Edge of Worlds

CHAPTER TWENTY

It was a long walk before they saw the sunsailer’s lights. If the waterlings had made a serious effort to catch them, they would probably have all been eaten because Moon wasn’t sure they could have moved fast enough, even with the Kishan weapons as cover. Stone shifted to groundling about halfway along, and said quietly to Moon, “They’re following us, but they’re up there, in that hall above us.” He jerked his chin up.

“Why?” Moon wondered. “Are they just that territorial? Or hungry?”

Stone hissed under his breath. “That’s a good question.”

The lights grew brighter until Moon could see the battered sunsailer floating in the canal. It faced a huge mold-covered metal door stretched across the hall, blocking the way. From the curving pillars on each end, and the huge gears built into the sides, it looked as if it was meant to raise up to let boats pass below. But it was so old, the dark patina glinting under the lights, and it looked like the mold might be eating it.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” Chime said, weary and sour.

“And the other canals are blocked?” Moon asked, glancing back at the others.

Sounding irritated, River answered, “Yes, they all stop further back. This is a stupid city.”

For once, Moon agreed with him.

The Janderan on guard on the deck saw them and called out. A group was on the walkway, examining or working on one of the pillars. Lights flashed as they turned and Moon spotted Callumkal.

He came toward them, relief plain on his face. “We thought you were lost in this place—”

“We knew where we were, we just couldn’t get back,” Jade told him. Moon could hear an edge of irritated defensiveness in the husky quality of her voice, though he was fairly sure the Kishan couldn’t.

A ramp had been stretched from a break in the boat’s railing to the walkway. Moon was glad to see it, since he wasn’t sure most of them could have made the jump right now. His calf and knee, where the waterling had grabbed him, was one solid ache. As Rorra and Kalam told Callumkal about the waterlings, Moon trudged up the ramp with the others to the deck.

Kellimdar was there, sorting through a pile of tools with two Janderan. He seemed unflatteringly startled to see them. “You returned? We thought . . .”

He let that trail off. Bramble plopped down on the deck and said, “What, you thought we’d decided to live here?”

This part of the deck was brightly lit and littered with metal tools of obscure purpose and coils of various sizes of line, and several jars of the moss. The Kishan had obviously been working on the lock for a while. At least we won’t starve now, Moon thought wearily. He just hoped the waterlings tasted good.

The others followed them up the ramp and a Janderi woman started to help Rorra take off her harness. Delin staggered toward the hatchway, and Merit hurried to help him. Callumkal stood with his arm around Kalam’s shoulders, obviously nearly overcome with relief that he was alive. He said, “What did you find? Was Merit right about the trap?”

Jade turned to answer, though her spines were drooping and she had clearly used up every ounce of energy she had left. Moon decided he was going to take drastic action. He stumbled a little, then shifted to his groundling form and collapsed. Jade caught him with a startled hiss, and Moon went limp. It wasn’t difficult. Losing the weight of his wings after all this time made him dizzy, and every muscle ache acquired in all the previous hours increased tenfold.

He heard Callumkal, Kalam, and Vendoin make exclamations of concern and dismay, and Jade said, “I need to—”

“Of course, go on,” Callumkal urged her.

Jade lifted Moon and he heard the hatch swing open. The light visible through his eyelids faded and he felt the change in the air as she carried him inside. He heard the others trailing after her, then Chime asked worriedly, “Is he all right?”

“Yes,”Jade said, her voice tired but dry. “I was particularly impressed by how he rolled his eyes back in his head before he fell over.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Moon said under his breath.

They turned into a cabin and a moment later Jade deposited him on one of the padded benches. He opened his eyes and caught her arm. She shifted to her Arbora form and he drew her down next to him. She curled around him, said, “Balm, wake me if something happens,” and fell instantly asleep.

Balm smiled in relief. “I will.” She squeezed Moon’s shoulder and left the cabin.

