Dolphin Way: Rise of the Guardians by Mark Caney Read Free Book Online Page B

it?’
    ‘ She’d anticipated something like this happening and warned Sky to be careful. But she’s given him permission to find out more about his father.’
    The three of them began a gentle cruise along the shoreline, swimming close together as they talked. Wakes looked at Sky in concern. ‘Sky please do be careful! You know how impetuous you can be sometimes. I hate all this — why is everyone behaving so oddly lately?’
    Sky glanced at Deneb questioningly who tilted his head as a shrug. ‘Who else is behaving oddly, Wakes?’
    ‘ Well…those bullies attacking you, what happened to Born, the Walkers killing those Cleaners in that awful way, and then the night I saw…’ She trailed off her eyes frowning.
    ‘ Saw what?’
    ‘ I’m not sure exactly, which is why I hadn’t meant to say anything until I had a chance to try and check things properly.’
    ‘ Come on, Wakes,’ Deneb prompted her. ‘You’ve got us curious now; you’ll have to say more.’
    She smiled at him. ‘Well, I’ll tell you what I think I saw, but I don’t think I should say who I thought I saw. A couple of days ago, I was looking for Dusk. It was getting dark when I saw her; she was with some of the other trainee Starwriters and they were practising or something. They were in the shallows in a kind of rocky depression, so that they could see the stars without being disturbed by the waves. When I got there they had already dropped into that trance they go into and the Dreamweaver had started to chant the stuff they had to memorise; old historical stuff, I think. Of course, I didn’t want to disturb them, so I was about to leave, when I noticed an older zeta watching them from behind the rock.’
    Sky interrupted her. ‘Do you mean this zeta was close enough to hear what they were saying?’
    ‘ I am pretty sure he would have been. In fact it looked like that was what he was trying to do.’
    ‘ But they’re not allowed to do that,’ said Deneb ‘Who was it?’
    She looked at him apologetically. ‘I’m not certain. It was too dark. But I think that it was a zeta from the Council.’
    ‘ A Councillor! Who?’
    ‘ I don’t think I should say, as I’m half guessing really.’
    ‘ What happened then?’
    ‘ I was curious, and so I watched for some time from the edge of visibility, but from where I couldn’t hear the Starwriters. Eventually, he left; very carefully and quietly, as though he didn’t want to be seen. I followed him. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but it seemed so strange. He swam east from the clan a long way and eventually he stopped by a rocky outcrop. Soon another zeta came. A big, younger male. They talked, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying — they kept their voices low.’
    ‘ So did you see where this other zeta went?’
    ‘ No. At one point they stopped talking and looked around — looked in my direction! I was terrified that they may have seen me as the moon was coming up so I came back to the clan as fast as I could.’
    Sky looked at her seriously. ‘Wakes, that is really strange. Tell us who you think it was.’
    ‘ I don’t like to, as I’m not certain. And you know what the Way says: “Let the accused hear the accusation first.”’
    Deneb moved closer to her. ‘It was brave of you to do what you did. And you’re right not to want to spread rumours if you’re not sure. But something is very wrong here. Promise me that you will tell Cloud Passing when we see him next for lessons.’
    She smiled back at Deneb gratefully. ‘That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to him. He’ll know what I should do.’
    Sky saw how closely the two of them were swimming. He noticed that Wakes had brushed her pectoral fin gently against Deneb’s side at least twice now, as though by accident. Sky smiled to himself and decided he should leave them alone. ‘I’m supposed to meet with Cloud Passing myself now. I’ll see you two later. Hopefully we can find out what this little mystery is all about