The Serpent Sea

CHAPTER Twelve



Not much further down the air shaft, they reached a grate that opened into a small dim room, most of it blocked by the bulk of another stove. Unlike the one on the upper floor, it was giving off warmth, and it smelled faintly of fish oil. “This way,” Rift said, tugging at the grate.

Moon set his claws in a crack in the wall and looked down. The scents of outdoor air still came from below them. “There’s a way out further down.”

“It’s too small. And the warding barrier blocks it, like the big doors on the ground floor.” Rift eased the grate open and climbed out to clamber over the stove. “We have to get to a passage under the tower.”

Moon growled in the back of his throat, mostly in frustration. He believed in the barrier outside the tower. After running into it yesterday, he knew how effective it was. But he wanted to get out of here and figure out where the seed was before Ardan moved it again.

He climbed out after Rift, over the top of the big metal stove. It was hot, but not enough to burn Raksuran scales. The pipes from it led into the dirty patched walls, not up through the ceiling. It might be keeping the air in the exhibit hall dry to help preserve Ardan’s collection.

Rift jumped from the top of the stove to land near the heavy door. He opened it just enough to peer out. Easing up behind him, Moon stretched to see over his head. The door opened into a gray stone corridor, high-ceilinged and a little better lit. They were somewhere under the main stairwell, on the second level. Moon caught the distinctive odor of decay from the stuffed specimens in the exhibit hall.

Rift slipped out and led the way through a maze of hallways, passing closed doors. They came out on a little balcony and crouched to see over the heavy balustrade. It overlooked the shadowy first floor hall, lit by only a few vapor-lamps. They were distressingly close to the angry face of the giant waterling. Its dead, frozen eyes gleamed in the dim light, its fanged mouth a dark cavern.

Moon sensed movement immediately, and spotted one of the bulbous guard-creatures on the floor below. The thing paced back and forth not far from the bottom of the long sweep of stairs, half-hidden by the bulk of the waterling’s tail. Making an impatient snuffling noise, it looked and sounded exactly as if it was casting for a scent, but no one else moved in the shadows.

Rift leaned close and said in a breathless whisper, “Someone’s down there. The wardens don’t appear unless someone comes into the area they’re guarding.”

Rift was right. If the thing had appeared in response to their arrival, it would know where they were. And it seemed certain there was someone near the stairs. Moon whispered back, “We have to get through that room?”

Rift jerked his chin toward the far end of the hall. “The door is behind those stairs.”

Moon motioned Rift to stay back and eased up to perch on the railing, watching the warden pace. This would be tricky. As soon as they killed the thing, it would trigger the appearance of others and likely send some sort of warning to Ardan.

Moon waited until the creature moved out of sight, his view of it blocked by the waterling’s right tailfin. Then he jumped, landed on the waterling’s back, and ran lightly down its body. The decaying scales squished unpleasantly underfoot. Peering over the side of the tail, he saw the guard-creature standing at the base of the stairs. Its arms were out and it was moving slowly forward, as if trying to corner something. Except nothing’s there, Moon thought. At least nothing he could see at the moment.

He made a sharp gesture at Rift. Rift vaulted the balcony railing, landed on the floor, and snapped his wings out for maximum noise. The guard-creature whipped around toward him and Moon leapt to land right on its oversized head.

The creature staggered and roared, clawed for him, and he ripped, tore, and wrenched. Rift hit it an instant later and tore its legs out from under it. The thing collapsed.

Moon shoved away from it, letting Rift finish it off. He turned toward the stairs and the supposedly empty shadow. Cautiously he tasted the air, but between the decaying waterling and the dying creature, scent was useless. But instinct told him something was there, something was occupying space that should be taken up by air.

He lunged forward, slapped at the shadow, and hit solid flesh. A groundling yelped, and suddenly Esom and Karsis sprawled on the steps.

