Dolphin Knight

Chapter 6

6Raka thought that she should have been relieved that the sharks didn't attack the boat. She had not wanted to see Bey try to fight them off, armed only with oars and a knife.

Still, the way things had turned out, Raka didn't feel relieved. Instead of coming in close, the sharks had stopped a short distance away and begun to swim in a circle around the boat. With the sharks constantly circling, Bey couldn't move the little boat in any direction. All that Bey and Raka could do was sit there and wait until the main group of guardsmen and sharks arrived to capture them.

That was what Raka and Bey had been doing through the long morning and afternoon since the sharks' arrival: waiting. All that they could do was wait...and wonder what the guardsmen would do with them when they got there.

As the sun slid lower in the sky, Raka and Bey ate some of their provisions and shared the fresh water in the grayfish-skin bag. Always, they kept an eye on the dark fins ominously circling the boat.

"I'm going to try to talk to them," said Bey. "Maybe we can make a deal."

"Do you think they'll let us go?" said Raka, pulling the rubber stopper from the spout of the water bag to have a drink.

Bey stared at the circling fins and shrugged. "I don't know what else to do at this point. We're trapped."

Raka sipped a trickle of water from the grayfish-skin bag, then handed the bag to Bey. "What if we threw our food overboard?" she said. "Wouldn't they go after it?"

"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.