Edge of Worlds

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Moon wrapped one arm around the railing and the other around Stone’s waist. He saw Stone grip the railing and grab Magrim’s arm. And then water rushed up at them.

After five heartbeats of nothing but saltwater and blind terror, the wave passed. Moon was dripping wet, salt stinging in the cuts and abrasions in his scales from the waterlings’ claws. It was dark and he was huddled against Stone’s side, tucked under his arm. He blinked water out of his eyes and looked for Magrim. He was still here too, tucked under Stone’s other arm.

The sunsailer’s distance-light swung wildly, allowing glimpses of dark curving walls, streaked with white mineral deposits and patches of mold. The light steadied, proving the operator had managed to survive, and swung to illuminate the way ahead. The sunsailer raced down a dark straight channel filled with water, which rose as the basin behind them emptied into it. Moon retrieved his scattered wits, flattened his spines to keep from cutting Stone’s arm, and said, “Delin thinks this is the way out?”

It made a strange kind of sense, at least for this place. Only one boat could take it at a time, and the lock was there to prevent others from being pulled out of the canal while the water was draining into the opening. Forcing the lock to move must have made the passage open as well.

“Right.” Stone’s voice was tight and strained. He hadn’t been as calm about this as he had pretended. “We couldn’t get all the groundlings off the boat, and there were enough waterlings to eat us all if we tried, so we decided to risk it.”

“‘We,’” Moon asked. Not that he was arguing.

“Me and Delin,” Stone admitted. “We didn’t have much of a chance to discuss it with anybody else.”

Magrim, who had been cursing steadily in Kedaic, now said in Altanic, “We must be past the wall of the escarpment by now. Perhaps the Fell won’t know where to look for us.”

He was right. Moon said, “I wonder how it goes back up?”

“That’s a good question,” Stone said.

Magrim said, “I hope it’s not jammed shut, like the lock.”

Moon glanced up at what he could see of the curved ceiling overhead and hoped so too. But the outer door on the far side of the escarpment had still worked, so he thought the chances were good. He hoped the chances were good.

Stone twisted around to look up at the steering cabin. “There’s Jade.”

Moon looked, squinting past the spray of saltwater. In the lighted cabin he could see Jade looking out the window, beside Rorra and the others working at steering the boat. He thought he could see Callumkal and Kalam in the rear of the cabin. The one thing that was clear was that Jade didn’t seem pleased to see him and Stone out here.

Moon turned back toward the dark onrushing tunnel. “We’re going to hear about this later.”

Stone leaned forward, eyes narrowed, staring toward the end of the tunnel. “Maybe.”

Some distance ahead the darkness of the tunnel gave way to something deeper and blacker, that the light couldn’t penetrate. Not a wall, Moon thought. Not a wall would be good. The image of the boat jammed up against an unmovable barrier while the tunnel filled up . . . But the tunnel wasn’t filling up. This water was going somewhere.

Then Stone said, “It’s another chamber.”

Magrim groaned.

As the end of the tunnel approached, the distance-light began to show detail. They headed toward a big cavern filled with oddly still water, and it didn’t seem to be much lower than the tunnel.

Moon braced himself against Stone as the sunsailer shot out of the tunnel and dropped a few paces. The deck jolted with bone-rattling impact and water fountained up on all sides. The thrumming ceased as the motivator cut off and the boat slewed around in a circle as Rorra and the others managed to stop its headlong progress. The distance-light swung around, frantically at first, then more methodically as nothing immediately terrible happened.

The chamber seemed circular, but water ran down the walls and Moon couldn’t see if they were stone or metal. But the light kept catching white and blue reflections off the water, the colors of whatever material was under it. And where was the water coming from?

Then the boat jolted again, and the water trembled, suddenly choppy with ripples and little disturbed waves. A window opened somewhere above and one of the Kishan yelled something in another language. “She says, ‘Look up, look up,’” Magrim translated.

The light swung upward in response and lit a ceiling of light-colored material, all in delicate folds, like the outer petals of an elaborate flower. Staring upward, Moon hissed in astonishment. “That’s forerunner.”

