Prologue
Eirse could feel the cool press of the water against her skin. It was comforting, like an embrace. She opened her eyes. Endless silver-capped teal waters stretched out before her, eventually fading into darkness. The currents tugged her back and forth, and she kept herself in position with a few flicks of her webbed feet and a lazy motion of her arms. Her sails did much of the work as she relaxed in the water, enjoying a little time close to the surface. The sun’s rays played with the shallow depths, creating art as they struggled to make their way deeper on this rare sunny day.
She sighed in contentment. She could stay like this forever. Unfortunately, no life was ever that simple. Sure, the Tursiops had created a way of life that was far simpler than most sentient species in the galaxy, but they still had the same basic needs. They still had a hierarchy of leadership and skilled workers. People still had to work.
That being said, she had a lot of time for playing and daydreaming. She had time each erno to relax and enjoy what the seas had to provide in leisure.
“Eirse, come on already!” her hunting partner called out from the distance. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Some part of her tensed, like something terrible was about to happen. “Yeah, I’m coming.” She turned away from the surface. Lifting her arms to catch the water with her sails, she propelled herself forward, easily reaching her fellow hunter. “I’m ready,” she said as she stopped in front of them.
They laughed. “No, you’re not. You don’t even have a weapon.”
Eirse shrugged. “Well, you have two, so it’s fine.”
“That’s because I knew you wouldn’t be prepared. You never are.”
She shrugged again. They’d gone out on hunts many times before, and she couldn’t deny they were right. She was happy to do her part for the community, but she often dragged her sails about it. She was a good hunter, but she almost always needed a little nudging to get started.
This erno was no different.
“Thanks,” she said as she wrapped her fingers around the shaft of the harpoon. It felt good in her hand, smooth and sturdy. “Let’s go.”
Eirse took off into the deeper waters, where their ideal prey thrived. They had to stop from time to time to allow their eyes to adjust as more and more light was filtered out by the water. Soon, they could sense more from hearing, taste, and touch than from sight. They stopped as their toes touched against the seafloor, and because they could not longer rely on their eyes to navigate efficiently, they focused on the flow of water over their skin, searching for the telltale way currents shifted around objects. They preferred places that gave them an easy out in case a predator came along, while also allowing them to scout for prey and throw their harpoon without interference.
Usually, the best places were against rock formations. Because the currents tended to run along the rocks, you could lean up against them, and other sea creatures might not notice your presence. Coral, on the other hand, was dangerous. It could be razor sharp and venomous. Vegetation was also a hazard, as it could snag you at the wrong moment. She remembered her harpoon tangling up in some sea weed as a teen and having to get her partner to release her.
Eirse found a good spot and settled in to wait, the cold, rough rock pressing against her shoulder. As her partner did the same at her back, she began to forget they were there. This was the part she didn’t like… the waiting. They generally preferred to wait for large prey, especially when traveling to these depths. A large whale could support an entire community for ernos, and as long as they were conscientious about their hunting, it was a sustainable practice.
Various members of the community over the years had even come up with ways to encourage whales to come here and to other places nearby. There was an entire rift along the seafloor that they’d cultivated to provide their prey with everything they could possibly need. The floor was coated in a thick carpet of vegetation, which attracted smaller fish to flock there. This attracted the whales, and the deep rift made it harder for other predators to spot the whales from above.
Overall, it was a good practice, and it had been central to her people’s survival for thousands of alos.
It was just boring as all get out.
One of the hardest things to learn as a hunter was how to keep focused when nothing was happening. While it was inevitable that a whale would come along eventually, it could be anywhere from a few diceros to several horos. There were regular pods that came through the area, but they could also be anywhere along the rift they’d cultivated. Hunters often picked a favorite spot and stayed put, maximizing their chances of catching a migrating whale.
Eirse yawned, small bubbles drifting out of her mouth. She looked around her, but could only see the barest traces of movement in the dark. And yet, she couldn’t shake that feeling of foreboding from before. It was weird, like the feeling was coming from outside of herself somehow, like it didn’t belong in this scene. And yet she couldn’t shake it. A part of her was whispering that she should flee, but she couldn’t. She felt like she was on rails, like what was about to happen was predestined.
And as quickly as those thoughts came to her, they left, drifting away on the currents. She saw a large body moving through the water off to her right and gripped her harpoon tighter. Preparing to strike, she leaned back one shoulder into her partner to let them know she’d seen something, and gripped the rope with her other hand.
She pushed away from the wall slightly, giving herself more room to throw. The creature continued moving farther and farther left in her field of vision. She pulled back her arm. She could feel her sail pulling taut as her arm reached full extension.
Eirse threw. The paler color of the shaft easily sailed through the water, connecting with her target’s side moments later. She grabbed the rope with her now empty hand as her partner swam out, readying to unleash their own weapon at a closer, more lethal, distance.
That was when everything went wrong.
She watched in horror as her partner screamed, bubbles pouring out of their mouth as their prey suddenly changed direction.
No.
That’s not a whale.
