Free Maelstrom by Anne McCaffrey Page A

came.
What are you lot waiting for? Start swimming.
    Murel and Sky flipped in the water too but they met Ke-ola head-on. “Honu!” he called aloud. “Where are you?”
    The twins heard no answer from the sea turtle but could feel the creature swimming forward. Each time he paddled, he hesitated ever so slightly, as if listening or waiting.
    And then, swift as a diving hawk, the thing that had been swimming before them suddenly turned, shot forward, and was among them.
    “Hey!” Ke-ola shouted.
    Murel thought he was the one under attack. But then her sonar told her Ke-ola was swimming close beside her, crying, “Honu!”
    She heard the
click-crunch
of teeth on shell. The creature had the Honu! Scooping it into its maw, the attacker grabbed the turtle, then abruptly turned and swam away again.
    Let go of the Honu,
she demanded, hoping that the telepathy she and Ronan shared with other creatures worked as well on Halau as it did on Petaybee.
He’s not for eating!
Since the Honu’s attacker didn’t seem like the sort to take orders from seals, she added,
Also, he has large relatives who could crush you by crawling on top of you.
    She streaked through the water toward it. When a sinewy tail as large as she was slashed close to her face, she leaped on top of it, clamped her teeth into it and hung on.
    Let go of my tail!
it cried.
I have relatives too and they’re circling us now.
    Ronan’s sonar confirmed the creature’s threat. He leaped onto the tail too and sank his teeth into it.
    Got it!
he thought.
Let go of the Honu, monster, and tell your relatives to leave us alone.
    Unless of course you’ve already hurt the Honu.
Murel’s thought was threatening.
In which case, you can say good-bye to this tail. I’m pretty hungry!
    Wait!
the thing’s thought cried out.
Mano halau, get back or I will be eaten by these monsters.
    The twins found it difficult to use their sonar while their mouths were full of thrashing tail, but the water churned wildly and they had the distinct feeling that something dangerous was giving them a bit more space.
    Good, monster,
Murel said.
Now let the Honu go. And he’d better be alive and unhurt.
    He’s free! I let him go. I wasn’t hurting him. I was only giving him a ride. Aumakuas do not eat aumakuas. So untooth my tail and leave me alone.
    Sky piped up,
The turtle is swimming now, river seals. He is swimming in circles. He does not know where to go. But he is swimming.
    Honu?
    I live.
The thought was feeble.
The Mano’s teeth did not penetrate my shell.
    That’s good, but your shell broke one of my teeth, little brother,
his attacker complained.
    You fellows know each other, then?
Ronan asked, thoroughly puzzled.
    Ke-ola, who’d been swamped by the thrashing and churning water, recovered enough to swim to the Honu and scoop him into protective arms. His voice was shaking as he said aloud, “Ronan and Murel, you have been biting the tail of the great Mano, the shark. The smell of blood excites his kind, and his relatives surround us.”
    The Honu’s thought-voice was a little stronger.
The other Honus say this shell biter is Mano’aumakua, sacred to his clan as we Honus are to ours.
    So you’re related?
Ronan asked.
    The monster swirled in the water so that even in the darkness they saw his teeth.
Do I look as if I am codding related to a turtle, morsel?
    Ke-ola, perhaps prompted by communication with the Honu the twins did not hear, spoke again, “The sacred Honus have intervened to save us. These Manos will eat anything except their own people or another aumakua. Our Honu protects us.”
    Funny,
Ronan told his sister,
I could have sworn it was the other way around.
    Let’s not mention that we are only honorary Honu clan,
Murel suggested.
    The shark was trying to examine its own tail. Fortunately, the part they’d bitten was largely cartilage and was not bleeding heavily.
    There was no need to bite me,
the shark complained. Had his thought-voice not been so rasping and