Dolphin Knight

Chapter 5

5By the time the night sky began to lighten, Raka felt like she was getting used to the motion of the boat. Though sudden surges and drops still made her stomach jump, the usual rises and dips didn't make her physically ill anymore.

She was still too scared to move much, but at least she sat up a little, propping her back against the nets full of food and supplies. She kept her eyes open most of the time, though she tried to avoid looking directly at the vast ocean around her. It was better to try to pretend that the ocean wasn't there at all, that her world consisted of nothing but Bey and the boat and the sky. As long as she did that, Raka felt calmer...worried and nervous but no longer consumed by terror every single moment.

Unfortunately, just when she started to let her guard down a little, something came along to ruin her improved mood.

It happened a while after daybreak, when the sun was midway between its highest point and the horizon. Raka and Bey were talking, which helped take her mind off her fear. She was relaxed enough that she absent-mindedly glanced out at the ocean.

Immediately, she wished that she had not looked.

Not far away, Raka saw six triangular fins cutting through the water. Glistening in the sunlight, the silvery fins glided toward the boat in a close formation.

As soon as she spotted them, Raka knew what they were.

"Sharks!" she said, pointing toward the fins so Bey would see them. "They're coming this way!"

Bey stopped rowing and turned to look. When he caught sight of the approaching fins, his expression became grim. That in itself was enough to alarm Raka further; if Bey, who spent every day swimming and speaking and hunting with sharks, was worried, the situation must not be good.

"It's a search party," said Bey. "Scouts."

Raka couldn't take her eyes off the three gleaming fins. "What are they going to do to us?" she said.

"Stop us," said Bey. "Hold us until the guardsmen can get here."

"And the guardsmen will take us back," said Raka.

"Or worse," said Bey. "It's your Rebirth Day, remember?"

Raka's eyes widened. In the excitement and terror of her escape, she had briefly forgotten about Rebirth Day. "You think they'll throw me overboard?" she said in a small voice. "Try to make me breathe water?"

"Hopefully, we won't find out," said Bey. Leaning over the side of the boat, he smacked his outspread hand on the water's surface three times.

Raka sat up straighter to see what was happening. As she watched, another shark fin glided back from the prow and stopped below Bey's hand. Squinting into the deep blue water, Raka could just make out the flattened bar of Oom the hammerhead's skull, jutting out on either side of his sleek, pale body.

Bey drummed his fingers on Oom's back in a quick, fluttering rhythm. Raka recognized it as sharkspeak, though she couldn't understand what the specific rhythm meant.

After a final pattering of Bey's fingers, Oom flexed his tail from side to side. As Bey leaned back from the side of the boat, Oom swept around and glided off toward the oncoming fins.

"We'll be all right," said Bey. "Don't worry."

"Okay," said Raka, but she heard a tightness in his voice that made her think he was more worried than he wanted her to know. His body was tense, and he was already reaching for weapons, grabbing an oar and a short knife from the floor of the boat.

As Raka returned her gaze to the water, she saw Oom's fin race toward the six sharks. When they were almost on top of each other, two of the incoming sharks banked away on either side, leaving two to confront the hammerhead.

Oom continued to plow forward, heading for the first two attackers...but the four sharks who had broken away from the group looped back around to encircle him. Whether Oom knew it or not, he would have to battle all six sharks instead of just two.

Suddenly, the sea erupted in wild thrashing as Oom and the first two sharks fought. Raka glimpsed the hammerhead's pale body curling and twisting in the waves, entwined with the gleaming gray bodies of his two opponents.

All the while, the other four fins angled toward him from behind.

"Bey," Raka said breathlessly. "Will they hurt him?"

"Probably," said Bey. His voice was cold. "He broke the rules by helping us."

Raka didn't want to watch, but she couldn't look away. The other four sharks pushed into the fight, and the thrashing in the water became wilder. The jumble of shark bodies and churning sea became a blur; Raka thought she caught a glimpse of Oom once or twice but couldn't be sure.

Then, all of a sudden, it was over.

Oom's pale fin no longer broke the surface. The fins of the six attackers emerged from the battle zone and cruised toward the boat in a staggered line.

Bey looked back at Raka but didn't say a word. Neither did Raka. The grim expression on Bey's face said it all.

Oom would not be able to help them anymore.