by Martha Wells
Moon came to his feet a few paces away and pounced at where the creature should be. His claws caught rough spiny fur. Something made a low grunt of effort as it whipped out of his grasp. The Arbora snarled in chorus.
Moon landed facing the stairs up to the greeting hall. For an instant, he froze. Standing on the steps was a Fell ruler. Moon’s heart contracted; in the next instant he realized there was no Fell stench and the Arbora weren’t reacting. Now he knew why Elastan had been so certain she had seen Tsgarith. Air moved near his spines and he dropped and lunged sideways, felt the blow pass just overhead.
Moon said to the Arbora, “Careful, it can make you see things that aren’t there.”
There was no reaction for a startled moment, then Braid said from somewhere behind him, “Well, that’s all we need.”
The next blow caught Moon in the chest and knocked him backward. He hit the floor and slid. The Arbora started to surge forward and he snarled, “Stay where you are! It wants you to move so it can get past you!” If it got out through one of these passages, it could get anywhere in the court. The nurseries would be guarded, but it might find the workroom where Heart and the others had the little Onde.
The Arbora scrambled back into position and braced themselves. Moon came to his feet and dodged as something slammed past him toward the nearest passage. He leapt after it before it reached the Arbora there, caught fur in his claws and tried to clamp on. It twisted away and threw him off. Moon bounced back to his feet, thinking, it understood what I said. It had stopped making him see things, knowing it couldn’t fool him, and it had charged the Arbora, knowing it wasn’t going to be able to trick them into moving now. And Moon had been speaking Raksuran.
He ducked another blow and a familiar voice said, “Moon, get ready, we have an idea.”
Moon managed an appalled and furious glance toward the passage up from the nurseries. Jade stood in the doorway behind the Arbora, a nervous Ember on one side and Chime on the other. For a heartbeat he thought it might be another illusion. But the Arbora were staring too, appalled. He said, “Have you lost your mind?”
She said, “Shut up. Chime—”
Chime caught Moon’s eye and lifted a light-colored bundle. He started to say, “It’s—”
He didn’t know the creature could understand him. Moon shouted to cover whatever Chime was about to say and snapped his wings out. He felt the creature brush past on the right and flung himself at it. He hit it across the body, felt sharp-edged fur and rock-like muscle against his scales. He clawed at it, tried to grab on, but he couldn’t get his claws through the metallic fur. Big hands gripped his neck, the Arbora howled in unison and something wet splashed over him.
The hands released his throat and Moon scrambled back, his neck aching where the creature had nearly snapped it. He could see it, it stood barely four paces in front of him, a big amorphous shape outlined in dripping red fluid.
Behind it, Chime dodged back behind the Arbora. The bundle he had thrown at the creature was broken on the floor, a sack made out of membrane. It had been filled with red dye and water. Jade growled in triumph.
The shape that was the creature’s head moved, as if staring down at itself. Moon bared his fangs and hissed in amusement. He said, “Have you ever fought anything that could see you?”
“I’ve fought many,” it said in Raksuran, the words distorted by a throat not meant to form them. “Including little insects like you.”
Moon moved sideways, hoping it would pace him. He wanted it further away from the stairs. If it got away again, got out through the knothole, they could be living in fear of this thing for a long time. “But they couldn’t see you. What are you, an overgrown Onde?”
It matched his steps. Behind it, the Arbora moved in concert, watching it with a growing intensity. Ember tugged at Jade’s wrist, trying to get her to withdraw, and she shook him off. Moon figured he only had a few moments before the Arbora’s patience snapped and they swarmed. He didn’t want them to leave their positions in the doorways until this thing was down. Then it said, “I am their god.”
Moon went still for an instant and thought, Oh, that’s nice. An overgrown Onde, gone completely mad. No wonder the little one had tried to hide in a Raksuran colony.
All around the hall, the Arbora twitched and flinched and hissed. Moon caught a dozen dark flashes in his peripheral vision, and ignored the display. The creature was trying to distract them with visions again; the dye was dripping off its fur and it must realize that if it could break free and get to a pool or a water channel, it could wash it off and disappear into the colony. He said, “So how long have you been a god?”
