Edge of Worlds

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Bramble choked on her first attempt to speak, then managed to gasp, “So what was that?”

“I don’t know. Are you all right?” Gripping her shoulder, Moon could feel her trembling.

“Sure.” Bramble wiped an arm across her face. “I need to get back to Delin and Merit.”

“Why’d you come over here?” Moon picked her up and she clung to his collar flanges. “For the symbols?”

“Yes.” She tightened her grip as Moon leapt into the air. “Delin didn’t have a chance to bring his notes and he couldn’t remember the different ways they were all pointing and I wasn’t sure which ones he was trying to remember.”

Moon landed on the top of the pillar and gauged the distance to the cliff wall. From this angle he saw Merit and Delin, huddled on the ledge, examining something. Merit had made several clumps of vegetation and sea wrack glow, and there was just enough light to make out their shapes. Chime had climbed up about thirty paces and clung to the wall.

Moon crouched low, and Bramble tucked her head down. He pushed off as hard as he could, flapped once for stability and distance, and hit the side of the cliff. He slid down a little, getting a close look at the coral substance covering the rock as it cracked and fragmented under his weight. His claws caught hold and he started to climb toward Chime.

As Moon reached him, Chime scraped at the rock, exposing more carved symbols in the light of a clump of moss he had jammed into a crevice. “Any luck?” Moon asked.

“Not so far.” Chime peered at him. “You’ve got Bramble?”

“I almost got eaten by Fell,” Bramble informed him. “I’m climbing down, I need to tell Delin which symbols.”

“What?” Distracted, Chime stared at her as she transferred her grip from Moon to the rock face and started down.

“The half-Fell queen is out here,” Moon said. From the yelling below at Bramble’s reappearance, it was obvious that her decision to jump in the water and swim to the dock hadn’t been approved by Merit or Delin.

Chime groaned with dismay, and went back to scraping at the coral growth.

Moon half-twisted around so he could watch their backs, holding on with one hand. From the sunsailer, he heard metal creak and groan under the strain. He asked, “What are you looking for?”

It was a vague question under the circumstances, but Chime answered, “Merit said there was a good chance the door doesn’t open from the outside, because when the city was alive, someone would always be there to open it for visitors. They wouldn’t want just anybody to be able to get in.”

Moon saw movement in the air near the sunsailer, a dark shape, more than one dark shape, just on the edge of the light. Then a blue figure flashed past and hit the dark shape in midair. He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to fling himself off the rock and join the fight. “That’s not encouraging.”

“No, but Bramble said nobody leaves a place like this and thinks they aren’t coming back. Like the colony tree. So if there wasn’t already a way to open it from the outside, they would have made one.”

“Maybe they just used magic,” Moon said. Looking past the bow of the sunsailer, he saw the distance-lights fall on a row of giant sealings, the massive bodies curving in toward them. A Kishan weapon fired, light blossomed in the air, and a kethel screamed. It was a chance, he thought, we had to take it. But they weren’t going to figure this out in time, if there was a way to figure it out at all. Some of the warriors and the Arbora might escape if they could get to the island and dig in . . .

Exasperated, Chime was saying, “Well, Moon, that’s a possibility of course but there’s absolutely no point in assuming that—”

Then Merit yelled, “It’s here!”

Chime hissed and half-climbed and half-slid down the wall. Moon dropped after him.

Delin and the two Arbora crouched on the ledge. Merit held up a clump of wet sea wrack spelled for light, illuminating some still barely visible chipped and cracked carvings. Moon swung down beside Chime on the ledge. He had no idea what they were all staring at. He said, “How do you know that’s it?”

Merit said breathlessly, “It’s the same symbols on those pillars, the ones we think meant ‘opening.’ They’re around this hole, and we think it’s like the hole in the center of the flower-thing at the forerunner city.”

Bramble turned to him, her expression elated. “There’s old damage, like turns ago someone dug at it, trying to get in.”

Delin urgently motioned Chime closer. “Chime, you try it. You know about it from the other city.”

Moon thought they had all lost their minds. It didn’t look anything like the flower-thing that had guarded the entrance to the underwater forerunner city. It looked like a hole in the rock face, possibly dug by one of the worm-like coral creatures who had infested the cliff wall.