Moon snarled. “So you’re a shaman, too.” The two had been using some sort of spell to conceal themselves. They must have used it to slip away from the guest level in the confusion and flee, while Ardan searched for Moon and Rift. He tilted his head toward Esom. “Is that what ‘deviser’ means?”

Karsis struggled to sit up, shoving her brother off her. Esom stumbled to his feet, “You can’t stop us, we—”

“No time,” Rift told Moon as he shook the creature’s blood off his scales. A clatter sounded from overhead as groundling guards ran across the second level hall to this stairwell. At least two misty shapes forming in the air nearby meant more wardens were about to appear. Rift started toward the curving passage that led under the stairwell.

“Come on,” Moon snapped at Esom and Karsis, knowing if he left them behind, they would point the way for the guards.

Fortunately they didn’t argue. Esom pulled Karsis up and they both ran after Moon.

The passage wound under the bulk of the stairwell, apparently a back way to the service areas behind the hall. Rift stopped at a spot where there wasn’t a door, just a carved panel that looked like part of the wall decoration. But there was a faint line of mold along one edge, showing that there must be something behind it. Rift grabbed the edge, worked his claws under it, and popped it open.

It led into a dark space lit by greenish light that released a breath of dank air carrying a truly foul odor. Rift stepped inside, Moon pushed Karsis and Esom in after him, then stepped through himself.

Moon helped Rift maneuver the panel back into place. There was no lock. He looked hurriedly around the small space. The dim greenish light came from odd little pockets in the stone walls; it was hard to tell if it had been intentionally placed there or was just a lichen or moss that grew naturally. There was nothing to wedge against the panel, nothing to keep the guards from prying it open once they realized it was an escape route.

“We can’t seal it,” Rift told him, low-voiced. “We need to move away, or the wardens will hear us.”

“Can Ardan send those things after us?” Moon asked in Raksuran. They started down the passage, which sloped downward in a long spiral. Karsis slipped a little on the slimy paving but caught Esom’s shoulder to steady herself. Both of them watched Rift warily.

Rift replied in the same language, “He can send them, but he has to figure out where we went, first. They can’t appear out of nowhere. He has to put the guard-spells for them in place. I don’t think he knows about these passages.”

“You don’t think.” That wasn’t reassuring, but then nothing about Rift was. “How did you find the way down here without killing the guardthings in the main hall?” That would have had to alert Ardan that Rift had been poking around down here.

“I found it during the day,” Rift said. He jerked his head toward Esom and Karsis. “What are we going to do with them?”

That “we” was awfully confident. Switching back to Kedaic, Moon asked Esom, “If you’re a shaman, why didn’t you escape before?”

Stiffly, Esom said, “I’ve tried, but I knew the wardens would stop us. As you saw, the sight-spell doesn’t work very well on them.”

“We weren’t very organized,” Karsis admitted. “We tried to get Negal and Orlis, but the guards had already locked them in. And we aren’t even certain where Ardan is keeping our other crew members.” “How were you planning to get through the barrier?”

Esom started to speak, then hesitated, and Moon saw Karsis dart a look at him. Esom said, “With all the confusion, I thought we might be able to conceal ourselves down here until morning, when the barrier goes down and the outside doors are opened.”

They were terrible liars. “Hide from that creature till morning? I don’t think so. I think you knew you could get through the barrier.”

The two groundlings exchanged a grim look, and Esom said, “All right, yes. I think I can get through the barrier, but I’m not certain. I’ve never had a chance to escape from the upper level and test it.”

Rift told Moon, “I knew he was a wizard all along, but he can’t do much. He’s not nearly as powerful as Ardan.”

Esom stopped abruptly and stared at Rift. He said, “You knew?”

Karsis demanded, more to the point, “Why didn’t you tell Ardan?”

Rift bared a fang in an ironic smile. “I’m not Ardan’s servant.”

Esom sneered back. “So you’re his pet?”

Growling, Rift reached toward him and Esom jerked back. Moon hissed and flicked his spines. Rift glared resentfully, but eased away from Esom.

