The Cloud Roads

by Martha Wells

  Endell-liani gave the young man a look of marked disapproval. “Niran, I told you everything would be well.”

  The other Islanders stood there awkwardly. Moon picked out the one that must be the leader: an older man, polished stone beads braided into his straight white hair, wearing a robe dyed a rich blue. The leader turned to Jade and said, “My apologies for Niran’s impulsiveness.”

  Niran looked uncertain, but not particularly guilty. It was obvious that Grandfather had heard there was a consort here and slipped away from the Gerent’s party in search of him. Apparently, finding him missing, Niran had come to the conclusion that he had been eaten.

  Jade’s expression was ironic. “There is no need for you to apologize.”

  It was a deliberate hint. Niran must have been less than tactful in his search, and Jade couldn’t let the insult go by. Moon approved; he was a rank amateur at Raksuran relations with groundlings, but it had to be made clear that the implication that any of them would even consider hurting a harmless elder was a serious insult. Everybody looked expectantly at Niran, who said, stiffly, “I apologize.”

  The Gerent gave him a long look, then turned back to Jade. He inclined his head to her. “You are gracious. Please, let us continue our talk.”

  Jade resettled her wings and led the way back inside. The Islanders followed her, with only Niran and Endell-liani remaining. Niran hesitated, saying, “Grandfather, you should leave them alone.”

  Grandfather fixed a sharp gaze on Moon. “Do you want to be left alone?”

  “No,” Moon said, too caught by surprise to lie. The question had more weight than Grandfather realized.

  The sharp gaze was transferred to Niran. “Now go home. I’ll come when I’m finished here.”

  Niran lingered, frustrated, but Endell-liani took his arm, tugging him away, and finally he went with her. Chime watched them go, frowning. “That’s not a good sign.”

  Moon shrugged. Niran had a right to be cautious, but this would teach him to be subtle about it next time. Moon asked Grandfather, “Will you read this book to us?”

  “Yes.” Grandfather tugged it away from Chime. “I will read you Kilen-vanyiatar’s observations.”

  With the negotiations going on in the inner room, they settled in for a long wait. When Moon tried to drag himself up to go in search of water, Chime refused to let him. Chime found Root in the next room and sent him to get water and tea, then sent him back after that for cushions and a chair for Grandfather, whose name turned out to be Delin-Evran-lindel. Apparently the more names you had, the higher your rank, and Delin was an important scholar.

  The book was fascinating. It told the history of all the interactions the Islanders had ever had with Raksura, and legends about them collected from other races. “This scholar actually spoke to the Ghobin?” Chime asked at one point, incredulous and impressed. “How? And more importantly, why?”

  “Venar-Inram-Alil was a very determined man,” Delin admitted. “Also something of an ass.”

  “Did they kill him?” Moon asked. He had never seen the Ghobin before, but they were a persistent threat in the forested hills much further inland. They lived underground, tunneling under other species’ dwellings to attack them, or stealing their young as food.

  Delin turned the page with decision. “Eventually.”

  Some of the information collected in the book was wrong, which Chime pointed out immediately. Delin made careful corrections. There were also myths and fragments of the Islanders’ own lore, stories about where their flying islands had come from and how they had been made. Moon found it all interesting. Balm stayed with Jade, but Branch and Song drifted in to listen, with Root wandering in and out, pretending to be bored.

  After the request for tea, the Islanders sent in food, and after a while Moon felt like eating again. They provided fish, roasted whole or baked in clay pots with spices, yellow squash-like things that grew in the water-garden plots below the islands, and raw yellow clams and shellfish from the sea bottom. The others balked at the cooked fish, which just left more for Moon. The Islanders sent wine as well, but Moon preferred the delicate green and yellow teas. Fermented or distilled liquids had never had much effect on him, and it was interesting to see it was the same with the other Raksura.