Stone stared. “You’re sure?”

“Yes!” This was just like the flower-shaped doorways and carvings they had seen in the underwater forerunner city. There had been nothing like this in the builders’ city.

The sunsailer jolted again, and it, the water, and whatever the water was resting on began to move upward. Moon drew a sharp breath. “Oh. Oh, I hope—” The outer door in the forerunner city had needed a forerunner, or a half-Fell half-Raksura close enough to forerunner, to open it, unless you could find and manipulate a hidden lock. If this was set up the same way . . .

Then the flower carving trembled and the petals folded back in a complex spiral. Past it was darkness, but it was the living darkness of a cloud-strewn night sky. Moon sagged against the railing, the release of tension making him weak. “No, it’s letting us out.” And it wasn’t going to dump half a sea’s worth of water on them, either. The chamber stretched all the way up to the surface.

Faintly, apparently reeling from the shock that they were going to live, Magrim asked, “You hope, what? Did you think it would crush us?”

“Nothing, just, nothing,” Moon said, feeling his spines twitching with relief.

Stone nudged him. “Climb up to the steering cabin and tell them we need to turn our lights off. We should be downwind, and if we’re far enough away from the escarpment, the Fell may miss us.”

“Right.” Moon detached himself from the railing and Stone, and made the jump up onto the next cabin roof. He crossed it, and climbed up the next level to the steering cabin.

Jade was already pushing open one of the windows. “Get in here,” she demanded.

“Tell Callumkal to tell the crew to turn off the lights, so the Fell won’t see us,” Moon said first. “Stone thinks we might be far enough away.”

Jade hissed in irritation and turned to relay this to Callumkal. Kellimdar poked his head out the window and said, “We should have thought of that.” He seemed a bit loopy from shock. “Is everyone all right out there?”

“I think so. I was with Stone and Magrim in the bow,” Moon told him. A Janderi hurried out the door at the back of the steering cabin and from the opposite window, Callumkal called down to the Janderan on the other side of the boat to cover their lights.

“Ah. Thank you, all of you.” Kellimdar awkwardly patted Moon’s claws, and withdrew into the cabin.

As an apology for doubting Raksura in general, Moon would take it. It was more graceful and heartfelt than some apologies he had received in the past.

The forward distance-light went out, then the two closer to the stern, then the lights in the windows along this side. The whole chamber was still moving upward, the rush of water down the sides slowing as it neared the surface. The petal door was nearly all the way open.

Jade stepped back to the window. Moon said, “So it looks like these people knew the forerunners.”

“Moon—” Jade hissed in annoyance. “Move over.”

He moved sideways along the steering cabin wall and Jade climbed out the window. She asked, “Why did you stay outside?”

“I don’t know.” Moon didn’t want to argue about it. Like Magrim, he hadn’t wanted to drown inside the boat, and he was just enough of an optimist to think there might have been some last moment way to save them all that he could have accomplished or helped with. It didn’t make a lot of sense, a good consort would have gone to huddle inside, but there it was.

Jade leaned over to look closely at him, then apparently decided to drop it. She sat back against the side of the cabin. “Well, we’re alive. And we’re downwind.”

“And the forerunners were here,” Moon said.

“That too,” Jade agreed, looking upward grimly.

They were only twenty paces below the surface now. Moon heard a couple of doors open, and two Janderan stepped out on the lower deck to get ready to operate the big fire-weapon there. Toward the stern, Balm, River, and Briar hopped up on top of the rear cabin, their spines twitching nervously.

The boat lifted up level with the surface and the water churned under them. There was Fell stench in the wind, and Moon twisted to look back toward the escarpment. It was a vast looming shape, dark against the stars of the night sky. The sunsailer was about three times the distance from it that the island had been. Watching for movement, Moon spotted a kethel wing framed against the lighter clouds, just for an instant, as it passed around the side of the escarpment. “They’re circling it,” he said. “Wonder which flight won.” He thought of the Fell queen, trading Bramble for her ruler. It was hard to remember sometimes that Fell rulers, and perhaps the progenitors, did care for each other, unlike the way they treated their dakti and kethel.

