The Girl Who Dreamt of Dolphins (7 page)

‘
And so’, said Storm turning to Spirit again, a note of
seriousness creeping back into his voice, ‘When a shooting-star
falls and a dolphin is born, we know that something special has
occurred.’

As Storm and Spirit idled along, the killer whales loomed
closer. Three bulky shapes approached them in the water. Though
over six metres long and weighing as many tonnes, the orcas were
surprisingly quiet as they swam closer and closer. They came up on
the two dolphins from behind so Spirit and Storm did not see their
distinctive white chests and sides, which contrasted so markedly
with their black backs.

The orcas were moving in on the dolphins slowly, cautiously,
but were more than capable of out-swimming the dolphins over longer
distances, swimming as fast as thirty knots. With their exceptional
eye-sight the orcas could see the two dolphins well. They had no
need of their echo-location skills that day and at the moment they
swam silently, for fear of giving themselves away before they began
their attack.

They knew by Storm’s size and markings that he would be able
to easily resist them, but they focused instead on the younger,
smaller dolphin, who to them seemed easier prey. All of a sudden,
they began their attack.

The three orcas appeared out of the grey green gloom of the
sea, looming up on Storm and Spirit from behind. They had been
silent in their approach, but now that they neared they started
calling to each other as they swam. The two dolphins turned with a
start. Before he knew what was happening, Spirit felt a great bang
against his flank as one of the killer whales lunged in and
battered him to one side. The shock of the blow half stunned Spirit
and he spun in the water, not knowing which way up he was facing or
what to do.

‘
Swim Spirit, swim!’ shouted Storm desperately. Storm had
turned just in time and had missed the blow from the second orca,
but now he was separated from Spirit and knew that while they were
apart, they were both in danger. Spirit regained his senses
sufficient to start swimming out of the way, but as he did so, the
big, dull faced orca turned ready to strike him once
again.

Before the orca had time to launch a second wave of attack
Storm swam at him with all his might and landed a glancing blow on
the side of the orcas head. Storm was much smaller than the whale,
but he succeeded in hitting the orca in the eye, temporarily
blinding him and buying enough time for Spirit to swim up to the
surface and fill his lungs through his blow hole.

‘
That’s right Spirit, now swim!’ commanded Storm, who swum up
and joined him again. The two dolphins set off in flight away from
the orcas, but suddenly saw one up ahead of them, ready to cut them
off. They turned sharply, but the two orcas chasing them closed in
on them from behind.

This time the largest orca opened its massive jaws ready to
bite at Storm, but the older dolphin turned again just in time and
then leapt out of the water in a diversionary manoeuvre, as the
Killer whale lunged on passed him. The two dolphins were separated
again and Spirit was on his own.

‘
Faster, faster, faster!’ Spirit urged himself on through the
water in full flight, but he felt impotent against the might of the
orcas, two of which were still gaining on him from
behind.

Storm turned in a wider arc, slicing through the water with
all the speed and agility he could muster, in a desperate bid to
outrun the whales and to rejoin Spirit. But the whales were gaining
on Spirit and Storm knew all too well that the smaller, weaker
dolphin was their target.

In her bed, Lucy thrashed about in her sheets, anxiety a knot
in the core of her stomach and every muscle in her body tense as
she witnessed the attack on Spirit and Storm in dreams so vividly
it felt as though she really was there with them.

‘
Swim little one, swim!’ she implored Spirit, in her troubled
dreams. ‘You can do it!’ But she could see that Spirit was flagging
and that fear and tiredness were already catching up with the young
dolphin. She could see the massive bulk of the orca gaining on him
and, within seconds, the whale was close enough to open its mouth
and take a swipe at Spirits tail fin with its row of hard
teeth.

‘
Turn left now!’ Lucy called out sharply.

Spirit felt tired and did not know what to do. He was slowing,
but then he heard a strange, unfamiliar voice, so close that he
felt as though someone were right next to him. He turned left
decisively in obedience to the voice and the orca’s mouth just
closed on cold water, millimetres behind him. Suddenly Storm was at
his side again.

‘
I heard a voice!’ he exclaimed.

‘
Just keep swimming’, the older dolphin commanded him ‘and keep
close to the surface. They want to cut you off from your source of
air and then drown you in the depths. Don’t give them the chance!’
They burst through the waves and into the daylight again as the
orcas bore down relentlessly upon them.

With a thump, Lucy found herself in a tangled heap of sheets
and duvet on the floor of her room. She had slid out of bed in the
struggle of the dreams and suddenly found herself awake. But a
strange thing happened. The vision of dolphins in her head did not
disappear as her mind jerked into wakefulness. She could see them
still. She knelt on the floor looking onwards, as though staring
through an open window.

As they leapt through the white froth of the waves, Spirit
looked ahead and saw a small, grey-white trawler in the distance,
battling resolutely through the churning waters of the sea on its
way back to port.

‘
Turn towards the boat’ came the voice at Spirit’s side. But it
wasn’t Storm and Spirit didn’t know where it came from.

‘
Over there’ said Spirit to Storm. ‘We must go that way.’ They
were too far from the islands to get to them quickly and Storm knew
that with every passing minute Spirit’s strength would ebb to the
point that he would fall easy prey to the orcas. He was getting
short of ideas and he knew it.

‘
Why?’ he gasped, as they swam on.

‘
There’s a boat over there’ said Spirit. ‘If we get to it, then
I think we’ll be safe.’

‘
Let’s give it a go’ agreed Storm.

