The Cloud Roads

Chapter Thirteen

Moon snapped awake with the conviction that a Fell ruler stood over him. Beside him, Jade twitched upright, snarling. The faint lamplight showed the room was empty, but Fell scent hung in the air.

“Not here. It’s in the wind!” Jade threw blankets aside as she scrambled upright.

Appalled, Moon rolled to his feet. A Fell ruler flew somewhere nearby, over the pass or the valley, and the wind had carried the scent to them. Jade was already at the window, pulling the blanket and the torn wind-shield aside. Cold air blasted in as Moon leaned past her to see out.

The plaza below was empty, except for the wagons and the huddle of draught-beasts. Few windows were still lit, and the torch stands in the streets were dark. Heavy clouds cut off any glimpse of starlight. Moon could barely see. The night would be nearly impenetrable to most groundling eyes.

“It’s somewhere close,” Jade growled, and shifted to her winged form. She hooked her claws over the stone window sill and pulled herself up to climb out. “We have to kill it.”

“I know,” he snapped. The ruler couldn’t be allowed to follow them toward a Cordan camp. If the Cordans really had used their poison in the fighting in Kiaspur, the Fell could know about it, could realize that Moon and Jade meant to get it to use at the colony. Moon shifted and followed as Jade slid out the window.

Moon sunk his claws into the stone as the wind tore at him, threatening to rip him right off the wall. It was laden with ice sharp as needles, peppering his scales. He followed Jade up the side of the building, and dragged himself up onto the rounded roof.

They both crouched there, tasting the wind. Around the caravanserai was a dark sea of rocky rooftops, with chimneys releasing gusts of white steam. The sky was a featureless curve of solid cloud, the mountains visible only in outline. Sight was almost useless, and scent wasn’t much better; the wind gusted in all directions, making the Ruler’s trace seem to come from everywhere. Jade scanned the sky, snarling in irritation. “I can’t tell the direction. We’ll have to search.”

And we have to split up, Moon thought. If they didn’t find the ruler now, all it had to do was hide and wait for them to move on. “You take the north side. I’ll take the south,” he said, and let himself fall into the wind.

He flapped to get higher, banking toward the north peak and away from the city. He flew a hunting pattern over the dark slopes of the valley, following the wind currents and trying to pinpoint the Fell taint. Tantalizing him, it came and went.

The clouds drifted apart, allowing starlight to fall through, making it a little easier to see. Moon had covered half the valley when he sensed movement in the darkness above him. Knowing it wasn’t Jade, he twisted sideways in one sharp motion. The dark shape of a Fell ruler plunged past him.

Hah! Finally. Moon dove after it, angling his wings for the least resistance. The ruler flapped frantically, trying to correct its out of control plunge. Before it could get its balance, Moon struck its back, using the claws on his feet to rake down the join of its wings.

The ruler rolled and made a wild grab for him but Moon dove past. Then he caught an updraft and rode it back up.

The ruler floundered in the air, shouting after him, “Did you think you could run from us? That I wouldn’t follow you wherever you went?”

With a shock Moon recognized the voice. It was Kathras, the ruler who had come out of the colony to taunt Pearl. He thinks we were running? Moon banked around for another strike. As he dove, Kathras rolled to claw at him but Moon hit him hard, raked him across the belly with his feet and twisted away again. Kathras fell, extending his wings to save himself. Moon slipped sideways and hit Kathras at the wing join a third time. He felt something snap under his claws.

Kathras slashed up at him, then fell away, tumbling down toward the rocks below.

The ruler bounced off a crag, then fell down into a gorge. Moon spiraled down, mindful of the gusty wind. He spotted Kathras sprawled on a rocky ledge and landed on an outcrop just above him. He crouched to peer cautiously down at the ruler.

Kathras shoved unsteadily to his feet, his crumpled wing hanging limp. This close, Moon could see light-colored patches in the ruler’s scales, raw spots. Kathras quivered with weakness, and Moon scented blood, dried as well as fresh. He flew himself ragged to catch up with us. He did think we were running. Moon felt a surge of hope. If that was true, then the Fell didn’t know about the Cordans or the poison; they believed Moon and Jade were trying to escape.

Looking up at him, Kathras whipped his tail, rage in every line of his body. He spat the words, “I thought we could speak in private. We have so much to say to one another.”

“The only Fell I know are dead.” Moon had never seen a ruler angry before, never seen one show any real emotion except amused contempt. That he had provoked it was a heady sensation, but not one he meant to enjoy for long.

Moon leapt down to the ledge and landed a few paces away from Kathras. He started forward. He needed to finish this and then find Jade, to tell her they didn’t have to worry.

Then Kathras said, “You knew me in Saraseil.”

