Witi Ihimaera - Sky Dancer

Why, that didn’t hurt at all, Skylark thought.

The pouakai snatched Skylark in its jaws. Gave a short vicious shake.

“Goodbye, Arnie,” Skylark whispered.

“No!” Arnie cried. Helpless, he watched as the pouakai closed its wings, turned and carried Skylark back to its volcanic island. Next moment, like a bowling ball, the island rumbled past him and away, receding into deep space.

Weeping with shock, Arnie limped to the gateway. “Oh, Skylark, Skylark,” he cried.

Then he rallied a moment.

Maybe Skylark had managed to wrest herself free of the pouakai’s jaws. Maybe, even now, she was speeding across the sky towards him. “Come on, come on, you can do it,” he urged through the empty sky.

The lights stopped winking. The portal had run down to the end of its timing sequence.

Skylark wasn’t going to make it.

There was a click. The portal started to close. At the last moment, Arnie rolled and went through. “Hoki will know what to do,” he said to himself. “She’s just got to know what to do —”

And all at once Arnie found himself being buffeted by huge gravitational forces. Some were pulling him one way. Others were pulling him another. Foolishly he tried to stabilise himself; he screamed as his damaged wing was pulled from its shoulder socket and he lost consciousness.

The Southern Cross winked out. Arnie’s body tumbled head over heels in a dizzying descent through a primeval sky. Planets whirled around like pinballs. Comets trailed fiery tails from north to south. Above him a worm hole opened, sucking him in. Regaining his senses slightly, Arnie was dimly aware of galaxies being born, of exploding supernovas and golden suns as he rolled and spiralled through a giant intergalactic hydroslide until there, in front of him, was the opening back to the future and his own universe.

Time was ticking past. Arnie saw the sun rising on the green globe of Earth below. It was bathed in auroras of beautiful light — and Arnie was falling again. Another portal opened and he fell through it. He had a minute to get through the inner lock and back into his own Time. On the other side, he saw the Cathedral of the Birds and the seabirds in suspended animation, stationary, in mid-air, frozen at the moment when he and Skylark had escaped them.

Time began to run again — and Arnie dived through. He was in the zone. Bones were spinning in the air. The entire cathedral was col-lapsing around him. Arnie fell through the inner lock onto the cavern floor. Seabirds were screaming all around him, their wings creating a huge turbulence. He put his hands to his head to protect himself and, closing his eyes, huddled into a ball.

The tumult settled. A huge cloud of dust rolled through the cavern. Arnie waited for the seabirds to shred him. But nothing happened. When he looked up, the seabirds had disappeared as if they had never been there at all. His feathers had moulted and he had turned back to his human form. He tried to move and knew he had a broken shoulder. He scrambled for his clothes, still lying where they’d fallen on the cave floor.

No time to waste, he thought. I’ve got to get help. I’ve got to get back to Hoki in Manu Valley. He stood up and blew some of the remaining feathers off his chest.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder. Somebody else shone a torch in his eyes. “Well, what have we here?” one of the rangers asked.

“Looks like a Kentucky fried chicken,” said the other.

“Nah, it’s Big Bird.”

“Whoever he is, all I can say is he’s in one big heap of trouble.”

When, later that afternoon, the telephone rang at Hoki and Bella’s house, Hoki answered it immediately. She’d been waiting.

“Good morning Ma’am,” she heard. “This is Sergeant Pilkington. I’m the duty officer at Nelson Police Station.”

Hoki dropped the receiver with fright. “Something’s happened. Something’s wrong.”

Bella hurried over. “Yes, Officer?” she asked.

“Would you know of a young man by the name of Piwaka?”

“You mean Arnie? He’s my nephew. Is he with you?”

“So you do know him?” Sergeant Pilkington sounded disappointed. “You can verify his identity?”

“Of course I can. What’s he done!”

“Well, Ma’am, the doctor’s with him. He’s got a dislocated shoulder and some other wounds that are being attended to. We’re holding him here for questioning. He’s being charged with trespassing on government property.”

“Is he all right?” Bella asked. “I would like to speak to him please.”

“Yes, well, hang on, I’ll put him on.” Bella heard muffled noises at the other end and then, thank God, Arnie was on the line.

“Arnie? Is that you, nephew? Did you do it? Were you able to get back in time to tell the manu whenua about the seabirds?”

“Yes, Auntie.”

Bella smiled with relief. “They did it, Sister!” she called. “They did it!”

Hoki gave a whoop and snatched the telephone from Bella. “Put Skylark on the phone, Nephew. I want to speak to her.”

“I can’t,” Arnie said.

“Why not! What’s happened to Skylark?”

“We had an accident. We were attacked and Skylark —”

“Please don’t say it, Arnie.” Hoki began to tremble. “Please tell me that Skylark made it home with you.”

“She’s still back there,” Arnie said. “And it’s all my fault. If we’d come back when we should have, we would both have made it. But I wanted to stay to help the manu whenua win their second battle with the seabirds. Then, when we were coming home, the winds took us right to the top of the Heavens.”

“Oh no.”

“Skylark got us down again but I lost my cool, Auntie. I really lost it. I was so glad to see the portal that I rushed to get there. That’s when the pouakai saw me and came after me. Skylark tried to save me and —”

“Yes, Arnie?”

“The pouakai got her.”

Mitch and Francis were on duty at the cliff face when Bella told them the news.

“Only Arnie got back? Not Skylark as well?” Mitch asked.

“No, Skylark didn’t make it,” Bella answered. “As for Arnie, I’m driving to Nelson to collect him. Will you two be all right while I’m away?”

Mitch turned to Francis. “You go with Bella. I can keep guard myself.” Then, quickly, so that Bella wouldn’t see his tears, he raised his rifle and began rapid firing at the seabirds. “Damn you,” he cried. “Damn you all to hell.”

Bella and Francis hit the road with Francis in the driver’s seat. Actually, Bella had wanted Hoki to make the trip but Hoki was too distraught, huddled in her chair and moaning to herself.

“Arnie blames himself, but I’m the one to blame,” she kept saying. “I shouldn’t have let Skylark go up north with him.”

“You weren’t to know they’d both actually go through the portal,” Bella said. “They did that of their own choice and their own free will.”

“No, no, no,” Hoki wailed. “I could have stopped them. If I’d been there, none of this would have happened. If there was a price to pay, I should have paid it, not Skylark.”

“I will not have you talking like that, Sister,” Bella said. “You hear me? Do you hear me Hoki?”

The atmosphere in the car was tense. In an effort to break the silence and lighten the mood, Francis switched on the radio: Crowded House. But although he sang along with the lyrics, Bella clearly wasn’t up to it, so Francis switched the radio off. Anyhow, he had a question. “Auntie, what did Hoki mean when she talked about the price to pay?”