Stone and Chime had followed them in. Now Chime said, “I think I’ll be right here,” and pulled a cushion down to curl up on the floor. He shifted to his groundling form and groaned.

Bramble ducked in, glanced around as if counting them, and then ducked out again. Moon wasn’t sure where the others had ended up and had to resist the knee-jerk urge to get up and check on them.

Stone leaned over for a close look at Jade. Satisfied, he said, “I’m going to go collapse dramatically on Rorra,” and walked out.

“I think Stone likes her,” Moon said through a yawn.

Already half-asleep, Chime sighed. “It wouldn’t be the oddest thing that happened on this trip.”

The next thing Moon knew, Merit was leaning over him, saying, “Are you awake?”

“No.” Moon rubbed his face. To his relief, Jade was still curled around him, breathing heavily. He knew it was night outside the city again, that they had only been asleep for a few hours. The bright liquid lights hurt his eyes and his throat felt raw. He managed to rasp, “What?”

Merit was in his groundling form, frowning with worry. “The Kishan think they might be able to get the lock open. I have to talk to you and Jade before we leave the city.”

From the floor, Chime said, “Why do they call it a lock? Why would you build a river for a boat and then put a lock on it?” He sounded woozy and half-conscious.

Merit ignored him. “It’s about my vision. I need Chime to hear this too. And Stone, but he’s still asleep and I’m afraid to wake him.”

Chime wondered, “He’s sleeping with Rorra?”

Merit’s jaw set. “Hold on.” He turned around, leaned over Chime, and shook him hard.

“All right, all right,” Chime protested. “Stop, I’m awake!” Chime sat up, his hair sticking out in all directions. He blinked and groaned. “What were you saying?”

Moon carefully moved the arm Jade had around his chest and sat up a little. “What about your vision?”

Merit crouched beside the bench. “You all thought that trap you ran into was meant to keep anyone from going up into that part of the city, right?”

Moon nodded. Jade stirred and muttered in her sleep. Scratching his head vigorously, Chime said, “Mmmhmm.”

“But instead you realized you could climb or fly out of it, that only someone who could climb or fly like a Raksura could get out of it,” Merit said. “From what I saw in the vision, it wasn’t a trap, it was a—a trail sign. It was telling you where to go.”

“But—” Moon hesitated. It took us to a place where there was only one way to go, and once we were through it, there were open stairwells and halls. “Go on.”

“That’s what I saw in my vision,” Merit said, his expression anxious. “Any groundlings who walked into it would be stuck. I think there might be a way out for them, I’m not sure what it is. But if you knew to take one of the paths through the city, and you were told that at the right point, something would show you the way . . .”

Chime was wide awake and staring. “I didn’t have any warning. I mean, my . . . power, my sense, whatever it is, I didn’t have any warning.”

Merit turned to him. “Because it wasn’t a trap. And I think maybe it was hiding from me, from my scrying. The closer we came to this city, the less I could see. It was like I’d forgotten how to scry. Once you all walked into that hall, suddenly my vision was back.”

“So you think it was meant for Raksura?” Moon said. His skin was prickling with unease.

“Or forerunners.” Merit shook his head and shrugged. “Maybe the foundation builders were their allies, and something happened, and the builders had to leave. But they left something here for the forerunners, and left a way to show them where it was. Maybe what the tiles with forerunners on them at the outside dock area were saying was ‘if you’re a forerunner, go down one of the halls above the canal and you’ll find it.’”

Chime frowned, frustrated. “But what was supposed to be up there? The waterlings destroyed everything in that room we found, except that thing Root picked up.”

Moon said, “Uh . . .” They all stared at each other.

Jade said, “This shitting city,” and sat up. “Are the waterlings still out there?”

Merit told her, “Stone said they were in the hall above the boat. He’s up on the roof of the top cabin, so he could listen to them while he slept.”

Jade prodded Moon to move. “I have a bad feeling.”

