Jade turned to them. “I’ll go up, with Moon and Stone. I want the warriors to stay behind for now.”
Chime and Balm exchanged frustrated expressions. River looked insulted, and the others disappointed. Bramble sighed and kicked at a lump in the sand. Moon knew they were all considering the angle of Jade’s spines, and deciding not to voice any objections.
“Do we take Merit?” Moon asked Jade. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea or not. It would be good to have a mentor’s opinion of whatever they found up there, but the flying was going to be dangerous already.
“Stone can carry me,” Merit said, bouncing anxiously. “If he has to let go to climb, I’ll hold onto him.”
Jade’s brow furrowed. Moon had the feeling she was contemplating Merit losing his hold and falling some untold number of paces to his death. Depending on how bad the wind was, they might not hear a scream for help.
Balm suggested, “What if the warriors follow you, but stop about halfway up. That way if something happens, we can help.” She clearly meant, catch Merit if he falls.
Jade nodded a reluctant agreement, but said, “That won’t do much good once we’re over the city.”
“Getting over the edge of the escarpment should be the hard part,” Balm countered. “It’ll be less tricky once you get past it.”
We hope, Moon thought.
Jade eyed all the warriors again. “All right, we’ll take Merit. Root and Chime will stay here with Bramble. The others will follow Balm, and stop at the halfway point.”
Merit slung his bag over his shoulder and shifted to his scaled form. Bramble gave him a nudge to the shoulder. “Careful.”
Callumkal and Delin slogged through the sand toward them from the camp. Callumkal called, “Are you going to try for the city?”
Delin called, “You will take me?”
“Not this time,” Jade said. She nodded to Stone, and he stepped back and shifted to his winged form. Callumkal slid to a halt, startled. Apparently seeing Stone do it in midair a couple of times didn’t prepare you for a sudden close-up view. Delin continued to trudge through the sand and stopped beside Bramble.
Stone extended an arm and Merit scrambled up to tuck himself in under Stone’s collarbone. Stone curled a protective hand around him, then leapt into the air. Moon, Jade, and the others followed.
The farther up they went, the worse the wind got, and riding it up the cliff without smashing into the side became increasingly difficult. Soon Moon was breathing hard and concentrating so intently on playing the wind on his wings that he had no time to look at their surroundings.
A little after the halfway point, Jade signaled the three warriors to stop and they all dropped back. Moon kept flying, though his wing joins hurt, his head was pounding from the constant wind pressure, and his lungs ached. An interminable time later, Moon realized they had reached the edge of the escarpment, that weather-stained white towers were dropping away below them. With Jade and Stone, he let the wind carry him forward.
Reflected light blinded him. The next instant he thought the city was gone, or had never been here. The top of the escarpment was empty, just a huge open space.
He didn’t realize what he was looking at until Jade landed on it and furled her wings, and he saw her reflection. Moon lit on the crystal surface beside her, staggering with the sudden cessation of wind. The peak and the towers were acting as a windbreak. Behind him Stone slipped sideways out of the wind current and dropped down to land.
A heavy crystal roof covered the city, much of it cloudy and stained from uncounted turns of weather. Moon crouched and ran his hand over it. His scales weren’t as sensitive as his groundling skin, but he could feel the smooth crystal, and the tiny pits where the material was damaged. It was warm from the sun and condensation formed just beneath the surface. He leaned close, trying to see down into it, and glimpsed a long shadow that might be a column, and the narrow canyon of a street or walkway.
He looked up at Jade. Her tail lashed, and she said, tiredly, “Well, this is typical.”
Merit scrambled down from Stone’s shoulder and stared around, frowning. He waved his arms, a gesture of pure frustration. Moon stood as Stone paced away to investigate more of the crystal surface. He shielded his eyes, the fitful wind buffeting his spines and furled wings, trying to gauge the size of the transparent slab. It didn’t stretch over the whole top of the escarpment, but covered an area that he judged as roughly the size of the colony-tree’s circumference. Parts of the crystal shield were covered with patches of what looked like rock. Moon went to the nearest and poked at it with his claws. It was actually windblown sand, packed and crusted until it was nearly as hard as sandstone.
