“It came on you suddenly,” Malachite told her. “What did you see?”
Lithe closed her eyes to capture the images that wanted to slip away. “Something wants them to go inside. Something old. There’s another mentor there and it clouds his sight, he can’t see to warn them. It doesn’t mean to. It’s old and powerful and not like us.”
She opened her eyes. Diar glanced at Malachite, and asked Lithe, “You said something changed.”
Lithe hesitated, trying to sort through the thoughts that were hers and those the vision had brought. Sudden visions like this tended to fade fast. Then she had it. “Something has forced their hand. Will force their hand.” She took a sharp breath, the urgency that came with that fading image like a sudden punch in the chest. “The Fell are there.”
Malachite tapped a claw and Flicker leapt to obey. He brought Lithe a cup of tea and sat beside her. Lithe drank, the warm liquid soothing her throat, and Flicker patted her knee sympathetically.
Niran grimaced in frustration. “We can’t get there any faster.”
“I’m not sure it would help,” Lithe said. She concentrated, trying to tease out the last threads of true meaning. The images were blended with her own thoughts now, obscured with the color of her emotions. “The Fell are near them, watching. That’s all I have. I’m sorry.”
“It’s enough,” Malachite said.
Niran and Diar and all the others looked at her. “It is?” Diar said. She was asking the question the warriors and the other groundlings wanted to ask, but didn’t quite dare.
Malachite stood in one smooth motion. “It tells us they’re still alive.”
The others seemed a little reassured, and Lithe tried to be. But the vision had left a strong aftertaste of saltwater and death, and she was afraid.
Moon woke gradually, listening to familiar voices. He could tell from his sense of the sun’s passing that it was still a few hours until dawn. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, struggling back to consciousness. It took him a moment of staring at the copper-colored ceiling to remember where he was. Chime sat in front of the bench, watching Jade, Balm, and Rorra, who was spreading a fabric map out on the floor. Stone was gone and Delin was asleep on the opposite bench.
Rorra sat beside the map, having to tug her booted feet into a comfortable position. She propped an elbow on one of her knees and said, “Callumkal said he doesn’t wish to put you in danger.”
“I don’t want to be put in danger either, but we have to find the Fell, regardless of what we decide to do next,” Jade said.
Balm seconded, “Even if we decide to run, we have to know where they are. If they have a resting spot downwind of us, or anywhere between us and the ocean, they’re going to overtake us.”
“And if we see how many there are . . .” Jade flicked her spines uncertainly. “I don’t know. If this is a small flight, and they attacked with all their strength . . .”
Balm finished, “It still doesn’t make sense.”
“No,” Rorra agreed wearily.
Moon cautiously sat up on one elbow. The claw slash in his side was a dull ache. He could feel under the bandage that the cut was forming scar tissue. He could also smell dried fish. He sniffed the air, and Chime handed him a bowl of something that looked like chips of gray and white rock. “What is it?”
“Food,” Chime said. “Sort of.”
Moon took the bowl and bit into a chip. It tasted like fish. Terrible fish, but still fish. “Where is everybody?”
“Bramble is taking food to the warriors, and Stone went out on deck,” Chime said.
Rorra marked points on the map with a charcoal stick. “We’re here, and there are three islands nearby, that we know of.”
Moon leaned over to look. The islands were upwind of the escarpment, but to the southeast, and the wind had been strong and coming directly from the south since they had gotten here. He didn’t think they would detect much Fell stench from those islands, not unless the wind changed.
Rorra said, “This area is not inhabited or traveled by any species Kish has contact with. This map was made by the first scouts for the expedition, trying to locate the escarpment. But they weren’t trying to make accurate maps, they were just looking for the best routes, if you see what I mean. They only mapped what they could see from their air vessel.”
Jade tapped her claws on either side of the islands. “So there could be more small islands out here.”
“There could be anything out there.” Rorra’s expression was glum.
Jade exchanged a frustrated look with Balm. “This is going to be even more fun than I thought.”
Chime sat up suddenly. “Oh. The gleaners. Or whatever they were called.”
Moon frowned, remembering their night visit to the floating hive. “The ones who disappeared?”
“Yes, them.” Chime moved around Balm for a look at the map. “We thought the Fell took them to eat them.”
“Right.” Jade’s brow furrowed. “Why else would they take them?”
“Because they can make floating platforms,” Chime said.
Everyone stared at him. “Hmm,” Rorra said, and studied the map again.
Jade nodded slowly, her spines lifting. Balm said, “That might be it.”
The more Moon thought about it, the more sense it made. He said, “The Fell would know that the Kishan would have maps of the islands.”
“Yes,” Jade said. “And they would want something they could move around in. Like that giant sac the flight looking for the other forerunner city had.”
Rorra’s brows lifted. “Giant what?”
“The kethel can make sacs, to carry dakti. This one was . . .” Balm made a gesture, indicating something round and by her expression horrible. Moon had to admit that was about as close as he could come, too. “Hard to describe.”
Chime’s attention was all on the map. “The hive platform we saw looked like it was just drifting on the current. The kethel could push it, but they would want to keep it out here somewhere.” He tapped the circle of small islands.
“If it was on the other side of the escarpment, the currents are too strong. It would be carried out into the ocean.” Rorra traced a path through the islands. “I think it must be along here. This current makes a circular motion, you can tell by the pattern of the islands. If their platform drifted too far toward the open sea, they could easily turn it back.”
Jade said, “We should check this area first.”
“How can you do this without the Fell being aware of you?” Rorra asked. “If you can see them, surely they can see you.”
“To us, Fell have a distinctive . . . scent.” Jade’s hesitation was probably due to remembering that Rorra had a distinctive scent too. It was an awkward subject. “Stone will be able to tell they’re in the area from a much longer distance.”
Rorra nodded understanding. “So the wind patterns will let you eliminate a large territory with minimal effort.”
That would be the easy part, Moon thought. The difficult part was going to be getting close enough to see anything without getting eaten.
Late the next morning, Moon sat on one of the small boats with Chime and River. Rorra was at the steering lever and Kalam and Magrim were acting as crew. The sky was clear with only a scatter of white clouds, the air warm, the breeze cool and steady, and Moon had nothing to do except worry. It was just as tiring as being in the air searching for Fell, with none of the sense of accomplishment.
They had taken the boat around to the point on Rorra’s map where the current turned, and the islands were only distant smudges on the waterline. Stone had flown ahead to scout, and Jade and Balm had split off to skirt the islands. Moon and the others were to meet them here. There were so many questions that still needed answering, but at least they could find out where the Fell were nesting.