“I’m not sure it matters.” Jade leaned into the window. “Don’t start the motivator; the Fell might hear it.”

“Yes, we’ll let the current take us into the ocean.” Rorra appeared in the window. “Did the walls drop down, can you see?”

The words “into the ocean” made Moon’s spines want to twitch. He felt like they should have a much larger boat for that, maybe one as big as the island, but there wasn’t much choice. He craned his neck, trying to see if the door had closed and the chamber was sinking down again. It had filled with water to push them to the surface, and then once it closed, the water must drain away somewhere. They were lucky it still worked after all this time, but then the forerunner city’s defenses had still worked as well.

The swirling water was calming. “I think so,” Jade told Rorra.

“Then we should start to move.” Rorra pulled away from the window and went back to the steering lever.

In Raksuran, Moon said, “It’s too bad we can’t use the motivator yet, because if that crystal thing does attract Fell, the faster we get away the better.” They needed to be farther away from the escarpment than the Fell could fly in one stretch. If there were no islands out here to rest on, then the Fell wouldn’t be able to follow them.

Jade’s spines signaled grim agreement.

The boat turned gradually away from the shape of the sea-mount and toward the limitless dark where the sea met the ocean. The sails on the two central masts started to unfold, opening out like huge fans.

The scale of the escarpment was so large it was hard to tell if they were moving away from it or not, with no other landmark to measure their progress by. But after a while, Moon realized he could feel the forward movement of the boat. There was no sound but the wind, and the occasional footstep or quiet Kishan voice.

Moon wasn’t aware he had drifted off until Jade nudged him. He jerked awake and she said, “Go inside and sleep, before you fall off the boat.”

“Hah.” He managed to uncurl his cramped legs. The escarpment didn’t look any smaller, but he could tell maybe an hour or more had passed. The sky was still empty and the clouds clearing away, only a few wispy ones to obscure the stars. The boat moved faster, the current still pushing it along. “You’re the one who needs more sleep.”

“When we’re a little farther away.” Jade leaned away from the cabin wall and rolled her shoulders to ease the tension in her furled wings. “I’ll send Stone and some of the others after you. Balm and River are in better shape than the others; they can take the first watch.”

Moon climbed awkwardly inside the steering cabin. Callumkal was holding the steering lever, and Esankel, Kalam, Vendoin, and Rorra sat on the benches against the wall, drooping with exhaustion. Kalam had fallen asleep, his head on Vendoin’s armored shoulder. Keeping his voice low, Callumkal asked Moon, “Nothing in the air?”

“No. Not so far.” He hesitated, not sure he wanted to know. “Are we in the ocean now?”

Rorra stirred a little and said, “We’re in the Blue Drop, where the sea meets the ocean. At dawn, you’ll be able to see it.”

Moon didn’t ask how she knew, whether it was because she was a sealing or a navigator. He stepped out of the steering cabin into the dark passage beyond, and found his way down the stairs.

On the lowest deck, where the cabins didn’t have windows, some of the lights were still lit. All the Kish-Jandera he glimpsed through the doorways were asleep, lying on bench-beds. In their cabin, Merit and Bramble were curled up together on a bench, and Delin sat on a floor cushion, a sheaf of papers in a leather folder on his lap. He was frowning intently at the wall. As Moon came in, he blinked up at him, as if he had been so absorbed in something, he had forgotten anyone else was alive. Delin shook his head a little, and said, “All is well?”

“So far,” Moon said around a yawn. He crossed the cabin and sank down onto an empty bench, and shifted. He winced; his shoulders ached, his back ached, everything ached. The wind had dried his scales, so at least there was no water to transfer to his clothes. But the salt made his skin itch. “Did you see the flower door? The forerunners must have made that whole passage for the builders.”

Delin still seemed distracted. “Yes, they were obviously allies. It is perhaps not as unexpected as we supposed.”

Moon nodded toward the papers. “What are you reading?”

Delin patted the papers. “Vendoin had some translations I wish to look at.” He pushed to his feet. “She is still in the steering cabin?”

