by Martha Wells
Moon felt the skin creep right up his spine; it was partly uneasiness and partly a stir from his prey reflex. Thinking about killing Fell made his fingers itch. He said, “Is that what you’re planning to do to this Fell flight? Let them destroy Aventera and then attack while they’re vulnerable inside the city?”
Malachite tilted her head, but something in her otherwise opaque expression seemed more amused than angry. “It crossed my mind.”
“But the Fell know Opal Night is here, now. They won’t be vulnerable. They may use the city to set a trap for us.”
“True.” She had clearly considered the possibility already but just wasn’t much concerned by it. “What do you propose?”
Moon had been thinking about this since he had first seen the city. “The groundlings at Aventera have projectile weapons, and flying craft. If they had time to prepare, and our help, they could set traps for the Fell. Like a flying craft driven into the giant sac the major kethel carried here, that then bursts into flame.” He would bet that the Aventerans had things that could burst into flame on command; they seemed like that kind of people.
“It’s a possibility.” But Malachite didn’t sound as if it was a possibility she preferred. She studied him so intently, Moon wanted to twitch. Sensing she might be testing his resolve, he didn’t. “But the groundlings don’t trust us enough to take our counsel, let alone our direction in battle.”
It was hard enough to talk to a powerful Raksuran queen; this was like talking to a member of a completely different and unfamiliar species. Moon couldn’t tell if he had a chance of convincing her of anything or if she just kept replying because she liked looking at him and wanted the encounter to continue. He persisted, “But they might trust Delin, the groundling scholar from the Golden Isles. He’s used to speaking to all different species, and he knows a lot about Fell.” Moon wasn’t certain how much of a diplomat Delin was; possibly he was far too straightforward to be very good at it, at least with people like the Aventerans. But it was still worth a try. “If we speak through him, they may listen.”
Malachite’s tail actually almost twitched. “Delin is the old groundling from the flying ship, who saved your life?”
Moon frowned. “He saved my life?”
“Lithe said the simple he gave you aboard the ship slowed the poison’s progress. It gave the mentors time to act.”
“That’s him.” Moon considered adding that Delin really wanted to speak to the Aventerans and would take Malachite’s approval of this as a personal favor, but resisted the impulse.
Malachite said, “Lithe also came to me with a plan.”
“She told us about that, too. We want to combine her plan and ours.”
Malachite didn’t move, didn’t flick a spine, didn’t blink, but Moon got the sudden strong sense that he had just lost his audience. Her voice perceptibly colder, she said, “Lithe has no need to prove herself to me.”
“I think she knows that.” Moon knew the ground underfoot had suddenly turned treacherous, and he had no idea why. “But she wants to prove herself to the others.”
“What others?”
“I don’t know.” Moon added, “Maybe she wants to prove it to herself.”
He thought that was a pretty good answer, but Malachite evidently didn’t. “Lithe has never shown any need for this before.”
“The Fell never came here before.” Maybe he needed to put this on a less personal level. Moon had known Lithe for only a few days; he couldn’t claim to be an expert in what she needed or wanted. “Auburn told us the mentors are looking for people from the eastern colony who might have been influenced by the Fell, but they can’t find anyone. You need to know how the Fell found out about your crossbreeds.”
Malachite showed the tip of one fang. “How many of these thoughts came from the Sister Queen of Indigo Cloud?”
Moon felt his skin go hot with anger. “You’re insulting me.” He couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice.
“She has insulted both of us.” Malachite’s spines lifted. “She thinks to use this as a way to force me to acquiesce to her claim on you.”
“It’s not a claim. I’m taken. She asked me and I consented.”
“You had no idea what you were agreeing to.”
“I did in every way that mattered.”
“You had no right to consent—”
“Because you own me?” Moon’s patience snapped and he pushed to his feet. She wouldn’t let him shift, so he didn’t try. “You gave up any right to me when you left me behind.”