  Late in the afternoon, Delin found a story in the book that said Raksura could be captured by a ring of jien powder. Since there happened to be some available in the palace larder, Chime insisted they make the experiment. Moon thought it unlikely; jien was a popular spice in the east, and since it was often sprinkled on top of pastries and dumplings, he had gotten it on himself on many occasions. It had never had any ill effect on him, if he didn’t count sneezing, but saying so would have ruined the fun. The others picked Root to experiment on, but apparently convinced this was a trick, he retreated to sulk in a doorway. They finally tried it on Song, who stepped in and out of the circle of spice with no difficulty, saying, “I think we’re doing it wrong.”

  Branch and Root got a little rowdy afterward, teasing that threatened to escalate into a fight. After the Niran incident, two young warriors in a loud and violent play-fight would be the last thing Jade needed. Moon said, “Branch. Root,” and then stared at them, communicating that if he had to get up off his couch, someone was going to get hurt.

  They both subsided; Branch looked guilty.

  Moon remembered thinking that Branch might be trouble, and knew he had been wrong. Branch was good-natured and quiet. Root was loud and annoying because he was young. Song was sweet and fierce, and shoved both bigger males around like a miniature queen.

  Moon reminded himself that this was just a temporary place for him. If he wanted to stay with Indigo Cloud, he would have to keep defying Pearl, and sooner or later that would throw the whole court into chaos. From what he could tell, the court couldn’t stand any more chaos. But it was seductive, this easy comradeship. It might be easy, but it wasn’t uncomplicated.

  The day wore on toward evening, and the shadows grew deep enough that Chime went to light the bronze oil lamps that hung around the court. Not long after that, Moon had to tell the others that groundlings didn’t get stronger as they got older, and that Delin needed rest. Delin claimed that he was well able to continue as long as they wanted, then fell asleep in his chair.

  Chime sat at Delin’s feet, paging through the book, while the others talked or curled up to nap. Moon just enjoyed the quiet.

  Then Song said, “Moon, is it true you don’t know what court you came from? That you were alone until Stone found you?”

  Moon lay on his back,watching the sky turn orange and violet with sunset. “I wasn’t alone. I lived with groundlings, off and on.”

  Root stirred. “What was that like?”

  Moon hesitated. He had no idea what to say. When I was too small to live in the forest without getting eaten, I went to a groundling town. It was terrifying. Or I had to teach myself their languages. I picked through garbage for food. I didn’t know how to fit in, what to do. That wasn’t the whole truth, though. I loved living with the Hassi, but the Fell came. I had friends, but I always had to leave them, before anyone found out.

  Branch snorted, and from the sound, gave Root a shove to the head. “Idiot. Can you think of a harder question?”

  “What?” Root demanded.

  “What’s the wind like?” Chime said dryly.

  “You mean, right now, or—” Root subsided, disgruntled. “All right, all right, I see.”

  Balm walked into the court. One look at her expression, discouraged and angry, told Moon all he needed to know even before she spoke. “They said no.” She sat down on a chair, burying her face in her hands.

  Chime stared. “What, just like that?”

  “No, not just like that. That’s what we’ve been arguing about all day.” Balm rubbed her eyes. “If they do it, they think the Fell would take more cloud-walkers captive and send them out here. Or the boats will be destroyed along the way, when the Fell attack us.�
�

  They could still move the court, but flying in stages or going on foot would take longer and leave them open to more Fell attacks. Moon hadn’t realized until this moment just how much he had counted on this trip being successful.

  “What are we going to do?” Root asked uneasily.

  “Go back,” Branch said. He sighed. “Think of something else. Or do it the hard way.”

  Song got up, took Balm’s wrist and tugged her to her feet. “Come and get something to eat.”

  Branch and Root trailed after her. Chime and Moon sat there for a moment in silence. Then Chime stood. Sounding resigned, he said, “I’m going in to light the lamps. I can’t think when it’s dark.”

  Moon nodded. As Chime went inside, Moon got up to look for his shirt and found that someone had rinsed out the saltwater and moss and left it draped over a chair to dry. He pulled it on and went back to sit on the couch, depressed. He had counted on this working, counted on the court being able to move relatively quickly, so he would be free to leave them and the Fell and his own confusion behind.

