Seer and the spear

Tuber Border Patrol officers stationed at The Tube entrance inside what was known as The King's Cave were always on full alert. It was barely a half-mile to the Royal Rotunda of King Kavawai, where rested the bones of Kamehameha. It was here, as a young chief out spear fishing, that he first came up in the cave and shocked the Border Patrol. On that visit Kamehameha met the king of the Tubers and later still swapped royal fluids with his daughter the La'a princess, producing twins, a boy and a girl.

And while the entrance was miles from the bustle of Kona town, this was an area known by modern spear fishers and snorkelers with cameras. So the Border Patrol was ever alert.

"What's that?" the lieutenant-in-charge said, cocking an ear toward the sound of rapid footsteps approaching through The Tube from the Royal Rotunda.

From the opposite direction came the call of the first officer, stationed in The King's Cave beyond The Tube entrance: "We have company! Yellow kayak, one paddler!"

"What a coincidence," the lieutenant said dryly. The Tuber Border Patrol did not believe in coincidences.

He expected to see royal runners rounding the corner, but instead he saw a young chief he'd never seen before, followed by various priests. Yikes, and one of them was To'o the seer, brother of the queen!

"There's trouble," To'o said. "Or about to be."

"Thank you, Prince To'o," the lieutenant said, bowing. "But we have it covered. One person in a kayak."

"Not just any person," Kaneloa said.

"Who's he?" the lieutenant said, ignoring Kaneloa, speaking to To'o.

"He's not the only one," Kane-loa said. "Both are dangerous.

"He is Kaneloa, a young chief of Oahu," To'o said. "Listen to him."

"Please give me your spear," Kaneloa said to the lieutenant.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa ... We have protocols, procedures ... Surely, Prince To'o, you understand ... "

The seer, still young enough to kick just about anybody's okole if he had to, nodded to the spear, to Kaneloa. The lieutenant handed it over.

Kaneloa accepted the polished wooden shaft with a razor-sharp stone blade at the business end, held it in both hands above his bowed had, whispered a prayer to the ohia tree and the rock that gave the spear their mana, and another to the gods of Kamehameha. Then he ducked through The Tube entrance into the sea cave, greeted the first officer.

"Holy s---!" they all heard a Topsider shout. "What the hell kind of sea monster is that?!"

Leading with the spear, Kaneloa splashed into the opening of The King's Cave just as Keko'ona, a Molokai chief come to life in the form of 300-foot eel, peeked inside and saw a snack, and a hole to slide into.