Zeke’s last day was interrupted in the early morning by the arrival of three strangers to Nohu Mangrove. Raf said they were selkies. They looked like naked humans carrying seal-skin blankets.
They spoke to Haven first.
Zeke and Raf watched from a distance, hiding in the waves as beach debris. Whatever the strangers said, it caused quite an uproar. The kush were crying. The merfolk held one another. The wind blew into a storm. Leaves twisted like razors in the wind.
Then every head turned to look directly at Zeke. Some kush pointed.
The three selkies walked forward solemnly.
Zeke pissed himself a little. Then he stood up and walked out of the shallows. There was no point hiding any longer. Raf followed him, splashing loudly.
They all met between palm trees with the ocean on their side.
The selkies were each blushingly good-looking. The two young women were like night and day; one with hair the color of a red sunrise, the other selkie was black as a moonless night. The man was brown with long braids. They each carried the pelt of a seal, which swayed in the wind, barely covering their defined bodies and ample sexes.
Zeke concentrated on serious things and tried not to look. “Hi,” he said, looking anywhere but down.
“Hi,” the pale, red-haired selkie spoke first. “My name is Kayla. This is Maeve, and Plenty. Your mother sent us with a message for you.”
“Hi,” he said again. “I’m Zeke. This is my friend Raf. What’s the message?”
Maeve spoke in a dire, velvety voice, “One of Adam’s familiars is flying this way. She expects it to arrive tomorrow around midday. We’ve come to carry you out of here.”
“What? I can’t leave. I just got back! No. No, I can stop the familiar before it gets near the grove. I just need my sword.”
Plenty with the long braids said, “Zeke, your mother believes this island will be destroyed tomorrow night. Adam will come to do it personally.”
“But what about the people here? The full moon is tonight. Dozens of cthulians will be here.”
The selkies answered with mournful glances.
“No! No, that is not an answer. No.”
Kayla said threateningly, “You’re coming with us, Zeke.”
“Try and make me,” he said softly. Raf stepped forward on giant crab legs that stabbed the sand. The wind howled and even some of the kush were barking.
Maeve shouted, “Fine! You know the doom is coming so maybe you can avoid it. We cannot make you leave. But we will not stay with you. Good luck.”
With that, the three selkies walked into the ocean, threw the seal skins over their heads, and turned into seals. They dove underwater and were gone.
Zeke spent the rest of the day meditating on the Ivory Blade. He needed to want the damn thing, but he didn’t want it. The Dread Sword, he named it years ago. It’s presence tormented him, and he was glad to be rid of it. Except he needed it if he was going to protect his grove.
His grove. What a funny notion. Suppose his friendship with Raf was growing on him. Even the kush seemed to be warming up to him. They were playing a game with a clam shell nearby. They defended Zeke when the selkies threatened him. Haven blew up a storm.
He didn’t want them to die.
Even Toa. Zeke was angry and would never trust Toa again, but he still cared for him. And Zeke owed him one.
He was too distracted. Zeke sighed in frustration and stood up. He needed something to clear his head, so he went for a walk along the beach. Raf stayed behind at Zeke’s request. He wanted a moment alone.
Of course, the kush followed him. They were less quiet than before, chirping and bounding and wrestling with one another. They were annoying at first, but they reminded Zeke a little of Dook, and that gave him an idea.
He went inland to grab twelve sticks and an intact coconut. Then he went back to the beach and stuck the sticks into the sand in a triangle pattern. Zeke walked five paces and drew a line. Behind the line, he built a ramp for the coconut.
The ever-curious kush were creeping closer to watch whatever Zeke was doing.
When the game was ready, Zeke dropped the coconut from the highest point of the ramp, and watched it roll down toward the upright sticks. The nut only toppled three sticks, so Zeke made a big show of disappointment and then collected the three sticks. Then he demolished the ramp and built it again. And again, he dropped the coconut to roll down, but this time, it knocked down six sticks.
Zeke danced with exaggerated victory, ran around and thanked the crowd of kush for watching such a spectacular sporting event; the way Zeke’s papa used to pretend when they played this game back home.
Most of the kush were nonplussed, but a few got into it, bouncing for joy and rushing the field to demolish the ramp and build a new one.
Zeke played several rounds with the kush, teaching them made up rules; when suddenly, all the kush stopped and turned to face the ocean. Zeke followed their gaze and noticed a seal bouncing ashore. Surely, this was one of the selkies from earlier, but where were the other two?
Zeke ran to meet the selkie, expecting more bad news.
