Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

Screaming, Areta turned away from the vent. With that exit closed to her escape, there was only one way out — and that was to ascend the main stairway.

“Don’t worry, son,” Areta soothed her wailing child. “I’ll get you out of here and away from danger.”

Away from danger?

Alas, poor Areta. The fire which Skylark had made in the royal nursery had really taken hold. It was roaring down the vent, a huge fiery jet stream travelling through the volcanic composition of the island. Some of the flames flicked through other vents, other veins, other channels, other cracks in the subterranean foundations.

Areta reached the open air with her son. “Thank God, oh Queen, you’re safe,” a prion royal guard said.

At that very moment, a tongue of fire flicked and reached down and found an underground channel. There, in the channel, streamed a huge river of oil right at the very centre of the fortress island itself.

Areta heard a rumble, deep beneath her feet. “What is that?” she asked the royal guard.

Before he could answer, the island fortress exploded.

“No! Not Areta! Nor the son from whom I am descended —”

A huge ball of fire erupted into the air. It boiled higher and higher, burning a hole in the sky. The heat from the blast hit Kawanatanga, and with it came the smell of death.

“Chieftain Arnie! Defend yourself. We’re almost there —” From the corner of his eye Arnie saw Chieftain Kahu and Chieftain Tui coming to his rescue. But he knew they would be too late.

Kawanatanga was like a maddened machine, his eyes bloodshot with anger, his face glowing with insanity.

“You. You —”

He prepared to deliver the death blow.

He slashed with his claws at Arnie, but the thrust went right through without having any effect.

Kawanatanga’s eyes popped with puzzlement. “You should be dead.”

He slashed again. But he had no claws to slash with. They disintegrated before his eyes.

“What’s happening to me?” Kawanatanga screamed as his feet disappeared. Then his thighs. Now his wingtips. And his tail feathers.

Whimpering he grabbed for Arnie.

“Keep away from me,” Arnie yelled as he backed away in horror. Kahu and Tui fluttered down beside him. They caught him in their wings.

“Don’t be afraid,” Kahu said. “This same thing has been happening to many of the seabirds. When the offshore islands started to catch fire, they began to disappear before our very eyes —”

“Kua riro ki wiwi ki wawa,” Tui added, awe-struck. “A third of the seabird army has gone. They have fled into the unknown. Kawanatanga will soon join them.”

Kawanatanga cried out in fear. “I don’t want to die,” he sobbed. His body was wavering, blanking out, as if someone was erasing him. He was disappearing piece by piece. Finally, all that was left was his neck, beak and eyes.

“Please save me,” his beak said. “The Lord Tane will listen to you —”

At that moment Arnie felt a great surge of pity. “It was either you or me,” he said. “Goodbye, Kawanatanga.”

Kawanatanga was no longer there. Where he had been was an empty space of air.

Arnie crumpled, sobbing with relief. Of course! Skylark had decimated the rookeries. She had destroyed the descent lines for the seabirds from the future. Without their descent lines, those seabirds ceased to exist.

They, and their leader Kawanatanga, were gone forever.

“Skylark, you did it,” Arnie said.

“Yes, but you’re hurt,” Skylark answered, concerned. She had just arrived back at the lagoon.

“No, no. I’m fine,” Arnie protested. But when he put his wings around her, he winced in pain. His left wing was seeping blood.

“Take Chieftain Arnie down to the lagoon and bathe his wounds,” Kotuku said. “And don’t forget, Skylark, try not to win all the time.”

“Okay,” Skylark answered, slightly puzzled at Kotuku’s hint.

She supported him down to the water’s edge and, while he slipped in, prepared a poultice for him from the mud.

“Did you know what would happen?” Arnie asked as he sat in the lagoon having a birdbath.

“That the enemy would disappear? Of course I did.” But as soon as she said the words Skylark understood what Kotuku had been getting at. There are no sides in love, Skylark. If you can’t learn not to win all the time, try at least to pretend to lose . “But,” she added hastily, “you gave me the idea.”

“Did I?” Arnie sounded pleased. But before he could ask any more questions, Skylark had changed the subject.

“Okay,” she said, “you can come out of the water now.”

With a hop and a skip, Arnie flipped out of the lake. He gave a vigorous shake and the water sprayed off his feathers. Skylark began to preen him. From the corner of her eye she saw Kotuku watching and nodding with approval.

A blissful look came over Arnie’s face. His eyes rolled up and he gave a deep sigh of contentment. “I could get used to this,” he said.

Skylark blushed. Having never been in this position before, she didn’t know how to reply. Instead, she concentrated on the job at hand. “That will just have to do for now,” she said. “It’s a pity they don’t have bandages around here. But that’s the way it is in birdland.”

Chieftain Kahu came flying towards them and broke the spell. Skylark saw that all the manu whenua at the inlet had lifted and were flying in their hundreds back to the cliff face where the sacred tree was.

Kahu bowed low before Skylark and Arnie. “Tui has asked us all to the paepae for the victory celebration. It is my great honour to escort you there.” His voice fell to a whisper. “Confidentially, you have saved the day, Chieftain Arnie, and we wish to give you the greatest honour.”

“But it’s really Skylark who did it,” Arnie protested.

It was too late. Kahu had already launched himself into the air. As Skylark and Arnie followed him, Kotuku joined them.

“Do you mind, dear, all this fuss over Arnie?” she asked.

“No, of course I don’t,” Skylark answered. “I was never any good at being centre stage. Let Arnie take the credit that is due to him.”

“You’re learning fast. After all, we know who was the real hero of the battle, don’t we? I salute you, Chieftainess.”

Skylark heard a huge cheer as they approached the sacred tree. Waiting for them on the highest branch were Chieftain Tui, Chieftain Ruru and Chieftain Kawau. Every branch was filled with birds. To one side perched Te Arikinui Huia, Te Arikinui Karuwai and Te Arikinui Korimako. To another were Chieftain Piwakawaka, Chieftain Koekoea, Chieftain Parera and Chieftain Kaka. The Great White Egret and her crack troops from China were sitting on the branch reserved for respected visitors. Chieftain Pekapeka was in his usual place, hanging upside down. On the ground, the wingless birds — Chieftain Weka, Chieftain Kakapo, Chieftain Kiwi and Chieftain Titi among them — were still settling down.

Young women, led by the comely Kahurangi, were dancing and twirling their pois for all they were worth.

“Come down from the sky, noble hero,” Kahurangi sang. She was shimmying and bopping in a way that wasn’t quite traditional, and totally ignoring Skylark. “Come into our midst and receive your reward.”

Huh, thought Kotuku. She’s so obvious. Throwing herself at Arnie.

Young warrior birds, winged and wingless, leapt forward in an eye-bulging, muscle-popping haka.

“Ka mate, ka mate! Ka ora ka ora!

It was death, it was death! But now it is life!

It is life …”

Gesticulating, they called Arnie, Skylark, Kahu and Kotuku down to the paepae.

“Whakarongo ake au ki te tangi a te manu nei a te ma tui! Tui! Tuituia!” Chieftain Tui called everyone to attention.