The Harbors of the Sun

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Moon waited for armed groundlings to show up and drag him away to a more secure cage, or possibly just to chain him up here. But no one came, and eventually he fell asleep.

He slept off and on through the night, waking in the late morning to the scent of more food in the outer room. After he ate, he took the Kish history book and left his cell to explore some more.

He avoided the chambers on the upper level where the faint sounds of movement and voices indicated that Ceilinel and at least two or three other groundlings were present. The wind had changed direction, so he found a lattice window on the opposite side of the tower from the gallery, and attached another piece of bandage to an unobtrusive spot. Moon didn’t know if it was possible to trace a Raksura by scent in a groundling city this size, even with the help of cloth soaked with sweat and piss. But he knew how acute Stone’s senses could be. If Stone was still alive.

He found a sitting room with latticed windows looking out onto the market structure. Beyond it was a canyon formed by domed buildings lining what seemed to be a major street. The room had cushioned benches and couches centered around another shallow floor pool, but Moon carried a cushion over and took a seat in the corner of the wide windowsill.

As the afternoon light deepened across the city, Moon slept off and on, and read the book while keeping an eye on the bridges and walkways. Large numbers of people came and went from the market. He couldn’t see much of the inside, just occasional glimpses of bolts of gleaming fabric or tall urns and large pieces of pottery.

He tried to keep his attention on the book, tried not to think about where the others were or what might be happening in the Reaches. There were no maps in the text, but there was a description of the principal cities of Kish and their relations with each other, which told him where Kish-Karad was well enough to plan a rough route back to the Reaches, if he had to escape on his own. Or if Ceilinel kept her word and released him.

Finally the sunset washed the domes with gold, and lights began to gleam on the streets and bridges. The hanging bronze lamps in the room and the attached hall began to glow. During the day at least three groundlings had come to the door to peer at him and then retreat, probably to report to Ceilinel. The next one who came was Vata, and she said, “Ah, excuse me, but Ceilinel has asked to speak to you.”

Moon sat up and folded the book back into its cover, taking one last glance out at the market. This time his eye was caught by a stillness in the river of movement on the walkway along the lowest level. A lone figure stood in a patch of fading sunlight, a tall shape in the kind of loose robe groundling traders from the southern drylands wore. The scarf wrapped around its head was a gold pattern, very like the one Niran wore to protect his hair on the wind-ship. Most groundlings sitting where Moon was wouldn’t be able to see that much detail at this distance, and the figure standing there shouldn’t be able to see Moon.

Moon set the book on the bench and pushed to his feet, as flushed and weak as when he had woken the first time. Hope was painful. He might be mistaken or hallucinating. He had seen more groundlings of different species stroll along that walkway this afternoon than he had ever seen in one place in his entire life; some of them were bound to be the size of an Aeriat and wear head scarfs like the Golden Islanders. It might actually be an unusually tall Golden Islander.

He took a deep breath, got his expression under control, and pushed away from the window to go to Ceilinel.

Vata led him to a room off the upper level gallery, where another groundling was helping Ceilinel into a robe with a lot more brocade than the one she had been wearing before. Ceilinel sent that groundling away and turned to a polished metal mirror to brush back her feathery hair. She said, “I’ve been called to the speakers’ assembly and it will be better if you come with me. If the Hians present any claims tonight, Gathin may need to ask you more questions.”

Moon hesitated, most of his attention still focused on that waiting figure near the market. Maybe leaving the house right now, giving himself another chance to be seen, wasn’t a bad idea. “So you believe me?”

“My duty in this dispute is to find out the truth of what happened and I intend to do that.” She turned and gestured at him. “Is it acceptable to your people for you to appear in public like this?”

Moon looked down at himself. He was dressed about the same as some of the other groundlings in the house, so it didn’t worry him. She wanted the truth, so he said, “My people will be so furious at a consort being held prisoner by groundlings that it really doesn’t matter what I’m wearing.”

Ceilinel’s brows twitched in a way he wanted to interpret as annoyance. “Well, I’ll deal with that when—”

Moon lost the rest. A cry of pain and a crash of wood and metal sounded from somewhere below the house. He tilted his head, turning toward the noise, and tasted the air. “Something’s happened.”

Ceilinel and Vata stared at him. They clearly hadn’t heard it. Ceilinel demanded, “What is it?”

The draft had just changed. A door had opened somewhere. And the air carried a metallic taint. That was Stone, he’s breaking into the house . . . Except that didn’t make sense. If that was Stone, he had seen Moon sitting in a window reading. He would have waited until deep in the night and then tried to get close enough to speak to him. There was no point in attacking a place Moon might have been able to walk out of on his own. Unless Jade was with him and she was just that mad . . .

Then he caught the acrid scent of a Kish fire weapon. He snarled and ducked out of the room to the gallery. The big chamber below was empty but just beyond it he heard cries of alarm and the roar of more than one fire weapon.

Ceilinel and Vata ran to the railing beside him. From their reaction, this time they heard the screams. “It’s the Hians,” Moon told Ceilinel. The Hians who were so determined to conceal their part in the deaths outside Kedmar, who knew there was a surviving Raksura to be dealt with. “Unless you can fight them with magic, you have to let me shift.”

