First Fall: The Canoe Thief Read online

  Pound for pound, the Elikai really were much stronger, and yet, too clearly he remembered Whiskey slaughtering Baker.

  Sugar sighed and lowered the carcass he carried, motioning for the others to do the same.

  “Are you okay, Tare?” he called.

  “Not hurt. Traumatized, but not hurt,” his brother called back as the Varekai steered him across the sand.

  Now they were drawing closer, Sugar could see Whiskey was moving awkwardly. Under his ink he was pale and had dark rings under his eyes, as if he were sick or wounded. There was dried blood around his feet.

  Sugar tensed. If Whiskey was weak, maybe they could make some kind of charge to claim Tare and keep their gear. But Charlie and Tango looked just fine, and the witchdoctor might be capable of anything.

  He hissed out a held breath, backing away, and Fox and Xícara fell back with him. Love, though, was unwilling to retreat. He was so keen to see Tare, he was taking a few tentative steps forward, as if he would break into a run.

  The Varekai shifted uneasily. Their lithe hands sought weapons.

  “Love!” Sugar snapped. “Come away.”

  The smaller Elikai hesitated, then reluctantly stepped back, one foot at a time, so he was only a few paces in front of Sugar. Sugar grabbed his shoulder and hauled him back farther.

  Charlie and Tango ventured forward to pick up the trade offering. Whiskey was resting his weight on his spear, using it like a cane. India, though, was alert to everything.

  Charlie grinned at Sugar—a cheeky, wild grin that made his hazel eyes glitter and Sugar’s heart skip in an odd way. “We should do this more often.”

  “Yes,” Fox retorted. “Next time, we’ll kidnap one of your tribe and hold them to ransom.”

  Charlie winked at him, slinging a piglet over his shoulder and retreating back the way he had come. When the Varekai were a safe distance away, Love ran forward and threw his arms around Tare’s waist.

  “Are you okay? I was so worried! What if one of them had been taken over by bloodlust and killed you?”

  Tare tolerated the hug for a moment, then shoved Love away. “I’m fine. No one became obsessed with me.”

  Sugar and Fox went to inspect Tare with a little less enthusiasm, and Xícara stayed put, watching the retreating Varekai.

  “I should have let them keep you.” Sugar glared. “How could you be so stupid?”

  Tare sighed. “I was trying to help. But it’s okay, you wait until you hear all the awesome things I have to tell you. The Varekai are completely insane.”

  “The Varekai have our pigs and spears!” The fine hairs along Sugar’s spine bristled, and he clenched his fists. “You could have started a war! You could have been killed! I have no interest in anything you have to say, Tare, about the Varekai or anything else!”

  He stalked back toward their canoes, resisting all urges to punch Tare right in his pretty face. The others fell in behind him, trudging along empty-handed. After a long moment of silence Fox said, “What things?”

  “Well.” A pause. “They all have shells instead of cocks, that’s what India said. And I saw two of them having sex. Turns out they can have sex without cocks. Also, it was their moon ceremony and they bleed out of their, uh, shells. The nasty one, Whiskey, he bled the most. He’s still bleeding. They’re just wearing rags under their skirts to hide it. That’s why he was so pale.”

  “What do they do?” Xícara asked. “During those moon things?”

  “Beat drums, dance, burn meat and fur pelts. It’s terrifying. I thought they would kill me, but...” He shrugged.

  “But I am not that lucky,” Fox said with a sigh. “None of that sounds like useful information.”

  “India made little Varekai dolls and tried to bring them to life. To make new Varekai.”

  All eyes were suddenly on him. “Did it work?” Sugar demanded.

  “No.”

  All at once, their shoulders sagged and there were collective groans.

  “They... They farm!” Tare said, desperate.

  Fox’s interest perked. “What do you mean?”

  “They don’t just forage. Remember in Eden when we tended the gardens so they would grow? They do that. They cleared some forest and planted yams and fruit trees, and they have their dogs watch them at night to keep the possums and bats away.”

