Chapter Twenty-Four

Grim Findings

It was well into the evening when the excitement and confusion of the day finally subsided. Only then was it known that Buffer and three others were missing. When the four young Fury Fighters failed to answer the Gathering call again, the Clan was ordered to disperse and find them.

Someone suggested they scoot out to the far boundaries and do a “distance probe,” but SilverFlukes quelled that. The Snag-Tooth were always out in greater numbers for their nightly hunts, and would have the advantage of the dark, which the superstitious Whistler Clan feared.

So scannings went up from the sanctuary of the Cove. Still there was no sign of Buffer or the other young bull, LongFlukes, or either of the two females—LightFin and Squeaker. Finally, a small unit of elite scouts led by SlickFin were sent out by Commodore RamStrong to scan as close to the nightly boundaries as they dared.

Meanwhile, the Clan assembled to determine the next day’s activities. SilverFlukes kept his word to Piper by opening the Gathering with a formal proclamation that it had been in the best interest of the Pod to pay heed to her warnings.

“Despite the loss of prey, it was wise to be cautious. There will be other hunts,” he assured them. Then SilverFlukes went on to formally decree that Piper was “again fit as any other Pod member, having fully recovered from the strains of her arduous journey.”

Piper was mildly consoled, though she noticed there was still some quiet grumbling over missing out on a hearty feast. She did not care. At least now they were safe. It mattered little what they thought of her. Perhaps now the Floater and its brooding presence would be gone, and she could continue working on Thane SilverFlukes. Once he was convinced, the Pod might then depart this dangerous Coastal Zone.

Shortly after, the four from the scanner patrol returned. For one frozen moment, no one spoke. They all simply stared at the four trembling gray Whistlers trying to steady themselves in the dusky water. The silence of the misty world was broken by SlickFin. His voice wavered as though he were a newborn calf.

“We…scanned the remains of…Whistlers, sir,” said SlickFin to the Commodore. The words barely choked out from his blowhole. SlickFin was their finest scout. He had scanned the Open Sea often from the Coastal Boundaries and was not one prone to fear. Something had shaken him and the others badly.

“Remains!” burst out RamStrong from behind his knotted melon. “What do you mean remains of Whistlers? What happened to them?”

SlickFin tried composing himself as he faced his Commodore. “We think it was Snag-Tooth, Commodore…Thane SilverFlukes…good Elders,” fumbled SlickFin, trying to address the entire High Clan at once. The other scouts nodded in perturbed unison.

“Snag-Tooth?” snorted RamStrong.

“It was far away, sir,” added SlickFin to no one in particular, “but we did pick up traces of…of teeth stuck in their flesh. It was horrible,” he whimpered.

“Are you saying that Buffer and the other three have been slain by the Snag-Tooth?” asked SilverFlukes, resuming command.

“The bodies were very badly torn, Thane,” said Whipper, another one of the patrol. SlickFin was overcome and unable to continue. “But there were enough, uh…remains to tell it was several Whistlers. It’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever come across, sir. They’d been that way for some time. I…I couldn’t scan it again,” Whipper added sickly. She looked pale.

A deathly hush fell over the Pod, but only for an instant. A clamor then arose, first a squeaky whisper, then swelling to a deafening rising of many high-pitched cetacean voices.

“Death to the Snag-Tooth! Slay them all! Death to their Furies! They have slaughtered our Kin!”

It took a good while for the High Clan to calm the Pod. Even the Commodore lost control for several moments. The Elders, too, joined in, adding their own feeble squeals to the chorus of oaths. Thane SilverFlukes called loudly for an air-break, and the Pod responded, settling down as they rose for the surface. They returned quietly.

“Buffer was off on his own again,” grumbled RamStrong. “Leading his little band of eager followers off on a hunt for more heroics…the fool!” He shook his mottled head, angered at the young bull’s foolhardiness and grieved by the loss. Not even the Commodore wanted anyone to learn a lesson so harshly.

“Yes,” said SilverFlukes. “They must have followed the Snag-Tooth in all the confusion while we were on our way back. The Snag-Tooth probably turned on them when they realized there were only four. What a terrible death it must have been.”

“It wasn’t the Snag-Tooth,” a small voice uttered with conviction. It was Piper. Her eyes were wide and filled terror. “It was the Killer Imps who killed Buffer and the other three. Then they threw what was left over to the Snag-Tooth. SlugFlukes told me how they do that.”

“Bah!” wheezed RamStrong. “I am sick to heart of all this gibber of Killer Imps!” The scars and wrinkles on his face throbbed as he rambled on. “We have spent the whole day cowering from a harmless Floater, from Humunz who are probably convinced what an easy place this is to catch GillFins because the Whistlers here do not compete for their prey. If not for my command, the Snag-Tooth would have got the same notion.” He hefted himself high up onto his flukes, rising up over everyone else on the lip of the Council Cliff. “I say let us seek out these murderous Snag-Tooth and teach them what happens when they attack and slay any of our WhistlingKin!”

“Let us not be rash!” barked SilverFlukes. The clamor subsided. “It is folly to pursue the Snag-Tooth into the Open Sea. You yourself know that, Commodore.”

RamStrong settled back in his perch on the Cliff lip, ruffled by the unexpected rebuke by the Thane.

“However, you are not completely in the wrong,” said SilverFlukes.

Piper’s heart sank. She had thought SilverFlukes was going to consider that it might truly be the Killer Imps who were responsible for the slaughter. Something was not right here. Buffer wasn’t that foolish. She regretted ever having cursed him now. Yet she couldn’t argue it any further. Buffer had been killed. He was gone for good. She felt sick and weak…defeated.

“Tomorrow, we shall go to the OutZones,” said SilverFlukes. “And if these Snag-Tooth return…” There was a long pause as the Thane drew his entire ten-foot, six-hundred-pound frame up high, his silvery colors still glowing in the darkened sea, glowing with the regal radiance that was his. “If these Snag-Tooth return, then we shall not leave a single one of them alive!” he proclaimed solemnly.

There was a queer silence, a shock at hearing such militancy from the Thane.

“But we shall attack only on my command!” SilverFlukes added emphatically, eying the Commodore especially.

RamStrong nodded in acquiescence. Yes, my Thane, he thought to himself. And we all know that I shall be the one to lead that assault. “Death to the Snag-Tooth!” bellowed the Commodore defiantly. And the Pod took up the cry once more as the Gathering broke up.

Piper paddled off quietly, too grieved by the loss of Buffer, who, despite what he had done to her, was one she had still cared for deeply. Now he was gone.

She heard QuickFin’s voice along with all the rest, shrieking for vengeance. And she made up her mind that if her Pod was going to fall victim to the sly, predatory Humunz on that sinister Floater, there was absolutely nothing she could do to save them. Oh, if only SlugFlukes had come back with her. But she would save her brother—even if she had to fight him to stop him from going to his death.

She swore that, as she fluttered toward the surface. Soon she drifted off into a half-slumber and would coast on that way until dawn rustled her fully awake.