It was possibly the most deliberately cruel thing Moon had ever said to anybody, and he knew the instant the words were out he would regret them, but in this moment they were deeply satisfying. He saw Malachite take the blow and steel herself against her own reaction. Her spines rattled like a death knell, and the muscles in her jaw tightened, suppressing a growl or a hiss or the urge to bite his head off. But her anger was less frightening than the iron control in her voice. “Nevertheless. Indigo Cloud took advantage of you, knowingly.”
Moon had the sudden impulse to make that control snap. He hissed bitter amusement. “You’re lucky it was Indigo Cloud that found me.”
That did it. Malachite’s tail lashed. A real full-length lash clearly expressive of her angry consternation. “What does that mean?”
“I didn’t know what I was. I could have become anything. I would have, if someone had promised me a place to belong. The first time I saw Fell, I thought I was one. Of course, in your court, that wouldn’t be a problem.” His voice rose and he couldn’t stop it. “You have no more right over me than that dead progenitor has over Shade!”
He turned toward the doorway. Malachite landed in front of him in a near-silent bound; Moon jerked back, hissing. She lifted her hands, claws retracted. “Wait.”
He stepped back, watching her warily.
“This changes nothing.” Malachite stepped away from the door. She had gone from rage to cool composure in less than a heartbeat. Her self-control was daunting, infuriating, and completely intact. “If your groundling agrees, let him ready his craft to go to Aventera. I’ll speak to Lithe and the other mentors about the rest.”
At the moment, all Moon wanted to do was yell more. He stepped past her and went through the passage out of the bower. When he reached the larger room just outside, he found several warriors sitting around the hearth staring at him in various degrees of shock. They had heard that last shout, and it would be all over the court by this afternoon. Growling under his breath, Moon shifted and tore out of the room.
He found Chime waiting for him in the passage back to the consorts’ hall. Chime took in his expression as Moon shifted back to groundling, and said, “You lost your temper?”
“Yes.” Moon made himself take a deep breath.
Chime’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “So she won’t let us talk to the groundlings or trap the Fell?”
“No. She’ll do that.” Moon was fairly sure of it. She would give that to him, because he wanted it. Malachite was willing to give him anything he wanted except Jade and Indigo Cloud.
Chapter Fifteen
As Moon predicted, Rise came to him around mid-morning to tell him that Malachite had agreed to Lithe’s plan.
After that, there was a flurry of preparations.
The spot chosen to set the trap was a flying island floating over the plain less than a half day of warriors’ flight from Aventera’s plateau. The group who would go and wait in hiding near it was small: Stone, Malachite, two of Onyx’s daughter queens, and some of their warriors. The Opal Night warriors were among those who had been examined by the mentors for Fell influence, but they wouldn’t be told where they were going or why until they reached the spot.
Jade and Balm were also going, though Moon wasn’t certain how Jade had managed it. He doubted Malachite had changed her opinion of Jade over the course of the morning.
Before they left, Moon managed to see Jade alone for a moment, catching h
er attention from a cubby off one of the colony entrance passages while the others assembled outside.
Jade glanced down the corridor cautiously as she stepped into the cubby. Moon asked her, “How did you get Malachite to let you come with her?”
Jade bared her teeth in frustration. “I didn’t, I’m just going. As a queen, I have every right to help defend the Reaches. If she tries to stop me, it’ll cause more trouble than it’s worth to her.” She hissed. “Of course, it’s hard to tell if she knows I’m going or not because she’s pretending I don’t exist.” She squeezed his wrist and said, “Are you really staying behind?”
There had been some discussion over whether Moon was well enough to go on the flying boat to Aventera or not, or if he should stay here. Moon was handling it by waiting until everyone with the authority or physical prowess to stop him had left to set the ambush, then he was going to join Delin and the others on the boat. This seemed to be the best way to avoid loud, emotionally-charged arguments. He had had too many of those lately.
