Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians (31 page)

One Eye shook his head slowly. ‘But the second zeta not only made the same choices each time, she agonised over each dilemma herself. She made her choices based on her own beliefs, not because she felt the need to comply with society’s demands.’

Sky considered this, confused by such radical thinking. He took a moment to surface for air. One Eye remained on the bottom. Did he ever breathe? Sky returned to his side. ‘Yes, I suppose I can see what you mean. She would’ve had to have actually thought everything through for herself. But most clans wouldn’t be very tolerant of her, even though she was making the same choices each time.’

‘
Ha!’ One Eye exclaimed, ‘The boy’s not such a fool after all. Now tell me: you’ve been through some hard times of late haven’t you?’

‘
Well, yes…I was...exiled from my clan for…’

‘
Don’t bother — it doesn’t matter to me. And you have a certain look
that is familiar to me. You’ve looked the Cold One in the eye recently, I think.’

With a shock Sky remembered his dive out in the deep sea; how close he had been to dying that day.

‘
Yes. I went looking for Her.’

‘
But you decided not to stay down there.’

‘
No.’

‘
Why? What made you come back into the light?’

‘
The Shades hinted at something. Something about duty. I felt I might have things to do.’

‘
Duty eh? Well, that’s just possible.’

One Eye was very still for a while. He seemed to Sky to be looking inside himself; in some other place. Then he was back, focusing slowly on Sky again. ‘You remind me of someone. Perhaps this needs more thought. You
can
stay for a day or two. Welcome to Forlorn Island!’

Chapter 41

“
With my first love I flew the skies

With my next love I saw Senx rise

My third, made me a little wise

My fourth, more so with all his lies.”

- Children’s jumping song

Fades Into Dusk swam away from her clan, following the direction of the strong westerly wind which had kicked up steep, breaking waves. On another day she might have enjoyed launching herself from the wave faces but now she just made low leaps as needed to take air or look ahead. This was a familiar route for her but she had not swum it in the many days since Sky’s exile. It seemed very different this time though; in part because she was making the journey in daylight. Her classes had finished early as one of the teachers had been unwell; some kind of stomach upset. The clan Healer had prescribed regular, small quantities of a particular red algae, otherwise fasting and a day of rest. The Novices were therefore unexpectedly free and she had managed to slip away. The other reason the journey seemed strange was that this time she had a different purpose for making it.

Sky’s exile, and the way in which it happened, had deeply affected her and her mind was in turmoil. At first she had been excited by the Guardians and their new ideas, but her last experience with them had been shocking, and she had begun to realise that she had only really wanted to believe in them because of her attraction to Storm Before Darkness. Now she could not help comparing Storm and Sky, and Storm fared badly in the comparison. She found herself respecting Sky more and more. Yes, he wanted to keep to the old ways, but when she thought back, he never argued compliance out of simple obedience to the Way. He always seemed to have thought about the issues and he had genuine compassion for others. ‘Storm was passionate about his beliefs too — very passionate, but he did not care if others were hurt in achieving them. He had often talked about “necessary sacrifices”. She had assumed that this was partly rhetoric but the punishment ceremony she had witnessed had opened her eyes to the reality of just how serious he was. She had always believed that it was what you did that mattered, not what you said you would do. And Storm acted violently. And Sky…well, Sky had followed her to the Guardian ceremony. Why? Not to betray her — he had his chance to do that. More than that, he had sacrificed himself for her. She had thought about it so many times now and there was no other explanation. He could have used her as an excuse for being with the Guardians and he might have been let off such severe punishment. She, however, would have been exiled, and deservedly so — she had to admit that now. Sky must have followed her that night because he cared about her. And to accept exile instead of her — she could not have imagined anyone doing that before.

She considered confessing what had happened but she admitted to herself that she was too afraid. She did not think she could survive the loneliness of exile; it was the worse form of punishment for any dolphin: social contact and the clan was everything. She could not bring Sky back now, but she could do something to atone for what she had done: she would end her relationship with Storm. At first she had intended to simply never go there again but she needed some kind of closure. And out of respect to Sky she wanted to tell Storm that what the Guardians believed was wrong and that she wanted no part of it. That would feel good at least, and then she would never see him again.

She swam along the section of shallow, fringing reef. Something large swam by just on the edge of visibility, going the opposite way. It paid her no heed and she in turn ignored it. Probably a big Cleaner of some kind she supposed. No threat to a healthy adult like her, but if it carried on towards the clan it might be a concern for the young or sick. She would mention it to the scouts later; she would just have to pretend she had seen it nearer the bay. Suddenly there was a voice ahead of her: ‘It is I, Venus in Mist, of the Western Red Mountains Clan!’

Dusk responded instinctively as the other appeared out of the blue ahead of her. It was a young female with an unusual metallic blue-grey skin and dark, deep eyes. She spoke confidently to Dusk: ‘I’m glad to finally meet you, Fades Into Dusk.’

‘
How do you know me?’

‘
I’ve heard about you from your clan. I came to know Touches The Sky, and when zetii talk about him, your name is often mentioned.’

‘
I can’t think why, we’re just friends.’

‘
Really? Are you sure? Listen, I met Sky and I like him. I mean,
like
him. I was supposed to meet him after the Gathering but something happened — he didn’t show up and I thought that was it. I thought it might be something to do with you in fact. I left with my clan. But later we came across a hunting party from your clan and they told us a story of how he had been exiled for contact with the Guardians. Then I realised why he’d missed our meeting. Then I came back here to look for you.’

‘
Why do you want to see me?’

‘
It’s simple. Do you want him? Have you got some kind of hold over him?’

