Heyna's Tale - Chapter Seven

The Kelpie

The party lasted two weeks. Unfortunately, Sronban was too weak to do more than smile and wave most of that time, but the Fennec were all about partying, apparently. So, party they did. Dancing, singing, and above all feasting. Someone had located a svella grove and Heyna ate fresh bark until she was sick.

When she was completely healed, Tooly arranged a private party for Sronban at Keeva’s house with just a few close friends. Apparently, “private,” is not a concept that the Fennec understand because half the town appeared and turned it into a block party.

The crowd toasted Sronban over and over with a traditional intoxicant appropriately called, “smash.” Heyna, turned her nose up at the foul smelling drink, but she was the only one. Soon the tipsy crowd was calling for Heyna to paint.

“Paint what?” Heyna asked.

“Anything! Paint anything!”

Paints and a canvas were produced. Heyna thought a moment and then sketched Sronban in quick strokes of the brush in contra colors. The crowd went wild, dancing and hooting. Another canvas was produced. This time Heyna did Tooly in complimentary colors. Again, the crowd cheered. Yet another canvas was produced, but Heyna ceremoniously passed the brush to Tooly, who demurred. The audience wasn’t having it. The gauntlet had been thrown. The crowd urged him on until Tooly took it up.

He painted the canvas black, and the audience laughed, but were not satisfied. Tooly took a long drink of smash, and stood back staring at the black canvas. When he took up the brush again it was full of white paint. With the strong, bold strokes of a master, he drew Heyna, Sronban, and himself. The effect produced was a grayscale portrait of the three of them. Then Tooly dipped the brush one more time in another color, and pressed it to Sronban’s breast producing a bright crimson triangle there to complete the portrait.

The crowd stared at the portrait for a long time, then cheered louder than before. They took Tooly and Sronban on their shoulders and paraded them up and down the street singing a song of praise. They would have included the strange Erda, but Heyna was too heavy for any combination of strong Fennec shoulders to lift. They contented themselves with including her in their praise song.

Heyna saw Sansir standing to one side speaking to some of the elders. He looked at her sternly, put down his drink and walked over to her. The crowd immediately noticed and Sansir waited for them to quiet before he spoke.

“Our traditions have kept us safe for a thousand years. We have protected this island with harsh measures as you know first hand. I wanted you dead because I was afraid. I was wrong. I stand before you today to apologize. There is more than one way to protect and serve. Please forgive me.”

Heyna was shocked. She had never heard something so straightforward from a politician. She thought of Councilor Garsh, and knew such a gesture was completely beyond him. All the petty functionaries and the mayor in Beoford, the arrogant Ryujin prince and the Dreki king, she could not imagine them doing what Sansir was doing now. Suddenly, her feelings about the old fox changed. She took him in her arms and hugged him, to his obvious chagrin.

“Yes! Yes, of course!” she shouted. “Thank you!” She turned to take in the whole crowd. “Thank you all! You are the greatest people that I have ever met. I wish that I could make my home here with you. Thank you! Thank you!” The Erda and the Fennec partied far into the night.

*

“I didn’t think this island was so big!” Heyna gasped as she struggled up the hill. It was finally time to leave the misty isle, and she, Tooly, and Sronban were walking across the island to keep a rendezvous.

“It’s really not that big,” Sronban said. “There’s more than five thousand of us. It’s sufficient, but not what you would call capacious.”

“I’m dying in this heat. Can we take a break?”

“There’s some shade just over the crest of the hill, and a little stream. Do you think you can hold on till then?”

“Sure,” Heyna said, but wasn’t really sure at all. “Sorry to be such a kit,” she said. “I’ve never really done much hiking overland like this.”

“That pancake tail no good as a fan?” Tooly quipped, but Heyna found it hard to laugh.

“Sorry,” he said.

Heyna struggled and panted her way over the rise. The little stream was cool and she wet her whole body down. She hadn’t been groomed properly since Beoford and her fur was matted and tangled. She lay and let the water wash over her. The Fennec had combs, but they weren’t the same as skilled claws and sharp teeth, or Xico’s sharp beak.

“This is nice,” she said, and closed her eyes in pleasure. Sronban was upstream taking a drink. “How much farther?”

“Well, just over the ridge, the path is all down hill. A couple of leagues, or so.”

“How much, ‘or so?’” Heyna knew that distance was a malleable thing to Fennec, who moved so lightly and easily over dry land.

“Well…”

“Never mind. Let’s get going.”

The walk down the hilly trail was not as easy for Heyna as it was obviously for Sronban and Tooly. She watched the foxes prance lightly down. Heyna found herself going down on all fours way too often for comfort. The Fennec often outpaced her, but Tooly ran back to let her catch up without the slightest sign of fatigue. Wait till he gets to Beoford, Heyna thought. Then the situation will be reversed. How well do Fennec swim, she wondered?

After hiking most of the day, they came to a wide grassy area. Heyna recognized the little sandy knolls everywhere. This was what she had seen when she was glamoured. For a moment, she was disoriented and nauseated. She sat down hard and her breath came quick and shallow.

