Kingdom of the Deep by EJ Altbacker Page A

report this to the Seazarein!”
    â€œI speak for the Seazarein!” Gray roared. “I told you to wait and instead you gathered an armada!”
    Palink’s tail drooped and, to his credit, he acted somewhat ashamed. “Well, the flippers—” Gray gave Palink a steely stare and the blue shark corrected himself. “The orcas were going to take our best hunting territory for themselves!”
    â€œUntrue,” growled Tik-Tun. “We had just come back from our journey. Some of my pod did hunt, but only to eat during the swim.”
    And then it came to Gray. The solution he was looking for! He had been thinking too much like a shark and not enough like an orca. Or, he thought guiltily, too much like a
fin
and not at all like a
flipper
.
    â€œI’ve discussed your problem with the wise and all-knowing Seazarein.” Gray couldn’t believe he’d just said that, but it didn’t hurt for both groups to think that Kaleth was a good ruler. “If you’ll swim with me, I’ll tell you what she recommends.”
    Palink had a nice bruise darkening his snout. “By
recommends
, do you mean
orders
?” he huffed.
    Gray smiled, grinding his teeth, but quietly this time. Palink could be such a tailbender! “Why don’t you listen first?”
    In the end, both sides were not only satisfied, they were actually happy! Gray divided the disputed territory into thirds, two-thirds of which went to Hideg Shiver. They had many more mouths to feed, after all. But since orcas were different from sharkkind in that they didn’t actually
want
a set territory, that didn’t matter much to Tik-Tun and his pod. But this way, they always had a place that Palink and Hideg Shiver would never set a fin inside.
    Here’s where Gray’s stroke of, if not genius, at least good thinking, came in. Orcas migrated in search of better hunting, and it didn’t always occur on a set schedule. What Tik-Tun and the orcas received was the right to travel across Hideg Shiver anytime they wanted as long as they gave one day’s notice. And when they were away, Hideg Shiver could hunt the remaining third of the disputed territory, which they had to promptly leave when the orcas returned with the same one-day notice being given. It worked for everyone.
    Palink gave Gray an embarrassed look when they reached the end of the negotiations. “I can’t believe I was going to start a war and there was a bloodless solution this good.”
    â€œIt is truly a wise decision,” rumbled Tik-Tun in his deep voice. “I have come to expect nothing less.”
    â€œOh, you expected less, Tik-Tun,” answered Gray. “But I’m glad to beat your expectations this time.”
    â€œI’m sorry for causing this trouble, Gray,” Palink said. “You’re right about me. I
am
a chowderhead and unworthy to be Hideg Shiver’s leader.”
    â€œA good leader is the one who recognizes his mistakes,” Gray told the blue shark. “And everyone can be a chowderhead from time to time. Ask my friend Barkley. He thinks I’m one most any given day.”
    The three laughed together. Palink bowed to the orca leader. “Tik-Tun, I haven’t been a friend to the orcas, or any who swim with flippers through the Big Blue. But I’m willing to try and change my ways. I humbly ask you for the chance.”
    â€œYou shall have it, leader Palink,” rumbled Tik-Tun. “I am also guilty of these types of thoughts regarding sharkkind. Once begun, they are hard to stop.”
    Gray gave each a tap to the flanks. “I think you two could change that. If you’re willing to work together.”
    Gray smiled when Tik-Tun and Palink nodded in agreement.
    Sometimes, being the Aquasidor wasn’t half bad.



CHAPTER 16
    THERE WAS BLOOD IN THE WATER. GRAY COULD smell it, as could everyone in his entourage. They were tired from the punishing pace they