The Skeleton Coast Read online

  The west coast of Sundia was famous for its high cliffs and pounding surf, which made it difficult to get ashore except in a few rare places. The town that serviced the Ark was one place—it was set on a little inlet—but they had decided going into the town was too risky. Instead, they would go ashore at a place called Kinle Bay.

  Kinle Bay was a natural harbour almost exactly due west of the Ark. It had once been a tourist destination of sorts—it was the site of an old temple to Kinlemotukinle, a sea god in the form of a hunting fish. The temple was one of the last remnants of an early Sundian city which had collapsed for reasons which were now unclear—possibly a drought. The site, even pre-Flood, was rarely visited—it was too remote for most tourists to bother with, and even the Sundians didn’t go there much. Annalie and Will hoped that it was still mostly deserted and the wide shallow bay would be somewhere safe to leave the Sunfish while they went ashore. Its relative proximity to the Ark also meant that the distance they’d have to travel overland was pleasingly short.

  And how beautiful it was! The bay was wide and blue and lovely, and the shoreline was a mixture of tall, rocky outcrops and verdant greenery growing almost to the water’s edge.

  ‘Does it look like people might live here?’ Will asked.

  They were all on deck, scanning the foreshore. There were no boats, no houses, no signs that anyone lived here apart from birds.

  ‘Graham, can you go and check it out for us?’ Will asked.

  Graham went winging around the bay, disappearing over the treetops. A pair of small angry birds popped up out of the treetops and chased him, screeching.

  ‘Locals only, huh?’ Will said. ‘Everywhere’s the same.’

  While everyone else was watching the birds or the shoreline, Essie’s eye was caught by something moving in the water. She only glimpsed it for a second, but whatever it was, it seemed big. ‘Did you see that?’ she asked.

  ‘See what?’ said Will.

  ‘I thought I saw something in the water…Probably nothing.’

  A few minutes passed, and Graham returned. ‘Big temple,’ he reported. ‘Nothing else. Just rocks and trees.’

  They sailed in a little closer to shore, and as they came round a small headland, the temple of Kinlemotukinle was revealed.

  ‘Whoa,’ Essie said.

  ‘I didn’t realise it was going to be that big,’ Annalie said.

  The temple was built out of enormous slabs of rock. Some of it was the same local rock that lined the cliffs and rolled down to the sea, but some of it was entirely different rock, obtained from who knows where. Washed up by storms? Transported from elsewhere? These enormous rocks had been stacked upon each other into great imposing columns to make the shape of the temple, while others had been beautifully carved into ornaments and statues.

  ‘Look!’ Blossom cried.

  The motion of the boat had gradually moved them into the perfect position to look straight down the avenue of columns and reveal the largest statue of all. It had been carved ingeniously out of more than one piece of stone to create a figure that was easily twenty feet high. At the bottom of the figure, a huge fish with sharp, pointed teeth reared up out of flowing stone waves, savage and lively, as if it had leapt out of the water for sheer joy. A second figure emerged from this fish, perhaps stepping from its mouth, perhaps captured in the moment of changing its form from fish to human. This figure was grandly, lithely muscular in the way that only a god could be, stepping from the waves in a swirl of long hair and fine robes, one arm outstretched to point towards the sea, its square face fierce and beautiful.

  ‘It’s the Lucky Lady!’ Blossom breathed.

  ‘I think that’s meant to be the sea god as a hunting fish,’ Essie said.

  ‘Is that a fish?’ Will said. ‘Or do you think it’s a shark?’

  ‘It’s the Lucky Lady, I know it is,’ Blossom said stubbornly.

  ‘Well, anyway, this looks like the place,’ Annalie said. ‘Let’s go ashore.’

  They anchored in the bay, and Will began dragging out the pieces of the thing he had been working on for weeks. There was a set of wheels, something that looked like a pair of huge skis, a frame with a light platform, and a sail.

  ‘Now are you going to tell us what that is?’ Annalie said.

  ‘Can’t you guess?’ Will said, grinning. ‘It’s a land surfer.’

  ‘A what?’ said Annalie.