Dusk was shocked at this female’s directness but tried to think. Did she want Sky? ‘I don’t really know, I haven’t thought about it that way. There’s nothing between us now, but could there be sometime? I don’t know.’

‘
Well that’s enough, I suppose.’ She stared at Dusk with those odd dark eyes. ‘Listen, if you see him again and decide that he’s not for you, just tell him that Venus In Mist wants to see him again. Tell him to find the Western Red Mountains Clan. Alright?’

‘
Alright, I’ll remember.’

Venus In Mist looked at her hard for a long moment, then nodded once and vanished off into the blue.

Dusk paused for a while trying to work this out. Did she want Sky? She did not know. Should she help this strange female who obviously did? Her instincts told her no. No, she would keep this meeting to herself. She would think about it more later, but for the moment she needed to continue with her plan.

She soon arrived at the familiar arch where she had always met Storm. He was not there of course, he was not expecting her. No one was around, so she followed the shore further on. The Guardian clan was normally along that stretch of coast.

Past the arch the shoreline consisted of fringing reef again. At the water’s edge, a wall dropped down a few meters to meet an almost flat, white sandy sea bed. The restless waves were deepening the sand ripples that paralleled the shoreline, picking up particles of sand and tossing them about. As each wave broke on the shore, a cloud of white bubbles was driven down in to the shallower depths. Purple surgeonfish darted agilely through these clouds, searching for food dislodged by the violence.

Dusk heard voices up ahead and slowed down. She recognised two of Storm’s bodyguards: Sorrow After Nightfall and Rock On Sand. She could not make out what they were saying at first, then she heard Nightfall saying, ‘We’ll have to get some more, he won’t last long on that. You know what Kark-Du told us.’

Dusk saw them now through the swirling water, and announced herself, ‘It is I, Fades Into Dusk!’

The two big dolphins stopped talking at once and turned towards her. She saw that they were hovering around an opening in the reef wall, the entrance to a cave.

‘
Greetings, Fades Into Dusk,’ Rock said politely.

Dusk was about to say that they could call her Dusk, but then stopped herself. She would not see them again after today anyway.

‘
Would you be looking for Kark-Du?’ Nightfall asked, with what she suspected was a faint smirk.

‘
Yes. Can you take me to him?’

‘
Oh no, we have to guard the…this cave. Important mission, it is. But you just follow the shore for a bit and you’ll see the clan. He should be around, we’re expecting him soon.’

She looked at the cave more closely now. It was not large, but would just about admit a dolphin to enter. It must have another opening inside; perhaps going up to the surface, as when each large wave broke, an eddy of small bubbles emerged from the entrance. She had no idea why they would want to guard such a thing.

‘
Well, I’ll leave you to your important work. Do make sure no one steals it.’

She had just moved a short distance away when she thought she heard a faint voice, it sounded as though it came from the cave. She turned to look. Rock and Nightfall must have heard it too; they exchanged glances, then Rock shot into the cave. She heard some muffled sounds from within: they sounded violent. She was about to speak to them when Storm appeared from behind her. He looked at the cave and then at her. ‘Come here now!’ he commanded and led her out of sight of the cave. ‘What did you see?’ he demanded.

‘
Nothing! Just those two hulks hanging around a cave.’

He snapped his jaws twice angrily in front of her. She was really frightened, he looked like he was about to attack her. She decided not to mention the voice she had heard. He stared at her as though trying to decide whether to believe her. He moved closer until he was almost touching her face with his and spoke coldly: ‘I forbid you to go anywhere near that cave. Do you understand?’

She seethed inside. Dusk hated being told what to do. She would enjoy telling him that she was never going to see him again now. But then she was struck by a strange series of thoughts.
Why
couldn’t she go near that cave? What was in there? And what was Storm talking about at the ceremony about the Ka-Tse coming to dominance in the next few moons? Why was he so interested in her being a Starwriter? She made a sudden decision to try and find out more, to learn what was going on. She tried to look meek and submissive, ‘Alright, I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was important, Kark-Du.’

He softened, ‘Alright, little one, you don’t need to call me that. Just stay away from it. Now, why haven’t I seen you for so long? Are you still upset about the punishment ceremony?’

‘
I was, but now I’ve thought about it and I see that…it must be necessary sometimes.’

‘
Yes, exactly.’ He seemed calm now, reflective even. ‘I don’t like to have to inflict suffering on one of our own you know, but sometimes it must be done. And to kill a zeta — well I hate having to do it. Yet sometimes the individual must suffer for the good of the many, even make the ultimate sacrifice. I don’t like to see a good Ka-Tse die, but sometimes it is the only way.’

Dusk somehow sensed that he was not talking about the punishment ceremony any more. This talk of killing Ka-Tse — killing any zeta — was repellent to her, and more than ever she wanted to tell him she was leaving. As though he had read her mind, he went on, ‘You had me worried when you were gone for so long. I even thought for a moment that you may have decided not to see me again.’ He focussed on her again. Once again she felt a chill of fear. ‘I can’t let you leave me you know, I need you. And besides, you know so much about us. No, we couldn’t let you leave.’ She looked at him, feeling cold inside. How could she have ever loved him?

‘
Come on,’ he said, ‘let’s swim in the shallows like we always did. And did I mention? That Dreamweaver has been telling me about unlocking songs, it’s really fascinating. I’d love to see how it works. Why don’t we talk to her, and find out if there’s anything interesting in that lovely head of yours that she could sing out?’

Dusk followed him, determined that he was not getting at any of the information she carried. She would make some excuses about the position of the planets or something and arrange to come back another day. She felt she had to do it; if only so that Sky’s sacrifice was not without purpose. The Guardians were planning something, now she was going to find out what it was.