Kaya Stormchild (11 page)

Martin stood
up. “Let’s go. We have to get you all back.” “Mrs. Kimpton badly
needs a doctor, and so, my boy, do you,” he said, smiling tenderly
at his son.

Gently, Martin
lifted the Duchess into his arms and carried her out of the
shelter, as if she weighed no more than a child. The old woman
moaned and muttered, but her eyes remained closed. She was deep in
delirium.

Kaya followed
and together they managed to maneuver the Duchess into the stern of
the boat. Kaya quickly covered her friend with a large oilskin
cloth she found beneath one of the seats. Then she jumped down from
the boat and ran back to help lift Josh. He was harder to move. His
father carried him, while Kaya held the boy’s leg as straight as
she could, but the inevitable jarring caused Josh to cry out in
pain.

At last the
injured pair were safely aboard the boat and sheltered from the
storm beneath the oilskin blanket.

“
Don’t forget
me!” squealed Tike, who had followed at their heels. Kaya bent and
lifted the otter on board. Then she clambered in after
him.

“
We’d never
forget you, Tike!” Kaya whispered, hugging him close. “If it
weren’t for you, I don’t know where we’d all be this
night.”

It was now
quite dark and Martin switched on the boat’s headlights. They
pulled out of the bay and began to speed towards Heron Island.
Flashes of lightening still lit the sky, but the thunder was
fainter now. The storm had moved north. Rain still fell
relentlessly. Kaya had put on a life jacket, which gave her some
warmth, but she was still soaked to the skin. She crouched low in
the boat to keep out of the biting wind. Tike crept into her arms
and nestled close.

They had just
passed Heron and could see the dim lights of Campbell Harbour to
the north when the boat began to lurch and sputter. There was a
loud backfire, and then the motor went dead.

“
What the
-?!” cried Martin. “I don’t believe it! We’re out of gas! George
told me it had plenty! Damn!”

He face was
drawn and anxious as he searched beneath the seats of the boat.
There was no spare can of gas to be found. Eventually he came upon
a pair of small paddles. They seemed more suited to a rubber dingy
than a proper boat, but they would have to do.

“
Can you help
me, Kaya? We’ll each work one side. It’s the only option we
have.”

Kaya took hold
of a paddle and leaned over the side of the boat, pulling as hard
as she could. The swell of the waves was against them, and they
seemed to make no progress whatsoever. But Kaya kept pulling,
stroke after stroke. After what seemed an interminable length of
time, she collapsed, panting.

“
I don’t
think we’re getting anywhere,” she gasped.

Martin threw
his paddle down, cursing loudly. He seemed on the verge of tears.
Another flash of lightening illuminated the sea, and in the brief
glare they glimpsed the distant silhouette of Henby
Island.

Silence
settled over the miserable group like a dense cloud. They listened
to the hiss of the wind and the seething of the waves beneath the
boat. The headlights were still working, but they would go out,
thought Kaya bitterly, once the boat’s battery ran down. She didn’t
want to imagine what would happen then, when the five passengers
would be adrift in total darkness, tossed on a black sea, not
knowing what reef or rocky shore they were heading
towards.

“
It’s OK,
Dad,” came a muffled voice from beneath the oilskin. “Thanks for
coming to find us. You didn’t know about the gas.”

Josh held out
a hand. His father grasped it tightly. “I’m so sorry…” Martin
began.

Silence fell
once more. The headlight began to flicker and dim. Kaya groaned
inwardly.

“
Don’t go
out, don’t go out,” she whispered.

The light
continued to flicker. It went off for a moment and they were thrown
into utter darkness. Martin lunged for the light and banged it with
his fist. It lit once more. But it was such a feeble, dying light
Kaya knew it would not be long until it was out for
good.

Then suddenly
Tike lifted up his head, scenting the air and listening
keenly.

“
There’s
another boat coming!” he said eagerly to Kaya. “I hear a
motor!”

Sure enough,
after another minute or so, lights appeared on the distant water.
The sound of a large motor cut through the wind.

Kaya and
Martin both stood up and began shouting.

