Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(32) Sar: Sea-Goddess Tails

If there was an attack planned for tonight, it's properly stalled now. The Alliance Kels argue for a while, then wait for the return of their messengers. Time passes. Night properly falls. At least one of those messengers should have arrived already. The Alliance leaders glance at one another. They wait again, then gather to confer. One sends off another messenger.

I see the subtle motion on Alaga's lower slopes before they do.

There are Kels creeping up the coral-studded sides of our besieged atoll. They're too covert for me to make out anything about them, but the very fact that they're so camouflaged makes Karu the most likely possibility. The Alliance Kels, meanwhile, haven't spotted them. Open-water Kels aren't accustomed to looking down. Least of all when they're still distracted by whatever's going with their messengers.

Vibi's Karu begin to rearrange themselves again. One group makes a strategic feint through a gap in the reef-wall. It has the desired effect. Alliance Kels' attention snaps back to our fortress. More orders. More gathering. It's a distraction, I can already tell. Each time the Alliance Kels move closer to the reef-wall, the Kels creeping up the island's sides below them move forward, too. Everyone is waiting for something.

The signal ripples through the Karu like a nearly silent wave. In a moment, everyone is moving to the reef-top, weapons ready and mouths and fingers playing out a silent countdown. With astonishing coordination, it ends, and Karu all over Alaga surge up over the reef. The Alliance responds appropriately, lunging upward in the water, away from the rocks where they're most at a disadvantage. Less than ten heartbeats later, the whole island surface moves.

Hundreds—hundreds—of Karu-Kels surge up off Alaga's sides, shedding shields of coral and seaweed. They trap the Alliance Kels against the surface in an instant. In any other situation, the Saru- and Sami-Kels would be well positioned here, but they're outnumbered at least five to one. Screams begin to tear apart the water as a second bloodbath begins. Then more Alliance Kels arrive. A whole wave of them, apparently fleeing another seamount. They assess the situation and fling themselves into the fray.

The battle's tide is turning. Our new allies drop back to the rocks and corals, but they're exposed on the island's slopes, and they've now lost the element of surprise. The Alliance begins to turn on them.

"Turn slowly," says a cold Karu voice behind me.

I want to sink all the way down through the island.

I recognize the tails of those new Karu-Kels now. They're here all the way from the North Faction on the island chain's near side. Vibi's aligned her people with one side of the war. It's not our side. Neither is. Both want my people either dead or allied.

I obey the order, heart somehow both in my throat and beating somewhere among the corals beneath me. Me, Innis, and El are ringed by poison daggers. Behind their wielders is Vibi, wearing the smuggest of smiles.

"Seize him," she says.

Innis launches up the slope towards me, but it's El who's grabbed. Vibi nods towards me and Innis, who's now using himself as a living shield. "Follow if you know what's good for you. The rest of you, bring him over the reef."

Nearby Karu move closer, holding poison daggers within easy stabbing reach. One jerks his weapon at us. Innis grips my arm and tugs me after him. We're escorted over the reef first, onto the far more dangerous slope outside. Any wrong move here, and the Karu can easily just retract their guard. Even I can't escape the Alliance at such close proximity.

El is brought over the reef-top after us, gripped by at least four pairs of hands. Through the din of battle, he meets my eye. Gives a sad, devastated smile. Then he glances downward—just a flick of his eyes, too subtle for Karu's weak night vision, directing my attention to his hands. His fingers twitch. It's Sami-sign, the one language here that only the two of us can understand.