“It turns out it’s not rock, not on that section of the cliff, it just looks like it,” Merit put in. “It’s like coral, it’s all drilled through with tiny little worm tunnels. Some plant or animal or plant-animal grew up the wall of the escarpment at some point, and then died, and it left this coating that weathered to look just like rock. It’s still very hard down at the bottom, where the Kishan were searching. But it was more breakable further up the wall.”
“And we kept knocking it off,” Bramble finished, “and we found the symbols, and a seam.”
Jade was leaning forward now, absorbed in the story. “A seam for an opening?”
“A big one.” Bramble waved her arms. “There’s a huge door in the cliff. We didn’t mean to find it, and it wasn’t Delin’s fault. He started yelling and waving at us, but we were so interested we didn’t hear him.”
“I thought he was cheering us on,” Merit said with another wince. “The Kishan on our boat saw it, and then a big section fell off and everybody saw it. It’s a really big door. Big enough to sail this boat through.”
“They stopped, then, so the door is not completely exposed,” Delin said, “and we still are not certain of how to open it. But—”
“But now there’s a door,” Jade concluded. “And all the Kishan know about it.”
Delin conceded, “Yes.”
Chime said, “And the Fell will know, as soon as they see it in daylight.” He turned and gave Merit a shove to the shoulder.
“Ow,” Merit protested.
Jade said, “Merit, I thought you were going to scry while we were gone.”
Merit looked at the floor, lifting one shoulder in a not-quite-shrug. He suddenly looked very young. “I tried, but I didn’t get anything,” he admitted reluctantly. “I thought maybe if I stopped for a while and helped Bramble and Delin . . . I don’t know what’s wrong. I should be seeing something about what the Fell are doing now, or the city, but I just get images of water.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. Maybe he’s trying too hard, Moon thought. But Merit usually did his best work when he was trying too hard. Frowning, Chime said slowly, “Maybe there’s just too much going on right now.”
Stone groaned, leaning his head back against the wall. Watching Jade anxiously, Bramble said, “I’m sorry we found the door. Is it really that bad?”
They didn’t know about today’s discovery yet. Moon glanced at Jade, and got a nod. He told them, “We found the Fell, nesting in two different places. Rorra got close to one group and saw a crossbreed queen.”
Bramble’s mouth dropped open. Merit made a choking noise. Even the usually unflappable Delin looked alarmed. He said, “You think they will attack again tonight?”
“We’re sure of it,” Stone said. He pushed to his feet. “We need to get out there.”
Jade was up and sweeping out the door before anyone else moved. As the warriors followed, Bramble leaned forward and caught Moon’s arm. “Tell her we’re sorry, Moon.” She looked miserable, and Merit didn’t look much better.
“She knows you are. It’s all right,” Moon told her, trying to sound reassuring. Jade was under a terrible amount of pressure, and she probably blamed herself for this; she needed a little time to just be angry. Moon didn’t think it was necessarily anybody’s fault for Arbora acting like Arbora and doing a thorough job of anything they put their minds to.
“You’re all idiots,” Stone said, gave Bramble a shove to the head, and walked out.
Bramble slumped and sighed in relief. “Stone still loves us.”
“Just get some rest,” Moon told them, and followed Stone out.
Stone and Chime were waiting for him down the corridor by the door to the deck. Chime whispered, “How much trouble do you think we’re in?”
“A lot,” Moon said honestly.
Stone growled under his breath and stepped outside.
Moon sat up on the roof of the cabin on the topmost deck, the metal still warm from the day’s heat. The thin sliver of moonlight slid in and out of the clouds, casting an occasional silver illumination on the waves washing up onto the beach, or the tops of the broadleaf trees. The wind tugged at his spines and frills, and danced across his scales.
Chime, sitting behind him and facing the west, said, “Jade’s right, you should be inside.”
As a consort, Moon was a prime target for a Fell flight who had successfully produced crossbreed Fell-Raksura. He was also tired of being reminded of it every other heartbeat. If there was anybody here supremely conscious of that fact, it was him. He said, “Can we stop talking about that?”
He heard Chime twitch uneasily, scales scraping on the cabin roof. “Sorry. It’s just . . . I’m worried. All right, I’m not worried, I’m terrified.”
“Everyone’s terrified. If anyone on this boat isn’t terrified right now, there’s something wrong with them,” Moon said. Two of the Kishan distance-lights pointed up at the sky and moved in slow patterns, watching for Fell. There were more lights, but Vendoin had said they lasted only for a limited time before they needed to be rested, and their use had to be rationed.
“I don’t know.” Chime sounded weary. “The Kishan think their weapons are going to hold off the Fell because they did last night. I wish I thought so.”
It was far more likely that last night had been a test of the Kishan’s defenses, and a successful attempt to destroy the flying boats and cripple the Kishan’s ability to escape quickly. Moon said, “I don’t wish I thought so. It’s better not to be surprised.”
“If you’re trying to reassure me, it’s not—” Chime began.
At that moment, Stone said from the deck below, “Do you smell that?”
Moon stood and tasted the air. It held saltwater and sand, the green scent of the trees and the heavy groundcover that cloaked the dunes on the other side of the island. And something else, just a trace that smelled of the sea bottom brought to the surface, decaying mud and dead shellfish. He said, “Something came up off the bottom. Something big.”
Stone said, “That’s what I was afraid of. They’re driving something toward us.”
Chime groaned in dismay, and Moon hissed under his breath. It was a trick they had seen before, where an attacker would take control of some large being that was normally harmless, and use it as a battering ram. Moon said, “Chime, go warn the others.”
Chime jumped down to the deck. His voice drifted back as he hurried away, “I didn’t think there was anything that big out here!”
Moon hadn’t either. The sea all through this area was shallow and he hadn’t seen anything bigger than an Arbora swimming through it. “Can you tell the direction?” Moon knew it was coming toward them from downwind, but that was it.
Stone swung up on top of the cabin. “It’s behind the island.”
Moon listened, trying to separate out the wind, the waves washing against the beach, the running footsteps and growing agitation on the ship below. They didn’t know how the Fell could control other beings, but they knew it would have to be a ruler, and that ruler would have to be in physical contact to do it. The instance Moon had seen from far too close had been a ruler mounted on a cloud-walker’s back, protected by a sac made from a kethel’s secretions.
The wind carried the sound of a rushing torrent, the sound of something large moving through water. Moon said, “Do you hear that?”