Dolphin Knight

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  "Yes," said Bey, "but it wouldn't keep them busy for long. We could start rowing away, but as soon as they were done eating, they would surround us again."

  Raka sighed. "How far are we from land?" she said, gazing out at the watery horizon.

  Bey drank from the water bag, then stoppered it. "Many hours...and that's if the weather is calm," he said.

  Turning her eyes from the horizon, Raka looked at Bey's face. His black, tousled hair fluttered in the breeze; his tanned skin took on a bronze glow in the golden light of the setting sun. As often as she had seen him before, as much time as they had spent together at home, he had never looked so handsome to her as he did at that moment.

  "Bey," she said, and he turned to her. "Thank you for helping me. Whatever happens...thank you for everything."

  Bey smiled, meeting her gaze. Then, he seemed to become self-conscious all of a sudden and looked away. "I'm going to try to talk to them now," he said, getting to his knees. "I hope they're in a good mood."

  "Me, too," said Raka. She crawled over to kneel alongside him but didn't lean out over the side of the boat like he did. Her fear of the sea, though it had faded somewhat in all the excitement, still held her back from the edge.

  Bey smacked his hand on the water three times, keeping his eyes fixed on the circling fins. When none of the sharks approached after a moment, he smacked the water three more times.

  Still nothing.

  "I guess they're not in the mood to talk," said Raka.

  "Sharks are easily annoyed," said Bey. "If I keep it up, one of them will break down and come over sooner or later."

  He smacked the water three more times, but the sharks' reaction was the same. The dark fins continued to glide by at a distance, each following the wake of the other in a perfect, tireless circle.

  After two more tries, however, one of the fins finally sheared off from the circling pack and slid toward the boat.

  Without thinking, Raka shrank further back from the side of the boat. This shark was bigger than Oom had been, and not a friend. Though Bey didn't seem worried about bringing it in so close, Raka felt a rush of fear as the creature approached.

  Smoothly, the shark glided in, its giant body lifting to the surface of the water. The shark came in headfirst, aiming directly at Bey...drawing closer, ever closer.

  As soon as it got within arm's reach, Bey swung out a fist and punched the shark hard in the snout.

  "Bey!" said Raka, alarmed at the unexpected blow. "What are you doing?"

  "I stunned him," said Bey. "It's the only way to keep him around long enough to talk to him."

  As he had done with Oom, Bey drummed his fingers on the shark's slick hide. He paused, then drummed some more.

  The shark's tail flicked from side to side. It bobbed its nose out of the water twice and twitched its tail again.

  Bey drummed his fingers again. The tail flicked more forcefully. This time, the shark bobbed its head only once and brought it down hard, splashing water into the boat.

  Bey shook his head and sighed. "Forget it," he said. "This pack is part of the Elite Guard. They'll never willingly disobey orders and release us."

  Raka watched the other shark fins as they continued to circle the boat. "Then that's it," she said. "There's nothing we can do."

  "Not exactly," said Bey. "I have an idea."

  Raka brightened. "Tell me," she said, turning her gaze back to Bey.

  "Here's what I want you to do," said Bey. "When I get out of the boat, start rowing as hard as you can. Head that way." He stretched out an arm and pointed in the direction of the prow.

  A surge of panic pushed through Raka. "What?" she said. "You're getting out of the boat?"

  "Don't stop rowing for anything," said Bey, reaching for his knife. "I'll catch up to you when I'm done."

  "Bey, no!" said Raka.

  "If I'm not back before dark," said Bey, leaning over the side of the boat, "follow the brightest star in the sky."

  "Wait!" said Raka.

  But Bey wouldn't wait.

  He raised the knife high, then plunged the point down into the gray hide between the shark's nose and back fin. Dark red blood flowed out around the hilt of the knife and spread out into the water.

  "Bey!" shouted Raka. "Don't leave me!"

