Sister of the Sun (36 page)

In some ways it was like
kava
, and in other ways different.
Kava
made men quickly turn silent, but these sailors had been imbibing with no such effect. Now they began singing loudly, a foreign song. He felt an urge to join them. Kiore began to dance with his knees deeply bent, as he had at the feast. Paruru had been furious with him then, but now he found the antics amusing.
 

"We are making too much noise," Paruru said. His lips felt strange when he spoke, and he heard laughter from his own throat. The noise did not matter, he told himself. Tepua and her guests were sleeping off the big meal they had eaten.
 

But Paruru remembered that he had come here for a purpose. He needed the outsiders' help.

"Dance," said Kiore, waving his arms crazily. "Remember the spears?" He held out two sticks on his forearms and clumsily tried to perform the
hipa
step that Paruru had demonstrated at the welcoming feast. Paruru wondered if he was trying to make amends for his behavior that night.
 

"I will show you," said Paruru. He picked up another pair of sticks, greasy from the meat they had held, and balanced them on his own forearms. His legs felt curiously light. While Nika played a tune, he began his dance.
 

Before he could get one time around his circle, the sticks rolled off his arms and Paruru toppled to the ground. He lay sprawled on his back and felt his body spinning. Above him he saw a clouded sky, tinged with red from the approaching sunset
 

"This is not good," the warrior said, fighting the dizziness as he sat up. "We need to talk. Seriously. About the Pu-tahi." His head seemed to float of its own accord, drawing his body after it.
 

"Pu-tahi! We can finish them like
that
!" said Nika. He picked up another long stick and swung it at one of the dead rats that lay on the ground. "And
that
!" He kept hitting the limp body, knocking it across the leaf-strewn ground.
 

Kiore got his own stick, and soon they were batting the dead creature back and forth between them.

"No," said Paruru. He staggered forward, tried to grab one stick in each hand and stop the buffoonery. For a moment he succeeded, but the sailors tried to pull away from him. "Listen," he said in a slurred voice. "I need help from both of you—to stand with me and protect Tepua. Nika, I must talk with you alone."
 

"I am your brother," said Nika, leaning forward, his breath reeking of drink. "But Kiore is my friend. We keep no secrets from him."
 

"No secrets," said the second sailor, leaning in the opposite direction.

Then all three men toppled in a heap. The foreigners were laughing, but now Paruru did not join in.

"I will save Tepua from the man-eaters," said Kiore. "I will not let them harm her." He lifted his arms in a strange gesture, as if raising a weapon that jutted out from his shoulder. Not a spear...Paruru cried out in alarm as he realized what Kiore was doing—acting as if he held the thunder-club. "
Pam
!" said the sailor. "No more Pu-tahi."
 

"Kiore knows about the weapon!" Paruru cried hoarsely.

"No secrets," said Nika. "We can trust him."

"But Tepua—"

"I care nothing for Tepua," said Nika. "But I will fight for her. Because of Maukiri."

Paruru could not clear his thoughts. He wanted to get an agreement about the weapon, and to warn the men not to tell anyone else, but he could not bring the words to his lips. Silently he untangled himself from the intoxicated sailors and left them to their foolishness. Behind him, they began another song.
 

The drink was the cause of all these troubles. Though he could barely keep his eyes open, Paruru resolved to get rid of the stuff. His legs wobbled as he began to search for the container. He staggered from tree to tree, leaning on each to support himself as he looked around. Then, in the shadows, he saw the slatted drum half-hidden by a branch.
 

Nika and Kiore were too busy carousing to notice, he hoped. He recalled that the drink could be made to flow out through a hollow stick at the bottom of the drum. He reached down and twisted something. His fingers felt clumsy, but the piece turned in his hand. When he saw the liquid spilling onto the ground, he went back to the sailors.
 

"Teach me your song," Paruru said through numbed lips as he eased himself down to rest against a log. His head seemed to bounce gently against the bark. "Maybe I can learn it." But the foreigners were quiet now. He heard slow breathing and a snore. Paruru felt his own eyes closing again and this time he could not stop them.
 

