'I can see the waves they make,' Liala replied.
'Aye, Princess. That's what I mean.'
She glanced back and forth between the orcas and the approaching boat. There was just one person on board. He was standing at the rear with one hand on the outboard motor and the other on something that looked like a gun.
Her heart raced. The dolphins had gone to fetch the one person she most wanted to see. He was the young fisherman who went out in a small boat to dive for lobsters and crayfish. She had seen him when she was with Crispin and the other guys in the research vessel. While they were taking measurements and collecting samples she swam with the dolphins.
That's how she got to know him. He was tall with long brown hair which he tied in a pony tail when he went diving. His eyes here brown and his body was suntanned. Perhaps it was the diving that made him so fit. His shoulders were broad and his muscles were strong. The tiny briefs that he wore when he dived left little to the imagination.
There were strict rules about royalty speaking to common people. They weren't allowed to do it except on formal occasions. But there was no rule to say you couldn't wave and get the dolphins to take you up close. She had been close enough to look into his eyes and see him return her smile. On more than one occasion she had come close enough to touch him but underwater and he probably thought a dolphin had rubbed against him.
Liala picked up her gun and jumped down onto the rocky platform below. It was a good place for him to land and a difficult place for the orcas to give trouble. They poked their heads out of the water and peered back with beady eyes. She brandished her gun and made threatening gestures. But the orcas stayed put.
Balduur stood beside her.
'He can't land with them orcas there, Princess.'
'I'll do my best to drive them off.'
'Go for the big bull with the blue snout. He's the leader.'
Balduur didn't have to tell her. Liala knew about orcas and she knew you always picked the leader. He usually stayed in the background and let the others run the risk of being vaporised. This one didn't. He probably knew her gun was almost exhausted and next to useless.
'Princess!'
She heard the young fisherman and saw him racing towards her. He had one hand on the outboard motor and the other on a gun. A rapid burst of fire sent the orcas fleeing. The big bull rocketed into the air and collapsed back in a pool of blood. Other mangled corpses lay around. Liala was impressed. Despite what the guardians said, bullets could be just as deadly as a flash from a ray gun.