The Lunar Bay dolphins greeted him pleasantly in the manner of their kind--although unlike other dolphins, the lone-swimmers were not given to conversation, they did go out of their way to pay their respects to Ecco. He responded a little uneasily to their overtures, still unused to being so much the center of attention or so much the hero.
"They remember you," Naylle said. "You and the gray one will remain in our hearts for many years to come, I imagine. It was thanks to you that our Earth was saved from the Foe."
"We didn't do it alone," Ecco reminded her. "Practically all the singers in the sea came together to do the Moonsong--and we can't forget the sharks."
"Yes... fighting off the Foe while we sang the Moonsong. I remember clearly." Naylle sighed. "It is strange that the sharks should cause trouble now. We have gotten on so well in past times..."
They soared over a glittering white sandy floor and into deeper water. The citadel of the lone-swimmers spiraled up from the darkness, its marble tip breaking the surface of the still water to enter the crystalline night air. Even though he had seen it before, Ecco had to stifle a yip of awe when he saw the ancient place. Under the endless moonlight, its white stone gained an aura of power and age unlike anything else in the sea--except perhaps for the feeling one got in Atlantis, although that great city was nothing more than a ruin.
He frowned, narrowing his eyes as they swam through the lone-swimmer bay. Something was different here. The last time he had come to this place, he had Karkol had had the Foe on their tails and the whole of Sea had been abuzz with fear--but the moment they had entered Lunar Bay, a great wave of calm had washed over them. Ecco glanced around, puzzled. That calm was not here today. Though the citadel looked the same as ever, there was tension in the atmosphere. The few lone-swimmers who were about moved swiftly and nervously, pausing only a short time to offer him their greetings.
"These shark attacks have really unnerved you, haven't they?" he asked Naylle. "Everyone looks so worried."
She glanced back at him. "You are observant, my friend. Yes, we are worried. There is an agreement between the hungry ones and the lone-swimmers which dates back to the days of Tidesinger himself. They do not hunt us in our sacred places, and we do not use our Song to drive them from the water. But these attacks..." Naylle rose and blew suddenly, more to relieve tension than to take in needed air. "We are afraid," she admitted, returning to his side. "If the sharks ever enter Lunar Bay, there may be war."
"War?" Ecco asked. The word, and the concept, were unfamiliar to him.
She nodded gravely. "If pushed, the lone-swimmers will rise up against the sharks and their kind--and we would be joined by all the children of Delphinius, for none of them have any love for the hungry ones. For their part, the sharks have the Slayer." Naylle looked at him with an unhappy expression in her deep dark eyes. "Ecco, if it comes to that, the waters will run awash with blood, and not because of any Foe."
He shuddered at the very thought. "But they don't know the way, do they?"
Naylle became very grave. "One of them does," she said softly, gazing at him.
Ecco stared at her for a moment, and then felt his heart lurch as he understood the implications behind her statement. "You're not suggesting Karkol had any part in this, are you?" he asked angrily.
"He knows the way into Lunar Bay," Naylle said softly. "He can recognize our illusions for what they are. I do not hold it an impossibility."
"It is an impossibility," Ecco snapped. "I know Karkol! He wouldn't attack dolphins on purpose, and he certainly wouldn't go for a lone-swimmer!"
"Nevertheless, I think we must consider it," she told him. Ecco subsided, but he stared angrily at Naylle's tail as she dived and headed for the entrance to the citadel.
Afarellan, leader of the lone-swimmers, was waiting for them in the Chamber of Histories where he and Ecco had first met. Ecco paused in the entrance, suddenly afflicted with all kinds of memories. The first time he had been here, he had been with Karkol... He bowed his head in thought, remembering the big fish and wondering where he had got to.
After a moment, he glanced up at the Lunar Bay pod leader, and was shocked. Afarellan had changed greatly during the months they had spent apart--the older dolphin had lost a lot of weight and seemed haggard in the soft light of the crystalline chamber. His wise old eyes were sunken slightly. But the spark in them was as bright as ever. Moving slightly stiffly, Afarellan swam forward to greet him.
"Welcome back, my young friend," he said softly. "Thank you for returning so swiftly."
"That's okay," Ecco answered. "So, what's up? Naylle said something about a shark attack..." He glanced back, but the female dolphin had left the room in her customary silent manner, and he was alone with the pod leader.
"Yes," Afarellan said in a weary voice. "It is most puzzling. There is a cavern north of here which used in legend to be the home of Tidesinger. Two of our warriors remain there at any one time, honoring the memory of our ancestor. The cavern is sacred to us, and none but a lone-swimmer may enter--but a shark somehow found its way through the passages nevertheless and attacked the two who were there."
"Do you know what sort of shark it was?" Ecco asked. Great Whites he tended to get on well with--well, of the two he had met, he had befriended one and had at least remained uneaten by the other, which was more than many other dolphins could say. He was familiar with many of the blues and reef whitetips that hung around Sapphire Bay and even knew some of them by name. However, the only other shark of a size to challenge two lone-swimmers at once was a tiger, and Ecco had never spoken to one of those striped monsters. The tiger shark was well known as the "garbage can of the sea", happy to eat anything that found its way to its mouth.