Moon halted, shock freezing him into place. It’s a trick, he reminded himself. It’s always a trick. But he had never told anyone about Saraseil. There was no one left alive who knew he had ever been there. He managed to say, “That’s a lie. He’s dead.”

“That was Liheas, blood of our blood. He thought he would bring you to us, to please us. But you betrayed us.” Kathras hissed, bitter and reproachful. “Did you think we would forget?”

Liheas. It was eighteen turns ago and far across the Three Worlds, more than half his life ago, but the name was like a knife in his chest. Moon shook his head, furious, horrified. He couldn’t believe this was happening; it had to be a nightmare. “Betrayed you? You—He lied to me, told me... I knew he was lying, he would have killed me.”

Kathras shouted, “We would have given you what you wanted! We would have loved you, given you a place.”

Moon surged forward to tear him apart. His claws were a hairsbreadth away from Kathras’ throat, when Kathras shifted.

It didn’t look as it did when Raksura shifted; there was no blurring of vision, no illusion of mist or smoke. It was as if Kathras’ body became liquid and flowed into another shape.

He looked like the groundling form of an Aeriat, tall and slim. But instead of a copper or dark tone, his skin was as white as alabaster, gleaming faintly in the starlight. His black hair was long and fine, and he had a straight nose and wide-set eyes. He was dressed in dark, silky garments, torn and ragged in the wind. Kathras was a beautiful groundling, but no more so than Balm or Chime or any of the other young Aeriat. But there was something that pulled at Moon, an uncanny attraction, an empty beauty that drew him in to fill the void.

Moon looked into those eyes, and knew whatever had lived in them, whoever it was who had spoken to him, was already gone. He ripped his claws across Kathras’ throat.

He tore the flesh open to the bone, blood gushing over his hand. Kathras’ head tipped back and he collapsed like an empty sack.

Breathing hard, Moon backed away, shaking the blood off his claws. It didn’t help.

Then he felt something watching him. He looked up.

Jade perched on the crag just above him.

For a heartbeat, Moon had a stupid hope that she hadn’t heard them. Then she leapt down onto the ledge, and he knew she had heard, and that she was going to kill him. And he was going to let her.

Jade looked at him for a long moment, while the cold wind pulled at them and shock froze Moon into a statue. He couldn’t read her expression.

Then Jade hissed and turned away. She put a foot on Kathras’ chest, reached down, and laced her claws through his hair. With one sharp jerk, she ripped his head off. Moon watched her scrape at the gravel at the base of the rock, carving out a hollow to drop the head into. She pushed the gravel back over it, covering the white face. Moon knew earth was better, but the ground was frozen, and the pebbles would make enough of a barrier to keep the other Fell from being drawn to Kathras’ body.

Jade caught his shoulder and shook him. Moon flinched away, but she just said, “Can you hear me?”

He realized she had been speaking while he had stood there staring at Kathras’ corpse. “What?”

“We’re going back to the city.” She took his chin, and turned his head to face her, making him meet her eyes. “Follow me. You understand?”

He nodded and followed when she leapt up to the crag, and then into the air.

They flew back to the city through the darkness and the icy wind, spiraling down to land on the round roof of the caravanserai. Crouched on the rocky tiles, Jade pointed for Moon to go first. He climbed down the wall to crawl in through the window.

Inside, the lamp still burned, throwing warm yellow light over the sleeping mat, the tumbled blankets, their pack, and the basket and pots from their meal. Automatically, Moon shifted back to groundling. The melting ice on his scales immediately soaked his clothes. Sheltered from the freezing wind, the room should be warm, but he couldn’t feel anything. His legs gave out and he sank down to sit on the floor.

Jade climbed in through the window and shifted back to Arbora, her frills dripping ice. She picked up the wooden frame of the wind-shield and jammed it back into the window with one violent shove. Then she turned and sat down, facing Moon. Her face intent, she leaned forward, bracing her hands on the floor and spreading her claws. “Tell me.”

Moon stared at her, then took a sharp breath. It took effort to get the words out.

“Saraseil was a city on the gulf of Abascene. I was there when the Fell passed through it, about eighteen turns ago. I’d never seen Fell before.” He shook his head slowly, trying to think how to explain. “They were shifters that flew.”

Jade hissed under her breath, something in Raksuran Moon had never heard before. She flicked her claws impatiently. “I see. Go on.”

“The Fell took the citadel first, in the center of the city, and the groundlings were all running away, or trying to. Everything was falling apart. The dakti and kethel were killing people in the streets, digging through the walls of the houses to get to them. I didn’t want to think I was a Fell, that I came from things that would do that. But I had to know.” He realized he was shivering, and rubbed his hands on his damp shirt. He felt an incredible distance between then and now, as if he were telling a story that had happened to someone else. Maybe he had been someone else then, the way he had been someone else before Sorrow and the others died. “I flew to the roof of the citadel and got inside through a window. But I couldn’t get close enough to see anything, so I let the dakti catch me, and they took me to the ruler in the council hall. I asked what I was.”

