Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians (6 page)

Where was he? She called again: ‘It is I, Fades Into Dusk!’

A long pause.

Then, faintly, a voice from the night: ‘And it is I, Storm Before Darkness!’

Chapter 6

“
The child will have long to think on the mistake that the parent made with so little thought.”

- Carried Westward (12,214 – 12,242 post Great Alluvion)

A large swell rolled towards the shore, born in the deep open sea, a vestige of a far distant storm. Above the deep waters the great liquid monsters lifted and fell benignly, sleep swimming ponderously towards the land. After their long journey, the sudden resistance of the small coral reef woke them with a shock; they reared up in outrage and crashed down in white violence.

Lying on the sandy bottom on the inshore side of the reef, Sky watched the huge breakers crash down at the surface above him, driving great billows of white into the clear water. He had lain there a long time; watching, thinking.

‘
It is I, Deneb Rising!’

‘
And I, Wakes Softly!’

Deneb’s dark form appeared in front of Sky, his serious face showing concern. Wakes hung back at a short distance to give them a chance to speak privately.

‘
We’ve been looking for you little brother,’ Deneb said gently. ‘You’ve been gone a long time.’

‘
I needed some time to think. It’s been such a shock.’

‘
Of course it has. Come on, swim with us, I can hardly hear you with all this noise. Let’s go down where it’s quieter.’

Sky slowly followed Deneb and Wakes into the calm of deeper water, reluctant to leave the clamour of the waves; the comforting caress of the swell.

‘
Whatever everyone else thinks Sky, nothing has changed for me. I will still treat you like a brother and I’m sure my mother will still treat you like her son. You’re still the same zeta.’

‘
Maybe I’m not though. I’ve gone through my life thinking my family was dead, now it seems my father may still be alive. And a Guardian! If half of what is said about them is true they’re bad enough. They say they condone killing other zetii sometimes and that they follow a perverse form of the Way; saying it was only really meant for us Ka-Tse or something like that — that the other kinds of zetii are inferior.’

Wakes shook her head. ‘Even if that’s all true, it doesn’t matter.
You’re
not a Guardian.’

‘
The rest of the clan won’t be as reasonable as you though — after all my father might be! Deneb, I have to know, I want to ask him what would make him do such a thing!’

‘
Well, you can’t! You know the penalty for any kind of contact with them. You’d be crazy to risk everything now when you are almost at the end of your studies.’

‘
Alright, alright, I know that makes sense, but I really need to know more somehow…’

At that point Sky trailed off. Ahead of them were five adult males from the clan. Sky made his signature call:

‘
It is I, Touches The Sky!’

Before Deneb or Wakes could add theirs, and without any proper reply to Sky’s call, the largest of the males said, ‘Don’t you mean “It is I, Son of a Guardian!”’

Sky recognised him as Last To Speak. One of his daughters was Bellatrix Unseen, who Sky had seen at the wreck and who sometimes attended the classes that he helped to teach at the Academy.

Deneb advanced towards the older, larger dolphin; deliberately placing himself between Sky and him. ‘How dare you speak like that! There’s no proof of this. And even if it is true it’s not Sky’s fault.’

Last To Speak snorted. ‘Don’t come on high and mighty with me, boy. Just because you’re the Prime Mother’s son doesn’t give you any authority over us.’ His companions circled around them, watching the exchange without comment but clearly following it with interest. Sky was shocked by the animosity but felt he had to defend himself. He moved closer.

‘
Who told you this story?’

‘
Everybody knows it now. And maybe you haven’t done anything wrong yet, but I think it’s just a matter of time. Like they say, “no stronger current than the father’s blood in the child’s veins”. I think the Council should get rid of you now before you do any harm.’

Deneb replied before Sky could, his voice cold but angry. ‘Fortunately the Council are able to make their decisions based on facts, not emotions. That’s why zetii like you aren’t on it! Come on Sky, let’s go.’

They left the group of males behind them, Last To Speak’s voice just reaching them as they moved swiftly towards the headland: ‘We’ll be watching you, Guardian’s son! The first sign of you turning bad and we’ll drive you out of this clan in a tailbeat!’

The three friends swam around the headland into the clan’s bay. The western end of the bay was quite calm, but the breakers boomed against the other side of the protecting headland, sending fountains of fine spray to hang briefly in the bright, tropical sunlight.

Deneb slowed the pace at last and turned to Sky. ‘Don’t pay too much attention to them.’

‘
No you mustn’t Sky,’ Wakes agreed, ‘I’m sure most of the clan won’t think that way. It was good that you two stood up to those idiots. Deneb, you really put him in his place.’

Deneb gave her a small smile but turned back to Sky, serious as usual. ‘Sky there’s something else too isn’t there? I talked to Muddy today.’

Sky had been wondering what to do about Sand and his story, after all he had promised him not to tell anyone that he had spoken to him. But now he told Deneb and Wakes what had happened. ‘Don’t tell anyone else yet though, please,’ he finished, ‘I need to find out more first.’

Deneb inclined his head in agreement. ‘Very well. Let’s go and see mother though. Wakes, why don’t we meet you again after we’ve seen her.’

They found Silent Water in the shallows, laying on the sand; meditating.

They waited a short while nearby. She must have become aware of them as they could tell that she was slowly raising herself up through the levels of consciousness, making small movements, then slowly opening her eyes. Without apparent effort, she drifted to the surface, took a brief breath, then settled back to the seabed. ‘You look troubled. Has it begun?’

Deneb glanced meaningfully at Sky, who spoke first. ‘Has what begun Prime Mother?’

