Fire Island: Book 3 of The Chatterre Trilody (Chatterre Trilogy) (21 page)

A glance back, showed that the golden speck had gotten noticeably larger. Large enough, so that Saphera was sitting on the stern, tail twitching in excitement, eyes shining and ears tipped forward watching the other craft.

Okay, so the other boat was expected if the cat knew about it.

Tem-aki found herself a place where she was out of the way, but could still watch how they positioned the ropes to get The Sirocco to go where they wanted. As they passed through the narrow mouth to the harbor, she looked backward and realized that the other ship was even closer and coming fast.

How could something so primitive and with one sail move at such speed?

The strangest thing about the other vessel was that a large cat, that looked a lot like a golden version of Saphera was sitting on the bow of the on-coming vessel and that Saphera seemed to be quivering with excitement.

What were the odds that two vessels randomly meeting each had a super-sized cat aboard?

Not likely.

So, for whatever reason, this meeting was obviously planned.

Chapter 26

Nimri stood behind Kazza and stared at the land, which was getting larger by the minute.

The great cat sat still as a statue. Nimri didn't know if he was mesmerized by the scenery or what, but he certainly was not acting normal.

Despite the fact that she wanted to get to the new land, the speed at which they were approaching alarmed her. Apparently, it alarmed Raine, too, because she tied down a portion of the sail. Then, she looked from the sail to the approaching land, as if surprised.

Nimri asked, "The speed didn't change, did it?"

"I don't think so." She cleared her throat. "In fact, if I'm any judge of this, we've picked up speed."

"I was afraid of that." Nimri wet her lips. "What is moving us? A current in the water?"

Raine gave a helpless shrug and pointed to the glaze-smooth water. "Judging by the surface of the water, there isn't a current, at least not one on the surface. I suppose there could be one under the surface, which our hulls are actually being moved by.... Once we get close enough to swim to shore, prepare to jump."

"Why?" Nimri asked, startled.

"The survival options would be better than crashing." Raine blinked back tears. "I'm so sorry that I talked you into this, but I had no idea how strange the physics were on your planet."

Strange? Larwin had always said that he though the physics were the same between Guerreterre and Chatterre, why would Raine's world be so different? Nimri's eyes narrowed as she looked past Raine, to where Larwin was playing peek-a-boo with Mica and Thunder appeared to be asleep. Was Thunder actually asleep or in myst-mode? With that thought in mind, she looked at Kazza, whose concentration made her suspect that if anything was different between Kalamar and Chatterre, it was probably myst-energy.

Moving over to Larwin, she knelt down and asked, "How far off course has this wind or current, or whatever is moving us, taken us?"

Larwin took out his bumpy black box and poked at it for a moment. "We're on a fairly direct course. I'll see once we get there." He gestured to the approaching land. "We know she's on an island, and I wager that is it. Mind you, once we get there, we might still have a good hike to get to wherever she is."

Just as she had suspected, either Kazza or Thunder or maybe both of them working together were using myst-energy to move the boat, which was something Raine obviously still didn't have a grasp of, so it was doubtful that there would be any crash-landing. Nimri tickled Mica's toes. "Soon you'll get to meet your Aunt Tem-aki."

Mica giggled with delight and kicked his feet.

~o~

Once into the harbor, Nolan gave to order to 'doff the sails', which apparently meant to take them down. Even once lowered, The Sirocco continued on a straight line, though it did begin to slow.

As soon as the sails were lowered, Benji and Tristan hurried to the bow and worked together to roll a large donut-shaped rock, which was attached to a long fiber-rope to the edge of the deck, then held it poised, as if waiting for something. Meanwhile Nolan held a rugged round wheel and Emmet used small pieces of rope to tie the sails, so they could not flutter in the breeze.

Tem-aki's attention was divided between admiring how well they all worked together and glancing back to watch the other boat enter the harbor, which was why she and Saphera, whose attention never wavered, were the only eyes to see the low, golden vessel race between the rocky arms of the harbor's mouth much faster than the Sirocco had made the passage and speed directly toward them.

"Now!" Nolan called. There was an immediate splash and a heartbeat later, a tug at the bow yanked the Sirocco to its left.

