Against the Tide, Page 9

  Animals burst out of the forest, crawling or flying or walking toward the pair in the clearing. It seemed to Rollan as though every creature he could think of was suddenly here, swarming around the king, waiting to be chosen.

  The boy looked around, a crooked half smile forming on his lips. He lifted the vial toward Kovo in a kind of salute, then drank the whole thing down.

  All the trees began to scream.

  At least, that’s what it felt like to Rollan. He fell forward onto his knees, covering his ears. A long, piercing shriek ripped through the air, like a hundred thousand souls burning endlessly. Darkness blotted out the sun, and a freezing gale tore through the clearing, slicing right through Rollan’s cloak and carrying ice into his bones.

  Kovo began to laugh, deep, and booming, and terrifying. Rollan squinted up at him and caught a glimpse of the king as he knelt before the gorilla. The boy’s hard brown eyes had changed. Now they were like the opals in his crown — shifting and luminous, but somehow blank.

  Neither of them seemed to notice the screaming, the darkness, or the wind. Perhaps those were only happening in the dreamworld around the edges of the scene, but they felt horribly real to Rollan.

  A huge crocodile appeared on the ground before the king, scaly and hideous and bristling with teeth. The boy reverently reached out to touch it, as if it were a glorious work of art instead of one of the ugliest, most deadly looking brutes Rollan had ever seen.

  “Interesting,” said Kovo. “I knew this was possible, but it’s never happened before. Normally, using the Bile, you would choose an animal to bond with — but for the first time, you, my king, have summoned a true spirit animal.”

  “You mean — he would have come to me anyway?” the king asked.

  “Yes,” said Kovo. “But your bond is different because of the Bile. Thanks to the Bile, you control him. You’ll be the one in charge. Your spirit animal will do exactly as you please.”

  The boy king smiled in a way that Rollan didn’t like at all. The wind seemed to grow stronger, more violent, ripping branches from the trees and throwing small animals off their paws.

  Kovo clenched his fists and beat his chest, howling into the wind and noise and darkness.

  Rollan felt certain that at any moment the gorilla would turn and attack him. But the wind was too fierce and the sound too blistering for him to move or stand or run or anything.

  And then he woke up.

  Or rather, Tarik woke him up, shaking his shoulder vigorously.

  “Wh-what?” Rollan mumbled. He blinked, disoriented by the sudden return of the eerie, silent fog.

  “You were shouting,” Tarik said. “Something about monkeys.”

  “Gorillas,” Rollan muttered. “One very big gorilla.” He was lying on the ground, his head resting on a bundle that turned out to be Meilin’s cloak.

  “Are you all right?” Tarik asked. He crouched by Rollan’s side. A small worry wrinkle had taken up permanent residence between his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, just a dream,” Rollan said, knowing that wasn’t true. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and twisted around until he saw Meilin.

  She was sitting on a boulder with her arms folded around her knees, staring off into the fog.

  There was no sign of Jhi.

  Rollan met Tarik’s eyes, and the Greencloak shook his head.

  “Is he awake?” Meilin called without looking back at them.

  “Yes,” Tarik answered.

  “Then let’s go,” she said, hopping off the boulder.

  “Go . . . ?” Rollan asked.

  “Find Jhi,” she said. “Silly panda probably fell asleep somewhere, like you just did.” The lightness of her tone didn’t match the worried look in her eyes. Rollan wasn’t sure, but he suspected that she’d been crying. Now she tossed back her hair and set her jaw stubbornly. “We’ll retrace our steps and —”

  A shuffling sound whispered out of the fog. Meilin whirled around.

  And finally, finally, Jhi appeared.

  Her shoulders were slumped with exhaustion and her paws dragged. But when she saw Meilin, she lifted her head and a kind of light came back into her face.

  “Jhi!” Meilin cried. She flung herself at the panda, wrapping her arms around Jhi’s neck. Jhi sat back and put one paw around Meilin as well. For a long moment, they just leaned on each other.

  Then Meilin jumped back, angrily wiping tears from her eyes. “You scared me!” she snapped. “What took you so long? Where have you been?” She shook her head. “Never mind. You’re going into passive mode until we get off this island.”