It said, “You have one of my people prisoner; give it back to me.”
“It came in here to hide from you,” Moon countered. “It would rather bleed to death in here than be caught by you. We know you killed the Kek because they could see you. Why’d you try to kill the traders?”
It said, “The Onde don’t need traders, they have me.”
Stalling is not going to work, Moon thought. The dye was running off and he could only see about a third of its body now. The Arbora on the right side of the room cried out and shied away from something only they could see. Chime twitched backward, his spines flared. Moon figured the creature was going to break in that direction, toward the back passage.
It started to say, “I will let you live if—” and Moon leapt.
This time he saw the arm that swung at him. He ducked under it and slashed across the body, felt his claws glance off the metallic fur. It grabbed for his neck again and Moon twisted away, but the other fist connected and he slammed down into the floor.
The nearest group of Arbora charged. Three hit it in the back and two went straight for its head, another three lunging for the legs. It spun and threw them off like they weighed nothing. Moon came to his feet as Braid flew over his head. He knew it would run. He shouted, “You’re not a god, you’re an idiot, a joke!”
It wasn’t brilliant, but it did the trick. The creature surged toward him instead of the doorway. Moon bounced into the air and landed on its head. Teeth glanced off his scales as Moon wrapped his body around its head and neck and twisted all his weight sideways and down. He felt bones snap as they both hit the floor. A dozen very angry Arbora landed on top of the creature, tearing at the metallic fur.
“Consort, are you all right?” Merry panted. He pinned a big arm down with his body, two hunters piling in to help.
Moon felt the thing twitch under him, then the rattle of a last breath in its throat as its muscles went limp. He could feel the wrong angle of its neck, and probed with his claws. Bone moved under his hands in a way he was pretty certain it wasn’t supposed to, even in an unfamiliar species. “I think it’s dead.” He let go and disentangled himself. The body was gradually becoming visible, but most of the Arbora were on top of it now, so Moon couldn’t make out much detail. Easing backward, Moon braced to jump back in if he was wrong, but the creature didn’t move.
“Good,” Jade said, matter-of-factly, “Now someone get the wounded down to the mentors. It’ll be quicker than trying to get the mentors up here.”
“There’s wounded in the greeting hall, too,” Moon told them.
Arbora ran up the stairwell, others went to carefully lift the two injured. “I’m fine, I can walk,” Strike objected, and was shushed.
Moon said, “Merit and Thistle know what those darts are poisoned with now. And that dye was a good idea.” His voice came out a little strained from the near strangulation.
“We thought it might be.” Chime came forward to warily circle the dead creature. “We’d been talking about things to use against chameleons, so when Wake came running to tell us what was happening, dye was the first thing we thought of.”
Jade had stayed back in the doorway, and was now leaning against the carved frame. She added, “It’s a good thing the teachers had planned to dye the new cloth today or there wouldn’t have been any made up.”
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br /> Moon glared at her. “What are you doing down here?”
“What, I was supposed to hide up there while all this was going on?” Jade shrugged her spines, clearly indifferent to Moon’s opinion. “Everyone was busy outside, someone had to come down here and check on things.”
“Jade—”
Bone appeared in the doorway, more Arbora behind him, and growled at the sight of the dead Onde god. “I hope this is all for the day, because this court’s had enough excitement.”
The Arbora satisfied themselves that the creature was dead and backed away. It looked like a big inert heap of metallic fur, the color mostly gray but with green patches. Moon leaned closer to examine one of the patches and realized it was moss. Onde forest gods must not be partial to bathing or grooming. Bone said, “Do we know what it is?”
“It said it was the god of the Onde,” Moon said. Bone stared at him, scaled brows and spines lifted incredulously, and Moon said, “I know.” He turned back to Jade. “Are you going back to your bower anytime soon?”
“Probably.” She didn’t sound as if it was likely. “Where’s Pearl?”