  Before she had gotten the words out, Bey sprang from the boat and threw himself onto the wounded shark's back. "Row!" he said as he pulled the knife out and stabbed it down again on a different spot. "Get out of here!"

  The shark's tail slammed against the boat, pushing it away. In a heartbeat, the boat was too far from Bey for him to jump back aboard.

  As Raka watched, the other sharks broke out of their circling path and glided toward Bey, drawn by the blood of their injured companion. The smell of blood, Raka knew, was the one thing that no shark could resist following...not even if it came from one of their brothers.

  "Raka!" said Bey, never taking his eyes off the approaching fins. "Get out of here now! Start rowing!"

  Raka picked up the oar, but that was all she could manage. The sight of the five sharks converging on Bey terrified her; she couldn't think of anything she could do to help him...and she wanted to help him more than anything.

  When the first of the five sharks charged in, Bey leaped on its back, holding the knife between his teeth. Grabbing on to the shark's back fin, Bey pulled the knife from his mouth and drove the point deep into the flesh behind the shark's head. As the shark's blood clouded the water, Bey stabbed again and then a third time.

  Drawn by the fresh blood, one of the other sharks changed course and headed for Bey instead of the shark closest to the boat. As soon as the approaching shark got close, Bey flung himself onto its back and started stabbing with the knife again.

  For a moment, Raka thought that Bey might kill all six sharks single-handedly. He looked so sure of himself in action out there...and after all, he was a Sharkite, raised in the sea among the very creatures he now fought.

  For a moment, Raka dared to believe that Bey would be back in the boat before long, and the two of them would set off for their safe haven island with nothing to fear.

  But this was not to be.

  As Bey leaped onto another shark, he didn't see the two fins swooping up from behind him. He raised the knife and drove it down into gray hide...but the two fins shot toward him, slipping under the surface of the water before he could spot them.

  Raka cried out, trying to warn him, but it was too late.

  As she watched, a gleaming gray snout lunged out of the water beside Bey. Before he could react, Bey was knocked off the back of the shark he was straddling and plunged into the water.

  Raka screamed. She started rowing frantically, but not in the direction Bey had said she should go. Instead, she headed for the heart of the bloody battle zone, for the point where he had disappeared from view beneath the waves.

  *****

  Chapter Seven

  Immediately, Raka regretted rowing closer to the scene of the battle.

  When she peered down into the water, all that she could see was a cloud of blood. She called Bey's name, but he didn't come to the surface.

  Then, the sharks started bumping the boat.

  One after another, they glided up and bumped it with their powerful bodies. They struck the boat with increasing force, pushing it over the waves...hitting it so hard that they knocked Raka off her knees and sent her sprawling back against the nets.

  And still, they kept coming.

  Raka pressed herself against the nets and waited for the boat to capsize. Though Bey had told her before that the sharks only intended to hold her until the guardsmen could get to her, she guessed that things had changed. Now that Bey had attacked and wounded them, Raka figured that the sharks had cast aside their duty and were strictly out for blood.

  Another shark bumped the boat--rammed was more like it--and Raka heard the wood crack along the side. The boat pitched one way from the impact, then rocked back down with a sp
lash.

  Raka thought of whacking the sharks with the oar, but every time she tried to get to her knees, another shark struck the boat and knocked her over. When she finally managed to scramble into position and raise the oar over the side of the boat, a shark hit the opposite side so hard that the oar went flying from her hands and into the sea. Raka knew she was lucky that she had not ended up in the water herself.

  Falling back against the nets, she wondered what to do next. She had one oar left, and she didn't want to risk losing it...but if the sharks kept pounding the boat, she would be dumped into the water soon, anyway.

  Raka searched the boat for something she could use against the sharks, but nothing looked promising. Then, she remembered the food.

  Twisting around, Raka frantically dug into the nets and pulled out handfuls of dried fish and meat. As the sharks continued pummeling the boat, she heaved every bit of food over the side.