“Probably… not,” Moon admitted reluctantly.
Jade twitched her spines, but didn’t object. Possibly she didn’t feel she had much right to argue with him, considering how she had inserted herself and Balm into the ambush portion of the plan. “Just be careful around those groundlings. You don’t know what the Fell have made them believe about us. And remember that Lithe is the bait, not you.”
It meant a great deal at that moment that she hadn’t tried to order him to stay behind or to talk him out of it. He managed to say, “You be careful, too. And Balm.”
Jade said, “We’ll be fine.” She pulled him close, nipped his neck gently, then slipped away.
Moon waited until Stone and the queens left, then went to the flying boat.
Delin’s crew of twelve young Islanders, most related to him, were not keen on the idea of letting him sail to Aventera alone, even with the help of friendly Raksura. Moon wasn’t sure how Delin convinced them or forced them, but they were reluctantly leaving the boat by climbing down a long rope ladder to the platform in front of the colony’s main entrance. Most of them carried small bags of belongings.
Feather and a few other Arbora waited for them down on the platform. Moon asked her, “Have you ever spent time with groundlings before?” He had suggested Feather be the one to take charge of Delin’s crew while they were here, to make sure they were comfortable and had access to food they could eat. Moon had chosen her because she was the only Arbora he felt he knew here. It also helped that she spoke enough Altanic to be able to communicate with them.
“No.” She smiled a little, glancing up at him. “It’ll be a good distraction, while we’re waiting.”
She meant waiting to see what the Fell would do. The court knew Malachite was acting on some sort of plan, but not the details. He said, “Hopefully it won’t be long.”
He shifted, and sprang up to catch hold of the boat’s railing. Below, Feather called out, “Be careful! We’ll see you in a few days!”
Moon swung down onto the deck and found himself facing Chime. “You’re going?” Chime stared. “I thought you were staying behind because you still needed to recover.”
“That’s what everybody thought,” Moon told him, and changed the subject before Chime could argue. “Where’s Celadon?”
Chime swallowed his objections with effort, and said, “Down in the hull.”
Moon went down the steps and found Celadon in the large common room with Delin. They had a piece of the pressed reed the Islanders used as paper spread out on the table, and Delin was drawing a rough map to Aventera from Celadon’s directions.
As Moon walked in, Celadon glanced up, surprised to see him. Then she frowned. “We should be leaving soon. Did you come to see us off?”
“I changed my mind,” he said. “I’m coming with you.”
Making a notation on the map, Delin raised a brow. “There was a question? I assumed you had always intended to accompany us.”
Celadon eyed Moon a moment, then sighed. “I’d argue with you, but I know that’s like arguing with a rock and I have to save what’s left of my patience for the Aventerans. At least, unlike the warriors, I know you’re not afraid to fight Fell.” She ruined it by adding dryly, “And if you collapse, we’ve got Lithe with us.”
Moon decided not to succumb to the urge to protest his health. He sat on the edge of the table and studied the map. “Did someone come up with a story for the court about where Malachite and the others were going?”
“We said they were going to plan the attack on the Fell.” Celadon didn’t look particularly satisfied with the explanation.
“It’s not as if anyone in the court is going to believe anything else,” Moon pointed out. “Simple lies are always better.”
Celadon lifted her brows, possibly at this evidence that Moon knew a lot about the best way to lie convincingly. “I see.”
Fortunately, footsteps came down the stairs at that point and Lithe stepped into the doorway. She had her satchel slung over her shoulder and wore an extra shawl over her work clothes. She looked around the room, curious and a little uneasy. Moon realized this must be her first time to leave the area around the colony, let alone to be on a flying boat. He didn’t know what to say to make her feel more comfortable, so he just asked, “Ready to go?”