  A blue Arbora walked into the court. Moon stared, then realized it was Jade. This was the first time he had seen her other form. She was still tall and slim, and her scales had the same blue and gray pattern, but they looked softer, closer to groundling skin than Raksuran hide, though that might have been a trick of the shadow. Her wings were gone and her mane was smaller, not reaching much past her shoulders, and was more soft frills than spines. She hesitated, then said glumly, “I suppose Balm told you.”

  He nodded, uncomfortable. “You did all you could. They still might not have agreed, even without the Fell.”

  “I know.” She came over to sit on the end of the couch, adding with rueful sarcasm,“ I pointed out that if we hadn’t been here when the Fell attacked, the damage would have been much worse. But I think they saw the flaw in my logic.”

  Moon looked away, a wry twist to his mouth. “It’s just a little flaw.” He hesitated, absently rubbed at a spot on the cushion. “I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of the sea.”

  He had meant it to be friendly, but Jade’s whole body stiffened. “I would have done it for any member of the court.”

  Well, fine, Moon thought. He had been hoping for an actual conversation; he wasn’t even sure why. But he needed to make sure of one more thing. “Did she ask for anything? The Islander woman who helped us.” If Jade hadn’t followed through on that promise, Moon needed to find the woman and make good on it—and hope she didn’t ask for anything complicated so that he could fulfill the obligation before they had to leave.

  But Jade said, “She didn’t ask, so I gave her one of the pearls, a small one. Endell-liani said it was enough for her to buy her own garden mats, and a new house for her family. I gave another one to the master of the flying boat, to sell and divide among the crew.”

  So that was taken care of. Moon should just shut up now, but he said, “That was generous.”

  Jade gave him a look he couldn’t read. “You’re a consort.”

  If they were going to have a fight, they might as well get on with it. He said, tightly, “I’m a feral solitary with a bad bloodline.”

  “Pearl said that, I didn’t. I—”She seemed to steel herself. “Would be honored to take you as consort, except, apparently, I have no idea how.”

  Nonplussed, Moon stared at her. “Uh.”

  Jade shook her head in frustration. “I know in theory. I tried the gifts; that’s what all the traditions say to do, but they didn’t say what to do if you didn’t accept them.” She waved her hands helplessly. “Look, even now, look what you’re doing—”

  Moon realized he had been unconsciously edging down the couch away from her. “I don’t—” He knew he owed her an explanation, but it was hard to put his instinctive response into words. “The way I’ve lived, it’s not a good idea to accept gifts. In a strange situation, you don’t know what it’s obligating you to do. Especially anything relating to—” He discarded several different words and finally settled on, “—mating.”

  Jade absorbed that in silence. Finally she said, “I know I should have waited. Stone told me that you’d never even heard of Raksura before he found you.” She sighed. “In a strong court, there would be clutches of consorts and sister queens, and we would all have been raised together. I’d know which one I wanted, and if he’d accept me. And I’d know what to do, even if I had to fight the other queens for him. And at least I’d have someone to go to for advice.” She shook her head, exasperated. “I haven’t been able to talk to Pearl about anything, for turns and turns.” With rueful resignation, she added, “Stone said I should just take you, fight it out, and get it over with.”

  That was typical. “He gives me lousy advice, too.”

  “Stone feels responsible. We lost too many warriors and consorts in the fighting, when the Gathen tried to take our territory, then the Sardis attacked the Sky Copper Court and we went to defend them. The consorts that were left... I was just a child, and Pearl didn’t want them because they had all belonged to Amber, so they went to other courts. Flower said things happened so gradually— sickness and dead clutches, and one thing going wrong after another, and they were so busy worrying about the latest disaster—that no one looked at the whole. Stone had left the court by that point, flying off alone, exploring. He didn’t come back until Rain, Pearl’s last consort, died, and after that, it was too late.” She looked at Moon for a long moment. “I know I haven’t made it sound particularly inviting, but... Do you want to join Indigo Cloud?”

