Heyna's Tale - Chapter Seven (cont.)

The Deep Ride

They were held, but no arms embraced them. They rode, but no back lifted them. They breathed, but they were submerged in water.

Under the water, Heyna could see the Kelpie at full length. The sunlight glinted off their gray skin, which seemed to be covered in gold flecks. They were large as leviathans, but sleek, and their arms had trailing fins that acted like wings. They undulated with feathery tails, and the creatures seemed to fly in the water like giant rays.

Heyna, Tooly, and Sronban each rode in a bladder of air just behind the head of each Kelpie. The feeling was unnatural, for they were not pulled along like a sack, but seemed a part of the body. No straps or ties held Heyna in place, but she felt held by a stable force as though she was laying in a hammock. She could look out at the ocean, like she had in the Tachizame, but she did not feel the water as though she were swimming.

From her vantage, Tooly and Sronban looked like they were standing on the backs of the heads of Eaeaouuuu and Eaaeaouuu. They did not seem to cause any drag or turbulence as they moved as one through the water, unlike the Tachizame which made a terrible roiling and bubbling as it traveled. A great thrumming had accompanied the passage of the under sea boat as well. There was nothing like that here. This was actually more comfortable than the observation deck of Screeble’s boat.

“Okay! This is not bad,” Heyna said aloud. Immediately Sronban’s silent voice entered Heyna’s mind.

“We are on our way!”

“Regret not having to swim, Pancake Tail?” She laughed at Tooly.

“Just you wait. They don’t have Kelpie in Beoford. You’ll have to get your pretty tail wet,” she shot back.

A silence descended, followed by a knowing. Heyna suddenly, “knew,” that too much crosstalk made it more difficult for the Kelpie to focus. She tried to relax and enjoy the ride. They skimmed along, at great speed, just below the surface. Light beams slanted from a setting sun, and Heyna wondered how long the Kelpie could hold their breath. Another, “knowing,” filled her and all her questions were answered.

The Kelpie breathed under water like fish, but could breath out of the water as well. They had lungs and gills. They also had a power over water as the Fennec had over minds. Mind and water were linked somehow. She, “knew,” this, although she couldn’t have explained it in words. She saw how they could make water bend to their will.

But there was more. It is not just water, Heyna realized, but they controlled fluids of all types. The air itself, all around her was providing a cushion as well as something to breathe on her trip. Why don’t we know about them, she wondered? Such magnificent creatures could rule the world.

Heyna felt a sudden stab of anguish in her breast. Eeeaouuu’s presence filled her with a vision of carnage. There was no Paititi, no Merkataritza, no Beoford, just ruins, rubble, and piles of dead. All peoples. Throughout all lands. “Is this the past, or the future?” she thought.

“Always,” came the answer. “This is what it is to rule, Erda,” the words formed in her mind. “We do not wish to rule, nor do we wish to serve those who would rule. We see your heart, Heyna, that you are different, but are you different enough?”

Silence came over her and she pondered Eeeaouuu’s words for a long time. The undulations of Eeeaouuu, and the sameness of the deep ocean lulled her until her eyes drooped, and she fell asleep.

*

Heyna came awake still riding with Eeeaouuu. It was dark. It was silent. Eeeaouuu was still moving beneath her, but Heyna couldn’t see the great creature. Heyna looked about at the black and saw spots before her eyes.

The spots slowly resolved into pinpoints of luminescence here and there. She imagined that these were some type of life that made their own light down here in the deep, bioluminescence, she remembered. There was no crosstalk with Tooly or Sronban. There were also no more, “knowings,” in answer to her questions. It was a little scary. She told herself that she was safe, and she half believed it.

She still wondered what Eeeaouuu had meant, “different enough.” Different enough from what? From who? And who had killed all those people, or was that just a glamour to frighten her? If that was it, it worked. Had these beings once ruled somewhere in the world? Were the Kelpie responsible for all those dead?

