Solo

twenty-two

It had grown to dusk and Lo'ak and I sat on his ilu as we waited for Payakan to appear.
Lo'ak whistled and he appeared within a few minutes, only he looked on edge.
"What is it?" Lo'ak asked and I dived off of his ilu and looked under water, Payakan groaned loudly, sending vibrations through the water as he turned on his side.

A tracker.

"CALL FOR HELP!" I gasped as I told Lo'ak, I climbed on top of Payakan and started to pull at the tracker, only it would not move, I turned to Lo'ak, who was frozen in his spot.
"LO'AK!" I yelled and he shook himself back, holding his neckpiece as he called for his brother and his dad.
"Rä'ä sngum tsmukan." Do not worry brother. I told Payakan and patted his side, pulling at the tracker as I let out a struggled grunt.
"QUICKLY!" I yelled at Aonung who had appeared with everyone behind him, including Tuk.
"TUK?" I yelled in worry and turned back to Payakan, my hands below Neteyam's as he tried to pull with me.
"PULL!!!!" Rotxo yelled as we all pulled at the tracker.
"LOOK! LAYA! LOOK!" Tsierya pointed at a demon ship coming our way, I gripped the tracker and pulled harder.
"IT'S GETTING CLOSER!" Tsierya yelled and Neteyam handed me a piece of rope. I wrapped it around the tracker as everyone pulled it again.
"GO GO GO!" Lo'ak roared and the tracker fell loose, all of us fell into the water.
"GET BACK TO THE REEF!" Aonung ordered everyone and I grabbed the tracker.
"I WILL DIRECT THEM OFF!" I announced and Lo'ak looked at me with a worried expression.
"QUICKLY!"
"GO! DIVE!" Lo'ak told Payakan and I dived in the direction away from him, the tracker in my hand as I began to swim away. Lo'ak grabbed Kiri and Tuk and patted his ilu to take them back to the reef as he hopped on Aonung's with Tsierya.
I felt a hand grab mine and pull me onto the back of their ilu.
It was Neteyam.
I tried to push him away with my free hand but he kept a strong grip on me, turning around and signing to me with his free hand as his legs locked around his ilu.
'I'm not letting you do this alone.'
I dropped the tracker as soon as a piece of rope with a dagger attached to the end flew in next to us.
The rope wrapped around my arm and I flew off the back of Neteyam's ilu, attempting to untangle the string as the dagger sank to the bottom.
I pushed against it but it was heavy.
Very heavy.
I started to sink with the dagger and Neteyam came into view again, along with Lo'ak and Anoung.
'GO!' I signed as I fell deeper, trying to hold my breath as I saw Tsierya dive in next to them.
'A knife!' Lo'ak signed and Neteyam pulled one from his belt, passing it to Lo'ak who swam to me and cut at the rope, yanking my arm do him as he swam us up.
Some of the rope was still tied around and cutting into my arm but it was not as bad as before, the feeling of being dragged into the depths of the ocean and unknown was not very nice.
We all surfaced and everyone looked to me.
"Are you okay?" Lo'ak asked, examining my arm.
I gave him a nod and steadied my breathing.
"There's still some rope around her arm." Tsierya announced.
"It's Okay. Let's get home, I can take it off then." I told them.
"Are you sure? It looks like it's cutting your circulation." Neteyam mumbled and grabbed his knife.
"Let me cut it."
I heard the motors of the demon ships and shook my head.
"We cannot risk it." I told him and grabbed Lo'ak's hand as we hopped on the back of Neteyam's ilu.
"Let's go."