“You okay?” Sronban asked. Heyna waived at the landscape. “Oh, right! Here, have some more water.” Sronban gave her the bottle and she drank. She felt better immediately. She got up and they followed a little track down to a wide beach with pure white sand. This was where she must have come ashore. She looked back up the gentle slope and saw a thin line of dark green vegetation off in the distance.

“That’s what I saw.” Suddenly she was angry and tears came to her eyes and Tooly looked at the ground. “I was helpless and you… your people were going to kill me.” Sronban looked down. Tears came to her eyes, too, and she smelled of shame and remorse.

“It was a terrible thing to do. I know that now. I hope that I can make it up to you.”

“I’m sorry. You already have. I saw those damned grassy knolls and it all came back to me. I’m okay now.” Sronban was still downcast. “Really. It’s okay. You saved me. I’d be dead if it wasn’t for you. Lead on.”

“If you’re sure,” Tooly said. “The Kelpie will know if there’s any problem. We have to be absolutely clear if we are going to get their help.”

Heyna took a deep breath and cleared her mind. She didn’t really know how this was going to work, although Sronban had explained it many times. The Kelpie would somehow take them thousands of leagues to the Dragon Sea.

The trip would take many days. The first leg would be the hardest. There was no land between the Fennec Isle and the continent of Tototlan. This would be all ocean for days, and certainly an ordeal for the Fennec. Heyna expected that it would be easier for her, but she’d never spent days in salt water, and didn’t know how that would affect her.

Tooly was the only one who had ever ridden with the Kelpie. He put on a brave face, but Heyna could smell that even he was worried.

They planned to skirt the coast of Tototlan stopping to eat and rest. There would be a final stop on the big island of Ueytlalli. Then over the Shadow Reef to the Ryujin domes beneath the sea to Shitachishimo.

“Let’s go.” Heyna nodded and started off towards the beach.

Each of them had a waterproof carryall of Beoford type. Keeva had copied Heyna’s and even improved a little on the design. It was now easier to grab small items without undoing all the seals.

Sronban led them down to the water’s edge. Tooly began a keening call that did not seem to carry over the sound of the surf. Sronban took up the call as well, but Heyna could barely hear it because of the waves crashing. Then she saw beams of light flash out from the breasts of the Fennec.

Almost immediately, dark shapes appeared in the water out past the plunging breakers. The shadows moved swiftly across their field of vision from left to right just beneath the surface trailing sharp wakes that wrinkled the water. Heyna’s first thought was sharks. She remembered the turtles protecting their young. How were they to protect themselves from the monsters while traveling thousands of leagues in the ocean?

The shadows stopped and three heads rose from the water. The heads were oblong and tapered from wide set eyes to narrow jaws. Their mouths were covered by a sort of a beak that was less pronounced than a Quetz beak. A sharp fin crest in three rows ran from just behind their brows down the back of their necks. The center row was larger and all were barbed with spines. They smelled faintly of cinnamon.

Their necks were long and muscled and disappeared beneath the surface of the water which hid their bodies from view. Not the Quetz, the Erda, nor even the Gryphon knew anything of these Kelpie. No tales of the sea, no myths, nothing that Heyna had ever heard in Paititi or on her travels.

They all snorted and shook their heads then focused on the Fennec, lowering their heads to get a better look. Tooly and Sronban stood still. Their jewels still shone out. Heyna thought… no felt, that these two very different races were communicating with their minds.

The Kelpie were large, very large, and Heyna had second thoughts. What? They were going to ride these incredible creatures? Over the water? What if there is a storm? What if they leave us in the drink?

Sronban turned to her and said not to worry without using her voice. Then, all their minds were open, and Heyna could hear their thoughts.

“I will relay for you,” Sronban said in her mind.

“Okay,” she said out loud.

“This is Eeeaouuu. Don’t try to say her name. You can’t. Heyna’s lips had been pursed to try to do just that. “And this is Eaeaouuuu and that is Eaaeaouuu. They have offered to help us. I have explained the task, and they have accepted in exchange for goodwill and a small service that you must provide at a later time.

“Me? What could they need from me?” Heyna asked aloud. The Kelpie in the center looked at her and she was filled with awe. She had the sense that Eeeaouuu (her name made perfect sense in her mind) that she was old. Older. Ancient. The expanse of time filled her until she was frightened. Her hackles went up, but Sronban was there stroking her back.

“Breathe, Heyna,” she said out loud. “Breathe.”

“How…”

The presence of Eeeaouuu receded slightly and a voice rang through her mind.

“We had reservations. We have known Erda in the Time Before. We are pleased that you are not like them. We are reassured. The task that we request of you is a small one. Well within your capabilities. We will talk of it at the right time.”

An image came into Heyna’s mind that she didn’t understand. She suddenly saw how she was to ride. In her mind it seemed more that the little band was to be carried, for no mammal could ride these ancient and powerful beings.

“Come,” the word formed in her mind.

The friends dove into the water.