  Even before the food was all gone, the boat's motion calmed. Instead of ramming the boat head-on, the sharks brushed and bumped it in their rush to devour the floating food.

  Raka dumped the last of the fish and meat into the sea, watching as the flurry of gray fins swarmed over it. Before the sharks could finish their meal and start attacking her again, she grabbed the remaining oar and rowed as hard as she could. Her only hope, she knew, was if the sharks got so involved in feeding that they forgot her, and she wasn't nearby to remind them of their mission to stop her.

  Breathing fast and soaked in sweat, Raka rowed the boat away from the sharks. She thrust the oar through the water on one side of the boat, then the other, keeping the tiny craft moving in a straight line.

  And she tried not to think about what had happened to Bey.

  Without landmarks ahead, and because she didn't look back at the blood-clouded danger zone, Raka couldn't tell how far she had gone. She just kept rowing as hard and fast as she could, pouring every bit of strength she had into making the most of her last chance at survival.

  Then, even her last chance was snatched away.

  As she rowed, the multiple thumps she had feared didn't come. The boat continued to crawl forward without rocking from the collisions of one shark after another against the sides.

  Then, all of a sudden, the boat was struck by a single tremendous blow. Instead of striking one by one, all of the sharks hurled themselves at the boat at the same time.

  Before she realized what had happened, Raka was thrown into the water as the boat flipped over from the colossal impact.

  *****

  Chapter Eight

  Splashing and coughing, Raka floundered in the water, struggling to stay afloat without knowing how to swim. Instinctively, she kicked and flapped her arms, barely keeping her head above the surface.

  Panic flooded her, overwhelming all rational thought. She was living her worst nightmare, floating alone in the deep, dark ocean.

  And that was not even the worst of it.

  Through eyes blurred by seawater, she saw the back fins of the six hostile sharks. The six were moving close together, pushing past the overturned boat, heading straight for her.

  If she had known how to swim, she at least would have tried to get away, as hopeless as that would have been...but all that she could do now was watch and wait as her doom slid closer.

  Raka's heart pounded like a fist inside her chest. A wave washed over her face, pushing salt water into her nose and mouth and burning her eyes as she snapped them shut.

  When the wave passed, she decided to keep her eyes shut. She decided that she would rather not see the six mouths rimmed with jagged teeth as they opened wide to devour her.

  Death was only seconds away. Terrified, Raka tried to think about something else, something good, instead of what was coming.

  But all that she could think of was Bey and how he had looked as he had slipped off the shark's back and disappeared into the sea.

  Another wave rolled over her, pumping more water down her throat. She kept flailing her arms and kicking, but her muscles were starting to ache.

  She wondered if she would lose the strength to stay afloat before the sharks reached her. She wondered if it might be better to die by drowning before being torn to pieces.

  Then, the sea erupted in a flurry of wild splashing.

  At first, Raka thought that the splashing was the sound of the sharks charging forward, whipping through the water in a last eager leap toward their prey. Clamping her eyes shut tighter than ever, she tried to withdraw inside her mind and block out the burst of pain that was sure to come.

  When the pain didn't come right away, however, Raka wondered what was happening. Were the sharks playing with her, circling to make her wait before the kill?

  The splashing grew louder, and Raka bobbed on the waves that rippled out from whatever disturbance was taking place. "Get it over with!" she shouted, just before the nearby water exploded with the loudest splashing yet.

  Then, the noise died down.

  Raka was on the verge of tears. "Please, just get it over with," she said, convinced that the sharks were close enough to touch, mouths open and waiting to devour her.

  Then, something brushed against her.

  It felt like smooth hide sliding past her bare arm. Shrieking, Raka dove away from it, sure that it was the body of a shark.

  But it wasn't.

  She cried out again, throwing herself further from where she had felt the hide. Then, all at once, she fell silent and stopped thrashing around.

