Free Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians by Mark Caney Page B

to him. ‘Yes, I do know where they used to be, but I’m not prepared to approach them again. They’ve got some strange, dangerous ideas. They have their own codes about not speaking to outsiders, and the penalties for doing so are harsh.’
    ‘ But I just want to know if my father is still there.’
    ‘ I don’t care. I’m afraid, and I don’t mind admitting it. I wouldn’t put it past those Guardians to kill me if they thought I was a threat.’
    Sky wondered if he was exaggerating. ‘Kill another zeta? But that’s against the most basic teachings of the Way! You can’t be serious.’
    ‘ I am. They don’t follow the Way as you and I know it. They have twisted it according to the teachings of Stone Eyes — he’s long dead but they call him “the Seer”. He said that the Way was only meant for Ka-Tse that follow his teachings. According to him all the other zetii are inferior and pretty much expendable if need be. Forget all the traditional stuff about zetii living in harmony with Ocean. They say that Ocean has changed and the Way has changed too. They’re ruthless, and I’ve heard that sometimes they will kill other zetii.’
    Sky remembered Born Into Summer, laying helpless on a burning beach; that deadly gull poised beside her.
    Muddy broke in to the conversation. ‘Can’t you just try and find out if Sky’s father is still with them, though? If you don’t, I know that Sky is going to want to do it himself, and he’s going to end up exiled or worse.’
    ‘ No, I’ve told you, there’s…wait…something’s coming.’
    The other two listened, and soon could all hear it: a number of big creatures coming closer at speed. Sky sent short bursts of sonar in the direction of the sound. They all listened to the reflected echoes.
    Sky articulated their thoughts. ‘Fish. Big ones, at least forty. Moving fast. Coming this way.’
    A few seconds later a shoal of yellowfin tuna appeared out of the blue. The powerful silvery fish were all large adults, the biggest almost as large as the dolphins themselves. They took station under the dolphins and followed their progress, the darker upper surfaces of their bodies making them harder to see from above, only the occasional flash of silver showing them clearly whenever one fleetingly turned to inspect some passing fragment in the water column.
    Rain Ending looked relieved. ‘Well, they can follow us if they want, but we don’t know where the food is either.’
    Sky and Muddy stayed with Rain Ending as he continued his swim over the depths, trying to persuade him to change his mind and help but he was adamant. The tuna kept their silent station below them, hoping the keen senses of the dolphins might lead them to food.
    The two friends were about to give up and leave when a new sound grew in volume. The distinct thrumming sound of a boat’s engine, and then the sound of a second, smaller but faster boat.
    The dolphins leapt from the water to look. The larger boat had protruding structures at the back of it and something was trailing in the water behind it. As they watched, it stopped heading directly for them and turned as though to commence a curve around them. The smaller boat veered away to the opposite side of them, moving fast and bouncing from wave to wave, the roar of its engine like a gigantic, angry insect. It raced loudly occasionally as the boat bounced from the waves.
    ‘ What are they doing?’ Rain Ending asked.
    Sky was worried at first; the sounds of engines always reminded him of the awful time his clan had been driven onto the shore by the pulses of sound. But these were different machines, smaller than the giant monsters they had seen that day, and brightly coloured, not all grey as they had been. ‘Maybe they saw us and have turned like that to avoid hitting us?’
    Muddy shook his head. ‘I don’t like it. Why would they go with one on each side of us like this? And what’s that stuff coming out of the back of the big one?’
    ‘