Esom looked from Rift to Moon, then wet his lips and said, “If you don’t help us escape, we’ll tell Ardan’s men which way you went.”

Karsis cleared her throat, a little embarrassed. Apparently she had seen the flaw in her brother’s plan. Moon said, “Or we could just kill you.”

Esom blinked, then grimaced. Karsis elbowed him and he glared at her. “All right, fine.” He took a deep breath. “I think I know where the seed is, the one you’ve been asking about, that Ardan took from the giant tree. I’m not certain, but I have a good idea.”

That was different. Moon took a step nearer, looming over him. “Where?”

Esom lifted his chin and squared his shoulders, the groundling equivalent of lifting his spines. “I want your promise to help us escape, and to help us get our friends away from Ardan.”

Moon thought it over fast, flicking his spines. “I can take you out of here with us now, but I can’t go back for your friends. Ardan will search the city for us and there’s no way we can get back inside this tower.” That might or might not be true, but he wasn’t going to make promises he couldn’t keep.

Esom looked at Karsis, who gave him a helpless shrug and said, “At least we’d be free to try to help the others.”

Esom, jaw set and ready to argue, visibly deflated. “All right, I’ll—”

A thump somewhere above interrupted him. Rift twitched in alarm. “They’re coming.”

“Come on, move.” Moon gave Rift a push and started away down the passage. Motioning Karsis and Esom to follow, he whispered, “You keep talking.”

Keeping his voice low, Esom said rapidly, “When we first arrived in the city, Ardan let us explore at will. Towards the front of the creature, near a flooded valley where its left front leg dips down, there’s a domed building that looked as if it had some important purpose. Negal and I went there. Part of it is apparently used as some sort of mortuary temple, but the public area was covered with carvings showing what seemed to be early magisters taking control of the leviathan by placing an object in contact with its body. These carvings led toward a doorway, with a stairwell down. Guards prevented us from going any further, but…” He hesitated, and Karsis nudged him impatiently. “Part of my ability… I can see and feel emanations from magical artifacts. That’s how I found the metora stone to power our vessel, the Klodifore. And I’m sure there’s something down there, some source of magic,” Esom finished.

Moon managed not to hiss impatiently. He was glad he hadn’t made them any extravagant promises in a moment of weakness. “Ardan didn’t have the seed then. Why do you think it’s there now?”

Esom said, “On the journey through the forest, he kept talking about how urgent this was, that the survival of the city depended on it, that they were in danger of losing control of the leviathan.”

Karsis added, “When we reached the tree, we only spent one day there. Once he found the seed, he wanted to leave immediately.”

Esom continued, “We haven’t seen the seed since we got back to the city. It stands to reason, if he wanted it to help him and the other magisters with the leviathan, it must be in that building, in the place where they control the creature.”

If it was a lie, it was an odd one. Esom could have said the seed was still in the tower, to trick Moon into going back for his friends.

Then Rift said, “He’s right. Ardan took it there the day we got back from the Reaches.”

Moon stared at him. He said through gritted teeth, “You said you didn’t know where it was.”

Rift turned back to give Moon a look of impatient innocence. “I knew it wasn’t in the tower. I didn’t want to waste time trying to convince you to leave.”

Moon switched to Raksuran to say, pointedly, “If you knew this, why did you let me make a bargain with him?” He would have taken Esom and Karsis out with them anyway, as long as they were here, but he wanted to know what Rift was playing at.

Rift paused at an intersection in the passage, where another ramp spiraled more steeply down. The flow of damp, foul-smelling air hadn’t increased, but Moon could hear the growing sound of rushing wind, rising and falling in oddly regular gusts. In the same language, Rift said, as if it was obvious, “We don’t need them. You don’t have to keep the bargain.”

This was an interesting insight into Rift’s thought processes. Moon said, “If you expect me to trust you, you might want to stop lying and betraying people in front of me.”

Rift twitched, watched him uncertainly, then turned to lead the way down the ramp.