  Fox arched an eyebrow. “Clearing the forest? It seems like a lot of work. And where would the game live?”

  “It’s not a big pocket. No bigger than Elbow Cove Beach. It’s all surrounded by wild trees.”

  “To protect it from storms,” Fox mused.

  Tare nodded happily. “See? Useful. We could do that.”

  “We’ll need to,” Sugar snapped, “now you cost us half of this season’s sucklings.”

  * * *

  Charlie was hunting. She was hip-deep in the water, enjoying the sensation of it on her skin. She had a hankering for the flaky flesh of shark, and the white sandy shallows were a haven for shark pups trying to escape their older cousins on the reef. It had been a week since they had captured the Elikai. More important, a week since the moon celebration. None of the Varekai ventured into the water when they were bleeding. It was a sure way to lure predators too large to handle.

  She carried a three-pronged spear. It was tipped with bamboo, not stone. All it could kill was fish, but it was fast and accurate.

  Shipwreck Cove was at the base of tall stone cliffs. There was a shallow shelf of water protected by the rusted hull of a shipwreck and an overgrown stretch of beach that led up a narrow path to more accessible parts of the island. To the southeast was the open ocean, and the cliffs overhead were dotted with the nests of seabirds. It was a great place for gathering driftwood, as whole trees could float into the cove and become wedged between the cliffs and shipwreck.

  Unafraid of her graceless aquatic ambling, a school of tiny silver-and-blue fish had gathered around Charlie, feeding on the tiny things she stirred up in the sand. Sometimes they would nibble at the hairs on her legs and peck at the calluses on her heels.

  She drifted aimlessly closer to a stack of logs and branches, her eyes scanning the seafloor for the telltale gray swish of a baby shark. There was a bloop noise, like something ducking under the water. Charlie glanced up. A fruit falling from the top of the cliff? Or perhaps even bird poop.

  But there was nothing here, not even baby sharks. In fact, the little cove was unnaturally barren. These little bait fish should have drawn in larger fish, turtles, even. She paused, taking stock of the cove again. Something was wrong.

  The strong scent of rotting fish was sudden and overpowering. Charlie froze, heartbeat pounding in her ears.

  Only one creature on the archipelago smelled like that. Her head snapped up, locking on the tangle of wood and broken branches. At first it all just looked like tree parts, then she spotted a five-toed leg, the yellow curve of crocodile teeth.

  It had three eyes. The spare was just an inch below its right eye, a little smaller than the other two.

  It was lean and long—perhaps eight feet from nose to tail tip and four or five times her weight. Not the biggest she had seen on the isles. Not a bull, but old and cunning and hundreds of times faster than she was in the shallow water.

  Charlie took a step backward toward the shore. Perhaps it was not hungry. Perhaps she had simply stumbled upon its dozing spot, and it would let her go without even three blinks of an eye.

  She eased herself through the water as quickly as she dared. She could feel it getting shallower, but she would not be safe until she was in the stone passage that led away from the ocean. Only there could she climb higher than the crocodile could reach. They were faster than any Varekai in water and on land.

  The water seemed to explode as it attacked. The spray enveloped Charlie, and she
turned and sprinted, scrambling through the shallows.

  There was a crunch as massive jaws snapped her spear, thrust out behind her as a decoy, and then Charlie was knocked off her feet. She sprawled in the shallow sand, and the bulk of the crocodile came down on top of her with one massive claw right in the middle of her back. She struggled, unable to move. Her ribs were cracking under the weight. Stars and spots danced in her vision, the only things she could see in the sand and churning water. It would drag her away alive but broken and helpless. It would stash her in a nest and eat her shattered body when her meat rotted.

  The weight lifted. She broke the surface, sunk again, then found her feet and tunneled forward through the water. Something grabbed her—teeth!—and she was hauled onto the sand.