The great bulk of the orcas seemed to move effortlessly
through the water in pursuit, but Storm sensed that they were
saving their strength for a final push when Spirit was sufficiently
weakened. They hung back behind the two dolphins, knowing that
their time would soon come.

‘
Just keep going’ urged Lucy, ‘almost there!’ Spirit heard her
words, without knowing where they came from or how, but they gave
him strength and he surged onwards with Storm at his
side.

In the cabin of the trawler, the captain and his mate were
making their way home. They had taken up their lobster pots and
transferred their catch to cages on the deck. The blue grey
lobsters waved their huge pincers menacingly from behind the bars
of their cages. The fisherman’s catch had been meagre and they were
tired and weary. Suddenly, something caught the mate’s
eye.

‘
Look Nate’, he exclaimed suddenly ‘there in the East, there’re
two dolphins coming towards us. Looks like the devil’s behind
them!’

The skipper, Nathaniel or Nate to his friends, had been
standing over the small wheel of the vessel, his eyes on the
horizon. He glanced to his right and saw that indeed yes, two
dolphins were closing in on them and with a curious directness and
speed. Then he looked beyond them and saw a hint of black and white
bulk break the waters a short distance behind the
dolphins.

‘
By God, look Bob’ he exclaimed. ‘They’re being chased by
orcas. They’re racing for their life!’

The two dolphins persevered. They broke through the waves
again and saw the small trawler was by now only two minutes away
from them.

‘
I don’t trust humans’ warned Storm. So we get to the boat.
What then?’

‘
You’ll see’ said Lucy, kneeling on the floor of her room,
staring somehow at the scene in front of her. ‘Trust me little
one.’

‘
Trust me Storm,’ echoed Spirit. ‘you’ll see when we get
there.’

Nate the Captain, cut off the engine and he and his mate Bob
burst out from the small cabin onto the deck. They could count one,
two, three orcas gaining on the two dolphins, which were dwarfed by
the bulky whales behind them. Bob grabbed a boat hook, but Nate
bent through the open door and quietly unhooked the emergency
flare, ready to fire it at the whales if he had to, a steely look
upon his face.

‘
We’re there!’ exclaimed Spirit, his body wracked with
tiredness. ‘Swim around the boat.’ The older dolphin had seen a
lot, but he was struck by the certainty in the young dolphins voice
and though he distrusted man, right now he feared the orcas more
and was glad to hug close to the sides of the vessel and seek
sanctuary in its shadow.

The three orcas slowed, some two hundred metres off, suddenly
aware of the presence of the boat in front of them.

‘
Be off with you!’ cried Bob, banging his boat-hook noisily
against the side of the vessel. ‘Get away you great nasty
lummocks!’ The two dolphins put their heads out of the water,
caught Bob’s eye and whistled their thanks. Nate stood, his flare
held ready in his hand for firing, looking out towards the orcas in
the distance. The stand-off seemed to last an eternity, but a
minute or so later, the whales turned in the water and peeled off
in the direction of the distant horizon.

‘
Are they gone?’ asked Bob.

‘
I’m not sure’ answered Nate cautiously. Bob glanced down at
Spirit and Storm.

‘
I think you two might have had a lucky escape’ he said. The
two dolphins circled the boat slowly, thankful to rest and breath
easily again.

‘
Come on’ said Nate. ‘Let’s start the engine again and make for
port. I reckon those dolphins will keep with us for a while yet.’
He was right. As the little trawler resumed its course back home,
chugging out smelly diesel fumes behind it, Spirit and Storm stayed
close. Storm knew that Spirit needed a chance to recover and that
things could have turned out much more badly for them than it
actually had.

‘
It was a good idea of yours young Spirit, to come to this
boat. What made you think it?’

‘
I heard a voice’ answered Spirit simply. ‘A voice told me to
turn hard to the left just before the orca could bite me. A voice
told me to come to this boat.’ Storm didn’t say anything, but his
mind was full of worrying, conflicting thoughts. They stayed with
the trawler for an hour or so, until they were sure they were
absolutely safe and then they both took a great leap at the bows,
in thanks to the two fishermen, before heading off to the east and
the rest of their pod.

‘
Good luck’ said Bob quietly to himself. He turned to Nate,
‘Have you ever seen the like before?’ he asked. Nate knew well that
killer whales could target young or weak dolphins and might chase
them for hours until, tired out, the calf or young would allow
itself to be surrounded and the whales would stop it from surfacing
until it drowned. He’d never seen such a hunt himself though, in
all his years of fishing. He shook his head.

As the two dolphins swam on safely back to their pod, Lucy
slowly let go of her vision and the image of them faded away. She
became conscious once more of her bedroom around her. She looked
around and shivered. She heaved the great mass of duvet back onto
her bed. She felt exhausted before the day had even begun. She
glanced at her clock. It was much later than she thought and she
realised with a start that she must rush if she wasn’t going to be
late for school. But as she dressed, her mind still lingered on the
image of the small dolphin, safe again and her heart was full of
relief at the thought.

Chapter Five
:

By the end of school that day Lucy felt exhausted. She’d have
loved to have gone right home to curl up on the sofa and relax, but
instead she had to go to the after-school club until Dad was ready
to fetch her after work. The other kids raced around her, throwing
paper airplanes across the room and generally trying the patience
of the club supervisors, whilst Lucy sat disconsolately in the
midst of the chaos, staring into space now that she had finished
her homework. None of her other friends were in the club that
afternoon and she felt as bored as she was tired. Minutes seemed to
slow down into hours and the more she willed the minutes to pass,
the less they seemed to.