Moon couldn’t trust what Rift told him and he couldn’t trust Esom and Karsis, but with all three together, he might be able to get something close to the truth out of them. Though if Esom had really concealed his power from Ardan all this time, he was a better liar than Moon would have thought.

Running footsteps from somewhere far up the passage suggested that Ardan’s men had found the panel and opened it. They didn’t have much time.

Two more spirals down, and the ramp ended in a low-ceilinged chamber, sparsely lit with the green mold, with a large round hole in the center of the floor. Moon stepped to the edge. The shaft plunged more than a hundred paces down, the bottom lost in the dim greenish light. The wind sound came from somewhere below, and the smell was horrific.

“Down there,” Rift said. He glanced worriedly back up the ramp. “We need to hurry.”

Esom and Karsis exchanged an appalled look. Wonderful, Moon thought, privately agreeing with them. To Rift he said, “You take her, I’ll take—”

“No,” Esom interrupted. He told Moon, “You take Karsis.”

It was an interesting point, that Esom felt his sister was safer with Moon, another Raksura and a stranger, than Rift. In Raksuran, Moon said to Rift, “I want them both alive. Drop him, and I’ll gut you.”

Rift hissed in exasperation. “I won’t. I told you, I want to help you.”

Moon caught Karsis around the waist and jumped down into the shaft to catch the edge one-handed. She made a noise like a short shriek and grabbed his shoulders. His claws hooked on a gap in the mortar, Moon said, “Put your arms around my neck and hold on. Watch the spines, they’re sharp.”

“Yes, I see.” Karsis wound her arms around his neck, holding on tightly. Moon planted his feet on the wall and pushed off, falling to catch hold of another gap further down. Karsis’ shriek was closer to a strangled yelp that time. “Sorry,” she gasped.

Moon glanced up, saw that Rift had Esom and hung from the upper ledge. Moon cautiously let go of Karsis, made certain she had a firm hold on him, and began to climb down the wall.

Keeping his voice low, Moon said, “Tell me about Rift.”

She whispered, “We didn’t know what he was, at first. He came on the voyage to the forest coast with Ardan and his other men. Ardan said Rift would be our guide. He didn’t reveal himself until Ardan needed his help to force us to keep going inland.” She hesitated, then added, “We thought he was one of a kind, a…”

“Monster,” Moon finished for her.

“Yes, until we reached the tree and saw the artwork. It looked as if it had been abandoned for ages. We didn’t— And even Ardan and Rift didn’t think anyone lived there anymore.”

“It wasn’t abandoned, just… waiting.” The last thing he wanted at the moment was an apology. “Where is Rift from?”

“He’s never said.” She gasped as he had to drop for the next handhold, but recovered quickly. “Is it important?”

Moon couldn’t answer that right now either. He wanted Rift to be from a rival court, a place hostile to Indigo Cloud. He wanted him to be in the power of the Fell. “Why didn’t you mention that Ardan had a pet Raksura?”

“Ardan has six members of our crew locked up somewhere in the tower. He said if we spoke about Rift to anyone he’d order them killed. We know he’s serious. Five of our crew tried to escape in the forest, and he had them executed. He let Rift kill three of his own men when we were at the tree.”

That explained the bones left behind in the root passage. “What for?”

“Rift caught the men destroying some of the wall carvings, trying to take the inset gems.”

Moon snarled under his breath, incredulous. “What?” Karsis asked nervously.

“He showed Ardan how to take the seed; that’s killing the tree. Those carvings were all going to rot away with the rest of the tree without it.” If Rift knew where to find the seed in its hidden cradle in the colony tree, then he had to know what it was, what it meant to cut it out.

“I see,” Karsis muttered. “Or, I don’t see. I don’t understand his thinking.”

That makes two of us. The stench was getting worse; Moon couldn’t have scented a major kethel if it was breathing down his neck. The regular rush of wind grew louder as well. Moon reached the bottom of the shaft and hung there, trying to see what lay below.