  She coughed and sat up, but there were no jaws embedded in her flesh. The crocodile was sliding quickly through the water toward the open ocean. A spear was sticking up from its head, impaled on its single left eye. It wobbled as the creature moved, then fell loose and floated to the surface as the reptile dived out of sight.

  Charlie huddled on the sand, panting. Her war paint trickled down her face and arms in black-and-white streaks. It was marred with stripes of red—blood from minor wounds. She would be bruised and sore, but she was alive.

  She turned to the woman who had saved her, the Elikai. It was Sugar. She was studying Charlie with keen, intelligent green eyes.

  “Thank you,” Charlie said tentatively. She couldn’t be more grateful, but caution still beat gratitude. She couldn’t remember an incident in either tribe’s past where an Elikai had actually saved a Varekai, or vice versa.

  Sugar looked equally cautious. Her gaze occasionally flicked to the water, keeping watch for the creature’s return. Charlie couldn’t help but study her—her hair, dark and straight, hanging over her eyes in a silky curtain, her body lean and quick.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I’m Charlie,” she ventured.

  “I know who you are.” Sugar had a horseshoe-shaped scar on her shoulder from a massive snake bite, and her odd, breastless torso was bare and gleaming faintly with oil.

  “You’re Sugar.”

  “I know who I am too.”

  She glared. The Elikai might have saved her, but she was not exactly a sparkling conversationalist. “Why did you save me if you’re just going to be a boar about it?”

  “I’m not entirely sure.” Sugar continued to study her, biting her lip. Then, abruptly, she stood up. The movement was so sudden, Charlie tensed, but Sugar was looking away, up the path.

  “I should go.”

  Charlie felt a surge of urgency. “Wait.”

  She glanced back at Charlie. “What is it? You can walk.”

  “Yes, but—” She didn’t know how to articulate her thoughts. “Don’t you want to talk to me?”

  “No.”

  Charlie’s cheeks flushed. She wasn’t even sure why she was annoyed. However, she was the leader of the Varekai, and Sugar was the leader of the Elikai, and it seemed like maybe they should talk. Maybe something good could come of it, just as something good had come of this chance encounter.

  Sugar started to walk away.

  “We don’t have to be enemies!” Charlie called after her. Sugar paused, then glanced back.

  “Are we enemies? I thought we were at peace.”

  She wanted to smack the Elikai in the mouth. Not hard, just enough to wipe the bored, superior look off her face. “The tribes avoid one another. Maybe we don’t have to.”

  Sugar turned away. “No, we do. The teachers kept us apart in Eden for good reason. Elikai and Varekai can’t coexist. We are too different. I don’t wish you any harm, Charlie, but I can’t spend time with you.”

  “Bloodlust?” Charlie wondered if she would have to kill the woman who had saved her.

  “The risk of bloodlust. We’ve never seen a cure for it, and even the most limited of contact can trigger it. I will not lose my brothers to this illness for the sake of—”

  Charlie cut her off. “What are brothers?”

  “Brothers,” she said, turning back, exasperated. “People. We are all brothers.”

  “Sisters,” Charlie corrected. “We are all sisters.”

  Sugar snorted. “Then the Varekai are sisters, and the Elikai are brothers. Just another way we are too different to be together.”

  Charlie wanted to disagree. Vehemently. She wanted to...to what? She wasn’t sure what she wanted, only that she didn’t really want this “brother” to go away. She wanted her to sit and talk. She wanted to learn more about the Elikai. They were ugly creatures, but they had a special grace and power of their own. And their voices were so much deeper than those of the Varekai.

  She wanted to hear Sugar talk more.

  Was this how bloodlust started? But that didn’t make any sense. Charlie didn’t want to kill Sugar, just get to know her better. She had known all the Varekai since the day she was born. Was it so odd that she wanted to talk to someone else? Someone new?

  Maybe it was.

  Sugar left, and after some time had passed, Charlie went home empty-handed.

