But as they drew closer, Moon realized he could hear something else besides the rushing wind of the leviathan’s breath. It was a deep, hollow sound, regular and even. “Do you hear that?” he asked the others. His first thought was that it was something the leviathan was doing, though he didn’t even want to guess what bodily function could produce that sound.
Rift stopped to listen, then said, startled, “It’s the bell. The warning bell. The leviathan’s going to move.”
Esom swore in a strange language, then added in Kedaic, “There’s no telling how long it’s been ringing.”
The magisters’ enspelled bell, that rang to warn the city that the leviathan was about to move. It would call the fishers to lift their boats out of the water and the traders to cast off. Moon said, “How long does it—”
The ground lurched under him; he and Rift swayed, using their foot claws to stay upright. Esom and Karsis both stumbled and fell.
The whole underground shook, moss and debris rained down from the ceiling. Beneath them the leviathan’s hide pulsed and shuddered. Moon leaned down, caught Karsis around the waist, and started up the pile of rubble. Rift followed, hauling Esom with him.
At the top, they climbed out through the jagged gap into a windy night, alive with the crash of the surf. There were hanging vapor-lights below them, rocking wildly with the leviathan’s motion. Moon squinted to see, realizing they were at the far edge of the city. A giant stone bulwark rose up behind them, and the leviathan’s immense tail stretched out below, like the surface of a reef. It moved now, migrating back and forth across the waves and tossing up fountains of spray as the creature swam.
“What do we do now?” Karsis shouted in his ear.
The leviathan moved at a good speed, but not faster than a Raksura could fly. The sky was starting to gray towards the east and they didn’t have much darkness left. They would be fighting the wind the whole way, but they had to go now. Moon turned to Rift, and shouted, “You take him, and follow me.”
Esom’s “Where are we going—” was cut off with a yelp as Rift grabbed him. Moon tightened his hold on Karsis, snapped his wings out, and jumped into the wind.
Both he and Rift were blown backwards, out over the moving tail. Hard flaps took them back over the creature’s hindquarters, Moon leading Rift upward to gain altitude.
Moon played his wings against the wind, riding it to keep moving forward. Karsis clung to him, her hands gripping his collar flanges tightly, and buried her face against his scales. A few vapor-lights were lit in the streets and in the windows of the towers, but the city looked empty; everyone must be huddling inside.
Moon banked away to avoid the area near Ardan’s tower. The wind drove him further than he intended, and he skirted the harbor. It was empty of the big trading ships, the pontoon docks churning up waves as they were dragged through the water. Little fishing boats swung from the cages that had lifted them to safety. The metal ship, the Klodifore, had been moved close to the dock, but was still floating… No, it’s hovering, Moon thought, realizing it had no wake. When the bell had started to sound, Ardan must have sent someone to the harbor to raise the ship.
He fought the wind to curve toward the abandoned tower where he and Stone had camped.
The wind sheared around the roof of the tower and Moon made a dive for the open terrace on the top floor. He made it and bounced lightly off the tower wall. Rift managed it too, though he bounced a little harder and staggered across the terrace.
Moon stepped between the columns into the shelter of the big room, expecting to find an impatient Stone. It was too dark to see much, but the Raksuran figure waiting there was much smaller. It said, “Moon?”
“Song?” It couldn’t be Song, except it was. Startled and a little appalled, he set Karsis on her feet. “What are you doing here?”
Song explained, “Pearl sent us. We caught up with Jade and the others late yesterday, and just reached this place a little while ago. Stone saw us and guided us here. They’re all downstairs. Why do you have a groundling—” Rift stepped in and Esom staggered after him. Startled, Song stared at him. “Who’s that?”
Rift hesitated, then stepped back toward the balcony. “No,” Moon said sharply.
Rift quivered, on the verge of bolting. If he fled, Moon would have to catch him again, if the wind whipping around the tower didn’t kill them both. On impulse, he shifted to groundling. It was Raksuran etiquette that when the highest-ranking person shifted to groundling, everyone around them did as well. Song followed suit immediately, and Rift, by habit too ingrained to break, shifted too.
Moon reached, caught Rift’s wrist, and towed him toward the door. He could deal with Esom and Karsis later.
They passed Root in the dim stairwell; he was hanging from the ceiling. He saw them and shouted, “Moon! Moon’s back!”
Light shone up from the room on the level just below, and Moon heard familiar voices raised in argument. It was an interior room, no windows, so no one venturing out into the streets would see suspicious light from an abandoned and inaccessible tower.
Moon stepped into the doorway. Some broken tiles had been spelled for light and tucked into various wall niches, so he could clearly see Stone, Jade, Chime, Vine, Balm, and Flower. But the other three warriors were Floret, Drift, and River, which was a surprise of a whole different kind. I can’t believe Pearl sent River, he thought incredulously. That’s all we need.
He couldn’t believe they were here at all. It was a bad idea, it was going to cause trouble, and Jade should have waited before leading the warriors to the leviathan. But Moon couldn’t help a warm swell of relief at seeing them all. He said, “I thought you gave us three days.”
Everyone’s attention snapped to the doorway. Jade stared. “Moon—”
Moon said, “This is Rift. He helped Ardan get the seed, and he’s going to help us get it back.”
Esom and Karsis sat on a marble bench built out from the wall, watching nervously, but then the conversation was in Raksuran. Rift’s presence had caused some awkwardness. Most of the others had stared at him, then looked away. Stone hadn’t betrayed any reaction, and Balm was expressionless, but Chime kept looking anxiously at Moon.
Moon had explained something of what he had found out about Ardan and the tower, and where Rift and the two groundlings had come from. They had also established that by everyone’s sense of direction the leviathan was moving further west, away from the coast, and the distance was probably already too great for the warriors to make in one flight. They were lucky, Moon thought grimly. If the creature had chosen to move while they were still flying towards it, they could have all drowned.
How they would get back to the coast was another question. River swung around and snarled at Moon, “This is your fault.” Moon regarded him. All things considered, he had had a hard day.
“If you’re not careful, Floret is going to be taking you back to Pearl in a basket.”
Floret lifted her hands, protesting, “I didn’t say anything!” Jade said, deliberately, “If I have to tell you all to stop fighting one more time, I’m going to beat every single one of you senseless.”
There was a short silence. Then Karsis whispered to Flower in Kedaic, “What are they saying?”
“It’s not important,” Flower said, wryly. She sat next to them on the bench, her legs drawn up under her smock. Her face was drawn and weary, but that must have been from being carried on the long flight out here.