Edge of Worlds (The Books of the Raksura) (30 page)

The Kishan camp had also quieted as the few remaining inhabitants retreated to the sunsailer or went back to the flying boat as the night settled in. Then Callumkal walked over with Rorra, Kellimdar, and Kalam to invite them to sleep on the sunsailer, but Jade said they would stay here. She told Callumkal, “If the Fell are watching you, and waiting for you to open the city, they might come closer in during the night to spy on you. We’ll be better able to detect them out here.”

This sparked a little argument about the Fell, with Kellimdar going over all the reasons the Kishan who had remained here thought the Fell were gone, and Jade countering with all the reasons the Raksura thought they must be here, and Callumkal acting as arbitrator.

Kellimdar said, “I believe they came here only to hunt the inhabited, unprotected islands to the west, and then left.”

Jade managed to hold on to her patience. “We told you the signs we encountered on the way here. It can’t be a coincidence that the Fell are out this far.”

“But you don’t know that those signs were caused by the Fell,” Kellimdar protested. He claimed to understand their concerns but he kept circling back around to the idea that there was nothing to worry about. In some ways Moon understood; the Kishan had been chasing the idea of this city for a long time, and all the speculation about it had been proved right so far. Turning your back on all that and just leaving would be terribly hard.

And what Callumkal had said earlier was right; leaving wouldn’t solve the problem either. Not until they knew if the Fell knew a way inside, or were waiting for the groundlings to find one. Or knew what was in there. If anything was. Moon rubbed his face in frustration and held back a growl.

Jade said, with an edge to her voice, “Perhaps we’ve had enough speculation for tonight.”

Callumkal said wearily, “I agree.”

Rorra, who had accepted a cup of tea from Bramble while Kellimdar was arguing, pushed decisively to her feet, took Kalam’s arm, and hauled him up after her. She said, “Callumkal, if you want to stay on the sunsailer tonight, it will be tricky to bring the tender alongside in this current.”

That got Callumkal and Kellimdar moving. Chime asked Delin, “Aren’t you going with them?” He added in Raksuran, “You know, you could listen to what they say.”

Delin shook his head wearily. “I’ve heard it all already.”

When the Kishan had all trekked down the beach, and the sound of the efforts to get the small boat into the water had faded, Delin took a seat beside the hearth and said, “So. The underwater stairs that Stone found. I know it has occurred to all of us that they may be underwater for a reason.”

Moon had an instant of intense memory, of the moment of realization that the creature in the forerunner city had followed them up through the doorway. He felt a ripple of nerves run down his shoulders, where his absent spines wanted to twitch. The creature trapped under the island had been killed by saltwater, one of the reasons they thought the prison had been chosen for it. Chime said, “But like you said, it could also be that the steps were built when the sea wasn’t here, and the dock built on top of them later.”

“It’s a possibility,” Delin said, “but we must ascertain the age of the stairs, and the docking structure above it, to be sure.” He threaded his fingers through his beard. “I am not sure how to do this, but I think the Kishan perhaps know methods.”

Stone stretched and lay back in the sand. “I’m having a lot of trouble with the idea of leaving this place without knowing if there’s something dangerous inside it or not.”

“Yes. Callumkal said that too.” Jade’s spines drooped in resignation. “I’m not happy about the idea of living the rest of our lives in the Reaches waiting for the Fell to show up, and knowing we could have avoided it if we had tried harder.”

Root said, “So either we can’t find a way into the city and have to leave, and not know if the Fell are going to get something from it and use it to come after the Reaches. Or we get into the city and maybe that sets loose the thing that the Fell get and use to come after the Reaches. Or we leave, and somebody else gets into the city later and the Fell—”

Song shoved him in the shoulder. Root fell over into the sand and protested, “I’m not wrong.”

“We know you aren’t,” Chime said, “That’s the problem.” There was a moment of glum contemplation.

Then Song said, “Why can’t we use the thing the Fell are going to get against the Fell?”

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence. Moon was struck by a deep gut-and-bone-level instinct for how bad an idea that was, but he didn’t know how to put it into words. Then Jade said, “You didn’t see it.”