Moon nodded, and lay down on his side. Delin said, “I will take it back to her room, then.”

Moon yawned again. “Did she figure out what the inscription on the wall said, the one up on the arch where we first came into the city?”

Delin paused in the doorway. “It said, ‘If eyes fall on this, and no one is here to greet you, then we have failed. Yet you exist, so our failure is not complete.’”

Delin slipped out while Moon was still trying to understand that. He fell asleep, wondering why Delin had chosen a time when everyone else was bracing for a Fell attack to read Vendoin’s translation.

Sleeping heavily, Moon was only vaguely aware of it when the sunsailer’s motivator thrummed into life. Not long after that, Jade climbed onto the bench and curled up with him.

He woke knowing that it was well past dawn. He sat up carefully and disentangled himself from Jade. Merit and Bramble were gone, but Chime, Root, and Briar occupied the other benches.

Moon managed not to wake anyone as he slipped out of the cabin, though he was still off-balance and bleary. He went down the passage toward the bow, found his way through a crew area filled with sleeping bodies, and then out the door onto the deck. Stone was out there, leaning on the railing, but it was the view that caught Moon’s attention first.

The water was a deep dark blue, and the sky above it a limitless horizon. The boat crested gentle swells and was moving southeast, its motivator fighting the current to keep them from being pushed farther out into the ocean. He moved to the railing and leaned beside Stone. The wind had changed and it was absolutely devoid of anything but water and salt. It made Moon realize just how much the scattered islands had added an undercurrent of sand and greenery and other scents to the sea winds. They had never been far from land or a reef or one of the shallow zones. Here, there was nothing.

Then motion caught Moon’s eye several hundred paces off the starboard stern. Water fountained briefly, then a great shape rose up. Sunlight glanced off bright silver scales and a delicate multi-colored array of feelers concealing the top of the creature’s head. There were three of the crab-like waterlings from the city clamped in its long jaw. It sank back below the surface before the ripples from its appearance reached the boat to gently rock it. Moon wanted to make a noise but his throat had temporarily closed up.

Stone said, “Some of the waterlings followed us from the city, but that keeps happening.” He added, “Rorra says we’re still on the fringe.”

Moon reminded himself they had traveled over water this deep before, water also filled with menace, in the freshwater sea, but somehow it wasn’t the same. Even if it was vast, the freshwater sea was surrounded by land, and fed by rivers, and somehow that made a difference. He fought his flight instinct down and managed to say, “Did you sleep?”

Stone rolled his shoulders and stood up straight, still propping himself up on the railing. “Out here. The Fell missed us completely. Getting out of there unnoticed was what that underwater tunnel was meant for.”

Moon tried to remember that last harbor basin and what had been in it, if there had been any more clues they hadn’t had time to notice. “The Kishan were right; there was a door in the outer wall of the city, like the one we came in through. So the tunnel was added after the city was built.” Maybe at the same time the top of the escarpment had been sealed off. “And the foundation builders knew the forerunners, and they were friendly enough for the forerunners to build that for them.”

Stone turned and leaned his back against the railing, to look up at the steering cabin. Moon was still a little too edgy to turn his back on the deeps yet. “Delin and Callumkal and the others have been discussing that. They don’t know what it means, but they’ve been discussing it.”

Speaking of the city and what they had found there . . . “We need to drop the . . . thing soon.” Moon glanced around the deck. There were still Kishan at the weapons’ posts and on watch for the Fell. “Is it deep enough?” If they were lucky, maybe one of the giant oceanlings would eat it.

“I don’t know.” Stone jerked his chin toward the cabin. “Rorra’s up now.”

Moon turned. Rorra was on the deck above, gazing out toward the ocean. She had a map case tucked under her arm. “I’ll go talk to her.”

Moon shifted and leapt to the railing. Swinging over it, he shifted back to groundling. Rorra rubbed her eyes and said, “I’m glad I’m used to that now.” She still looked tired, though her face was less gray and her eyes not so sunken. She had clearly slept in her clothes, and her hair was unraveling from her braids.

“Are we in the ocean or still on the fringe?” Moon asked.

