The Harbors of the Sun

by Martha Wells

  There was a hesitation. “To help you.”

  It seemed to feel sticking to that pat answer was safest. The next pod was just below this one and they could jump down to its walkway without the kethel having to shift. Moon tried, “What does she want in return? The weapon?”

  “No.” After a moment the kethel answered, “She wants help.”

  Moon suppressed an annoyed hiss. “She wants someone to tell her how a part-Raksura Fell flight is supposed to live when they aren’t Fell anymore. Is she going to keep the flight moving? If you aren’t looking for groundling settlements to eat anymore, why move?” He said again, “What does she want?”

  The kethel snarled, “She wants a place for us to live.” It bit the words off, snorted out a breath, and then said nothing.

  It didn’t mean to say that, Moon thought. It sounded depressingly true. If the queen was serious about not preying on groundlings anymore, the flight needed to find a place to settle.

  Maybe the kethel had been trying to see how sympathetic Moon and Stone were. If the kethel could convince them that Consolation really had sent it to help them, if it could do enough that they felt they owed the flight a debt. Or it’s going to kill us and take the weapon the first chance it gets, Moon thought. He didn’t think there would be a way to tell until it happened.

  Bramble was right, it had been a long day. And this had better be their wind-ship with Jade and Malachite aboard. Moon said, “Do you even know how to hunt grasseaters?”

  “Yes,” the kethel said stiffly.

  They crossed over two more pods and Moon began to have some idea of the size and shape of this structure. Without being able to see it in daylight yet, he thought it was like the ruin at the sea’s edge, but with all the missing pieces in place. If it was, then the causeway should be somewhere below them.

  Then Moon caught a hint of sound, a faint creak. Like the creak of a wind-ship’s plant-fiber adjusting itself to the dryer air. He told the kethel, “Stop.”

  It paused, turning to watch him. Past the edge of the pod, where a large gap between it and the next cast a deep well of shadow, Moon had the sense of something large. He stood still for a moment, listening deeply, squinting to take advantage of the faint starlight. He extended his wings enough to feel the light breeze. Yes, there was something there, blocking the air flow between the two pods. It might be part of the structure, something sitting at an angle where it wasn’t catching any light, but somehow Moon doubted it. “There’s a boat there, just ahead.”

  The kethel turned to study the distance between pods. “It moved in and up.”

  “It’s trying to hide from the Hians.” If it’s the right boat, Moon thought. “Go stand downwind.”

  The kethel didn’t grumble, just moved around Moon and down the walkway a little. Moon waited for the air to clear, then tasted it deeply. There was Raksura in the faint breeze, the familiar scents of Indigo Cloud and Opal Night, of one annoyed sealing, and the slightly sour scent of the Golden Islanders’ favorite fish paste. He said in relief, “That’s it.” He turned to the kethel. “Stay here.”

  “Why?” it asked.

  “So my family doesn’t kill you on sight,” Moon said.

  There was a moment of thoughtful silence. “Stay here,” the kethel agreed.

  Moon moved along the ledge, trying to discern the shape of the wind-ship, and finally made out a deeper shadow against the dark, and the faint gleam of starlight on the glass shield of an unlit lamp. Leaping for the deck would probably be a bad idea; they might have caught scent of the kethel, and had probably heard voices, just too low to recognize. Moon hated to raise his voice when he wasn’t certain how close the Hians’ flying boat was, but there was no better way to do this. He said, in a tone nearer to his normal voice, “Hey, it’s me, Moon.”

  There was a faint stir of movement from at least two points on the wind-ship. A rustle of scaled wings and a slap of a bare groundling foot on the deck. After a fraught moment, a voice whispered, “Moon? Is that you?”

  Relief made his spines twitch. “Briar, it’s me. I’m going to jump across to the deck.”

  There was another flurry of movement and Moon was certain he heard River whisper something and Root reply. He jumped into the air, spread his wings to keep himself aloft, and managed to land on the deck without slamming into a cabin wall.

  “Moon?” Chime said from somewhere to his right, then suddenly flung himself into Moon’s arms.