Afarellan just shook his head. "The two who were injured have not been able to tell us. One of them has not yet regained consciousness, and the other claims he did not catch a close sight of the animal."
"Can I talk to him?" Ecco asked.
"Of course. Follow me." The old dolphin turned and slowly made his way out of the Chamber of Histories. Ecco followed, struggling slightly to adjust to Afarellan's stately pace, and noticing the arthritic stiffness of the old one's movements. Lone-swimmers were different to other dolphins, but if Afarellan had been one of Ecco's own he would have judged him to be approaching seventy--a shocking age for a dolphin.
Afarellan led him downward through a series of glittering corridors. Ecco stuck close by the old one, chafing inwardly at their slow pace. Finally, however, they turned into a side room and entered a great chamber filled with Atlantean machinery--he recognized the style from past experience. Two dolphins tended a machine in which was held a third, unconscious lone-swimmer--deep half-healed lacerations marred his white body. A cup over the blow hole supplied the crippled dolphin with air; the machine was casting a healing light over the wounds. Ecco stopped, appalled at the severity of the injuries the lone-swimmer had attained.
"This wasn't just any shark," he said, staring at the maimed swimmer. "I've never seen anything like this... well, once," he added to himself, remembering a long-ago event which had sparked off his first quest. A common dolphin, Orcus, had struggled into Sapphire Bay with a similarly awful wound. Ecco thought of Foe--the viciousness with which the lone-swimmer had been attacked suggested those alien monsters to him. A shark would have bitten once and then backed off to wait for its prey to die. Foe attacked with fury, ripping their prey into pieces. But then again, this bite pattern was nothing like that of the Foe."
"It came from below and to one side." The speaker was another lone-swimmer. Ecco looked him up and down, seeing that he too was injured, though not half as badly. A newly closed-over tear marked his long body from chest to tail-fluke, and his left eye had been closed for good by a similar slash across the face. "We never saw it coming, nor heard it either," the lone-swimmer said, turning awkwardly to look at Ecco with his good eye. "You are the Defender?"
"I am," Ecco agreed. "I guess. Though I don't know what you expect me to do..." He stared at the unconscious dolphin again, at the machines that were keeping him alive. "Do you think he would have seen it any better?" he asked the other swimmer.
The blinded one shook his head. "It is unlikely," he said. "I saw my friend attacked, and the only thing I saw of the enemy was a shadowy shape. It moved so fast..." He trembled. "It went in and out, slashing at us then fleeing back into the darkness only to return from a different direction in another heartbeat. We could not fight it."
Ecco frowned. That sort of battle technique sounded more like that of a dolphin than a shark. He turned to Afarellan, hesitantly. "Could an air-breather have done this?"
"It is out of the question," the old one said instantly. "No lone-swimmer would ever do such a thing."
"I can't see a shark doing this," Ecco muttered, "of any species."
"Will you help us?" Afarellan asked gently. "You are best suited to the task--you can speak with the creature, perhaps, and find out why it attacked us." Ecco wavered, and the old one dipped his head. "We need your help, Ecco," Afarellan murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
Ecco struggled with himself, but was unable to avoid dipping his own head in agreement. "Fine," he said. "I'll do it. Take me to this cave of yours and let's go look for some clues about the identity of your monster."
"And somehow," he murmured, as Afarellan and the injured swimmer led the way up and out of the citadel, "I get the feeling you two aren't telling me everything."
The injured swimmer's name was Belillan and he was a distant cousin of Naylle, Ecco found out as they headed north together. Belillan wasn't over-eager on talking, but he would at least answer when asked a question. Ecco swam on his blind side to provide him with protection there in the event of an attack. It was strange, having to worry about sharks in lone-swimmer waters.
"Do sharks come near your cave often?" he asked.
Belillan shook his head. "Only the little horn sharks, and they are vegetarians. In any case, they would not be big or fast enough to attack one of us. I think it was a great white that came into our cave."
"Oh, you do?" Ecco asked carefully, alarm bells ringing in his head. If possible, he wanted to stave off the possibility of a lone-swimmer confrontation with Greshruk, if only because Karkol and himself might get drawn into the fight on opposite sides. "What makes you think that?"
"The creature was strong enough to be a white shark, and it moved as if it were warm-blooded, not a sluggish fish. It was like lightning." Belillan paused. "And white sharks around here are not unknown. We saw one a few mornings ago, but thought nothing of it."
Ecco frowned. That did seem suspicious. It was unlikely that more than one large predator would be found in the same waters, and certainly there were rogue whites. If a white shark was around here somewhere, it would probably be the culprit. And yet... sharks simply did not attack in that manner. And although he knew that great whites were fast when they wanted to be--he had spent too much time around Karkol to have any illusions on that account--they didn't have agility at speed. A white would charge like a freight train. It simply couldn't turn around during its attack, darting in and out in the way Belillan described.