Chime slipped past Merit and Bramble, splashing in the water lapping over the ledge. He tried to peer into the hole. “Can’t see anything, and there’s no way to get a light down there without blocking it. Anybody have a stick, or do we have to send someone to the boat?”

Delin dug through the satchel slung over his shoulder. “Try this.” He handed Chime a long thin metal rod with a hook on the end. “I confess I brought it with this possibility in mind.”

Moon hissed under his breath. The sealings were closer to the sunsailer and he couldn’t see any Raksura in the air. He couldn’t see any Fell in the air either, which could be fear of the Kishan weapons or the knowledge that the sealings were about to do their work for them.

Chime took the rod and inserted it into the hole. Moon held his breath. After a long moment, Chime hissed and pulled the rod out. “There’s no catch in there.”

Delin took the rod back. Chime planted both hands on either side of the hole and leaned on the rock, muttering, “This has to be it.”

It didn’t have to be it. This was a very old city, and they had always known it might have nothing to do with the forerunners. That Callumkal might be wrong and Vendoin right, that it was a foundation builder city. Even if it had been forerunner, that didn’t mean it would open the same way as the other city. And there were two Arbora and a groundling here and Moon and Chime could only save two of them when the sunsailer sank, and he had no idea where Jade and Stone and the others were.

Then Chime leaned into the wall, pressing his cheek against it. He said, “Oh, wait. I hear something.”

“Hear or ‘hear,’” Bramble asked, her claws flexing nervously.

“It’s like . . .” Chime’s voice was barely audible over the wind and the growing rush of sealings moving through the water. “. . . breaking rock, someone, something breaking . . . I don’t think it’s forerunner, I think it’s something else . . .”

The Arbora froze. Moon stared, then realized Chime’s left hand was half atop one of the symbols. There was a duplicate of that symbol on the other side. Moon nudged Merit and pointed.

Merit twitched in realization and carefully reached to move Chime’s left hand all the way onto the symbol. His claws clicked against the rock. “The Fell are wrong,” Chime said clearly.

Merit waved urgently at Bramble. Her teeth bared, she gently moved Chime’s right hand all the way onto the symbol on that side. Then Chime said, “Oh, Moon was right, it is magic.”

The cliff cracked and shuddered underfoot. Moon clung to the rock with his claws and caught Merit before he fell backward off the ledge. Bramble grabbed Delin. Broken rock and coral fragments rained down on their heads and the water below the ledge dropped with a gurgling whoosh. Then the cliff slowly, ponderously, started to swing inward.

Moon clung to the rock and to Merit, equal parts astonished and appalled. It wasn’t the whole cliff, it was a large section of it, at least a hundred paces wide and almost as tall. Bramble had said the door was big enough to get the sunsailer through, but Moon hadn’t thought it would be this big.

The door swung in toward a great dark tunnel in the escarpment, a channel in the bottom rapidly filling with water from the sea. Inside it was as dark as an underground cavern, the air flowing out of it stale and tinged with salt and a faint scent of plant rot.

“The sunsailer,” Delin said, his voice faint. He stared into the darkness, wide-eyed. “They must come in, before the Fell . . .”

Moon had never seen Delin this overcome before and he was fairly sure he didn’t like it. Bramble said, “Chime, can you close it? Once we get the groundlings inside—”

Chime gasped, “I can barely hold it open, so yes, I think I can close it.”

“Stay here,” Moon told them all. He made sure Merit had a good grip on the rock, then moved down the ledge and leapt upward.

The wind caught him and almost sent him right through the open doorway. Moon flapped frantically, rolled, and managed to get himself under control. He flew toward the sunsailer, careful to circle around it and stay out of the distance-lights, in case any of the Kishan were a little too quick to fire. He spotted Callumkal out on the upper deck directing the weapons. And there was Jade, circling above the sunsailer, with Briar and Balm flanking her. Further out, Stone swept past.

He drew near Jade and shouted, “The door’s open! Chime’s holding it open!”

She circled around and her spines flared as she saw it. She called to the warriors, “Briar, go get Root and River! Balm, you and Song go to the Arbora!”

As the warriors shot away, Jade dropped toward the sunsailer. Moon waited to make sure Stone was headed back this way, and then followed Jade down.