“We’re still in the fringe.” Rorra opened the map case and propped it against the railing to unfold light wooden pieces. “We’re here.” She pointed to a spot some distance from the escarpment and traced it along the big wavy path that marked the transition between the sea and the ocean. “We’ll be moving in this zone until we get to this point.” She tapped the map. “It would be safer to stay in the fringe, but to do that we’d have to turn back landward. If we keep our heading and cut across this section of the deeps, we can reach the sea again much more quickly, and we’ll be moving away from the escarpment and hopefully the Fell the entire time.”

Moon nodded. “When will we get to the deeps?”

“Probably around sunset, and we’ll make the crossing during the night, hopefully reaching the sea again by morning.” She began to fold up the map, a grim set to her expression. “I hope the deeps aren’t as dangerous as the rumors say. Ocean-going ships should be much bigger than this one.”

It sounded perfect. By the middle of the night they would be well into the deeps, and too far out for the Fell to reach. Someone could easily stroll out on deck and drop the object over the side. As long as nothing appeared to eat the boat, this would be easy. “You should get some more sleep.”

“I don’t—” Rorra yawned, wide enough that Moon could see the characteristic sealing fangs in her side teeth. “Probably.” She frowned down at the lower deck. “Why is Stone staring at us?”

Moon leaned on the railing, and decided since they were lying-by-avoidance to Rorra about the object, he might as well tell the truth about this. “I don’t know. We think he likes you, though.”

Rorra stared at him, astonished but oddly not appalled. Then she got her frown back into place. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing.” Moon shrugged, a little. “He’s always liked groundlings. But he’s just so old, he doesn’t usually get that interested in people we meet.”

Rorra’s frown was now confused. “How old is he?”

“Older than all of us put together. But not as old as the escarpment.” He pushed away from the railing. “I’ll let Jade know what we’re doing.”

Moon met with Jade in the cabin they had been sleeping in. Stone had come in from the deck, and Chime, Balm, and Delin sat around on the benches, with Merit and Bramble on the floor. It was a little crowded, but the cabin on the upper deck with the stove was also used by Callumkal and the others, and taking it for a private conference would be a lot more noticeable.

Once Moon told everyone what Rorra had said about their route, Jade moved her spines in agreement. “Good. We’ll drop the thing overboard tonight, once we’re well into the deeps and out of the Fell’s range.”

Stone said, “Are you sure you don’t want me to fly it out now and do it?”

Jade exchanged a look with Balm, and lifted her brows. She asked Stone, “Do you think it’s safe? From what we’ve heard, it isn’t.”

Delin agreed. “You may call attention to us from whatever dwells further out, and the large waterlings who float on the surface, waiting for prey.”

Sounding horrified, Chime said, “Are there really waterlings like that?”

Delin nodded. “The stories of the Kish and sealings and others who mapped this coast in the past turns are not pleasant reading.”

Merit, holding the satchel with the object in it, clutched it nervously. “I don’t think you should do that, Stone. I could scry, but—”

“It’s too obvious for scrying. What are you going to tell Callumkal?” Moon asked Stone. “That you’re going to sightsee?”

Stone sighed. “Fine, we’ll wait till tonight.”

Jade told Merit, “If you’re rested, try scrying anyway. Maybe we’re close enough by now that you can see whether this is a good idea or absolutely the worst thing we can do.”

Bramble sat forward. “Is that settled? Because there’s another problem.”

Jade said, “It’s as settled as it’s going to be right now. Go ahead.”

Bramble’s expression wasn’t encouraging. “There isn’t much food left. Igalam, the Janderi who’s in charge of the supplies, and I went down into the hold to sort out how much to bring up. He wanted me to show him how much we’d need. But when he opened the door, the smell was rank. Some of the ceramic containers of the pickled fish and the grain flour for bread had broken on the bottom, probably when the boat fell getting in and out of the tunnel. The Kishan can’t eat them now. I don’t think our stomachs are as delicate, but they don’t smell like they’d be fit for us, either.”

There was a moment of worried silence. Chime said, “Did everyone get hungry when she said that, or is it just me?”

