Islands of Fire Read online

  To Kina’s pleasure, several of the warriors who stayed back with the canoes have already untied them and launched, more afraid of the horde of undead emerging from the cave than in possibly defying their kupuna’s orders.

  The abandoned warriors scream at their companions to return. When this doesn’t happen, they dive into the sea and begin to swim. Heavy surf shoves them back against the rock wall or scatters them. The skeletons, unfazed by the waves, move down the rocks and into the water, grabbing swimming warriors from below and pulling them down.

  Leaving now would betray their position, so Kina and Hekalo keep to their hiding place behind a large barricade of jagged stones. Though they are knee-deep in water and fight to keep away from spiny urchins clinging to the rocks, they can’t risk moving.

  More and more skeletons come, the entire army of the dead traitors pouring out of the cave. Driven by what Kina can only imagine is a mindless instinct, they turn toward the commotion down at the water’s edge.

  The warriors paddling the escaped canoes stop when they get some ways out, visibly torn about what to do. Then they point down into the water in horror and once more take up their paddles. Kina imagines they saw the skeletons wading across the bottom of the sea in that eerie way that Kina had seen them do, back in the flooded cave.

  All five canoes make a line for the remains of the Life Eaters’ village. Though it is out of sight from this point of land, Kina knows it isn’t far.

  Before long, the skeletons stop coming. The last of them follow their brethren into the sea, and then there is a strange calm. The waves still beat against the shore, echoing like thunder in the open mouth of the sea cave. But other than the shredded corpses of dead warriors littering the shore, there is no sign that anything unusual has happened here.

  Hekalo asks, “How long should we wait?”

  “I don’t know,” Kina says. “A while.”

  “Then what?”

  Kina shrugs. “I’m still trying to get over seeing the dead walk.”

  “I need to get close to them if I’m going to cast the spell.”

  “You can still do that? I mean, now that they’re up and moving?”

  Hekalo nods. “As far as I know. But I can’t do it from here. I wonder where they went?”

  “After the canoes, I would guess.”

  Hekalo stands up and ventures out to where he can see. “I don’t see them,” he says, “but I think you’re right. They’ll probably keep moving until they reach the canoes. You think they’ll attack the village?”

  “Why not?” Kina asks. “Nothing has stopped them yet. Whatever curse was placed on them has made them bloodthirsty and brainless. It’s like they want to kill anything alive.”

  “The jealous dead,” Hekalo says.

  “We better get you closer, then. If you can’t cast your spell from this far away, we’ll need to go over to the village so you can. Besides,” Kina says, “if the ‘traitors,’ as Mokolo called them, are going to attack the Burning Warriors, I want to be there to watch.”

  They leave their hiding spot and clamber over the rocks, heading back to the relative safety of the hot forest.

  By the time they reach the river, they can already hear the fighting. The first shouts down near the water have turned into the roar of dozens and dozens of warriors shouting. Above it all come several quick blasts from a shell.

  “It’s happening already!” Hekalo says.

  Kina splashes out into the river. “Can you see anything?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Let’s get closer.”

  They cross the stream and cut into the dense brush on the bank. From here, they can make their way closer to the village.

  Following a bend in the river, they begin to see huts, both burned and standing. The pall of smoke still hangs over everything.

  “Move that way,” Hekalo says, and the two leave the river so they can run, crouched and terrified, through the thick foliage.

  They take a vantage point just behind and to the right of Kuanatuku’s hut. Kina can see the central square where she had been forced to fight Nakali. Off to the left are the cages where Kina had spent a sleepless night.

  Now, the village is alive with motion. From all sides rush warriors, some flooding in to engage with mobs of skeletons, others wounded and trying to struggle for escape. Some of To`o’s traitors have wrestled weapons from the hands of their living opponents, and their old bony hands once more wrap around the solid haft of a leiomano club or a spear. Bloody warriors try to hold them back from the kupuna, who stands on the far side of the square. To her astonishment, Kina can see Nakali there as well, looking pale and weak, her arm tied off in a knot of cloth.

  Hekalo looks at Kina. “Now?”

  Kina shakes her head. “Wait until more of them are taken down.”

  “But it takes a while. I don’t want to wait too long!”

  “True.”

  Kina and Hekalo observe for another minute, keeping out of sight in a refuse pile just behind Kuanatuku’s hut. More and more warriors fall, until their commander lets out another blast from the shell.

  “I think they’re retreating!” Kina hisses. “Do it now!”

  “Already on it,” Hekalo says. He closes his eyes and begins to say some words. Kina is only half-listening, but many of the words have syllables she’s never heard before, sibilant hisses and sharp, harsh vowels that are unlike the rounded and soft sounds of the language she knows well.

  The mass of elite warriors is shifting, trying to move Nakali toward the canoes. Her kupuna is making gestures and holds his face toward the sea. Kina can’t see his face from this angle, but he looks like he is also casting a spell.