  Hugging while in scaled form was always tricky. Moon squeezed Chime’s shoulders reassuringly and turned his face away from Chime’s twitching spines to say, “We’ve got them, all four of them. They’re with Stone.”

  Chime demanded, “Are they all right?”

  “They’re fine. Callumkal’s sick—”

  Kalam’s voice said, “My father is ill?” He sounded caught between relief and renewed fear.

  Moon turned toward him. “We think they kept giving him that poison they used on us—”

  A faint glow appeared near a doorway: Diar with a lamp that was wrapped in filmy cloth to dim its light. “Our Grandfather is well?”

  “He’s fine,” Moon said. “Careful with the lamp. The Hians are here somewhere—”

  Then Chime let go of him and stepped away just as Jade grabbed him. Moon shifted to groundling in her arms, and relaxed into her warmth. He had expected to feel relief but he hadn’t expected to feel it so intensely he just wanted to fold up on the deck and collapse. He and Stone had been on their own so long, hoping they were going in the right direction, hoping the others had been able to follow as planned, that nothing had happened to them. Jade hugged him hard enough to take his breath, communicating her own fear and anxiety through the scales to skin contact. He took a sharp breath as she pressed her teeth against his neck. Jade pulled back and said, “Do you know what happened? What this place is?”

  “Merit thinks we’re up on the cloudwall, that island formation.” He made himself step back from her. “There’s something else I need to tell you right now.” There were actually a few things, but he didn’t want to blurt them all out in front of the warriors and groundlings.

  “What?” Jade said, her voice tight with renewed tension.

  “There’s a kethel here. From the Fellborn queen’s flight. It’s been following us.”

  Jade let her breath out in a hiss, and he heard sharp exclamations from Diar and Kalam. Somewhere down the deck, River muttered, “Oh, that’s all we need.”

  Jade asked, “Do you know where it is?”

  Moon said, “It’s over there on the ledge. It walked here with me.” There was a moment of nonplussed silence. Moon added, “It’s a long story.”

  From the ledge, the kethel’s voice said, “Old consort said to come back.”

  “I know that, be quiet,” Moon told it.

  There was another moment of silence. Then Chime whispered, “Is that a ruler speaking through him—”

  “No, it’s just him, it,” Moon said. “We need to—”

  “Go get the others,” Jade finished. She turned toward Diar. “I’ll take Balm and Briar.”

  Diar told her, “If you don’t return soon, we’ll come after you.”

  There was a grumble from the ledge. Moon snapped, “What was that?”

  “Nothing,” the kethel muttered.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Moon shifted to his scaled form and leapt back to the ledge with Jade. Balm and Briar followed closely behind. Chime followed too, though Moon could practically scent the waves of nervous tension emanating from him. It was because of the kethel, but Moon couldn’t tell Chime that it would be all right.

  He had explained about the kethel to Jade, quickly and just inside the cabin doorway. She had grabbed his shoulders like she was suppressing the urge to shake him and growled, “Only you and Stone. You knew the Fell were after you.”

  Moon decided not to tell her about the Fell attack in the cloud forest. “Is Malachite here?” He had no sense of her presence
, but with her that didn’t necessarily mean anything. She might be standing at his elbow.

  Jade hesitated for a bare instant. “She had to take a message to the Reaches. She took some of her warriors with her, but Lithe and Shade and the others stayed with us.” She had tugged him back out on deck. “I’ll explain later.”

  It left Moon with the distinct feeling that there was something she needed to tell him that he wasn’t going to want to hear.

  The kethel backed away a few wary steps as they landed. Moon said, “We’ll go back now.”

  It made a noise of assent and turned to head along the ledge. Jade said, “Wait. There are no rulers anywhere near, telling you what to do?”

  “No.” It turned to glance at her, starlight catching a glint of reflection in its eyes. “Just me. She sent me to help the consorts.”

  “That was . . . interesting . . . of her.” Jade’s voice was hard.