They landed on the steering cabin roof. Jade said, “Tell them. I’ll keep watch.”

Moon dropped to his knees and leaned down to see through the window. Rorra held the steering lever, grimacing with the effort of keeping it steady. He knocked on the glass. She flinched, then glared at him. He pointed emphatically toward the escarpment. She leaned sideways to see around him, and her eyes widened. She mouthed something that wasn’t in Altanic and then turned back to the steering lever.

Moon pushed to his feet. “Are the Fell fighting each other out there or am I hallucinating?”

Jade said grimly, “If you’re hallucinating, then we’re all doing it with you.”

Stone passed overhead then abruptly doubled back. Moon and Jade ducked as he came in low. He shifted and dropped down onto the cabin roof. He staggered and Jade caught his arm to steady him. Stone said, “That gets a little harder every time.”

Moon swayed as the sunsailer jerked sideways. Metal groaned as it started to turn toward the escarpment. Hopefully the Fell hadn’t realized that the door in the escarpment was open. The distance-lights were pointed toward the sky and the island, and it would be hard to see the door in the dark from where most of the Fell were still flying. Hopefully all the dakti who had managed to get close were dead. He asked Stone, “Could you tell what the Fell were doing?”

Stone didn’t take his gaze off the dark sky. “It has to be two different flights—Look out!”

Moon spun around and spotted the shapes streaking past overhead. Rulers, at least five of them, aiming for the city’s doorway.

Moon jumped straight up into the air, almost into the chest of the first ruler. It grabbed at him and Moon ripped upward with his disemboweling claws. Jade shot past him and tore into the rulers above. Then a wash of displaced air told Moon that Stone was aloft. The rulers scattered.

Moon twisted in the air, ripping his claws free of the ruler’s stomach and shoving it away from him. It flapped unsteadily and turned back toward the island, but he didn’t have time to finish it off. He caught the wind and looked for the remaining rulers. They were about a hundred paces off the stern of the sunsailer, near the stone platform with the pillars, trying to regroup.

Jade swept down toward them and Moon tilted his wings to get above her, then they both dove in tandem.

Jade hit one and drove it straight into the ruler flying below it. Moon swerved at the last instant to land on top of another and rip its wing webbing. Stone slammed through again, knocking the three remaining rulers out of the sky. Then Moon felt the air change and knew something was about to slam into him from behind. He flared his spines.

A weight struck him, jolted him hard enough for his wings to lose the wind. He snapped them in and rolled, and heard a distinctive dakti shriek right in his ear. He felt the tug on his spines and realized the stupid miserable thing had impaled itself so deeply it couldn’t pull free.

Moon snarled and spun again, and its claws scrabbled at his back, trying to get past his spines and scales. He was going to have to take it down to the stone platform and scrape it off.

As he dove for the platform, the dakti apparently gave up on survival and yanked itself further down on his spines, reaching for his head. Moon slapped claws away from his eyes and cupped his wings, hoping the platform was where he thought it was. Then suddenly the weight was jerked away and the dakti’s angry shriek abruptly cut off.

Moon tumbled, snapped his wings in at the last instant, slammed into the stone dock, and rolled. He landed in an awkward crouch and looked up.

The half-Fell queen stood on the edge of the dock, holding the bleeding dakti by the neck. She tossed it into the water.

Moon sprang backward and almost rammed into a pillar. Then Jade landed between them.

For a long heartbeat, they were all frozen, crouching, ready to attack or flee. Then the Fell queen said, “You saw what I did.” She was speaking to Jade.

Jade said, “I saw. That’s why you still have your head.”

The Fell queen flicked her tail, an oddly Raksuran gesture. Teeth gritted, trying not to breathe too loudly and upset the fragile balance of the situation, Moon wondered if she had much control over her spines, if she used them to express emotion and communicate. Or if she didn’t know how.

The Fell queen eased to a standing position and Jade copied her, the two moving in time with each other. The Fell queen said, “I want to talk.” She spoke Raksuran, but her pronunciation was oddly accented.

Jade said, “How did you control the sealings?”

Yes, Moon thought, keep her distracted. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the stern of the sunsailer moving toward the doorway.

