Summary
Simon’s world is rudely interrupted when he discovers his classmate, the gorgeous Nellie Pru, actually belongs to the sea.
Upon entering the oceanic kingdom of Schihallion, Simon is captivated by its inhabitants and the tragic story of Nellie Pru’s past. A legacy of missing blue pearls places her whole community at risk, including her brother Taraq, who is missing with only days to live.
The Muscardi, Schihallions formidable yet illusive enemy, are intent on gaining control of this peaceful kingdom, by
harnessing the secret power of Schihallion’s pearls.
Shocked to find himself involved, Simon is convinced to abandon his family, feeling woefully ill-equipped for the task ahead. He and Nellie Pru set off on their dangerous mission to the Southern Ocean, accompanied by an army of seahorses, manta rays and decoy fish. They must rescue Taraq, retrieve a stolen blue pearl, and locate the rare twin blue pearls needed to secure Schihallion’s future.
Becoming separated from Nellie Pru, Simon ultimately finds himself aboard a Japanese whaling ship in the sub-Antarctic. He has a devastating decision to make, to stick with the whalers who saved him from drowning, or to trust his oceanic
instincts, and complete the task of locating the blue pearls so critical to Schihallion’s survival.
Extract from Pearl Hunters
After less than an hour, the seahorses at the front came to a screeching halt. Urged on by their dart fish handlers, they
became uncharacteristically stubborn, refusing to go any further. The rows behind, instead of bundling into the back of them, came to an equally sudden halt. The full army stopped in perfect formation, as if the seahorses had planned the whole routine behind their handlers' backs. With no appreciative danger in the obvious vicinity, there must have been another
reason for this undisciplined response.
Dart fishes raced around their teams, trying to coax and cajole the seahorses forward. Simon noted that there was no such thing as the use of a whip or spurs, as might be expected in the on-land version of such a debacle. Instead there was much discussion between the dart fishes, and between the dart fish handlers and their own team of horses. However, for the first time ever, the whole body of seahorses had resolutely parked up, pointing their noses skyward, all in an identical direction.
It was as if they were combining forces, and putting their collective effort into detecting the trouble that lay ahead.
“This is pretty unusual,” Nellie Pru whispered, now familiar with her role of having to interpret anything, other than the entirely predictable, to her travel companion.
The seahorses became statuesque in their appearance, and the dart fish, respecting their instincts, appeared to have taken the decision to allow them to be. They sat back in their chariots, waiting, and waiting, thinking about how they might
respond to whatever turned up.
The rays had scattered, several of them having moved out ahead of the now-stalled party, to try and ascertain the nature of the problem. Only three pairs remained to patrol the entire army.
An almost deafening silence befell the party for a few minutes as the seahorses continued in their almost trancelike state, and the dart fishes waited patiently before deciding on their next move.
Nothing happened. Even the manta and torpedo rays stilled. The rigid appearance of the seahorses suggested that any movement of any sort, was likely to attract danger. The tension and stillness became almost unbearable. And Simon, who still had no idea how he was able to breathe underwater, found himself wanting to hold his breath, in case he could be heard. The atmosphere was intense.
He couldn’t tell when he first heard the sound, but when he became aware of it, it was a quiet shuffling sound. Simon’s first reaction was to glance around discreetly to see who was moving, but the entire army remained motionless. He held his position and strained to listen. Gradually the shuffling sound became louder followed by a faint snuffling sound a little, he imagined, like a hedgehog would sound, shuffling through leaves. Still there appeared to be no sign of movement amongst the troops.
The snuffling sound very gradually increased in volume to become more of a snorting, grunting sound. This time a picture of a much larger pig-like creature sprung to mind. As the sound gradually got louder, Simon’s mind started to run riot.
Surely there was no such thing as underwater boar?
He glanced at Nellie Pru and noticed she had gone a very, very white shade of pale.
“Toad fish,” she breathed into his ear, “ And quite a few of them by the sound of it.”
Simon had never seen Nellie Pru frightened, but judging by the tremble in her whisper, he guessed that about now, she was quite terrified.