Or will they be? Her reading with Jakintu had shown her glimpses of the future. Was this the same?

Heyna could feel Eeeaouuu gently undulating beneath her. She breathed deeply to calm herself. The air was fresh, but strange. Heyna sniffed a few more times and realized that the air was pure. There were no scents! It was like being blindfolded. She shivered in disgust at the terrifying feeling. As horrible as the smell of rotting fish was, this was worse.

She tried to relax, but deep breathing only reminded her that she was nose blind. She stretched and her air pocket stretched with her. She began to feel like she was trapped. She told herself that this was silly, but the feeling of claustrophobia grew and grew. She felt like she was suffocating, but the air was sufficient. She called out to Eeeaouuu in her mind.

When Eeeaouuu did not answer, she began to panic. Against all reason, she began to struggle, then to scream for help. She felt the air grip her more tightly, but this only increased her desperation. She felt a tug then suddenly they were rushing upward, towards the surface. Eeeaouuu swam upward, but that didn’t relieve Heyna’s panic. She continued to struggle until the water around them lightened. They passed into bright sunlight and in a flash, they broke the surface.

Her protective bubble burst, and Heyna splashed into the heaving ocean. She breathed in the briny air and the stink of fish. She smelled Eeeaouuu who still had a very distinctive odor of cinnamon. She gasped and gulped a little seawater. Tooly and Sronban appeared nearby, still riding in their protective bubbles.

“What’s wrong?” Sronban asked out loud, and Heyna was immediately ashamed.

“I… I panicked,” she sputtered. “I just freaked when I realized that I couldn’t smell anything. I was nose blind. Never happened to me before. Sorry. I’m sorry Eeea…” her voice trailed off trying to say the name, so she apologized hard in her mind. A feeling of forgiveness flooded her being.

“I am sorry, as well,” Eeeaouuu said in her mind. “Is this better?”

Heyna was immediately lifted into the riding position and miraculously dried. She sniffed the air. It smelled of svella bark and fresh grass, with only the barest hint of dried fish.

“Much better, thanks! I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry.”

Without another word the Kelpie dove back into the deep.

“Tototlan, here we come,” Heyna heard Tooly say in her mind. Then the silence descended again. They dove down and down and down until they were way beyond the reach of the sunlight. They moved so fast that it took a moment for Heyna’s eyes to adjust. Then she saw the bioluminescent creatures dotting the dark with faint blue light. She occupied her mind with counting the points of light, then with wondering what they were. If Eeeaouuu knew the answer, she was keeping it to herself.

The scent of svella made Heyna realize that she was hungry. She pulled a chip out of her carryall and ate. As she munched, one point of light seemed to grow. She watched it resolve into a squid. It was moving towards them, or they towards it, or both. She had never seen one in the water, only the pictures in books, and only tiny ones. She once saw one dried and salted in the market. Who would eat such marvelous creatures? She could see its strange motion and strained to get a better look.

She needn’t have. The creature grew, and grew, and grew. As it came closer, Heyna saw all the detail that she could have wished to. It was huge, dwarfing even the Kelpie. Heyna and Eeeaouuu were briefly awash in its luminescence. One giant eye considered them for a moment, then the creature swam on, ejecting jets of water to propel it forward with a great whoosh-whooshing sound. What do these mammoth creatures eat, she wondered?

Heyna watched as the giant squid receded into the dark. She heard another sound as the whooshing of the giant squid faded. It was familiar. Leviathans! They were singing out of the dark.

The first call was very low and rumbling. Heyna could feel it in her body. This was answered by many calls, high and squeaky. Then a chorus started what sounded like a call and response of high and low tones with burbles and squeaks and… was that a melody?

All around was still darkness. Heyna couldn’t tell if the leviathans were close or far away. Sound travels faster and farther in water, she knew. She was filled with the desire to see them. As she thought this, Eeeaouuu began to swim upward. Up and up, they swam until the water turned from black to dark blue to dark green to light green and Heyna could see a great distance in the clear water.