  She couldn't believe what she had just heard. It didn't seem possible.

  In the midst of her cries and splashing, she had heard what sounded like a human voice. She had heard someone talking.

  Talking in a language that she understood.

  Raka's eyes shot open.

  Right in front of her, less than an arm's length away, she saw the gleaming, grinning face of a grayfish.

  The grayfish wore a gleaming, silver helmet on its head, etched with elegant swirls and curlicues. The helmet was cut to leave the grayfish's eyes and snout free, and there was an opening over the blowhole on top of its head.

  "Don't worry," said the grayfish, its voice

  high-pitched and squeaky. "You're safe now. We've come to take you home."

  Raka couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing. It was just like in her dream...and yet, as many times as she had had that dream, she had never imagined that it could possibly come true.

  She had never thought, not even for an instant, that someday she would come face to face with a talking grayfish.

  "Home?" said Raka. "Shark island?"

  "No," said the grayfish, wagging its long, rounded snout from side to side. "Your real home."

  *****

  Chapter Nine

  "Take hold of my harness," said the grayfish, swinging its back and tail toward her. "Slide your legs through the loops, and they'll hold you in place."

  Only when the grayfish turned did Raka realize that it wore what looked like a leather harness. Though she was still uncertain of the grayfish's intentions, she was so exhausted from struggling to stay afloat that she reached out and grabbed one of the harness straps.

  "What did you mean, my real home?" said Raka, floating alongside the grayfish.

  "Just that," said the grayfish. "You weren't born on the island of the Sharkites."

  Raka frowned in confusion. Then, suddenly, she remembered the words she had overheard her father, King Ikaz, say to her mother:

  "I love my daughter as if she were my own flesh and blood..."

  "My friends and I are from the same place," said the grayfish. "We are called Kee. We are all from the island of the Kee."

  "Friends?" said Raka, looking around.

  Instead of the sharp, triangular fins of sharks, she was surrounded by the sleek, curved fins of grayfish. She counted nine of them, including the one who had been speaking to her. All of them wore silver helmets and jointed, flexible armor that wrapped around their midsections, leavi
ng their tails free.

  As Raka turned, each of the grayfish bobbed its head out of the water and opened its mouth in what looked like a smile.

  "What about the sharks?" said Raka.

  "We sent them away," said the grayfish. "We are knights of the Kee, and our tails are strong."

  "Sharks are no match for knights of the Kee!" said another one of the grayfish.

  "But more are coming," said the grayfish whose harness Raka gripped. "Many more, and Sharkites, too. They are not far from here. That is why we must get you home fast."

  "Home," said Raka. "My real home."

  "Yes," said the grayfish. "Now climb onto my back and put your legs through the loops of the harness. Hold on tight."

  Raka hesitated for a moment, then pulled herself up by climbing hand over hand along the harness straps. Awkwardly, she slid a leg over the other side of the grayfish in front of its back fin, then pushed the leg through two loops connected to the harness. She did the same with her other leg, then leaned down to curl her fingers around the strap behind the grayfish's head. When she was settled, her body hugged the grayfish's back and her legs hung down along its sides.

  "Good," said the grayfish. "Now hold on tight."

  "Here they come!" said one of the other grayfish in a chirping voice.

  Looking behind her, Raka saw a crowd of objects moving in the distance. Though they were far away, she thought that they looked familiar. They looked like what she had seen after each day's hunt, returning from the deep sea to the island of the Sharkites.

  They looked like men riding the backs of sharks.

  "We have to leave," the grayfish said sternly. "And we will have to travel fast. Remember to hold on tight at all times. Take a deep breath before we go underwater, and take another each time we come to the surface."

  "But I can't breathe underwater," said Raka, worried.

  "Neither can I," said the grayfish. "You'll be fine."

  Raka looked behind her again and shivered. The distant objects were moving closer...close enough that she could see for certain that they were sharks and riders. There were dozens of them.