“Greeting again,” the selkie lifted her skin, and the beautiful, naked, red-haired woman who threatened him earlier stepped out. She covered herself with seal skin but not before showing Zeke an eyefull.
He was struck stupid. “Uh, hi. Again. Hi. Um. What are you… or, um, why are you here?”
Kayla the selkie gave a vicious smile. She was enjoying his discomfort. “You left us little choice. Maeve and Plenty have gone back to report your foolishness to your mother. I stayed behind to bear witness to it. If we survive, I’ll owe you an apology. If we don’t, well, I’ll just say it now: I told you so.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Do you have anything useful to add or just rude words? Because you can ‘bear witness’ from farther away.”
Zeke turned to walk away, but the selkie pouted, “Oh, don’t be like that. I come bearing gifts. Look!” Kayla pointed to the sky but Zeke saw nothing but clouds.
“Look at what? There’s nothing there,” he said.
“Look closer!” she said, still pointing. “See the shimmer? Those are hoodwinks. They’re nearly invisible, but they shimmer in the light. Look!”
It took a minute but Zeke did see something. Kayla held out her arm, and several translucent birds flew down to perch on her hand and shoulder. Zeke stepped closer to get a better look. Even up close, he could barely see them. He saw tiny little organs pumping blood into tiny veins. Zeke could see through them almost entirely.
“Your mama thought these might be helpful. I’m not so sure. Maeve, Plenty, and I helped them make the journey. They’re not long-distance fliers. I don’t know think they can fell a familiar before the familiar gets too close.”
Hoodwinks were an idea.
“But with the Ivory Blade, the instant the familiar appears on the horizon, I can cleave it in two,” Zeke said. “The hoodwinks won’t be necessary.”
Kayla’s eyebrows furrowed suspiciously. “You have the Ivory Blade?”
Zeke blushed. “Not… exactly. But Raf thinks I can summon it from anywhere. I should be meditating, not talking to you!” Zeke stormed off and felt embarrassed.
Kayla followed him at a distance. When Zeke returned to his shelter to meditate with Raf, Kayla was swimming in seal form just off the beach.
Zeke tried to ignore her; like he was trying to ignore Toa, who also swam nearby but kept a greater distance. The shores were getting crowded. Not the least due to the massive influx of cthulian visitors attending the full moon’s molting ceremony. They crawled over one another and jostled for space, making an awful ruckus. Zeke tried to ignore them, too.
It took hours to block everything out.
Zeke wanted to save Haven. He wanted to save the kush. He wanted to save Raf and their people. He wanted to save the merfolk. And he wanted that rude selkie Kayla to eat her words. He wanted the Ivory Blade to make it possible.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He reached out his hand and felt his fingers enclose a familiar sadness. Zeke took a sharp intake. He did it. He opened his eyes to behold the Ivory Blade in his hand. It was heavy but Zeke carried the weight like a friend from childhood. Shades of sea green dusted the winged serpent engraving. Familiar waves of grief and hopelessness hit him like a relentless bad idea. He tested the edge with his thumb, but it was dull. He needed a whetstone.
Raf was again helpful in finding a large and porous stone to suit Zeke’s need, and then carried it in their enormous pincer claw to the shore so it would get wet.
Zeke grabbed a handful of moss to wash off the ocean detritus that stained the Ivory Blade. When it was cleaner, Zeke got to sharpening the weapon.
Kayla swam by in seal form, took a seat, and then disrobed, seal skin draped over her shoulders. Her arms and legs were crossed. “Have you considered the possibility that this is a bad idea?”
Zeke sighed. “Say what you want to say and then shove off.”
“Bird’s eyes are better than yours. If you see a familiar in the sky, it has already seen you. It will see the Ivory Blade before you kill it. Do you think Adam might come, not to exterminate a little island of misfits, but to retrieve the very thing that you are sharpening out in the open evening sunlight?”
Zeke almost panicked. She was right! How could he have been so stupid?! So reckless?! He had to put it back. He had to hide it. Zeke ran back to his shelter and buried the Ivory Blade under layers of moss and dirt. Then he sat down to breathe.
What was he going to do? The Ivory Blade was his big play, but he couldn’t use it. The hoodwinks were an idea, but they couldn’t fly out far enough. Maybe the merfolk could carry them out? But then the familiar would see the merfolk.
What if Zeke moved the hoodwinks most of the way? Could he even do it? How would he get them back?
But it was an idea.
Zeke spent most of the night practicing. When he was sure he could do it, he waved down both Kayla and Toa. Raf followed him everywhere. And Zeke told them all his plan. There was some discussion and Kayla made corrections, but everyone agreed.