It wasn’t just Chime. Moon said, “We’ll be back in the sea by tomorrow, and it’ll be safe to go fishing.” Safe but maybe not too profitable. From what he had seen on the way out here, the big fish that made good meals tended to be in the currents between the islands. It might be two or three more days before they found a good spot to fish. It had been more than two days since their last big meal, and while the smaller meals of fruit, bread, and fish helped, they couldn’t live on them and still fly and fight.

Bramble said, “That’s what I told Igalam, that when we could hunt, we could bring in enough food for the whole boat.”

“Does he think if we get hungry we’re going to eat the crew?” Stone asked, and not sarcastically. This question had occurred to Moon, too. They had been getting along well enough with the ship’s crew, helped by the fact that the more familiar flying boat crew were aboard. The number of Kishan who shied away from him when he passed them in a corridor had dropped drastically since they had fought off the Fell and taken refuge in the city. But this was the kind of fear that could destroy that limited trust.

Bramble winced, but gave the question serious thought. “I don’t think so. He seemed more annoyed that this had happened, and wondering what to do about it. He’s still trying to figure out how long what we have will last.”

Then someone rattled the door and slid it open. “Jade.” Root peered inside. “There’s another flying boat coming.”

Delin sat up, hopeful. “Perhaps it is Diar and Niran.”

Root flashed his spines in a negative. “It’s not a wind-ship.”

Delin grimaced and swore. “That would have solved several problems.”

Moon thought Delin meant something more than the shortage of food. Though it probably wasn’t obvious to anyone who didn’t know him, Delin seemed more rattled now than he had when they were being attacked by Fell. Moon started to ask what was wrong, but Esankel came down the corridor to tell them about the flying boat, and there was no time for it.

The flying boat hung in the air about fifty paces above the sunsailer’s stern. The Kishan were all happy to see it. “It’s from Hia Iserae,” Callumkal told them, leaning on the railing as if the relief had made his legs weak. “The Hians, Vendoin’s people.”

This flying boat was shaped differently than the expedition’s ruined one, and was longer and sleeker, without the ridge up the middle, but was made of the same mossy material. Vendoin and Kellimdar had already gone up to it in the flying packs to explain their situation.

“How did they find us?” Jade asked. Moon thought it was a good question. They stood out on the deck with Stone and Delin, with the others told to stay inside until they could be assured that the new groundling arrivals wouldn’t shoot at them by accident.

“We had shared the location of the city with them, though I didn’t think they meant to join the expedition this season.” Callumkal turned to gesture at the steering cabin. “Their ship is powered by the same varietals of moss as the sunsailer. The varietals have an affinity for each other, and clever horticulturals can use this to locate ships.”

“I see,” Jade said. It was unexpected, but at the moment it was hard to see it as a bad thing. The more fire-weapons there were to fight off the Fell, the better.

Beside him, Moon heard Delin make a hmph noise under his breath. Delin would clearly have preferred a wind-ship with his family aboard, and Moon had to admit that would have made the situation much less fraught.

Rorra came out of the hatch, squinting up at the flying boat. “I hope they have supplies they can give us.”

“That’s what Kellimdar and Vendoin are asking about now,” Callumkal told her.

Jade asked, “So are we keeping to the same course, and crossing back into the sea tomorrow morning?”

Looking up at the flying boat again, Callumkal gestured an absent assent. “As long as they have no new information to make us decide against it.”

“They shouldn’t,” Rorra said. “They came up from the south. It will be interesting to hear if they spotted any Fell from that direction.”

“Interesting?” Callumkal commented dryly. “This voyage has been interesting enough.”

Stone glanced at Moon, his expression opaque, and headed back toward the hatch. They would still be sailing across the deeps tonight and still have the opportunity to get rid of the object. Merit had already retreated to a corner of their cabin to scry on it, with Bramble and Song guarding the door to make sure no Kishan walked in on him.

“They’re coming back,” Jade said, watching the flying boat.

Vendoin and Kellimdar were returning in their flying packs, another Hian following. Callumkal said, “Don’t worry, Vendoin and Kellimdar will have explained about you. The Hians are not very excitable people; they won’t be afraid.”

