The Sea Is Ours (6 page)

Caliso's footing wobbled at the vibrating ground, and she steadied herself with the use of her wire. Before the siphon touched the floor, she reached for the tubes and began to move it towards the water.

By then another series of
pop pop pop
s began, culminating in a splash so high that the water made it to the landing where Mixa and Caliso stood. Caliso had gotten out of the way, but Mixa took the hit of water, and she yelped.

“You hurt?” Caliso said.

“I—no,” Mixa admitted. “Slight surprise, that's all.” She grabbed the end rung of the siphon tube and pulled it closer to Caliso. She crouched low, easing the open end of the tube onto the glass siphons, making sure only the open vial was connected to the retractable tubing.

Across from them, there was a cry as more water began to splash upon Esta's group. Someone stumbled from their position upon the rock wall, and it took over a minute for another to help the fallen regain his footing.

The ground rumbled beneath Caliso, so hard and fast that she almost toppled over into the water. Thankfully, she had been grasping at the tubes, which kept her in her place. Caliso let out a series of curses, then shoved one of the malambaso tubes into the water. She nodded at Mixa, who flipped a switch just to the side of the siphon tube.

That was when the underwater volcano exploded.

~*~

The force of the water sent Caliso flying toward the bottom of the rock wall. The tubes followed her, and it took all of Caliso's energy to maneuver herself so that she got in between the glass vials and the falling rocks. A chunk of the solid landing had been pushed out by the force of water and gas. Caliso saw the debris scatter up and down, a threatening precipitation of rock. She rolled over to cover the glass vials, and had done it just in time to get struck by the large rocks. She groaned in agony and knew she would be sore later.

Mixa was no longer clinging onto the tube rung. There was a scream and frantic splashing, alerting her exactly where Mixa had gone.

Caliso felt the aching in her arms as she dragged the tubing with her, noting that it continued to suck in air. She struggled for a moment, then pushed one malambaso tube back into the water. She found that one of her engineers leapt from his position to hold onto the rungs to keep the tubes from flying out again. With a brief thanks, Caliso let go of the tubes. She searched the water.

The ground had fallen away from Mixa, and Caliso found her struggling to remain afloat in her magma suit within boiling, turbulent waters. Another
pop pop pop
, and Mixa yelped again, pushed further away out toward the open waters.

Strange
, Caliso thought. The magma suits had been a light design, easy enough for anyone to swim back onto the shore, even in heated temperatures. Caliso began yelling for Mixa to swim back, directing her to the rocks, but found something wrong with the way Mixa flailed. It took a few moments to realize why she found this strange, and why she began to stare at the horizon in horror.

The New Manila princess didn't know how to swim.

~*~

The waters buffeted Mixa further out into the sea, away from what continued to be an erupting volcano. The ground and arching rocks continued to shake, like carabao shedding the excess water from their skins. Besides Caliso, the siphon sucked in the water and gases, dispelling the water back onto the volcanic top whilst taking the gases up onto the airship.

Captains did not have room for doubt. Yet Caliso stood there, staring at the horizon, at the struggling form of the young monarch, at the open sea filled with creatures poisonous enough to kill with a single, solitary brush of their skins. She stood, unable to make the decision to save or abandon. Mixa would not survive once she reached deep waters. If she didn't sink by then, she'd be taken in by the jellyfish poison. Getting her back was a measure of risk no skeleton crew should have to take.

Caliso remembered her fall only minutes ago, and the saving hand that guided her back onto the rocks. She saw in her mind the image of a young woman and the way she soothed a crowd of worried passengers. She recalled the conversation that passed between them, the young woman's voice filling with passion and brilliance, of ideas that could very well change the way volcano chasers worked their equipment.

“She's worth that great risk,” Dato would say, his reverence of the royal family clear.

And perhaps he is right
, Caliso thought.

It was a thought that brought her to a decision, so final and absolute that she had to stop herself from shaking, both with fright and anger. Fright for her life, and anger for being careless once again. She should not have brought Mixa down with her.