"I don't know," he admitted at last. "But my heart's telling me that no white shark was responsible for this."
Belillan favored him with a long look out of his good eye. "The others call you shark-friend, and now I know why. Your loyalty is commendable, but you cannot let your... acquaintance... with one of the hungry ones blind you to the nature of their race." The white dolphin glanced away again and then slowed his pace. Rock walls loomed up in front of them. At a particular place, two white dolphins waited as if guarding the wall. They stared at Ecco with thinly disguised suspicion, but made way for him when they saw that he was accompanied by one of their own. "Here," Belillan said softly. "This is the place. The guards were set here after the attack. They mark either side of the entrance."
"Another illusion?" Ecco asked. In answer the lone-swimmer moved forward and vanished into the rock face. He suppressed a fizz of laughter and swam up to it himself. No matter how many times he did do this, he would never get used to the idea of swimming through a solid object... Ecco steeled himself, squeezed his eyes closed and passed through the barrier, feeling a nervous pricking on his skin as he did so.
The other side was a great tunnel, leading inward through the stone to darkness--but it was lit, poorly, by glowing crystal globes that had been set into niches in the walls. More Atlantean technology. Belillan waited only for Ecco to orient himself before moving smoothly off through the darkness. "Stay close to me," the lone-swimmer called softly, "there are traps here for the unwary. Venture too far from the path I have set and you will die."
Ecco exhaled in surprise and hurried to catch up with the lone-swimmer as Belillan inscribed a complex path through the emptiness of the cavern. Something brushed along his back--almost--he felt the closeness of the thing, but it did not quite touch him. Turning carefully he saw something that was almost invisible in the water--a rope of some intangible substance, like a jellyfish's tentacle.
"Are they poisonous?" he asked Belillan.
"Oh, you can see the strings?" The lone-swimmer glanced back at him with a spark of cool amusement in his eyes. "No, they are not dangerous in themselves. But, if one is broken, it will drop half the ceiling down onto the luckless victim." Now that Ecco was looking, he saw swathes of the stuff were stretched right across the cavern, invisible to echolocation; they gleamed faintly with reflected light. It seemed inconceivable that any creature could get past the barrier without the help of a lone-swimmer... again, Ecco frowned. Perhaps the mysterious monster had followed Belillan and his companion in."
They turned a corner and Belillan picked up speed, following an upslope as he passed through a natural maze--Ecco fought to stay with him as they took tunnel after tunnel. His mind was reeling with trying to remember the way through, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. This was another conundrum--even if the creature could have gotten through the strings of death, how would it find its way through the maze?
At last Belillan stopped and turned to him. "We are in through the Caverns of Secrets," the white dolphin said. "This is the place where we were attacked." Ecco slowed and stopped, realizing that the passage came to an end here. There was a strange rushing, bubbling noise coming from somewhere he couldn't at first identify. A bright light stung his eyes for a moment, and when he had adjusted he saw that it came from a kind of altar. A glittering marble pedestal, lit up from within, stood in the center of the wide cavern.
"Did the creature steal something from here?" he asked, staring at the pedestal. It looked as if something should have been there.
But Belillan shook his head. "There was nothing here to steal. This is the shrine of Tidesinger, nothing more. It would have housed his bones, but... nobody knows his final place of rest."
Ecco swam forward, intending to examine the pedestal more closely, but suddenly Belillan moved to block the way. "That is not necessary," the lone-swimmer said softly. "There is nothing here to see."
"There might be a clue of some sort--"
"There is nothing."
Ecco was suddenly very curious about this strange and ancient place, but Belillan was obviously not going to back down, and, even though the lone-swimmer was weak and injured he had no wish to tackle him. Belillan would be a master of the Power of Song and, in all likelihood, had other arcane skills which Ecco did not.
"Okay," he sighed. "So somehow this creature gets past the traps--which, by the way, I don't think a shark could. It attacks you. Then what? Is there another way out of here?"
"Only one," Belillan answered. "See--there."
He glanced up and saw what was making the rushing noise and the turbulence in the water. The cavern was an underground lake, fed by a waterfall from somewhere far up. A hole in the wall covered by a delicately worked metal grating provided the only way for the water to exit.
"That is the Ancient Way," Belillan explained. "The current carries one through the stone and out into the open water, but it is too small for all but the most slender of enemies to pass, and the gate is closed until two lone-swimmers work together to open it. These tunnels were designed for defense."
"You really think of everything," Ecco muttered, gazing at the tiny opening. "Well, if the creature is as big as it had to have been to best two lone-swimmers, there's no way it could have gotten out this way. That means it either went back through the traps, in which case it would have had to pass our guards, or..."
He felt his heart lurch nervously.
"It's still in here somewhere," he said nervously.