Moon had a bad feeling too. He sat up and moved over for her. This would explain why the waterlings had woken so suddenly, when they had done nothing to disturb them. “You think it made the waterlings come after us? That whatever attracted Root to it also attracted them?”

Jade climbed over him. “I think for an ancient object that had a magical trap guiding Raksura-like beings straight to it, it gave up way too easily when a Raksura picked it up.”

They went to the upper deck common area, the one with the cooking stove, where the others had gone to rest. Balm and River had been keeping watch out on the deck, but the other warriors and Bramble were here. They were all mostly awake now, in their groundling forms and still bleary-eyed. Delin was here too, awake and making notes in one of his books, half-lying on a bench with his bare feet propped up on a cushion. A pot of water was heating on the stove and there was a bowl of something that smelled like pickled melon that Bramble was trying to get the warriors to eat.

First Moon had gone up to the top deck of the ship to get Stone, who reluctantly rolled off the cabin roof, yawned, and stretched. “Now what?” he asked.

“Are the waterlings still up there?” Moon asked. “Because we think we know why.”

As Moon and Stone followed Jade and Merit into the cabin, everyone looked up, and Bramble held out the bowl of melon. She said, “I’m making tea.”

Jade said, “Wait, we need to talk.”

Chime hurried down the corridor with Balm and River behind him. Once they were all together, Jade slid the door shut, lowered her voice and said, “In that room we found, where the waterlings had destroyed almost everything except the silver cage thing Root picked up.”

Everyone nodded except Balm and River, who must have only heard parts of what had happened. Root ducked his head and tried to look unobtrusive. Jade finished, “Did anyone else pick it up?”

Moon looked around the room. In the dark, in the confusion, with everyone waving their lights around at random, it would have been easy for someone to slip the object into a pack. Especially if compelled to by an influence that had made them immediately forget what they had done. Moon had already checked his own, Jade’s, Chime’s, and Stone’s packs, which had been dumped in the cabin downstairs, even though he didn’t think it was likely to be there. Moon had walked out with one hand around Root’s arm, and the others had all been in the front part of the room, too far ahead to get back to where the object had lain without anyone else noticing. And Rorra had been carrying Delin, though he suspected the spell was like the trap, and had been aimed at Raksura, or a species related to Raksura.

The warriors and Bramble stared at Jade, confused. “No,” Song said, a little hurt. “You said not to.”

“Why would we—” Bramble began, then went still as the implications hit her. “You think—”

Delin sat up all the way, dislodging his cushion, alarmed. “You think the compulsion caused someone to take it?”

Jade said, “Check your packs.”

The packs had been dumped by the wall and Briar got up to pass them over to the others. The packs didn’t hold much, most of the warriors having only brought what they thought they might need on the search for the way out of the city, leaving the rest of their belongings on the sunsailer. Song turned hers out, revealing a still-glowing cup, a nearly empty waterskin, a crumpled spare shirt, a little pouch for flints, and some fragments of cloth waterproofed with mountain-tree sap that had been wrapped around food. Bramble’s and Root’s packs all held variations on the same, though Root squeezed his eyes shut with trepidation before he dumped his out. Briar sat down, opened hers, and stared down at it. “Jade . . .”

Moon stepped between Bramble and Root, and crouched beside Briar. Inside her pack was the dull silver cage, the crystal gleaming faintly in its center.

Briar’s eyes were wide with horror. “I—I didn’t—I don’t even remember—”

Moon felt a surge of sympathy for her. He knew it hadn’t been her fault and he hated to see anyone singled out like this. He told Briar, “You couldn’t help it. And you were right behind me and I didn’t see you.” He looked up at Jade. “This thing really wanted out of there.”

“It’s not your fault, Briar,” Jade said. Her jaw was set, as if it was taking a lot of effort not to hiss. Or maybe scream. Moon wanted to scream a little himself. They had been tricked into taking this object with them and there just couldn’t be anything good behind it. They had come here to prevent the mentors’ vision of a massive Fell attack on the Reaches from coming true, and he had a bad feeling they had just made that vision more possible.