“Yes.” Lithe took a deep breath and managed a wan smile. Above their heads the deck creaked as more Raksura landed. Moon assumed it was Celadon’s warriors. Lithe started a little at the unaccustomed sound of people walking on the thin wood above her head, and said, “I didn’t expect it would be so… odd, to think of leaving the colony, even for a few days.”
Celadon told her, “It’s brave of you. And if it works the way we hope, we’ll know what brought the Fell here.”
If it works the way we hope, Moon thought, and tried to suppress the urge to again mentally list everything that could go wrong.
Then someone dropped down the stairs and stepped into the doorway. It was a young queen about Celadon’s size, with a slender build. Her scales were a light gold webbed with copper. She saw Moon first, and acknowledged him with a tilt of her head and an opaque expression. Moon thought at first he had never met her before, then realized he had seen her with Onyx. She must be one of the other Opal Night bloodline’s daughter queens.
“Ivory,” Celadon said, sounding suspiciously neutral. “We’ll be leaving in a moment. Are your warriors aboard?”
“Yes. It’s a very strange craft.” She nodded politely to Delin. “This should be an interesting trip.”
Ivory, Moon thought. The queen that Onyx had gotten Umber to suggest as a possible match for Moon. Of all the things that could go wrong, that hadn’t even occurred to him as a possibility.
Under Delin’s direction, the warriors helped the flying boat cast off, while the Islander crew watched worriedly from the colony’s landing platform.
As the ship lifted above the ridge surrounding the split colony tree, Moon managed to catch Celadon alone in the bow, out of earshot of the others. Before he could speak, she said, “We thought it was better to have two queens aboard, in case the Fell struck before we reached the others. I didn’t know you planned to come. This is not my fault.”
That invalidated most of what Moon had been about to say. He fell back on, “Does she know I turned her down?”
“Yes. And more importantly, she knows Malachite does not approve of her offer.” Celadon hissed impatiently, then turned to wave to Delin in the steering cabin, indicating he should turn to the right more to avoid the branches of the standing portion of the tree. “You can’t be afraid of her. You saw Malachite’s reaction to Jade, the queen you want. What do you think she’d do to one who tried to touch you against your will? And besides that, I’m your clutchmate and I’m right here.”
“I don’t know how you can be my sister,” Moon said. “You’re so damn naive.”
She showed her fangs. “Just let her get to know you, then she
definitely won’t bother you.”
The boat successfully navigated the colony’s valley, and made its way into the sparse forest of mountain-trees and rock that marked the fringe of the Reaches. The afternoon and evening was occupied by avoiding obstacles and in teaching the warriors how to help Delin sail the boat. Chime and Root already knew quite a bit from their previous trips on wind-ships, Chime because he still had his mentor’s curiosity and Root because his memory, honed by keeping track of everything everyone had ever said in his hearing, was as good as a written book.
Balm was the only Indigo Cloud warrior who had accompanied Jade. Besides Chime, Root, Floret, and Song, ten Opal Night warriors had come along on the boat. Five of them had come with Celadon on their previous trip to the city, and they treated Moon with a combination of wariness and respect that made their company undemanding. The other five belonged to Ivory and were led by Saffron, the female warrior Moon had ordered off the flying boat. Moon reminded himself that he was getting what he wanted, another chance to tell the Aventerans how to fight the Fell, and objecting to the company was pointless.
None of the tasks aboard the boat were difficult for Raksura, who were physically stronger than the smaller Islanders and had no fear of falling, so Moon left them to it. He found a spot up in the bow, where he could sit on a cask tied off to the rail and watch the forest go by.
The flying boat’s steady but more leisurely speed allowed for close observation of everything they passed, and it was fascinating to be able to study the individual mountain-trees, their shapes, the flowers and the riot of vegetation on their platforms, and the life that occupied them. Since the trees were further apart here, more light reached the ground far below, so Moon had a better view of the rocky gullies and gorges, the different levels of the jungle deep within. And there were occasional intriguing glimpses of the creatures that lived down in the shadowy crevices.