Simon had no idea what toad fish were, but he was certain he was about to find out. He was right.
Lifting his eyes momentarily above the side of their chariot, he found himself gazing at a sickening sight. Shuffling along the ocean floor not fifty metres from the front line of seahorses, still remaining absolutely stock still, were the ugliest fish he had seen in his entire life. If he had seen one he wouldn’t have believed it, but there were at least twenty of these revolting creatures, all shuffling and grunting their way along the ocean floor, scavenging for food.
Besides having a dark, wart-like appearance to their skin, and eyes which bulged grotesquely out of the top of their square-shaped heads, their most distinguishing and appalling feature was undoubtedly their mouths.
As if jammed in a permanently fixed, open grimace, each fish sported a huge claw-like beak feature, formed from the
fusing of its two giant over-developed teeth on both its upper and lower jaw. Anything that they came across was simply ripped apart, incised with deadly, razor sharp precision like a pair of living secateurs.
Their gruesome appearance did not appear to belie a more benign personality. The fear of the assembled army clearly
suggested these creatures were both vicious and merciless in their approach.
As they shuffled closer, they omitted a foul-smelling odour, fitting with their gross appearance. The grunting and snorting noises grew louder, and still the seahorses moved not a muscle.
Simon suddenly had a recollection of watching Jurassic Park. Perhaps these creatures had a poor sense of both vision and smell. Smell would make sense - it would be hard to smell anything above the noxious odour they themselves were
emitting. But was it possible that they were reliant on movement, for them to truly sense their prey? If so, that would
explain the behaviour of the seahorses, and the willingness of the dart fishes to follow suit.
His quick glance at Nellie Pru, suggested that he had reached the correct conclusion. Very slowly, she placed her index finger across her mouth.
On they shuffled closer and closer to the assembled throng. By now the first of the toadfish had passed the first line of seahorses and was shuffling in amongst them. The seahorse’s trance-like state continued, even when rubbing fins with the vile creatures. To all intents and purposes, the seahorses looked like fossilized creatures from a bygone age. The toadfish continued disinterestedly.
Closer and closer they came. Simon was gripped with both fear and a morbid fascination with these obscenely ugly
creatures. Who on earth would have invented such a thing? No wonder they were cruel and bad-tempered. They really were the pits. The closer he came to their barbaric looking teeth, involuntarily barred, displaying that permanent, garish, skull-like grin, the more repulsed he was. He shivered inside at the thought of the damage they could do. He was in no doubt that they could rip out huge chunks of flesh at a whim, amputate fingers and toes at will, and do permanent damage to any of the major limbs. No, this was definitely one sea creature he had no intention of getting close to.
“The pearl!”
Simon could barely tell which came first - Nellie Pru’s cry or the sudden jolt to their chariot. To Simon, they appeared to occur simultaneously however the effect was devastating. He turned to see everything happen in slow motion.
Clutching her father’s blue pearl for maximum protection in this moment of extreme danger, Nellie Pru had not noticed one of the larger toad fish had actually shuffled underneath their chariot, foraging for ground-dwelling bugs and fish
carcasses on the ocean floor. As the bulk of the toadfish’s body passed under the chariot, it heaved, making Nellie Pru loose her balance. She instinctively grasped the side of the chariot to prevent herself from falling out into the path of the
monstrous fish.
As soon as she opened her hand to grasp the chariot, the blue pearl fell through her fingers and onto the ocean floor
below.
Without a thought for the danger at hand, she dived out of the chariot and grabbed the blue pearl, before it left her sight. Her fingers wrapped tightly around it for fear it may once again slip through them. The damage was done however. The scene erupted.
The gnarly old toadfish beneath her chariot coiled to attack. He opened his ferocious jaws and struck, catching Nellie Pru directly across the back of her hand, slicing the only part of her within his reach that was not covered by her protective green sea tunic. As the toadfish’s claw-like tooth ripped across skin, nerves and sinews, Nellie Pru screamed in pain.
Immediately the other toad fish rushed to the scene, instinctively battling for their share of any food source….