There was a period in which no one moved. Then somebody in the crowd of prison guards let loose a roar, and everything happened at once. My body changed instinctively; I felt my teeth descend as the guards spilled over the rocky landscape, weapons up. The two sides met in a clash that filled the water with sand.
Whether anyone else had intended to switch sides, we never found out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - Meela
Daughter of Eriana
The pain didn’t come. The serpent’s breath continued to bathe me, warm and sticky.
I opened my eyes, trembling, and saw fangs the length of my arms hovering above me.
The serpent had stopped with her jaws open over my head.
In the silence, the purring waves returned to my attention. The groan of the distant helicopter pulsed in my ears.
Through the serpent’s fangs, I could see Adaro lying on the rocky beach inside the broken hull. Blood pooled from both the bolt and the rock embedded in his ribs. His eyes were wide. He was perfectly still.
The sky lightened as the serpent’s heads arched away from me, bobbing in the air and hissing—perhaps tasting Adaro’s blood on the wind.
A presence consumed me, as though my body gained a second soul. I gasped, feeling her in my mind and spirit, a goddess greater than myself.
“Eriana,” I whispered.
Her reply came to the front of my mind, the thoughts forming as though my own.
Daughter. It is a relief to share a mind with someone pure.
Slowly, heart pounding, I turned my back to the island and Adaro. From the frothy waves, two massive heads stared down at me. In those deep blue pupils, glassy and vertical, I saw no threat. She gazed expectantly at me. The vastness of the ocean lay beneath her expression, filled with millennia of wisdom.
Is the serpent mine?I thought, heart beating faster yet.
Yes, daughter.
My throat constricted. I was grateful to have no need to speak aloud, because I would not have managed it.
Help me, I thought.Our island has been at war, and now the rest of the world is, too. I need to stop it.
A forked tongue emerged from each head, tasting the air. Behind her, the ship fire consumed ocean and sky, multicoloured flames and black smoke billowing. The sun was on its descent to the horizon.
If you are concerned about war, we can force others to leave our island alone. With the leviathan Sisiutl as your guardian, you will never be defeated.
I don’t want to use aggression. I want peace.
The sea gurgled as the ship took its last breaths. There must have been at least one crew member left to rescue, because the helicopter still hovered, dodging flames and smoke.
As long as the leviathan exists, there will always be those seeking to control it, said Eriana.You will never have peace as long as others see potential to control the world’s most powerful weapon.
I shook my head.It is the most powerful force, then? Nothing can defeat it?
Nothing in this world is stronger than Sisiutl.
I considered what this meant. If nothing could defeat the serpent by strength, did that mean I had to defeat it by wit or logic?
Where did the serpent come from?I thought.Help me understand.
Sisiutl was born from the volcano that created our island. She swam free for millennia, fearing nothing and driven by hunger.
Skaaw Beach came to mind—the black swells of lava rock that marked Eriana Kwai’s most remarkable section of shoreline.