 

The sound of raindrops woke Paruru near dawn. He heard a gentle patter that changed to a steady shower of water against the overhanging leaves. The throbbing pain in his head almost made him forget the rain and all else.
 

In the gloom he tried to find his way to a better shelter. The sailors, too, were stirring. He heard them muttering together in their own tongue.
 

"What have you done to me?" Paruru cried. "My head!"

He heard Nika's muffled laughter. "After a time, you will grow used to drinking."

The rain was soaking the ground now, falling through the branches in a steady stream. Paruru thought that he might feel better if he remained still awhile. He found his way under a dense canopy, lay down and drew up his knees, but the throbbing in his skull continued.
 

The foreigners kept gabbling to each other, and Paruru understood almost nothing. "We must talk about the weapon," he called to the sailors.
 

"I do not think the
ariki
wants it used," said Kiore. "It is not good for this place."
 

Paruru turned toward the sound of their voices, but still he could not see the men. "The Pu-tahi will respect nothing less. I must have it."
 

"Too dangerous!" said Kiore.

"You said you would stand with me," Paruru protested. Finally he spotted the sailors, two dark figures seated beneath a tree. Yesterday, the drink had made the men foolish, but also amiable. Now they only seemed stubborn.
 

"I will not tell Tepua," said Kiore. "I do not want her to take the weapon. But we have no reason to use it."

"Nika," Paruru called in desperation. "Tell your friend that you agreed to help me."

"If trouble appears, I will help," the other sailor answered. "I see none now."

"The Pu-tahi are waiting for us to drop our guard!" Paruru's stomach felt queasy. Sitting here arguing was only making his head feel worse. For now, he had no strength to vent his anger at Nika. Later he would deal with him, insist that he honor his obligations to his brother.
 

But first he needed to get rid of his pain. "You will see that I am right," Paruru said in parting. "I will bring news that will make you listen." He forced himself up, leaning for a moment against a
young fara
. The rain was still falling heavily, but he was used to being wet. Dawn had come, spreading a dim, gray light.
 

Paruru brushed away leaves and sticks that clung to his damp body. Then he headed for a place of refuge, the house of a
tahunga
who often cared for his warriors' ills and wounds. Shortly he reached one of the main paths across the island and turned toward the lagoon. He heard footsteps ahead.
 

"Paruru!" called an indignant voice. "Where are you going, you sea worm? Do you think you can hide from me?"

When the warrior recognized Cone-shell's harsh voice, he gave a quiet groan. The bulky figure, covered in a dripping rain cape, came quickly toward him. "I want answers," Cone-shell demanded as he drew closer. "I am tired of chasing after you in these woods."
 

The only weapon that the warrior saw was the club that Cone-shell pounded against the ground. Paruru realized with chagrin that he had no weapon of his own. "The storehouse is empty!" shouted Cone-shell. "Where are the foreigners' goods?"
 

"I do not have them," Paruru replied, wishing he could somehow get past Varoa's chief.

"You know where they are!"

"Do not make me angry, Cone-shell. Yesterday, we put aside our differences."

"That has nothing to do with this treachery. I asked Tepua to give me Kiore. Now you and she are trying to cheat me of the benefit."
 

"Benefit? A few trinkets. Cloth. Choppers."

"Worth much in the right hands!"

Paruru wiped rainwater from his face and sized up the man who stood before him. Cone-shell had been a warrior once, but now he was too heavy, too slow. Paruru felt an impulse to grab the club from his hand and strike him with it.
 

No, that would not do. He needed Cone-shell's help or everything would be lost. He needed to regain this man's trust, even if it meant giving up his secret.... "The foreign goods you saw mean nothing," Paruru hissed, "compared with what I have hidden."
 

"Tell me!" Cone-shell took a menacing step closer.

Paruru's head pounded as he spoke. "You were not here when the foreign
vaka
arrived at the lagoon, Surely you heard what happened."
 

"Yes ..." The chief's eyes widened.

"Come. I will show you something you have never seen before. Then you will stop asking about the other goods."