The drop was about two hundred paces to an uneven surface that looked like pitted and scarred paving. Heavy round pillars and blocky columns supported the foundations of the tower. In the dim green light he could see they were heavily covered with patchy molds and odd dark growths. Rift and Esom arrived just above them, and Esom said, “Karsis, are you all right?”

“Quiet!” Karsis snapped, before Moon could. He listened intently to the wind. It had been repeating the same pattern the entire time they had climbed down the shaft: the sound would stop, there would be a long low rush, like something drawing breath, then it resumed. Like something drawing breath, Moon thought. Right.

Karsis whispered, “That’s not what I think it is, is it?”

“The leviathan. We’re right above its back.” Now that Moon knew what he was looking at, he could see that the pitted, scarred paving was actually the giant scaled hide of the leviathan.

Karsis made a noise eloquent of disgust.

From above them, Rift whispered, “It’s all right to walk on it. Its hide is too thick, it won’t feel us.”

“How do you know that?” Esom asked.

Rift didn’t reply, and Moon said, tightly, “Answer him.”

Rift said in annoyance, “I’ve been down here before. How do you think I knew the way?”

“That’s reassuring,” Moon said under his breath. He would just have to trust Rift now and beat the truth out of him later.

Holding on with one hand, Moon wrapped his arm around Karsis’ waist again. Then he let go of the wall. As they dropped he snapped out his wings to soften the fall. They landed on one of the big scales. He was braced to leap back up to the shaft, but nothing happened. The whistling rush of the creature’s breathing continued undisturbed.

He set Karsis on her feet. It took her a moment to unclench her hands from his collar flanges, and she wobbled on the uneven surface. He turned and scanned the dark space. It went on for a long distance. Apparently this area was the underpinnings of the city. It wouldn’t be the leviathan they had to worry about, but the parasites that might live down here, feeding off the garbage dropped from the buildings above and the growths on the leviathan’s hide. The creature’s stench made Moon effectively scent-blind, and the rush of its breathing masked slight sounds of movement.

Rift dropped to the ground a few paces away, and dumped Esom on his feet. Esom staggered into Moon, jerked away, then self-consciously straightened his jacket. Rift pointed roughly east, back toward the tail of the creature. “That way. There’s a passage to the outside up there.”

“Lead the way,” Moon said, pointedly.

Rift flattened his spines in a way that suggested he was hurt at Moon’s distrust, and started away through the shadows. Moon controlled the urge to slap him in the head and followed.

It was a long walk, nearly half the length of the city. They had to go at the pace of the two groundlings, who were moving as fast as they could, but the rough scales made for uneven and difficult footing. The vast support pillars loomed overhead, blossoming with ugly, bulbous growths, and several times they crossed broad, slimy trails, though they never saw the creatures that were leaving them. There were also gray shapes clinging to the ceiling that looked like giant tree frogs, like the ones in the suspended forest. They might be just as harmless, but Moon doubted it on principle. Nothing attacked them, but Raksura were different and unexpected enough that the predators here might be cautious. For now, at least.

Ardan’s men would have had to fetch ropes to get down the shaft, so they had a good lead by the time Moon caught the sound of voices. And unless Ardan had a way to magically detect them, there was nothing to show which way they had gone.

Finally the space around them became more closed-in, the foundation pillars and supports much closer together.

“There it is,” Rift said, “Do you smell it?”

“Smell what?” Esom asked, stumbling.

“Fresh air,” Moon told him. It was a draft scented of outside air, damp and fresh, an intense relief after the leviathan’s stench. “There’s an opening somewhere ahead.”

“Finally.” Esom wiped sweat off his forehead. “I thought we were going to be stuck down here forever.”

“I’d prefer it to going back to Ardan,” Karsis added.

“Now do you trust me?” Rift said.

“We’ll see.” Moon had no intention of committing himself on that point.

Finally they were close enough for Moon to actually see the opening. The chamber narrowed to end at a bulwark of heavy stones, and there was an irregular patch of lighter darkness about midway up, just above a mound of rubble.