Ceilinel snapped, “Vata, run, hide.” As Vata darted away along the gallery, she told Moon, “Follow her. She can show you a place to—”

Moon said again, “You need to let me shift or they’ll kill us both.” He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. The idea of being burned by one of those weapons again was a cold lump of fear inside his chest.

Impatiently, she said, “They wouldn’t dare—”

Wooden disks struck the balustrade. Moon grabbed Ceilinel’s arm and dragged her with him as he flung himself back against the wall. She cried out and Moon managed not to yelp as the burst of heat and flame washed over the stone railing. “That was aimed at you,” he snarled. “Now do you believe—”

Ceilinel tugged at a cord around her neck and pulled it out from under her collar. It supported a small stone, polished to a dull red. Looking at it seemed to still the air around Moon, as if the little object took up all the open space in the chamber. She snapped the cord and dropped the stone on the floor, then stamped on it.

Moon felt the block around him dissolve, like chains that had suddenly fallen away. He shifted, wrapped an arm around Ceilinel’s waist, and leapt up to cling to the side of the nearest column. She didn’t shriek but he felt her body go rigid with fear. “Hold on to the ridge above my collarbone,” he told her. He scanned the chamber below and marked the location of the Hians scattered there. At least half were armed, and three had seen Moon’s leap and angled their fire weapons up at him. Her fingers wrapped around his collar flanges and Moon leapt, timing it so the wooden disks struck the pillar just as he left it.

He caught the chain of the big hanging lamp, swung to the balustrade on the far side. He let go just as a crack told him the base had ripped out of the stone ceiling. It brought half the mosaic tiles down in a crash as Moon bounded along the balustrade. Ceilinel gasped, “The stairwell, the one on the western side.”

The Hians not staggered under the onslaught of falling tile ran to this side of the chamber to aim at Moon. Two bolted up the curving stairs to the gallery to cut him off. He flipped over the balustrade, bounced off a column, and landed at the base of a pillar on the opposite side. As the Hians spun to aim their weapons, Moon dodged around the pillar and raced down the corridor.

Moon had been through here earlier and didn’t need Ceilinel’s whispered directions as he ducked through rooms to a corridor in the outer section of the dome. A heavy metal gate blocked the large stairwell but Ceilinel pressed her hand to the lock and it sprang open. Moon leapt down the stairs to the next landing. From there he saw a wide hall opening into a dimly lit tile-floored space. He couldn’t hear any movement down there, and the scents were dry and clean, free of the acrid fire weapon moss. He asked Ceilinel, “Where does this go?”

“The colloquium archives.” Her voice was breathy with fear and he could feel her pulse pounding through her body, but she kept a firm grip on his collar flange.

Moon leapt down to the bottom of the stairs. As he landed he staggered and half-collapsed against the wall to steady himself. Ceilinel let go of him and stumbled away. He thought she might run; they still didn’t have much reason to trust each other, or at least Moon didn’t trust her. But Ceilinel cast a worried glance up the stairs, and whispered, “Are you all right?”

Moon looked down at his chest. Blood leaked between his black scales, the delicate new skin underneath torn by too-quick movement. His legs felt weak and unsteady, his wings as heavy as if he had been flying all day and night. What he wanted to do was shift to groundling and lie flat on the cool tile floor, but that wasn’t an option right now. “Where’s the nearest way out?” This was a junction with five archways leading to large dark hallways. He wasn’t scenting any outdoor air, which was worrisome.

“This way, the public entrance. It’s our best chance.” Ceilinel started toward an archway and Moon shoved off the wall to follow. She added, “They must have come through the private entrance, on the side facing the reservoir. They couldn’t walk up to the public entrance carrying weapons without causing alarm.”

Past the archway the light was just bright enough to ruin Moon’s night vision. It came from little bronze globes mounted on tall stone shelves that held wooden boxes. From the dry weedy scent in the air, Moon guessed the boxes contained Kishan books. A narrow stream of water ran down a channel in the floor, and Moon kept his foot claws retracted so they wouldn’t click on the tiles. It would have been faster and safer to carry Ceilinel and jump from the top of one row of shelves to the next across the chamber. Or better yet, from the heavy stone supports and arches dimly visible in the shadow above. But Moon’s side and chest ached and he could feel the skin under his scales tear and strain. He needed to conserve what strength he had left.

Ceilinel muttered, “They must be idiots to think killing either of us will help their case. It’s just going to make the conclave certain the Hians are at fault.” She hesitated at another junction, then turned right, and Moon realized this lower part of the dome was much larger than the upper section that Ceilinel lived in. She added, “Unless that’s what they want. But why . . .”

She let the question trail off, clearly talking to herself more than him. But she was assuming the Hians were all in this plan together, and Moon knew that probably wasn’t true. “When we caught up with the Hians who took the weapon, most of them were dead, killed by a faction on their own flying boat.”

Startled, Ceilinel stopped and turned to him. “What? You said nothing of this.”

Moon nudged her to keep moving. “You didn’t ask.”

She continued on toward the end of the hall. “What were these factions?” she asked urgently.

