Songs of the Sea

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Eighteen Years Later

Sartin climbed onto his favorite crag in the ocean to take advantage of the late afternoon sun. Grasping at the familiar holds, he pulled his hips and backside onto the hard surface, made slick and soft with lichens and moss. He removed his bone-tipped spear from the sling around his back and placed it in a crack of the rock. The sun warmed his body and soon he breathed evenly above the water. Only his tail fluke remained submerged.

A cool, early autumn breeze blew across his body, reminding him that in seven sleeps, the pod would start its journey to Winter Beach. He closed his eyes, looked toward the sun, and prayed to the Princess.

Please don’t torture me anymore. Help me find another pod to live with as a single Alewar.

After only a moment’s relaxation, he sat up and surveyed his surroundings. Just as his uncle and the other Alewars had taught him, he surveyed all four quadrants within his sight. A predatory dorsal fin broke the surface in the upper right. He let out a call signal to judge the distance. Closing his eyes and opening his mouth, he waited for the echo to return.

When nothing came back after a few moments, he opened his eyes. The menacing fin, off in the distance, didn’t seem like much of a threat, but he thought he’d better let his watch partner know what he had seen.

“Shark in the upper right,” he said. Similar to the language of dolphins, the clicks and whistles he sent his watch partner formed their ancient tongue.

Water splashed as Wickizer drew himself onto Sartin’s perch. “Don’t yell, I’m right here,” he said with a shrill whistle. Wickizer glanced to the right quadrant. “I don’t see anything,” he said, each click and whistle full of sarcasm.

Wickizer laid back and absorbed the sun. Wickizer’s red hair, his light skin spotted with freckles, and his brown mottled tail contrasted with Sartin’s dark hair, dark skin, and blue-grey tail. Sartin’s cousin, Bray, had made a good choice in mates and Wickizer had given her not one, but two offspring.

Wickizer opened his eyes. “What are you looking at?” He grinned, catching Sartin staring.

Sartin shuddered. “Nothing.”

“You’re weird.”

A small school of shrimp floated near the crag. Wickizer flicked his tail and sent five of them sailing through the air. He caught them with both hands and gave two of them to Sartin.

“Why do you treat me different when we’re alone out here than when we’re back at Home Cove?” Sartin asked. He bit into his snack.

Wickizer wrinkled his forehead. “What do you mean, I don’t treat—”

“But you do. Out here you’re civil to me, and back home, you’re a bully.”

Wickizer took another bite of food and stared straight ahead. He chewed slowly then gulped down the food so he could answer.

“For being a protector of the pod, oh Great Alewar of the Pod Belzer, you sure are sensitive today,” Wickizer teased.

“Alewar or not, you’re a jerk.”

“You shouldn’t take things so personally.” Wickizer’s tone softened.

“How can I not? Everything you say to me when others are around is rude.”

Wickizer didn’t respond right away. Both finished their share of the shrimp until there was one left over.

“Split it?” Wickizer offered.

“Sure.” Sartin held out his hand.

Wickizer stuck the head of the shrimp in his mouth. “Come and get it,” he dared.

Even before Sartin was first Presented, Wickizer’s interactions rode the line between polite conversation and flirting. Although rare for a male to be widowed, sometimes a widower took an Alewar as a mate. This elevated the widower to the Protector class along with his mate. Wickizer was not a widower, and they were both too young to be thinking about that kind of pairing.

Sartin called Wickizer’s bluff and bit the butt of the shrimp squirming in Wickizer’s mouth. Their lips touched for a brief moment. Had the shark not appeared in his peripheral vision, Sartin might have indulged Wickizer in his playful bluff.

Instinct and training took over his body. He sounded the distress signal. The echo came back quickly. The shark was within a mile of the pod. Wickizer swallowed his own half of the shrimp and repeated the signal that all Sea People recognized from birth as danger.

Click, click, click, clack, clack, clack, click, click, click.

Wickizer jumped from the crag into the sea, slapping his fluke on the surface in the process. The shark shot right toward him.

For the love of the Princess!

Sartin grabbed his spear and dove into the water in pursuit of Wickizer. Transparent membranes automatically covered his eyes so he could see underwater as clearly as he could above the surface. Wickizer headed toward the rest of the pod at Home Cove. Despite Wickizer’s speed and strength, the shark quickly closed the gap between them.

“Wickizer!” Sartin called. “You are leading it to the pod! Change course!”

Wickizer might be confident, almost conceited around the pod, but out on the open water, his fear clouded his judgment. Sartin repeated the distress signal again, hoping someone at Home Cove would hear him.