But as they drew closer, Moon realized he could hear something else besides the rushing wind of the leviathan’s breath. It was a deep, hollow sound, regular and even. “Do you hear that?” he asked the others. His first thought was that it was something the leviathan was doing, though he didn’t even want to guess what bodily function could produce that sound.

Rift stopped to listen, then said, startled, “It’s the bell. The warning bell. The leviathan’s going to move.”

Esom swore in a strange language, then added in Kedaic, “There’s no telling how long it’s been ringing.”

The magisters’ enspelled bell, that rang to warn the city that the leviathan was about to move. It would call the fishers to lift their boats out of the water and the traders to cast off. Moon said, “How long does it—”

The ground lurched under him; he and Rift swayed, using their foot claws to stay upright. Esom and Karsis both stumbled and fell.

The whole underground shook, moss and debris rained down from the ceiling. Beneath them the leviathan’s hide pulsed and shuddered. Moon leaned down, caught Karsis around the waist, and started up the pile of rubble. Rift followed, hauling Esom with him.

At the top, they climbed out through the jagged gap into a windy night, alive with the crash of the surf. There were hanging vapor-lights below them, rocking wildly with the leviathan’s motion. Moon squinted to see, realizing they were at the far edge of the city. A giant stone bulwark rose up behind them, and the leviathan’s immense tail stretched out below, like the surface of a reef. It moved now, migrating back and forth across the waves and tossing up fountains of spray as the creature swam.

“What do we do now?” Karsis shouted in his ear.

The leviathan moved at a good speed, but not faster than a Raksura could fly. The sky was starting to gray towards the east and they didn’t have much darkness left. They would be fighting the wind the whole way, but they had to go now. Moon turned to Rift, and shouted, “You take him, and follow me.”

Esom’s “Where are we going—” was cut off with a yelp as Rift grabbed him. Moon tightened his hold on Karsis, snapped his wings out, and jumped into the wind.

Both he and Rift were blown backwards, out over the moving tail. Hard flaps took them back over the creature’s hindquarters, Moon leading Rift upward to gain altitude.

Moon played his wings against the wind, riding it to keep moving forward. Karsis clung to him, her hands gripping his collar flanges tightly, and buried her face against his scales. A few vapor-lights were lit in the streets and in the windows of the towers, but the city looked empty; everyone must be huddling inside.

Moon banked away to avoid the area near Ardan’s tower. The wind drove him further than he intended, and he skirted the harbor. It was empty of the big trading ships, the pontoon docks churning up waves as they were dragged through the water. Little fishing boats swung from the cages that had lifted them to safety. The metal ship, the Klodifore, had been moved close to the dock, but was still floating… No, it’s hovering, Moon thought, realizing it had no wake. When the bell had started to sound, Ardan must have sent someone to the harbor to raise the ship.

He fought the wind to curve toward the abandoned tower where he and Stone had camped.

The wind sheared around the roof of the tower and Moon made a dive for the open terrace on the top floor. He made it and bounced lightly off the tower wall. Rift managed it too, though he bounced a little harder and staggered across the terrace.

Moon stepped between the columns into the shelter of the big room, expecting to find an impatient Stone. It was too dark to see much, but the Raksuran figure waiting there was much smaller. It said, “Moon?”

“Song?” It couldn’t be Song, except it was. Startled and a little appalled, he set Karsis on her feet. “What are you doing here?”

Song explained, “Pearl sent us. We caught up with Jade and the others late yesterday, and just reached this place a little while ago. Stone saw us and guided us here. They’re all downstairs. Why do you have a groundling—” Rift stepped in and Esom staggered after him. Startled, Song stared at him. “Who’s that?”

Rift hesitated, then stepped back toward the balcony. “No,” Moon said sharply.

Rift quivered, on the verge of bolting. If he fled, Moon would have to catch him again, if the wind whipping around the tower didn’t kill them both. On impulse, he shifted to groundling. It was Raksuran etiquette that when the highest-ranking person shifted to groundling, everyone around them did as well. Song followed suit immediately, and Rift, by habit too ingrained to break, shifted too.

