Deluge (12 page)

CHAPTER 14

Y
ANA WAS SO
numb she could not feel the hands that grasped her arms to haul her out of the river. She thought she was probably dying already. It was said that the cold began to feel almost warm when one was truly freezing, and the water beneath her had suddenly begun feeling that way. It was a relief. Then there was the olfactory hallucination that told her she was smelling the sulfurous odor of the communion cave. She had the oddest sensation of something slipping between the legs of her snowsuit, bearing her up. Perhaps that was the case, since she didn’t fall back into the river even though her stiff and iced-over mittens could no longer maintain a hold on the ice. Her arms simply lay splayed in front of her like a pair of useless logs. Though she vaguely felt that she needed to survive for Sean, the kids, and even Kilcoole, she was so drowsy she couldn’t be bothered to care about all that at the moment.

The brightness of the snow dimmed beneath the shadow of a large form that reached down and grabbed her arms, while her parka was jerked upward by the hood.

“Well, well, we seem to have caught a big fish,” a gruff male voice said, and the part of Yana that was still alert to her surroundings knew she was not out of trouble. This was one of the troops from the ship.

But then another voice, a familiar one, said, “Yes, well, she’ll need tending to, and so will some of your people, so we’d best return to the village and then we’ll see who’s caught whom.”

Yana was facing the wrong direction to see the speaker, but she could almost feel Sinead’s rifle leveled at the ship’s crew. At any rate, she was pulled more gently upward and back. She felt almost weightless, as if buoyed up toward her rescuers.

Then the ice chose to break under her and splinter back under Sinead’s feet, forcing her sister-in-law and the village rescuers to retreat.

“Ladder!” Sinead called. Then, close to her ear, Yana heard, “Hang on. This is going to be slow, but we’ll have you ashore soon.”

In front of her the soldiers were scrambling off the river and up onto the banks as the ice crack chased them from her hole back in the direction of the ship.

Sinead shifted her grip, and Yana dipped back down to her chin momentarily as the ice under her split even further. Then suddenly she was borne up and a new current carried her back toward her rescuers, stopping only when the ice remained firm enough for her to be hauled upward.

She looked up and saw Sinead’s eyes dancing with amusement behind their iced-over lashes. “Thanks, Sean,” Sinead said.

They hauled Yana onto the bank and bundled her onto a sled, but not before she saw the sleek dark head pop out from beneath the ice and regard her with an
Okay, now?
look before the seal dived back into the river.

“A
DRIENNE,
C’EST MOI
.” Marmie’s voice preceded her through the door. Adrienne sagged with relief until she saw the laser pistol pointed at Marmie’s back, followed by a tall young Corpsman.

Shoving Madame aside, Adrienne growled, “Drop it,” but Madame reached up and grabbed the man’s wrist. He looked down at her with alarm.

“This is Christian, Adrienne. He’s a friend. Quickly, we must leave this room. Everything here can be seen from the adjoining one.”

Adrienne glanced over to where the animals had been making their escape. Not one hair remained of either of them. She didn’t like to leave Zuzu behind, but her formerly pampered feline friend had given ample proof that she could take care of herself when necessary. And now Zuzu also had an ally.

S
KY AND
Z
UZU
watched from one of the rat holes as Marmie, Adrienne, and the soldier passed.

The fur along Sky’s spine rippled all the way to the tip of his tail.
Caged again.

Zuzu’s whiskers twitched thoughtfully.
I think not. Neither Adrienne nor Madame are afraid.

Cats know when humans are afraid? How?

Elementary,
mon cher
otter,
Zuzu told him.
It is a matter of scent and posture. Their shoulders are not tensed in fear of his weapon, their hands are relaxed, and most of all, they do not smell afraid. Then too, I overheard Madame whisper,
“Et maintenant,
Christian
?”
to the gendarme. From this I deduce that they are on cordial terms. He will no doubt help them escape.

Sky considered this.
Good. I will escape too.

You cannot go with them. You will draw attention to their unsuitable amiability.

How then? My friends who are river seal children do not know where to find me, so I must go to them.

How will you find them?

We talk in our heads, in the same way that cats and otters talk. When I am near to them, they will hear me call and come.

And if they cannot come?

Then they will guide me to them and I will save them. Friends save friends. We have done this hundreds of times.

In that case, follow me. I know a way out for otters and cats. Unfortunately, it is too petite for humans, even dainty ones such as Adrienne and Madame.

Otters are very slinky and can fit through very small places.

Indeed. If it transpires that Madame and Adrienne have escaped, I may decide to come with you on your search.

Oh? Do cats swim fast like otters?

