Akotolp gasped, her mouth opening wide with shock. She jumped to her feet and turned to look at the smooth water of the bay.
"It will happen!" She signed urgency and fear so strongly that the Eistaa recoiled.
"What is it? What is happening?"
"What will happen. You must order your fargi to go among the sleepers at once. Awaken every Yilane. Order them inland as quickly as possible, to the hills beyond the fields where the onetsensast graze. Order it, Eistaa."
"Why?"
"Don't you see? A force so distant that could shake the ground here must be very strong indeed. It will make waves such as we have never seen in the worst storm. Those waves are coming even as we speak."
The Eistaa reached an instant decision. "I will so order—"
It was already too late, far too late.
The water of the bay were draining away, pouring through the harbor enr^nce into the sea. And distantly, growing instantly louder, was the crashing rumble of water falling on water, churning and roaring. Drowning out all other sounds.
Striking and drowning the shore, filling the bay in an instant. Rising in a flood that engulfed the city tree, broke off the limbs, stripped away the smaller growth, hurtled inland.
Akotolp closed mouth, eyes, nostrils, struck out in panic at the saltwater that engulfed her. Felt the pressure of the water above her.
Swam upwards in the darkness. Was struck a terrible blow in her side that numbed her. Clutched her wounded arm with her other hand, thrust violently with legs and tail.
Burst into foam-filled darkness, gasped in air.
Was struck again in the darkness. Almost unconscious, weakened by pain, she swam on, knowing that this was her only chance of survival. If she sank below the surface again she would never emerge.
An unmeasurable, pain-filled time passed before she felt solidity beneath her feet. Muddy, debris-laden water streamed about her, dropped lower, to her midriff, then to her knees. She staggered and fell heavily, screamed with pain as a greater darkness closed over her.
Akotolp woke slowly to light and agony. A heavy, warm rain was falling. Black rain, streaming filthily across the skin. She blinked with incomprehension, felt the grit in her eyes. Sat up and her vision blurred red with pain. Arms and legs moved, apparently no bones broken. But the immense soreness in her side must surely be more than mere bruising; some ribs might be broken. It hurt to breathe. Alive and injured — but still alive. Only when she was gratefully aware of this did her scientific curiosity return.
She was standing ankle-deep in a plain of mud. Branches, entire uprooted trees were strewn about her. Two dead Yilane were nearby, broken and unmoving, one of them crushed by the bulk of an armored fish of some kind. Her arms crossed across her ribcage, Akotolp walked slowly and painfully up a rise to the top of a nearby mound, leaned gratefully against the broken trunk of a tree on its summit.
Nothing looked familiar; she was pinned in a nightmare landscape of mud and destruction. Only when she faced inland, blinking through the sheets of rain, did she manage to make out the familiar shapes of the range of hills. They ran down almost to the sea, almost to the outlet of the bay. Using this as a guide, she was horrified to see that the birth beaches were gone, gouged out by the sea and washed away. The far side of the bay was gone as well, the bay and lagoon now joined directly to the ocean.
Then that heap of dark debris must be all that was left of her city tree. She moaned in agony at the sight. If she were weaker she might have died. Yilane, when deprived of their city did die, she had seen it happen. But she would not. Others might. Not her; she was strong enough to bear the shock. Pushing herself upright, she stumbled toward the remains.
And she was not alone. Others were moving that way as well, fargi who signed respect and gratitude when they identified her. They moved close to draw strength from her presence. One of them, despite the bruises and filth caked to her skin, she recognized.
"You are Inlenu — she who commands the workers at the fish pens."
Inlenu signed gratefulness for attention. "We have happiness-magnified and greet you, Akotolp. Humbly request explanation of happenings."
"Your knowledge is as great as mine. Something disastrous occurred far out in the ocean. With it was a great light, a great sound. This something caused the earth to move, the sea to rise. What you see around you is the result."
"The city, everything is destroyed. What will become of us?"
"We will live. The waters will not have covered all of Entoban. There will be food, in the forests and in the sea."
"But our city—"
"Will be regrown. Until that time we will sleep on the ground under the stars, as countless others have done before us. Do not despair, strong Inlenu, we need your strength."
"As we need yours." She signed respect-admiration, a movement that was echoed by all the fargi watching and listening. They would survive now.