The Fell queen answered, “That was the other flight. The sealings aren’t under control, the progenitor asked them to attack you. She found their spawning ground. Now they have to do what she says.”

So they were right, it wasn’t one flight nesting in two different places, but two flights. That ... doesn’t necessarily help, Moon thought.

The Fell queen stepped to the side, tilting her head as if trying to see Moon better. “I don’t want to fight.”

Jade’s spines flicked. “You know, that’s what all Fell say. So unless you have something more interesting to add—”

“We chased away the other flight. You’ve seen it.”

Jade said, “So you don’t want to share your prey. How does that not surprise me?”

“I don’t want prey. I want your help.”

“We’ve heard all this before. You’re hardly the first to try this.”

Moon, his senses hyper-alert, felt something change in the water lapping over his claws. It might just be a wake from the sunsailer’s passage, but the angle and the force of it was wrong. Jade hadn’t given any indication she had noticed.

The Fell queen tilted her head, another Raksuran mannerism. “The other flight wanted something in the city. Let us come in with you.”

Jade laughed. “We’re going into the city to get away from you. Surely you noticed that.”

“But you don’t know what’s inside. We know what the other flight told us.”

“Then tell me. Prove I should listen to you.”

The Fell queen hesitated, and the moment stretched. For a heartbeat, Moon actually thought she was going to tell them something important, something real. Then she bared her fangs in a gesture more Raksuran than Fell, and said, “You don’t want to listen. I told you—”

Water fountained up beside the platform as Stone lunged across it at the half-Fell queen. Jade leapt to the top of the pillar, and Moon scrambled up beside her, just in time to see the Fell queen fling herself into the air. She tumbled across the water, flapping frantically, then managed to get enough height to catch the wind.

Stone stood up, spreading his wings, but the Fell queen turned away, arrowing off toward the island. Jade growled, quivering with the urge to give chase. Moon glanced back toward the door to see the stern of the sunsailer was all the way inside. “Jade, we need to go.”

She hissed in reluctant agreement, and shouted, “Stone, the door!”

Stone launched into the air. Jade leapt upward and Moon followed, letting the wind catch him and push him toward the sunsailer.

He saw Bramble and Delin waiting on the deck with half a dozen armed Kishan. River, Root, and Briar were up on the cabin roof. He couldn’t see Balm and Song, but Chime must still be down on the door ledge. And where was Merit?

Jade dropped onto the stern deck first and furled her wings in to give Moon room to land. Moon skidded across the deck and stopped himself on the rail. He saw with relief that Chime and Merit were both down on the ledge, with Balm and Song beside them. Above him, Stone snapped his wings in and shifted to his groundling form, and landed beside him in a crouch.

Kalam ran toward them. “You made it! We were afraid—”

“So were we,” Moon admitted. Bramble flung herself at him so hard he staggered back a step.

Stone straightened up and let his breath out in a hiss. Bramble let go of Moon and flung herself at Stone.

The sunsailer’s stern cleared the door and Jade shouted, “Chime, let it close!”

Merit tugged on Chime’s arm and pulled him away from the wall. Chime staggered and almost went into the water. Balm caught him, lifted him off his feet, and leapt to the railing. Moon reached up and she dropped Chime into his arms, then stepped off the rail.

Annoyed, Chime said, “You can put me down, I’m fine.”

Moon’s heart thumped in relief as he set Chime on his feet. Chime seemed ruffled and tired, but not hurt. Song arrived with Merit and jumped down from the railing. Nerve-rackingly slow, the great door started to swing backward, moving to shut off the opening. The Kishan distance-lights focused on it. This side was a smooth stone of mottled browns and grays, gleaming damply in the light.

Watching the door, Jade said, “Careful. If one gets in—”

The door was almost shut when a dakti slipped through the narrow opening. It froze in the light, clinging to the door, staring at them as if it hadn’t expected them to be watching. A Janderi fired her weapon and fire blossomed in its chest. It collapsed and fell into the dark water.

The door shut with a rumbling thump that seemed to go on for a long time.

Moon leaned on the railing. His wings were a heavy weight and he wanted to shift to groundling, but he was afraid if he did, he would just collapse on the deck and not be able to get up. Jade didn’t need a collapsed consort right now.