Watching Briar’s pack nervously, Song said, “You think it made those waterlings come after us?”

Delin climbed off the bench and limped over to look more closely at the object. “Possibly whatever influence it projects that drew us to it also drew them, as an unwanted side effect. It may explain their attraction to the city, why they came here from the ocean. Possibly it also drew the Fell.” He looked up at Jade and added bluntly, “You understand we will be accused by the Kishan of stealing this thing, for our own purposes.”

Jade grimaced. “We came here to prevent the Fell from getting inside this city, because we were afraid there was something dangerous inside it that they could use against us. That was our purpose. All I want to do is leave this thing here.”

“Can we put it back?” Balm asked, obviously thinking furiously. “We could get back up there . . . Except for the waterlings . . .”

Stone leaned against the wall, sighing wearily. “It’s too late for that. If the trap was meant to guide forerunners to this thing, it would work for the Fell, too.”

“But what is it?” Chime asked helplessly. “What does it do?”

No one had an answer for that. Moon said, “If we were forerunners, I guess we’d know. Or be able to figure it out.”

Chime stepped over to peer cautiously into the pack. “I wonder if the Fell know, or if they just think it’s a weapon, like what the creature in the forerunner city offered them.”

Delin’s face, already wreathed with new lines from exhaustion, wrinkled further in consternation. “Perhaps this was what it meant to offer them.”

There was a general moment of silent dismay. They couldn’t just leave it in poor Briar’s pack, so Moon started to reach for it. “No, better not to touch it,” Delin said.

Root rubbed his hands on his pants anxiously. “I touched it.”

Briar winced. “I must have touched it too.”

“Well, nobody touch it anymore,” Bramble said. “Here.” She pulled a leather bag out of a supply pack. “Tip it into this.”

Moon took the pack and managed to work the object out and into the bag Bramble held open without touching it. As Bramble laced the top down, Chime asked, “But what do we do with it? I know the Kishan will want it, or think they want it, but whatever it is or does, we can’t let them have something that’s going to attract Fell. They’ll never get home alive with it.”

Jade rubbed her temples. “I don’t know. Unless we just drop it in this canal.”

Moon didn’t think that would work. “If the Fell get into the city when we get out, it might draw them to it, like it did the waterlings. And us.”

“We could drop it in the ocean.” Root looked up at Jade. “It’s not far from here, is it?”

Moon stared, then exchanged a look with Chime. Chime said, “That’s not a bad idea.”

“The ocean’s deep, right?” Root continued. He turned to Stone. “Deeper than the sea-mounts are tall. And there aren’t any sealings.”

Jade’s spines flicked thoughtfully. Stone stared absently into the distance, considering it. He said, “I’ve never heard of sealings going into the ocean, or any talk of anything out there that had any interest in shallow-sea dwellers or land-dwellers. Except to eat them.” He folded his arms, leaning back against the door. “It isn’t a bad idea.”

“We don’t even know what it is.” Delin sounded depressed. He made his way back to the bench and sat down heavily. “There were carvings in that room. I should have stopped to record them. Or we should have brought Vendoin, to copy any writing on the walls that we were unable to see.”

“There wasn’t time,” Bramble told him. “The waterlings destroyed the books that were in there. Those were probably important too. And all the other broken things in that room.”

Moon added, “It might not even work like it’s supposed to anymore.” But he was thinking of the freshwater sea and the bridle that had been used to control the leviathan there. It had still worked after all these turns, even though the magisters who had originally constructed it were long dead.

Jade flicked her spines in decision. “If we get out of here, if we get past the Fell, we’ll drop it in the ocean.” She glanced at Merit. “Merit can scry on it in the meantime. Maybe he can get some idea if that will work or not.”

