“It’s a possibility,” Delin said, “but we must ascertain the age of the stairs, and the docking structure above it, to be sure.” He threaded his fingers through his beard. “I am not sure how to do this, but I think the Kishan perhaps know methods.”
Stone stretched and lay back in the sand. “I’m having a lot of trouble with the idea of leaving this place without knowing if there’s something dangerous inside it or not.”
“Yes. Callumkal said that too.” Jade’s spines drooped in resignation. “I’m not happy about the idea of living the rest of our lives in the Reaches waiting for the Fell to show up, and knowing we could have avoided it if we had tried harder.”
Root said, “So either we can’t find a way into the city and have to leave, and not know if the Fell are going to get something from it and use it to come after the Reaches. Or we get into the city and maybe that sets loose the thing that the Fell get and use to come after the Reaches. Or we leave, and somebody else gets into the city later and the Fell—”
Song shoved him in the shoulder. Root fell over into the sand and protested, “I’m not wrong.”
“We know you aren’t,” Chime said, “That’s the problem.” There was a moment of glum contemplation.
Then Song said, “Why can’t we use the thing the Fell are going to get against the Fell?”
There was an uncomfortable moment of silence. Moon was struck by a deep gut-and-bone-level instinct for how bad an idea that was, but he didn’t know how to put it into words. Then Jade said, “You didn’t see it.”
Moon expected Song to drop the subject. She hadn’t seen it because she and Root had been almost killed while trying to fight off the Fell. Song still had the scars on her throat. But instead she said, “There were only a few of you there. Stone wasn’t even there. If there were more, we could control it. Or kill it.”
The warriors all looked at Jade, except Balm, who stared at Song, her expression suggesting that someone was about to get a slap to the head. Song hadn’t exactly made a direct challenge to Jade, but the tension of the moment made the comment more pointed than Song had perhaps intended. Her voice tight, Jade said, “As I said, you didn’t see it.”
Song leaned forward. “But it could be our chance to fight the Fell, really fight them, maybe kill a lot of them at once. If this thing is going to be powerful enough for them to use it to attack and overwhelm the Reaches, then it’s powerful enough for us to use it to attack them.”
Jade tilted her head.
Sitting up on his elbows, Stone muttered, “Uh oh,” under his breath. Chime glanced at Moon worriedly, and Delin sat very still. Balm had unconsciously bared her teeth at Song. Root had frozen in place. Moon sat up a little, trying to think of something to say to disarm the situation.
Then Bramble snorted. “Song, did you get hit on the head?”
Bramble and Merit had been so quiet, Moon had forgotten they were there.
Merit was going through his simple bag, and without looking up, said dryly, “You know, I may be young and not the most powerful mentor the court has ever had, but if I had scryed something like that, I’d mention it.”
“There were only a ‘few of you’ there. Let’s see.” Bramble ticked the list off on her fingers. “Jade, our sister queen. Moon, our consort who fights Fell. Malachite, a reigning queen who killed a whole Fell flight. A half-fell consort. A half-fell mentor. And Chime, our mentor who turned into a warrior who has strange abilities that no one understands yet. Even without Stone there, that’s as strong and powerful a group as most courts could put together.” Bramble leaned toward Song. “Exactly how do you expect to control this thing? Have a bunch of warriors there for it to kill as a distraction?”
Merit added, “If we gave it a hundred warriors to kill, maybe it would get tired—”
Song curled her arms around her legs, physically withdrawing from the battle. “All right, all right! You don’t have to rip my face off.”
Bramble grinned. “If someone needs to rip your face off, I’ll do it.”
“Bramble, Merit, enough. You made your point, you don’t have to enjoy it,” Jade said, but her voice wasn’t tight anymore. She rippled her spines to release tension and stood. “We’ll take this up tomorrow. We need some rest.”
Bramble and Merit put on contrite expressions and didn’t argue, having gotten exactly the reactions that they had been aiming for. Stone flicked a fish bone at Bramble’s head.