Moon expected Song to drop the subject. She hadn’t seen it because she and Root had been almost killed while trying to fight off the Fell. Song still had the scars on her throat. But instead she said, “There were only a few of you there. Stone wasn’t even there. If there were more, we could control it. Or kill it.”

The warriors all looked at Jade, except Balm, who stared at Song, her expression suggesting that someone was about to get a slap to the head. Song hadn’t exactly made a direct challenge to Jade, but the tension of the moment made the comment more pointed than Song had perhaps intended. Her voice tight, Jade said, “As I said, you didn’t see it.”

Song leaned forward. “But it could be our chance to fight the Fell, really fight them, maybe kill a lot of them at once. If this thing is going to be powerful enough for them to use it to attack and overwhelm the Reaches, then it’s powerful enough for us to use it to attack them.”

Jade tilted her head.

Sitting up on his elbows, Stone muttered, “Uh oh,” under his breath. Chime glanced at Moon worriedly, and Delin sat very still. Balm had unconsciously bared her teeth at Song. Root had frozen in place. Moon sat up a little, trying to think of something to say to disarm the situation.

Then Bramble snorted. “Song, did you get hit on the head?”

Bramble and Merit had been so quiet, Moon had forgotten they were there.

Merit was going through his simple bag, and without looking up, said dryly, “You know, I may be young and not the most powerful mentor the court has ever had, but if I had scryed something like that, I’d mention it.”

“There were only a ‘few of you’ there. Let’s see.” Bramble ticked the list off on her fingers. “Jade, our sister queen. Moon, our consort who fights Fell. Malachite, a reigning queen who killed a whole Fell flight. A half-fell consort. A half-fell mentor. And Chime, our mentor who turned into a warrior who has strange abilities that no one understands yet. Even without Stone there, that’s as strong and powerful a group as most courts could put together.” Bramble leaned toward Song. “Exactly how do you expect to control this thing? Have a bunch of warriors there for it to kill as a distraction?”

Merit added, “If we gave it a hundred warriors to kill, maybe it would get tired—”

Song curled her arms around her legs, physically withdrawing from the battle. “All right, all right! You don’t have to rip my face off.”

Bramble grinned. “If someone needs to rip your face off, I’ll do it.”

“Bramble, Merit, enough. You made your point, you don’t have to enjoy it,” Jade said, but her voice wasn’t tight anymore. She rippled her spines to release tension and stood. “We’ll take this up tomorrow. We need some rest.”

Bramble and Merit put on contrite expressions and didn’t argue, having gotten exactly the reactions that they had been aiming for. Stone flicked a fish bone at Bramble’s head.

As Jade started toward the tent, Bramble turned to clean up around the hearth and the warriors all got to their feet. Moon scrambled up to follow Jade.

Everyone got settled, with Delin bedding down on one side with the Arbora and Chime, Moon and Jade on the other. Stone stayed outside in the sand.

Root and Song were supposed to be changing guard places with Briar and River. Through the tent wall, Moon heard Balm stop Root and say, “Go back into the tent. I’m taking your place.” Then a moment later River whispered, “What’s going on?” and Root hissed at him to be quiet.

Jade bunched up the blanket and gave it a punch, muttering, “Idiots.”

Moon rescued the blanket from her and spread it out over the cool sand. Briar and River slipped inside the tent and settled down to at least pretend to sleep. Moon hoped Balm had talking more in mind than fighting, and knowing her she probably did. He was irritated with Song on several points, but mainly the fact that she had interrupted the ongoing discussion of whether they should try to get inside the city or not right at the moment when they might have come to a decision. He thought they were probably going to have to try, just because Jade and Callumkal and everyone else who had brought it up was right: it would be impossible to leave this place knowing it might at some point be used against them by the Fell. Of course, the others were right about the possible consequences, too.

He curled up next to Jade on the blanket, and she tucked an arm around his waist.
In the morning
, he told himself.
Worry about it in the morning
.

Moon woke with Stone leaning over him. Stone whispered, “Get up. There’s Fell stench in the wind.”

Jade whipped to her feet. Moon rolled to a crouch, shifting in mid-motion, and tasted the air. He couldn’t detect anything yet, but Stone’s senses were far more acute at long distances.