  The kethel hunched its shoulders a little and turned to lead the way along the ledge. Beside Moon, Chime’s spines twitched in nervous dismay.

  They were almost to the next flower-pod when the kethel said, “The queens tell you what to do?”

  “Yes,” Moon said. The kethel knew that already, so he wasn’t certain where this was going.

  “Just tell, nothing else?” the kethel said.

  Now Moon understood. The kethel was asking if Raksura were controlled by the queens the way kethel and dakti were controlled by progenitors. It was strange to think that Fell, or at least kethel and dakti, might not know much about Raksura at all.

  It was a complex question, with an answer Moon wouldn’t have understood himself a couple of turns ago. Queens could keep other Raksura from shifting, but it was more than that. There was a connection through and between each bloodline, a subtle pull on the heart that kept the court together or could push it apart. Pearl’s pain over her first consort’s death had echoed through all of Indigo Cloud for turns before Moon had arrived there. It had weakened the bonds of the court at a time when it was already vulnerable. Malachite’s determination had held the remnants of Opal Night’s eastern colony together through hardship that should not have been survivable. But that connection didn’t compel obedience.

  Jade wasn’t answering and Moon had no idea how to explain it. He said, “Just telling. There is something else, but not like it is for the Fell.”

  Chime reached over and squeezed Moon’s wrist.

  The kethel didn’t ask any more questions, and soon they reached the point where the pods curved into the central well. Moon lowered his voice. “Careful through here. We think the Hian boat is in there somewhere.”

  There hadn’t been much time for anything terrible to happen, but Moon was still relieved to reach the doorway and find Stone waiting impatiently for them. The kethel said, “We’re back,” in what Moon thought was a particularly pointed way.

  Stone said, “I see that.” He added to Jade, “Glad you found us.”

  “So am I,” she said. “We have a lot to discuss.” She would have added more, but Bramble and Merit threw themselves at her.

  Balm carried Callumkal, and Moon picked up Delin, despite his protests that he was fine and could walk. Moon ignored that and said, “Diar and Niran are waiting for you.”

  Delin gave in, holding onto Moon’s collar flanges. “They are much agitated?”

  “Much,” Chime agreed. “We’ve all been very worried.”

  They reached the wind-ship without trouble and leapt across to its deck. Moon set Delin on his feet so Niran and Diar could greet him. Delin began, “It was not my intention to cause so much—” before Niran half-smothered him in a hug. Diar said fondly, “We forgive you, grandfather. We’re only glad to have you back alive.”

  Navigating by sound in the dark, Moon followed the others down the steps to the main corridor. It was a relief to step into the warm light of mentor-spelled lamps and the familiar scents of Raksura and Golden Islanders. Ivar-edel, the Golden Islander healer, said to Balm, “Here, bring him this way. We have a bed ready.” Balm carried Callumkal down the passage, Kalam following anxiously.

  Jade told Bramble and Merit, “Go with Briar. There’s a cabin for us at the end of the passage, with water and beds.”

  The two Arbora stumbled after Briar, and Moon went with Jade and Chime and the others into the big common room, hoping someone was making tea. Shade and Lithe were here, with Rorra, several of the Golden Islander crew, and another Janderi person who must be the horticultural they had intended to bring from the Kishan port. Most of the warriors were still out on the deck, on guard. There were questions, greetings. A pot of something that smelled warm and fishy was on the small stove.

  Then everyone went silent. Moon turned. The kethel had followed Stone into the room. Moon was so used to the scent by now, he hadn’t realized it was behind them.

  Jade turned, saw it, and glared at Stone. He said, “This is not my fault.”

  The groundlings just looked confused. They would never have seen a kethel in groundling form, and even if they had heard one was here, had led Jade and the others to Stone and the rescued prisoners, they might not have realized this was it. Then Shade shoved past Moon and Jade to confront the kethel, his shape flowing into darkness and then his big scaled form. Moon thought, Uh oh.

  The kethel stared at Shade. “You are—”

  Shade’s spines lifted below his crest and his wings flexed and started to extend. He snarled, “I’m a Raksura. You’re a dead kethel.”

