The Cloud Roads

  There was a collective breath of relief.

  Chime, who had managed to keep quiet up to this point, said, “Has anyone thought about the fact that even if we get the boats, Pearl didn’t agree to leave?”

  “Yes, we’ve thought of that.” Stone’s gaze was on the map. “I’ll deal with it.”

  Moon thought that sounded like a threat, but he admitted that he wasn’t the best judge.

  After that, the talk turned to the details of the journey, who else Jade would take with her, what Stone had found the last time he had visited there, the possible dangers along the way, and what they would offer the Yellow Sea groundlings. Clouds had come in from the north, and a light rain had started, pattering the leaves in the court. Moon sat beside the archway, just out of reach of the rain, and worked on listening unobtrusively, something he thought he hadn’t done enough of lately.

  Finally Jade and the other Aeriat left for the upper levels of the colony, Stone disappeared, and the Arbora broke up into groups to talk about moving the court. Moon slipped away, going back up the stairs to the bowers.

  There were still too many people around, so he went up to one of the less-occupied halls, where a doorway to the outside overlooked the river. He shifted and climbed up the wall above the archway, looped his tail around one of the stone projections there and hung upside down from it, coiling up to wrap his wings around himself. He needed to think, and had always found this a particularly restful position to do it in. He had no idea if this was acceptable Raksuran behavior, not that it mattered. Practically spitting in the queen’s face probably isn’t acceptable either. He was also well above eye level here, and in the shadow above the doorway; if she sent any warriors to force him to leave the court, it was just as well if they couldn’t find him. He didn’t want to kill anybody and interfere with Stone’s plans.

  The journey tomorrow with Jade would be an uncomfortable experience. He didn’t know if she could do to him what Pearl had done—draw him into that bond—or if it was only something that the reigning queen could do. He had no intention of ever being within Pearl’s reach again, and Jade... now he knew to be wary. He didn’t think either one of them could keep him in that state against his will, but Pearl had seduced him so easily. He didn’t want to fall into that trap again.

  After a time, he realized someone was nearby. He pulled the edge of his wing down to see Flower sitting cross-legged on the floor below him, looking out at the river. Without looking up, she said, “Don’t mind me. I use this window for augury when the wind is from the south. I doubt anyone else would have seen you up there.”

  Moon twisted around to look out. The plume trees along the river bank waved slightly in the breeze, and higher up above the valley a small flock of yellow birds swooped and dived, bright against the gray clouds. “What are you auguring?”

  “The prospects for your trip to the Golden Isles. I’m trying to read it out of the effect of the wind on those birds.”

  A bird swooped low, catching an updraft to soar back up to where the others circled. The only portent Moon could read was a bad one for the insects caught in the breeze. “Does it look good?”

  “It says that the journey should be made, but then we knew that already. It says that Stone is right, that the Islanders are likely to listen to Jade’s request. What it says about the outcome of the journey... is confusing, and useless.” Flower frowned absently. “Can I ask you a question?”

  This is why you should keep your mouth shut, Moon told himself, but fair was fair. “Yes.”

  Her eyes still on the birds, she said, “When did you stop looking for others?”

  Moon couldn’t pretend not to know what she meant. “A long time ago.” He wondered if she could read the truth of his answers in the wind, in the way the birds banked and tilted their wings. To deflect further questions on that topic, he added, “I lived in a lot of groundling cities.”

  She nodded slowly. “Most groundlings aren’t meant to live alone either, I suppose. But then we’re born in fives, and clutches are always raised together. Or at least, that’s the way it’s supposed to work.”

  “So we are born like groundlings. Not in... eggs.” Moon had been wondering. Five births at once seemed a lot for a groundling woman.

  Flower did him the courtesy of not looking incredulous at his ignorance. “Yes, we are born like groundlings. But our young are smaller, though they do grow more quickly, and can walk and climb much faster than most groundlings.” She smiled. “It’s why the teachers always look so tired.”