“That was close.” Chime gripped the railing so tightly, the scales over his knuckles were swelling.

It was still close; they hadn’t escaped, just changed the level of danger. Moon hoped it was a little less, at least at the moment.

The distance-lights moved across a high curved ceiling, down to huge arched doorways that led off into empty, echoing halls. The scents were all dank stone and saltwater and rotting vegetation. The thrum of the sunsailer’s motivator sounded oddly loud. It was punctuated by the Kishan’s hurried footsteps and their shouts as they checked for wounded and made sure no one had fallen off or been snatched away by Fell at the last moment.

Moon squinted into the darkness. It still didn’t look anything like the forerunner city, which was a relief. The stone was a light gray, the sides of the archways carved to form pillars made to look like giant twisted skeins of rope or vine. The curved ceiling was emblazoned with interlocking squares. Staring upward at it was making Moon dizzy. He swayed and leaned on the railing again.

“What do we do now?” Root said, his voice small and hushed.

Jade looked around at the warriors. They had gathered around on the deck, and everyone had scrapes and claw slashes and probably some impressive bruises under their scales. She focused on River, who had claw rips across his chest and was dripping blood on the deck. “Merit, take River inside and do something about that. Balm, I saw you run into that ruler, you go with them.”

Balm, who had one hand pressed to her head and was grimacing in pain, protested, “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are.” Merit took her wrist and towed her toward the hatch. “Come on, River.”

River limped painfully after him. Jade said, “Stone, why don’t you go with them?”

Stone glanced around at the empty darkness of the hall. “Nah, I’ll just stay here.” He sat down on the deck with a wince and a partially suppressed groan.

Jade hissed in exasperation. “I know I made that a question, but what I actually meant was—”

Callumkal strode out of the hatchway, Vendoin and Kellimdar hurrying after him. Callumkal gripped Kalam’s shoulder in relief and looked around at the Raksura, asking, “You are all well? Everyone made it inside?”

Giving up on Stone, Jade turned to him. “We’re well, is your crew all right?”

“We’ve accounted for everyone, and there were no serious injuries.” Sounding overwhelmed, Callumkal said, “We need to talk about what to do next.” He looked around, taking in the size of the entrance passage. “For so long, we wanted to get inside this place, and now . . . We have to get out.”

Delin, leaning on Bramble, said, “Cities seldom have one entrance. There must be another way out, even if it is concealed.”

Moon thought that was probably true, but they would still have to get past the Fell. From the grim atmosphere, that aspect of the situation had occurred to everyone.

Then Callumkal said, “How did you open the door?”

Jade glanced at Chime. “That’s a good question.”

Chime hesitated and Bramble gave him a poke. “You said it was magic.”

“No. I mean, yes, it was magic. No, nothing told me what to do.” Chime’s spines shrugged tiredly. “There was no scarily persuasive voice.”

“That’s good,” Moon pointed out. “That’s really good.”

The Kishan were listening with various expressions of confusion and dismay. “Scarily persuasive voice?” Vendoin glanced at Delin. Her armor patches glistened damply and her dress was dripping onto the deck. She must have been near a window when the sealing had started pouring saltwater into the sunsailer. “Like the one that drew the Fell to the forerunner city?”

“Right, there wasn’t one.” Chime was distracted, obviously trying to find the right words. “It just felt right to touch those symbols. And I didn’t feel anything until I was right in front of them, so if Delin and Bramble and Merit hadn’t figured out they were the ones we should be looking for, we’d still be outside with the Fell. Before that, it was all just a big dead sea-mount.” Chime looked around at everyone. “I don’t know why.”

Delin interposed, “We are all tired, and some of us are very old. We should rest while we talk.”

Stone punctuated this by stretching out on the deck and apparently falling instantly asleep. Reminded of his other responsibilities, Kellimdar said, “Yes, the crew need rest and food as well.” He started off down the deck toward the distance-light operators on the nearest balcony.

As Callumkal and Delin turned to go back inside, Moon told Jade, “I’ll stay out here with Stone.” He understood Stone’s reasoning for remaining on deck. If something attacked the boat, he could shift instantly to deal with it. There were four Kishan crew posted along the stern railing, holding fire weapons and worriedly watching the darkness past the range of the lights, but Moon figured they could use the help.