I am fond of water,
oui, Zuzu said with a proud lick to her shoulder.
I am, I confess, unique among my species in that I swim very well indeed. Er—how much swimming would be involved in your search?

There is a sea. I saw that the river seal children were carried across it in a sky ship. This otter can ride in sky ships but cannot make them go. Though otter paws are very useful, they work better for swimming than for making things fly. Even the paws of sky otters,
he added regretfully.

Ah,
Zuzu said with regret as well,
I comprehend perfectly. You wish to help your friends, as I do mine. Still, it seems a shame, does it not, to disband our alliance when we have discovered how much more useful even my brains and beauty and vast experience of this place can be with the assistance of your excellent teeth, paws, and exquisite slinkiness.

Sky preened.
Otters
are
excellent, it’s true. Excellent is good, isn’t it?

Zuzu said,
Excellent is very good indeed, my friend. So, shall we embark on this mission together as far as we can before splitting up?

Sky agreed happily. Sky otters were smart and brave, and learned to do things quickly, but having a cat for a friend was almost like having another otter or a river seal helping.

Zuzu led the way through the dark, rat-infested passages. Sky heard the scrabble of claws and, worst of all, the nasty scent messages the rats left, telling how they would use their rat nails and their big sharp teeth, if given a chance. Twice Zuzu walked straight up to a group of the rodents, and their red eyes gleamed. They thought they could gang up on the cat and kill her, but Sky edged up as close as he could to his companion and made his own eyes small and mean and said,
Hah! Cats eat rats. Rats do not eat cats. I think otters eat rats too!

The rats fled. They were very big rats, Zuzu said, but Sky was twice the size of the largest and he let forth a scent message that told them he was extremely fierce and that his claws and teeth were twice as big and sharp as any rat’s. He might have said something about the hundreds of relatives who were right behind him and Zuzu too, but if he did, he had no way of knowing if the rats believed him or not.

At last the rat droppings and remnants of his own scent messages and the latrines of the prison cells above and below them diminished and the passages grew less dim. Sky sniffed eagerly. Salt water! He smelled salt water. He was not a sea otter, but according to the Father River Seal, he was an estuarial otter who could swim in salt water as well as fresh. He did not like it as much as fresh water, but he was getting used to it the more he did it. The cat led him to an opening through which a morning sky was tapering from the pink of the inside of a lovely otter’s mouth to the blue of the river seal twins’ eyes, and he quivered with happiness as he looked forward to swimming in the dark blue-gray waters washing up against the outside of the prison, directly below the hole.

It is a long way down,
Zuzu said.
Farther than I thought.

It would be better if there was a slide,
Sky agreed.
But otters are good divers. Are cats?

Zuzu considered. She did not like admitting that cats in general were in any way inferior to otters, or that she in particular was less skilled at something than he was. So she said,
Cats are made to climb and leap. You dive and I’ll climb down, then leap in to join you.

Sky leaned forward, pushed with his back feet and muscular tail, and entered the water with a feeling of freedom he had been missing for what seemed hundreds of hours, or the otterly equivalent.

CHAPTER 15

T
HE TWINS SWAM
toward the rocks where they had lain before, but as the sun limned the formation, they saw that its outlines had changed. A tall bit with a rounded point had been added to the highest point of the little island.

Someone is there!
Murel said.
Waiting for us, it looks like.

I doubt it’s anyone friendly,
Ronan replied.
If Mabo knows we’re here, I’d bet my right flipper she’s behind it.

I wouldn’t take the bet,
Murel said.
She’ll be looking for us, and she knows what seal habitat looks like. Unfortunately, our rocks are a pretty classic example. She’d guess that we might well fetch up there when we’re in seal form. Keep your head down and let’s swim back the way we came.

Once they were out of sight of the rocks, Murel stopped swimming.
Now what?
she asked.
It seems like we flew all this way to swim around aimlessly in the sea. And I don’t know about you, but I really need to rest somewhere. I’ve got all these sore spots from fighting the squid and the net.

Me too, but I think the best thing, since Mabo is looking for us here, is for us to go back to the prison,
Ronan said.

But what about the squid? And if that boat sees us again, the crew might get more curious.

I think the boat took care of the squid by at least diminishing their appetites. Besides, you said yourself that they have to stay down deep. We’ll just keep near the surface and we should be fine. I saw some other offshore rocks closer in. If we can reach those, we can decide what to do next.

Murel was so weary and sore, she wasn’t sure she could make it all the way back to the prison. But following her brother, she slid beneath the waves.

I wish there were some other way,
she complained.