  Moon let his wings unfurl and hang down, stretching. The scratches from Pearl’s claws had nearly vanished, and barely pulled at his scales. “So why is it such a terrible thing to be a solitary?”

  She lifted her brows, considering the question. “We’re not meant to live alone. It’s generally assumed that Raksura who do were forced to leave their court because of fighting or other unwanted behavior.” She leaned back to look up at him. “Since young consorts are prized above any other birth except for queens, it just makes it look worse.”

  Well, that figures, Moon thought dryly. He had, after all, no proof whatsoever that he hadn’t been thrown out of a court—except for his encompassing lack of knowledge about all things Raksuran, which Stone at least could vouch for.

  Flower’s mouth was a rueful line. “Stone said there were four Arbora with you that didn’t survive. I suppose, if the warrior did steal you, she might have brought the others along to keep you company. But if she was escaping some disaster, she might have just grabbed you and as many other children as she could manage.”

  Not that that was any better. “So if we’re born in fives, there was at least one more of their clutch that she left behind to die so she could bring me.”

  “I was actually trying to be comforting.” Flower sighed, and there was something far away in her eyes. “Moon, there’s something I don’t think you know. Queens are born with power, but a consort’s power comes with age. When you spoke in your shifted voice to Pearl—Only a consort coming into maturity could have done that.”

  Moon felt mature already. Most days, he felt elderly. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does matter.” Flower stood, her shabby skirt falling into place around her. “We don’t use magic; we’re made of magic, and you can’t run away from that.”

  Watching her walk away, Moon thought, I can try.

  Chapter Seven

  They were to start for the Yellow Sea at dawn the next morning. Moon didn’t have much in the way of preparations to make. He borrowed a small cloth pack from Petal, just large enough to carry his old clothes and some dried meat and fruit she insisted he take. He didn’t have anything else to carry, though he was starting to covet the knife and belt, still in the pile of refused gifts outside his bower. It wasn’t as if he needed a knife in his shifted form, but he was used to having one as a groundling, and you never knew when it would come in handy. But he didn’t weaken enough to take it.

  Before first light, Moon flew far enough away to be out of the hunters’ range and took a kill, a small grasseater. He purposefully overate, knowing he would need it for two long days of flight. It was still dark when he got back to the colony, so he stretched out on a ledge, pillowed his head on his pack, and napped.

  The gray dawn light roused him, and he woke to see a group gathering on one of the terraced platforms below the pyramid. Stone and Flower were there in groundling form, plus Chime, Balm, and Jade, and three of the warriors who had come to the teachers’ common room with her yesterday.

  Moon jumped off the ledge and glided down toward the platform. He landed just in time to hear one of the warriors say, “He’s probably run off. How long are we supposed to...” The words trailed off as Moon touched down on the paving and folded his wings.

  “Wait?” Stone finished mercilessly. Chime gave the offender a derisive smile, Flower winced, Jade kept her expression blank, and everyone else looked uncomfortable. Impervious, Stone asked Moon, “You
ready?”

  Moon shifted to groundling, since everyone else was, and shrugged. Flower gave Stone a repressive look and introduced the three other warriors. “Moon, this is Branch, Root, and Song.”

  Song was female, younger and a little smaller than Balm, but she had the same warm, dark skin and curling honey hair, as if they might be related. Root was the one who had speculated that Moon had run off, and also the one who had asked yesterday about stealing the flying boats from their groundling owners. He and Branch looked enough alike to be clutch-mates. Both had reddish-brown hair and copper skin, not unlike the young warrior who had attacked Moon yesterday, but in more subdued shades. If they were from a related clutch, that was just Moon’s luck. Root was typically slender but Branch had a bigger, broader build, which might mean his shifted form was larger. That could be a problem, Moon thought, resigned to trouble.

  Moon had no idea what his chances were in a fight against a larger male warrior, or a group of warriors. What worried him the most was that he had never had a real fight in his shifted form that wasn’t to the death. Play-wrestling his Arbora siblings with claws carefully sheathed had been his last experience with it, and he had never fought just for dominance or to make a point.

