✔THE STING (onc-19)

10. 'Caught in ballet.'

"All halt!" A commander held his fist up to signal the Orcan comrades to stop wading. Zaren fumbled and bumped into the boy in front of him, disrupting the perfect arrangement of the troop.

"Oops! Sorry." Zaren flashed a smile to pacify the staring daggers coming from other soldiers' eyes.

"You, third row. Come here." The major Orcan pointed his index at him.

Zaren gulped, a wave of fear washed over his face. "Yes sir." He obeyed, as he swam crisscrossing the rows only to stagger and pause in front of the officer.

"Show me what you got." The lieutenant orca-maid announced her arrival by addressing Zaren.

The major in charge gave her some space and bowed a little in respect. Zaren's eyes swayed aimlessly as he replayed his whole life inside his brain, 'what am I good at?
I can wield the sword, or a dagger perhaps? Or sail?'

"It's okay. I am proud of you for your honesty. That's what sets us apart. We are strong, true to the bone and honest to the sea goddess's spirit. Now, you just have to start from scratch, that's all the challenge is."
The lieutenant addressed not only Zaren, but also to other soldiers, who stood as stiff as a stick with unblinking eyes.

"Yes ma'am." Zaren stiffened his back, mimicking others' determination.

"Here." The major handed him a long spear, its tip was made of sharp and serrated bone. Its body was intricately carved using a narwhal's tusk. It felt heavy on Zaren's inexperienced hands.
"Let's go for a whale hunt."

"Major, I feel deeply responsible for this lad. Our future depends on him, so I will be personally monitoring his progress, I expect some co operation." The orca-maid nodded to the major, while her hands were crossed behind her back, "let's go."

Soldiers whispered and hushed amongst themselves in confusion, as they followed the lead. Zaren's hands gripped the spear with a new found confidence, but his heart was steadily banging his chest with a repetitive question, 'am I ready for this?'

Many troops of twenty to thirty each followed the lieutenant's lead, they crossed the red kelp forest and ventured into the city outskirts. They were made to hide and watch cautiously.

"Watch and learn," the lieutenant said to Zar hiding behind a slippery and mossy rock, "see for any sign of fishes. We need to herd them. That's the first part."

Soon, a school of sardines arrived. They synchronously darted back and forth, putting a show of underwater ballet, reflecting the sunlight as if they were broken pieces of mirror glued together. The lieutenant signalled her fingers towards the swarming school.

They chased the bait-ball, all the way across the end of the valley. A huge hump back whale which sensed the bait ball, arrived to the site of trap they had already well planned. As soon as it started to feed, three Orcan troopers locked the whale down on either side.

The whale kept its endurance to escape the attack. The Orcans took turns, as the out runners were replaced by the other soldiers on relay. Zaren was the last one of them; being the last hunter meant being important, since it's​ the last person's duty to convince the whale to surrender.

He plunged and prodded his spear to the whale's body as it tried to get rid of them by swimming faster, splashing giant waves of water and finally by a tail slap. But Zaren closely escaped the attack with the help of lieutenant, as she rescued him at the very last second. "The last one's not supposed to go near the tail, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Zaren screamed at the top of his lungs. He continued spiralling along the whale's body, poking it carefully at several places to force its submission.