Against the Tide, Page 6

She couldn’t possibly win the race with a baby orangutan clinging to her. But she couldn’t abandon it here either. Tapping into her heightened senses from her bond with Uraza, she could both see and smell that no other orangutan had been here in days. Whatever had happened to its mother, this baby was all alone.

  “Poor little guy,” she murmured, stroking the baby’s back. “It’s all right. You’re safe with me.” She cuddled it closer and it squeaked pathetically.

  Abeke heard rustling in the leaves and looked up.

  Ngaio was in the next tree, staring down at Abeke and the baby orangutan.

  CONOR SLAPPED THE SIDE OF HIS NECK.

  “Too late,” Rollan said. Conor felt the welt of the insect bite already rising under his fingers. He rubbed it, feeling itchy all over. The air buzzed, and tiny wings seemed to flicker across his skin whenever he stood still, but it was also too hot to keep moving.

  Rollan swatted at one of the buzzing insects. “Tarik, please tell me they don’t have the Sunset Death here.” Conor touched the mosquito bite again with a shudder. He remembered all too clearly how ill Rollan had been in Zhong.

  “I’ve seen it once or twice,” Kalani answered before Tarik could. “It’s rare, but we have banana gourd seeds in my village to cure it if we need to.”

  “That’s good to know,” Rollan said, “although I’d really prefer not to revisit the brink of death at all, if possible.” He waved his arms even more vigorously and Meilin gave him a sharp stop-fooling-around glare.

  “Shouldn’t they be back by now?” she demanded. Meilin hadn’t stopped pacing around the clearing since the moment Abeke had raced off. Neither had Uraza. If he hadn’t been so worried, Conor would have thought it was sort of funny, how similar they looked.

  Tangaroa shrugged pacifically from the top of the boulder that marked the end of the race, where he was perched with his legs folded under him. Conor wished he could even pretend to be that calm. His skin prickled and sweat kept dripping into his eyes. Briggan came back from sniffing the undergrowth, licked Conor’s hand, and sat down on his foot.

  “You think she can do it, don’t you?” Conor whispered to him.

  Briggan gave him a thoughtful blue-eyed stare, which was not terribly reassuring.

  Across the clearing, Uraza’s head snapped up. She stared off into the trees where Abeke had disappeared. Her tail flicked menacingly. Tarik stepped over to stand beside her, snapping a small stick between his hands in an absentminded, worried way as he squinted at the jungle.

  “They’re coming,” Tangaroa said. He unfolded himself from the rock and gazed up into the trees with a puzzled expression. “They’re both coming. Ngaio?” he called.

  But instead of swinging out of the trees, Ngaio emerged on the ground, walking side by side with Abeke. Curled in Abeke’s arms was a small bundle of orange fur with a sweet, curious face. It sat up and peered at the gathering of people and animals in the clearing, and Conor realized it was a baby orangutan.

  They reached the edge of the clearing and Ngaio stopped. She looked up at Abeke and indicated the boulder with one of her large, dark, humanlike hands.

  “Ngaio, what are you doing?” Tangaroa asked. “Are you letting the leopard girl win?”

  Abeke crossed to the boulder and put one hand on it, keeping the other one around the baby orangutan. She turned to Tangaroa. “My name is Abeke, not leopard girl,” she said. “Now tell us how to find Mulop.”

  Tangaroa tugged on his lower lip. Ngaio ambled over to him and gently thwacked his arm, then waved at the baby Abeke was holding.

  “I see,” said the old man. “Very well, if that’s what Ngaio wants.”

  “Yes!” Rollan yelped, throwing his fists in the air.

  “Nice work, Abeke,” Conor said. He felt like leaping around the clearing, but he didn’t want to let on how worried he’d been.

  “I knew you could do it,” Tarik said, handing her cloak back to her with a grin.

  “Kind of a weird way to win,” Meilin huffed. Rollan and Conor both gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. “I mean, yay, that’s great.”

  Kalani crossed to Abeke and stroked the baby orangutan’s head. “Cute,” she said. “Almost as cute as a sea horse.” The baby grabbed her hand and inspected each finger, then hopped down to the ground and started circling each stranger in turn.