“I’ll stay, too,” Chime added. Possibly he wanted to avoid further unanswerable questions from Vendoin. In Chime’s place, Moon knew he would have.

Jade’s spines indicated reluctant agreement. She said, “Everyone else, inside for now.” The warriors and Bramble started to make their way toward the hatch, Root stumbling a little with weariness.

Moon went over to Stone and sat down heavily. Chime followed, sitting on his heels to eye Moon worriedly. “Are you all right?”

“Just sore.” Moon shifted to groundling, and managed not to hiss from relief as the weight of his wings melted away. The next moment, the pain of every strained muscle and bruise and claw scratch doubled in intensity, and he managed not to hiss again. He rubbed his eyes, tried to focus. “When you touched the symbols, you said you didn’t think it was forerunner.”

Chime shifted to groundling, muttered, “Oof, ow.” He half fell over, supporting himself with one arm. “Yes, but now I can’t think why I thought that. Maybe just a different . . . feel? I know at the time it seemed clear, but it’s just slipped away.”

That’s probably a good sign, Moon thought. It seemed more likely all the time that this was a foundation builder city.

The motivator thrummed into life again, and the boat started to move slowly forward. Esankel came out of the hatch, a fire weapon slung over her shoulder, and stood by the railing. She made a soft exclamation of awe as one of the distance-lights swept upward over the great blocks on the ceiling. Moon asked her, “Do we know where we’re going?”

“No, they thought it was better to move forward, away from the door, in case the Fell get it open.” She turned away from the rail, and lifted her hands in a gesture of uncertainty.

They sat in the quiet darkness for some time, watching the Kishan go back and forth from the hatchway and the steps that led to the upper decks, checking over the sunsailer for damage, shining their lights on the city’s walls and remarking softly on the carving.

Moon didn’t mean to sleep, but he nodded off at some point. He woke lying on the deck next to Stone, with Bramble leaning over him.

Moon could feel through the deck that the ship wasn’t moving. Raksura could sense the position of the sun, even when they couldn’t see it, and he knew that outside it was near dawn. Everything was quiet except for dripping water, and the faint movements of the crew. The distance-lights still played over the cavernous space and the water. He cleared his dry throat and said, “We stopped.”

Bramble nodded. “They decided that we’ve come as far as we can without scouting. There’s been no sign of the Fell; we’re not that far from the door and we’d hear it open. Everybody’s been taking turns sleeping, except Vendoin and Kellimdar. They’re out there on the docks, copying a bunch of the inscriptions and symbols.”

Moon sat up on his elbow. “Docks?” Chime lay curled on his side a couple of paces away, still asleep. Three Kishan were on guard at the stern railing, but Esankel had gone. He heaved himself to his feet and went to the rail for a better look at their surroundings.

They were now in an even larger cavern, in what might be a harbor basin. The rope-like pillars supported archways and sheltered broad stone platforms that did look like docks. There were three to the left of the sunsailer, and two to the right, on either side of a wide canal that led farther into the city. Ramps stretched up from the docks into the shadow past the distance-lights, to openings he could barely see as dark outlines. Vendoin, Kellimdar, and several Kishan stood on one of the docks on this side with a smaller distance-light. Kellimdar was adjusting it to shine on another section of the side of the archway, while Vendoin wrote hastily on a slate. The other Kishan, Moon was glad to see, were all armed with fire weapons and were warily keeping their gaze on the ramps and the water.

Bramble said, “Vendoin thinks she might be able to translate the writing.”

Moon frowned at the archway, brightly lit now by the distance-light Kellimdar directed at it. “Uh, what writing?”

“We can’t see it,” Bramble explained. “It’s in colors we can’t see. But Vendoin can see it, and so can some of the Kishan, just not all of them. She said it’s rare, but they’ve found it on some of the old foundation builder ruins in Kish.”

“Huh.” They had encountered a species they hadn’t been able to see once, but never colors. Or at least Moon hadn’t thought so. If you couldn’t see something and no one who could mentioned it, you weren’t likely to know about it. “Can Delin see it?”