Moon reached, caught Rift’s wrist, and towed him toward the door. He could deal with Esom and Karsis later.

They passed Root in the dim stairwell; he was hanging from the ceiling. He saw them and shouted, “Moon! Moon’s back!”

Light shone up from the room on the level just below, and Moon heard familiar voices raised in argument. It was an interior room, no windows, so no one venturing out into the streets would see suspicious light from an abandoned and inaccessible tower.

Moon stepped into the doorway. Some broken tiles had been spelled for light and tucked into various wall niches, so he could clearly see Stone, Jade, Chime, Vine, Balm, and Flower. But the other three warriors were Floret, Drift, and River, which was a surprise of a whole different kind. I can’t believe Pearl sent River, he thought incredulously. That’s all we need.

He couldn’t believe they were here at all. It was a bad idea, it was going to cause trouble, and Jade should have waited before leading the warriors to the leviathan. But Moon couldn’t help a warm swell of relief at seeing them all. He said, “I thought you gave us three days.”

Everyone’s attention snapped to the doorway. Jade stared. “Moon—”

Moon said, “This is Rift. He helped Ardan get the seed, and he’s going to help us get it back.”



Esom and Karsis sat on a marble bench built out from the wall, watching nervously, but then the conversation was in Raksuran. Rift’s presence had caused some awkwardness. Most of the others had stared at him, then looked away. Stone hadn’t betrayed any reaction, and Balm was expressionless, but Chime kept looking anxiously at Moon.

Moon had explained something of what he had found out about Ardan and the tower, and where Rift and the two groundlings had come from. They had also established that by everyone’s sense of direction the leviathan was moving further west, away from the coast, and the distance was probably already too great for the warriors to make in one flight. They were lucky, Moon thought grimly. If the creature had chosen to move while they were still flying towards it, they could have all drowned.

How they would get back to the coast was another question. River swung around and snarled at Moon, “This is your fault.” Moon regarded him. All things considered, he had had a hard day.

“If you’re not careful, Floret is going to be taking you back to Pearl in a basket.”

Floret lifted her hands, protesting, “I didn’t say anything!” Jade said, deliberately, “If I have to tell you all to stop fighting one more time, I’m going to beat every single one of you senseless.”

There was a short silence. Then Karsis whispered to Flower in Kedaic, “What are they saying?”

“It’s not important,” Flower said, wryly. She sat next to them on the bench, her legs drawn up under her smock. Her face was drawn and weary, but that must have been from being carried on the long flight out here.

“Esom knows where the seed is,” Moon said, speaking Kedaic so the groundlings would understand him.

Everyone turned to Esom and he recoiled a little under the concentrated predatory gazes of a roomful of Raksura. Even though most of them were in groundling form, it was a little intimidating. Even Karsis flinched. Jade said, “Where?”

Esom coughed, and uneasily repeated the story he had told Moon. He finished, “So, I think you should search that building.”

Jade took a step forward to stand over him. “Why are you certain it’s there?”

Esom blinked up at her and appeared to have difficulty answering. Considering how many clothes his people wore, Moon thought it was probably due to the fact that she was dressed only in jewelry. Even with the scales, it had to be distracting. Esom managed, “Ah—”

Karsis put in, “Rift said that’s where Ardan took it.”

Everyone looked at Rift. He twitched uneasily and stared determinedly down at the dirty floor.

Jade watched him for a long moment, her spines flicking. Rift wouldn’t meet her eyes. Finally she turned to the others. “We need to look for this place, see how well-guarded it is.”

River folded his arms. “And make sure it exists at all.”

Moon ignored that. “We’ll need to go on foot. Dawn’s breaking, and the wind is keeping the mist from forming.”

“Not you. This Ardan will be looking for you now.” Jade glanced around at the others. “Vine and Floret? Can you walk through a groundling city without letting anyone know you’re Raksura?”

