The Cloud Roads (26 page)

Moon didn’t need Selis to thank him, or to tell him he was right. She had trusted him when she didn’t have to, helped him and Jade when it would have been easier and safer to do nothing. He just said, “There’s lots of different travelers and traders in Kish. It’s easy to blend in.”

She watched him a moment. “And you’re going to help these people kill Fell.”

“They’re my people.” It felt strange to say it. He had only admitted it to himself a few days ago, and it still didn’t feel quite real.

Selis snorted. “You’re in love with that woman.”

“No.” At her skeptical expression, he gave in and added, “Maybe.”

“You’re stupid about women.” After a moment of thought, she added, “You’re stupid about men, too.”

Moon couldn’t argue with that. “I know.”

“She treats you better than Ilane did, at least.”

Moon started to protest, then subsided. Ilane had treated him well. She just hadn’t cared about him beyond his ability to give her what she wanted and please her in bed. At the time, it had been enough, but then he had never known anyone who had actually seen him for what he was. He pointed out, “Jade hasn’t tried to kill me yet.” Despite all the provocation he had given her.

Selis made a noise of grudging agreement. “Just be careful.”

Moon shrugged. That was something else he couldn’t promise.

Chapter Fifteen

T
hey said goodbye to Selis in the mountain city, and flew day and night, stopping to rest as infrequently as possible. The wind was with them and the weather stayed fair, speeding their flight out of the mountains. Once they were over the warmer forests they pushed even harder and didn’t stop at all for the last two days. Just before sunset, they reached the valley where the others had taken shelter. While the Fell stench lingered in the direction of the colony, no taint drifted through the grove where the blind lay. Moon was so exhausted he flew through a plume tree while trying to land and reached the ground in an uncontrolled tumble. Ashe sprawled in the moss, Jade dropped through the canopy in an anxious rush, landing on her feet beside him.

“Moon, are you all right?”

He stifled a groan. “Yes. I meant to do that.”

He had a few new bruises, but the plume tree’s branches were too soft to cause any real damage. He shifted to groundling and nearly collapsed again when he shed the weight of his wings. It was a relief, even when it meant trading them for aching muscles and an encompassing weariness. He staggered unsteadily to his feet.

He caught a scent of Raksura, just before three hunters darted out of the undergrowth. They stood for a heartbeat in frozen shock.

Then the smallest one shouted, “You’re back!” He shifted to groundling, turning into a slight boy, and threw himself at Jade to hug her awkwardly.

She returned the hug for a moment, her shoulders tense. “We’re back,” she said, her voice suddenly thick. “It’s all right.”

“We’re so glad to see you,” one of the others said. She tugged at the boy’s shirt. “Strike, let go of the queen. Let her go into the blind. Bramble, go find Bone and—”

A violent rustle through the trees interrupted her and then Chime, Balm, and Root dropped to the ground. As all three shifted to groundling, Chime turned triumphantly to Root. “I told you they’d come back!”

“I didn’t say they wouldn’t,” Root protested, and Moon lost the rest as Chime flung himself into his arms.

Moon stumbled and almost fell under the onslaught, flustered and self-conscious as Chime hugged him. He hadn’t expected a greeting like this from anybody. Balm and Root fell on Jade just as enthusiastically, and as more hunters arrived, they all practically tumbled into the blind.

Inside, glowing moss strung from the woven branches gave wan light, and a small rock hearth was piled with stones spelled to give off warmth. Seated near it were Flower, the two teachers, Bead and Blossom, more hunters, and Niran. They all came to their feet with startled exclamations. Flower held her hands out for quiet, staring intently at Jade. “You’ve got the poison?” she demanded.

“Yes.” Jade lifted her pack, pulling out the bag with the flask. “And we know how to make it.”

Flower hissed in satisfaction, taking the bag.

“Poison?” Balm turned to her, startled. “What poison?”

“It’s the poison that Moon knew of, that keeps Fell from shifting,” Jade explained, looking around at the others. “We went to get it from some groundlings.”

Ignoring the chorus of questions, Moon looked for Stone, and for a moment thought he was gone. His dark form didn’t fill the back half of the chamber; Moon couldn’t hear the slow rasp of his breath. Then, back against a partition, he saw a pallet made up of cut branches and woven plume fronds, with someone lying on it in groundling form.

Behind Moon, Bone and more of the hunters pushed through the branches into the blind, greeting Jade warmly, but Moon barely noticed. He went to the pallet and dropped to his knees. Stone’s skin was ashen, and big gray-green bruises spread across his face, neck, his chest. Under the edge of his shirt was the seam of a half-healed wound, the skin puckered and raw.

