sky took advantage of Storm’s momentary surprise to right himself and shift himself slightly out of the hole. Storm saw the movement and growled.

‘
What are you doing? Trying to get away? You think this changes anything? You’re not my brother any more — I have many new brothers, every true believer is my brother now, not you. You’re from another time, another world. You’re weak and foolish like he was and you’ve ruined everything! It will seem like I have failed and you are responsible!’

His rage overcame him again and he lunged at Sky once more, plunging towards him with his eyes blazing. Sky darted away and Storm just struck him with a glancing blow, but it still hurt. He swam as fast as could; away from Storm, out into the blue, away from the land. He kept near the surface so that he could leap to breathe. It hurt; hurt a lot. Storm must have broken some ribs. But he had to swim or die. Below him, the bottom fell sharply away. Soon they were over the deep waters; darkest blue beneath them.

Storm was close behind him, cursing him, promising to kill him. Ordinarily, he would probably have been able to outpace the big dolphin, but the injury to his back was growing stiff and painful; it was becoming agony to swim. Storm was going to catch him. There was only one place to go.

Sky dived.

He heard Storm follow him, not far behind, using his sonar to track Sky, still cursing him.

Sky forced himself to enter the deep diving trance in spite of the pain. He had never done it before while swimming this fast but this would have to be the best dive of his life or the last one. He visualised his body, the familiar dull red glow representing his conscious extending through it. Quickly, he made the glow dim, from his fins, from his tail, up into his body. He reduced the racing pace of his heart; making it pause between beats, extending the pause each time.

Slow your heart. Slow it or die.

Soon the red glow was just in his head. He was vaguely aware of his tail still driving him ever deeper, but it was far away, and the distant pain was almost a comfort. Now, he was at edge of the fourth level of consciousness. He could hear the sonar of Storm behind him, getting closer. The water became darker, the Shades spoke of
joining, absorbing,
and then:
death
.

Slower still.

They swam on and on into the void. The water became very cold as he passed the deep thermocline. It was almost perfectly black now. He had never been this deep before.

Slower.

He was aware that his body was running out of oxygen, he was struggling to keep any kind of control. He thought of One Eye and wished he could be there.

Beware the worm named Fear.

He knew that the inviting, dark mantle of unconsciousness was not far away; close enough to feel now, close enough to touch.

Slower yet.

A part of Sky’s mind could detect Storm closing behind him; he must be only a body length away. He vaguely noticed that Storm had stopped using his sonar. He must be about to attack. It did not seem to matter much anymore.

Dying is not hard at all
.

He distantly felt the weight of Storm’s body collide with his.

When the impact came, it was not as violent as he had expected. Not really anything. Like the joking push of one friend to another, or the press of a lover against her mate. Dusk used to push him like that sometimes, a long, long time ago. He must be so far removed from the world that he did not feel it. His oxygen levels were so low; he would have been finished soon anyway. He gave into it; stopped swimming.

Let’s end it then. Where is She?

Storm pushed passed him, towards the utter blackness of the abyss. The big dolphin’s still body sank past him, gently spiralling in the faintest of light. Storm seemed to want to go down there. Sky let him pass.

Farewell, Still Bay.

Chapter 52

“
I know your skin

I know your eyes

I know your clever mind

Your dancing laugh

Your soft caress

Your leaps, your falls, all mine

I know your moods

All your desires

How you feel when we’re apart

I know each element of you

Except what’s in your heart”

- The poet Jupiter by Regulas (9,467-9,491 post Great Alluvion).

He swam fast at the surface, flying alternately through clean, cool air and supporting, liquid crystal. Each time he passed from one medium to the next he was chased, but never caught, by a thousand shining diamonds. The water deep, deep below him; a viscous, fluid blue, falling to the still, cold blackness where all zetii eventually go. Above him, the paler, yet still intense blue of the sky. His world; his people’s Ocean. Living in one hemisphere, dependant on the other. Yet he felt completely alone in this two-tone blue orb, which rocked gently about the pivot of the bright red light at its join. He swam towards that light as fast as he could, racing it to the horizon.

Soon the sand rose to meet him, patches of rock among it turning to grey in the failing light. And then he could see it: silhouetted against the fiery ball, the tiny islet. Black against the light, piercing into the sky like a Cleaner’s fin.

As Senx immersed himself into the distant waters in red fire he could see the net in his mind, painted there by sound. He could make her out, she was still there.

I came before Senx left you, just as you asked me
.

Now he can see her, and she — yes, she is moving, he is sure.

I kept my promise my love.

‘
It is I, Touches The Sky!’

Then he was beside her and realised that although she was moving, it was not through her own efforts. She was rocking gently in the swell, still woven into the net.

With a great effort he lifted her to the surface. Her eye flickered and her blowhole opened and took in little air, but he heard the rasp of bubbles as the little air passed into the water in her lungs and knew what it had to mean. She’d given up, passed out, and water had entered her airways. She was fading.

‘
Dusk, I tried so hard, I got here as fast as I could.’

She looked at him for a long time then spoke with a great effort, her voice small and far away. ‘Sky, dearest Sky. What happened to your face? Did you...stop them?’

‘
Yes. And Storm is dead.’

Her eyes closed for a moment, then opened again as she continued weakly. ‘Thank you. Thank you so much. Then it wasn’t all for nothing. Deneb is safe. The clan will take you back. And the Guardians will fall apart without Storm.’

He held her up again and she tried to breathe but convulsed weakly. Some white foam appeared at her blowhole but no air moved in or out.

‘
Dusk you’ve got to hold on!’

‘
Can’t. So...very tired. Sky, promise me one…thing.’

‘
Anything.’

‘
Find...find the Western Red Mountains Clan. Venus...In...Mist. She wants you. It’s the last…’

But there was no more. Her eyes still looked into Sky’s with a faraway stare, but he thought she seemed content somehow.

He supported her all through that long night. The sky was perfectly clear and filled with the stars she loved so much. He named those he could and asked her for the names of those he could not. Sang her songs. Reminded her of stories of when they were children. Lifted her to the surface time after time so she might breathe in that cool, precious air, which was sweetened by the exotic fragrance of some night blossom.

But she never did.

Touches The Sky’s story will continue in the second part of Dolphin Way:
Captured

For more information about Dolphin Way and the facts about dolphins visit www.markcaney.com