by Martha Wells
Praise for Martha Wells and the Books of the Raksura
“Martha Wells’ Raksura books are dense, and complex, with truly amazing world building, and non-human characters who are quite genuinely alien, yet still comprehensible and sympathetic. The characters, particularly the protagonist, Moon, are compelling and flawed and likable. The plots are solid and fast moving. But it’s the world that really astounds. There is a depth and breadth and sheer alienness here that I have rarely seen in any novel. Shape-shifters, flying ships, city-trees, six kazillion sentient races, floating islands, and on and on and on.”
—Kelly McCullough, author of the WebMage series and the Fallen Blade novels
“Using its alien protagonist to explore the politics of gender and belonging, this is a fascinating read for SF readers looking for something out of the ordinary.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The Cloud Roads has wildly original worldbuilding, diverse and engaging characters, and a thrilling adventure plot. It’s that rarest of fantasies: fresh and surprising, with a story that doesn’t go where ten thousand others have gone before. I can’t wait for my next chance to visit the Three Worlds!”
—N. K. Jemisin, author of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
“Filled with vivid action and memorable characters, The Cloud Roads is a terrific science fiction adventure story with a heart. I read it eagerly and look forward to its sequel with great anticipation.”
—Sarah Prineas, author of The Magic Thief
“It reminds me of the SF/F fantasy I read as a teen, long before YA was categorized. Those books explored adult concepts without ‘adult content’; the complexity of morality and the potential, uncaring harshness of life. This story’s conclusion satisfies on all those counts as well as leaving me eager for the sequel.”
—Juliet E. McKenna, Interzone
“There’s so much to like here: multiple sapient species sharing a world (or NOT sharing) with complex gender roles, wildly differing societies, and varying technologies. This is rigorous fantasy without the trappings of European medievalism. And most of all, it’s riveting storytelling.”
—Steven Gould, author of Jumper and 7th Sigma
“Martha Wells’ books always make me remember why I love to read. In The Cloud Roads, she invents yet another rich and astonishingly detailed setting, where many races and cultures uneasily co-exist in a world constantly threatened by soulless predators. But the vivid world-building and nonstop action really serve as a backdrop for the heart of the novel—the universal human themes of loneliness, loss, and the powerful drive to find somewhere to belong.”
—Sharon Shinn, author of Troubled Waters
“Wells … has created a new world of dragonlike shapeshifters and human tribes that could serve as the background for future novels in this exotic setting. Concise storytelling and believable characters make this a good addition to most fantasy collections.”
—Library Journal
“The Serpent Sea is a wonderful and spellbinding sequel to The Cloud Roads, which was one of the best fantasy books of 2011. It gloriously continues the saga of the shapeshifting Raksura.”
—RisingShadow.net
“A rousing tale of a lost boy who finds his way home and discovers that he has a role to play in saving the world. High-octane fight scenes nicely contrast with Moon’s emotional growth and developing romance. Genre fans looking for something different will find this just what they needed.”
—School Library Journal Blog
“With these books Wells is writing at the top of her game, and given their breadth, originality, and complexity, this series is showing indications it could become one of the landmark series of the genre.”
—Adventures Fantastic
“I loved The Serpent Sea. It’s extraordinary story telling with engaging characters in an enchanting world I want to visit.”
—Diana Pharaoh Francis, author of the Path and Crosspointe series
“I loved this book. This has Wells’ signature worldbuilding and wholly real character development, and her wry voice shines through. I can’t even explain how real the world felt, in which each race and city and culture had such well-drawn back story that they lived on even outside the main plot.”
—Patrice Sarath, author of Gordath Wood and Red Gold Bridge
“The Cloud Roads is a terrific fantasy novel that stands out due to imaginative worldbuilding, accomplished writing and engaging storytelling. For everyone else, The Cloud Roads is a proud example of what the genre is capable of producing.”
—Fantasy Book Critic
“Another excellent and wonderful view into the universe of the Three Worlds and its fascinating inhabitants.”
—SF Signal
“First off, the world revealed within this story is nothing short of amazingly detailed and intriguing…. you’ll find this an imaginative and engaging novel.”
—John Vogt, Examiner.com
“This novel is a must-read for any sci-fi fan. Moon is a delightful character and a great focal point for the story. The world the author has created is wonderfully complex and vivid and has wonderful layers of characters, cultures and creatures.”
—Portland Book Review
“Wells remains a compelling storyteller whose clear prose, goal-driven plotting, and witty, companionable characters should win her fans among those who enjoy the works of writers such as John Scalzi and Lois McMaster Bujold.”
—Matt Denault, Strange Horizons
“The Serpent Sea is a worthy sequel to The Cloud Roads and it features all of the strengths (fantastic world-building, great story, awesome characters) of that first novel. It is so easy to fall in love with this series and the reasons are manifold.”
—The Book Smugglers
“I really loved Book 3, which wound up as my favorite book of the trilogy…. I’ll be pushing it on everybody who loves great writing, ornate worlds and wonderfully-drawn nonhuman characters. And I am also looking up Martha Wells’ backlist, right now.”