  “Hurry up!” she barks at Hekalo.

  The skeletons have managed to drive a wedge into the line of warriors, splitting them into two groups. The smaller one breaks apart into chaos and are slowly picked off, each dying warrior giving more weapons to their relentless adversaries.

  Out across the water, a line of white is forming. Kina realizes it is a massive wave, probably a boon granted by Mother Ocean at the behest of the Ebon Flame kupuna. His face turns to the sky in ecstasy as the wave rises higher, churning the water just beyond the reef and sucking in the ride until huge swaths of the sandy seafloor are visible.

  “He’s going to swamp this place!” Kina says, but Hekalo is lost in his incantation and doesn’t seem to notice.

  One of the skeletons takes hold of a spear. Tapping into some distant memory, it stares at the weapon for a second, then pulls its arm back into a cocked position, and lets the spear fly. The shaft arcs through the air and thunks right through the back of the kupuna. He screams in agony and drops out of sight behind the line of warriors.

  The long and tall wave seems to just sag back into the sea. There is a thunderous sound as all that water breaks apart on the reef, and it surges straight up the curved seafloor and over the beach, just the sheer volume of it creating a powerful, foaming swell. The water rushes across the sand, only a few inches deep when it reaches the village, but it is enough to knock even the mightiest warrior off his feet. The mass of bodies, living and dead, tumble into a confused pile, weapons scattered.

  The wave is little more than an inch deep when it reaches Kina and Hekalo, splashing over their legs and knocking debris against them, but it has no other effect. Hekalo concentrates on his chant and doesn’t lose his place.

  However, stunned by the sudden impact, the Burning Warriors struggle to take stock of the change in situation, but their inhuman foes seem unfazed. With terrible speed, they claw back to their feet, take up whatever weapons they can find, and begin to savagely hack at the pile of screaming warriors.

  Scrambling out from the chaos, Kina sees a familiar face. It takes her a second to realize who it is, but then she gasps.

  Pupo!

  Freeing a Devil

  “I’ll be back,” Kina says to Hekalo. “Don’t stop!”

  The sorcerer looks at her in wo
nderment, but Kina is already running.

  She takes advantage of the panic of the scene taking place in the village square to remain unnoticed, cutting around the back side of the remaining huts. She passes the pen, then several more blackened structures before getting close enough that she can risk coming out of her hiding place.

  “Pupo!” she hisses.

  The old man has become pinned against a fallen palm tree, terrorized warriors nearly trampling him in their efforts to fight the skeletons. He looks up when he hears her name. Unfortunately, so do several skeletons.

  “Run to me!” Kina shouts.

  One of the Burning Warriors shouts, “The slave is here! Lady Nakali, she is over here!”

  Nakali, kept alive by a knot of her finest warriors, looks up with glazed eyes. Though she is too weak to move, she shouts for her warriors to seize Kina.

  Seeing that Pupo won’t be able to extricate himself from his situation, Kina comes in slashing at anything that moves. The pahi carves a path through living and dead alike until she is close enough to take hold of Pupo’s extended hand.

  Burning Warriors, breaking off from the skeletons, grab at Pupo’s other arm, while others try to approach Kina from the side.

  She yanks and tugs Pupo away.

  “Don’t let them escape!” Nakali yells.

  This is easier said than done. Apart from a handful of them, the skeleton warriors are still focused on their human adversaries. Kina is more concerned with the skeletons trying to outflank her.

  For several desperate seconds, she is locked in tight battle with the clawing, moaning skeletons. Then Pupo yanks her over the log, and they tumble together into the sand.

  Kina takes advantage of the momentary break to switch positions with Pupo, using herself and the pahi as a barrier between him and the skeletons.

  “When I say run, run!” she tells him.

  Kina batters a skeleton, then shoves it back into its brethren. This is the opportunity she needs. She orders Pupo to start running, and she is close behind.

  A half dozen skeletons crawl over the log and take up pursuit. Kina takes quick glances behind as she and Pupo run through the dense brush near the village, and she is astonished at how fast the skeletons can move.

  And then the skeletons falter, stumbling as if losing their balance. They drop to the ground, once more merely piles of bones. For a moment she can see a faint shape leave their bodies, a trembling shadow not much more substantial than the faintest wisp of steam. She recognizes them as spirits, like the ghosts Pupo had trapped in his little wicker cages back on Lohoke`a.

  The spell had worked! The traitors had been dismissed from this world.

  “What happened?” Pupo asks.

  “I’ll explain later,” Kina replies. “For now we have to keep moving.”

  As they race through the trees, Kina stops every so often to listen for the sounds of pursuit.

  “It’s good to see you again,” she says.

  Pupo says, “You too. I thought you were dead.”

  “I was sure you were dead. Did `Imu`imu kill Motua?”