That was a good question. Moon asked Bone, “Do you know what happened outside?” The swampling had seemed as if it was heading down to the roots and the village, but if this creature hadn’t been there to drive it, it might have fled back to its home.
Bone said, “They kept it off the village, and it turned back and left the clearing. We were lucky.”
Chime was still staring down at the creature. He sat on his heels and tugged gently at the fur. It seemed oddly loose. He pulled harder, and with a faint ripping sound, it lifted away from the body. He said, “I thought so.”
Startled, Moon hissed. He dropped to the floor beside Chime for a closer look. Chime pulled the fur piece back so Moon could see that it had been sewn into the exposed skin of the body beneath. The scent coming up from it was foul, like rotted meat. The skin itself was a mottled gray, hard and slick, but bruised dark and swollen where the sinew had been pinned through its flesh. Kneeling beside the creature’s left leg, Braid pulled back another piece of fur, exposing more lacing to hold it against the skin. Some of the wounds where the fur had been sewn in were old, others relatively new, as if the coverings had been patched and replaced over a long period of time. Moon said, “But this is Onde fur.”
“But this isn’t an Onde.” Chime pulled more fur away from the torso. “The other one isn’t like this.” He moved down toward the creature’s head. “Braid, help me here.”
Watching Chime and Braid work at the heavy roll of fur around the neck, Moon didn’t know what to think. Blossom stepped up beside him and squeezed his wrist. Everyone who hadn’t helped carry the wounded to the mentors had gathered around, staring in baffled silence. Then Bone said, “I think I know what this must be. But …”
Chime and Braid lifted the covering off the head. As Braid held it up, Moon saw it was a combination of a mask and helmet, made of more Onde fur, some sort of bone, and eye pieces of a clear material. The head that Chime was examining had a round bulbous skull and ragged hanks of hair. With no need to be careful of the broken neck bones, Chime turned it so they could see the face. The dead eyes were round, and unlike the amphibians it had a nose. The mouth was wide and hung open, revealing a startling array of fangs for a groundling with a head this small. From the doorway, Jade said, “Bone? What is this?”
“I think it’s a hunter. It took the Onde hide and attached it to itself, so it could use the camouflage.” Bone grimaced. “The fur concealed its scent, too.”
“But the fur was alive,” Braid protested. Other Arbora nodded. “You can’t just cut a body part off and attach it to somebody else, that doesn’t work—”
“It doesn’t work for us, or most groundlings.” Chime’s tone was grim. “It worked for this species, whatever it is.”
“There are species back in the east who can do this,” Moon added. He had heard some pretty horrific stories, but then for such peaceful people, the Hassi had loved telling frightening tales, the more grotesque the better. “But only to each other. They take the heads of their enemies and sew them onto their bodies, and they’re still sort of alive.”
“That’s disgusting,” Jade commented. Then she muttered, “Uh oh.”
Ember said, “Moon, get over here now.”
Moon reached the doorway in one bound, not consciously realizing he had moved until he had hooked his claws on the wall carving. Ember stared worriedly at Jade, who had one hand on her belly and a preoccupied frown on her face. Two Arbora stood on either side of her, Ginger the soldier and Dream, a young teacher, watching her intently. Jade looked at Moon and grimaced. She said, “The fledglings moved down.”
Moon shifted to groundling and reached out. Jade gripped his wrist. She didn’t look upset or worried, just annoyed. Moon said, “Ember—”
“I’ll get Heart,” Ember said, and bolted down the passage.
Dream said, “We need cushions, and blankets. Come this way.”
“There’s some good clean ones just above us in that store room off the back passage into the greeting hall, we use them for visitors.” Ginger motioned to Moon to follow Dream. “There’s a room down here that’s good, there’s a water channel.”
Still frowning, Jade said, “The mentors need to take care of the wounded.”
Moon pulled gently on Jade’s arm and steered her after Dream. Ginger said, “The wounded are with Merit now, with Copper and the others to help him.”