He turned to look toward the towers. They were huge, rounded, each one swelling out into a bulbous shape, then tapering up to a sharp point. They were made of a light-colored stone, now heavily weathered by wind and rain. There were no openings from this side, at least not that he could see. “That has to be the way in, those towers,” he said, but he felt a sinking sensation. It was possible they had been built as a windbreak and nothing else. “It can’t be completely sealed off.”
“Can’t it,” Jade said, her voice flat. She squinted to look up at the peak. The light surface of the stone was smooth, except for pitting from the weather. From this angle, it was clearly made of the same material as the towers.
Jade and Merit continued to examine the crystal, Merit bounding and Jade making short flights, looking for any break in it, or anything like a door, or just a spot where they could get a clear view down into the city. While Moon went for a closer look at the towers, Stone flew toward the far end of the escarpment to examine the other side.
Moon found each tower had been carved from solid rock, all in a piece, and there was no way in that he could see. He examined the bases from the inner side, then climbed out to get slammed by the wind and investigate the outer. He was frustrated, cold, and mad by the time he gave up and climbed back over.
He went to join Jade and Merit in their fruitless search. They were at the far edge of the crystal barrier, where it flowed smoothly into the shaped rock of the escarpment. “Any luck?” Merit asked hopefully.
Moon explained what he had found, which was pretty much nothing. “I didn’t even see any carving,” he told them, shaking ice crystals out of his frills.
Jade scuffed her disemboweling claw against the crystal surface. “If the towers and the horn were built to be a windbreak, then this must have been open at one point.”
Merit scraped at some sand on top of the crystal. “Keep looking?”
Jade’s tail lashed in tired irritation. “Keep looking.”
As the sun moved into late afternoon, Stone returned from his investigation, an annoyed growl rumbling in his chest. He shifted down to his groundling form to say, “I went all along the far edge. Past the crystal, it’s just solid rock. There’s no way in.”
Merit sat on his heels, his spines drooping tiredly. “They had to have an entrance lower down. There’s that dock, for one thing.”
Stone rubbed his forehead. “I’m wondering if the Kish fire weapons could break this.”
“Maybe. I’d hate to carry a groundling up here through that wind,” Jade said.
Moon agreed. The Janderan and the Janderi had tough skin, but not as tough as scales. He wasn’t sure they could take the cold.
And then we have to decide if we really want to find the way in, Moon thought. Because this city was sealed off, impenetrable, like the one under the island. And it might be for the same reason.
So they had come back down, uneasily riding the punishing wind, to report failure. The warriors had been watching for them and came up to meet them partway down, and Moon was so exhausted he was glad for the escort.
About thirty strange Kish-Jandera were waiting on the beach with Callumkal, Vendoin, and Kellimdar. A short distance away, Delin sat on the sand with Chime, Root, and Bramble. The warriors, and Stone with Merit, landed further away d
own the beach, but Jade spiraled down to land close to the Kishan, and Moon landed with her.
The crowd parted as Delin and the others slogged through the wet sand toward them. Moon was tired, damp, the skin under his scales chilled from the wind at the top of the escarpment. He hated standing there under what felt like an array of hostile stares. He knew it was his imagination, that the groundlings were just anxious for word of what the Raksura had seen, but knowing that never helped.
“We couldn’t get in,” Jade said, as Callumkal was drawing breath to speak. She described the crystal shield and the towers, to growing expressions of dismay from Callumkal and Kellimdar, agitation from Vendoin, and grim worry from Delin.
Moon shifted to his groundling form. It was a miscalculation; the aching muscles and exhaustion could be borne with his winged form. In groundling form it made him stagger. The warriors shifted too, and Song and Briar both sat down in the sand. River wavered, as if he wanted to but meant to use sheer willpower to stay on his feet.