“
Over here!
Help! Help!”

Within moments
a huge spotlight fixed them in its wide, bright beam. Kaya blinked
and shielded her eyes. A large boat came alongside. The police
boat. Kaya could see Angela and Raymond on board. Raymond was at
the wheel.

“
Out of gas?
Bad luck in this storm, eh?” said Angela. “But wait - you’ve found
them!” She had caught sight of Kaya and Josh. A huge smile spread
across her face, and she whistled loudly. “Now
that’s
a sight for sore
eyes!”

“
Listen,”
said Martin quickly, overcoming his natural shyness. “You – you’ve
got to get my son and the old woman to a doctor. They’ve been badly
hurt. She’s got a big gash in her arm and is delirious. It’s
urgent
. Can you take
them in the boat? And lend me a can of gas?”

Working
quickly, she and Raymond tied the smaller boat alongside the police
boat. With Martin and Kaya’s help they got the Duchess and Josh on
board and had them down in the dry cabin and wrapped in warm,
woolen blankets in no time.

“
We still
haven’t arrested those two guys,” Angela told Kaya. “We found their
hide-out yesterday, and all the horrible stuff they’ve stashed
there. But nobody was around.” Angela shook her head. “We’re going
to keep looking, though. I’ve got the police on Corby and Mullin
Islands out searching too. Those fellas are going to pay big time
for what they’ve done! I can’t believe they’d attack Mrs.
Kimpton!”

She went to
the back of the police boat and retrieved a big red plastic
container.

“
Here’s some
gas,” said Angela, heaving the container across to
Martin.

“
Kaya, you
stay with Martin and help him navigate. It’s a lot safer with two
in the boat. We’ll meet you back in town.”

Kaya nodded,
and climbed back aboard the little speedboat.

“
Take my
coat, though,” Angela suggested. “You look frozen.”

The
policewoman removed her big hooded coat and tossed it across to
Kaya. Kaya put it on. It was still warm from Angela’s body. Kaya
stopped shivering for the first time in what seemed like
hours.

As the police
boat sped off into the night, Martin found the gas cap and emptied
the red container into the tank.

“
We’ll follow
as quick as we can,” said Martin, reassuringly. “Their boat goes
much faster than this one. But we’ll be in town in fifteen or
twenty more minutes, and we can tie up and go straight to the
Clinic and see how they’re doing.”

The sea had
grown a little less choppy, and the wind had subsided to a dull
moan. Martin got the little boat’s motor going. At once the
headlight shone bright and strong again.

“
Watch for
deadheads, Kaya,” called Martin.

Kaya stood up
next to him and scanned the patch of sea illuminated by the boat’s
headlight, looking for logs bobbing in the water. Tike curled up at
her feet and kept her toes warm in her wet shoes. The waves sped
by. Although she was finally warm again, and knew her friends were
getting help, Kaya became aware of a familiar nagging pain deep
inside her. It had been there all the while, but had been overlaid
by the work of survival during the past few hours. It was like a
knot of blackness in her chest. A new, more intense version of the
hollow feeling she had experienced earlier that day. Now the
sensation had become almost a hunger. It was a desperate, painful
longing for something that was absolutely MISSING from the
world.

Kaya thought
of the Omrith and of what Grandmother had taught her about the
rites of the Turning. What would happen to everyone and everything
she loved if Rex and Spencer kept the Omrith? Or sold it to someone
on the other side of the world? If the Omrith was not restored to
the Salish Sea, would this storm go on forever? Would the
beautiful, harmonious life on Tangle Island that she loved so much
be destroyed?

“
Look there!”
she heard Martin shout. “Kaya! What is that?”

Martin slowed
the boat. She stared off in the direction he was pointing. It was a
small boat with no headlight, tossing silently on the dark sea. In
it were two wet, bedraggled-looking men, the larger one not wearing
a shirt. She recognized them immediately.

“
It’s them!”
she cried, gripping Martin’s arm. “The guys who stabbed the Duchess
and broke Josh’s leg!”