  ‘I got the idea from one of those old tourist books,’ Will said. ‘They used to go land-surfing on the dunes. The picture wasn’t that great and I couldn’t tell whether they surfed on wheels or on runners. So I made both.’

  ‘That sounds way better than walking,’ Annalie said. ‘I hope it works.’

  ‘Of course it’ll work,’ Will said scornfully.

  They loaded the dinghy with everything they’d need for the trip to the Ark—packs and tools and hats and water and provisions—and the five of them climbed carefully aboard. The dinghy was heavily loaded once everyone was aboard and it rode dangerously low in the water.

  ‘Are you sure we shouldn’t do this in two trips?’ Annalie asked.

  ‘It’s not far, and there’s not much surf,’ Will said. ‘We’ll be fine.’

  He started the engine and steered the dinghy towards the shore, Graham flying overhead.

  They hadn’t gone far when they heard Graham shriek.

  ‘What’s up with him?’ Pod asked.

  ‘Probably those stupid local birds again,’ Will said.

  But it wasn’t the birds.

  Moments later, something slammed into the dinghy. It rocked but miraculously stayed afloat.

  ‘What happened?’ Annalie cried.

  ‘Did we hit something?’ Essie said.

  ‘Something hit us,’ Will said.

  Graham was still shrieking overhead. Blossom saw it first. She screamed, speechless, pointing.

  A large fin was coming towards them, accelerating fast. As it came closer, a black-and-white back appeared above the water.

  ‘Everybody hang on!’ Will shouted. He accelerated, turning at the last moment in a bid to evade their attacker. They skimmed past without making contact, but the fin disappeared below the water and they knew it was turning for another pass.

  ‘What was that?’ Pod cried.

  ‘A shadow whale,’ Will said. ‘The biggest and most aggressive of the hunting whales.’

  ‘But why’s it attacking us?’ Essie said. ‘Do they normally do that?’

  ‘Not usually,’ Will said. ‘Hang on. Here it comes again!’

  The shadow whale was accelerating towards them once more, and this time it was ready for Will’s manoeuvres. It followed his twists and turns with fluid ease, then flipped the dinghy up into the air. For a terrible moment they were all aloft, the people, the packs, the equipment, and then they were splashing down into the water. Pod and Blossom were the only ones wearing life jackets; the others had decided not to bother when they were only a hundred metres or so from the shore.

  Will had managed to stay clinging to the dinghy when it flipped; miraculously it had landed the right way up, but the motor had stalled. ‘Swim to me!’ he yelled. ‘Quick!’

  Essie was the first to swim up to the dinghy and was over the side like lightning.

  ‘Help the others,’ Will said quickly. ‘I’m going after the gear.’

  ‘Are you mad?’ Essie cried. ‘Stay in the boat! That thing’s trying to eat us!’

  ‘We can’t get across the desert without gear,’ Will said. ‘It’s not very deep. I’m going down for it.’

  To Essie’s horror, Will went over the side. She looked for the others and saw Blossom flailing in the water, hyperventilating in terror. Pod was paddling awkwardly towards her, held up by his life jacket. Annalie was the furthest from the boat but swimming back.

  ‘It’s okay, Blossom,’ gasped Pod. ‘I’ll help you.’

  He reached Blossom and the two of them began floundering in the general direction of the dinghy,
but they were not really getting anywhere.

  Essie looked around for a rope. Where was the rope? It had probably been flung overboard along with everything else.

  Will surfaced and tossed a pack into the dinghy. He took a deep breath and disappeared underwater again.

  ‘Use your arms,’ Essie shouted to Pod and Blossom. ‘Quick!’

  Graham, still circling above them, shrieked out a warning. The whale came at them again in a great rush, surfing between Pod and Blossom and the dinghy and then swatting them into deeper water with a lazy swipe of its tail.

  Annalie reached the dinghy and pulled herself aboard. ‘Where’s Will? What’s wrong with the engine?’

  ‘Will’s diving for the gear,’ Essie said. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with the engine.’

  Annalie frowned and looked at it, trying to get it working.

  ‘Come on!’ Essie pleaded, looking at the others. ‘Hurry!’

  Will surfaced again with more gear. He slopped it into the dinghy.

  ‘Forget the gear! Get back in the boat!’ Essie shouted, but he had already dived under again.