  Between gasps, Pupo says, “No. Both of us were knocked in the water. We never saw what happened.”

  “So he’s alive?” Kina asks. She feels elated at the news. “Where is he?”

  “Some of the Burning Warriors went back to Keli`anu. They took him with them.”

  Kina looks at Pupo, her joy turning to horror. “He’s back in Keli`anu? To be made into a drum?”

  “I don’t know,” Pupo says, miserably. “The rest of the survivors came here, and they took me with them. Somehow their kupuna was able to know where you went.”

  “Yeah,” Kina says. “He was guided by his `aumakua.”

  “I thought it was something like that. I’m sorry.”

  Kina doesn’t respond. She is fantasizing about rescuing Motua, but realizes it is probably already too late. The feeling of moving so quickly from mourning to happiness and back to mourning leaves a sharp ache in her chest.

  They rejoin with Hekalo, who is lying, exhausted, on the ground.

  “Can you move?”

  He shakes his head. “I feel like I’m going to die.”

  “Well, we can’t stay here.”

  “Who’s he?” Hekalo asks.

  “This is a friend,” she says. “I’ll tell you about it later. I need to to stand up. The Burning Warriors will be coming this way soon.”

  “Fine,” Hekalo says. “Let them.”

  “No, I can’t lose you. Do whatever you have to do and get up.”

  Hekalo sighs, then manages to sit. “Help me up.”

  Kina pulls him to his feet. “We have to go back to To`o.”

  “I know,” he says. “Lead the way.”

  They slip away from the village while the remnants of the Burning Warriors still stagger around, trying to recover from the onslaught. The screams of the dying echo through the forest as Kina, Hekalo, and Pupo make their way up the slope, finally reaching the base of the stone steps.

  As they begin to climb, too tired to move very fast, Kina tells Pupo about working with Nakali to find To`o, being captured by the Life Eaters, discovering that To`o is in fact a devil posing as a god, and her bargain with Mokolo to help him unseat To`o and reclaim his island. Pupo asks questions, but Kina has answers for few of them. “Mokolo has promised answers,” she tells him. “I hope he can deliver.”

  By the time they reach the canyon and its narrow walkways, Kina feels like she is ready to drop dead from exhaustion herself. They take a breather, during which time she scouts around for some food. There isn’t much to be had along these slopes, but she is manages to find some ripe mangoes and the trio gorge themselves at the top of the stairs.

  Following the walkways along the canyon wall is easier, now that it is familiar, though Kina never overcomes a nauseating terror of the depths below. At first, Pupo refuses to step out onto the ledges, but Kina stays close to him and guides his steps, telling him where it is safe to walk. At her urging, he avoids looking into the gaping abyss.

  Kina’s worst fear is that the Burning Warriors might rally from their near defeat and follow them up the hill, but though she keeps nervously glancing back, they never materialize. At last Hekalo reaches the end of the platforms. Pupo is grateful to once more be on solid ground.

  “It isn’t far now,” Hekalo says.

  They continue up through the trees, following the same trail as before until they finally arrive at the crack in the crater rim. Hekalo goes first, sliding sideways through the narrow gap. He is followed by Pupo. Kina holds back, listening. As the sound of her companions scuffling through the rocky split fades out, she is left with just the wind. Clouds keep her from being able to see the ocean from here, but she can see far down the slope at the distant forest and, past that, the sharp canyon walls where the treacherous shelf path winds along the rock. It is too far to make out details, but occasionally she thinks she can see motion down there, as figures move in and out of sight along the canyon.

  She turns and follows Hekalo and Pupo through the crack.

  Once more crossing the dead rocky waste, they approach the huge stone statue in which To`o hides. A light mist has made everything slick. Droplets of water drip off To`o’s stony brow.

  “YOU HAVE RETURNED.”

  “We have, Great To`o.”

  “KNEEL BEFORE YOUR GOD.”

  The three of them lower themselves to their knees on the wet stone. Showing proper deference, they look down at the ground instead of at To`o’s face.

  “We come to you humbly,” Kina says, “but in victory.”

  To`o says, “YOU HAVE SLAIN THE DEVIL MOKOLO?”

  “Yes, great lord To`o.”

  “WHO IS THIS YOU HAVE BROUGHT BEFORE ME?”

  Kina realizes To`o is talking about Pupo. “It is an old friend, my lord. We have been happily reunited.”

  “AND WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE OTHER SUPPLICANT?”

  “She… she was too injure
d to return,” Kina says. “I promised her we would carry on in her place.”

  “VERY WELL. YOU MUST SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE I DEMANDED. DID YOU COLLECT THE TEETH AS A TROPHY OF YOUR VICTORY?”

  Kina unrolls the waistband of her skirt, letting the teeth clatter out, one by one. When each one has been removed, she reties her skirt, gathers the teeth into a small pile, and bows.