They motored a
little closer. Kaya heard a familiar sound – the drumming pulse of
the strange shell - the Omrith. Only now it was different, muffled
and dull, as if the power were draining out of it, and only a small
frail throbbing remained.

The men in the
boat began to wave and shout.

“
Over here!
Help us! Our motor’s dead,” one of them called. Kaya recognized
Spencer’s voice.

“
And the
boat’s leaking!” shouted Rex beside him. “Hurry!”

“
Wait!” said
Kaya in a low voice. “Don’t pick them up. They’ve got the shell.
Make them give us the shell.”

Martin turned
to her with a confused look. Kaya hadn’t explained that part of
their adventure yet. The story would have to wait until later. She
leaned over the side of the boat, cupped her hands and
shouted.

“
Give us the
shell, or we won’t help you!”

The men
stopped shouting and looked at one another. They snarled angrily in
low voices, seemingly in bitter argument. After a moment, Spencer
dove for his companion, wrestling to free something that Rex
clutched under one arm.

“
Give it
here!” Kaya heard him shout. “It’s caused enough trouble! Give it
to ‘em! We’re gonna die out here!”

Spencer had
grabbed hold of the bundle and was holding it aloft. Rex stood up
fiercely, attempting to snatch it back. The boat lurched and
swayed, sloshing water back and forth in the bottom. Just beyond
the helm, Kaya thought she glimpsed a dark shape surface from the
water for a moment then sink beneath again. A fin?

“
You fool!”
shouted Spencer. “You’re gonna capsize the boat! Sit
down!”

Rex grabbed
one end of the bundle and the two men tugged and pulled and cursed,
causing the small boat to dip and bob from side to side. Then all
at once, a mighty rogue wave swelled and rolled toward them. Kaya
felt it pass under Martin’s boat, like a great sighing breath. Then
the wave rolled on towards Rex and Spencer, gaining momentum,
growing huge and peaked. It seemed to seize their boat and hold it
still for a spit second. Then the wave tipped the boat over like a
toy. The two men flopped into the churning sea like large dolls,
arms and legs flailing uselessly. The bundle, released from their
grasp, soared into the air and then dropped with a splash into the
dark water.

Kaya let out a
cry of astonishment as the bundle sank below the waves. Just then,
a sleek shining form leapt high out of the sea, clutching the
bundle in its mouth. A flash of silver light lit the dark sky, as
more luminous shapes leaped and dived on all sides. It was as if
the sea were swelling, rising, crowded with forms and fins and
tails.

Cries filled
the air overhead. Eagles swooped down from the dark sky. All around
her, voices called to one another.

“
Do you have
it? Is it safe?”

A voice
shimmered deep inside her mind, a laughing, wordless voice that she
remembered hearing before. It was more a presence than a voice - a
swell of feeling. A colour. A flow of light.

Yes, it is
safe, communicated this presence. We are safe. All is right with
the world.

Dolphins! Kaya
felt a surge of delight course through her, flooding the hollow
ache in her heart with warm, liquid gold. Her mind shimmered and
resonated with delicious dolphin laughter.

Then silver
fins sped away over the dark sea and were gone.

A flap of
wings hovered in the air over her head. Kaya looked up and saw
Grandmother gazing down at her.

“
All will
soon be put right, my child,” came the soothing, windy voice Kaya
loved so well. “I will now help the others to see the Omrith safely
home. I’ll meet you back on Tangle soon. Goodbye, Kaya dear! You
have done well this day!”

Grandmother
rose on dark, outstretched wings, and wheeled off into the swirling
air. All of a sudden, the wind died utterly and completely. The
rain was gone. Overhead, the clouds began to roll aside with
startling speed, exposing patches of starry night sky. The sea
subsided to a sleek, calm blackness, as if the tempest of the past
hours had never happened.

Spencer’s head
appeared, gasping and sputtering, above the water. Martin hesitated
for a split second, then steered the boat close and reached a
paddle out to him. Spencer grabbed it desperately and was pulled to
the side of the boat. The scrawny, scowling man was shaking so much
he could barely climb aboard and Martin and Kaya had to haul him up
the ladder by grabbing the back of his shirt.