  “I was thinking we could call him Leopard,” Abeke said, raising her eyebrows at Tangaroa.

  “Ho ho! Ha ha ha!” Tangaroa threw his head back and bellowed with laughter. “I like it!”

  Conor crouched to get level with Leopard, and the baby delightedly patted his face, squashed his nose, tugged on his hair, and finished by giving him a hug.

  “Awwww,” Conor said, chuckling.

  “You big softie,” Rollan observed, but he clearly couldn’t help grinning at the little ape himself. Lumeo crept down from Tarik’s shoulder and sniffed at the baby. The otter and the orangutan circled each other for a moment, and then suddenly Leopard leaped forward, Lumeo took off, and they began chasing each other playfully around the clearing.

  “Ahem,” Meilin said, putting her hands on her hips. She turned to Tangaroa. “You said something about a Kingray.”

  “Yes,” he replied. “The Kingray can take you to Mulop — that’s the only way to get there. You have to summon him by blowing two sacred conches together on Dagger Point.”

  Briggan yelped suddenly and whirled around to find the baby orangutan hanging from his tail. He spun in a circle and shook himself until Leopard tumbled off, then paced over to sniff at the baby.

  Leopard seized his ears and promptly climbed on his head.

  The wolf gave Conor a why-am-I-putting-up-with-this? look.

  “Oh, you love it,” Conor teased. Briggan was trying very hard to look dignified, but it would be hard for anyone, even a Great Beast, to maintain his dignity while wearing a bouncing orange hat.

  “And where do we get these sacred conches?” Abeke asked Tangaroa.

  “That is the tricky part,” he admitted. “The white conch is hidden on Nightshade Island.”

  Kalani gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. “Grandfather! I can’t believe you just said that!” she said in a low voice, glancing around as if the trees themselves might be listening.

  “What? What’s wrong with Nightshade Island?” Tarik asked.

  “Let me guess,” Rollan said. “Something evil.”

  “You can’t go there,” she said. “No one can. It’s tapu — sacred, dangerous, and forbidden. We can’t even speak of it.” She shook her head again, her long braid flying behind her. “I . . . cannot help you.”

  “But if we went there without your help — ?” Conor guessed. “Maybe that would be okay?”

  “Don’t tell me about it,” she insisted. “Don’t even speak of it anymore. Grandfather, where is the black conch?”

  “It’s on Sunlight Island,” Tangaroa said to Kalani. She winced.

  “Sunlight Island! That doesn’t sound so bad,” Rollan said. “Oooh, I volunteer to go there.”

  “You’re right, it wasn’t bad at all — before the Conquerors came and made their base there,” Kalani said. She touched her dolphin tattoo, her eyes downcast. “Now it’s overrun with Conquerors, all of whom seem to have spirit animals somehow, and most of the animals there are creepy and monstrous. To give you an idea, my people have started calling it Monster Island.”

  “Fantastic,” Rollan muttered. “I hereby unvolunteer.”

  “The Conquerors are using the Bile to force new spirit animal bonds,” Tarik told Kalani. “That’s why so many of them have companions — but they’re not really companions, as the Bile bond turns the animals into slaves instead. They’ve also discovered that feeding the Bile to animals will make them larger, angrier, and more dangerous.”

  “By all the oceans,” Kalani sai
d with alarm. She touched the dolphin tattoo on her arm. “Forcing the spirit bond — that’s horrible. And it explains a lot. I couldn’t understand where so many Marked would have come from, or why they were all willing to help the Devourer attack my people.” She frowned. “I wonder . . . one of my brothers didn’t have a spirit animal . . . but I doubt he’d accept a bond that was unnatural.”

  Conor thought she didn’t sound all that sure.

  From his new perch on Briggan’s head, the baby orangutan scanned them all and spotted Jhi for the first time. The giant panda was sitting in a patch of dappled sunlight with her front paws between her back paws, looking sleepy.

  “Qrrrrr?” Leopard chirped at Ngaio, pointing at Jhi.

  Ngaio spread her arms, as though she was saying, “I have no idea what that is either.”

  Leopard took a flying leap off Briggan’s head and galloped over to Jhi. Before the panda could do more than blink in surprise, the little orangutan was clambering up her fur and inspecting her face with enthusiastic curiosity. Leopard poked the dark patches around Jhi’s silver eyes a few times, then opened the panda’s mouth and peeked inside.

