After his last mistake, Moon wanted to be very specific about this. “As your consort?”
Jade sighed. “No, Moon, I thought we’d just be friends. After all, I just offered to rip Pearl’s head off over you.” She put her hand on his chest, warm through the silk, and it made him want to crawl into her lap. “Yes, as my consort.”
He was feeling guilty about Pearl. “Is she all right?”
“She’s fine,” Jade said, her voice dry. “She has River and plenty of other warriors to lick her wounds.” She shook her frills back. “There wasn’t very much actual clawing, just screaming.”
There was one thing he wanted to ask her, though now he thought he already knew the answer. He was beginning to get a better idea of how Raksuran courts worked, but he wanted to be certain. “Why didn’t you do the scent-thing on me?”
“I told you I wanted you to go to Wind Sun, if we couldn’t free the court. It would have been harder for them to find a queen for you if you were already taken.” She eyed him. “Why?”
He wasn’t going to tell her and re-start the whole fight with Pearl. “No reason.” Then he realized he hadn’t answered her question yet and said, “Yes.”
“Yes?”
He buried his face against her neck, suddenly self-conscious. “Yes, I’ll be your consort.”
“Good.” She sounded relieved, and a little overcome, as if there had been doubt. And there had been, but it didn’t seem to matter now. She ran her fingers through his hair. “Do you want anything? Jewels, gold...”
Apparently she was serious. “Fish?”
Appendix I
Excerpt from Observations of the Raksura: Volume Thirty-Seven of A Natural History by scholar-preeminent Delin-Evran-lindel
The Two Breeds of the Raksura
Arbora: Arbora have no wings but are agile climbers, and their scales appear in a variety of colors. They have long tails, sharp retractable claws, and manes of flexible spines and soft “frills,” characteristics that are common to all Raksura. They are expert artisans and are dexterous and creative in the arts they pursue for the court’s greater good. In their alternate form they are shorter than Aeriat Raksura and have stocky, powerful builds. Both male and female Arbora are fertile, and sometimes may have clutches that include warrior fledglings. This is attributed to queens and consorts blending their bloodlines with Arbora over many generations.
The four castes of the Arbora are:
Teachers - They supervise the nurseries and train the young of the court. They are also the primary artisans of the court, and tend the gardens that will be seen around any Raksuran colony.
Hunters -They take primary responsibility for providing food for the court. This includes hunting for game, and gathering wild plants.
Soldiers - They “guard the ground” and protect the colony and the surrounding area.
Mentors - They are Arbora born with arcane powers, who have skill in healing and augury. They also act as historians and record-keepers for the court, and usually advise the queens.
Aeriat: The winged Raksura. Like the Arbora, they have long tails, sharp retractable claws, and manes of flexible spines and soft frills.
Warriors - They act as scouts and guardians, and defend the colony from threats from the air, such as the Fell. Warriors are sterile and cannot breed, though they appear as male and female forms. Their scales are in any number of bright colors. Female warriors are usually somewhat stronger than male warriors. In their alternate form, they are always tall and slender. They are not as long-lived generally as queens, consorts, and Arbora.
Consorts -Consorts are fertile males, and their scales are always black, though there may be a tint or “undersheen” of gold, bronze, or blood red. At maturity they are stronger than warriors, and may be the longest lived of any Raksura. They are also the fastest and most powerful flyers, and this ability increases as they grow older. There is some evidence to suggest that consorts of great age may grow as large or larger than the major kethel of the Fell.
Queens - Queens are fertile females, and are the most powerful and deadly fighters of all the Aeriat. Their scales have two brilliant colors, the second in a pattern over the first. The queens’ alternate form resembles an Arbora, with no wings, but retaining the tail, and an abbreviated mane of spines and the softer frills. Queens mate with consorts to produce royal clutches, composed of queens, consorts, and warriors.
Appendix II
Excerpt from Additions to the List of Predatory Species by scholar-eminent-posthumous Venar-Inram-Alil.
Fell are migratory and prey on other intelligent species.
The Known Classes of Fell
Major kethel - The largest of the Fell, sometimes called harbingers, major kethel are often the first sign that a Fell flight is approaching. Their scales are black, like that of all the Fell, and they have an array of horns around their heads. They have a low level of intelligence and are believed to be always under the control of the rulers.
Minor dakti -The dakti are small, with armor plates on the back and shoulders, and webbed wings. They are somewhat cunning, but not much more intelligent than kethel, and fight in large swarms.
Rulers -Rulers are intelligent creatures that are believed to have some arcane powers of entrancement over other species. Rulers related by blood are also believed to share memories and experiences through some mental bond. They have complete control of the lesser Fell in their flights, and at times can speak through dakti and see through their eyes. (Addendum by scholar-preeminent Delin-Evran-lindel: Fell rulers in their winged form bear an unfortunate and superficial resemblance to Raksuran Consorts.)
There is believed to be a fourth class, or possibly a female variant of the Rulers, called the Progenitors.
Common lore holds that if a Fell ruler is killed, its head must be removed and stored in a cask of salt or yellow mud and buried on land in order to prevent drawing other Fell rulers to the site of its death. It is possible that only removing the head from the corpse may be enough to prevent this, but burying it is held to be the safest course.
About the Author
Martha Wells was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1964, and has a B.A. in anthropology from Texas A&M University. She is the author of nine previous novels, including The Element of Fire, Wheel of the Infinite, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer. She has also had short fiction published in Realms of Fantasy, Black Gate Magazine, Lone Star Stories, and the Tsunami Relief anthology, Elemental, and has articles in the non-fiction anthologies Farscape Forever and Mapping the World of Harry Potter. She lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband. Her web site is www.marthawells.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Appendix I
Appendix II
About the Author
Martha Wells, The Cloud Roads
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