Moon hoped Callumkal hadn’t noticed that Kalam had delivered that information a little too readily. Callumkal said, “I’m glad it was interesting.” He looked at Moon and Stone and started to speak. Then Jade stepped forward and demanded, “What were you eating?” She looked appalled.
“Just the things from the food places down there,” Moon said. He walked down the deck with her, noting out of the corner of his eye that Stone had wandered in the opposite direction toward the bow. Callumkal was speaking to Kalam, but from the boy’s expansive gestures, Moon bet he was describing the trading station.
Jade said in Raksuran, “We’re waiting for the supplies to be ready. He’s going to let all the crew who are willing to help carry them up go to that market down there, but he wants to leave after that. He didn’t seem suspicious. I told them you wanted to see the market and Stone was keeping an eye on you, and he seemed to accept it. And really, what were you eating?”
“It’s like fried bread batter with boiled sugar cane,” Moon said. Jade winced. “We talked to a sealing, and they’ve heard of at least one disappearance of groundlings from an island in the sel-Selatra. It’s not anywhere near the places where Callumkal said they found signs of what could be Fell attack. It sounds like the Fell were wandering around out there for a while.”
Jade leaned on the railing and growled under her breath. “They’re looking for prey.”
Moon agreed. And he was afraid it meant that the Fell hadn’t followed the Kishan expedition, that they might have already been out there, scouting the city, for some time.
They wouldn’t know until they reached their goal.
The wind eased in the late afternoon, and the flying boat took advantage of it to cast off and head out to sea. The bladder boats still anchored to the tower must not be as powerful as the Kishan boat, and their crews watched enviously as it departed.
Callumkal had told them that the sealing city might be partially visible from the air, so all the Raksura and Delin were lined up at the railing of the main deck to look for it. Every crew member not occupied was out there too, though they took up places a little distance away. Only Kalam and Magrim had come over to stand next to Delin. Rorra was nowhere to be seen, but then somebody had to be steering the flying boat.
Chime, leaning on the rail next to Moon, said, “So the sealings were hard to talk to?”
“I think it’s just the way they act with other species.” Getting back here successfully with some more confirmation on the situation in the sel-Selatra had noticeably improved Moon’s mood. Or maybe it was just all the boiled dumplings and fried sugar dough eaten while walking around the trading station. Its multiple windows had allowed visitors to watch the waves crash against it on the upper level, and to look at underwater life on the lower. There had been raw material and goods trading going on with the sealings, but most of the groundlings had been there to see the place. “Or maybe just other species that want to buy their simples.”
“Well, I’m glad you and Stone got out of there safely.” Chime twitched his shoulders, unconsciously trying to convey his mood with the spines of his other form.
Moon thought about pointing out that as groundling cities go, the port was definitely one he would have classified as “safe.” If he had ever gotten this far northwest on his own and run across it, he would have planned to stay for a while.
The boat had already reached the shoreline and moved out over the docks and the bridges that connected the nearest islands. “There it is!” Balm said suddenly, pointing. “Past that island!”
The warriors climbed up on the railing and the two Arbora pressed against it. The islands were covered with heavy greenery, but around them the waves moved in an odd pattern, disrupted by whatever was just under the surface. Moon pulled himself up onto the railing and perched one hip on it.
As the boat drew closer, the outlines of walls, tops of towers, and other structures less easy to understand became visible just below the surface. The water was clear enough that in the intervals between waves Moon could see bodies swimming, flickering in and out among a forest of water plants. The sealing city lay between and around the six major islands in the bay, far larger than Moon had been expecting. “I wonder . . .” Chime muttered, staring intently. “I wonder if they made the islands too.”
Moon shrugged. He wondered if the sealings would have answered that question if asked. Maybe; it was probably more interesting than talking about drugs.
Down the deck, most of the Kishan crew were all straining to see. The boat was much closer before the crew started to exclaim at the wonders below the waves. Delin, who had been waiting more patiently, now started to sketch the outline of the city.
Jade moved over beside Moon, leaning on the railing to look down. “It’s five days to the edge of the sel-Selatra from here.”
Moon felt a stab of unease. By tomorrow they would be too far from the coast to fly back without help. Stone might be able to, but the further they went, the less likely it would be for him, too. Moon hadn’t felt much sense of inevitable commitment to this plan when they first boarded the flying boat, but soon it really would be too late to turn back. He thought about the clutch again, and wondered if they were upset about his prolonged absence or too busy playing to notice, as Thorn had predicted. At least the Sky Copper fledglings were old enough to understand the situation.
But there really had been no opportunity to turn back. The shared dream and the mentors’ augury had made the consequences of failure clear.
The flying boat sailed on over the islands, and the sealing city, until they were out of sight.
CHAPTER TEN
“It’s not going well,” Ember whispered.
He was crouched on the balcony of Rill’s bower, shielded from the sight of anyone in the greeting hall by the angle of the doorway.
Below, Malachite and Pearl confronted each other, loosely surrounded by an uneasy group of warriors and Arbora. Floret spoke for Pearl, and an older female warrior spoke for Malachite. So far they appeared to be making extremely awkward small talk, while Floret occasionally threw beseeching glances at Pearl, hoping for some sign that it was all right to invite the newcomers into the colony.
It wasn’t the first unexpected visit since the groundling flying boat had left. Niran and Diar from the Golden Isles had arrived in their wind-ship only six days later. The court had hosted them for the night, given them a copy of the Kish map and all the information they had, and sent them on their way. It had been a relief all around. At least Jade and the others would have friendly groundling allies whenever the Golden Isles wind-ship caught up with them.
Behind him, Rill asked Aura, “The same visions? All their mentors?”
“That’s what it sounded like from their descriptions.” Aura had led the warriors who had carried the message to Opal Night. “Malachite barely gave us time to eat and rest before we started back here.”
The thought that another court had experienced the same augury made Ember’s skin creep. Given the seriousness of the visions, it wasn’t a surprise that Malachite had come here. The problem was that along with a group of warriors, Malachite had brought Opal Night’s half-Fell consort and half-Fell mentor.
They were with her now, standing with the Opal Night warriors. The warriors seemed relaxed and confident, but the half-Fell consort, now in his groundling form, looked nervous. The mentor was nearly hiding behind one of the larger female warriors.
Ember could tell the situation was becoming increasingly tense. Watching Pearl, studying the subtle nuances of her body language, Ember thought it was indecision she was wrestling with more than disgust or anger. In a way he understood. Indigo Cloud had been nearly destroyed by a deliberately crossbred Fell-Raksuran queen who had taken over her Fell flight. The court of Sky Copper had been entirely destroyed except for one royal clutch. The same thing had happened to Opal Night’s eastern colony, turns and turns ago, and it must have been easy for Pearl to sympathize, even if she didn’t understand Malachite’s impulse to retrieve her consort’s half-Fell issue.