  But he had no intention of letting anyone else use him to make a point.

  Jade told Stone and Flower, “We’ll be back as soon as possible. If we’re delayed more than a few days, I’ll send someone as messenger.”

  “Take care,” Flower said, with a worried smile.

  Everyone shifted, Moon following a beat behind the others. Stone didn’t say anything, but Moon was aware that he watched them, long after they leapt into the air and flew toward the west.

  They flew all day, passing the point where the hilly jungle gradually gave way to flat coastal plain. As the afternoon became evening, Moon saw the plain had turned to marshland, with bright green grass and tall elegant birds undisturbed by their passage high overhead. In the distance the sea was a yellow haze.

  When they reached it, the setting sun made the yellow of the water even more brilliant. The waves rolled up a wide beach bordered by low dunes and a band of yellow vegetation. The sand glinted with metallic and crystalline reflections. Jade had followed Stone’s directions well, and they reached the coast only a short distance away from the first landmark: a ruin rising up from the water, about a hundred paces out from the land.

  Moon landed on the beach, shifted, and stretched. He wasn’t that tired; he had grown used to keeping up with Stone, and this hadn’t been very strenuous flying. It was also warmer here, despite the strong wind off the sea, and the sand was hot under his feet. He walked toward the waves as the others landed a short distance away.

  From the look of this ruin, the groundlings who had built the blocky pyramid and the statues in the valley hadn’t made it as far as this coast. The structure was a series of big platforms, placed as if forming a circular stairway up to the sky, each roofless but ringed by tall thin columns linked by delicate arches. It was all made of metal and covered with verdigris, and the supporting posts in the water were heavily encrusted with little yellow barnacles. Moon reached the waterline and stepped onto the wet sand, letting the frothy edge of the waves run over his feet. The sky was tossed with clouds; a haze of rain fell far off to the south.

  A little way up the beach, the others had gathered into a group to talk. Moon kept part of his attention on them, while he watched the waves suck sand from around his toes.

  Chime came over to Moon, slogging through the loose sand. He stopped a few paces away and said abruptly, “Are you speaking to me?”

  “What?” Moon stared at him, startled out of his mood. “Yes.”

  “You’ve barely spoken to anyone except Stone since what happened with Pearl.”

  Moon scratched his head, watching the last of the light glitter on the water. That wasn’t quite true, but he could see how it would look that way to Chime. “I didn’t have anything to say.”

  “Somehow I find that hard to believe.” Chime folded his arms, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. “What Pearl did was unacceptable, even if you’re a...”

  “Groundling-eating solitary,” Moon supplied.

  “Groundling-eating solitary, she shouldn’t have behaved that way. Since you were brought to the court by Stone... The groundling-eating part was sarcasm, yes?”

  Moon gave in. Chime seemed to be offering friendship, in his own way, and he wasn’t going to turn that down. They were both outsiders among the Aeriat, and Chime seemed more out of place at times than Moon did. He just said, “Speaking of eating, let’s go look for dinner.”

  They found tidal pools farther up the beach, in the rocky flats at the edge of the yellow scrub. The shallow pools had trapped fish, crabs, and other shelled creatures, and some water lizards, coming in to feed. The fish were too small to be more than a snack, but the lizards would make a more substantial meal. Moon shifted and slipped from pool to pool, catching surprised lizards, breaking their necks, and tossing them out for Chime to collect. They also found small patches of metal-mud, which Chime had heard about but never seen before. It was good for making colors for pottery, and Moon’s favorite groundlings, the Hassi, had also used it when they hunted on the forest floor. Once it dried on skin or scales, the metallic odor disguised your own scent. It also burned easily, something that Chime seemed to find fascinating.

  The others all explored the ruin or the beach. They were divided into two camps, with Moon on one side, and everybody else on the other. Or two and a half camps, since Chime hovered in the middle.