  Chapter Four

  Tare had not been well received by the tribe on his return. He had thought they would cool off in a few days, that their anger would fade and he would be forgiven. Instead, their sullen silence dragged on and on.

  The only one who wasn’t mad was Love, and he followed Tare around like a puppy, trying to make him feel better. It didn’t make Tare feel better, though. It just annoyed him.

  He was determined to fix it somehow and make everyone proud of him again. He considered, briefly, making spears to replace the lost ones and hunting feral pigs alone until he had enough piglets to make up the meat. The idea of all that hard work gave him a headache. He decided he just had to be clever about it and do something smart and remarkable instead.

  Something like kidnap a Varekai of his own. If he did that, Charlie would have to give back all the things he traded Tare for. Plus, Tare would have proven he was strong enough and smart enough to outsmart the Varekai.

  He didn’t want to confront someone dangerous, though. He would leave Whiskey where he found him. Little India, on the other hand, would be easy to overpower.

  Sure, India had got the better of Tare when he’d been trapped on a canoe and the Varekai had been in the dense trees, but Tare bet if he caught him gathering pipis or harvesting fruit in the forest, he would have the upper hand.

  It was a brilliant plan; there was no possible way for it to fail.

  If he woke before dawn and waited near the Varekai village, he could watch them leaving. Then, when he saw India, he could follow him, trap him and drag him back to the Elikai village. Simple.

  There was no way Sugar could be displeased this time.

  * * *

  Predawn in the archipelagos was dangerous. Not because of the animals, but the fleeing tide. Navigating the fast-moving channels in the poor light took skill, and once or twice Tare’s heart caught in his throat as the current caught him and tried to whisk him away.

  But by the time the dawn reached the western shore of the Varekai island, Tare was safely in position. He was pressed to the bank of one of the inlets, masked behind a wall of palm fronds some fifty meters away from the Varekai canoes.

  He supposed he could have picked any Varekai who looked small and less able to defend himself. But India was a known quantity, and Tare found himself inexplicably eager to speak to the other man again. Something about the way he moved, the way he spoke, the sounds of the bones and flotsam in his hair.

  Not in a bad way. It wasn’t like bloodlust. Tare wasn’t sick. He was doing something smart. Something that would benefit everyone.

  The brothers who had been afflicted with bloodlust had said the Var
ekai they targeted were always in their thoughts, that they dreamed about them, wanted nothing more than to see them every waking minute. Tare was hardly thinking about India all the time. A few times a day, tops. It was nothing to worry about.

  The Varekai slunk out of the trees like panthers. They all possessed a languid grace, their wide hips and slim waists giving them a sway that the Elikai could not mimic. Tare wasn’t sure if he should be jealous or just enjoy watching them. He scanned the cluster of brothers until he spotted India. His heart skipped, as if he was spotting prey in the dense tangle of the jungle. Not fear. Tare had survived being held prisoner, after all. It was just excitement. The look on their faces when they had to give all the things they had stolen back would make it all worthwhile. He lay low in the belly of his canoe, watching while the Varekai gathered their spears and nets, setting off in twos or alone and paddling out into the channels in different directions, Whiskey and Tango with their canoes filled with savage monster dogs.

  India didn’t have a spear or a net. Instead he had a collection of woven baskets—not many, two or three—and a length of rope. Gathering, Tare guessed. Though it looked like they had plenty of yams and fruit in their orchard.

  His heart started to beat a little faster when he realized India was definitely leaving alone. His canoe was the smallest, with no outrigger, so as to travel through the narrowest of the channels. Tare wasn’t entirely sure his own canoe would be able to follow.

  He tracked India’s path, then, when no other Varekai were in sight, he slipped out of hiding and followed.

  India seemed distracted by the water and the birds, so Tare was able to trail him without being noticed. He stuck close to the islands, only keeping India in his direct line of sight for short periods at a time. They were heading steadily north, toward the deep, deadly channel between the archipelago and the mainland. They had all come from the mainland; Eden was there, and it was a place no Elikai would ever want to go.