The teachers had their bowers on this level, but there were plenty of unused rooms. Dream led them down a couple of short passages until the noise from the hall faded, and then into a large room that was a common area for several attached bowers. She said, “We use this when trade goods come in and we need to sort the plant cuttings.” It had been swept out recently and the shells spelled for light, but the bowl hearth set into the floor was empty. There was a small bathing pool but the drain in the bottom was open, so the water was running from the wall channel into the basin and out.
Moon opened his mouth but Dream stepped into the pool to close the drain, and Ginger must have moved blindingly fast because she was already coming through the door with an armload of cushions, followed by Rill with blankets and Bell hauling a metal carrier filled with warming stones. It was obvious nobody needed instructions about how to prepare the room. Moon said instead, “Can someone find Balm? She was with Pearl.”
“Then she’s busy,” Jade objected. She paced in a small circle, a highly annoyed glare directed at her belly.
“She wants to be here. And she can tell you what happened down there,” Moon told her.
Jade transferred the highly annoyed glare to him. “Do not treat me as if I’m a delicate idiot.”
Moon said, “Fine. Then just shut up and have the damn babies.” Jade bared her fangs at him, and Bell, dumping the warming stones in the hearth, flashed his spines in approval.
Moon was aware of more Arbora moving into the rooms around them, taking up guard positions or just wanting to be close by. It was reassuring, but all he could look at was Jade.
Heart walked in then, and that was even more reassuring. She was in her groundling form, her skin and hair wet and dripping a little onto the light shirt and pants she wore. Breathless from excitement, she said, “Sorry, I had to wash first.”
Moon didn’t care what she had to do first as long as she was here now. Still pacing, Jade asked her, “Who’s with the wounded?”
Heart told her, “Merit and Thistle are taking care of them. I need to check on the babies.” She threw a glance at Moon.
Moon caught Jade’s wrist and steered her around to face Heart. “You need to stand still.”
“I don’t want to stand still, I want to move,” Jade said through gritted teeth.
“That’s a stupid thing to want right now,” Moon said, and as Jade growled at him, Heart stepped up to her and lightly put her hands on Jade’s stomach.
After
a moment of concentration, Heart stepped back. “Shouldn’t be long now.” She looked around at the preparations the other Arbora were making. “She might be hungry afterward, so make sure there’s something ready for her.”
Moon looked down and realized he had swampling mud on his clothes, though some of it had shaken off during the fight with the Onde-skinning creature. Moon started to move away, but Jade took his wrist and pulled him back. He said, “I need to clean up, I have giant swampling mud all over me.”
Bell turned to the other Arbora. “Someone go up and get Moon fresh clothes.”
Jade hissed out a curse. “You were fighting the giant swampling? Where were Pearl and Stone?”
Then Stone slipped through the doorway, snagged a spare cushion, and sat down. “Fighting the giant swampling too.” Moon felt such a wave of relief to see him, he almost swayed. After Bone’s report, he hadn’t been worried so much about what had happened outside, or at least he thought he hadn’t. But for some reason he couldn’t articulate to himself, having Stone here caused his heart to unclench just a little.
“What happened out there?” Jade demanded.
“It was a trick so that thing with the Onde skins could get in through the knothole,” Stone began, and started to describe the swampling.
Warriors were joining the Arbora in the adjacent rooms, and Moon saw Vine and Floret peek in through a doorway. He couldn’t keep track of who all was here; the only thing he could really focus on was Jade. He turned to Bell, who was sitting on his heels beside the hearth. “Everything that needs to be guarded is still being guarded, right?”
Bell said, “Bone and Knell and Sage are taking charge below and in the greeting hall. There’s not that many people up here, it just seems like it. Everyone’s taking turns, coming in for a little and then going back out.”
Someone appeared with a clean shirt and pants for Moon. He managed to get Jade to let go of his wrist and Rill and Chime helped him with a rapid wash up and change of clothes in the next room. Chime said, “Moon, you need to relax. Just take deep breaths.”