  She started to roll up her sleeve, but the panda put a gentle paw on Meilin’s hand first. Jhi indicated the fog with her other paw, tilting her head. Then she dropped to all fours and took a step away from Meilin. The expression on her face clearly said, “Well? Are you coming?”

  “No,” Meilin said. “Whatever you’re doing, I don’t want to risk you wandering off again.” She held out her arm, but Rollan jumped forward.

  “Wait,” he said. “What if she found the conch? Maybe she’s trying to lead us there.”

  “Is that it?” Meilin asked. “Is that where you’ve been?”

  Jhi nodded seriously.

  Rollan could see the struggle on Meilin’s face. She was really afraid of losing the panda again, perhaps this time forever. He understood. When he couldn’t feel Essix — well, it was horrible, as heart-wrenching and devastating as everything his mother had made him feel. That was the only way to describe it.

  “Trust her,” Rollan said quietly.

  She shrugged him off. “All right, fine. But you stay right beside me the whole time, all right?” she ordered Jhi.

  The panda nodded again, bumping Meilin’s side with her own. Meilin rested her hand on the panda’s back and they started walking with Rollan and Tarik close behind them.

  “Um,” Rollan said after a minute.

  “Yes?” said Tarik.

  “So . . . I’m not trying to be like Conor or anything, but . . . I had this really weird dream back there.”

  Tarik bowed his head, listening, as Rollan told him about the gorilla and the king and everything he’d seen.

  “What does it mean?” Rollan finished. “Conor’s visions are usually telling him something. Is this a vision of the future — of something that’s going to happen if Kovo gets free?”

  “Or the past,” Tarik mused. “This place is haunted by something that happened here long ago. Perhaps what you saw was the terrible moment that made this island the way it is?”

  “I guess,” Rollan said. “But how would I dream that?”

  “Whatever that was, it left some powerful echoes here,” Tarik said.

  “It’s leaving some echoes in my stomach, I can tell you that,” Rollan said. He felt like he’d been turned inside out. All the weirdness of the island seemed to have crept into his blood. Dread trickled through every part of his body.

  He caught himself missing Essix. She was right there on his chest, and he knew he could call her out anytime. But he also knew that as long as they were on Nightshade Island, there would be something keeping them apart.

  “I hear waves,” Tarik said.

  A moment later, the fog shifted and they saw a beach ahead of them, with dark water slowly washing over it. They weren’t exactly back where they started, but if he squinted, Rollan thought he could see the shape of their boat some ways farther along the shore.

  Jhi stopped and scraped at the sand with one paw.

  “Are you telling us you want to leave?” Meilin asked her, glancing out at the sea. “Because believe me, we all do. It doesn’t help to waste our time with —”

  A gleaming white shape began to emerge from the black sand under Jhi’s paws. Rollan let out a cry of excitement and dove for it, digging away the sand. After a moment, Meilin
pushed aside Jhi’s clumsy paws and helped him.

  It was the white conch, as luminous as a pearl and glowing in the semidarkness. Rollan carefully lifted it free, brushing away the clumps of sand in its crevices.

  “Thank you, Jhi,” Tarik said.

  “Yes,” said Rollan. “Thank you very, very much.”

  “Why would it be here, on the beach?” Meilin demanded. “All the energy of the island is in there.” She waved at the dark interior.

  “This has nothing to do with that,” Tarik said, taking the conch from Rollan. “This only calls the Kingray, nothing more. Someone knew this island would be a good place to hide it, but my guess is they didn’t want to get any closer to it than they had to. Perhaps they even threw it onshore from a boat, so they wouldn’t have to set foot here.”

  “That’s stupid,” Meilin muttered.

  “Doesn’t matter,” said Rollan. “We have it now. Let’s get back to the canoe and skedaddle.”

  Meilin turned to Jhi with her arm outstretched, then paused. With an embarrassed glance at Rollan, she leaned forward and kissed the panda on her forehead. Putting her hands on either side of Jhi’s face, she whispered, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”

  The panda rubbed her nose against Meilin’s, blinked, and vanished into Meilin’s tattoo.

