PoraBora

Chapter Forty-Seven

The jellyfish covered the sea, and under the clear, twinkling sky, they made enough light Pe could make out the faces of every warrior who looked over the edge. Nobody said anything about it. Noikoa had the tiller, and they'd cut the motors, drifting on a light wind. It was a hard pick deciding which was more colorful, the sea or the sky, but Pe gave the edge to the sea. The sky remained black, despite the stars brushing across it, but the sea was lit blue, and the depth of light and color went as far down as she could see.

But it was all forgotten when Pe saw another fleet on the horizon.

She quickly pointed them out. It was Makaia.

Noikoa watched them. "It seems they weren't fooled either."

"What do you mean?" Pe asked.

"Pepu'i is trying to hide Keasau. But the hiding place is hard to miss, isn't it?"

Pe supposed so. "Where's the oil?"

"Perhaps Keasau has put his shell back together," said Noikoa. "It's no surprise. It has taken us long enough. Would you like to take a look?"

Pe took the monoscope from the man and pointed it directly at Makaia's fleet. They were distant enough that she couldn't count the ships, or the people, not really, but they were slowly converging.

"Load the cannons," Noikoa said calmly, and Pe realized everyone was quiet so that they could hear his commands. The warriors did as told, and Pe noticed the other ships in the fleet were readying in the same way.

"Finally," she said.

"Indeed," said Noikoa. "Keep an eye on the waters. Keasau is in there somewhere, and he won't be happy we've kept up with him. Be wary."

Warriors searched from the eel's frame, and Pe doubted being wary meant balancing fourteen feet above the deck.

"My boat's not going to be trashed in this fight, is it?" she asked.

"Your boat will be fine," said Noikoa. "We'll leave it with the other storage ships, outside the range of conflict."

"Thanks," said Pe. She had just gotten ahold of the tools Iumili had left for her, hanging off the ship. Taking a swim had been the best idea. But the boards Iumili had left with them were hardly big enough to replace her steering board. Still, the porthole that let them down had suggested where she might find better.

But right now, Makaia was a league away. She hoped once they had captured him, even Ikaika would have no excuse not to repair Pe's ship, or let her do it herself. But knowing the salting bottomfeeder, he'd have another one. And another, until Pe really did strangle him and take her chances with the warriors.

She expected they would capture Makaia. It seemed like the sort of thing chiefs did, capturing other chiefs instead of killing them. Assuming they won.

Pe wasn't sure why, but she thought Noikoa would. Even if Makaia had defeated the koa, and the whale shark, and the bat ray and barracuda. But Chief Noikoa seemed absolutely ambivalent to the idea of a battle. Perfectly calm. Practically sedate. Indeed, he seemed much more concerned about the god's threat than Makaia's.

"Where's your commander?" Pe asked Noikoa, because she realized the man hadn't antagonized her in the last few hours. Wasted chance, she thought. The tools were currently hidden in her bedding, which, okay, stupid, because that was the first place anybody would look for something missing. But it was the only place she had when she couldn't sneak a thing onto the manta with Ikaika always watching.

"Taking a nap, I believe," said the chief. "Even Ikaika deserves a break once in a while."

"Shouldn't you wake him up?"