Tirra and Dagger were tiring. They had managed to hold
off the shoal for quite a while, the two of them standing back to back, defending
the Koi between them. But Tirra, though rejuvenated by the sight of Dagger,
was still tiring fast, and Dagger, worrying for her, was starting to falter.
The shoal could sense this and was still pressing their attack home. What could
they do?
The sudden plops of rain, rapidly increasing
in frequency and volume above their heads solved the problem.
“Squall’s a-comin’, lads!” a Jetsam cried. “Down
te th’ bottom!”
The Jetsams turned and sped down into the dark
depths of the sea. Apparently they hadn’t been serious about their attack on
the three.
As they departed, Dagger grabbed Tirra’s fin.
“Quickly, Princess. We must find shelter before
the storm hits…”
Tirra slumped, coughing slightly, her face pale.
She was exhausted. Dagger stared at her, horrified. Cowrie gasped suddenly.
“Look out!”
An enormous wave lifted them up, threw them clear
of the water. Falling through the air, Dagger grabbed at Cowrie’s fin, pulling
both her and Tirra tightly to him.
“Stick together!” he bellowed above the wind
and the rain. “ We can’t be separated in this!”
Cowrie, too afraid to do anything but obey, clung
tightly to both Flotsam and Jetsam as the storm swept them away yet again. The
wind and the waved tossed them and flung them, over and over, but the three
stayed as one, wrapped in a tight ball.
Tirra opened her eyes momentarily as they were
lifted for the umpteenth time. “Dagger…”
He looked to her, wordlessly, his eyes inquiring.
“I’m sorry…”
He smiled, forgivingly, letting her know it would
be all right; everything would be all right as long as she was not hurt. Now
they were united again, they could brave this storm together…
He closed his eyes tightly as another wave washed
over them…
***
Seth sat in his cabin, not moving, staring blankly at the ceiling. He didn’t
feel like eating, or sleeping, or doing anything in particular. Don had been
kind, and continued to tell him every minute that he could that he was sure
Jake would return, but a day had already passed since his Acara’s fateful tumble
off the prow, and a new day would dawn in a matter of hours. The boy groaned
loudly, feeling worry and guilt nag and gnaw at him. It felt like they were
eating him alive.
If only he’d paid more attention to Jake when
he had had him. It was strange how all his life his thoughts had been on the
owning of only one pet, the fabulous Harquin, but now even when he tried to
distract himself with thoughts of her, her wild, free elegance and beauty, the
vision of her always paled and died beside the memory of Jake. Jake, his sea-coloured
Acara, the pet who had stayed loyal and true to him all his life…the pet he
had taken for granted. Perhaps he had always known that Jake loved him and would
follow him to the ends of Neopia and back before he let any harm befall him.
The consciousness of that knowledge seemed to have come too late.
The great booming crash of thunder resounded
from outside just as his window was lit up by a great flash of lightning. The
gentle motion of the waves, he realized, had turned into more aggressive rocking.
He heard Don’s voice from the deck calling for all hands, and rose to his feet,
charging out to join the others.
The storm was escalating in violence as they
furled the sails and prepared to wait out the storm. There was no port or shelter
anywhere nearby that was known to man or Neopet, they had no choice but to try
and keep the ship on course for as long as the storm lasted. All Seth could
think of as the sea raged around them and salt torrents drenched him was that
there could be no way Jake could make it through this storm, Sea Acara or not.
A piercing cry of excitement from the captain’s
cabin seemed to dissipate the force of the storm for an instant. In another
the captain billowed out of his cabin with all speed, a telescope clutched tightly
in his meaty hand.
“I’ve seen her!” he roared above the howl of
the gale. “Harquin is there! She’s out there!”
Feeling interest grip him despite himself, Seth
hurried after the man as he rushed to the stern.
“There she is!”
Sure enough, through the sheets of pouring rain,
Seth saw, in one bright flash of lightning, the faint shape of a horned Peophin
in the waves below, as she leapt out of the frenzied ocean. She leapt again,
and again, seemingly oblivious to the vessel beside her, and Seth could see
in every line of her body her own passionate joy in her wildness, in being one
with the wind and the waves… her wind and waves. Her sea. She was a part of
the storm, and enjoying every second.
He was interrupted from his odd reverie by a
something rough and scratchy being shoved at him. He turned towards the source
of it.
“Here, boy,” the Captain was saying as he pushed
the thick rope, harder this time, into Seth’s wet hands. “Capture her! Rope
her! We’ll never get a better chance!”
Obligingly, Seth took the rope, already fastened
into a noose, and leaned over the stern railing, preparing to throw it over
the Peophin’s head as she leapt once again. But for an instant he raised his
eyes and looked out at the tossing, dark water, and then his heart seemed to
stop. There, in the midst of the waves, on the crest of that high one that was
rising now… the shape of an Acara…
Seth gave one wordless, heartrending cry and
dove over the railing, into the sea below.
Once in the water, he was blind to all else.
He could not know that he had been so close to the Peophin he had desperately
desired to own for so long. His only thought was that Jake was out there, and
somehow, some way, he would get to him. He scrabbled at the furious sea, his
limbs beating at the merciless water all around him. It didn’t matter how long
or how much effort it took, nothing could stand between him and his pet. He
would reach Jake or die in the attempt...
***
Jake, letting loose yet another wild burst of laughter at the delight storm
riding brought him as he crested another wave, heard a high, far-off shout ring
out above the noises of the tempest.
He turned his face towards the sound and saw
the dark, sleek silhouette of the ship, and the small figure pitching headlong
off it. Something squeezed him inside, and some of the wildness seemed to go
out of him at the sight of his owner. That cry had been a call to his pet, a
plea for forgiveness and declaration of loyalty all at once. Jake lifted his
voice, answering in an uncharacteristic bellow, and then bounded through the
rolling waves almost like a Peophin himself, his desperation giving him undreamt
of speed. Seth, despite himself, had never been a strong swimmer.
Jake dived with a wave as it collapsed, probing
the darkness below the surface with a feeling of hopelessness. To have come
so close to his master only to lose him again seemed too much to bear. He came
up again, looking all around. Above and below, above and below. Up, down, up,
down… he couldn’t be lost, he couldn’t…
As he surfaced yet again, he saw the boy’s form
being tossed like a rag doll on the fury of the waters, some distance away.
Calling upon all the reserves of his strength, the Acara surged forwards. He
collided with Seth as the boy fell from a wave crest and hung on tightly to
him. He Warf-paddled, keeping the unconscious boy’s head above water while the
maelstrom shrieked and screamed all about them. Jake barely noticed his own
enervation as he grappled with the squall, now no longer his friend, defying
it as it tried to take his human from his grasp. Nothing would ever come between
them again…
Suddenly, he was slammed violently against a
surface that was both soft and hard at the same time. Probing with his paws,
he realized with growing wonder that it was wet sand, hard-packed and solid.
With relief and sobbing breaths Jake snatched Seth’s shirt in his jaws and began
to pull him up onto a small island beach. There he sat, panting from fatigue
and completely enervated.
But Seth wasn’t moving.
Jake, despite his weariness, sat beside his owner
and began softly to lick his master's face, trying desperately to revive him.
And as he worked the storm clouds gradually
melted and dispersed into nothing, the waves shrank and grew tame again, the
wind died down to a whispering murmur, and the moon reappeared in a star-sequined
sky. But Jake never noticed. All he cared about was that his human was back
with him again. If only he would wake…
To be continued...
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