“Vendoin was the one who stole Callumkal and the others. It was her plan to get the weapon. She wanted to kill Fell, mostly, and didn’t care if some Jandera died. She wanted the Hians to be able to go back to Hia Majora. Lavinat led the other faction. She didn’t care as much about killing the Fell as killing Jandera. Then Vendoin realized it was going to kill Jandera and Hians and every other species descended from the foundation builders. We think she started to change her mind. So Lavinat stole the weapon from her and killed half the Hian crew. Lavinat was the one who took it to the ruin and made it work.” They reached a wide cross hall and Moon caught Ceilinel’s arm to stop her. He tasted the air and took a careful peek up and down. “Which way?”

“There.” Ceilinel pointed to another hall that branched off the main one. In that direction, over the tops of the endless shelves, Moon detected a glow of brighter light. “How do you know this?”

“I was there. I tried to stop Lavinat and she burned me with a fire weapon. I don’t know what happened after that.” Moon’s throat went tight, thinking about that moment and who might and might not have survived it. If that wasn’t Stone he had glimpsed near the market . . .” There were other Raksura there. They must have made the ruin fall, trying to stop the weapon.”

Ceilinel whispered furiously, “Why didn’t you tell me this? If you had—”

“Would you have believed me? Gathin’s supposed to speak for me and she doesn’t even think I’m a person!”

She didn’t answer, and by the time they reached the end of another hall, he thought the conversation was over. He heard the faint sound of running footsteps, maybe the creak of a door opening, but from the echoes they were some distance away. Then Ceilinel admitted, “I don’t know if I would have believed you.”

He didn’t know what to say to that, so didn’t say anything. She added, “This Lavinat, did she care if she survived? Or those with her?”

“I don’t think so. I don’t even know if they thought about it.”

Ceilinel made a distracted gesture as she considered it. “So . . . The point of this attack is not that you and I are killed, it’s that we are killed by Hians.”

She was probably right. Some Hians wanted the Jandera to attack them, either so they would have an excuse to fight or for some other less apparent reason. Other Hians didn’t. Killing an important Kishan like Ceilinel might force a violent response from Kish-Karad and the Jandera in Kedmar and take the choice away from the other Hians.

They had been drawing closer to the area where the sunset tinge of natural light still shone. The hall opened out onto a broad balcony, with a wide stair leading down to a chamber below. Three big windows, all sealed with faceted crystal, stretched up the far wall, allowing in the last of the day’s sunlight. The water channels ran out from the halls of shelves to become miniature waterfalls at the balcony’s edge. The falling water sound covered small movements. Ceilinel lowered her voice even more, saying, “The public entrance is down there.”

Moon caught the scent of outdoor air. “There’s a door open.” The Hians must have gotten here first.

“The main doors are kept propped open. It’s symbolic, so anyone can enter the archives at any time.”

The Hians still might have gotten here first. Moon held out an arm to Ceilinel. “We’ll go fast.” All he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and collapse. Just get outside, leave her where she can get help, and find a place to hide, he promised himself.

Ceilinel reached for his hand, then her face went still. “Someone’s performing an arcana.”

Moon hissed, thinking of the collapse that had blocked the shaft down into the docking structure. “Watch out for these arches. The Hians could bring them down and trap us in here.”

Ceilinel turned to stare at him. “Hians don’t have that kind of arcanic ability.”

Moon snorted. “Hians lie a lot.”

Something cracked overhead, a deep ominous reverberation. Moon grabbed Ceilinel around the waist and bounced to the balustrade. Below he caught a quick glimpse of the big foyer at the bottom of the stairs, the large oblong fountain pools to either side, and the heavy chased metal doors standing open just enough for a broad-shouldered groundling to step through. Someone shouted and just as Moon leapt the air moved around him, pushed by the sudden force of a heavy object’s plunge. He twisted to avoid it and knew he was about to fall badly.

He shoved Ceilinel away at the last instant so he wouldn’t crush her, then the ground slammed into him. Everything went dark.

He came to with a gasp, lying at the edge of a fountain. He could feel the damp cool stone through his clothes, on his groundlng skin, and realized he had shifted in the instant of unconsciousness.

Moon rolled over. The haze of rock dust hung in the air and chunks of a supporting arch lay scattered around them. Ceilinel stood beside him, bleeding from a scrape on her cheek, a sleeve of her robe torn. Five Hians confronted her, all armed with fire weapons. Ceilinel was saying urgently, “Avinan, you know me, you know whatever caused you to do this, it can be resolved—”

“We’re not interested in resolution,” Avinan said. She wasn’t looking at Moon, but her fire weapon pointed in his direction.

“It’s too late!” Ceilinel snapped. “I know what your plan is, I’ve told my retainers and they’ve gone to alert the conclave. You can kill us, kill yourselves for all I care, and it will be for nothing.”

Avinan said, “It’s not a very clever lie.” She took one hand off the fire weapon to gesture to someone on the balcony above. “Viniat, bury these creatures!”

Moon hunched his shoulders in reflex. Ceilinel stood there, her fists knotted in fury. But nothing happened.

Then Moon caught a scent. It was anxious sealing mixed with familiar Raksura, and the coppery hint of fresh blood that wasn’t his. He must have made a noise in his throat because Ceilinel glanced down at him, bewildered. Moon reached up and took her wrist. Someone had just opened Viniat’s throat up there on the balcony, but they weren’t out of this yet.