—Rachel Neumeier, author of Lord of the Changing Winds and Black Dog
“This is the type of Fantasy series I absolutely love—and highly recommend as a worthwhile series to read and fall in love with…. The Siren Depths closes the series really well.”
—The Book Smugglers
“The first two books, The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea, were excellent, but in my opinion The Siren Depths is an even better and more satisfying book, because it takes the series to a whole new level of depth.”
—RisingShadow.net
“The Siren Depths has more of what I’ve come to love about the Books of the Raksura—a compelling story, great world-building in a unique setting, and lovable characters with very realistic problems. In my opinion, it’s also the most satisfying installment in the series.”
—Fantasy Café
“Truly inventive and stunningly imaginative world-building perfectly melded with vivid, engaging characters make the Books of the Raksura one of my all-time favorite science-fiction series.”
—Kate Elliott, author of The Spiritwalker Trilogy
“Martha Wells writes fantasy the way it was meant to be—poignant, evocative, and astonishing. Prepare to be captivated ‘til the sun comes up.”
—Kameron Hurley, author of God’s War, Infidel, and Rapture
STORIES of the RAKSURA
Other books by Martha Wells:
The Element of Fire
City of Bones
The Death of the Necromancer
Wheel of the Infinite
Fall of Ile-Rien Trilogy:
The Wizard Hunters
The Ships of Air
T
he Gate of Gods
The Books of the Raksura
The Cloud Roads
The Serpent Sea
The Siren Depths
Stargate: Atlantis
SGA: Reliquary
SGA: Entanglement
Emilie and the Hollow World
Emile and the Sky World
Star Wars: Razor’s Edge
STORIES of the RAKSURA
VOLUME ONE: THE FALLING WORLD & THE TALE OF INDIGO AND CLOUD
MARTHA WELLS
NIGHT SHADE BOOKS
IN IMPRINT OF START PUBLISHING
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Copyright © 2014 by Martha Wells.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Start Publishing, 609 Greenwich Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10014.
Published by Night Shade Books
an imprint of Start Publishing LLC
New York, New York
Please visit our website at
www.start-media.com.
Edited by Jeremy Lassen
Cover design by Rain Saukas
Cover art by Steve Argyle
ISBN: 978-1-59780-563-6
CONTENTS
The Falling World
The Tale of Indigo and Cloud
The Forest Boy
Adaptation
Appendices
THE FALLING WORLD
The night before Jade left for Ocean Winter, Moon had a stupid argument with Chime.
“You’re going?” Moon asked, startled. Jade would be taking five warriors with her, which was usual for a queen making a visit to another court, but he hadn’t thought Chime would be one of them.
Chime looked up, worried. “You don’t want me to go?”
They were in the greeting hall, the heart of the Indigo Cloud court’s colony tree, sitting near the pool fed by a narrow fall of water that streamed down the polished wood wall. The hall lay at the bottom of the huge well that spiraled through the center of the tree, stairways criss-crossing upward, leading to overhanging balconies, and the soft illumination coming from shells spelled to glow that formed part of the decorative inlay. When they had first arrived here nearly a turn ago, the place had been desolate and empty; now it was busy with warriors flitting around the upper levels and Arbora bustling back and forth, storing away baskets of roots. One of the more important harvests had ended today, so there was going to be a gathering to celebrate it, and to wish Jade luck on her trading trip.
Moon shrugged. “No, no, it’s fine if you go. I just thought … You aren’t normally excited about leaving the colony.” He had been certain that Chime would use the fact that Moon wasn’t going as an excuse to stay behind as well. Five changes of the month ago, when they had returned from Opal Night, Chime had acted as if he never wanted to leave the court again. A normal warrior would have been honored to go on a trip with the court’s sister queen, but then Chime wasn’t a normal warrior. Moon wasn’t a normal consort, either, and that was one of the reasons why they had been drawn to each other.
“I know. I’m not.” Chime ran his fingers through the water at the edge of the pool, startling a few tiny flying lizards who had taken up residence there. He was in his groundling form, where he had dark bronze skin, fluffy light hair, and usually a stubborn expression, though now he just looked thoughtful and a little worried. When he shifted, he would be a dark reflective blue, with a gold sheen under his scales. Moon’s groundling form was much the same, lean and angular, with dark bronze skin, dark hair and green eyes. Chime continued, “But I’m hoping that if I talk to the Ocean Winter Arbora, they’ll let me into their libraries.” He shrugged uneasily. “It’s an older court. Maybe they’ll have something on Arbora who change into warriors.”
“Something that Opal Night didn’t have?” Moon asked, and tried not to sound skeptical. Opal Night was one of the oldest courts in the Reaches, possibly the oldest one, and Chime had been all through their libraries.
Chime sighed, partly resigned and partly annoyed, as he was well aware of all these objections. “I know. But Opal Night’s always been a prosperous court, as far back as their histories go. Their recorded instances of this—” he waved at himself “—happening were all secondhand from other courts. Ocean Winter is old, but it’s never been as big. I’m just hoping they have a firsthand account somewhere.”