As Jade started toward the tent, Bramble turned to clean up around the hearth and the warriors all got to their feet. Moon scrambled up to follow Jade.
Everyone got settled, with Delin bedding down on one side with the Arbora and Chime, Moon and Jade on the other. Stone stayed outside in the sand.
Root and Song were supposed to be changing guard places with Briar and River. Through the tent wall, Moon heard Balm stop Root and say, “Go back into the tent. I’m taking your place.” Then a moment later River whispered, “What’s going on?” and Root hissed at him to be quiet.
Jade bunched up the blanket and gave it a punch, muttering, “Idiots.”
Moon rescued the blanket from her and spread it out over the cool sand. Briar and River slipped inside the tent and settled down to at least pretend to sleep. Moon hoped Balm had talking more in mind than fighting, and knowing her she probably did. He was irritated with Song on several points, but mainly the fact that she had interrupted the ongoing discussion of whether they should try to get inside the city or not right at the moment when they might have come to a decision. He thought they were probably going to have to try, just because Jade and Callumkal and everyone else who had brought it up was right: it would be impossible to leave this place knowing it might at some point be used against them by the Fell. Of course, the others were right about the possible consequences, too.
He curled up next to Jade on the blanket, and she tucked an arm around his waist. In the morning, he told himself. Worry about it in the morning.
Moon woke with Stone leaning over him. Stone whispered, “Get up. There’s Fell stench in the wind.”
Jade whipped to her feet. Moon rolled to a crouch, shifting in mid-motion, and tasted the air. He couldn’t detect anything yet, but Stone’s senses were far more acute at long distances.
Around the tent, the others scrambled to their feet. Jade said, “Which way?”
“The southeast, from across the island,” Stone answered, and stepped back outside.
“Where do we go?” Delin whispered, helping Bramble stuff blankets into her pack.
Not the right question, Moon thought. Carrying the Arbora and Delin, they could fly downwind and outrun the Fell, if the wind didn’t drive them into the side of the escarpment or out over the ocean. But it would leave all the other groundlings to die, leave the city and its secrets to the Fell. He said, “Fight or run?”
Jade snarled. “Fight.” She jerked her head at the Arbora. “Dig in and hide. Take Delin with you.”
“They’ll never find us,” Bramble said it with absolute conviction.
Merit said, “Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” His voice shook a little. He had to be thinking of the time he had been captured by the Fell, at the old eastern colony.
Jade said, “No, stay with Bramble. Wait until we’re in the air, then go.” She flung herself out of the tent and Moon darted after her.
Stone stood on the beach, looking up at the night sky. Balm and Song flanked him, their spines flared in agitation. The other warriors shot out of the tent and formed a tight group around Jade. Chime bumped into Moon’s shoulder, radiating nervous fear.
They had left no mentors’ lights or fires lit outside, and the untenanted Kishan camp was also dark. The obvious target was Callumkal’s flying boat tethered sixty paces or so down the beach, with the soft lights along its ridge and on its stern and bow. The other, smaller flying boat was dark, lost among the treetops, but the Fell might have marked its location during daylight. The sunsailer lay at anchor several hundred p
aces from the shore, deceptively vulnerable, lights shining out of cabin windows. Jade said, “River, warn the Kishan on the flying boat. Don’t fly; run to it and go up the ladder. Then come back to me.”
River bounded off, his movements soundless on the sand.
Moon said, “We can warn the ship without the Fell knowing. Someone can swim out to it.”
All Jade’s attention was on the sky. “Chime, do it. Stay there.”
She had chosen the warrior least likely to be an effective fighter. Both situations were dangerous, as the ship would surely be a prime target, but Chime would be close to the water, able to stay under far longer than a groundling, and it was unlikely the Fell would detect him. Moon nudged Chime. “Swim out to the ship and climb the hull. Find Callumkal.”
Chime hesitated. “But—You should—”
Moon gave him a push toward the shore. “Swim fast, stay under as long as you can.”
Chime flicked his spines in assent and bolted down the slope of the beach. Moon caught a faint reflection on his scales as he dove into the waves and disappeared.