The other Hians kept their fire weapons trained on Moon and Ceilinel, but Avinan turned to look up at the balcony. “Viniat, what—”

The change in the air and the scrape of claws on tile were the only warning. Moon yanked Ceilinel down on top of him and rolled them both into the pool. He heard fire weapon disks strike the water. Then something huge and dark slammed into the Hians. Moon lifted his head to see one Hian still on her feet lift her weapon—Then Jade slung herself down off the stairs. The Hian collapsed in a heap. Jade had ripped away one of her arms and half her shoulder along with the weapon.

The other Hians had been flattened under Stone’s huge scaled body. Moon rolled off Ceilinel. She sat up, sputtering and coughing, just in time to see Stone shift back to groundling. She froze in astonishment.

Stone glanced around at the sprawled Hians. He still wore the dryland wrap over his clothes and Niran’s scarf tied loosely around his neck. He kicked a fire weapon away from one limp outstretched arm. “Any reason we need them alive?”

“Yes,” Moon croaked, and dragged himself to the edge of the fountain. He waved back at Ceilinel, who was shakily climbing to her feet. “She needs witnesses for the—”

Jade caught his arms and dragged him out of the pool. She snarled, “You’re hurt!”

“I know,” he told her. “I was afraid you were all dead.”

“I thought you were dead.” Jade’s spines flared in rage.

Moon went limp so she had to catch him and clutch him to her chest. This would keep her from killing anybody until he had a chance to tell her what was happening. He grabbed her collar flanges just to make sure she couldn’t put him down. “Did the others get out? Chime and Shade and—”

“The others are fine.” Jade stared down at him, her expression impossible to read, at least in Moon’s current state.

Rorra ran down the steps, a small fire weapon cradled in her arms. She stopped where she could watch the door and guard Stone’s back. “If we’re going, we need to get out of here.”

“We’re not going,” Moon said, because he had seen who was following Rorra. It was Kalam, who was going to be much better at telling their story to Ceilinel than Moon had been. “Where’s Callumkal?”

“In Kedmar,” Kalam said, hurrying down the steps. “Niran and Diar took him there, and we came here to look for you.” He looked from Moon to Ceilinel, who was stepping out of the fountain, her hair and robes dripping onto the tiles. “Are you all right? Who is this?”

Moon said, “This is Ceilinel, a speaker for the conclave of something. Ceilinel, this is Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court, Stone, our line-grandfather, Captain Rorra, and Kalam, Callumkal’s son.”

Ceilinel nodded, looking around at them all and settling on Jade as the leader. “Thank you for your timely arrival.”

Jade eyed her over Moon’s head. In Kedaic, she said, “Was she the one holding you prisoner?”

Moon tightened his hold on her. “I was nearly dead. She brought healers here for me.” Jade’s gaze jerked down to him. The cold fury didn’t leave her expression, but at least she was listening to him. He switched to Raksuran to say, “She had a Kishan magic to keep me from shifting. She destroyed it when the Hians came so we could get away.” He added, “Don’t kill her.”

Jade’s gaze went to Ceilinel again. It was a predator’s gaze, thoughtful and implacable. Moon wasn’t sure if Ceilinel knew how much danger she was in, but she said, “I think this can be resolved easily now, if you’ll remain here and speak to the conclave with me. The meeting will be soon, when a Jandera craft arrives from Kedmar. You could be on your way by morning, and the Hians’ lies would be exposed to all of Imperial Kish.”

Stone looked at Rorra, who glanced at Kalam. Kalam turned hopefully to Jade. Jade’s spines shivered with the effort of control, and she said, “No magics to prevent us from shifting. If you try to use one on any of us, I’ll know it. I don’t need to shift to kill you.”

Rorra added, “And Kalam and I keep our weapons.”

Ceilinel jerked her head in acknowledgment. “Agreed.”

Moon was impressed with Ceilinel. She dealt with the arrival of what seemed a large number of frantic and angry people who had noticed the archives were under attack, directed the armed Kishan to take the Hians away, calmed her scattered retainers, threw on dry clothes while waiting for a healer for Moon, and got them all on the way to the meeting. Though Stone had driven off the healer and taken his bag of supplies, no one had objected.

The method of transport was an odd little moss-driven craft about the size of a couple of large wagons set end to end. It was lined with cushioned benches and chairs, and the outer walls were mostly large latticed windows, letting in the cool night breeze. Lights at either end lit its way, but instead of flying, it moved along a narrow bridge that wound through the city. There were apparently a lot of the things, but this one had been reserved for Ceilinel’s use tonight. Vata stood in the front, guiding it with a steering lever.

Moon sat on one of the cushion-stuffed chairs while Stone bandaged the parts of him that were still bleeding. Jade, Kalam, and Rorra were up in the front of the craft with Ceilinel, and right now Rorra was the one doing the talking. Jade had shifted to her Arbora form, since it looked less threatening and the lack of wings made it hard to identify her as a Raksura, or willfully mistake her for Fell. She kept glancing back at Moon, and he thought there was more to it than just normal concern for him.