The two exchanged a worried glance. Vine said, “I think so, yes. Probably.”

Moon looked them over critically. They were dressed like the others, pants and a shirt, a sash and belt at the waist. The fine fabric was sunfaded and a little dirty from their long journey, so they didn’t look overly prosperous. He said, “Take off anything that looks like Arbora-work, especially your jewelry. And put something on your feet, a cloth or leather wrap, to make it look like you’re wearing shoes.”

Both looked down at their feet, a little dubious, but neither argued with him.

“Go now,” Jade said. “Don’t try to fly. Climb down the outside until you’re out of the wind. Find the building, but don’t try to go inside without us.”

Floret nodded soberly, but Vine said, “If we find the seed lying around unguarded, can we—”

“Yes.” Jade added, “If you do, I’ll be very surprised, since nothing so far has been easy.”

“Good point,” Floret muttered, and gave Vine a nudge.

As they headed for the stairs, Moon let his breath out in relief. At least they were moving forward again, even if they didn’t know exactly where they were going.

Stone had been leaning against the wall, taking it all in with an expression that could best be described as satirical. Now he pushed himself up with one shoulder and said, “Who let you into the tree?”

Both groundlings stared up at him, and Esom’s throat worked as he swallowed. There was no space in here for Stone to shift, and he still looked like an older groundling man, battered and gray, wearing battered gray clothes. But he seemed to be taking up far more space in the room, and the air was suddenly heavy. Esom said, “It was him.” He pointed toward Rift.

Watching Stone uneasily, Karsis said, “Rift flew to a large doorway high up in the trunk. We couldn’t have reached it. Our ship can only lift about forty paces off the ground.”

Stone turned to regard Rift, who shrank back against the wall. Stone started across the room toward him, slow deliberate steps.

Moon said, “Leave him alone.” The words were out before he thought.

Stone stopped, cocked his head. His expression was opaque. He said, “I need to take care of this now.”

Moon looked at Jade, but she watched Rift. None of the others were looking at the warrior; they were waiting, stiff and tense, anticipating violence. Moon flushed cold in realization. Take care of this meant kill the solitary. Moon growled low in his throat. “No.”

Stone was fast in his groundling form, but it took Moon’s breath when he was suddenly across the room, face to face with Moon, between one heartbeat and the next.

Moon fought down several impulses, to shift, to fall back, to squint to protect his eyes; he held his ground. Jade gave a startled snarl, a thick, rough sound like rock scraping. The others were dead silent, frozen in place. Rift had flattened himself back against the wall.

Ignoring all of them, Stone said, “This needs to be done. He betrayed us to groundlings.”

Moon said, “He didn’t know we were coming back to the tree. He didn’t know we existed.”

“And we don’t know what he did to get thrown out of a court. He’s a solitary and he can’t be trusted.”

Moon held his gaze. “Like you couldn’t trust me.” His voice shook, but it wasn’t from fear.

“What?” Stone’s eyes went hooded, but not quite in time to conceal his start of shock. He knew Moon meant the day Stone had found him with the Cordans and had taken him up to a ruin in the mountain valley. “No.”

Yes. Moon had always known that the only reason Stone had bothered to save him was because he was a consort. But he had been naive enough to think that if Stone had decided that Moon was a real solitary, thrown out of a court for some terrible reason, Stone would have just left him behind somewhere. If he was willing to kill Rift just for showing Ardan the location of an empty colony tree… “You said you wanted to help me. If you hadn’t believed what I told you— You took me up there to kill me.”

Stone recoiled, snarled, and flung himself out of the room.

Everyone stared. Balm, Chime, and even Drift were appalled, Esom and Karsis confused and frightened. Flower just sighed, tired and disgusted. River looked as if, much against his better judgment, he was reluctantly impressed.

In the silence, Jade stepped forward. She jerked her head toward Rift, and told the warriors, “Watch him.” Then she caught Moon’s arm and pulled him out of the room.