Eirse gripped her rope tighter, wrapping the length around her hands as she pushed off the seafloor, swimming away from her partner, hoping against hope the impossible would work. The sick feeling in her stomach told her exactly what was about to happen, but she refused to listen. She knew she couldn’t swim well enough with her arms occupied holding the rope. She could either swim away and let her partner get eaten, or hold tight, her sails squashed against her sides, as she tried to keep the legendary Vrath from making a meal of both of them and ending this hunt before it had even got started.
This isn’t happening.
Wake up. Just wake up.
But this wasn’t a dream. This was real. It was happening. She pushed harder and harder with her feet, reaching the full extension of the rope, but instead of holding the monster back, it was pulling her, her body easily slipping through the water in the wrong direction.
“No!” she screamed, her words bubbling into the depths and rising uselessly to the surface.
The scent of blood in the water hit her, and she screamed again, panic hitting her hard. Were they okay? Were they dead?
Then the rope went slack. She tensed, not knowing what would come next.
Where is it?
Where’s the threat?
Where’s the Vrath?
She knew the dangers that lurked down here, was prepared for them, but nothing could have truly prepared her for an encounter with a Vrath. It was the only major predator that traveled this deep, and it often hunted the same whales they did, meaning that an encounter with one was always a possibility while hunting. Unfortunately, even an entire team of Tursiops couldn’t go up against one and live.
The smell of blood swelled, and a part of her knew she couldn’t save her partner. Her only option was escape now, and she wasn’t sure she could make it. With the line slack, she had no way of knowing where the predator was. It could be anywhere within the range of the rope.
And definitely close enough to kill.
Her breathing became ragged as her mind ran in circles, trying to figure out a way to survive. Her muscles twitched, wanting to swim, wanting to hide, but she did nothing, paralyzed by fear, paralyzed by the unknown.
Suddenly, the currents shifted, and she jerked her attention to the left. Teeth opened wide in front of her, and she screamed. Dropping the rope from her nerveless fingers, she sped away, mindlessly praying for salvation. Pain lanced into her, and she could taste the blood in her mouth now. It hurt to use her left arm, the sail overwhelming her with piercing pain when she moved it.
Ignoring the pain, Eirse pushed herself as hard as she could. She needed to escape the beast’s range. It was a deep sea predator. If she could just get closer to the surface, it would move on.
She swam upward, pleading for the beautiful teal and silver tones she’d seen earlier that erno or those rays of sunlight she’d been ogling, but she was so deep here. Around her, the sea was shades of black, giving nothing away. If she hadn’t been born to this place, she wouldn’t have even known which way was up, but her internal senses told her.
Another slice of searing pain hit her, this time streaking across her right sail and digging into her right calf. Panic hit her again, and she pushed herself harder. She was in constant pain now, her injuries begging her to stop, but the predator on her toes egged her onward.
She couldn’t stop.
If she stopped, she was dead.
* * *
Eirse jerked awake, the adrenaline of the memory still rushing through her. The cool of the sea was replaced with the hot, dry air of the Areon. The smell of diluted blood was replaced with the slightly metallic tang of recycled air. The impenetrable darkness was replaced with the low light and metal surfaces of her bedroom.
“Another?” her roommate, Nella, said from across the room.
Eirse groaned and rolled over, not ready to deal with people just yet. That particular nightmare always lingered afterwards like a bad hangover.
Shuffling noises reached her as Nella moved about the room. “You should really talk to someone about those nightmares, Eirse. They’re a bit of a problem.”
“Suck my sails,” Eirse said irritably as she sat up and slapped her feet against the cold floor.
“Fine,” Nella said, raising her hands in defeat. “You want to wallow in your own self-pity, be my guest.” She scoffed. “I’ll just ask for a new roommate.”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say something equally biting, but Nalla chose that moment to make her exit, the door slamming behind her. Eirse wanted to be mad at her, but she couldn’t deny her roommate had a point. She’d woken Nalla from a deep sleep more times than she could count, and she couldn’t really blame the other woman for wanting a decent night’s rest.
Still, that didn’t give her the right to tell her what to do.
Eirse stood, crossing to the built-in drawers on the back wall. Disengaging the lock, she pulled open the top drawer, diving her hands into the sea of unfolded uniforms, pulling out each needed item and throwing it at the bed. Once she had everything, she frowned down at the selection, not looking forward to wearing any of it. She was already overheating a little, and she was still naked from sleep.
Eirse’s shoulders sagged, anticipating yet another erno sweating up her uniform. “I miss the sea.” She reluctantly started getting dressed, pulling on each wrinkled garment with only the barest care for appearances. When she finished, she checked herself in the mirror above the drawers. For a moment, as she stared at her teal skin peeking out of her black uniform and her smooth purple hair falling behind her shoulders, she wondered what Taln would think. Would she be disgusted by the sloppy uniform? Or would she be captivated by her bright teal eyes, which she’d always felt were her best feature?
Eirse shook her head. “You have no idea what that woman wants.”
She turned and headed toward the door, leaving her nightmares forgotten in her wake.
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