  They set off toward the canoe, traipsing awkwardly through the sand. The conch was heavy and unwieldy in Rollan’s arms, and its points kept poking him sharply through his shirt.

  “Did you just say ‘skedaddle’?” Meilin asked Rollan after a moment.

  “It is a very useful word,” he said with dignity. “Your fancy tutors never taught you that one?”

  “Sure they did,” Meilin said. “But I have more sense than to ever use it.” Rollan laughed despite himself.

  But when he glanced over at her, he noticed her fingers tracing the tattoo where Jhi had disappeared. She might try not to show it, but he guessed that the island — and the feeling of losing Jhi — had deeply unsettled her.

  “I hope the others are doing all right,” Tarik said as he crouched to dig out the canoe.

  “Are you kidding?” Rollan answered. “Where they are can’t be as dangerous as this. I bet getting the black conch has been a piece of cake.”

  THE TUNNEL EMERGED ONTO A HILLSIDE ONLY A FEW YARDS from one of the Conquerors’ campfires. Standing across the mouth of the cave, silhouetted by the moonlight and the flickering flames, was the largest, ugliest lizard that Abeke had ever seen.

  It was longer than a man, with a tail like a crocodile and thick, muscular legs that each ended in vicious-looking claws. Its forked tongue slid all the way out, nearly touching the floor, and then back in again. Scaly black-brown skin, dappled with spots of bright green, hung off it in wrinkled folds like an ill-fitting robe. It stared at her with malevolent black eyes, as though it was considering whether to eat her in one bite or two.

  Abeke had a brief, wild hope that perhaps they could evade the Komodo dragon, sneak past the Conquerors’ camp, and make it off the island without being spotted.

  Then a huge, brawny woman with dark hair down to her knees came up behind the giant lizard and spotted them. Her eyes narrowed gleefully.

  “Greencloaks!” she bellowed. “Kill them, Peleke!”

  The Komodo dragon lunged at Abeke, much faster than any lizard that size should be able to move. Abeke swung her bow around, but before she could get an arrow loaded, Uraza flashed past her and leaped onto the lizard’s back.

  Peleke whipped around and tried to sink his jagged teeth into Uraza’s leg, but she slashed at his nose and roared defiantly, leaving a trail of blood along his flat, ugly snout.

  “Don’t let it bite her!” Kalani shouted. “A Komodo dragon’s bite is toxic!”

  Abeke felt a flare of panic. She had her arrow ready, but the lizard was writhing so fast that Uraza was practically a black-and-gold blur. There was no chance of hitting Peleke without endangering the leopard. She watched helplessly as the two hissing, spitting animals rolled out of the cave entrance onto the leaf-strewn soil outside.

  Meanwhile, the woman in the cave entrance had drawn two wickedly curved knives out of her sleeves. She stepped back and shouted for backup; Abeke could hear swords clattering as the warriors around the campfire leaped to their feet. In a moment, they would surround the cave, and she, Conor, and Kalani would be trapped.

  “Here!” Conor shouted, grabbing Abeke’s hand and shoving something into it.

  Abeke glanced down and saw the Slate Elephant. She slipped the cord over her head and felt the talisman thump against her chest.

  Immediately, Uraza tripled in size. The Komodo dragon had to be at least ten feet long and probably weighed close to two hundred pounds. But now it looked like a garden lizard trapped under a house cat’s paws — a really enormous house cat, that is. Uraza snarled again and slammed her front paw onto the back of the lizard’s neck, slicing her claws through the tough skin and pinning it to the ground.

  The Komodo dragon writhed angrily for another moment, until Abeke was able to dart forward and finish it off with an arrow.

  “Run!” Conor shouted.

  They pelted out of the cave and swerved away from the campfire, running downhill in the opposite direction. Behind them, Abeke heard Uraza roaring and batting Conquerors away like balls of yarn. She felt the leopard’s sinuous strength flowing through her as she hurtled past fallen branches and vaulted over mossy boulders. She smelled the salt tang of the ocean up ahead and veered toward it, even as she also felt Uraza’s instinctive shudder of horror at getting any closer to the sea.