  Jhi let out an amused grunt and scooped the baby up in her paws. With Leopard hollering indignantly, Jhi set him on her shoulder and stood up to her full height.

  “Oooooooorp,” said the baby orangutan, clapping gleefully. He pointed down at everyone and chattered something imperious.

  “I say we split up,” Meilin said, ignoring Leopard’s antics. “Two of us go to this Sunlight Island to find the black conch, while the other two —” She glanced at Kalani, who shook her head and pressed her fingers to her mouth. “While the other two do . . . something else. Something that doesn’t involve Kalani.”

  “I can take you to Sunlight Island, but you’ll need stealth to get past the Conquerors,” Kalani pointed out.

  “Then I say Abeke should do it,” said Conor. “With Uraza’s power, she should be perfect for that.” Abeke smiled gratefully at him. “I’ll go with her,” he added. “If that’s all right.”

  “Sure,” Rollan said. “Meilin and I can go get the white OW!” he shouted as Meilin kicked him in the shin. He hopped away, scowling at her. “What was that for?”

  Meilin jerked her head at Kalani, who had her hands over her ears. “She can’t even hear about it, remember?” she whispered.

  Rollan stomped off into the trees, muttering grumpily.

  “You’re right,” Tarik said to Meilin, “but let’s try a less physical way of making your point next time, if it’s not too much trouble.” He turned and bowed slightly to Kalani and Tangaroa. “Thank you for your help,” he said. “Kalani, if you’re willing to go with Abeke and Conor, I’ll accompany Rollan and Meilin.” She nodded.

  “And then we’ll meet you at Dagger Point once you have the conch,” Meilin said to Conor. “Jhi, for the love of Mulop, would you stop rolling around like a drunk chimpanzee? Let’s go.”

  The giant panda, who had been wrestling playfully with the baby orangutan, paused with a guilty expression and set the baby down. Leopard lifted up his arms and shrieked, demanding more play. Jhi shook her head, patted him gently, and followed Meilin and Tarik along Rollan’s path into the jungle.

  Leopard scampered back across the clearing and climbed into Abeke’s arms again.

  “I’m sorry, little guy,” she said, giving him a hug. “I have to go too. But Ngaio will take good care of you — right?”

  Ngaio nodded and reached out so the baby could clamber onto her back. Tangaroa smiled and wagged his head.

  “I wish you luck, leopard girl,” he said. “And you, wolf boy. Remember, Mulop is great and inscrutable, so be respectful and listen carefully. Also, wear something warm. It’ll be a wetter sea voyage there than you’re used to.”

  Conor felt like he could see for the first time why Tangaroa was called a “wise man.” As if sensing Conor’s thought, Tangaroa grinned impishly and jumped up to swing himself into the tree branches.

  “Your turn to hide, Ngaio!” the old man called, and in a moment, the orangutans and Tangaroa had all vanished into the leaves.

  NIGHT HAD FALLEN. GLITTERING STARS STRETCHED ACROSS the dark southern sky in constellations that Meilin had studied in books, but had never seen before. She wished her father were here to see them too. He’d traveled all across Zhong, but she didn’t think he’d ever been to Oceanus.

  And now he never will.

  Meilin wrapped her hand around the hilt of the sword in her belt, taking comfort from the weight of the weapon. She pushed aside the memories of her father and focused on the moonlit beach before them, lined with canoes that had been pulled up onto the sand. The smoky smell of fires rose from the village in the distance, and orange torches flickered as the islanders prepared for sleep.

  “I still don’t get it,” Rollan hissed. “The people here like us. They saved us from the bad guys, right? They did stuff to heal the whales. So why can’t we just ask them for a canoe?”

  “Since when did you develop a problem with stealing?” Meilin asked him.

  “I have my honor,” Rollan said haughtily. “I only steal — I mean, stole — from people who deserved it.”

  “Meaning people who had stuff you wanted?” Meilin guessed.

