Callumkal started to speak and Stone interrupted, “They’re coming in from the east and the west. There’s no way to go.”
Rorra swore in another language. Callumkal and Vendoin just stared. Kellimdar said, “But—” and stopped, as if he had no idea how to finish that sentence.
“The sacs.” Jade turned to Stone. “If we can rip open the sacs on some of the sealings, maybe just enough for the sunsailer to get past the others—”
Stone said, “I couldn’t see any sacs, and no rulers. The Fell are controlling the sealings some other way.”
Moon hissed in disbelief. He felt unexpected sympathy with Kellimdar. He wanted to say but that’s impossible. He heard footsteps on the stairs behind them and saw Delin climbing up. He looked a little shaky and Moon stepped out to give him a hand up. Moon had forgotten he was in scaled form, but Delin closed his soft-skinned hand around Moon’s scaled palm and claws with no hesitation. His face etched into worried lines, Delin said, “Oh, this has not turned out so well.”
Moon steadied him on the landing. Figuring he might as well get the worst out of the way, he told Delin, “They’ve got us trapped between the island and the escarpment.”
Delin nodded grimly as he stepped into the steering cabin. “I thought as much.”
Callumkal was saying, “We’ll fight them. We still have our weapons.”
Jade’s tail flicked continuously, a sign of her racing thoughts. “How long? Do your weapons run out?”
“Yes,” Kellimdar said, his voice thready. “They will function for some hours, but the mosses need to rejuvenate. They need sunlight . . .”
Then Delin said, “We must try to open the city.”
Moon, and everyone else, turned to stare. Delin said, “We can retreat to it, take shelter. If we can open it.”
Jade recovered first. Speaking Raksuran, she said, “I thought it would take a crossbreed Fell-Raksura to open it, someone who looks like a forerunner. We saw the Fell have a half-Raksuran queen.”
“That was our theory and may be what the Fell believe,” Delin replied in the same language, “but we do not know if that is so. There may be another way. If it is a foundation builder city and not forerunner at all, there is certainly another way.”
Callumkal found his voice. “Please speak Altanic. Do you know how to open it?”
Delin spread his hands. “Bramble, Merit, and I accomplished much today. We found the door, we can find the way to open it.”
“Can you do it in time?” Vendoin asked.
“That is a good question,” Delin said. “Perhaps the Fell and their sealing battering rams will be driven away by our weapons and it won’t matter.”
Stone made a skeptical noise, and Delin added, “I agree.”
Callumkal looked at Vendoin and Kellimdar, then Jade. He said, “He’s right, we have to try. Even if the city holds some danger, there is no other option. We can send Delin and the others over in the small boat, if your people will guard them—”
Rorra gestured toward the railing. “Both the small boats were hulled when that thing tried to overturn us.”
She was right; the mast of the boat that had been tied off there was still visible above the rail. But it sat at an acute angle that didn’t bode well for the rest of it. The Kishan had those little rowing boats, but they would take too long. “We can fly them over,” Moon said. He thought it was a bad idea. He also thought it was the only idea.
Jade’s tail lashed in frustration but she snarled, “We don’t have a choice.” She turned and flung herself out the door and down the steps.
Stone caught Moon before he could follow. Stone said, “Tell Jade I’m going to try to hold them off as long as I can.”
“Right,” Moon said. He wanted to say a lot of other things, but there was no time right now, and no real point.
Delin tapped his arm. “Your assistance?”
“Sure.” Moon lifted Delin up and carried him down the stairs, then outside and over the rail down to the lower deck.
There, River and Chime waited with Jade. She must have told them how bad things were. River looked the way he usually did, except maybe less sullen, but Chime’s spines and tail twitched nervously. As Moon landed, Root came out of the hatch with Bramble and Merit. Moon sat Delin on his feet and told Jade, “Stone’s going to try to hold them off.”
Jade flicked her spines in assent. She said, “The Arbora will go with Delin to try to open the city, Root, River, Chime, and Moon will fly them over. I’m going to join the others.”
Overhead, Stone launched into the air, his shifted form skirting the distance-lights and diving toward the oncoming sealings.
Bramble nodded tensely. She and Merit were in their scaled forms, spines and tails twitching in anticipation and nerves. She said, “We could use Chime’s help.”
Merit seconded that. “He’s done this before.”
“Sort of,” Chime corrected, but he didn’t object.
“Whatever you have to do to get that door open,” Jade hesitated, then grabbed Moon’s shoulder and nipped his ear. “Be careful,” she whispered. “And take care of them.”
Moon’s throat went tight; she didn’t mean just the Arbora. He thought of their clutch again. But he said, “I will. Just come back.”
Jade stepped away, jumped to the railing, and then into the air.
Moon took a deep breath. “Everybody grab someone,” he told the warriors. “I’ll take Delin.”
Root obligingly picked up Bramble. “What are we doing?” he said, “because I missed that part.”
“We’re going to open the city,” Moon said, lifting Delin up. It sounded far too optimistic.
“Oh.” Root’s spines drooped. “I was hoping it wasn’t that.”
Moon asked Chime, “Are you going to be all right?”
Chime moved his spines in an assent that wasn’t quite as confident as Moon would have liked. “The wind’s better than it was before. I can do it.”
River snarled, “Let’s just get it over with,” and picked up Merit. Moon decided to let that go and leapt off the deck into the wind.
He caught the strong current and banked to turn back toward the escarpment. As the others followed, Delin gripped his collar flange and gasped, “One of the creatures nears the ship!”
Behind Moon, Kishan yelled warnings and he heard something strike the ship’s metal hull. Moon hissed and concentrated on his flying. The wind had died down a little when the sun had set earlier, but this was still going to be tricky.
He let the wind carry him toward the escarpment, then pulled up at the last instant and let it shove him toward the wall. He caught hold of the rock with his free hand and his foot claws. Delin, whose head was a handsbreadth from the stone, whistled in admiration.
Moon twisted to look over his shoulder. Chime hit the wall several paces below him and slid a little. River and Root landed with less velocity, Bramble freeing one hand to help Root hold on.
But the sunsailer wasn’t doing so well.
Moon couldn’t see the sealings, but there must be at least one or more, possibly underwater or just above the surface. They were pushing the sunsailer slowly toward the escarpment. The wind carried the sound of a straining rumble: the motivator that drove the sunsailer, fighting the pressure.
“The ship?” Delin gasped.
“You need to hurry. Hold on, I’m going to climb down.” Delin gripped his collar flange so Moon could use both hands to climb down to the ledge. Bramble and Merit had already spread out over the wall, pounding and clawing the obscuring coral-rock off the surface.
Moon set Delin down in front of the carvings at the base. He started to say, “Do you need any help?” when River shouted, “Dakti!”
Moon twisted around, spotted the shapes outlined against the sunsailer’s lights. He snarled, “Chime, stay here, River, Root, get in the air!”