She leapt into the water, her magma suit altering its temperature to neutralize the heat of the volcanized water. She kicked forward and swam, stroke for stroke, her helmet swiveling from side to side as she continued toward Mixa's course.

The underwater volcano eased her swim, yet it was still difficult to move. The magma suit would only last so long before the heat would sink in. Caliso did not have much time before the real temperatures would hit her, but she pushed that thought out of her mind, swimming further and further, toward the woman who was beginning to sink.

She reached the fatigued princess and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her torso up so that her helmet was no longer half-submerged in water. Caliso heard the hard breathing and the panicked whimpers beneath the helmet, felt most of the fight leave Mixa.

“Keep awake,” Caliso ordered, pulling at the waist and swimming with her other hand. “And
kick
the water back, you fool! Don't make this any harder for me than it is.” It had been a stroke of luck that the captain made it to where Mixa had been. The New Manila princess was wading on dangerous deep waters.

Mixa did as she was instructed, kicking the water in silence as Caliso continued to swim with one hand. Several times, Caliso heard the young woman let out a sob, then a prayer, and finally, a series of thanks for saving her life.

Caliso winced, arm tingling from her sidestroke. “We're not there just yet. Save your thanks for later.”

She headed toward Esta's team. The older engineer must have seen her captain move toward the water, for she had one of the crew members waiting there, hand outstretched, the other holding fast upon a wire. Caliso swam toward him, her strokes slowing, her breathing becoming more difficult. Just a little more, she told herself, just a little…

And the hand reached her arm, pulling, pulling. Then several hands, and finally, both women were out of the water and lying on the ground. Mixa removed her helmet, stumbled back to the edge of the rocks and retched. Caliso remained where she lay, taking deep breaths.

Her vision blurred. When Esta's helmet hovered over her, she saw not one, but two Estas side by side. She blinked several times to dispel the dizziness, but instead it resulted in a third head. She tried to move, to say anything. Nothing.

Esta had said something to cause the crew to stir toward Caliso. Two men came quickly to the captain's side. They lifted her body, strapped her with several wires, dragged her toward the rock wall. With her hanging in the middle, both men made their climb.

She felt the pain in her arm, sharp and fast and hot. She also felt the draft, and knew that her magma suit had been punctured at some point. Yet she couldn't remember when it had happened, or where. She slipped into unconsciousness, but not before she realized the cause of her debilitation.

Poison.

~*~

The Amihan felt peaceful, so much so that Caliso had not realized she was awake until she remembered the events that transpired before.

She tried to sit up, but found that she was too weak to do so.

“What…”

She heard someone move beside her, felt the cool touch of a hand on her forehead. “Fever, but it will pass.”

Dato.

“What…” she repeated again.

Her first mate helped her up to a sitting position, and she grimaced when he lifted a cup of warm ginger-water to her mouth. Once she finished drinking, he sat back down. He leaned forward, shaking his head. “Jellyfish. The stupid things got to your suit. You must have missed the holes on your magma suit from your last inspection.”

“I…I don't think that—” And then she remembered. The slip and fall, the way her hands flailed, scraping upon rock in the hope of getting hold of something, anything… “I slipped. Must have…torn my sleeve struggling.”

“Nasty slip, that,” Dato said, rubbing his nose and leaning back. “Esta and the Prinsesa told me the whole story. You got lucky. Esta recognized the symptoms right away. She'd seen people succumb to jellyfish stings quickly, but you must have had little enough dose that we managed to stop the poison from spreading.”

“How?” Caliso had had no poison expert on the ship. There had been no reason to keep one. Except now.

He shrugged. “The Prinsesa asked the passengers for aid. One of them happened to be an expert.”

“In poison?”

“In jellyfish.”

The two lapsed into silence. Dato shifted. “We're hovering above the Hills now. Gogg's seeing to the landing. You and Esta managed to siphon enough gases to stop the volcano from sinking the coast. Well, long enough for us to refuel, that is. Likely the rest of the land in that part will sink to give way to a rising volcano. But that doesn't seem to matter now. The Prinsesa wants a word with you.”