The other boat continued to speed directly at them, worse, the people, who were barely visible in the shadows of the rustic thatch-roofed shelter, did not seem to be making any effort to be in position to take down their raggedy sail. In fact, the only one, who appeared to be paying attention was the enormous gold and black striped cat.

Saphera's attention didn't waver, but she began quivering. Tem-aki swallowed hard, wondering if she should shout a warning, but before she could get the words out, she realized the cat wasn't acting fearful, she was acting as if she was brimming with excitement.

Tem-aki moved to the center of Sirocco and wrapped her arms around the mast, expecting the other ship to T-bone them. Instead, at the very last moment, the other ship made a sharp ninety-degree turn and abruptly stopped.

With a howl of delight, that got the attention of Nolan and the others, Saphera leaped over the rail, onto the deck of the new arrival. Shouts of surprise made her realize that either the other ship had not been seen, or it was unexpected.

Legs shaking, Tem-aki walked to the rail and looked down three feet to see the two huge cats ecstatically greeting each other. They were beautiful together, and though her companions seemed mystified, obviously the cats knew each other very well. Their purrs were loud as massive generators.

Nolan, looking as shaken as she felt over the near-miss, joined her at the railing, but instead of his full attention being on Saphera and her friend, he looked from them to her, as if she were responsible for the unknown craft floating peacefully an inch from the Sirocco's steep side.

"I had no idea Kazza and Saphera knew each other," GEA-4 said.

Kazza? Tem-aki blinked in surprise and studied the massive cat's markings. Yes, he might be the same animal she'd seen the ghostly image of, but this huge cat was no ghost. A second after that realization, she realized that if Kazza was here, he should know where Larwin was.

And another second later, she recognized Raine, who was securing the sails, much as Emmet had.

If she was here... she moved so she could see under the thatched roof and was certain she recognized Thunder and the woman she had seen in the skull and, yes, she recognized those broad shoulders, too! "Larwin!" she screamed.

He whipped around and was on his feet in a flash. She met him halfway by leaping over the railing. The welcoming hug was everything she had hoped for and all she had never truly believed possible.

~o~

Cameron spotted Benji stumble-jogging toward him, his red hair unmistakable in the sunlight, even at this distance.

Why was he there?

Had there been a Shipwreck?

Where were the others? Even as Cameron took off at a run to meet Benji, his gaze raked the trail for signs of the others.

When Benji saw him, he seemed to gain strength.

Cameron engulfed the boy's trembling body in his arms. "What happened?"

"Boat."

Dread choked Cameron, as he imagined the worst. Had his callous disregard for tradition sunk The Sirocco and killed his best friend and the others who meant so much to him? "But you survived?"

"Yes, I didn't think I'd make it.... I've been running for two days to get here, but Nolan said you needed to be told."

Nolan was alive? Hope sprouted. "How bad was it?"

"It was totally unexpected. One moment we were dropping the anchor and next they were suddenly there."

Cameron frowned in confusion. "So you made it to the harbor?"

"Of course, that's where they showed up."

"Who showed up?"

"That's what I told you, the boat showed up just as we were dropping the anchor. I've never seen anything so bizarre, and I understand how you must have felt when Tem-aki and GEA-4 came to you."

Cameron scratched his head, suspicious that he had missed a crucial bit of information about what had happened that inspired Benji to spend two days running cross-country. "Okay, let's take this slowly and start from the beginning." Cameron's pace slowed to match his calm words.

Benji nodded.

"So, as you were dropping the anchor, something unexpected happened to The Sirocco."

Benji shook his head. "No, the other boat was just suddenly there."

Cameron blinked in confusion. "What other boat?

Benji shrugged. "We still aren't sure where it came from, it was suddenly just there. First thing we knew about it was when Saphera and Tem-aki jumped over the rail. I mean that was startling, but I guess it was good, because the way Tem-aki was hugging the guy, you could tell that it wasn't some sort of attack or anything."

Tem-aki had hugged another man? Cameron swallowed twice before he could say, "Go on."

Benji began describing the oddly constructed golden boat, but all Cameron could think of was the image of Tem-aki in the arms of another man.

"And then GEA-4 started talking."Benji's brow furrowed. "She is really strange and it's more than just her eyes, but she really does have amazing vision, because when I ran here, the path gave me a good view of Dragon Ridge and I'm pretty sure she was right."

