The Yarnsworld Collection: A fantasy boxset

by Benedict Patrick

  She looked lazily at the water beneath the canoe. The islands of the Atoll all lay on a ring of rock that the goddess Leinani had cast up from the sea bed during a fit of anger in her younger days. This ring was clearly visible from the islands or from any vessels that sailed upon it. Here the waters were not very deep at all, and strong swimmers like Kaimana’s mother and sister made their livings by swimming to the bottom of it, finding nature’s treasures and bringing them home again. The clear water was easy to see through, and Kaimana could make out the colourful forms of different fish swimming between the rocks and coral beneath her. Every so often larger shapes such as rays and sharks would glide by, causing the smaller fish to scatter. She had seen a few sea turtles during her years with the troupe, but these were rare sights to be treasured.

  The troupe never sailed close to the deeper Inner or Outer Seas. There, the water was a much darker blue, almost black, and the bottom was endless as far as Kaimana was aware. Much larger animals lurked in those depths, and those dark waters were dangerous to travel on. The Inner Sea surrounded Leinani’s volcano, giving the people of the Atoll another reason not to travel there. The Outer Sea was endless, and impossible to navigate once sight of the islands had been lost. Kaimana felt much safer here on the Atoll ring, where it was easy for her to see everything that was happening below the water’s surface.

  She glanced beneath the canoe, and realised the seabed was silent and still. In a place normally rife with life, this was unusual. Kaimana’s eyes narrowed as she studied the waters behind the canoe. Often small fish would run when larger predators were close. It was not uncommon for smaller sharks to prowl the waters of the Atoll ring, yet the fish of the Atoll were used to these animals, and Kaimana did not expect to see them in such a panic.

  Her eyes settled on a larger patch of water some distance behind the canoe. This dark pocket probably marked a gap in the Atoll ring, a pocket of the sea bed that had somehow fallen down or crumbled away, or maybe had not formed in the first place when the islands were made. These gaps - caves, really - provided underwater shelter for larger animals that lurked in the Atoll waters.

  Maybe movement in that chasm startled the local wildlife. It might even have been a bigger animal crossing from the Outer to the Inner Sea, like an orca? That’s pretty rare, though.

  Most of the time these larger animals chose to cross the Atoll by the great trenches on the east side of the ring, where the sea god’s temple had been built. His people kept a close eye on the comings and goings of larger sea animals, and tended to have a good idea of what dangers existed in the Inner Sea. However, sometimes dangerous predators chose to cross the shallower waters.

  Kaimana’s eyes narrowed as she stared at the hole in the floor of the Atoll ring, hoping to catch sight of something that could have cleared the sea bed so quickly.

  Then the dark water moved.

  Kaimana sat up straight. She had expected to see a fin, or perhaps a movement of colour in the distance that might be the tell tale sign of something large, but far away. The water moved again, and this time Kaimana was sure that the entire patch of black was moving. That dark shape was more than three times bigger than the troupe’s canoe, a canoe that could be home to fifteen people at once, if required.

  It could have been a shoal of fish, tightly packed together. It could have been a trick of the light, a rock on the sea bed reflecting the sun in such a way to suggest movement. But a rising panic in Kaimana’s stomach told her it was something else. She could feel her spark sense that something was amiss. Its constant buzzing halted, and the silence in Kaimana’s mind shocked her.

  It’s okay, you’re all right, she soothed the spark, worrying it might choose to leave her if it became afraid.

  The dark mass moved towards the boat, and the bile in Kaimana’s stomach rose along with it. The shape was massive, much larger than any normal sea faring animal. Kaimana knew it was the taniwha before it opened its green glowing eyes and peered up at her from the shallow waters.

  Inside, her spark grew dimmer. Kaimana could feel its fear.

  “It’s here!” she shouted. “The taniwha’s followed us!”

  What does it want? What does it want?