  Moon hesitated. He was having trouble believing that he was about to have to put his body between Shade and a kethel, but someone was going to have to do it. Unless of course the kethel attacked Shade, then it was going to be a bloodbath in this cabin, because every Raksura and probably some of the groundlings would leap in to help. Someone bumped against his arm; it was Shade’s warrior Flicker, watching in consternation.

  But before Moon could do anything, the kethel stepped back and turned away, raising its shoulders protectively. It said, “I don’t challenge you. But she is like you. She is our queen. I killed the rulers who challenged her.”

  Shade stood there, still as a rock. From behind him, Jade said evenly, “Shade. It’s all right.”

  Shade’s spines flicked and then started to lower. Flicker went forward and caught his wrist, his spines angled anxiously. Shade pushed Flicker behind him before he stepped back, a move to keep the young warrior out of the kethel’s reach. It was a caution Moon approved of. There was no point in being foolishly trusting.

  Then Lithe stepped forward, watching the kethel. She said, “I’m like her, too. And I want you to prove to me that there’s no ruler controlling you.”

  The kethel eyed her cautiously. “How?”

  Lithe said, “Let me look into your mind.”

  Jade’s spines twitched and then stilled. Moon hadn’t known it was possible for a mentor to look into a Fell. He glanced at Chime, who flicked one spine in a gesture of dubious assent. Moon guessed that meant it was theoretically possible, but no one had ever before been in a position to try it and live.

  The kethel flinched a little, then bared its teeth. “Not in my head.”

  Moon knew what it meant. After those cautious questions about how much control over Raksura queens had, it was obvious. He said, “That’s not how it works with us. A mentor can’t control what you do, or think. She can look into your mind, and see if there’s a ruler there hiding from us, but that’s all.”

  The kethel hesitated, then looked at Stone. Stone folded his arms and said, “That’s true. Let her look, or leave here and don’t come back.”

  A long fraught moment of silence passed, where Moon saw Rorra rest a hand worriedly on the fire weapon slung over her shoulder. The strange Janderi looked bewildered. Then the kethel said, “Then do it.”

  Lithe stepped forward. “Sit down.” Her voice was hard, she didn’t flinch as it stared at her. This was her battle to fight, just as it was Shade’s.

  “Why?”
the kethel asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

  Stone said flatly, “Because that’s the way you do it.”

  The kethel hesitated again, then sat down heavily on the deck. Lithe stepped forward and crouched in front of it. She looked tiny next to the kethel. Moon was glad Stone stood so close, that he, Jade, and Shade were all in arm’s reach. But the kethel just sat there, radiating hostility.

  At some point, Delin, Niran, and Diar had come down from the deck and stood in the doorway, watching. Moon was shocked at how bad Delin looked in this light. The gold of his skin was blotchy, and the lines in his face were deeper. He looked smaller. Moon hoped Lithe was able to do this fast, so they could get Delin some food.

  Lithe said, “Just look at me.”

  The kethel met her gaze. Then the stubborn set to its face relaxed and its expression went still.

  Chime whispered, “She’s got him.”

  It was always strange to watch, even though Moon had experienced it himself. When a mentor looked into your mind you felt nothing. It sounded like it would be a traumatic process, but it was like falling instantly asleep and then waking again. Keeping his voice low, Moon said, “How did she know she could do it?”

  Shade’s expression was conflicted. “She’s done me, and the others at Opal Night. I guess it’s not that different.”

  After what seemed a long time, long enough for the groundlings to stir uneasily, Lithe sat back. She was frowning. Released, the kethel gasped a breath and stared in confusion. Lithe pushed to her feet, saying, “There’s no ruler, no influence.”

  Rorra eased forward a step. “How can that be? We know the flight has rulers, we’ve seen them.”

  Stone eyed the kethel thoughtfully. “It told us it killed the dominant rulers in its flight. I guess that’s true.”

  The kethel looked up, still wary, but the confusion was gone. It climbed to its feet, clearly off-balance. “They were young. The progenitor was dead.”