Flower took out the poison flask and opened it to sniff cautiously at the con-tents. She looked up, telling Moon, “He was able to shift to groundling yesterday, but he’s still not recovered. It’ll be a few more days, at least.”

Stone’s eyes were half-open, but when Moon leaned over him, his good eye focused and he took a sharp breath. In a voice weak and grating with pain, he said, “It’s you, good. Give me a hand.”

Moon got an arm under him and helped him sit up. Stone’s grip on him was strong, but he leaned on Moon’s shoulder as if that was as far as he could get. He smelled of dried blood and sickness. Flower said hastily, “Don’t let him stand. He thinks he’s healed, the stubborn idiot.”

Stone cleared his throat. His voice was uneven, and he didn’t lift his head from Moon’s shoulder. “Did you get it?”

“Yes.” Moon frowned down at him. “How’d you know?”

“They said you and Jade went to get help from another court.” Stone snorted in derision, then flinched, as if it had pulled at his wounds. “I knew that was useless. When they told me what happened, I figured you’d try for the poison the groundlings used on you.”

Jade knelt beside them, touching Stone’s shoulder gently. She asked the others, “What about Pearl, and the other Aeriat? Are they watching the colony?”

“Yes. Not that there’s been much to watch,” Bone told her, sinking down beside the hearth with a weary grunt. The others were settling down, taking seats around the chamber, crowding together, listening anxiously. He added, “We’ve counted at least five kethel, but we’re not certain how many dakti or rulers.”

Jade nodded. “What about the rest of the court?” No one answered immediately and her voice tightened. “They’re alive?”

Moon waited for the answer, tensing. This can’t be for nothing.
If we’re too late...

Flower had unrolled the leaf with the boiling instructions for the poison; she looked up with a grim expression. “As far as we know.”

Someone in the back added bleakly, “As far as we hope.”

Jade’s spines lifted in agitation. “You haven’t been able to get anyone inside the colony?”

“No.” Balm’s jaw tightened as she admitted the failure. “We could never get anyone in through the water channels under the platform, the way we planned before you left. They keep a kethel lying in the river down there.”

Moon slumped, a little relieved. At least they hadn’t found proof that the others were all dead.

Chime added, “We even thought of trying to get Niran inside, since he doesn’t need to shift, but the more we talked about it...” He turned to Niran with a shrug.

“The more foolish it sounded,” Niran finished, sounding ironic. He looked better than Moon would have expected for a groundling living rough in the forest with Raksura. His white hair was tied tightly back and he wore an oversized silk shirt over his own clothes, probably borrowed from one of the Arbora. “It was getting near the place at all that was the stumbling block, not what one could or couldn’t do once inside.”

“But we have seen the dakti bring in food,” Balm said. “Grasseater carcasses, and melon and roots from our own plantings: that’s food for Arbora and Aeriat, not Fell.”

So what are the Fell eating?
Moon thought, sickened, but managed not to say it aloud.

Jade’s jaw tightened, as if the same thought had crossed her mind. She asked, “So there’s been no sign of anyone inside trying to escape?”

Bone lifted his hands, helpless and frustrated, and Moon had the feeling he and the others must have talked of little else while they waited here, debating the question from every angle.

“If no one in the court can shift,” Bone said, “they wouldn’t have any chance to run. The major kethel are always on the terraces and in the river.”

“In short, we don’t know anything,” Chime said with a wince.

Distracted, Flower shook the flask again. “How much of this do we need to make?” she asked. “Moon, how much did they give you?”

Moon thought back to that night with Ilane. Distance and a little revenge had made that memory less painful. “There couldn’t have been much, at first. It was in a small cup, and the odor wasn’t strong. I don’t remember anything after I drank it. It was morning when I started to come to, but I could hardly move. Then they forced some more down my throat.” He looked up to see they were all staring at him. “What?”

Appalled, Blossom said, “It sounds horrible. You lived with these people and they did this to you, just like that?”

Moon didn’t have an answer for her. It had been horrible, but after stealing the poison and scaring the Cordans all to pieces, he didn’t have much to complain about.

“We all thought you went to Star Aster to ask for help,” Balm told Jade. “Pearl sent Vine and me to Wind Sun. We only got back two days ago.”

“I don’t suppose they offered any?” Jade didn’t look particularly hopeful.

“No. It’s as we thought before you left. They said the survivors would be welcome to take refuge, but they wouldn’t send warriors.” Balm lifted a hand, frustrated. “They didn’t say so in so many words, but it was obvious they thought we brought this on ourselves.”

“Yes. We were certain Star Aster would say the same, so we tried for the poison instead.” Jade sounded grimly resigned. “And I don’t blame Wind Sun. We had no formal alliance, and they’re a small court. And they know if they had asked for our help, we would have said no.”