Jade caught Moon’s arm to steady him and said, “We need to rest. Follow me to our tent, and I’ll answer all your questions.”
The discussion moved to the Raksuran camp, where Bramble had made a hearth and started heating some tea. Moon had a cup and then retreated into the tent to sleep. Chime curled up with him, with Song and Root settling nearby.
Moon slept deeply for a short time, then woke and found the tent empty. He stretched to ease the lingering ache in his back muscles. He had heard a little of the discussion with Callumkal and Delin and the others, as they had talked about the crystal shield, and what weapon might penetrate it, and how best to get it to the top of the escarpment. Callumkal and Vendoin were both against breaking the crystal unless it was absolutely necessary. Kellimdar was more impatient, but Delin also wanted to wait, saying that there must be an entrance lower down. Moon knew Delin was playing for time, hoping they would find some definitive sign that the city had been built by the foundation builders and not forerunners. Chime had said Delin had been going over all the notes and drawings Kellimdar and the others had made while waiting for Callumkal to return, but had so far gleaned no more from it than the Kishan scholars had.
Now Moon rolled to his feet and stepped outside. It was nearly dark, and the wind had eased somewhat. Jade was down at the beach, watching the warriors and the Arbora, who were either playing in the waves or looking for shellfish and lizards in the tidal pools. Chime and Delin sat in the sparse grass only a little distance from the tent. Delin had his writing materials spread out, the paper pinned down to keep it from blowing away in the wind.
Moon couldn’t see Stone for a moment, then finally spotted him. He was in his groundling form, half-buried in the warm sand above the waterline. Groundlings are right; Raksura are strange, Moon thought, not for the first time.
He looked toward the Kishan camp and saw it was quiet. Only a few people were out, cleaning up after the remains of a meal at the center of the camp. Several more headed down to the small boats on the beach, probably about to return to the larger sunsailer.
And Callumkal, Kellimdar, and Rorra were just stepping into one of the larger tents near the back of the camp, at the edge of the trees.
On impulse, Moon turned and walked into the jungle. He shifted to his winged form as soon as he was past the cover of some flowering brush, and leapt up to climb the nearest tree.
There were only a few large branches, but the broad leaves offered just enough concealment. He climbed from tree to tree, until he reached one just behind the Kishan tent. He could hear voices. He wrapped his tail around a heavy branch and hung upside down to listen.
Kellimdar was saying, “That’s what they said they found. How do you know you can trust them?”
“Delin trusts them.” Callumkal sounded as if he was uninterested in arguing the point. Or at least that he didn’t want to discuss it with Kellimdar.
“Delin? Who doesn’t believe we should be trying to enter this city at all?” Kellimdar was skeptical. “Hasn’t he hampered us more than he’s helped?”
“He’s helped a great deal.” Callumkal’s voice took on more heat. “His work—”
“From what you’ve said, Delin offered to take you to the Raksura, then got you lost in a dangerous wilderness and refused to show you the way to their settlement.”
There was a pause. Rorra’s voice said, “That’s not a fair description. We were uninvited, we had no permission to approach the Raksuran settlement, and Delin didn’t think we should. We weren’t lost, and he knew they would find us quickly.”
Kellimdar persisted, “But they don’t want us to enter the city. They’re the reason why Delin believes as he does.”
He was right, and if Moon had been part of the conversation, he couldn’t have argued that point. But it was disturbing that Kellimdar thought they were lying to the Kishan. And Callumkal probably did too, he just wasn’t willing to say so to Kellimdar and undermine his own authority. Rorra sounded like she had an open mind, but Moon wasn’t sure how much the others listened to her.
It all meant that if they did find something that showed it was dangerous to open the city, the Kishan weren’t going to believe it.
Callumkal said, “We’ve barely been here one day. I understand your concern, but can we please have some time to evaluate the situation, and actually see what everyone says and does before becoming angry about it?”