Moon said, “Or a firsthand account of how someone got changed back.” Shifting was what defined a Raksura; you were either an Aeriat—an infertile warrior or a fertile consort or queen, who shifted to a winged form—or an Arbora who shifted to a wingless form but still had the colorful scales, the razor claws, the tail, the spines, and the other things that made you Raksura. But before Moon had come to Indigo Cloud, Chime had been an Arbora mentor, and had shifted one day and found himself a warrior, gaining wings but losing the powers of healing and divination that only Arbora mentors had. He had never been reconciled to the change.
At Opal Night, Chime had found mentions of Arbora transforming into warriors, and confirmation of what they already knew, that it only happened to courts under pressure from disease, food shortages, or reduced population. He hadn’t found any mention of mentors-turned-warriors having odd flashes of insight or being able to hear things they shouldn’t. Chime had had moments where he knew upper air dwellers like cloud-walkers or sky-sailors were passing overhead, and sometimes he could hear a distant rumble that might be the voices of the mountain-trees.
Chime had left Opal Night with little more knowledge than he had started with, and a promise from some of the mentors to send word to him if they stumbled on any more information in their own searches. Moon didn’t think he was going to get anything better than that at Ocean Winter.
Chime poked absently at one of the lizards, which hissed at him and fluttered its wings. “I’m a fool, I know that too.”
“I don’t think you’re a fool. I just … have a lot of experience with looking for things without much chance of finding them, for turns and turns.” Moon had been orphaned as a fledgling and grew up outside the courts, not even knowing he was a Raksura or what a Raksura was. Being found and hauled away to Indigo Cloud had been filled with revelations, some of them disturbing. He didn’t regret any of it now, but he could sympathize with both the need to dig into the unknown and the urge to leave things as they were.
Chime grimaced. “You found what you were looking for.”
“It found me, a long time after I gave up.” Moon watched the Arbora, mainly Rill, Weave, Snap, and Bark rolling out the mats and cushions across the hall floor where everyone would sit for the gathering. The air was filled with the scents of baking flatbread, spiced roots, and other treats. He had never thought he would have a home of any kind, let alone one like this. He had trouble imagining wanting anything else, now. Maybe he didn’t have as much sympathy for Chime’s problem as he should. Chime had grown up with this, knowing who he was, protected by a large number of affectionate and quarrelsome Raksura.
“So I should give up?” Chime didn’t sound impressed. “And somehow the answer will just show up?”
“No.” There wasn’t much resemblance between the two situations, after all. “But I think …” Moon realized he was about to tell Chime that he should give up, just accept what had happened to him. It sounded like good advice inside his head, but he had the feeling that once he said it, it would sound terrible. “I don’t know what I think.” And if it was making Chime feel better to search for answers, then he didn’t want to discourage him.
“I think you think I’m wasting my effort.”
“No, I don’t think that. It’s not like you have other things to do.” Chime stared at him, and Moon thought, why did I say that? He seemed to have lost what little ability he had had to talk to people. “That’s not what I meant.”
Blossom called out, �
�Come on, we’re ready!” and Chime pushed to his feet and stalked away before Moon could say anything else.
“I said something stupid to Chime,” Moon told Jade later in her bower.
“You had an argument?” she asked. It was long after the gathering, and she was sitting on a fur mat, sorting out jewelry to take with her tomorrow. Just because Indigo Cloud had the upper hand in this alliance didn’t mean Jade didn’t have to try to impress the reigning Queen of Ocean Winter. Not that Moon thought Jade needed anything but herself to impress anyone with. Like all Raksuran queens, she had no groundling form and could shift only between her winged form and a wingless shape that looked more like an Arbora. Her scales were blue, with a silver-gray web pattern. Behind her head, the frills and spines formed an elaborate mane, reaching all the way down her back to her tail.
Ocean Winter had already visited Indigo Cloud for a formal greeting between courts. The sister queen had come with her consort, and it had all been very correct and dull. Now Jade was going to return their visit so they could work out the details of a trading agreement between the two courts. Since the alliance between Opal Night, the most powerful court in the Reaches, they had had more greetings and requests for alliances than they could handle. Ocean Winter was not a particularly prestigious court, and Jade had decided it was better if Moon didn’t accompany her, so as to make it clear just which court was the one begging for a trade alliance.
Moon put the kettle on the heated stones in the bowl hearth set into the floor. Mentors could spell stones and plants and other objects to make them produce light or heat, something else important to the court that Chime couldn’t do anymore. “I don’t think you can call it an argument when one person says stupid things and the other just stares at them.”
Jade looked up, lifting one scaled brow. “I think you can call that an argument.”
“I talked to him later at the gathering, and I think he was over it, but … I don’t want to tell him he should stop trying to find out more about what happened to him.” Chime was increasingly obsessed with exploring what it meant to change from a mentor to a warrior, and the strange and erratic flashes of insight he had were sometimes helpful, and more often just taunting reminders of the mentors’ skills and powers he no longer had. “But …”