Chapter 22

BARKLEY WAITED IN THE THICK BLUE-GREENIE for his prey. He'll

never know what hit him, he thought. He was careful to let the target swim

past his hiding place before rushing out to attack.

"Gotcha!" Barkley yelled as he scraped Striiker's flank, but not hard

enough to cause a gash.

As the great white groused, Mari, Snork, and Shell joined them from

where they had been watching. "Your angle was all wrong! You should

strike a fin or the tail if you've got a chance like that."

The dogfish's flippers drooped. "Oh. That would have been better."

Mari gave him a playful slap with her tail. "But your stalking was

excellent! You were so far into the greenie that I didn't see you at all."

"Yeah," said Snork. "You're really good at sneaking."

"Thanks. I think," replied Barkley.

Shell shook his head. "How can you deal with all that greenie? Being

inside the thick stuff gives me the willies. Like it's going to strangle me."

"If you go slow it slides right by," Barkley told the bull. "Just don't

charge through it and you'll be fine." Barkley felt a little better now. He

definitely wasn't the toughest fin around, but with Rogue Shiver's help, he

felt a little more at ease in the open waters of the Big Blue.

They were practicing—Striiker refused to call it playing—for when

trouble came. The great white was sure it was on the way and only a matter

of time before it would show up. He didn't trust Goblin any further than he

could drag him onto shore. Barkley hoped Striiker was wrong, but

practicing was a wise precaution. Still it would take a long time, if ever, to

change Barkley into a relentless, steely-eyed mariner.

It was just like old times after they got back to the landshark shipwreck.

They were careful not to hunt anywhere near the patrolled areas of Goblin

Shiver's territory. After the second close call, Barkley took it upon himself

to monitor when and where the patrols went. Luckily, these were on a fairly

regular schedule. Whoever was in charge of organizing the patrols,

probably Ripper or Thrash, wasn't devoting enough thought to the task.

Velenka definitely wasn't in charge. What was she planning? Barkley didn't

have a clue what she was up to, and it worried him.

One time he caught sight of Gray patrolling with Thrash. Obviously

Barkley didn't pop out from his hiding spot to say hello because the big

tiger was there. But he wondered whether he would have come out even if

Gray had been alone. This made him sad. They had been such close friends.

And now? Barkley wasn't so sure.

Striiker was muttering and looking at him. "Barkley, you've got to get

better at this. If we get into trouble, we're going to need everyone." The

young great white was always so serious!

"Why don't you leave him alone?" said Snork, coming to Barkley's

defense. He and Snork were now fast friends. Barkley liked Mari, of course.

Everyone did. And Shell seemed okay, but distant. Even Striiker, though

annoying sometimes with his short temper, was a good fin. But Snork

seemed like the brother Barkley had never had.

Striiker was about to start a full-blown argument when Mari stepped in.

"He's getting better every day. We all are! And we have you to thank for

that."

"I just hope there are enough days to practice before we leave for the

Sific," he answered. "It's a long trip and there are plenty of territories to

swim through."

"Or we could sneak through them. And Barkley's great at that!" Snork

said proudly. "He'll be leading us forward some of the time, you'll see."

Before Striiker could get angry, Shell interrupted. "All this practice

made me hungry. How about we hunt?"

Striiker looked Barkley's way. "Patrols?" he asked.

Barkley shook his head. "We should be clear on the Western side of the

wreck. But like you always say, let's be careful."

"Finally," the young great white said, "some sense." Striiker never

could let anyone have the last word. Barkley wondered if this was a great

white thing, or if all shiver leaders were like this.

The group swam to the area past the Western reaches of Goblin Shiver's

homewaters. There was usually good hunting there, and this day looked to

be no different. Though there weren't any large clusters or droves, the fish

were plenty.

Barkley's stomach rumbled. He was about to launch himself toward his

prey when Mari whispered an urgent "Wait!" She motioned into the

distance with her snout.

For a moment Barkley didn't see anything, but suddenly a shark

materialized in the distance. And then another, and another, and more and

more. It wasn't a patrol in force like Goblin Shiver was using lately. This

was different. There were pups and older sharks. Some were trailing

streams of blood.

"So many," whispered Snork fearfully.

"I don't recognize anyone," Shell said in a low voice.

Striiker agreed. "It's not Goblin Shiver."