‘
Prejudice and bullying from the foolish. It is inevitable I am afraid. No need to answer; I see that it has.’

Sky nodded, his eyes downcast. She continued. ‘There are some in every clan that can think for themselves, make their own judgements, accept and embrace change. Then there are others whose horizons are close by, who find a false courage in unthinking conformity.’

‘
What should I do?’

‘
Probably best to do nothing. If they see that you are hurt, it makes their sport all the more rewarding. Remember that their opinions are of no real value. Seek out the company of those with open minds. In time you will see they are the ones that really matter and are truly respected by the wise and the good.’

‘
And my father — what about him being a Guardian? What will happen to me now?’

‘
I hope that there is no need for anything to change. I have spoken with the Council and we have agreed that whatever your father may have done, you have committed no fault. But Sky, do be careful. There will be many who are suspicious of you now, who will look for any hint of an error. I cannot protect you if they find one.’

‘
Prime Mother, I really need to know more about my father.’

She drifted up again to breathe; sank back again thoughtfully. ‘I can understand that. But if he is alive and has become a Guardian, you must not try to meet him. You know that any kind of deliberate contact with them will result in exile.’

‘
Could I at least try to find the zeta who brought the news about my father? Perhaps he could tell me more about what happened that day on the beach — to explain why.’

She paused for a while, considering. ‘I do not like this at all, Sky. There will be many zetii who will be very suspicious of you now, looking for reasons to expel you from this clan. Do you understand?’

Sky nodded. ‘Yes, but I really have to know more — to find out where I’ve come from.’

She looked at him for a long time, her eyes full of compassion. ‘Very well, when your studies permit you can try and find him, but do not spend too long searching, he may be anywhere by now. And you are not to go alone. Now go and try to forget about this for the moment.’

They left and made their way back to where they had left Wakes Softly. She was playing with a pufferfish, teasing it as it swam in irritated circles around a boulder. She looked up with shining eyes as Deneb approached.

‘
Did she have anything to say about it?’

‘
She’d anticipated something like this happening and warned Sky to be careful. But she’s given him permission to find out more about his father.’

The three of them began a gentle cruise along the shoreline, swimming close together as they talked. Wakes looked at Sky in concern. ‘Sky please do be careful! You know how impetuous you can be sometimes. I hate all this — why is everyone behaving so oddly lately?’

Sky glanced at Deneb questioningly who tilted his head as a shrug. ‘Who else is behaving oddly, Wakes?’

‘
Well…those bullies attacking you, what happened to Born, the Walkers killing those Cleaners in that awful way, and then the night I saw…’ She trailed off her eyes frowning.

‘
Saw what?’

‘
I’m not sure exactly, which is why I hadn’t meant to say anything until I had a chance to try and check things properly.’

‘
Come on, Wakes,’ Deneb prompted her. ‘You’ve got us curious now; you’ll have to say more.’

She smiled at him. ‘Well, I’ll tell you
what
I think I saw, but I don’t think I should say
who
I thought I saw. A couple of days ago, I was looking for Dusk. It was getting dark when I saw her; she was with some of the other trainee Starwriters and they were practising or something. They were in the shallows in a kind of rocky depression, so that they could see the stars without being disturbed by the waves. When I got there they had already dropped into that trance they go into and the Dreamweaver had started to chant the stuff they had to memorise; old historical stuff, I think. Of course, I didn’t want to disturb them, so I was about to leave, when I noticed an older zeta watching them from behind the rock.’

Sky interrupted her. ‘Do you mean this zeta was close enough to hear what they were saying?’

‘
I am pretty sure he would have been. In fact it looked like that was what he was trying to do.’

‘
But they’re not allowed to do that,’ said Deneb ‘Who was it?’

She looked at him apologetically. ‘I’m not certain. It was too dark. But I think that it was a zeta from the Council.’

‘
A Councillor! Who?’

‘
I don’t think I should say, as I’m half guessing really.’

‘
What happened then?’

‘
I was curious, and so I watched for some time from the edge of visibility, but from where I couldn’t hear the Starwriters. Eventually, he left; very carefully and quietly, as though he didn’t want to be seen. I followed him. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but it seemed so strange. He swam east from the clan a long way and eventually he stopped by a rocky outcrop. Soon another zeta came. A big, younger male. They talked, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying — they kept their voices low.’

‘
So did you see where this other zeta went?’

‘
No. At one point they stopped talking and looked around — looked in my direction! I was terrified that they may have seen me as the moon was coming up so I came back to the clan as fast as I could.’

Sky looked at her seriously. ‘Wakes, that
is
really strange. Tell us who you think it was.’

‘
I don’t like to, as I’m not certain. And you know what the Way says: “Let the accused hear the accusation first.”’

Deneb moved closer to her. ‘It was brave of you to do what you did. And you’re right not to want to spread rumours if you’re not sure. But something is very wrong here. Promise me that you will tell Cloud Passing when we see him next for lessons.’

She smiled back at Deneb gratefully. ‘That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to him. He’ll know what I should do.’

Sky saw how closely the two of them were swimming. He noticed that Wakes had brushed her pectoral fin gently against Deneb’s side at least twice now, as though by accident. Sky smiled to himself and decided he should leave them alone. ‘I’m supposed to meet with Cloud Passing myself now. I’ll see you two later. Hopefully we can find out what this little mystery is all about soon.’ He left them to their swim and headed back towards the clan. He wondered if they had even noticed him leave.

Chapter 7

“
Fear not endings

Without beginning and end