  With a splutter, the engine started. ‘I’m coming round to pick you up,’ Annalie shouted to Pod and Blossom. She motored slowly over to them while Essie kept a lookout for the whale, and then the two of them dragged Pod and Blossom aboard. ‘Let’s get Will and get out of here,’ Essie said.

  Will had popped up again on the surface and was treading water with some of the pieces of his land surfer. Annalie steered over to him and he tossed the gear into the dinghy.

  ‘Leave it behind,’ she said. ‘We can’t stay out here with that thing in the water.’

  ‘We need our gear or we won’t make it across the desert,’ Will insisted. ‘Take the others to shore then come back for me.’

  ‘Will, this is crazy!’ Annalie shouted.

  ‘Go!’ Will roared, and dived once more.

  Seeing it was pointless to argue with him, Annalie gunned the dinghy and raced for the shore. The whale came after them, straight as an arrow, but this time, they were too fast for it. Annalie slewed to a stop in the shallow water. ‘Take the gear! Run! I’m going back for Will!’ she cried.

  They hurled the gear out of the boat and scrambled up onto the safety of the rocks while Annalie turned again and zoomed out to where Will’s head bobbed in the water. But the whale had other ideas. It reared up out of the water, scooping Will up hard with its head. Will went flying and hit the water with a smack, the sail he was holding spinning away. Annalie chased after him, scooping the sail up as she went, as Will disappeared below the surface. Why wasn’t he coming up? Had the whale grabbed him and pulled him under? She tightened her grip on the sail, and heard Graham once again, calling from above her. In the clear waters of the bay, he had the perfect vantage point. Annalie followed his lead until she saw the black-and-white shape below her; she braced herself against the dinghy and jabbed down with the end of the sail’s mast. It was no harpoon, but she landed a solid blow; she knew she must have hurt it. In a flurry of water and bubbles, Will suddenly floated to the surface. She grabbed him and frantically dragged him into the dinghy.

  She turned for what she hoped was the last time and headed for the shore. She could hear the others yelling; she guessed the whale was chasing her. She could not think about that. She drove the dinghy up as far as she dared, right up onto the rocks, hoping she wasn’t tearing the bottom out of it. She pulled Will up from the bottom of the dinghy and clambered over the front, dragging her brother with her. Behind them, she glimpsed the enormous whale surfing up onto the rocks, its huge mouth open, rows of teeth glinting. A bow-wave of water broke over her and it snapped at her in a fury, almost biting the engine off the dinghy, before it wriggled back into the water.

  ‘Will! Are you okay?!’ she cried desperately, as Pod came hurrying to help her.

  He was wet and pale, his eyes closed, and she feared that the whale had drowned him. But then he heaved up seawater and coughed and spluttered, and his eyes opened and he looked around.

  ‘Did we make it?’ he coughed.

  ‘We made it,’ Annalie said, so relieved she had tears in her eyes.

  They helped Will to his feet and tottered up the rocks to where Essie and Blossom were waiting with Graham and the gear.

  ‘What was all that about?’ Essie asked. ‘Don’t they normally just eat fish?’

  ‘They eat seals too,’ Will said. ‘Maybe it thought we were seals.’

  ‘No,’ Blossom said. ‘It was guarding the temple.’

  The others all turned to stare at her.

  ‘Look,’ Blossom said. She turned to point at the colossal central figure of the temple. It was obvious now that the figure was half human, half shadow whale. ‘I told you not to annoy the sea gods.’

  The ruined city

  ‘You do know that whale wasn’t really defending the temple,’ Will argued, as they carried their remaining gear up to the temple floor. ‘It’s ridiculous. Why would it do that?’

  ‘I think there are some stories of shadow whales cooperating with humans,’ Annalie said thoughtfully. ‘Although I think it was mostly to get fish.’

  ‘There. You see?’ Will said. ‘This temple hasn’t been used for centuries, so why would the whale still be defending it?’

  ‘Think what you like,’ Blossom said stubbornly. ‘I know what I know.’

  ‘Okay, let’s see how much of our gear made it to shore,’ Pod said, eager to change the subject.