Jade said, “Stone, from above or below?” She sounded tense and it worried Moon a little that she was asking for advice.
As calm as if they were planning a grasseater hunt, Stone said, “Doesn’t matter, they’ll expect us from either.”
Balm snapped, “Kethel!” and pointed.
The big dark shape moved across the faint starlight. The groundlings in the east called kethel harbingers, because they were so often the first sign that a Fell flight was nearby. Their armor-like scales were matte black and they had a halo of horns protecting their heads. They were the least intelligent of the Fell, and totally under the control of the rulers. Kethel never traveled alone, and this one’s presence meant the rest of the flight wasn’t far behind.
Between the distance and the darkness it was hard to tell the size. Moon thought it might be three times Stone’s wingspan. Good, not a big one, he thought. Jade said, “Wait, wait.”
“Another kethel,” Briar said from behind Moon.
Moon said, “They’ll hold the third back.” A flight wouldn’t normally send more than three kethel until it was time to feed. The rulers would want to keep some with their progenitor. It was especially likely with a flight in this position, traveling from island to island over water, with probably only one secure place to retreat to. The progenitor might not even be anywhere nearby, but be waiting with the rest of the flight on the mainland, which meant there would be fewer reinforcements.
Jade said, “Stone, you take that one. Moon, with me. The rest of you keep the dakti off us.”
Stone’s shape flowed into darkness, already lifting off of the beach as if insubstantial. A heartbeat later his great wings beat once and Moon staggered from the displaced air. The shape gained weight and substance as it shot upward toward the closest kethel.
Jade leapt after Stone, and Moon followed her. He felt the warriors in the air behind him as Jade crossed under Stone’s path and headed for the second kethel.
Moon flapped his wings hard, angling to get a boost from the wind, focused on Jade and the dark shape of the kethel above them. They had to get to it while it was distracted, before the dakti that were in the air somewhere could swarm them. From behind and further up a noise broke the silence, like a strangled growl. It echoed off the face of the escarpment, distorted by the wind. Moon thought it was Stone seizing a startled kethel by the throat and hoped it confused the rulers and dakti.
He sensed movement swoop toward them and Balm flashed by and slammed into a shape about her own size. That was a ruler, Moon thought. It took everything he had to keep flying after Jade, to not drop back to engage it. Root broke off and twisted after Balm, following her and the ruler down.
He heard River snarl, “Briar, on your right!” and the rest of the warriors broke off. Moon risked a glance back and saw distance-lights glowing from the flying boat, crossing back and forth in the sky.
The kethel above them reacted, but slowly, turning away from its course and back toward where Stone had attacked the first one.
Then Jade struck it in the throat. Moon struck it further down on the chest and gripped with his claws to hold on. It probably couldn’t feel him through its coat of heavy plate scales, but it could feel Jade. Kethel usually wore an armored collar, decorated with the bones of groundling victims. The kethel jerked its head and roared as Jade dug her claws in. Knowing he only had a few moments before a dakti swarm came to its aid, Moon scrambled up its body, around its shoulder, and onto its armored head. Then he stabbed his claws into its right eye.
It shrieked in agony and slammed its clawed hand up to swat him. Moon ripped its eyelid off to give it something else to worry about and jumped away.
He was facing toward the island and saw the moment when something big and dark flashed through the searching lights and struck the flying boat’s deck. Moon thought, We found the third kethel.
The roar of fire weapons sounded and a kethel bellowed in pain. Then something cracked inside the flying boat’s body and it suddenly bent double, with a terrible ripping sound and several loud metallic bangs. Moon tried to think who had said they would be staying on the flying boat, if Rorra might have gone back to it. Big wings flapped above the shape of the ridge, fire from the bow weapon ripped across the dark scales. The flying boat was going down but the kethel was going with it. That kethel had to know ... It killed itself to wreck the boat ...