  “No,” Rollan said sharply, surprising Meilin with his seriousness. “Meaning people who’d rather throw a meal away than give it to a starving orphan.” He sighed and waved his hands at the murmuring village. “But they would help us. I bet you anything they’d be all, ‘Hey, sure, of course, take six canoes if you like, and here’s some strong cheerful friends to help paddle them for you too.’ ”

  “Aha,” Meilin said. “The truth comes out. You just don’t want to row one of those things all by ourselves.”

  “I am trying to do the ethically responsible thing here,” he insisted.

  “That’s what we are doing,” Tarik cut in. He’d been studying the canoes as well, turning a small whittling knife between his hands. His dark green cloak blended into the shadows. Lumeo was coiled around his shoulders, breathing gently as if asleep.

  Meilin was sure she and Rollan could get the conch by themselves . . . but she was still relieved that Tarik had decided to come along.

  “Wait, what?” Rollan asked Tarik. “Stealing a canoe is the right thing to do?”

  “We are protecting the islanders,” Tarik said to him. “Tapu is a very powerful thing. If anyone knew where we were going — if anyone spoke of this island to us — if someone helped us get there even just by giving us a canoe — then they would be marked as tapu as well. They could be exiled; at the very least, they would have to be cleansed.”

  “Sounds like you’re not talking about a bath,” Rollan observed.

  “The cleansing ceremony is sacred and secret,” Tarik said. “I don’t know anything about it. But we are not subjecting any of these good people to the guilt and anxiety and social ostracism that comes when you associate yourself with anything tapu. Better to steal a canoe and go without anyone knowing about it.”

  “And besides, we’ll bring it back tomorrow,” Meilin said.

  Tarik shook his head, a stirring of shadows in the bushes. “We can’t. Once it touches that island, the canoe will be tapu as well. We’ll have to destroy it for them, and pay for it some other way.”

  “Huh,” Rollan said. “Doesn’t that mean we’ll be tapu as well, if we go there? So if we’re trying to follow their rules as much as possible, then no one should talk to us either?”

  Tarik thought about that for a long moment. “You’re right,” he admitted.

  “Whoa,” Meilin said to Rollan. “Bet you’ve never heard that before. Are you okay? I’m sure this comes as a bit of a shock.”

  “Ha ha ha,” Rollan retorted brilliantly.

  “I’ll think about that,” Tarik said. “Thank you, Rollan, it’s
a good point.”

  Rollan subsided, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

  “Oh, dear,” Meilin said. “I’m not sure his head is going to fit in the canoe anymore.”

  Rollan snorted with amusement, but Tarik was quiet, looking toward the lights of the village. After a moment, he sighed heavily. “This quest is leaving a lot of burned bridges in our wake. I fear we, and perhaps all Greencloaks by extension, will no longer be so welcome afterward in places like this.”

  “And the Ice City, and Samis,” Meilin said, guessing where his thoughts had gone. By waking Suka the Polar Bear in Arctica, they had destroyed the Ardu’s frozen city. And she guessed that Suka’s pond in Samis no longer gave everlasting life to anyone who drank from it. That was sure to have earned them a great deal of enmity.

  “We do what we must,” Tarik said. “As long as we save Erdas — and as long as you all are safe — that’s what’s important.” He clapped Rollan on the back. “It’s quiet enough now. Let’s take that one.”

  Tarik pointed at the smallest canoe, then darted out across the beach toward it. Meilin and Rollan followed, their boots slipping and sinking into the soft sand.

  Tarik knelt and sliced through the rope that tied the canoe to the others on the beach. Meilin took the end closest to the water and heaved it toward the ocean. She was surprised at how light it was.

  Waves rushed up over her feet with a hurrying, swishing sound, like hundreds of warriors marching far away. The water tugged at her legs as it whooshed back, and she had to catch her balance before she climbed into the canoe.

  The boat rocked lightly as Tarik jumped in at the back, and then again, violently, nearly tipping over as Rollan dragged himself onboard as well. Tarik reached forward and caught Rollan’s arm, helping him up.

  And then they were away, paddling as quietly as they could through the starry night. Meilin glanced down at the dark ocean and tried not to think of slavering shark jaws coming right at her.

  “Do we know where we’re going?” Rollan asked once the island was out of sight. “Because I’m guessing we can’t ask anyone for directions.”