Merit nodded, and he looked less alarmed at the prospect than he would have a turn or so ago. Merit had gained a great deal in confidence since Moon had known him. Jade turned to Delin. “From what you’ve said, I’m assuming you don’t intend to tell Callumkal.”

Delin’s frown deepened a little. “I feel it is something that should be hidden and left alone. My passion is to know and describe living species; the past draws my curiosity but it does not mean as much to me as it does to Callumkal and Kellimdar and Vendoin. And as much as I would like to understand its purpose, this object was not meant for us. If Merit is right, it is meant for people who are as dead and gone as those who built this city.”

Everyone twitched a little in relief. Bramble said, “We don’t tell Rorra? I mean, she’s a sealing, she might know things about the ocean, like where we should drop it.”

Jade dipped her spines in a negative. “I don’t want to ask her to choose between us and Callumkal. Besides, she’s known him a lot longer and she might choose him.”

Delin nodded once in grim agreement. Moon didn’t say anything. He had the uneasy feeling they were making a mistake. But he had no idea what the right course would be. Telling Callumkal seemed to be asking for trouble, and leaving the object here in the city for the Fell to find was too dangerous.

Still miserable, Briar said, “I’m sorry, Jade.”

Jade sighed, but stepped over to sit on her heels in front of Briar. “No one is blaming you,” Jade told her. “We were stuck with this thing as soon as we walked into that trap. If it hadn’t been you, it would have been someone else.”

Moon caught the ironic expression in River’s eyes, as if he was thinking of the reaction if he had been the one to pick up the object. He was probably right.

Stone said, quietly, “Rorra’s coming.”

A moment later Moon heard her steps in the corridor. Stone slid the door open and Rorra looked inside. She had changed her clothes and her natural scent was overlaid by oil soap and something astringent, probably a healing salve. Her face was still hollow-cheeked with exhaustion. She frowned at them all, and said, “Is something wrong?”

“We’re just discussing the situation,” Jade said. “Is there any progress on the lock?”

Rorra’s frown turned annoyed. “They’re talking of blowing it up. I wanted to warn you.”

Moon, Chime, and Stone followed Rorra up to the bow, where they had a good view of the lock. “They know this canal goes all the way to an outer door?” Moon asked Rorra.

She jerked her chin toward the lock. “They explored using the levitation harnesses. Past this point, there’s a short passage, then a basin that looked to them like a port, and another door in what must be the outer wall, like the one we came through.”

Moon hoped they were right about it being the outer wall. Knowing the waterlings were out there somewhere in the dark made the shadows and empty spaces even more forbidding. It would be a relief to get out of here, even with their unwanted souvenir.

Below them on the pavement, a weary Magrim said, “The problem is that it isn’t locked in place, it’s just so old the gears have been eaten away and it’s too heavy to lift without them.” Several of the crew were gathered around the curved pillar that supported this half of the lock, the exposed bits of their dark skin stained green with mold. More Kish-Jandera were stationed nearby with their fire weapons, guarding the workers.

Callumkal stood on the pavement with Jade. He was telling Kellimdar, “I don’t want to bring the city down on top of us. Using this mixture in an enclosed space is—”

“But we have no choice,” Kellimdar said. He sounded weary and his blue skin had flushed dark in spots. “We can’t go back. There isn’t enough power left in the moss reserves.”

From this vantage point, Moon had a better chance to see the lock. In the glare of the distance-lights, it looked thick and heavy, an insurmountable barrier. Beside him, Chime said around a yawn, “If we’re going to be killed by the escarpment collapsing, I’m going back to sleep with the others.”

Jade had told the warriors to get more rest while they were waiting. If the waterlings attacked, somebody had to be in good enough shape to fight them. Jade needed more rest too, but Moon thought the few hours of sleep had helped.

“If we don’t get crushed, the Fell will be on us as soon as we get out,” Stone pointed out.