He asked Stone, “What’s wrong? Is somebody dead?” Jade had said everyone had made it out, but not what had happened to them afterward.

“You were dead,” Stone said with a grimace. He poked through the bag of healing supplies and pulled out another clean cloth.

“Right, but I’m not anymore.” Moon lowered his voice, even though he was speaking Raksuran. “What about our kethel?”

“That’s how we knew where to look for you. I found him in the ruin, and he’d seen the Kish take you away. He was gone the next morning. I’m guessing he headed to the Reaches to find the Fell queen.”

That was a relief. At least Moon hadn’t gotten him killed. “Do we know what’s happening in the Reaches? Have the mentors gotten any visions?”

“Not before we left the wind-ship.” Stone sat back on his heels, eyeing Moon critically. It was reassuring, because what might be going on in the Reaches was clearly a less fraught topic.

They were passing over a narrow valley or gorge filled with trees, lights glinting here and there under the canopies indicating houses and pathways. The sound of water flowing over rocks and the scent of a clean river rose up from it. The valley bisected this section of the city, domes and other structures rising up to either side. Moon asked, “If the wind-ship went to Kedmar, how did you get here?” The Kish protections against Fell would make traveling across it equally dangerous for Raksura. It was why Moon had never ventured much past the borders and outer trade routes.

“Flew at night, hid during the day, circled around any settlements.” Stone squinted into the distance. “We got here four nights ago, maybe. It feels like longer.”

Making their way through a strange, enormous, crowded groundling city, with Stone in his groundling form and Jade in her Arbora form, where even Rorra and Kalam must have been off balance. Moon didn’t have to imagine how unnerving that had been. “Where are the others?” He hoped they were hiding somewhere outside the city; it would give them less scope for finding trouble.

“Jade sent Balm and three warriors to the Reaches, to tell the queens what happened. The rest are with the wind-ship. Niran and Diar are trying to get help from the Jandera in Kedmar.” Stone looked at Jade, a line between his brows. “Chime wanted to come, but Jade wouldn’t let him. They all wanted to come.”

That made sense, but Moon wasn’t sure why Jade hadn’t brought Chime. His erratic ability to sense groundling magic might have come in handy, and he was good around groundlings. “I was mostly unconscious until yesterday. You caught my scent?”

“Finally.” Stone rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I picked it up in the morning, and followed it until I was sure which dome it was coming from, then sent Kalam to our meeting place to get Jade and Rorra.”

“I wish the wind-ship was here. Having Delin would help with this speakers assembly.” Moon was still worried about having to tell their story to a bunch of disbelieving groundlings.

Stone made a noncommittal noise. “Whatever happens, we’re leaving.”

Moon had been expecting something impressive, but the bridge curved toward a dome that dwarfed all the others they had seen. It was at least as big as the Indigo Cloud colony tree’s canopy, though not nearly so tall. There were so many lights around it might as well have been daylight, illuminating the giant carvings of dozens of different species, climbing over, or maybe building, the walls of a city. Two openings big enough to guide flying boats through pierced the dome, with bridges and walkways leading to doors lower down. Even one of the water bridges for boats led to it, ending in a large pool on stilts with docks. Moon craned his neck to look down and saw multiple roads ended at the dome, that there was a plaza surrounded by smaller structures and trees down there.

Their craft rolled along its bridge directly into one of the big openings. Moon stood as it slowed and slid to a stop. Stone put a hand on his arm to steady him.

Inside the dome, several small Kishan flying boats were moored around the upper part of the chamber, where a walkway allowed access to their boarding ramps. Lights on tall poles shaped like flowers lit the big expanse of the mosaic tile floor. Small spiral stairways led up to the walkways around the dome’s walls, and larger stairwells in the floor led downwards.

A number of groundlings waited near the moss wagon’s track, including Gathin. Moon spotted a group of Hians standing under a lamp, but something about them suggested they were uncomfortable and embattled. They didn’t have fire weapons, though some of the Kishan near them did.

Moon and Stone followed the others out of the wagon. Gathin hurried immediately to Ceilinel, asking, “Are you injured? When we heard—”

“I’m fine,” she said. “Come, you need to hear this.” Ceilinel drew her away a little.

Moon leaned against Stone’s shoulder and yawned. The intense relief at being with the others again left him wrung out, like he couldn’t feel anything else except exhaustion. He kept an eye on Jade, who stood a little distance away, flexing her foot claws. He said, “I just want to get out of here.”

Stone put an arm around him. “I just want to eat. You’d think with all these people, they’d sell food here.”

Gathin turned to look back at them a few times in a way that made Moon want to ripple the spines he wasn’t wearing. He wasn’t the only one who noticed. Keeping her voice low, Rorra said to Kalam, “We should insist on seeing the speakers for Jandera. We need someone to contact the others if we have to remain here and answer to the conclave.”

Kalam said, “I can’t believe it’ll come to that,” but he seemed uneasy, watching the Hians like he expected an attack.

Moon started to make plans. He didn’t think he could fly yet, but he could hold onto Stone’s collar flange, leaving Stone and Jade free to carry Rorra and Kalam.

Rorra turned and said softly to Stone, “Do you think we should try to leave?”

His gaze on the groundlings, Stone answered, “It might be a good idea.”