"Then who are they?" asked Barkley.

No matter what Striiker thought they should do, he always looked to

Mari before deciding anything important. This was one of the things that, to

Barkley, counted very much in his favor as Rogue Shiver's leader. Striiker

knew Mari was smart, and even though he was bigger and tougher than she

was, the great white valued her opinion.

Striiker looked at Mari now, and she said, "I think we should talk with

them."

Striiker nodded in agreement. "Let's swim in slowly so we don't scare

them into attacking."

"And what if they do attack?" asked Snork, his eyes very wide.

"Swim away if you can, fight if you have to. And don't head straight for

the wreck, circle wide." All of this was very good advice. Striiker had his

moments.

Barkley followed as Striiker and Shell took the lead. Mari formed a

second level above them, with Snork protecting the pair's topside. As they

rose from the greenie and revealed themselves, the ragged group stopped

and quickly formed a defensive position with the more mature sharks on the

outside. Barkley saw that these sharks were wounded. All of them. The

pups in the group wailed from underneath their mothers' bellies as Rogue

Shiver slowed to a stop, barely a few tail strokes away. Barkley was

horrified to see that some of the pups were also injured!

A scarred, old thresher swam out in front of the pack. "We're not here

for trouble," he said. "Just passing through. We won't hunt in your

territory."

"That's fine," Striiker replied. "Can you tell us what happened?"

The thresher spoke in low tones to a couple of other sharks. He

definitely looked like their leader and was probably consulting with what

was left of his Line. He faced Striiker and said, "We're called Jetty Shiver.

Our homewaters are about a day away in the direction we came from, a nice

little reef." The thresher stopped, overcome for a moment, but the fin was a

mariner and kept his emotions under control. "We were attacked by

sharkkind from Goblin Shiver. We had heard of them but didn't think they'd

come so far East. They took some of us to be recruits and killed others who

said they wouldn't go. We're what's left."

Barkley felt sick to his stomach. Goblin was an evil shark!

"We're sorry for your losses," Snork said. The sawfish was tearing up.

Strangely, this seemed to dispel any tension between the two groups. Snork

was the best.

"You're sure it was Goblin Shiver?" Shell asked. "Maybe it was bull

sharks from Razor Shiver?"

A small hammerhead answered, "No bull sharks were there. The leader

of the raiders was a big tiger. A mean blue shark was giving orders, too.

They said they were Goblin Shiver. Was it someone else?"

"No," Striiker told them. "That's Goblin Shiver."

Barkley nodded to himself. The tiger was Thrash and Streak was the

blue.

"If you swim another quarter day to the West, you should be able to

hunt there for the rest of the sun," Barkley told the thresher. "But Goblin

Shiver will send a patrol through there by moonrise."

The thresher nodded. "We thank you and hope to repay the kindness."

Their group began to move again. They could only swim as fast as their

slowest member, though, so it wasn't very fast.

Barkley's mind raced. Was Gray with Ripper when they did this? Could

he have been a part of the attack on Jetty Shiver? Attacking pups? No!

Barkley could see that Mari was asking herself the same questions. He

needed to know! "Excuse me!" he yelled to the thresher, who turned.

Barkley's voice caught in his throat as he asked, "Was there a big, young

pup with them? Kinda like a reef shark, but not?"

The thresher shook his head. "Nothing like that." And then the group

swam onward. No one spoke as the refugees receded into the Big Blue.

"At least it wasn't Gray," Barkley told Mari.

Striiker got furious! "'At least it wasn't Gray'? I got news for you,

dogfish! He's a member of Goblin Shiver! He's probably okay with what

happened!"

"Striiker, you're not being fair!" Mari protested.

"Maybe he was there and they didn't see him!" the great white

continued. "Maybe he was busy gutting someone's mother!"

Barkley had had enough. "Come on, Striiker! I don't know why you

don't like Gray, but I can tell you he would not kill anyone's mother! Not

possible!"

"You're right." Striiker calmed. "But are you absolutely sure he won't

be part of the next raid on some poor shiver if Goblin orders it?" Striiker

whirled and left everyone in his wake. Mari, Shell, and Snork slowly

followed him toward the landshark wreck.

Barkley grew cold when he realized that deep down, he wasn't

absolutely sure what Gray would actually do