  Rawiri swore profusely, and grabbed a worn old spear he had stowed away for fishing purposes. Kiki and Travake screamed while Eloni and Lose ran to the back of the boat with Kaimana to see the monster themselves. Everybody else, Aka included, stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide with fear.

  When Eloni and Lose reached her, Kaimana took a deep breath and turned back to the taniwha underneath them.

  “There’s nothing here,” Eloni said, her voice laced with wicked satisfaction.

  Kaimana thrust her head over the edge of the canoe and searched frantically. Eloni was correct, the water was empty and the shoals of fish were beginning to return. She felt her spark burn brighter again, relieved the danger had passed. As was typical, it began to buzz for Kaimana to continue working on their song.

  Eloni turned to address the canoe. “Calm down, nothing to see here. Kaimana just decided she hadn’t got enough attention recently.”

  Kaimana’s eyes locked with Aka, and his look of shock had turned to disappointment and anger. She stood with her mouth open, lost for words.

  It was right there. Someone has to believe me, the monster is in the water.

  Everybody else returned to their tasks, their moods slightly darker.

  Kaimana looked back at the calm Atoll waters.

  Where is it now? And why is it following us?

  The day they were due to arrive at Nakoa’s home came, and it began like any other. The dangers of their journey remained, but tension on the canoe had abated somewhat because everybody knew how close they were to protection. Kaimana also realised that everybody’s negative emotions were more firmly directed at her than at any phantom cannibals that may or may not be plotting to eat them for dinner tonight.

  Any free time Kaimana had, she spent practising, which pleased her spark greatly, but she always had one eye on the waters behind the canoe. The taniwha was nowhere to be seen.

  Kaimana was disappointed at how quickly everybody had decided she had been lying. Old Rawiri had remained the least doubtful, and after Kaimana’s alert he had spent about an hour at her side, watching the waters below. Eventually the sniggers and blatant insults from some of the younger troupe members had caused him to back away from her, but he kept his blunt spear close at all times now. From the corner of her eye she was aware of Rawiri studying her, probably trying to discern whether or not she was deliberately being false.

  Kaimana felt let down by Aka in particular. She had never been close to any of them, but she had also never given them cause to suspect her as a mad woman or a liar. Out of everybody on board, Aka was the one who knew her the best.

  Kaimana spent some time focussing her attention on the troupe leader, staring at him while she blew gently into her ocarina.

  He is sad.

  Aka was not engaging with the others, and his normally nervous banter was replaced with monosyllabic, short sentences.

  Kaimana decided to face him head on. “Aka?” she ventured, walking up to him while he was on duty at the bow.

  He turned to her and narrowed his eyes. Kaimana found herself slightly shocked by such a negative reaction, but decided to continue.

  “I just wanted to say how sorry I am about disobeying you back on Pukotala. I know things haven’t been easy since then, and a lot of that is my fault. Just thought you should know - I really am sorry.”

  Aka looked away, scanning the horizon.

  Probably looking for our destination, Kaimana thought.

  “You never even considered listening to me, did you?” he asked, still not making eye contact.

  “What?” Kaimana said, not quite realising what he was asking her.

  “When I told you not to go near the taniwha cave. At any point did you actually consider following my instructions, or did you decide to disobey me
as soon as I said them?”

  Kaimana was flustered. You think I was trying to hurt you, that I deliberately did the opposite of what you asked? She had never consciously decided she was going to disobey her troupe leader, but she knew Aka would not be pleased by that answer. It suggested she had not really placed any importance on his words in the first place. In fact, that was exactly true. She had never considered his orders were an actual command that should be followed.

  Do the rest of the troupe see you as some kind of chief, a master? Should I?

  “I-” she began, but Kaimana never had the chance to finish that sentence.

  “Canoe! Canoe sighted!” Tokoni cried, from the port side.

  Aka broke away from Kaimana and rushed over to the puppeteer. Kaimana followed and stood close behind them.

  “I can’t see anything,” Aka said, eyes searching in the direction that Tokoni was pointing.

  “There. Directly between those two islands in the distance.”