What do you suggest?
Ro’s voice carried a sarcastic edge to it.
We don’t have arms and legs until we can dry out on land. We can hardly overpower that sentry as seals. Unless you think we could flop him down and flipper-slap him into submission?

No need to be mean. Who saved your blubber butt when you were stupid enough to get grabbed by the squid?

Saving blubber butts from squids went two ways, to the best of my recollection.

There has to be a way,
she insisted. She felt even less cooperative than she had before Ronan made his smart remark. Then, as if inspired by her annoyance, she thought of something.
We can’t attack him on the land, but we could in the water. Hands and legs are only an asset on land.

Unless the hands are holding a harpoon?
Ronan suggested mulishly.

That’s where being smarter than the average seal comes in—er—handy,
she replied.
If he has one, once we get him in the water we can take it away from him. We can fight sharks, whales, and squids. One measly person shouldn’t be that hard. Here’s what we do—we’ll split up and one of us will attract his attention from the water. If he’s really after us, we should be able to lure him in. If not, the one attracting his attention will have to hold it and make a lot of splashing to cover for the other one climbing out onto the lower rocks, drying off, and getting the better of him.

Rrright. Then what?

Well, we find out what he’s doing on our rocks, for one, and keep him busy while we rest up enough to go somewhere else. For starters.

Ronan grunted.
Brilliant.

Ro, I absolutely cannot make that swim again.

But you’ve enough fight left in you to take on a possibly armed human?

If I must.

Very well then,
he caved unexpectedly.
I’ll do the fancy swimming and you flop ashore once I’ve got his attention and either push or bump him into the water if he’s not gone for it already. Then I’ll take care of him.

See that you do,
she said, her tartness hiding the gratitude she felt that he’d found a way to do the energetic bits.
I don’t want to have to rescue you again.

No worries on that account,
he said.
In case anyone is watching from shore, you go ’round to the back so you can change without being seen. Let me know once you’re in position and I’ll start the show.

It wasn’t a bad plan. It almost worked. But the moment the person on the rocks spotted Ro, he raised a whistle to his lips and let out a long blast.

That doesn’t sound good,
Ro said.
Show cancelled. I think you’re going to have to go for that swim after all.

He dived again, but before Murel could beach herself, the watcher from the rocks dived too. Murel backflipped in the water and headed back to the portside to help Ronan. But long before she rounded the rocks she heard a motor roaring toward them and heard Ro cry,
They’ve set nets! Swim out to sea, sis.

And leave you?

I’m caught! Get away. You can’t get caught too. You’re going to have to save my blubber butt again.

Z
UZU WAS AN
excellent swimmer, as cats went, but cats were not made for life in the sea. Sky capered around her, splashing, diving, and laughing with otter chittering and chattering, but the amusement value of his antics quickly dwindled.

She liked water, but this was far too much of a good thing.

This water is very warm,
Sky told the cat.
And there are many fish, but so far none with shells.

Merci
for the information, but I have enjoyed enough of this water. I believe I will return now to the land.

But we only started swimming!
Sky protested.

For otters this may be the beginning of swimming, but for cats, even a cat of aquatic inclinations such as
moi,
it is time for the swimming to end.
Je suis fatigué,
otter.”

Tired of
swimming? Sky could scarcely see how that was possible.
Maybe if you just sleep for a while.

Do not be ridiculous! I cannot sleep and swim at the same time!

You do not have to swim. Just wrap yourself in kelp to anchor yourself and float until you are rested.

Cats who float are deceased, otter.

You did not blow enough bubbles into your fur when you groomed,
he chided.

I do not blow bubbles into my fur on any occasion whatsoever,
she replied indignantly.
Cats do not
blow
the bubbles, you comprehend.

I did not know that. No wonder more cats don’t live in the water. Okay then. Return to land. I must find the river seal children.

Zuzu turned her sodden and skinny corkscrew tail to him and began paddling in the opposite direction. But nowhere did she see the land the otter claimed they had only just left.

She kept paddling, but land still hid itself from her. Her paws felt like anchors and her body sagged in the middle. Although the waves were neither high nor rough, water kept splashing into her face and she had to snort to clear her nose. Her tongue tasted of salt and her mouth was very dry. Her eyes also felt hot and dry. She grew so tired she could not think and could scarcely feel. And then a large series of waves began pounding against her and she could no longer keep her head above the water.

Adieu,
otter!
she thought, and felt herself sinking, drowning, and had visions of her lovely bed on the
Piaf,
of her food dish in the galley, of Adrienne waving her peacock feather for her to hunt, of cuddling in Adrienne’s arms and being stroked, of sleeping peacefully beside her friend. Of her battles with the prison rats with their sharp claws and teeth.

