Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

Skylark was dumbfounded when it burst into flame.

“Now what do you want me to do?” Kotuku asked.

Skylark threw the match into the oil. There was a small plop as the surface of the oil ignited. A blue flame began to spread toward the main oilfield.

Quickly Kotuku and her troopers dragged Skylark away to safety. When she revived, the oilfield was ablaze.

“Oh, you naughty, naughty girl,” Kotuku said.

“Do it now, Kahu —”

“Okay,” Chieftain Kahu answered. Leaving Arnie at his high surveillance point, he led his three sons down to engage Kawanatanga and his personal guards. Kawanatanga laughed, contemptuous of Kahu’s vain attempts to lock on, claw against claw: “Is that the best you can do?”

Arnie’s heart was thudding fast. He was alarmed by the way Kawanatanga was slashing at Kahu. It would only be a matter of time before he inflicted a real blow — and it could be mortal. Before that could happen Kahu finally kicked in with the plan of action, clutched at his left wing, and twisted and fell away from Kawanatanga. Would he take the bait?

He did. With arrogant ease, Kawanatanga left the protective circle of his personal guards. Immediately, Arnie folded his wings and followed in free fall.

“Go go go,” Arnie cried under his breath to Kahu. Kawanatanga, more heavily built, was gaining on his prey. Ground zero was coming up at them. Kawanatanga was getting ready to strike. He made his move — and Arnie made his. He dived out of the sun, sounding his charge. “ Kik-kik-kik-kik! Arnie’s small head was erect, his feathers tight and smooth against his body. His eyelids flickered fractionally. He was totally turned on by battle lust.

Kawanatanga was lucky. Startled, he saw the shadow settling above him, sheared off to the right and just managed to escape Arnie’s notched tooth. Arnie turned after him, passing Chieftain Kahu as he stabilised.

“Have fun,” Kahu said, as he beat his way back to the battle.

Only then did Kawanatanga realise the trap had sprung. But was he worried? No, he felt the thrill of destiny. “Ah, so I face my nemesis again,” he said to Arnie. “One on one?”

“You got it,” Arnie answered. “You’re from the future. So am I. There’s not enough room in this world for the two of us.”

“Then prepare to meet your Maker,” Kawanatanga said. He stretched out his neck and struck. Arnie’s raking claw came up, past the striking neck. With surprise, Kawanatanga caught the flash of sunlight and a glimpse of steel. He managed a quick avoiding flick. Even so, the tip of the penknife riffed through his skin. “That’s not fair,” Kawanatanga complained as he back-pedalled.

Airborne and intent on the kill, Arnie didn’t give a shit. “Use it or lose it, Kawanatanga,” he said. “Nothing’s fair in love and war. Time for you to go. Hasta la vista, baby.”

Kawanatanga dived for the sea. The gap between him and Arnie lengthened. Arnie expected him to level out but, instead, Kawanatanga crashed cleanly through the water — and Arnie had just enough strength to pull out of his dive.

“Damn, damn, damn,” Arnie swore. “I should have expected that.” Obviously, Kawanatanga was swimming underwater. He could be anywhere. If only Arnie could calculate the place where he would come up, he could be waiting for him. “Where are you, you seashag submarine?” Arnie called. Backwards and forwards he flew, trying to locate the wake caused by Kawanatanga’s propelling feet. He decided to break to his left.

Wrong choice. Far on the right, Kawanatanga re-surfaced. His powerful wings elevated his body out of the sea and, before Arnie could get a chance to head him off, Kawanatanga was flying towards an area honeycombed by coastal cliffs.

“Catch me if you can.”

Arnie gave a cry and wheeled after Kawanatanga. As he did so, he saw wisps of brown smoke on the horizon just above the offshore islands.

Something was on fire.

Skylark must have something to do with it.

“Come on, girls,” Skylark said. “Our job isn’t over yet.”

“So what’s next, Chieftainess?” Kotuku asked.

“It’s time for our mission to split up,” Skylark answered. “We’re going to attack the two nursery islands. You, Kotuku, take four of your troopers, set fire to the nests you’re carrying and drop them onto the first of the outer islands, the one where mollymawks raise their young in the cliffs. I’ll take the other troopers with me to the second island where the seabird mothers nest on the plateau. You must make the drops strategically.”

“Strategically?”

“Drop the nests wherever there is dry grass or straw, where they have the maximum opportunity to catch fire and spread. We want both islands to catch fire.”

“What about the nests you’re carrying?” Kotuku asked. “You’ve always got to leave the best for the last,” Skylark grinned. “They’re for the fortress island.”

Kotuku wheeled with her squad and, with the oil-soaked nests in their clawed feet, made for the first of the two nursery islands. Galvanised, Skylark led her own squad to the second island. As they approached, female gulls rose up in clouds. Territorial as ever, they had a lot to defend. The entire plateau was dotted with mothers and recently hatched chicks.

“Oh no, all those baby chicks,” Skylark said and, for a moment, her resolve wavered. “I don’t want to harm you, darlings. All I want is for your daddy seabirds to come flying back to rescue you.”

Then she found herself in a birdfight with seven attacking prions. She looked into their dark, furious eyes, and saw their beaks snapping at her. That changed her attitude. “It’s either you or us,” Skylark decided.

Battling desperately, Skylark and her troopers pushed through the attacking gulls. They were still over the ocean, but gradually they were able to make it to the edge of the plateau.

“Quick,” Skylark yelled at the troopers. She struck a match against her claws and set fire to the nests they were carrying. “Make the drop —”

The troopers closed their wings, descended through the gulls and aimed the nests at a patch of dry grass on the plateau. “Bombs away!” A puff, the grass caught fire and began to spread. The flames drove the seabird mothers into an absolute frenzy of anxiety.

Suddenly, there was a dull crack and a flash as a sheet of fire flickered in the sky above the other nursery island.

“How did Kotuku manage that?” Skylark asked herself. Then, “It’s the guano,” she gasped. “It’s a powder keg. The ammonia from the guano creates an inflammable gas. It fuels the fire, reaches flash point and everything goes up.” In panic she looked at the flames dancing beneath her. “We’ve got to get out of here,” Skylark cried. “The same thing’s going to happen to this island.” She took to the sky, urging her troopers to follow quickly after her. Higher and higher they soared.

Flash point.

The air cracked apart. A white sheet of fire leapt through it. The flames and heat sizzled and crackled around Skylark as she flipped and rolled out of danger.

“Well, Skylark dear,” Kotuku said when she rejoined the mission, “if the seabird army doesn’t hear that and see the flames and smoke, they would have to be deaf as well as blind.”

“And we haven’t finished yet,” Skylark said.

“What the heck —”

Arnie and Kawanatanga had been sky dancing and Arnie was blinded by two bright flashes cracking across the sky. “No!” Kawanatanga cried. Clouds of mother gulls were fluttering above two of the offshore islands. Their wailing rolled inland on the wind.

Arnie tilted his head and, when his sight returned, focused his gaze seaward. What was happening there? Sure enough, he saw a little brown bird and nine white-winged cranes skimming the crystal sea. So it was Skylark after all.