Benji would have continued on, but Cameron held up his hand, to stop the confusing babble. "Let's take this a bit slower. What exactly did GEA-4 say?"

"Oh, I forgot you weren't there to hear her." Benji's speed was picking up, again, so Cameron motioned for him to slow down. "Sorry." Speaking slowly and carefully, be said, "She was looking at Dragon Ridge, instead of at the new boat, and said, 'the dragon moved', that's probably what caused the earthquake." Then she tilted her head, like she was scanning the area and I didn't know if I should wait for her to continue or watch Saphera wrestling with the other cat-"

"What other cat?"

"Kazza, the one that came with the other boat."

"And Saphera was fighting with it?"

"No, more like the friendly wrestling I do with my little brothers."

Cameron blinked at that unexpected and confusing image. "So Saphera acted like this other cat was a friend and Tem-aki was hugging some stranger and GEA-4 was just looking at the coastline."

"Yeah, that's pretty-much how it was. Of course, once things settled down, and they all climbed aboard the Sirocco, it was easier to keep track of everything. Well, I mean not everyone got aboard the Sirocco, the cats swam to shore and explored the area that GEA-4 said was where she thought 'the madrox', which Tem-aki says is who we call Shaka-uma, dove through the thin crust to the magma."

Cameron gripped Benji's arm, "Are you saying that Shaka-uma is alive?"

"Yeah, Raine's best guess is that she was hibernating, but she's never really seen that happen, though she'd read about as what she called a 'historical footnote'."

"Raine?" Cameron asked, as he wondered if he would ever sort out Benji's story.

"Yeah, she has hair sort of like Larwin and Tem-aki, but she is shorter and says her job was being a 'dragon herder'."

"Larwin? Was he the one Tem-aki hugged?" Benji nodded. Relief flooded through Cameron, as he realized that Tem-aki had been hugging her brother."Anyone else on that other boat?"

"Just Raine, Thunder, Nimri, Larwin, the cat, Kazza, and the baby."

"Was the cat the size of Saphera?"

"A bit bigger and gold stripes, instead of white."

"So the boat was big as Sirocco. Strange that you didn't see it before it was suddenly there."

Benji nodded in agreement. "Strange group, but Tem-aki seemed to know everyone except the woman with the baby. And it was a really little one, probably less than a month old."

"And they bought it on this other boat?"

Benji nodded. "Everyone made a big fuss over it. I mean, it is the cutest baby."

"But you didn't run for two days to tell me about the baby."

"Nolan told me to run here to let you know about the other boat's arrival and that Shaka-uma might still be alive and in the magma and he's concerned about what that could mean to the ceremony."

"Well, it would mean that we're right and the ones who worship profit are wrong, when they say that dragons don't exist."

"True, but is it safe to have the ceremony near where she might be nesting?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well the new ones, plus Tem-aki and GEA-4 seem to think dragons are dangerous and need to be killed."

"Sacrilege!"

"Nolan knows how busy you are, here, but he really needs you." Benji stopped walking and turned to face him. As he cleared his throat, Cameron could feel the boy's anxiety. "Everyone thinks we need to cancel this year's ceremony."

He didn't know what he'd expected Benji to say, but it wasn't something that hit him in the stomach like a hammer. It took a few moments to get his breath back. "Totally cancel everything?"

Benji's eyes looked like green islands in white seas. "At very least, the pilgrimage portion."

"That's the most important part!" Benji nodded in agreement. Without the annual pilgrimage to honor the dragons, this would barely differ from any of their other events. "Do YOU think it would be that dangerous?"

Benji's forehead furrowed. "I'm not sure. I mean, GEA-4 was talking about all sorts of strange things she called statistics, that make it sound like a bad idea to have followers there, but the new ones kept talking about how dragons – they actually call them madrox – consume something called myst-energy, which apparently kills humans when they eat it." Benji swallowed hard. "Have you ever heard about anything like that? I know there are fairy tales where dragon's burned unbelievers, but I've never met anyone who'd seen a real dragon. At least I hadn't until the others arrived and supposedly all of them have, yet none of them seem to think dragons should be worshiped, they just want to kill Shaka-uma." Tears threatened to spill down' Benji's cheeks, and he blinked hard. "We need you."