Wrinkled, blind, tiny imitations of the adults. Their young, they must be. Roaring with anger he trampled them underfoot.

“Destroyed, all of them, destroyed.” He mumbled the words over and over and Kerrick fled away among the trees.

Enge hantèhei, agatè embokèka lirubushei kakshèsei, hèawahei; hevai`ihei, kaksheintè, enpelei asahen enge.

To leave father’s love and enter the embrace of the sea is the first pain of life—the first joy is the comrades who join you there.

CHAPTER TWO

The enteesenat cut through the waves with rhythmic motions of their great, paddle-like flippers. Our of them raised its head from the ocean, water streaming higher and higher on its long neck, turning and looking backward. Only when it caught sight of the great form low in the water behind them did it drop beneath the surface once again.

There was a school of squid ahead—the other enteesenat was clicking with loud excitement. Now the massive lengths of their tails thrashed and they tore through the water, gigantic and unstoppable, their mouths gaping wide. Into the midst of the school.

Spurting out jets of water the squid fled in all directions. Most would escape behind the clouds of black dye they expelled, but many of them were snapped up by the plate-ridged jaws, caught and swallowed whole. This continued until the sea was empty again, the survivors scattered and distant. Sated, the great creatures turned about and paddled slowly back the way they had come.

Ahead of them an even larger form moved through the ocean, water surging across its back and bubbling about the great dorsal fin of the uruketo. As they neared it the enteesenat dived and turned to match its steady motion through the sea, swimming beside it close to the length of its armored beak. It must have seen them, one eye moved slowly, following their course, the blackness of the pupil framed by its bony ring. Recognition slowly penetrated creature’s dim brain and the beak began to open, then gaped wide.

One after another they swam to the wide open mouth and pushed their heads into the cave-like opening. Once in position they regurgitated the recently caught squid. Only when their stomachs were empty did they pull back and spin about with a sideways movement of their flippers. Behind them the jaws closed as slowly they had opened and the massive bulk of the uruketo moved steadily on its way.