She inclined her head. “Not to deliver thanks, I hope?”

“Perhaps that. Perhaps more.” Dato stood. “I better check on the engines, just to be sure.” He headed to the door, stopped mid-exit, turned around. “Cali?”

She nodded, urging him to speak.

“No risk is worth more than your life. Never do that again.”

Caliso watched him go, surprised at his words. Of all her crew members, she had not expected Dato to be the one to tell her to leave Mixa in the water. She sighed onto her pillow, her eyes roving the captain's room in order to stay awake.

The New Manila princess entered soon after Dato left. She had changed back to her baro't saya, her hair re-braided into one side, neat and clean. She had looked almost like the young woman who had traipsed in near Bulkang Mayon to proffer a deal. Smooth-skinned and pale, unblemished by nature. Almost.

Mixa caught Caliso's gaze upon her marked face and arms, upon the tattoo of the carabao, which had been boiled out of existence. The princess forced a smile to her face. “Dato says you call them trophies.” She placed a hand reflexively on a peeling patch of skin on her upper arm and winced. “Your medic could only do so much to soften the blow, but I suppose there was still going to be some pain.”

“The burns are a sign of respect,” Caliso said. “The more unevenly colored your skin, the more telling your life.”

“Then I will bear it proudly,” Mixa said. She remained standing by the doorway. Some moments of silence ensued, then, “Why?”

The rest of the question was easy to guess. Caliso looked at Mixa, at the princess worth a hefty Cebuano ransom. Why indeed? Mixa had only been on the Amihan for less than a day, and yet she stood there as casually as though she'd been part of the crew for years.

She belonged on the Amihan.

Easy now, think it through
, her inner voice said. But a captain did not have room for doubt. She did not answer Mixa's question. Instead, “I have a proposal for you.”

Mixa nodded, walking inside, her hands resting upon the back of a high chair.

“You left out a few things about your work on your brother's ship.”

“Sadly yes,” Mixa admitted. “It is the curse of being the only daughter of a royal line. I am meant to be wed, not to learn tricks. Father wanted me to be aware of volcanoes, yes, but I did so in the safety of Kuya Raksan's cabins. I spent most of my time with the strategists and engineers. I most near lived in the boiler rooms where I heard stories of how kuya's crew siphoned gases from exploding mountains. I helped with some of the designs myself. But that does not seem terribly important anymore.”

“Why not?”

“As you can see,” the princess crooked half her mouth in a small smile. “I've left Kuya Raksan's care. I chose to help the settlers rebuild, to start a life beyond the one Cebu City offered northerners. My tatay and kuyas all believe that to beat the Cebuanos, one must retain the power of the volcanoes. It is why the Kalibutan chases eruptions so doggedly across the north. One day, they will amass the power they want. Perhaps they might even regain their rightful place as monarchs.”

“But you don't believe this?”

The New Manila princess shrugged. “I think they forget how many people there are still trying to make ends meet. Not everyone lives in cities and airships. The Legazpi settlers have taught me that.” Mixa removed her hands from the chair and sat. “They're back on the Hills now, and I've already said my goodbyes. So you can collect your fee any which way you want.”

Caliso raised an eyebrow. Mixa must have known what she'd planned to do all along. “Did Dato tell you?”

“No,” Mixa said. “But it was easy enough to guess. Everyone knows how much it costs to harbor northern royalty. It would be stupid not to hand me over. That was your proposal, wasn't it?”

It had seemed so long since Caliso's last good laugh. The sound had been hoarse, a result from the poison that had just been recently purged out of her system. But she laughed, much to Mixa's consternation. When she finally stopped, she wiped her tears with her thin covering.

“I'm so glad you find this amusing,” Mixa said drily.

“I do,” Caliso said. She smiled at the woman. “I'm here to offer you a job.”

The sentence seemed to jar Mixa, to the point where she almost fell over backward on the chair. She stopped herself by touching the bedside table, and stared. “But I—you're not—what?”