  When Root and Song wandered over to try their luck in the pools, Moon and Chime carried their catch over to the ruin, landing on a platform about halfway up the structure. As a place to camp it wasn’t ideal. There was no real shelter; the slender pillars didn’t provide any windbreak. But the metal was hot from the day’s sun and felt pleasant on Moon’s scales, and the elevation made it difficult for anything to come at them from the shore. For one night, it wouldn’t be a problem.

  “These are a little chewy,” Chime commented.

  “Save the guts,” Moon told him, “If we throw them in the water, they might attract something bigger.”

  Chime glanced warily down at the waves washing against the pillars. “How big?”

  Jade dropped onto the platform. Moon embarrassed himself dramatically by scrambling sideways and almost leaping off into the water before he could stop himself. It wasn’t that it was her; he had never reacted well to being startled while eating. When he was alone, it was when he was at his most vulnerable.

  Jade stared at him warily. When he self-consciously sat down again, she said, “I wanted to ask you something.” She knelt gracefully and unfolded a leather packet. “I know all groundling cities are different, but do you have any idea how many of these I should offer?”

  Moon leaned forward, frowning in consternation as big, lumpy, white objects spilled out of the packet. It took him a moment to realize they were pearls, huge ones. He flicked one with a claw, and it caught the light, reflecting soft iridescent blues, reds, greens. They had to be from the deepwater kingdoms, further out into the seas than Moon had ever ventured. “It’ll depend,” he told her. If the Yellow Sea groundlings traded with any waterlings, they might already have access to pearls like these. But this was still something they could trade anywhere along the Crescent Coast, to the Kish empire, the Hurrians. He was trying to remember the prices in Kishan coin that the Abascene traders had charged for passage on their ships, and mentally convert it to what the pearls were probably worth. And account for the fact that they were bargaining for flying boats that had to be worth more than any ordinary barge. “Start with five of the medium-sized ones. That’s probably low, but not insulting.”

  Jade had begun to look impatient, but now her expression cleared. “I see. Thank you.”

  Still chewing on lizard meat, Chime asked her, “What if they don’t want to trust us with their boats? If they say n
o, we’re stuck.”

  Jade weighed the pearls in her hand thoughtfully. “Stone doesn’t think they will.”

  Stone isn’t always right, Moon thought, but kept it to himself. If this didn’t work, they would have to move the court the hard way, and he wondered if Jade had thought about that. Moving a large group over land wasn’t impossible, just difficult and dangerous; groundlings did it all the time. He was about to say this when he caught something on the wind.

  It was just a faint trace of other, of something that wasn’t sand, salt, or dead fish and lizards. Moon pushed to his feet, just as Jade said, “Did you smell that?”

  Moon took a deep breath, his mouth open to draw the air past the sensitive spots in his cheeks and throat. “It’s gone now.”

  Jade stood, the strong wind catching at her frills. “At least there’s no mistaking the direction.”

  Chime twisted around, looking worriedly out to sea. “Was it Fell?”

  “Probably,” Moon said, at the same time Jade answered, “Maybe.” Moon turned to look inland. With the wind off the sea so strong, anything could come at them from the land. His eyes caught movement against the darkening sky, but it was only Branch and Balm, circling high above the beach.

  Jade said, “Fell wouldn’t be out at sea, not unless there was something they really wanted.” She was right about that; Fell would be just as vulnerable on long flights over water as Raksura.

  “So they’re after us?” Chime looked up at her, his face uneasy. “Pearl wouldn’t tell them where we were going. Would she?”

  “She’s not that far gone.” Jade sounded weary and disgusted. “And Stone wouldn’t let them in to speak to her. It has to be a coincidence.”

  “A coincidence.” Moon couldn’t help himself. “Like Sky Copper being destroyed before they could accept Stone’s offer of alliance.”

  Jade’s frills stiffened and she said, flatly, “I didn’t know you took that much of an interest.”

  I didn’t know I did, either, Moon thought. He didn’t have another answer. He looked back toward the beach, watching the waves rolling up. After a moment, Jade hissed, picked up her bundle of pearls, and jumped off the platform.