Jade’s expression could have been carved out of the mountain’s bedrock. He couldn’t tell what she thought. She said, “Did it tell you that you were a Fell?”

“Yes.”

Jade’s eyes narrowed. “And you believed it?”

“No. I knew it was lying. As soon as I saw it...” Moon tried to think how to describe that moment of realization, of relief and horror all mixed together. As soon as he had looked into the ruler’s eyes, he had recognized the lie. That whatever he was, it wasn’t this. And he had understood just how big a mistake he had made in going to the citadel and drawing the Fell’s attention. “I knew it would never tell me what I was.”

Jade looked away, the tense lines of her shoulders and spines relaxing minutely. “How did you escape?”

“The ruler took me up to the rooms where the Saraseil lords lived. Everything was torn apart, like they had looted the place but hadn’t taken anything. There was a dead woman there, a groundling woman. Everything smelled like death.” The memory was like a particularly vivid dream image: the torn silk drapes, the fine glitter of shattered wood and ivory, the woman’s blood on the bed cushions.

“I went out on the balcony, and the city was burning.” He had liked that city, too. It had had a busy port, and drew groundlings from far across the Three Worlds. Moon had blended right in, and he had done well there. “The ruler said I belonged with him, that he was going to keep me forever.”

Like Kathras, Liheas’ groundling form had been beautiful, dark hair like silk and unmarked skin and eyes such a deep, vivid blue. Moon had known then why so many groundlings let the Fell in. The beauty of the rulers, and their power to influence, hid the horror of the kethel and the dakti until it was too late.

Liheas had said he loved him. Moon hadn’t believed it, but he had been caught enough in the spell to let the creature take him, out there on the balcony while Saraseil burned.

“I waited until he went to sleep. Then I snapped his neck and set the room on fire, and then I flew away.”

Jade stared, startled, then shook her head. Her voice dry, she said, “That must have been a shock for the Fell. That’s usually their role.” She sat back, watching him thoughtfully. “And you didn’t tell us because...?”

“How could it matter? It was turns ago.” It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about Saraseil in a long time; it was that he hadn’t thought about it ever, except to take it as a lesson to stop looking for his past. The whole thing had been a nightmare. “I never thought about it.”

She was giving him that look again; he couldn’t tell if she believed him or not. She said, “So if you don’t think about it, it’s as if it never happened?”

Moon shrugged helplessly. “It worked until now.”

Jade sighed, obviously giving up on that point. “So that ruler is dead, but before you killed it, it must have... shared the memory.”

“I didn’t know they could do that, then. I found out more about them after-ward, by talking to groundlings in Kish.” Moon rubbed his face, trying to banish the images. His hands were still painfully numb and his skin felt like ice.

Jade nodded understanding. “When you were looking for us.”

“I stopped looking for what I was. After that, I just didn’t care anymore. It didn’t seem as if there was any point.” The room must be warm. Wisps of steam still came from the heating pipes. But the bone-chilling cold had settled into his body to stay. At least it made it easier to think. “This can’t be the same Fell flight that attacked Saraseil. It was too long ago, on the far coast.”

Jade waved a hand, her mouth set in a rueful line. “Their bloodlines range far across the Three Worlds. If it was a related flight, they could still share memories.”

That was a frightening thought, but it was the only thing that made sense, the only explanation for how Kathras could know Moon. He protested, “But the Fell couldn’t have come to Indigo Cloud because of me. They were talking to Pearl before Stone found me.”

Jade didn’t look convinced. She said, “If it is you they came for, they would’ve had to know that you would eventually come to Indigo Cloud, that if they waited long enough, they would find you there. That’s a mentor’s power again.”

If the Fell had come to Indigo Cloud because they had somehow known that Moon would eventually go there... They could have been following me for turns and turns. The thought made him sick. All the places he had been, where Fell or rumors of Fell had followed him. If they were looking for me... No, that can’t be true. They would have found him before now. They would have found him when he had come out of Kish again and gone back toward the east. He had enough trouble. He didn’t need to borrow more.

He looked up to see Jade watching him with a frown. She said, “You’re still shaking.”

“I can’t get warm.” The ice was inside his skin, in his thoughts. He supposed if Jade was going to kill him, she would have done it by now. If he was going to be alive in the morning, he needed to be able to fly. “I’ll go downstairs.” He started to push to his feet.

Jade caught his arm and pulled him back down beside her. He twitched in a half-hearted attempt to escape, but she wrapped a strong arm around his waist, pulling him back against her chest.

