Chapter 21

GRAY SWAM ANOTHER MOON PATROL ON THE East side of shiver

territory with Goblin, Ripper, and Churn. It was his fifth patrol in force this

week, which meant that the group consisted of at least five sharkkind.

Velenka, Thrash, and Streak led another down the Western ridge. The

homewaters were tense these days as Razor Shiver sharks were spotted

close by several times.

Goblin was also taking an increased interest in Gray, even scheduling

one-on-one combat lessons. It was so much more than just ramming and

biting! Strength and size were important, but real fighting was about tactics.

What to do in a given battle depended on the particulars of the situation.

Were you fighting alone or with other sharks? Were the numbers in your

favor? Did you have the element of surprise? Were you swimming with or

against the current? It was how you answered these questions, and many

others, that would prove if you were a true mariner, or just another brawling

sharkkind.

Goblin said that in the old days of the empire, some sharkkind battles

involved armadas of sharks and dwellers that fought in formation, with the

opposing forces clashing at different points on what they called the battle

waters. Apparently humans did the same thing when fighting on land and in

their ships on top of the ocean. Sharkkind had given the humans the idea of

massed battle formations, but of course the landsharks said it was the other

way around. As if…

In their last single-combat practice, Gray fought Goblin to a standstill.

He thought the shiver leader was going to bite him in anger, but the great

white laughed instead. "Now you're doing it!" he told Gray. "You're getting

tough!" In the Big Blue that was the only way to survive.

But Gray had been troubled since his meeting with Takiza. A week had

passed, and he still hadn't told anyone about it. Thrash was quiet about it

too, but that was likely because he may have finally remembered the frilly

fish beating the stuffing out of him. Somehow Gray knew the betta swam

the Big Blue without concern, without constant fear or anger. What would it

be like to live that way?

"You're quiet today," said Goblin. "Anything the matter?"

"Nothing," Gray began, but then he said, "You ever think if all the

shivers stopped the patrols and stopped trying to take territory from each

other that maybe things would be better?"

"You mean in a perfect ocean? Where there's enough food for

everyone?" Goblin asked sarcastically. "Where magical sea horses pull us

around so we don't have to swim?"

Gray nodded. "I guess you're right. Too good to be true, huh?"

"You know it. What brought this on?"

"I met this little fish, a betta, named—"

"Takiza." Goblin almost choked on the name. "The peace-loving

Siamese fighting fish."

"You know him?" Gray asked, surprised.

"Don't know him, know of him," answered Goblin. "There are stories

about Takiza all around the Big Blue. Crazy stuff about how he's invincible.

He's more than five hundred years old—if you believe it." Goblin cast a

sidelong glance toward him. "Did you fight him?"

"No, just talked," Gray said. He wouldn't tell Goblin about Thrash's

beating. The great white would definitely make fun of the tiger and that

would be trouble for everyone.

"Peace and love makes the current go around, eh?" The great white

shook his head. "But that little flipper supposedly kicks some serious tail.

So you tell me, why is such a nonviolent fish so good at fighting?"

"I'm not sure."

"Because he's not peace-loving," Goblin continued, "Why would you

learn to fight so well if you believed that peace and harmony is the way to

go? No, no, he learned how to fight so he can crush anyone he meets."

This was an excellent point. Why would a fish who preached the evils

of violence be so good at finning it out himself? It should have stopped the

nagging thoughts in Gray's mind, but somehow made them worse.

Suddenly Churn cried, "Razor Shiver!"

Eight bull sharks were resting on the other side of an immense field of

glowing coral. The coral was beautiful to Gray's eyes, different spires

casting eerie light everywhere: pink, red, blue, green, and yellow.

Everything was lit by the ethereal glow of moonlight from above the chopchop. But no one stopped to admire this.

Without a word the bulls sped up, and the two shivers clashed over the

shimmering coral field. Though everything was in a frenzy of commotion,

time slowed for Gray. The cries of bloody victory and death receded until

he only heard his heartbeat and the water whisking past his gills. Gray

rammed one attacking bull hard, sending it spinning away just before it

could bite Thrash. In doing so, though, Gray dazed himself. His vision

blurred, and the rigid coral spires seemed to sway like greenie in the tide.

"Thanks," Thrash mouthed. Maybe he said that aloud, even yelled it,

but Gray didn't hear anything. The big tiger flashed away, avoiding a dorsal

attack from another bull. Gray hovered and watched. Something crashed

into him.

"Move it, pup!" Gray blinked at the shark in front of him, sensing that

he should know who it was. There was a high-pitched whine filling Gray's

ears, and whoever was speaking sounded very far away. "Can you hear me?

Snap out of it!" The large great white whirled and slapped Gray across the

face with his tail, and suddenly he could hear again. "STAY WITH ME IF

YOU CAN!"

"Right, right!" Gray heard himself yelling over the sound and fury as

everything came into deafening focus. Goblin battered a blue shark away

from Churn, then bit the dorsal fin off another. Gray rammed his way

through an attack. He knew his side should hurt, but it didn't right now.

That shark was replaced by another, faster one. This bull did a series of

tight turns, trying to get behind him, and succeeded in separating him from

Goblin. Gray recognized this move, called the Sea Horse Circles. The tight,

attacking maneuver could rip his tail off if it succeeded. To protect against

this, Gray switched into Manta Ray Rising, a series of counter turns.

As he was swimming for his life, Gray caught only flashes of the

continuing battle. Ripper took a massive chunk out of a bull, and a cloud of

blood fogged everything, adding to the confusion. Churn was being

attacked by two sharks and was trying to defend himself, but Gray couldn't

get away to help the whitetip. If he stopped turning, he would lose his tail!

Goblin narrowly avoided having his flank opened, then killed his attacker

with a bite clean through its head.

Another bull streaked to join his shivermate behind Gray. Gray

executed a violent downward power thrust to get out of the way, letting his

second attacker accidentally ram his pursuer, who had almost closed to

striking distance. In a moment they would turn and attack him from both

sides at once and send Gray to the Sparkle Blue! There was no choice. Gray

tore the flipper off the first bull, sending him spiraling to the bottom of the

ocean, then charged the second bull. That attacker beat a hasty retreat now

that it wasn't two against one, and Gray had the current flowing in his

favor. Then, as fast as the battle had begun, it was over. The bulls were

nowhere to be seen. All that remained was a red haze, already thinning.

Soon it would be as if nothing happened at all.

Ripper bumped him from behind and Gray nearly jumped out of his

skin. "Nice work, fin," the hammerhead grunted. "Goblin, you okay?" he

called over Gray's flank. Goblin was facing away from them and didn't

turn. Both went to where the great white hovered. Blood bloomed in the

water around him. Gray got worried. With that much blood gushing from

his body, the great white would swim the Sparkle Blue in minutes. But it

wasn't Goblin who was bleeding.

It was Churn.

The whitetip had received two massive bites, one in the side and one in

the back. "Did—did we win?" he asked.

"Yeah," Goblin told him with sadness in his eyes. "We won." And with

that Churn's gills stopped moving and he sank to the seabed.

Gray wanted to throw up. "This is winning?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Goblin turned, but not in anger. "Yes, and it's not pretty. If the bulls

have their way, we'll all be just like that." The great white pointed a fin at

Churn's carcass. "That's what Takiza's mumbo jumbo gets you! A place

right next to Churn."

Gray looked at the unmoving whitetip lying on the coral. Already, crabs

and small fish were gathering to eat.