Listen to the Water | FULL SERIES | Wattys 2022 Shortlist | ✔

(18) Taiki: Runaway

The Ashianti trail is unmistakable. No other Kel I know has a tail long enough to make the sharp-edged marks this one left as it struggled. Every time this Kel lands, it pulls itself around onto its side, half curled up, then kicks hard to launch itself over the silt. It only gets two arm-spans before crash-landing again. The pattern repeats all the way to the edge of the silt shelf, then drags silt up the coral-rocks as the Kel struggles onto those.

It's headed into the current. Just over the rocks is more silt, swept flat by the movement of the water. The blood smell vanishes here. The Kel is trying to cut its trail. I tap Ande's arm, then her dagger when she glances at me. I'm willing to bet this is someone connected to the Ashianti royals' assassination. The Alliance likely had an infiltrator in Rapal. Maybe several, or maybe even locals who were loyal to their cause or disgruntled with the Ashianti's decision to stay out of the surface waters' budding war. If that's the case, this could be anyone who knows more than they ought to. Ande is going to want her weapon ready.

She draws it reluctantly. In the light from her hands, I can see the worry in her eyes. She's too empathetic. The Kel ahead could be dangerous, and even if it's not, anyone who comes after it will be. Having a threat at hand when I ask it questions also won't hurt. I want to know who's trying to take the city, and how. If the Kel knows something, I plan to learn everything I can from it before it dies of its injuries. Swimming like this, I doubt it'll survive for long.

There's yet another silt flat up ahead. This one is bigger. Much bigger. As we come down the slope, the current over it begins to strengthen perceptibly, until the surface of the silt itself seems to shift. The Kel's tracks will be erased within a hundred heartbeats here. Ande brightens her lights to reveal a long, pale hump in the distance. A deep-sea reef. I didn't know Rapal had those around it. I touch Ande's hand, and she dims it again. We set out towards the first mound.

I've been to deep-sea reefs before, but after having lived among the Karu, the eerieness of them still manages to unsettle me. The pale side of the reef reappears from the darkness as we approach it. Deep-sea reefs grow just like shallow ones do. Corals of many shapes pile together among sea fans and delicate glass sponges. Sea stars, urchins, shrimp, and crabs crawl over their textured surfaces, and fish dart in the shadows as I move my hands. The difference is that everything that lives here is pure, bleached-bone white.

Eyeless crabs lift their claws and scuttle sideways into the corals as I pull up at the edge of the reef. The whole mound is built from the bones of generations of dead corals. Mottled algae over crumbling branches reminds me of Roshaska. There's no trace of the fleeing Kel. Where would I go, if I were an injured Sami-Kel trying to cover my trail, but unable to actually swim? I would take shelter here or somewhere near it, crossing the silt where my trail would vanish, and curling up in a corner somewhere on the lee side of a reef. Somewhere the current would not catch my scent and carry it out for sharks to detect. Especially if I was bleeding.

I tell Ande to check the sheltered side of the reef. Then I swim straight up to scan the area from above. The reef falls away below me. It's big, but not stunningly so: ten arm-spans tall, twice as wide, and so long, it stretches well beyond my lights' reach. I've seen ten times bigger. Beyond it is another span of silt, and past that, another mound. There's still no sign of the Kel. I drop back down and coordinate my search with Ande's. She's put her dagger away again. I shoot her a glare that she doesn't see, then keep a close watch on the water behind us. I don't want to tangle with incoming, aggressive Kels, especially before I've had a chance to question this one.

We sweep the end of the reef, then take a gamble and head downcurrent from there. We've gone at least a hundred arm-spans when Ande gasps and grabs my arm.

The Kel is here.

It didn't make it to safety. It collapsed at the base of the reef, curled up on its side just like I'd gathered from the earlier tracks. It's not moving. Ande dives forward before I can stop her. The Kel doesn't move as she pulls up at its side, and angry heat shoots through me as her hand touches its shoulder. She beckons me over frantically. It's alive. She's going to get herself killed like this. I jet to her side and reach for her dagger as I assess the fallen Kel. My hand stops short.