Wickizer didn’t respond to any of Sartin’s warnings. Sartin’s lungs ached with the need to breathe. Before he became too disoriented, Sartin headed to the surface and jumped above the water. He took the energy-laden air into his lungs, and dove back in. With fresh air in his body, and his head cleared, he formulated his strategy. He had to do two things, get Wickizer headed in a different direction and get between Wickizer and the shark. Both tasks loomed large and difficult in Sartin’s heart.

Thornton, a widower in the pod, returned Sartin’s distress signal. Thornton swam out into the open ocean to help Sartin. Relieved that the pod had been alerted, Sartin focused on turning Wickizer from his path. If the shark found Home Cove, the pod would have to find a new home. That would be heartbreaking; no one in the pod knew of any other home.

“You’re headed toward Home Cove! Turn around!” Sartin repeated.

Wickizer dove deeper, and then turned sharply upward. He pumped his tail faster and harder until he rocketed out of the water. Sartin rushed to catch up and distract the shark while Wickizer sailed through air.

The shark slowed, and then turned in the other direction, away from Wickizer and away from Home Cove. When Wickizer splashed back down into the water, the predator headed toward him once again.

“Jump when I return to the water!” Sartin said.

“Okay!” Wickizer finally answered.

Sartin headed toward the surface once again, propelling himself with his muscled tail and strong abdominal muscles. He broke through the surface, and, even though he didn’t need it yet, took the life-giving air into his lungs. Arc complete, he plunged back into the water and saw the swirl of bubbles, seaweed, and krill left in the wake of Wickizer’s jump. Just as Sartin had predicted, the shark once again slowed down, swimming this way and that, looking for his prey.

Sartin’s jump had helped him draw nearer, but not enough to garner the shark’s attention. He prepared himself for Wickizer’s reentry and forced himself out of the water again. Sometimes, just a game of chase could tire a predator, but not today.

“Don’t jump when I enter this time.” Sartin grazed the shark’s tail as he went into the water after the third jump.

When Wickizer didn’t answer, Sartin said again, “Wait for my count to jump again.”

“Okay,” Wickizer said.

Sartin dove in an arc beneath the shark. On his way back to the surface, Sartin found the orphan scar between his first two ribs on his left side. Sartin’s right side already had two scars, and the wound he contemplated inflicting would equal out the left. He took the point of his spear and found the valley between the next two ribs. He had to time the injury when he was in front of the shark or else the Decoy would be in vain.

“One!” Sartin yelled for Wickizer’s attention by initiating the countdown.

Soon, he found himself underneath the shark. He ascended to the surface, timing his arc to put himself between the shark and Wickizer.

“Two!”

It would have been better to make the cut at the beginning of a breathing cycle, but that wouldn’t be possible this time. Sartin shot straight up toward the surface. As he dug the spear into his flesh, he twisted his body so his jump would propel him in the opposite direction. Pain filled his body as the air and blood escaped.

“Three!”

Wickizer jumped out of the water one last time as Sartin jammed the spear deeper into his side. The wound had to be deep enough to leak plenty of blood to catch the shark’s attention, but not to injure his beating heart. Alewar or not, the Princess wouldn’t take him into her arms if he died on the tip of his own spear.

Fueled only by adrenaline, Sartin jumped out of the water and breathed. The gash and the need for air caused the leap to fall short. His body slapped the surface of the water. The shark opened his mouth, snapping at Sartin’s fluke, but only grazed him with the hard cartilage that formed its nose.

Sartin swam just a few strokes on the surface, gasping to fill his injured body with as much air as he could acquire. He dove deeper and led the shark away from Home Cove, away from the pod, channeling energy from prayers of thanks to the Princess. Because of the injury, he had to return to the surface sooner than normal. The shark followed. Sartin bobbed into the air, took another breath, and returned beneath the water.

A school of fish loomed in front of him. The cloud parted and made a path for Sartin as he approached them. The shark spooked the fish with its approach. The school swiftly turned away from both Sartin and the shark, defeating Sartin’s purpose of leading the shark to an alternative meal. The shark raced toward him.

With the cut to his side, Sartin couldn’t hold his breath as long as usual. Once again, he headed for the surface and as he turned, a flash of light seized his attention. Sartin slowed his speed and turned to see what had caught his eye.

Thank you, Princess.

The school of fish had surrounded the shark, capturing its attention. Swirling around the predator, they led it astray from Sartin’s trail. After sacrificing some of their own for Sartin’s safety, the cloud of fish and shark disappeared into the murky ocean.