Bramble snorted. “No, and he’s madder than a headless Fell about it, too.”

Stone, who was apparently awake, said, “Ha.”

Moon turned away from the railing. “Where’s Jade?”

“Up in the front, talking with Callumkal.”

“Did she ever sleep?” They had all slept a little in the small boat on the way back to the escarpment, but the fighting and difficult flying through most of the night had been draining.

“She said she was going to.” Bramble got to her feet. “Are you hungry?”

Moon looked down at himself. There was blood spotted on his clothes, his own and Fell blood. The scratches on his arms had closed up, but the bruises were still all there. He felt like someone had punched him all over his body. “Not really. How are Balm and River?”

“Merit put them both in a healing sleep. Everyone else just needed simples. You should have some tea.” She nudged Stone with her foot. “Come on, line-grandfather.”

“Ugh,” Stone said, or something similar, but let Bramble prod him to his feet.

“What did Jade and Callumkal decide to do?” Moon asked.

Bramble pushed him and Stone toward the hatch. “We know we have to look for a way out, but that’s it so far. That’s why you need to eat. Go past that room they gave us to the middle part of the ship, then up a level. There’s a big common room. Some of the others are there. I’ll bring Chime.”

Moon found the way down the corridor and up a set of stairs, Stone trailing behind him. There were food odors in the air: cooked fish and waterweed and roots. The stairs opened up to a big room with windows on both sides, with seats built around the walls and more benches fastened to the floor. There was a square Kishan stove in the center of the room, with a pot on the metal frame top emitting fragrant steam. Merit and Delin were there, along with Kalam and Rorra, sitting around on the benches and looking weary and worried.

Balm and River were stretched out on two padded benches at the far end of the room. From their breathing, they were still deep in healing sleep. Moon tasted the air and caught a little blood scent but no sickness or infection. “How are they?”

“River’s wounds are healing well,” Merit told him. He got up and started to fill a couple of metal cups from the pot. “I’m going to wake Balm in a little and check on her.”

Moon sat down on a bench. His back muscles twinged. Stone plopped down next to him and yawned.

Merit handed them both cups. “It’s Kishan tea,” he explained. Stone sniffed it and winced.

“It’s not as good as yours,” Kalam offered, “but we have a lot more of it.”

Moon downed half the cup. It had a dark smoky flavor that wasn’t unpleasant. “How’s the boat?” he asked Rorra.

She sighed. She had a darkening bruise on her forehead and the skin under her eyes looked swollen. “The steering is pulling to the right. But we’re still floating.” She added dryly, “We’ll be comfortable until the food and water run out.”

Kalam said, “The sunsailer had just filled its water tanks from the spring on the island, so . . .” He looked around at everyone and shrugged a little. “That won’t be a problem for a while.”

Delin stirred. It was hard to tell past the weathered gold of his skin, but Moon thought his face looked a little sunken. He gestured toward the windows. “When we search the city, we will surely find a way out.”

Rorra said, “But we have to find it before the Fell get in. And this place is very large. It must fill the entire escarpment.”

Delin nodded. “That is a succinct description of our problem.”

Bramble came in with a yawning, bleary-eyed Chime. They were followed by Song and Root carrying wooden trays and accompanied by a strong scent of food. Moon tried to get up to help but was still moving so slowly that they had set their burdens down on the benches by the time he was on his feet. Song began to pass out bowls, saying apologetically, “It’s all cooked. You’re supposed to eat it with these little scoop things.”

It was a thick broth with fish, crunchy white and red roots, something green and leafy that tasted like salty sea wrack, and a thick piece of bread in the bottom. The sight of it woke Moon’s stomach and he finished off three bowls before he took another breath. Food had been a good idea; he already felt much less bleary and slow.

All three groundlings were still on their first bowl. Delin was unsurprised, but Kalam and Rorra had initially looked puzzled at the number of bowls. After watching the Raksura eat, they evidently understood. With Stone on his fifth bowl, Kalam asked, “Do you want me to get some more?”

Stone, still eating, shook his head. Moon said, “No, this should be enough.” It was enough for now, mostly because everyone had been catching fish off and on during the day. But if they were trapped here for longer than a few days, flying around searching this place and expending energy, it was going to become a problem.