Rorra nodded. “Do you want to ask Jade?”

Stone shrugged. Rorra gave him an exasperated punch in the shoulder. Before Moon could ask what that was about, Ceilinel turned and came toward them, trailed by an obviously reluctant Gathin. As she approached, Jade’s spines flicked once and she said, “Well?”

Ceilinel didn’t flinch under Jade’s steady regard. She said, “I’ve been informed of the reason the conclave wanted to summon your consort here. They have had a report of a movement of Fell along the eastern border of Kish.”

It wasn’t what Moon had expected to hear. Maybe the half-Fell queen had been wrong, and the Fell hadn’t headed toward the Reaches, but toward Kish instead. But that didn’t make any sense. It was the Raksura they blamed for the death of the flight that had followed Callumkal’s expedition to the sel-Selatra. Stone muttered, “Huh.” Rorra and Kalam exchanged a startled look, and Rorra reached into her jacket to pull out a folded fabric map.

Jade was the only one who didn’t react, at least in any visible way. “That isn’t our concern.”

Still calm, Ceilinel said, “It appears they’ve been driven there by Raksura.”

Jade’s brow furrowed in confusion. It didn’t make her look any less intimidating. “What do you mean?”

Ceilinel said, “A Kish-Nakatel border patrol craft sighted a Fell attack on a small settlement. They approached to give assistance but saw what at first appeared to be a group of brightly colored Fell driving the flight away.” She glanced at Moon and the others. They were all staring blankly at her. At least, Moon knew he was staring blankly at her. “These brightly colored Fell harried the flight directly past the patrol craft and continued southeast. I’m told there are other reports of this group, or similar groups, attempting to drive the Fell toward the Kish border.”

“Brightly colored Fell,” Jade repeated, her voice flat. Moon recognized it as a determined attempt not to react. At least it meant the foundation builder weapon’s influence hadn’t gotten as far as the Reaches, if Raksura were chasing Fell this far south. He hoped that was what it meant.

Ceilinel turned one hand palm up. “Obviously, once the reports arrived at Kish-Karad, our scholars of winged predators determined these were more likely to be Raksura.”

Gathin said, “Why are Raksura sending the Fell to Kish?”

Rorra blinked and muttered, “Is that person serious?” Moon hissed under his breath. He hated Gathin. He understood the questioning thing as a way to get to the facts and provoke people to speak, but he hated it and it was the absolute worst way to approach a Raksuran queen who was already angry.

Jade’s head tilted dangerously. Before it got any worse, Kalam said in exasperation, “The Raksura didn’t bring the Fell. The Raksura must know about the border defenses in that region. They’re driving the Fell into the fire weapon emplacements.”

Gathin turned toward him. “How do Raksura know of our border defenses?”

Kalam folded his arms. “I’ve never heard anything about it being a secret.”

She eyed him. “Perhaps not in Jandera.”

Rorra’s brow quirked. “You know the weapon emplacements are in the open along the trade roads. Anyone can see them.”

Especially if you made sure your warriors engaged a Kishan flying boat crew in conversation about those weapon emplacements and how they worked, just in case you ever needed that information, Moon thought. He was betting these Raksura had gotten the idea from Malachite. Then he wondered, Could it actually be Malachite?

“That aside,” Ceilinel said, frowning at Gathin. She turned back to Jade. “We would like to ask for your help. You are a queen, you have a consort with you, we understand that that makes you a diplomatic envoy, for Raksura. If you could speak to the Raksura at the border—”

“Most of whom we may be related to,” Stone said under his breath, fortunately in Raksuran.

The more Moon thought about it, the more likely it sounded. It didn’t explain what the Raksura might be doing, but hopefully it meant Indigo Cloud and the colonies in the eastern Reaches were safe.

Jade still didn’t betray any reaction. “What about the Hians?”

“They won’t trouble you,” Ceilinel said. She glanced at the group across the chamber floor. “A Hian faction, separatist or not, attacked a conclave speaker and a public archive, there is no explanation they can give that makes it your doing.”

“What about our explanation?” Jade said. “Do your people believe us?”

Ceilinel looked expectantly at Gathin. Gathin said, “They will by the time you return.”

One of Jade’s spines flicked. “Give me a moment.”

Ceilinel nodded and withdrew, pulling Gathin along with her. Jade waited until they had returned to the group of watching groundlings, then turned around and hissed. Keeping her voice low, she said, “It will be easier to escape from the border.”

Moon had been hoping that was her plan. “Especially if we know who’s fighting the Fell there.”

Rorra whispered, “Can it be Malachite?”

Jade’s expression was grim. “That’s what I’m hoping.”

Reluctantly, Kalam said, “Perhaps I should stay here, and make sure Gathin tells the truth to the conclave?”

Rorra didn’t hesitate. “No. I’m not leaving you alone here.”

Jade seconded that with a lash of her tail. “You’re staying with us until I can hand you back to Callumkal.”

Kalam didn’t object, and Moon suspected he didn’t want to stay here and argue with the conclave or the speakers or whatever anymore than Moon did. Kalam added, “We should still talk to the Jandera speaker, like Rorra said.”

Jade shared a glance with Rorra. “I’ll ask for that.”