  Kaimana spotted it before Aka did, and Tokoni was correct. There was no doubt that a canoe was there, a tiny dot on the horizon at the moment, but unmistakably a vessel of some kind.

  “Keep an eye on it,” was all Aka said, returning to his position at the bow.

  Kaimana watched Aka leave. Although it was his job to look ahead, now his eyes - like those of every troupe member - were firmly fixed at the dot on the horizon that Tokoni had pointed at. In most waters of the Atoll ring a canoe was not an unexpected sight. However, this close to Nakoa, the threat of cannibalism put people on edge.

  Then Kiki gave a scream. Rawiri moved to her and had a low conversation. The old man walked back to Aka, keeping his voice below shouting level, but Kaimana was convinced he was deliberately letting everyone else hear what he was saying.

  “There’s another, Aka. Two canoes out there, now.”

  Kaimana turned back and followed where Kiki’s hand was pointed. There was another black dot, not far from the first canoe.

  Again, Kaimana could feel her spark become aware of the potential for danger. Once more it grew silent, its light dimmed.

  It’s fine, it’s probably nothing, she told it, praying to Laka that this was the truth.

  The spark continued to burn low, adding to Kaimana’s growing anxiety.

  Throughout the rest of the day they watched the shapes, eyes dancing between the vessels, hoping their destination would soon emerge from the horizon. As time moved on it became obvious that the canoes were moving towards them, and were moving at speed.

  At midday, about an hour after the first sighting, the canoes were close enough for some of the more eagle-eyed performers to make out the occupants of the boats.

  “Men,” Eloni said, narrowing her eyes as she scanned the canoes, which were now about the size of Kaimana’s fingernails instead of the needle eye that Tokoni had seen. “All men, I think. About four in each boat. Maybe five.”

  Everybody was gathered in a clump in the middle by now, except for Aka who kept his gaze evenly split between the canoes and the empty horizon.

  “I see them too,” Poli added. “Bright colours, they’re wearing bright colours. Do cannibals wear bright colours?”

  “I don’t think there’s a dress code,” Kaimana muttered, drawing a number of angry glares in her direction.

  “Could be some of Nakoa’s people,” Rawiri suggested. “Or others coming for the celebration. Just because of the rumours doesn’t mean these are people who want to eat us.”

  “Do you know of any islands in that direction who might be sending warriors to Nakoa?” Eloni asked.

  Rawiri remained silent.

  In another hour all could make out the canoes and their occupants clearly, even old Rawiri with his tired eyes. The canoes were the size of Kaimana’s thumb now, and she could see the bright garb of the men, feathers plucked from a variety of island birds.

  Travake was raving at this point, bothering Rawiri with high pitched questions such as, “Do they look like cannibals?” and “Will Nakoa come and rescue us?” Poli was crying quietly under Aka’s tarp tent, having decided to no longer watch them approach.

  Then one of the men in the closest canoe stood up, showing a skull painted on his chest in red ochre. He held up a club with some kind of large tooth or horn fixed to the end of it, and gave out a loud, inhuman cry.

  A number of the occupants of the troupe canoe instantly began to wail, including Lose and Tokoni. This seemed to please the approaching attackers greatly, and they all joined in the shouting.

  Inside, Kaimana’s spark grew dimmer still, and for a brief second she thought it had disappeared completely.

  Don’t leave me, she pleaded, and cried real tears in relief when the spark gave a small burst of light to let her know it was still there. Nevertheless, the spark was silent and cold now. It was a selfish thing, Kaimana knew. Not maliciously so, but it was selfish. It wanted to create music with Kaimana, but did not care enough for her to die with her.

  The idea of losing her spark and her song terrified Kaimana more than the men in the canoes.

  Aka gave up watching the horizon. He reached under his tarp, shoving past Poli who continued to cry quietly, not reacting at all to the distress of most of her friends. The troupe leader took out a simple wooden club from beneath his bedroll.

  He stood beside Rawiri, who clutched his worn spear, and spoke softly to the old man. “What chance do we have, the two of us?”