That night, he barely got sleep. There were nerves, yes, but also hundreds of giant crab-squid-people were really crowding the shores, and they made a racket. Some of the cthulians had a snapping claw, which they used to snap loudly at all hours, day or night. Zeke told himself they would all be gone after tomorrow night, but was partly grateful to be kept awake.
Zeke was afraid when he opened the door, maybe it stayed open.
Lilith was out there, waiting for Zeke’s answer. What would he say to her?
But eventually, he slept.
Lilith scooped him up and dropped him in a chair in her obsidian room. Zeke took a second to collect his thoughts and look around. Blue and purple lit candles. Carved armies of cainkin decorated the dark stone walls. Lilith was leaning on a desk in the center of the room.
“Have you considered my offer?” she asked as if curious what was for dinner.
Zeke said, “To be honest, I’ve been worrying about other things. I’m very busy.”
“What could be more pressing than this?” she casually inquired.
“Tomorrow night, Adam will attack this grove and kill everyone, including me, unless I can stop his familiar from seeing the grove. So I’ve been concentrating on that immediate threat. If I’m still alive tomorrow night, I will have an answer for you.”
Lilith’s face twitched at the mention of Adam, but then smiled. “Very well.”
Then she was gone, and Zeke fell again into his own dreams.
Raf shook Zeke awake before sunrise on the big day.
The grove was a cacophony of deafening crunches as cthulians ate their discarded shells. Some were still twitching underwater, recovering from last night’s endeavor. Others had finished and left already, leaving bits of shell for others to make a snack. The entire event had been disgusting, terrifying, and loud. But Zeke supposed it was also a spectacle.
He was fascinated to see the variety within cthulian people. They came in every size and vibrant colors. Most were smaller than Raf, but some were bigger. Some had different claws than Raf’s giant pincer. Some had a long spear-like claw. Others had round claws that Zeke didn’t understand. The snapping-claw cthulians were Zeke’s least favorite.
But all that was merely an unpleasant distraction. It was time.
He knew when the familiar would arrive, so Zeke led his team out to intercept it.
Zeke climbed on Raf’s back and held his breath.
The mangrove trees prevented any surface swimmer from entering Haven’s shores. Everyone had to swim through an underwater opening in the mangrove roots. The kush had been tending and guiding the mangrove forest entrance for centuries. It was beautiful, an open doorway of green and endless blue.
Zeke held on to Raf’s back carapace. Their four powerful tentacles and system of internal jets made them a fast ride, if not a comfortable one. When he needed air, he’d raise his fist. Raf would pause and Toa would rush in to breathe fresh air into Zeke’s lungs.
Kayla reasoned the familiar would fly from the direction of Garden Capital, so she led the way. She was in seal form, and she stayed on the surface so the hoodwinks could land on her tummy when they got tired.
A seal at sea wouldn’t attract attention the way a human, cthulian, and merman at sea would. So they stayed under water and out of sight, while Kayla was their scout.
It was slow but steady going, and after a long time, Kayla swam down and gave the signal.
Which caused Raf to slowly lift Zeke so his head broke the surface, hiding behind Kayla’s fat, fuzzy belly. She had assured Zeke the hoodwinks understood their instructions, and were indeed perched on Kayla’s tumtum, waiting to be deployed.
Zeke opened his hand and felt the tiny sharp claws of a hoodwink jump into his palm. He looked out into the distant sky and saw nothing. No, there was a speck, so far away he could see no detail at all. He closed his eyes and found his meditative state. He opened them again and blew the hoodwink away, and his hand felt instantly lighter.
Zeke deployed all six hoodwinks in rapid fashion and then submerged again. Toa continued supplying him oxygen, and Kayla continued out to sea. And until Kayla gave the next signal, they all waited anxiously.
They were waiting for the hoodwinks to blind the familiar. Since they were nearly invisible, and the familiar was so far away, Zeke could only guess and hope they didn’t arrive too far off their target.
It took several minutes for the hoodwinks to reorganize themselves and make their attack. Two hoodwinks coordinated their dive to blind the familiar instantly, scratching his eyes out. The other four attacked its neck, and the avian instrument of doom fell to the ocean like a speck of dirt on the horizon.
Kayla dove to give the signal, and everyone surfaced. The sandbar was so far behind them, Zeke couldn’t see it on the horizon. He hoped they had gone far enough. Raf, Kayla, and Toa hurried forward to rescue the conquering hoodwinks, saviors of Haven.