Not far away, a group of leviathans with their young fed on schools of small fish. They seemed to take turns feeding and singing. The singers circled the school, bubbles rising from their backs while the others came from below and scooped the fish up in their mouths. Heyna watched in wonder and delight. She strained to keep them in sight as long as she could. As their images faded their songs did not, and she listened for a long time as Eeeaouuu carried her on.

“Thank you! Thank you!” she said out loud. In her mind, she projected gratitude.

*

It is always warm in Tototlan, but today it was unbearable. After a week of travel with the Kelpie, the little band was fanning themselves in the shade of palm trees at the edge of the strand. The sand radiated the heat of the day stars. Both suns were high. A small brook trickled down a waterfall out of the jungle at their back. The water was warm, but fresh.

“Ouch!” Sronban said. Heyna slapped her hard on the back. “Gemstones! What was that?”

“That was just the first.” Heyna laughed.

“Ow!” Tooly growled. “Mother of Mists, that hurt.”

Heyna held up her hand. The remains of the squashed bug filled it.

“That,” she said, “is a big-eyed greenbody. A biting fly, and yes, its bite hurts. But it’s nothing compared to the Little Eye Greenbody. Those won’t kill you, but you’ll wish you were dead.”

“Those things are huge! What kind of place is this? You used to live here? How?” The party inched toward the beach, using broad leaves as sun screens, and to fan away the more persistent pests. Heyna rubbed the bug fluids on her arms.

“I used to live up there.” Heyna indicated the tree tops hundreds of feet above. “The bugs don’t usually fly that high, and if they do, the Quetz eat them.”

“Yuck,” Sronban said.

“Smash enough to cover your back and arms, and they’ll leave you alone.” She laughed. “Ow!” Heyna slapped her arm, and squashed another bug. She spread the guts on Tooly’s back. The others laughed.

“Let’s be proactive,” Sronban said. “Maybe we can glamour them.”

“Be my guest,” said Heyna. Tooly and Sronban stood in the sun, looking towards the jungle and closed their eyes. After a moment, they backed away from the jungle.

“Misty Mother! Listen to that buzzing! There are so many of them!” said Tooly. “Only the sun is keeping them back. They’d eat us alive if we went in there. No glamour will stop them”

“Too right,” Heyna said. “Almost got me once. It’s a good thing the palm trees grow right up to the sand, otherwise, we’d be on the menu and I wouldn’t have anything to eat. I’d be starving.”

“Hey, what about us, Pancake Tail?” Heyna laughed.

“I’ve got an idea.” You guys are omnivores, right?” Heyna said grinning.

Sronban and Tooly were not happy with Heyna’s idea at first, until they had caught enough of the bugs. Catching the flies was easy. They just needed to walk a little way into the jungle and pick them off when they landed. They got bit, but their bags were full in no time. They drowned the biters in the surf. Then they cooked them over an open flame between woody leaves.

“Not bad,” Tooly said. “The biters get bitten. Fair play, I say.”

“Be better boiled in the salt water,” Sronban said, crunching the head of a large greenbody. “We should prep some for the trip.”

“Not bad raw, either,” Tooly said.

“Ugh! I’m going to puke,” Heyna said. She remembered the taste from her ordeal BelowLight. “You can have them all! I’ll stick to these orellia leaves. They’re not bad toasted.” Heyna gathered some more of the ovate, woody leaves and toasted them over the fire.

They spent the day preparing their provisions. Bugs for the Fennec and bark and leaves for Heyna. Orellia bark was not Heyna’s favorite. It was a little bitter, but nourishing and filling. It would do for a substitute when her svella ran out.

At dusk the Kelpie appeared. They would have several more stops along the Tototlan continent to rest and let the Kelpie go off and do whatever they needed to do. They would have to make a stop in the vicinity of Paititi. Eeeaouuu warned them that they must not be seen there, for how could they explain their presence?

The existence of the Kelpie could not be mentioned.

To anyone.