Then he sensed something diving toward him and twisted away. A ruler missed him by so little it brushed his spines. Moon flapped to recover his balance and a dakti struck him in the side. He ripped it in two and twisted again to meet the ruler rushing toward him. It grabbed for his throat and he caught its arms. Before it could pull him close, he brought both feet up and used his disemboweling claws for what they were meant for. The ruler made a strangled keening noise and Moon felt hot blood and guts wash over his feet. He jerked his claws free and dropped the ruler.
Moon turned and flew right into a swarm of dakti. They screamed in alarm as he tore through them, then they scattered, too disorganized to attack effectively. He couldn’t see Jade, couldn’t see the kethel he had partially blinded, couldn’t see the warriors. Then he realized one reason for the complete darkness was that the lights on the sunsailer had gone out. Chime got there, he thought in relief.
Then fire blossomed on the vessel’s deck. It illuminated a dozen groundling shapes standing near it. As they dodged away, the light shot upward, trailing sparks. High in the air it burst into pieces, erupting into a fountain of fire. It lit the sky, the ship, the beach and the water around them. Like one of the signal devices that the Golden Islanders used on their wind-ships, except far more powerful.
Dakti scattered away from the light, and Moon banked, trying to see the other kethel. Only one was visible, the smaller one that Moon and Jade had attacked. It curved around to dive at the sunsailer, just as another bundle of fire burst up off the deck.
This fire was smaller and faster and arrow-thin, and it arced up to hit the kethel right in the chest. It jerked and floundered in the air, its roar baffled and pain-filled.
Then a heavy body hit Moon from behind. He flared his spines and told himself this is what you get for not paying attention. He struck back with his feet and grabbed the arms that wrapped around him. Teeth scraped across his shoulder, his collar flanges preventing them from sinking in. Moon twisted and rolled, trying to dislodge the ruler, and on the second roll got a glimpse of a shape streaking toward him, the light from the first fire-blossom glinting off blue scales. He rolled again so his back and the ruler’s back were toward it.
The impact jolted his breath, and an instant later the ruler was snatched away. Moon twisted, flapped to get some height, and saw Jade in the process of tearing the ruler’s head off. Another ruler dove on her and Moon shot upward and ripped at his wing.
The ruler turned on him with a snarl. They struck at each other, grappled, broke
apart, and struck again. This ruler was considerably older and smarter than the one Moon had ripped open. He was careful not to let Moon get too close, trying to wear him down. It was a good strategy; Moon was dangerously close to being worn down.
They were also both dropping rapidly toward the waves just off the beach. The last time Moon had fallen into water with a ruler it hadn’t gone well. He ducked a swipe to the head, twisted in and grabbed the ruler. Claws tore at his side but he managed one flap to push them further out and into the right position. Then he rolled to get on top and pulled his wings in.
They fell faster, the ruler unable to catch the wind from this angle. It released its grip on Moon, frantic to get away, and Moon held on harder. Just as they started to roll, Moon let go and shot his wings out, curving them to slow his fall. The ruler slammed into the deck of the sunsailer. Moon landed on top of him a moment later and used the instant of dazed distraction to rip the ruler’s throat out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Moon straightened up out of a crouch, dripping with his own blood and the ruler’s, and saw he had an audience. The fire-blossom device pointed at the sky, illuminating the space above the sunsailer. In its reflected light, several Kish-Jandera, all holding the bulky tubes of the fire weapons, stood on the deck staring at him. They were all strangers, no one he recognized from the flying boat crew. No one shot at him, which was good.
The deck was littered with dead dakti, and Chime perched on the roof of a cabin, breathing hard from exertion. He called anxiously, “Are you all right?”
“Sure.” Moon lifted his right arm and hissed at the pain where the ruler’s claws had pierced his scales. Chime started to jump down to the deck, and Moon said, “No, stay up there. Can you see the others?”
Chime said, “Jade’s killing a ruler over by the wrecked flying boat. River and Song and Balm were fighting off a bunch of dakti toward the groundling camp, or that’s the last place I saw them. The last kethel flew away, and Stone went after it. I lost track of Root and Briar.”