That rankled a bit. “We weren’t much help with that,” Moon said. Finding the way out of the city quickly hadn’t come to much, thanks to the trap. It would be nearing dawn outside.

“If the door opens at all,” Chime said. “If it has that coral growth on it, it might be stuck. And that’s if the mechanism is inside the rock like the other one, and not exposed to metal-eating mold like this.”

“You all are such a cheery bunch,” Rorra said.

Stone’s voice was dry. “That means so much, coming from you.”

“He only talks like that to people he likes,” Moon said. Rorra’s frown turned a little alarmed.

Below, some of the Kishan began to collect their tools and lights to carry back aboard. Others moved along the base of the pillar, placing something on it or next to it that Moon couldn’t quite see. One lifted up in a flying pack to attach something higher up on the pillar. In the light from the boat’s large lamps, it looked like the same stuff that came out of the bolts that the fire weapons used. Rorra pushed away from the railing. “We’re going to need to move backward. I should get up to the bridge to help.”

“Bridge?” Chime asked, watching her go.

“The steering cabin,” Moon translated. He wondered if they were going to shoot at the lock.

The Kishan continued their work, and Kalam came up the ramp carrying one of the moss containers. He asked Moon, “Are you well? When you collapsed, I was—We were all very worried.”

“I just needed to rest,” Moon said, conquering a surge of guilt. “Thanks for helping Balm and Merit save us.”

Kalam looked away, either uncomfortable with the praise or the situation or something. Possibly the smell; Moon knew he needed a bath and clean clothes very badly, but there hadn’t been time. He eased back a step. Kalam said, “It was . . . I just did . . . What anyone would do.” He seemed to realize he was still holding the moss container. “I need to put this up.” He hurried away down the deck.

Chime sighed heavily. “What?” Moon asked him.

Chime pointedly turned back toward the railing. Amused, Stone muttered, “Kids.”

“What?” Moon asked again. He had no idea what was going on. I’m starting to remember why I don’t like Raksura.

Jade, Callumkal, and Kellimdar walked up the ramp back onto the deck, and the other Kishan followed with the last of the equipment. “We’re nearly ready,” Callumkal said.

Stone stood up straight, his head tilted, listening. Moon froze with the other Raksura, but he couldn’t hear anything over the low noises of the boat. Stone said, “You need to hurry. The waterlings are moving.”

Kellimdar said, “Are you sure?” but Callumkal strode immediately for the hatchway.

“We need to move the ship back from the lock.” Callumkal called up to the Kishan on watch on the deck above, “Alcon, warn the fireguards!”

“Can you tell where they are?” Jade asked Stone. “Are they making for the canal?”

Stone, his expression distant as he listened, said, “Can’t tell exactly. They’re moving down out of the hall above us.”

If the waterlings got underneath the boat and attacked from there, it could be disaster. Moon told Chime, “Go warn the others.”

Chime bolted toward the hatch. Moon moved along the railing, staring into the shadows past the sunsailer’s lights, trying to spot movement.

The crew pulled up the ramp and slid a panel across the opening. The deck thrummed as the motivator started up again. Stone hissed, “I can’t hear them through that.”

It was possible to filter out some sounds, but the nearness of the stone walls concentrated the motivator’s sound, until the thrumming was vibrating in Moon’s bones, and in all the delicate structures of the ear that made distance hearing possible. Stone shifted, his dark scaled form blooming into being as some of the Kishan near the railing flinched away. Moon swayed as the boat jolted. A high-pitched noise joined the thrumming and the sunsailer started to move backwards up the canal, away from the lock.

The rest of the warriors spilled out onto the deck. Bramble and Merit peered out of the hatch behind them, then retreated back into the corridor when Jade twitched her spines pointedly. “Spread out along each side of the boat,” she told the warriors.

Kellimdar shouted from the upper deck, “Crew, get back from the railing! The creatures are in the water.” The Kishan still on the bow deck ran to the hatch, and others on the first and second decks scrambled to get up to the lights and weapon balconies.