“No, just stay,” she said, but her voice was gentle. He was so cold and tense that his body felt brittle, and her hands, even through his damp clothes, were pure heat. Then he realized the cloud of warmth enfolding him was from her half-furled wings, that she had just shifted out of her Arbora form. “No, if anybody sees—”

“Everyone’s asleep,” she said into his ear. She waited patiently until he subsided, then gave him a reassuring squeeze. Moon gave in, sinking back against her.

She held him close, and ran her palm over his arms, his chest, soothing his shivers away. Her scales caught against his groundling skin, and the effect was hypnotic. Then she nuzzled his ear, soft and warm, and her teeth grazed the back of his neck. The gentle bite sent a shock right down his spine. Moon made a noise embarrassingly close to a squeak.

Jade pulled back, startled. “Sorry.”

After everything that had happened tonight, he hadn’t thought he could feel anything. Suddenly he could feel everything, everywhere. Something had broken free inside him. He said, “No, don’t... don’t stop.”

She gripped his shoulders and turned him around to face her, moving him as if he didn’t weigh anything. He had never been more vulnerable. He was in groundling form, and she could keep him from shifting. It should have been frightening, but it just made him want to wrap himself around her and bite her neck. “Moon, do you know what you’re saying?”

“Yes. What?” His senses had been stifled by the cold buther scent was suddenly overwhelming. He tried to lean in toward her.

Jade held him back, her frills twitching in frustration. She tried again, “Why now?”

It took an effort, but he made himself articulate his racing thoughts. “Because you know everything, and you still want me.”

Jade growled, in a deep tone he hadn’t heard before. She pushed him down, flattening him to the pallet.

Before this, Moon had always had to hold back, to be careful. It wasn’t just that most groundlings were weaker and more fragile than he was. He had always been afraid that something would happen at a vulnerable moment, that if he let himself relax completely, he might just shift. This time he didn’t hold back at all, and it felt so right it left him dazed.

Afterward, he lay on the pallet with Jade wrapped around him, sated and content and pleasantly achy in just the right places. He listened to the low buzzing growl of satisfaction in her chest and thought, Stone was right. The bastard. Moon was terrified of not fitting into the court, so afraid that he was willing to let Pearl force him out, when instinct said to fight to stay.

After tonight, spending his life defying Pearl and watching his back in Indigo Cloud didn’t seem so much worse than lying his way into another groundling settlement, or moving aimlessly from one trade city to another. The first option might be just as fraught, but it came with companionship and sex and not having to hide what he was. At least he could just give it some time and see what happened.

With more than a tinge of irony, he told himself, You’ve got that settled. Now you just need to get the court away from the Fell. If they couldn’t, if their plans failed...

He tugged one of Jade’s frills. “Pearl said if we gave up, the Wind Sun Court would take in the Arbora and the warriors. She didn’t say what would happen to you.”

He felt her shake her head. “Pearl and I won’t leave the court.”

She was telling him that she and Pearl would stay to fight the Fell to the death. It shouldn’t surprise him; it was what he had seen groundlings do. He hesitated longer over the next question. He knew most groundling women couldn’t tell right away, but if there was a chance, he wanted to know. “Did you get a clutch?”

She nuzzled his temple. “No.”

That was fast. “How do you know?” he said suspiciously.

She sounded wry. “We’re not like groundlings, Moon. It’s not random chance.” Her voice turned grim. “I won’t have a clutch until the court is free.”

He had to admit that was probably for the best. He thought about the others, trapped with the Fell, and reminded himself, We’re nearly there. One more day’s flight and they would be past the mountains and over the jungle valleys where the Cordans’ camp lay.

Jade sat up a little, looking down at him, her eyes serious. “I want you to promise me that if we fail, you’ll lead the survivors to Wind Sun.”

Moon fought the urge to argue. He didn’t want her to think about giving up. But he knew she had to face all the possibilities. Reluctantly, he said, “I’ll do it. If it comes to that.”

He felt the tension in her body ease a little. She added, “The second consort there is Dust, one of the consorts Pearl sent away when Rain died. He may be able to get you a place in their court. Promise me you’ll try.”

Because begging a place in Indigo Cloud has turned out so well, Moon thought, that I should try it again with another court. That he wouldn’t promise. “No.”

“Moon.” She set her jaw in exasperation. “Do you have any idea what it costs me to tell you to seek another queen?”

“I won’t seek another queen.” He buried his face against her neck. “So that’s settled.”

“Moon.” Jade growled, and shook him a little. “For once in your life, listen to someone.”

“Ow. No.”

“Moon.” She gritted her teeth, then hissed in frustration, settling down and curling around him. “Just... go to sleep.”

That he could do.