She had always won those battles, but suddenly she felt the teeth dig into her neck and carry her off—
merde!
The rat of death had come to claim her!

T
HE SLED CARRYING
Yana arrived in Kilcoole just in time for Sean to meet it. As soon as he’d gotten his feet under him, he’d ducked into the cabin and took his and Yana’s beaded latchkay parkas and mukluks from the storage chest, and her best snow pants and an extra sweater and a change of thermal underwear. Belatedly he grabbed the fancy patterned mittens and hats Clodagh had knitted for the two of them with portraits of seals and track cats in black, white, gray, and beige curly-coat wool.

Soaked and frozen, Yana would be needing her layers. He could only hope her adaptation and acclimatization to Petaybee had reached the point where it would protect her from the worst effects of her dunking. He thought it would. Maybe the ice had thinned because of that new warm channel opened by the quake and that was why she fell in, but he suspected the channel had been opened to protect her from the worst effects of her polar plunge. The planet was certainly sentient enough to know that she was a valuable ally. As for himself, the dry suit kept him perfectly warm, but he didn’t want some inquisitive uniformed lad or lass to start wondering why he was dressed so differently from the others.

He handed Yana’s spare clothing to Aisling, who was hovering around the sled, unfastened the blankets bundling his wife into the basket, and lifted her out, then turned to Clodagh’s cabin. As he entered, the soldiers were being herded by the rifle-toting villagers into the longhouse.

Clodagh, being Clodagh, had somehow known she was needed and had a fire going in her stove and a kettle boiling on top. The kettle was dented, and he saw that many of the bunches of herbs she had hung from the rafters to dry were strewn around on the floor and crushed. The kitchen table was still overturned, and one of the villagers dashed past him to set it right, propping up a broken table leg with a spare log.

Deirdre, Clodagh’s apprentice, dragged her bed close to the fire, and Sean laid Yana down on it. She promptly sat upright, brushing off with wet mittens all offers of assistance but his and Clodagh’s. The ice melted from her hair and lashes and made her look as if she’d been caught out in the rain.

He peeled off her mittens, and Clodagh cut off the heavy military boots that for some reason she was wearing instead of her mukluks, which were lighter and worked much better during Petaybean winter than the Corps-issued ones. He meanwhile shrugged off his own outer gear and peeled the dry suit off to halfway down his chest, then took her bare hands in his and placed them between the suit and his skin. Her hands were as cold as the ice itself, but he felt the warmth coming back into them in answer to his own body’s heat.

Clodagh examined Yana’s feet, then took Yana’s hands off Sean’s chest one at a time and examined them. The blue-white of frostbite had already begun fading. She put Yana’s hands back against his chest. “You’ll mend,” she said with her usual economy of speech. Then she beamed at Sean. She had a beautiful smile and a beautiful voice, and her huge roundness had always seemed to Sean to be Petaybee personified. Healing, comforting, protective, even maternal. Without saying anything, she was clearly telling him it was a good thing they had a selkie in the village.

Yana caught the look and shook her head, disgusted at herself. “Once more the little human in the family needed rescuing. Thanks, love. Some hijacker I turned out to be.”

“I don’t see a ship on the pad, and the crew are under guard in the longhouse. I’d say you did a pretty good job, acushla.”

“I could kill Aidan,” Yana muttered.

“What did I do?” her threatened homicide victim asked in a wounded tone.

“Why did you need to cut a fishing hole in the ice so early in the season?” she asked.

He turned a stricken face to Sinead, who entered with much stamping of boots and slapping together of mittens to rid them of snow before hanging them on hooks beside the fire. No doubt she had tended to the dogs before coming in from the cold herself. Aisling helped her with her parka and brushed the snow from her short dark hair, saying, “Yana’s mad at Aidan about the ice hole.”

“My fault, Yana. He’s not to blame.”

“See, you can keep murder in your own family,” Aidan said, holding up his hands as if in surrender, “I was just following orders.”

“I had our people set a few little surprises for our guests,” Sinead said. “I’d have mentioned it, but things were moving a bit fast by then and there was no chance to warn you.”

“Petaybee knew,” Sean said. “I felt a quake, and a warm channel opened up from one of the springs, right past where Yana was. I had been thinking it was the warm current that thinned the ice and caused her to go bathing so early in the season, and with her clothes on too.”

“Very funny,” Yana said. She stuck her tongue out at Sean, but since she was within two inches of his face already, he took advantage of the gesture to give her a lengthy demonstration of how glad he was that she was safe.

“Well, then,” Sinead said, “I think it’s high time for the rest of us to interrogate our prisoners. Come along, you lot.”

Clodagh pulled on her parka too.