Then Stone growled a warning and the first waterlings came over the side.

Stone tossed the first three off the boat and snapped a more persistent two in half. Fire-weapons struck the ones climbing the sides, then Moon’s focus narrowed to the two trying to get past him into the hatch.

He ducked snapping claws, wrenched waterling joints, and ripped open the upper part of a jaw that got far too close to his face. Another balanced on the railing and Moon slammed it off the boat. He landed back on the temporarily clear deck to hear, “They’re dropping from above!” It was Briar, yelling the warning from down the port side.

Stone leapt straight up. The deck rocked under Moon’s feet and one of the distance-lights swung up to follow Stone. He landed on the arch directly above the boat and swept off the clump of waterlings climbing along it.

A loud pop sounded from the lock pillars, echoing off the stone walls. Fire blossomed at the base of the pillar and shot upward. It struck the other patch of the explosive mixture and someone on the deck above yelled something in another language. Moon suspected it meant “Get down!” and he flung himself flat.

The blast blotted out his hearing and the wood and metal beneath him rocked with the disturbed water. Moon had been expecting a hail of hot metal shards, but there was nothing. Ears ringing, Moon shoved himself upright. He let his breath out in a hiss. Oh, no. The lights shone on the lock, still intact.

Then the pillar creaked and groaned, and the gears started to move. Slowly, the panel blocking the canal began to move upward. The Kishan hadn’t blown it up, they had just jolted it loose. Moon thought it was probably a better solution. Then a waterling threw itself over the bow and swarmed up the front of the cabin, heading for the Janderan operating the fire-weapon and light on the deck above.

It was Magrim, and he couldn’t swing the fire weapon down far enough to shoot the waterling. He stepped back, trying to draw a smaller handweapon from his belt. Moon leapt and hit the waterling’s torso from behind, dug his claws into the join where its head met its short neck. He caught a glimpse of Magrim’s startled expression as Moon threw his weight backward and yanked the creature off the railing.

The problem with that tactic was that Moon landed flat on his back, the waterling on top of him. To buy himself time to recover, he bit the waterling in the neck and felt its scales crack under his teeth. It shrieked, decided to run, and tore itself off him and dove for the railing.

Moon rolled to his feet and let it go as it appeared to be the only waterling with any sense; the others were flinging themselves at the sunsailer and being shot by Kishan or mauled by Raksura. The panel was still in motion, high enough now for the boat to pass under it. The deck thrummed again as the boat surged forward.

Three more waterlings came over the bow and Magrim’s fire-weapon killed one, wounded the second, and Moon dealt with the third. He danced around the deck, dodging claw snaps, until he could close with it. As he slung its body back into the water, he realized they were out of the canal and entering some larger space.

The sunsailer’s lights flashed around a cavern, as big as the entry harbor on the far side of the city. Moon caught glimpses of pillars stretching up, huge dark hallways leading away from platforms extending out over the dark water. But he couldn’t see the door. No, there it was, the outline of it incised into the far wall. But there was no platform alongside it, and no sign of the carvings or the mechanism to open it. Moon thought, we’re in trouble. He hoped the builders hadn’t removed it, that taking away the mechanism hadn’t been an attempt to defend the city from whatever had caused them to abandon it.

The sunsailer surged forward and the deck swayed underfoot from suddenly choppy water. Moon dealt with another waterling and looked for the outer door again, still wondering how they were supposed to open it. Above, near the steering cabin, someone shouted in horror. The big distance-light swung around and shone on the water in front of the door.

The dark water swirled violently, waves rocked the boat and crashed over the bow, spraying Moon with saltwater. He shook it out of his frills and backed toward the hatchway. The deck jerked underfoot and suddenly became a slope, as the pressure of the water dragged it sharply down and pulled the vessel forward toward the whirlpool. Moon dug his foot claws in to stay upright. The water was full of waterlings, the lights reflecting flashes of their bright blue scales, but they were all caught in the suddenly rushing current. The deepening whirlpool pulled them down toward the center. Just like the sunsailer.

