Page 52 of Selkie AU: Beyond the Storm

The tightness in my chest eased. We… had a very unexpected alliance with the Aarlinuk, and while it filled me with relief, I also had the concerning realization that if these predators were willing to workwithus and give up the feast our colony would provide them with, then maybe these poachers were significantly more dangerous than we’d been anticipating. Even the most terrifying predators we’d ever known seemed to fear them. A new unease built in my gut.

“You will lead us, little seal, only to their location,” the chief told me. “Iwill lead our attack. Is that clear?”

I nodded frantically. I wasn’t all that knowledgeable about fighting anyway. None of my people really were. We were a peaceful colony, and war wasn’t in our nature.

“Go and tell your people.” He dismissed me, before turning and swimming away.

Now that the immediate threat was gone, I looked around us, noticing several other adult Aarlinuk, and the slight flashes of white skin revealed a pod of orca that were circling. If they hadn’t agreed to let us go, there’d be no way any of us would have made it out of here.

“Thank you,” I projected at Kova, who was watching me rather than grouping up with the adults.

“Hewillkill you the moment he gets what he wants.”

“The Shriekers?”

Kova nodded.

“Why do you call them that?”

“That’s what they do. They drop big metal things in our water that shriek. It makes it impossible to locate exactly where they are, but it also means we can’t hunt. The noise of them covers the noise of our prey. Our people are starving. That’s why we’ve been leaving our own territory and coming into yours. When we find one of the metal things, we destroy it, but there are many of them, and they’re very difficult to find. The humans also have boats. We have sunk some, but more always come, and they have weapons. They’ve killed our people, our orcas. And they’ve snatched up others.”

I swallowed, suddenly unsure if we were equipped to deal with an enemy even the Aarlinuk struggled to fight. But if we had any chance at all, it would be together, and the goddess wouldn’t have pushed us to them if we didn’t have a chance of succeeding.

“How can you use mind speak?” I finally asked.

Kova was silent for a while before he responded. “How can you?”

“Our goddess blesses us with the ability.”

His head tilted to the side. “Your goddess speaks to me too.”

“Wait…” A chill ran through my body, not from fear, but from the magnitude of what that statement meant. Never before had any selkie been able to hear her actual voice. “You can hear thegoddess?” I asked in astonishment.

“Can’t you?”

I shook my head. “She guides us by instinct. A silent voice we can’t always clearly understand the meaning of. You’re saying you can hear her actual voice? Like actual words?”

He nodded. “She speaks like a mother.”

Not only had this Aarlinuk somehow received the goddess’s blessing, but she actually spoke to him! How? Why him? What did this mean?

“She told me to let you go, that day you were caught in the net.”

“But… the orcas that chased me…”

“My father sent them once your friend escaped him and he returned to find you gone. He doesn’t often listen to me, and he doesn’t like when I tell him about the voice. He listened today, but he won’t again. You aren’t safe from him once this is over.”

“Kova!” The chief’s voice boomed as it rippled through the water toward us.

“I have to go. Go back to your people. We will follow you to the Shriekers. But once it’s over, you should all leave as fast as possible. I can’t and won’t protect you.” With that, he turned and swam toward where the Aarlinuk were gathered.

I watched in bewilderment for a moment longer before turning back to where Rowan’s boat was stopped in the water, several selkies clinging to the side, unknowing that this particular danger had passed for the moment. And unknowing that the danger we were about to head into may be even worse than the Aarlinuk.

26

Rowan

“Everything is going to be okay,” Milo told me, and my heart seized in my chest.