Kellimdar was silent a moment, then said, “Very well. I’m sorry if I’ve overreacted—”
Callumkal said, “No, I understand your frustration. We worked very hard to get here. And if this is a forerunner city, and there is something inside, still a danger after all this time . . . I can’t think leaving it there as a danger to future explorers who may have no warning of its existence is much better than taking the chance of accidentally releasing it.”
Well, he’s right about that, Moon thought, his own frustration growing. It wouldn’t be much of a victory to save the Reaches from some powerful Fell attack now, only to have it happen a generation or so later because a less wary or less intelligent set of groundlings stumbled on a way to open the city.
Practical as ever, Rorra said, “So we don’t know what to do.”
“Correct.” Callumkal sounded resigned.
Moon hung there a while, thinking, even after they left the tent. He didn’t know what to do, either.
By the time Moon returned to the Raksuran tent, the sun had set, turning the blue of the sky to deep indigo, and the wind dropped to a light steady breeze. Bramble had made more tea, and the warriors had brought in some fish and swimming lizards for dinner. All the Raksura were sprawled around in the sand in relative comfort, except for Briar and River, who were on watch. Moon took Jade aside and told her about the conversation he had overheard, and she buried her face in her hands and groaned. He felt the same way.
The Kishan camp had also quieted as the few remaining inhabitants retreated to the sunsailer or went back to the flying boat as the night settled in. Then Callumkal walked over with Rorra, Kellimdar, and Kalam to invite them to sleep on the sunsailer, but Jade said they would stay here. She told Callumkal, “If the Fell are watching you, and waiting for you to open the city, they might come closer in during the night to spy on you. We’ll be better able to detect them out here.”
This sparked a little argument about the Fell, with Kellimdar going over all the reasons the Kishan who had remained here thought the Fell were gone, and Jade countering with all the reasons the Raksura thought they must be here, and Callumkal acting as arbitrator.
Kellimdar said, “I believe they came here only to hunt the inhabited, unprotected islands to the west, and then left.”
Jade managed to hold on to her patience. “We told you the signs we encountered on the way here. It can’t be a coincidence that the Fell are out this far.”
“But you don’t know that those signs were caused by the Fell,” Kellimdar protested. He claimed to understand their concerns but he kep
t circling back around to the idea that there was nothing to worry about. In some ways Moon understood; the Kishan had been chasing the idea of this city for a long time, and all the speculation about it had been proved right so far. Turning your back on all that and just leaving would be terribly hard.
And what Callumkal had said earlier was right; leaving wouldn’t solve the problem either. Not until they knew if the Fell knew a way inside, or were waiting for the groundlings to find one. Or knew what was in there. If anything was. Moon rubbed his face in frustration and held back a growl.
Jade said, with an edge to her voice, “Perhaps we’ve had enough speculation for tonight.”
Callumkal said wearily, “I agree.”
Rorra, who had accepted a cup of tea from Bramble while Kellimdar was arguing, pushed decisively to her feet, took Kalam’s arm, and hauled him up after her. She said, “Callumkal, if you want to stay on the sunsailer tonight, it will be tricky to bring the tender alongside in this current.”
That got Callumkal and Kellimdar moving. Chime asked Delin, “Aren’t you going with them?” He added in Raksuran, “You know, you could listen to what they say.”
Delin shook his head wearily. “I’ve heard it all already.”
When the Kishan had all trekked down the beach, and the sound of the efforts to get the small boat into the water had faded, Delin took a seat beside the hearth and said, “So. The underwater stairs that Stone found. I know it has occurred to all of us that they may be underwater for a reason.”
Moon had an instant of intense memory, of the moment of realization that the creature in the forerunner city had followed them up through the doorway. He felt a ripple of nerves run down his shoulders, where his absent spines wanted to twitch. The creature trapped under the island had been killed by saltwater, one of the reasons they thought the prison had been chosen for it. Chime said, “But like you said, it could also be that the steps were built when the sea wasn’t here, and the dock built on top of them later.”