Stone hadn’t said anything. Jade eyed him, almost warily, and asked, “Any objection?”

Stone said, “No.”

Jade turned back to Ceilinel to tell her they would go.

The flying boat preparing to leave for the border was large and, like Lavinat’s flying boat, burdened with four fire weapon stations, two in the bow and two in the stern. Jade and Kalam stayed behind with Ceilinel to talk to the speaker for Jandera, and Moon, Stone, and Rorra went with Vata, Ceilinel’s nervous retainer, onto the boat. The one bright spot Moon could see was that they wouldn’t have to talk to Gathin again.

They boarded from a ramp extending out from the walkway that circled the dome, following Vata across the deck under the gaze of a not quite openly hostile Kishan crew. Moon didn’t notice any Jandera; most of the crew had tough grey-blue skin and headcrests like Ceilinel’s, but their hair was long and thick, braided in different patterns. They wore mostly small scraps of dyed leather, with heavy belts around their waists and brief kilts, with harnesses for their weapons and flying packs.

Vata led them through the boat with three crew following. They would have seemed like guards, except they weren’t armed and Rorra was, but they were intensely wary. Rorra asked Vata, “This is a Solkis ship, from the interior?”

“Yes,” Vata admitted, with a cautious glance at Moon and Stone. “This crew patrols the western border. They have a . . . great deal of experience with Fell.”

Rorra’s brow furrowed. “Then they know Raksura and Fell are not the same.”

Vata made an equivocal gesture which was somehow not reassuring. Moon controlled a hiss. Maybe he was out of practice at dealing with groundlings like this, but it was hard to accept the hostility without reacting.

The inside of the flying boat was different than the others, the corridors wider and higher-ceilinged. The center was an open chamber with a walkway spiraling up to different branching corridors. They were led up two levels to a suite of four interconnected cabins, with low beds in the center of the rooms. The moss walls were hidden by drapes of dark blue and gold fabric and the floor was a smooth surface that felt like tile. The attached bathing room and latrine was larger and had basins set at different levels, as if meant to accommodate different kinds of species. Most importantly, the two outer rooms had large windows, the crystal covers designed to lift up and slide aside. Having a quick escape route made Moon feel better about the whole thing.

As Moon dropped down onto the first bed, Stone said, “I’ll be happy if we never see the inside of one of these things again.”

“From the design, it’s meant for personal travel for the speakers and conclave members,” Rorra said, glancing around critically. The groundling who had greeted Vata had tried to offer Rorra and Kalam separate quarters, as if the two might have been looking for a chance to escape the Raksura. Rorra had ignored it. “It’ll be fast, maybe faster than Niran and Diar’s wind-ship.”

“Good, then we can get this over with,” Stone said, and stretched.

There was a cough outside the door, and Vata said in Kedaic, “If you need anything, please ask.”

“Food and tea?” Moon asked, remembering the others had had a long day looking for him. “Like what you brought me at Ceilinel’s house.”

Vata seemed relieved at the commonplace request. “How much?”

Moon eyed Stone. “A lot.”

Vata withdrew hurriedly. Rorra sat down heavily on the bed and took out the fabric map again. Moon crawled over to look over her shoulder as she estimated distance on it with her fingers. The scrawled writing on the cloth was in a language he didn’t recognize, and Moon wondered if she had been keeping track of her route since she had first left Kedmar with Callumkal. She said, “The question is, did Malachite encounter Fell on the way to the Reaches and stop to attack them, or did she pursue them from the Reaches, or is this an entirely different group of Raksura and Fell?”

Stone sat down on her other side. “Sounds like too many warriors to be the first option. I’m betting on the second.” Then he leaned over and nipped Rorra on the ear.

Rorra smiled at her map, distracted. Deciding to leave them to the conversation and whatever else they were going to do, Moon rolled off the bed and headed for the innermost chamber.

From that window he could see Jade and Kalam with Ceilinel, Gathin, and a Jandera. Everything looked calm, and Kalam gestured toward the Hians emphatically. It was tempting to stand here and watch the activity in the dock, but being horizontal again was also tempting, and Moon fell into the bed.

The next time he woke late afternoon light streamed in through the window, and the warm body against his back was Stone’s.

Moon shoved upright. Stone growled in his sleep but didn’t wake. The boat was moving and he climbed to his feet and padded across the floor to the window. The sky was streaked with clouds and the wind scented with distant rain and dust. They were traveling over lush open country marked by long stretches of planted fields, gardens, and orchards. In the distance were the tall conical rooftops of a small settlement, partially shielded by a stand of trees.

Stone had rolled over and buried his face in the cushions, suggesting he wasn’t planning on getting up anytime soon. Moon went through to the next cabin and found Kalam asleep on that bed, and Rorra sitting on the floor, cleaning a disassembled moss weapon. Her boots were off, and her legs were folded, the stump at the end of her right leg propped on the remaining fin on her left. Moon asked, “Where’s Jade?”

“She’s asleep in the front room.” Rorra glanced up at him, brow furrowed. “Are you all right? You slept like a dead body.”

“Sure.” He was still achy in places, and the burns still pulled at the muscles in his chest, but it was an improvement over the last couple of days. He stretched, wincing as his back protested.