There was an uncomfortable moment as everyone absorbed that. In a small voice, one of the younger hunters said, “So we did bring it on ourselves?”

Stone stirred, lifting his head enough to say in a raw croak, “No. Nobody asks for something like this.”

Flower stoppered the poison flask and set it aside, saying in exasperation, “Stone, damn you, lie down or you’ll never get better.”

“I feel fine,” Stone insisted faintly, slumping back against Moon’s shoulder.

“We can tell,” Moon said, making his voice dry to hide his relief. If Stone felt well enough to argue, he couldn’t be as weak as he looked.

“Why isn’t he in a healing sleep?” Jade asked, moving around to help Moon lower Stone to the pallet again.

“With a consort, that’s easier said than done,” Flower told her. “He has to cooperate with me, and he won’t.”

Moon heard a rush of wings outside, like wind through the trees.

“That’s Pearl and the others,” Bone said, cocking his head to listen.

Moon flicked a quick look at Jade. This could still go badly wrong, if Pearl had changed her mind about their plan to use the poison.
She’s been here all this time and hasn’t come up with any better idea.

A hunter ducked into the blind and said, “The queen’s back.” He pulled the branches aside and Pearl stepped in. She was still in her winged form, and her expression gave no hint to her mood. Moon caught a glimpse of the other Aeriat behind her, with River pushing forward to get a look into the blind.

Without glancing back at him, Pearl flared her spines to keep him out. She said, coolly, “We need to speak in private.”

Still sitting beside Stone, Jade inclined her head. “With the leaders of the Arbora.”

Flower exchanged a look with Bone, and told the others, “The rest of you start collecting this plant. It’s three-leafed purple bow, that grows in and near spiral tree boles. Chime and Blossom, organize everyone into groups. Salt and Strike, make sure nothing eats Niran.”

Niran snorted, as if this was a running joke. He got to his feet, telling Flower, “Thank you for your consideration.”

“Wait.” Jade held Pearl’s gaze. “Send two hunters back to watch the colony. Keep the Aeriat here.”

That was only good sense. Branch might have been the traitor, but Moon still had doubts. And if he wasn’t the traitor, it could be someone else here, especially the Aeriat who had come to the Blue Stone Temple with Pearl.

Pearl’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t question it. She turned her head to tell the Aeriat, “Do as she says. No one else is to leave this grove.”

Flower and Bone stayed where they sat. The other Arbora got up to leave the blind, some casting uneasy glances back. Moon started to get up, and Jade shook her head slightly. He eased back down, not sure if this was a good idea. It seemed a bad time to antagonize Pearl, when they should be focused on how best to get the poison into the Fell. But sitting here for this long had given his exhausted body a chance to stiffen up. He felt heavy, as if he was going to sink right into the earth.

Chime and Balm went last, and reluctantly. Moon heard the other Aeriat outside asking frustrated questions before Balm drove them off.

Pearl waited until the voices faded, then sat down, curling her tail around neatly. She didn’t look at Moon. He thought that was just as well. She said to Jade, “I take it you were successful.”

“We brought some of the poison and the knowledge to make it.” Jade flicked her tail restlessly and added, “We can’t risk anyone going near the colony. If Branch wasn’t the traitor, whoever it is—”

“I did follow that.” Pearl’s voice was acid. “Even if your poison works as it should, there’s still the power that kept the court from shifting. If it forces us into groundling form—”

“Then we’ll fight that way,” Jade finished tightly.

Pearl lifted a brow. “That’s easily said.”

Bone leaned forward. “We’ve got some skinning knives, and javelins, to use as weapons. If the dakti are sick and forced to shift to groundling, we’ll have a chance.” He hesitated. “We’ve sat here for days trying to think of a better plan, or how to seek help. We can’t leave the others to the Fell, even if it kills us all.”

“He’s right.” Flower hugged herself, tucking her hands under the sleeves of her smock. “We’ve discussed it at length, all of us. We won’t abandon the rest of the court.”

Pearl tapped her claws on the dirt, and added deliberately, “There’s something else to consider. All these days, the Fell haven’t bothered to search the valleys for us.” She fixed her gaze on Jade. “Why is that, do you think?”

Flower and Bone both started to speak, but Jade’s voice cut across theirs. “Wait.” Watching Pearl, Jade said, “The queen is about to tell us.”

Pearl tilted her head. “I think it’s because they want something very specific from us, and until now, that something hasn’t been here.”

Moon felt his skin start to crawl.
It’s not me,
he thought. It couldn’t be.
This is not my fault.