After crossing the distance, all six hoodwinks landed to perch on Toa’s hair, or Zeke’s shoulders, or Kayla’s belly. Toa had speared a fish and was carving it into little bites for the exhausted hoodwinks.
The plan worked. And no one died. Except the familiar. Even ocean predators left them unbothered. They rested a bit before swimming back to Nohu Mangrove, and they returned to a celebration.
Haven had heard every word of Zeke’s plan last night and knew their return meant success. The violet and green petals danced in the spinning breeze. The kush were singing! They were singing in harmony and joy the most beautiful sound Zeke had ever heard.
A giant cthulian, fully five times Raf’s size and covered in vibrant colors, stood motionless to the side.
Zeke jumped off Raf’s back and walked on wobbly legs to greet Haven.
“We owe you our lives.” Haven’s voice was deep and whistling. “We are eternally grateful to you. Please accept our deepest apologies for our earlier lack of hospitality. But we fear you have only stalled Adam. The threat remains. He will send another familiar, and another, and even if you could stop them all, he would only grow more suspicious. We have deliberated and difficult decisions have been made. The mer will withdraw to the glowing caves. The cthulians will vacate Nohu Mangrove for one year. The kush have divided in two. The youngest kush will go with you to Morgan’s coinnigh. With luck, the next time Adam’s familiar flies over us, we will appear as a simple sandbar with simple creatures. If we’re not so lucky, we wish to minimize the losses. We would ask the hoodwinks to remain, so no familiar ever looks too closely.”
Kayla answered, “Now, hold on a minute! The hoodwinks agree to stay. They like your fruits and berries. But Morgan’s coinnigh is crowded enough as it is, and this isn’t a good time for new tenants.”
“Then Rowan can find them a suitable home. Tell her she can consider the conservation of the kush people her penance for her role in Crescent’s destruction. If Rowan agrees, she will be welcome on our shores again. Ready yourselves and depart at once.”
Zeke felt all the air leave his body. He was scared to travel again, but excited to see Rowan again, and to meet Morgan at last!
So Zeke ran back to his shelter to recover the Ivory Blade. Zeke could summon the sword from anywhere but leaving it behind in a place Adam was threatening was too dangerous. Carrying it across the open ocean was a tremendous risk he didn’t wish to repeat, but he couldn’t leave it behind, and the caves weren’t safe anymore. So Zeke wrapped it in banana leaves and tied it with twine Raf had taught him to make.
Then Zeke ran back to his friends on the beach.
Toa was holding an ornate water bag tied to a new belt. He said, “This is a gift from my mother. She hopes it brings you joy and utility.” The bag was polished to shine and decorated with dolphins, merfolk, and whales. Inside was a hearty white soup, which was tangy yet delicious. “I know you don’t trust me, and maybe you never will. I am so sorry I hurt you. If you ever need my help again, you know where to find me.”
Zeke hadn’t forgiven Toa, but he wasn’t angry anymore. Zeke accepted the thoughtful gift and said, “Thank you, Toa. I will remember your promise.”
Toa smiled sadly and then slithered off to be with his people.
Kayla said, “Are we ready? Yes? Let’s go.”
But Raf said, “Wait. The Deep One would like an audience with you, Zeke.”
The giant cthulian stepped forward on two crab legs as long and thick as a tree. The ground shook when their sharp feet stabbed the dirt and sand. The giant stopped in front of Zeke and made chittering noises.
Raf translated, “Her name means Priestess. She is the voice of the One in the Deep. The One expresses gratitude to you, Ikon Zeke. He has watched you with great interest and satisfaction, and would like to formally offer you symbiosis with the Deep One.”
Zeke was uncomfortable and a little scared. He looked to Kayla for guidance, but she was motionless with fear. “What would that mean, exactly?”
Priestess chittered a response and Raf translated, “The Deep One grants you your choice of symbiote, but observes you have a kinship with ours, so the One offers us to you. You have only to swim underwater and put the symbiote to your ear, and we will be connected forever.”
“What would happen to you?”
“Tzik-Enu’s body would die, but her mind would live on in us.”
Zeke considered his next words carely. “Please tell the Deep One that, much as I appreciate the generous offer, I don’t want anyone to die. You’re my friend, and I like you the way you are.”
Raf translated her response. “The One accepts your decision but notes the invitation is open. Should you change your mind, we are compelled to offer ourselves to you. And should we fall, our head is the One’s gift to you.”
“Cool. Got it. Was there anything else or should we go?”
“Priestess gives us leave.”
“Great! Thank you so much. Everybody. Let’s move out!”