Chapter 19

Breakfast was equipped with a barb – a long, pointed spine, which could cause a nasty injury. It came swimming lazily along the rocky gully of the inlet where Beck had caught last night’s dinner, and he knew with one glance that it could kill him if he wasn’t careful.

“Whoah,” he murmured to himself.

Survivors shouldn’t take unnecessary risks – but at the same time, they shouldn’t pass opportunities up. He could have waited for something less dangerous. On the other hand, he was hungry.

It was a ray. It had a flat, diamond shaped body about half a metre across, and it moved through the water by gently flapping its two pointed wings. Its eye sockets were a pair of bumps on its top and they reminded Beck of twin gun turrets, panning slowly from side to side.

The barb trailed behind it and it was the ray’s main defence. If a predator came too close, it could whip the barb up and stab its attacker, delivering a shot of venom into the bargain. The naturalist Steve Irwin, some years ago, had been killed by a creature like this, Beck remembered. He had swum up behind it and the ray had probably mistaken him for a predator, so it had flipped its sting up and speared him right in the chest.

But Beck’s spear was longer than the barb.

So, if I attack from the front, and get it right first time, I should be fine…

He paused, shifted his feet on the rocks to get the right balance, poised – and dived.

Once again, he was blind, guiding himself by sense of direction and gravity. Like the last time, he drove the spear ahead of him with all the weight of his body. He felt the shudder in his arms and shoulders as it grounded against something solid. Had he pinned the ray down? He couldn’t see anything and he was aware that somewhere out in that rush of bubbles and blinding salt water, there was a poisonous spine whipping around.

But when he lifted the spear up, he could feel there was something on the end of it, and it wasn’t moving. He kicked up to the surface, holding the spear at arm’s length, and shook the water from his eyes. And there it was – the ray, draped over the triple prongs, not moving. Its wings and barb hung limply.

“Nice!” he said happily, to no one in particular. “Breakfast is served!”

He headed back to the beach, letting the sun dry him off naturally, with the ray still skewered on the end of the spear.

“Jian?” he asked, looking about when he got there. The other boy was conspicuously not there. Ju-Long had just finished gathering wood for a new fire. There was no sign of dragons.

“I helped him up to the signal point,” she said. “He said he is happy to take the watch permanently. He said it is about all he feels able to do, and he does want to be helpful so much.”

She noticed him start to frown.

“And I left him with a club, in case of dragons, and I set the plastic net up across the narrow part of the point.”

“Good job.” It sounded like Jian would be safe on his own, but still Beck frowned.

“What is it?”

Beck sighed and decided to share what was on his mind.

“Jian was so full of life when we first met him. Enthusiastic about everything. Now…”

“Think of everything he has been through,” Ju-Long said reasonably. “Losing the boat, and then because of his hand it means he cannot be as helpful as he would like.”

“Exactly! And I know he didn’t sleep well – with all the pain and fretting – and that won’t help his state of mind. Basically, I think we should make sure at least one of us is with him, as much as we can, just so he doesn’t start to mull over things too much. When you’re tired, thirsty or injured, plus feeling guilty, it can be a dangerous cocktail. We need to keep him upbeat.”

“I understand. I guess none of us slept well,” she admitted. “Dragons on the mind.”

“Hm. Yeah.” He decided not to let on that he had had a conversation with his dead sister. He took a much-needed drink from one of the refilled water bottles, and held up the food offering.

“We can start by cooking this up there. He’s got the fire steel anyway…”

He paused, cocked his head. Had he heard someone shout? A male voice… And there was only one other male on the island.

“Look!” Ju-Long exclaimed. At the same moment, Beck distinctly heard the voice again. It was Jian – but not shouting in alarm. He was shouting to catch attention.

Ju-Long scrambled to her feet. “Come on! Quick!”

From the other side of the island, a column of thick black smoke was rising up above the trees.