Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

“Guerilla tactics?” Kahu echoed, puzzled.

Arnie was jumping around with excitement. “They were perfected by a man called Te Kooti,” he answered. “As the seabirds advance to the inlet, we should get the windhovers and the forest birds to lure them into the forest. I know Kawanatanga and his followers. They won’t be able to resist. They’ll follow and, in our world, they will lose formation. They won’t be able to move in squads so easily. The ground birds will be able to pick them off one by one. It’s really the best chance we’ve got.”

The Council of War waited for Tui to make the decision.

“Okay, Chieftain Arnie,” he said. “You’ve been right so far. You may be right again. Let’s do it.”

And then it was time for war again.

Kawanatanga appeared on the ramparts with his new consort, Areta. “I will bring you the whole world,” he promised her, “and I will lay it at your feet.” He leapt into the air, and, as one, the seabird army lifted from the unholy Sea of Feathers. Slapping his breastbone, Kawanatanga, the new Supreme Commander, set up a ferocious haka.

“Ka eke i te wiwi, ka eke i te wawa,

Ka eke i te papara huia —

Breach the outer defences, capture the inner palisades,

storm the very centre of the manu whenua domain,

scrape the land clean of them —”

The words burst across the sky with ominous foreboding. To Skylark, Arnie and the manu whenua, the words sounded like thunder rolling from the east to the west across the sky. They were dissonant, filled with dread, skulls, rattling bones, portents of death and destruction. Some among the waiting warriors felt their bowels loosen, their courage desert them. Many would be killed this day. But what else could they do except continue to fight for their land, their hens and chicks, history and culture?

Chieftain Tui stepped forward. “Oh Lord Tane,” he prayed, “look down upon your subjects the landbirds in our hour of travail. Forgive us our past trespasses and, if it be Thy will, let Thy Great Division, which we fight to protect this day, stand forever and ever, Amine.”

From the Great Forest of Tane came the chorus, “Amine.”

There was a disturbance. Te Arikinui Kotuku craned her neck and peered across the sacred mountains. “Chieftain Arnie,” she said, excited. “I think the reinforcements I sent for have arrived.”

“They couldn’t have come at a better time,” Arnie answered. “Where are they?”

Kotuku pointed to the clouds, where a string of stately cranes was silhouetted like a kite in the shape of a Chinese dragon. As they came nearer, Arnie’s face fell. “Only ten of them?” he asked.

Kotuku chose not to hear Arnie’s disappointment. Instead, she called out to the incoming birds. “Welcome, cousins, come to ground and take your place amongst us.”

The cranes circled the paepae. They were gorgeous to look upon with giant filamentous kimono wings. They carried wooden staffs in their feet. When they landed, they prostrated themselves before the landbirds.

Kotuku introduced the cranes to the Great Council. “Sirs, as you are aware, my species is a rare one in this land. Indeed, I live at Okarito with my colony, only by your leave and the blessing of Lord Tane. But my clan is worldwide and loyal to each other. They have sent us my cousin, the Great White Egret, who lives in China. She has brought with her crack Chinese fighters adept in the martial arts.”

The Great White Egret gave a slight grave nod. “My name is Yu Shu Lien,” she said. Her voice was soft, lyrical and warm. “My fighters come from the Wudan mountains. We may not be many but we respect the ideals of honour and selfless duty. It is our obligation to support our cousin, Te Arikinui Kotuku of these southern islands.”

Kung fu cranes from China, Skylark thought. Great.

Arnie’s response, however, was extraordinary. He prostrated himself before the Great White Egret. “The honour is ours, Shu Lien,” he said. “E ai o harirau, hei rere mai. What wings you have with which to fly here! In your country, long after you are gone, monks from the Shaolin order will create a society of martial arts fighters based on your ideals.”

“What on earth are you talking about!” Skylark whispered. “Sometimes you just don’t make any sense at all.”

“I can’t help it if you don’t go to martial arts movies. Think Michelle Yeoh —”

The Great White Egret hid her face in modesty at Arnie’s praise. “The things you speak of are to do with hidden dragons, crouching tigers. Let us turn to the immediate present and your current dilemma. We unreservedly join you in your battle against ambition, avarice, theft, murder and the wish of the seabirds to become conquerors of the world.”

And the hour of battle was again upon them.

With a sudden uplifting of wings, the seabirds advanced like a weather front broiling up from the south.

“This time we will not retreat,” Kawanatanga cried.

Boom. The shotgun, which Arnie had ordered brought forward, sent its shells whistling through the seabirds.

Boom . Under the instruction of Chieftain Ruru, the second shell soared through the air and exploded its pellets.

The front lines of the seabirds faltered, but Kawanatanga urged his army forward. “Get through before the landbirds have the chance to re-load! Toroa, advance with your albatross squad and take out that shotgun.”

The seabirds pushed — and, as they had done that morning, entered again into the throat of Manu Valley.

“Manu tu, manu ora, manu moe, manu mate,” Arnie cried. “If you stand you live, if you lie down you die. Hold firm. Be steadfast.”

Again Chieftain Teretere led the swift clan. White undertail coverts dazzling, they rained across the sky as if fired from a thousand crossbows. On their tails came Chieftain Kahu and his hawk battalion, Chieftain Parera and the paradise shelduck iwi, and other windhovers of the open sky. Meanwhile, Chieftain Ruru was having his own desperate battle as the albatrosses descended on his owl warriors.

Boom.

A quick re-loading gave the owls some respite. The Great White Egret whispered to her kung fu warriors and approached Arnie. “Chieftain, may I lead my fighters into the fray? These are ideal fighting conditions for us.”

“The sky is yours,” Arnie answered.

Yu Shu Lien and her nine warriors advanced. They held their staffs in their claws. The Great White Egret bowed her head before Kawanatanga: “Enemy lord, turn back or face us.”

Kawanatanga gave an incredulous laugh. “What can ten do against a thousand?”

“Actually,” the Great White Egret answered humbly, “quite a lot.”

She gave a sharp order. “Hai. Hohooo.” Next moment, the kung fu warriors were jumping, flying, circling, tumbling, somersaulting in and out of the ranks of seabirds. Every time they made a move they slashed with their staffs, slicing three seabirds at one blow. They wove in and out, under and above, stabbing and jabbing giant holes in the approaching army. At the end of their first feint, they retreated and bowed.

“Wow,” Skylark whistled.

With a roar of anger, Kawanatanga urged his army forward. Next moment, the Great White Egret and her warriors were fighting for their lives. Together with the windhovers, they were pushed backwards, ever backwards, over Manu Valley. Watching, Arnie was trying to calculate the moment when the maximum number of enemy were engaged. In particular, he was waiting for the black seashags from the future, the greatest threat of all, to enter the envelope of air immediately above the Great Forest of Tane.

They were in the zone. “Yu Shu Lien, windhovers,” Arnie yelled, “dive, dive, dive —”

On the order, the windhovers folded their wings and dropped like stones toward the green canopy of the forest. Would the black seashags follow them? Would they take the bait?