  Two of the packs were gone, and with them water bottles and food. Will had rescued most of his land surfer, although the skis hadn’t made it.

  ‘If the wheels won’t go through soft sand, we’re stuffed,’ he said gloomily.

  ‘You’re not going back for the missing bit,’ Annalie warned.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going back in that water in a hurry,’ Will said.

  ‘We can walk if we have to,’ Essie said. ‘Although personally, I’d rather not.’

  ‘It’s a long walk in the sun,’ Pod said. ‘If the land surfer won’t work, we should wait until night time.’

  ‘I agree,’ Annalie said. ‘It’s at least two days’ walk. If we do it at night, it’ll be cooler and we won’t use up so much water. Once we’re out there, I don’t think there’ll be any way to get more.’

  ‘The land surfer will work,’ Will insisted crossly. ‘Let’s get out of this place and work out where we’re going.’

  He hoisted himself to his feet and began parcelling out the stuff for everyone to carry.

  ‘Wait, aren’t we going to make an offering to the Lady first?’ Blossom asked.

  ‘What?’ Will said.

  ‘We need to ask for her protection,’ Blossom said.

  Will lost his temper. ‘Let’s get one thing straight. The only thing protecting us here is us. Not lucky ladies, not sea gods. Us. Okay? We don’t have time to make offerings. We’re leaving.’

  A look of pure rage spread over Blossom’s face. ‘How can you say that after what just happened?’ she shouted.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Will snapped, and walked away.

  Annalie and Essie hesitated, looking at Pod and Blossom. ‘Coming?’ asked Annalie.

  ‘In a minute,’ Pod said.

  As the girls walked away, Blossom raged at Pod. ‘Does he want to end up dead? Because that’s what’s going to happen, and he’ll drag us into it, too.’

  ‘You have to understand, not everybody believes in the Lucky Lady,’ Pod said.

  ‘How can you not believe in her?’ Blossom cried. ‘Look at this place!’

  ‘All Will sees is an old temple,’ Pod said. ‘He doesn’t believe in gods.’

  ‘What about you? You know better, right?’

  Pod hesitated. Blossom’s face fell. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Come on,’ Pod said coaxingly. ‘We don’t want to get left behind.’

  ‘No!’ Blossom shouted. ‘You go with your friends if you want to. I’m going to make an offering.�
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  And she stormed off in the opposite direction.

  Pod hesitated for a moment, knowing he should go after her. Why does she have to be so stubborn? he thought crossly, remembering all the other times she’d refused to be part of the team.

  Fine. If she wants to do her own thing, let her, he thought.

  And he turned to follow Will and the others.

  He walked out of the temple and into the ruins of an ancient city, now little more than tumbled stone, with trees growing up thickly among the old walls, weeds growing where roads had once been. It seemed to him that he was only a minute or two behind the others. But there was no sign of them.

  A path seemed to lead into the ruins. This must be the way they went, he thought, and followed it, hoping to catch up with them around the next bend.

  But there was no sign of them around the next bend, or the next.

  Where were they?

  ‘Where are they?’

  Belatedly, Will, Annalie and Essie had realised that Pod and Blossom were not behind them. The ruins stretched out like a maze, larger than the tourist material and their maps had suggested.

  ‘Graham find them?’ Graham suggested.

  ‘Wait, we can’t be far from the edge of town,’ Will said. ‘You can feel the desert.’

  He was right; although the ruined city was cool and green, they could feel the desert’s hot breath.

  ‘Let’s get out of these ruins. Then I can build my surfer while we wait for them to catch up,’ Will said.

  They walked on. The trees thinned; the soil became sand. The red desert stretched out ahead, shimmering in the heat.

  ‘Feel that?’ Annalie said, dismayed. ‘We’re going to miss those extra water bottles.’

  ‘Graham find Pod now?’ Graham said.

  ‘You might as well,’ Will said. Graham took off. ‘Don’t get lost!’ Will called after him. A derisory screech drifted back to them.

  ‘There must be water here somewhere,’ Annalie said thoughtfully. ‘You couldn’t build a city like this and live here without water.’

  ‘City was abandoned though, wasn’t it?’ Will said. ‘Maybe that’s why.’