  Moon shrugged uneasily, reluctant to speak. But he thought she had been honest with him, and it seemed wrong not to be honest in return. “I don’t think I can fit in.” There were those words again. It would be a good day if he never had to hear or say them again.

  “You’d rather live with groundlings?” she asked, then than added quickly, “Not that that’s a bad thing. It’s just... unusual.”

  “I want to live where I don’t have to hide.” That was about all the honesty Moon could take for the moment. “And does it matter what I want? Pearl ordered me to leave.”

  With an edge to her voice, Jade said, “And you refused.”

  “I told Stone I’d stay until after the court moved.” Moon let his breath out.

  They could talk about this all night, and it wouldn’t change anything. “If I can make it that long. The warriors aren’t going to just let me ignore her, and I can’t fight all of them.”

  Jade growled low in her throat. He didn’t think it was directed at him, but it sent a weird tingle up his spine.

  It also woke Delin, who sat up, blinking uncertainly. He looked around for his book and found it where Chime had left it, tucked under the cushion at his feet.

  Glad for the interruption, Moon said, “Sorry we woke you.”

  Delin cleared his throat. “I wasn’t asleep, only resting. Your voices are pleasant to listen to.”

  Moon hadn’t had a chance to observe much about Islander manners, but he already knew Delin was no stickler for formality. Settling for a simple introduction, he said, “Jade, this is Delin-Evran-lindel.”

  Delin nodded formally to her. “Was your business with the Gerent successful?”

  “Not really.” Jade poked at the couch cushion with one claw, looking oddly young.

  Moon explained, “They wouldn’t agree to trade us the use of the flying boats.”

  Delin rested the book on his lap. “Why do you need wind-ships when you have wings of your own?”

  “We don’t all have wings,” Moon told him. “We need a way to move the Arbora, before the Fell attack the colony.”

  Jade stirred, but didn’t protest. Moon doubted their purpose here was a secret to anyone; the Fell had made sure of that.

  Delin scratched his chin thoughtfully. “The Gerent is not the only one who owns wind-ships.”

  Jade lifted her head, frowning at him. “He and Endell-liani said that all the ships were controlled b
y the trading guilds.”

  “Not all. Only the primary cargo vessels. There are many families who own ships for the purpose of exploration, or trade in small luxury goods.” Delin glanced toward the lamplit doorway. “We should speak to my daughter. But it would be better if those in the palace did not see us go.”

  That was one problem Moon could solve. He said, “We can do that.”

  It was full dark by then, so after a quick scout around the rooms to find an unobserved window, Moon, Jade, and Delin set out for his home. Chime saw them off with a hissed, “Be careful. And don’t drop him.” At least he had said it in Raksuran.

  Delin’s family home was on one of the smaller islands that floated a few hundred paces above the water. Lamplight shone from the windows of towers and lit little courts and gardens. Moon carried Delin and kept his pace to a slow glide, hoping to keep the old man from getting sick. But Delin was well accustomed to travel on flying boats and he seemed to enjoy it. He tapped Moon on the chest, pointing toward a balcony on a large tower on the narrow end of the island. Moon glided down toward it, Jade barely a beat behind him.

  Jade had left Balm to guard the entrance to their rooms and to cover their absence. If the Gerent or anyone else asked for Jade, Balm would say that she was with her consort and couldn’t be disturbed. If someone asked for Delin, she would say that he and Chime were consulting over Delin’s book, and anxious to finish before Delin left for the evening. Everyone else had been ordered to stay out of sight and keep their mouths shut.

  The balcony was dimly lit by a lamp inside the room, half-shielded by the white curtains across the doorway. The space was also just wide enough for Moon to land without fouling a wing. He saw why Delin had picked this balcony; it faced out toward the sea, away from any docks or the windows of near neighbors. He managed the landing, then set Delin on his feet and shifted to give Jade room. Jade lit neatly on the railing, folded her wings, and stepped down onto the balcony.

  A young woman pulled the curtain aside, then jerked back with a startled yelp.