Jade walked in, trailed by Briar. She stopped to check Balm and River, then sat down next to Moon. He said, “Did you eat?”

She began, “I don’t need—” and Moon handed her a bowl. She looked down at it for a moment, then reached for the scoop.

Briar took a bowl from the tray. “We’ve been talking about searching for the way out,” she said, while Jade’s mouth was full.

Jade nodded, swallowed, and added, “We need to start as soon as you’re ready.” She watched Moon for a moment. “Are you ready?”

He was a lot more ready now than he had been before the food. “Sure.”

Bramble was refilling everyone’s cups with tea. “About that. You need to let me help you.”

Merit seconded that, collecting empty bowls to pile back on the tray. “Bramble figured out which symbols to look for to get in here, and you might need her help figuring out other things.”

Delin said, “I will help, as well.”

“You don’t look so good,” Chime told him, before Moon could. “I think you need to stay here and rest.”

“I will look worse if I am eaten by Fell,” Delin countered.

Jade eyed them, and finished chewing. “Well, you’re right. We’ll take Bramble and Delin.”

With Callumkal watching worriedly, the Raksura leapt from the deck down onto the nearest dock. The party was Moon, Jade, Stone, Song, and Briar, with Root and Chime carrying Bramble and Delin. Rorra was a last-moment addition and was travelling under her own power, with one of the flying packs salvaged from the wreck of the flying boat.

As Moon landed, his spines wanted to shiver and he refused to let them; it was too easy to imagine something waiting in that dark, watching them. The warriors set Bramble and Delin down so they could get their lights out and so everyone could stare warily around at the immense shadowy space. Rorra had a small version of a distance-light mounted on the shoulder of her pack, and it cut sharply through the darkness. Merit had spelled a collection of the metal cups and the Kishan had contributed some net bags of glowing moss. Bramble whispered, “It’s scarier without the groundling boat,” and Briar hushed her.

“I think I agree,” Rorra murmured, tugging the strap of her pack.

Rorra was here because Kellimdar and Vendoin had seemed to want a member of the Kishan party to go along, and Callumkal had given in to placate them. Moon thought they were more suspicious of Delin than the Raksura, not wanting a rival scholar to have a chance at any discoveries. Kalam had volunteered to go, but in the face of Callumkal’s obvious fear for his safety, Rorra had offered to go instead. This was actually helpful, since if they found anything underwater that needed exploring, it would be easier for her to do it.

Merit had stayed behind with Balm and River, to give them time to recover fully in their healing sleep. He also intended to scry. Moon had heard him tell Bramble, “You go find some more doors you shouldn’t and I’ll stay here and fail to scry anything worth knowing.”

On the far side of the boat, Vendoin, Kellimdar, and their guards were lifting into the air with their flying packs, going to copy the writings on the walls above the other docks. Though Vendoin had told Jade, “From what I see so far, these inscriptions may be standard greeting texts we’ve seen before, in the builder ruins in Kish. But it’s that inscription—” She had nodded up toward the broad arch above the central hall, her armor plates cracking with her excitement. “—that may truly prove the most valuable. It’s in a prominent spot, and I am sure I have never seen it before.”

Stone was in his winged form, and had paced a short distance down the dock to the ramp. Jade said, “Forward first.” It was obvious that the likeliest spot for another opening was at the opposite side of the escarpment from this one. If they were lucky, the canal leading away from the basin would cut straight through the city to another hidden doorway. Of course, the Fell were bound to think of that, too. “Bramble, you go with Stone.”

Bramble shouldered one of the moss-light bags and went to Stone. He held out his hand and she scrambled up his scales to a secure position next to his collar flange. Stone leapt up to the first pillar along the edge of the canal, and then to the next, just out of range of the sunsailer’s lights. Bramble’s lighted net swung wildly, then stilled as she steadied it. Moon squinted to see, but couldn’t spot anything but the carved surface of the pillar, and the water stretching beyond.

“Ready,” Jade said. Moon glanced back at Delin and Chime. Rorra tugged at the strap on her pack, and it pulled her upward, her boots hovering a few inches above the pavement.

“Here we go again,” Chime muttered as he picked up Delin.

Jade sprang into flight and Moon leapt after her with the others.