Around the tent, the others scrambled to their feet. Jade said, “Which way?”

“The southeast, from across the island,” Stone answered, and stepped back outside.

“Where do we go?” Delin whispered, helping Bramble stuff blankets into her pack.

Not the right question
, Moon thought. Carrying the Arbora and Delin, they could fly downwind and outrun the Fell, if the wind didn’t drive them into the side of the escarpment or out over the ocean. But it would leave all the other groundlings to die, leave the city and its secrets to the Fell. He said, “Fight or run?”

Jade snarled. “Fight.” She jerked her head at the Arbora. “Dig in and hide. Take Delin with you.”

“They’ll never find us,” Bramble said it with absolute conviction.

Merit said, “Are you sure you don’t want me with you?” His voice shook a little. He had to be thinking of the time he had been captured by the Fell, at the old eastern colony.

Jade said, “No, stay with Bramble. Wait until we’re in the air, then go.” She flung herself out of the tent and Moon darted after her.

Stone stood on the beach, looking up at the night sky. Balm and Song flanked him, their spines flared in agitation. The other warriors shot out of the tent and formed a tight group around Jade. Chime bumped into Moon’s shoulder, radiating nervous fear.

They had left no mentors’ lights or fires lit outside, and the untenanted Kishan camp was also dark. The obvious target was Callumkal’s flying boat tethered sixty paces or so down the beach, with the soft lights along its ridge and on its stern and bow. The other, smaller flying boat was dark, lost among the treetops, but the Fell might have marked its location during daylight. The sunsailer lay at anchor several hundred paces from the shore, deceptively vulnerable, lights shining out of cabin windows. Jade said, “River, warn the Kishan on the flying boat. Don’t fly; run to it and go up the ladder. Then come back to me.”

River bounded off, his movements soundless on the sand.

Moon said, “We can warn the ship without the Fell knowing. Someone can swim out to it.”

All Jade’s attention was on the sky. “Chime, do it. Stay there.”

She had chosen the warrior least likely to be an effective fighter. Both situations were dangerous, as the ship would surely be a prime target, but Chime would be close to the water, able to stay under far longer than a groundling, and it was unlikely the Fell would detect him. Moon nudged Chime. “Swim out to the ship and climb the hull. Find Callumkal.”

Chime hesitated. “But—You should—”

Moon gave him a push toward the shore. “Swim fast, stay under as long as you can.”

Chime flicked his spines in assent and bolted down the slope of the beach. Moon caught a faint reflection on his scales as he dove into the waves and disappeared.

Jade said, “Stone, from above or below?” She sounded tense and it worried Moon a little that she was asking for advice.

As calm as if they were planning a grasseater hunt, Stone said, “Doesn’t matter, they’ll expect us from either.”

Balm snapped, “Kethel!” and pointed.

The big dark shape moved across the faint starlight. The groundlings in the east called kethel harbingers, because they were so often the first sign that a Fell flight was nearby. Their armor-like scales were matte black and they had a halo of horns protecting their heads. They were the least intelligent of the Fell, and totally under the control of the rulers. Kethel never traveled alone, and this one’s presence meant the rest of the flight wasn’t far behind.

Between the distance and the darkness it was hard to tell the size. Moon thought it might be three times Stone’s wingspan.
Good, not a big one
, he thought. Jade said, “Wait, wait.”

“Another kethel,” Briar said from behind Moon.

Moon said, “They’ll hold the third back.” A flight wouldn’t normally send more than three kethel until it was time to feed. The rulers would want to keep some with their progenitor. It was especially likely with a flight in this position, traveling from island to island over water, with probably only one secure place to retreat to. The progenitor might not even be anywhere nearby, but be waiting with the rest of the flight on the mainland, which meant there would be fewer reinforcements.

Jade said, “Stone, you take that one. Moon, with me. The rest of you keep the dakti off us.”

Stone’s shape flowed into darkness, already lifting off of the beach as if insubstantial. A heartbeat later his great wings beat once and Moon staggered from the displaced air. The shape gained weight and substance as it shot upward toward the closest kethel.

Jade leapt after Stone, and Moon followed her. He felt the warriors in the air behind him as Jade crossed under Stone’s path and headed for the second kethel.