  They burst out of the trees onto the beach: Abeke, then Briggan and Conor with the enormous conch, then Kalani.

  “This way!” Kalani shouted, running toward the cove where they’d hidden their canoe.

  Abeke looked back, catching her breath, and saw the tops of the trees thrashing frantically as giant Uraza came barreling down the slope after them. She could hear the clangs and shouts of more Conquerors in pursuit.

  “Come on, Uraza!” she shouted. There was no time now for caution or stealth. They had to run, and hope against hope that they could outrun an entire island full of Conquerors and their monstrous beasts.

  The giant leopard leaped onto the beach and yowled angrily as sand sprayed up her nose and along her whiskers. Abeke turned to run, but Uraza yowled again and grabbed at Abeke’s cloak with one front paw.

  Abeke guessed what she was trying to say, and although they’d never done anything like this before, she somehow knew exactly how to clamber up Uraza’s leg and where to sit between her shoulders. She leaned forward, burying her face and fists in the leopard’s thick fur, and held on for dear life as Uraza rocketed down the beach.

  Once, when Abeke was about seven years old, she’d ridden on a camel. She remembered that it was uncomfortable and high and scary, that the camel had rolled alarmingly from side to side as it walked, that it had made awful spitting noises at her, and that Soama had laughed when Abeke cried that she wanted to get off.

  This was nothing at all like riding a camel.

  This was speed and smooth power and pure joy, and if they weren’t being chased by a horde of murderous enemies, Abeke would have been happy to keep running like this forever.

  She leaned down and called to her friends as Uraza sped toward them.

  “Here, climb up!” she shouted, holding out one arm.

  “You’ll be faster without us!” Kalani shouted back. “Go on ahead and get the boat ready! We’ll be right behind you!”

  Abeke realized that made sense; they needed to get to their boat before the Conquerors found it. She threw her arms back around the leopard’s neck and they flew past Conor and Kalani, reaching the cove first.

  So Abeke was the first to see that their carefully constructed hideout of rocks and branches had be
en dismantled . . . and their canoe was gone.

  Standing in its place was a guard of twelve armed Conquerors.

  “No!” Abeke shouted, yanking back on Uraza’s fur without thinking about it. The leopard skidded to a stop and let out a snarl that shook the trees. She crouched as though she were about to pounce.

  “Uraza, wait,” Abeke cried. “Go back to Conor and Kalani. This is a trap!”

  The leopard growled again, but she stepped back. The Conquerors were already running forward, notching arrows into bows and pulling out throwing knives.

  Abeke gripped Uraza’s back with her knees and pulled out her own bow. As the leopard turned and ran back to the beach, Abeke twisted around and fired arrow after arrow into the Conquerors’ midst. She saw a vicious-looking wild boar go down with a loud squeal. Another arrow struck a bearded man in the shoulder, and he staggered to his knees.

  A squawk sounded overhead and Abeke whipped her bow up in time to fire at an attacking seagull just before it dove at her head. She missed, but it shrieked at her and soared away. She wondered if it was the same one who’d tried to steal the talisman from Conor on the ship. The Slate Elephant bumped against her collarbone, a tempting target for any ambitious attackers.

  The Conquerors fell back to regroup behind a wall of rocks as Uraza reached Conor, Briggan, and Kalani.

  “The canoe is gone,” Abeke panted, sliding off Uraza’s back.

  Conor went white. “How are we going to get off this island?” he said. “Steal one of their boats? They’ll have thought of that,” he answered himself. “They’ll be waiting for us, wherever their boats are.”

  “I have a better idea,” Kalani said. “If you don’t mind getting wet — and you don’t mind me borrowing that.” She pointed at the Slate Elephant.

  “Oh,” Conor said doubtfully. “Uh — do you think that will work? I’m . . . not the world’s best swimmer.”

  “You don’t have to be,” Kalani said. “Katoa and I will take care of you.”

  “It’s our best chance,” Abeke agreed. She pulled the talisman off her neck and Uraza shrank to her usual, still-quite-intimidating size. Then she handed it to Kalani, who put it on reverently and waded straight into the ocean.