  Rawiri looked at the troupe leader and shook his head. “If they come at us separately? We might be able to get one or two of them before the end. If they hit us together? We’ll be a joke.”

  Kaimana stepped forward so she was just behind them both. “I’d like to be able to defend myself,” she said quietly. If this is it, I’d rather go like one of the heroes from the stories, like Queen Alisi or Nyree of the sky fairies. Crying quietly underneath a blanket is not for me.

  Rawiri looked at Aka with a question in his eyes, and Aka nodded. The old man then fumbled in his belt and presented Kaimana with a small fishing knife. It was made from animal bone of some kind, it was small, and had not been sharpened in a long time, but it was a weapon and she was glad of it.

  “This is her fault, you know,” Eloni said loudly, her eyes fixed on the approaching attackers. All in the canoe turned to her. “Her. Kaimana. This is a punishment from Laka, for what Kaimana did on Pukotala.”

  There was hate in Eloni’s eyes, and her face was pale with fear, but Kaimana was most surprised to see that Eloni believed every single word she was saying.

  “Eloni, now is not the time-” Aka began.

  “There isn’t going to be any more time!” Eloni shouted back. “Why are you trying to protect her, now? There’ll be nothing to protect in a few minutes anyway, why can’t we all have our piece of her before they do? She disobeyed you, great leader, and she displeased Laka. She tainted the mana of the troupe. This is our punishment for letting her away with it.”

  Kaimana opened her mouth to respond, but her words stuck in her throat. Is Eloni right? Did I do this? Laka, is this how my story ends?

  “Laka would never do this to us,” Kiki said, meekly.

  “Oh yes, because gods are known for their kindness and generosity.” Eloni turned to look at the dancing girl, huddled with her friends. “I love Laka too, little Kiki. My time with her is my most precious memory. But I do not forget what she is. She is a god, and they can be fickle, angry and bitter just as easily as they can be generous and kind.”

  She turned again to look at Kaimana. “And she is angry. Angry at this disobedient girl. Angry at this girl who lies about monsters.”

  “It was not a lie!” Kaimana shouted, stepping forward to defend her honour while she could. “I did see it again, in the water. Why would I lie about such a thing?”

  “How can we trust you?” Eloni said. “This girl who does not follow the commands of her troupe leader? What you did is taboo on so many levels. You know these things are punished by de
ath on many islands, by the followers of other gods? Death is to be all our punishment for your mistakes.”

  “This isn’t anything to do with me,” Kaimana shouted, releasing the anger that had been building up inside. “Laka blessed me. I’m sparking right now, in the goddess’ name. She blessed me. Dammit, you’re supposed to be careful with me when I’m sparking. Are you trying to kill the song before it’s born?” She stepped forward again, and all of the dancing girls gasped.

  Too late did Kaimana realise that in her anger she held the small fishing knife out in front of her, waving it about to wave off Eloni’s smirch on her honour. To everyone else it looked as if Kaimana was threatening Eloni.

  “No-” was all Kaimana could manage before Tokoni slammed into her side, knocking the knife to the canoe floor and pressing Kaimana’s body over the edge of the canoe.

  Inside, her spark screamed.

  Shouts of protest went up from Aka and Rawiri, and possibly some others, although Kaimana could not see what was happening behind her. All she was aware of was the pain from Tokoni putting pressure on her back, the squeeze of his weight and the curved rim of the canoe edge forcing all of the air out of her lungs. Her wide eyes stared at the water below, the blue and yellow fish darting about in response to the action above. The cannibal canoes were so close now that Kaimana was certain they could begin to throw spears and shoot arrows if they wished. The attackers were the ugliest things Kaimana had ever seen, smeared in red paint and bodies pierced with bones and wood.

  Her air-starved mind found it funny that she found death repulsive instead of scary.

  “Here,” came a voice from inside the canoe. “Let me finish this. If this is the end, I need to do this before I go to the goddess.”