We’re going to sink, Moon thought. They might have time to get at least some of the crew away. No, he had forgotten the flying packs. With those they might have a chance to get everyone to safety. Moon started to turn, to head up onto the deck above to find Jade and Callumkal. But then the big light on the port side of the sunsailer made a slow sweep across the walls. They were covered in waterlings.

The creatures fought their way out of the less violent current around the edge of the basin and streamed up the walls, clustered on the platforms, on the floor of the hall. More appeared on terraces and balconies in the upper part of the chamber, climbing up, still trying to get above the boat. Moon stared in sick dismay. The chamber was alive with the creatures. If the Raksura and groundlings left the boat, there was nowhere to go.

“Moon—” The shout was from overhead and Moon snapped out of his horrified contemplation of the large hole forming in the churning water ahead. Magrim was yelling and pointing. “Close the hatch!”

Right, or we’ll die faster. Moon turned, climbed back up the steepening slope toward the hatchway. He snapped his claws through the strap holding the metal door open and slammed it shut. There was a lever on the outside and he gave it a turn, and felt a locking mechanism jolt inside. Water washed up from the bow and he leapt up, caught the wall over the hatch, and slung himself over the railing.

Magrim braced there, staring wide-eyed at the water. He said, “I meant go inside and close the hatch!”

“I know,” Moon told him. But there were still at least three Kishan out here at the fire-weapons and lights and he didn’t want any desperate waterlings to jump onto the boat at the last minute and eat them. Even if they were all about to drown. “Do you know what caused that?”

Magrim grimaced, still staring at the whirlpool. “It must have been the lock. When the gears blew, they must have been connected to some opening in the bottom of the basin.”

Probably, and it had obviously been an ill-considered decision, but as part of the group who had attracted the waterlings’ attention, Moon wasn’t going to point fingers. He said, “Just hold on. Maybe it’ll stop.” He didn’t think it was going to stop but there was no point right now in saying so.

He looked up toward the steering cabin, visible from this angle, and through the window saw Rorra, Kellimdar, and three other Kishan shouting, gesturing, and wrestling with something that was probably the steering mechanism. He realized the background roar was the sunsailer’s motivator, desperately fighting the current.

Moon went to the edge of the railing and looked back along the boat, but couldn’t see anyone out on the decks on this side, except the Janderi at the big fire-weapon post on the third deck. There was another Janderan on the far side, grimly keeping a big distance-light pointed toward the whirlpool. Moon hoped all the Raksura had gotten inside already. And that everyone was still alive.

A thump on the deck above made him flinch but it was only Stone, now in his groundling form. He jumped down next to Moon, and frowned at the whirlpool. “So that looks pretty bad.”

“Where’s Jade and the others?” Moon asked. He wrapped his claws around the railing. Despite the furious efforts in the steering cabin, the sunsailer drew closer to the circle of rushing water, the deck sloped more steeply.

“They’re inside, on the lower deck. Waterlings were climbing up the stern, but they left when this started. Kalam told everyone to get inside and lock the doors.” Stone asked Magrim, “You want to go inside?”

Magrim shook his head. “The crystal in the ports isn’t made for this. It’s going to break. If I’m going to drown, I’d rather do it out here than inside.”

Moon would rather do it with the other Raksura, but he wasn’t sure there was time. Then Stone said, “Delin doesn’t think we’re going to die.”

The sunsailer jerked sideways and Moon gripped the railing as he nearly slammed into Stone. The motivator jittered and sputtered. He raised his voice over the roar of water. “Does he?”

“He thinks this is happening for a reason,” Stone explained. He ducked as a huge gout of water splashed up over the decks. “He admitted it might not be a good reason.”

Then the bow dipped and the boat surged forward straight into the darkness at the center of the whirlpool.