Moon went into the front room and found Jade curled asleep on the bed in her Arbora form, her spines softened in sleep. His first impulse was to get in with her, but empty plates were stacked near the doorway and a carafe with some tea still in it sat on a low table. Moon had drained it and set it with the other empty dishes when Jade suddenly sat bolt upright, spines flared, already shifted to her winged form.

She stared at him as if she thought she was dreaming, then slumped back on the bed, burying her face in her hands. Moon went to sit beside her, asking, “Are you all right?” She didn’t look all right.

“I’m fine. Just tired of talking to groundlings.” She slid an arm around his waist, but he could sense the tension in her muscles.

He leaned into her warmth. There were things he wanted to talk about, like what had happened in the forerunner ruin, and where the wind-ship might be now, and how likely it was that Malachite was involved with these Raksura chasing Fell on the Kish border. But her scent overwhelmed him and all he wanted to do was nuzzle her neck. She didn’t react, except to squeeze his waist.

There was a cough and an embarrassed rustle from the door. Vata, who must have been hovering in the corridor waiting for signs of life, said, “Ceilinel would like to speak to you, please.”

It took them a while, since Stone and Kalam were slow to wake and everyone needed a little time in the bathing room, but Vata made it clear the summons wasn’t urgent. They hadn’t brought Moon’s pack from the wind-ship, so he was wearing the clothes he had left Ceilinel’s house in. Stone was still wearing the drylands robe over his own clothes. Rorra apologized for her scent and not having time to wash her clothes, and Moon managed not to tell her it was all right because she mostly smelled like Stone.

Vata led them up the spiral stair and forward down a corridor to a steering cabin. It had large windows giving it a good view off the bow, and from its position the two forward fire weapon emplacements must be atop it. Two doors opened to the main deck and the breeze, heavily scented with wet foliage and loam, was cool and welcoming. They were passing over scattered trees and gardens around another small settlement, but a river gleamed in the distance with a heavy jungle beyond it.

Three crew members operated an elaborate set of steering levers at the back of the cabin. Near the front, Ceilinel waited with a tall, heavily muscled Solkis. Ceilinel greeted them all formally, then said, “This is Captain Thiest. She has fought Fell before, mostly along the Karad border.”

“It was some turns ago,” Thiest said, her expression cool. She nodded to Jade. “The two males are also Raksura?”

Jade’s spines, which had been resting at neutral, twitched in pure irritation. Rorra made an annoyed snorting noise. Her Kedaic icily correct, Jade said, “They are consorts.”

Thiest said, “May I be permitted to see their other forms?”

Silence radiated off Jade in a cold wave, and her spines started to lift and spread. Ceilinel’s brow was beginning to furrow and she said, “Perhaps this is not permitted.”

“Jade.” Moon said in Raksuran, “She’s trying to provoke you to see if you can be provoked.”

“I know that,” Jade said, tightly, in the same language.

Kalam said, “I know it seems like a rude request,” this was pointedly aimed toward Thiest, “but maybe it would help. All this talk of the resemblance of Raksura to Fell rulers is exaggerated.”

“I agree,” Rorra added.

Stone hadn’t reacted. He said, in Kedaic, “I wouldn’t fit in this room.”

Thiest’s mouth drew down, as if she suspected it was a bad joke. Ceilinel explained, “He is a line-grandfather, and his other form is . . . very large.”

This was getting ridiculous, and Moon was torn between just shifting and possibly making Jade even angrier than she already was, or standing here while the tension with Thiest grew. He wished he had shifted earlier, before it became a battle of wills between Jade and the Solkis captain. Finally Jade said in Raksuran, “Moon, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”

Moon shifted, snapped his spines out and partially extended his wings, then furled them.

Thiest blinked, though Moon couldn’t tell if she was impressed or not. She said, “I see. Thank you.”

Impatiently, Ceilinel said, “Now that that’s done, can we move on?” She turned to Jade. “We wished to speak with you about the Hians, and what they did in the floating ruin to cause the deaths in Jandera.”

Jade flicked a look at Moon and said in Raksuran, “Go out on deck.” Her gaze went to Stone, but she didn’t say anything. Stone was wearing his opaque face.

Moon didn’t want them to look any worse in front of Thiest than they already did, so he shifted to groundling and went out on deck. Stone followed, and after a moment so did Kalam. They leaned on the railing in the bright sunlight as the Solkis on watch in the bow and the fire weapon stations studied them with wary hostility. “Rorra made me leave,” Kalam reported, sounding annoyed. “She says I’m too emotional. I don’t know what they could say that I shouldn’t hear; I’ve been with all of you almost the whole time.”

“There’s a lot of that going around.” Moon tried not to sound sulky. Jade was more tense even than what their current situation warranted, and he was beginning to think he knew what the problem was.

Moon knew he hadn’t exactly made a smart choice to run off into the depths of the forerunner ruin with Kethel and get nearly burned to death trying to stop the Hians. But it didn’t mean he had suddenly lost all ability to take care of himself. He and Jade had come to the understanding a long time ago that Moon couldn’t pretend to be something he wasn’t. This felt like she didn’t trust him anymore.

Stone, leaning on the railing, just sighed.