 

In a deserted part of the inland forest, behind the ruins of an old
marae
, Paruru halted and pulled at a heap of coconut fronds. Underneath lay the upturned hull of a canoe that had long ago lost its outrigger.
 

He glanced back at Cone-shell. Now that the rain had stopped, the chief had taken off his plaited cape and stood bare-chested in the cool air. "Help me turn this over," Paruru asked as he gripped the bow of the old boat.
 

When Cone-shell squatted to assist, a piece of rotten planking broke away in his hands. On Paruru's side, the lashings holding the boards together were frayed, ready to part. "Gently!" warned Paruru.
 

At last they managed to roll the hull over to an upright position and prop it against a log. Inside lay several bundles lashed to the thwarts. Cone-shell grabbed the largest and began to tear at the cords.
 

"Everything must stay dry!" Paruru shouted.

Cone-shell ignored the warning. In a moment he had the weapon unwrapped. He turned it, sniffed at it, applied his teeth to the gray flared tube. "
Aue
! This is the thing of war. The weapon the Pu-tahi warned about."
 

"It will do nothing as it is now," Paruru retorted. "It is just wood and stone. The thing has no power."

Cone-shell lay the weapon across the rotting hull and crouched to study it. He ran his fingers over the smooth contours of wood, then came to the bird's head. "Show me how it is held," he insisted.
 

Reluctantly Paruru lifted the piece. He had succeeded in silencing Cone-shell's demands for the other goods, but now he faced a new problem. There was only one weapon and two men wanted it!
 

Yet he had taken Cone-shell here for a reason. If Tepua learned of the thunder-club, she would forbid Paruru to use it. In that case, giving it to Cone-shell might be his only recourse. The thought of doing so brought back the pounding to his temples.
 

"Here is how the thing is held," Paruru answered, pointing the open tube at the trees. "The head is pulled back like this...."

Paruru let the beak fall sharply into its little bowl. He could not help smiling when the sparks made Cone-shell jump. "This is a weapon of flame," the
kaito-nui
said. "The spark must be what starts it. In one of my bundles is a fine black sand that smells like the weapon's smoke. My guess is that this powder can be lit by the spark, as wood dust flares in the groove of a fire-stick."
 

"Guess? You do not know?"

Irritably Paruru replied. "The foreigners refuse to teach me. They say the weapon is too dangerous."

"We need no help from them," Cone-shell snorted. "It is simple enough. Show me the black sand."

"There is more than just the sand. A canoe paddler heard small stones falling after the weapon thundered. Two dropped into his
vaka.
They are the same kind as the ones in this bag."
 

"Leave the stones for later," growled Cone-shell.

Paruru opened a second bundle, removing a container curved like a boar's tusk. He opened the pointed end, then shook a few grains of black sand into his palm. "Sniff it," he said. He watched Cone-shell's nostrils widen and his eyelids fly up.
 

"It smells of bird droppings!" Cone-shell whispered. "And foul water!"

Paruru's hand began to tremble. "There may be evil spirits in this."

"Your priest Faka-ora got rid of them," Cone-shell rebuked. "This powder did come from the stores I examined, did it not?"

The warrior raised his eyebrows in assent.

"Then waste no more time talking." Cone-shell took the bottle and poured powder onto the place where the bird's beak struck. He put the bottle down. "Stand away from me," he warned Paruru. Cone-shell spoke a brief prayer before pulling back the beak.
 

Paruru took a deep breath. There came a shower of sparks and then a flare of light."It does burn!" shouted Cone-shell in triumph. An acrid puff of smoke spread outward from where the fire had been.
 

"But no thunder," Paruru added moodily.

"We will come to that," said Cone-shell. "If stones are part of this, then I see only one place they can go." He turned the tube and looked once more inside. Then he held out his hand.
 

Paruru was pleased that they had managed this much so quickly. Now Cone-shell seemed about to unravel the last of the secrets. With growing excitement Paruru opened another bundle, taking out a handful of heavy round stones. With a rumble, Cone-shell let them fall into the tube.