Jade gave that a serious nod. “Good.”

The flying packs didn’t manage the wind very well, but the groundlings landed on the deck without ending up in the water. Vendoin shed her pack and said, “This is Bemadin, captain-navigator.” Bemadin nodded as Vendoin named everyone for her. She bore a close resemblance to Vendoin, at least as far as non-Hians were concerned, though she was taller and her body heavier. She stared as Vendoin named Jade and Moon, though like Vendoin, it was hard to read her expression.

When the introductions were complete, Bemadin said, “I am glad we could find you. As I told Vendoin and your colleague Kellimdar, we are anxious to hear what you discovered before the Fell forced you to leave.”

Callumkal said, “It’s a long way back. We’ll have plenty of time to show you all the inscriptions we copied.”

“And we will be bringing down supplies to see you through to the next port.” Bemadin added, “Perhaps you would all join us for evening meal.” She turned to Jade. “I invite the Raksura, as well. I have never met any of your people before, so I am anxious to get to know you.”

“Ah.” Jade managed to look pleased by the prospect, which was something of an achievement for Raksuran diplomacy. It wasn’t an appalling idea, it was just that Moon didn’t think Jade or any of the others were ready to take on a new group of groundlings, not while everyone was tired and tense. “I feel our time would be better spent here, helping the Kishan guard their boat. We don’t know what we’ll encounter on this stretch of ocean.”

“That’s true,” Callumkal said immediately. He didn’t look as if he was in the mood for diplomatic visiting, either. “Perhaps in a day or so, once we are safely back into the sea, and farther away from the Fell.”

“That would be best,” Kellimdar agreed readily.

“That’s right, best just to send some supplies down for tonight,” Vendoin said, giving Bemadin a friendly pat on the arm. “Some fresh food would be welcome.”

She was right about that. Bemadin said, “Very well, I will have the supplies moved immediately, and we can be underway again.”

As they began to discuss the arrangements, Moon managed to wander away down the deck with Delin, and after a moment Jade followed. “This worries me,” Delin said, keeping his voice low, even though he was speaking Raksuran. He twisted his fingers into his beard, a sure sign of agitation. “This sudden appearance.”

“You think Vendoin was planning to betray Callumkal, take his work, or something.” Moon looked off toward the horizon, as if they were worriedly discussing the prospect of being eaten by oceanlings.

“Perhaps, perhaps that.” Delin frowned at the deck, and Moon had the impression that of all the things he was worried about, that ranked fairly low down on the scale. Delin looked up at Jade. “We must take care tonight, when disposing of the object. Perhaps Merit will have some insights for us, as to how best to proceed.”

“We’ll take care.” Jade put a hand on his shoulder, and turned to steer him toward the hatchway. “You get some rest.”

Hians in flying packs carried down the round containers of supplies, and by mid-morning the sunsailer got underway again, the flying boat trailing along after it. Moon spent the time napping off and on and taking turns on watch with the warriors. Three times they spotted movement in the distance, as oceanlings far larger than the boat broke the surface and submerged again. It was nerve-racking, but being able to catch up on sleep, and not worrying about the lack of food, made the tense situation easier on everyone. The Kishan were starting to look better too, taking time to rest and clean up and change their clothes.

“I’ll be glad when this is over,” Chime said. He was sitting back to back with Moon on the top cabin as they took their turn at watch. Stone was on the lower stern deck, and Balm was up in the bow. At least the day had stayed clear and bright, the sky blue and cloudless, the sun glinting off the limitless ocean. The wind was fairly gentle, and still carried nothing but the scent of saltwater.

“Is it ever going to be over?” Moon didn’t like to bring this up, but it was worrying him more and more as the day progressed. “The Fell aren’t going to stop looking for that thing. If that’s what they were looking for.”

“There’s still too much we don’t know,” Chime admitted. “We don’t know if it really drew them to the city or not. I’m hoping the Fell sit around outside the escarpment until they all die of old age.”

Moon didn’t think that was likely. Especially with a Fellborn queen involved.

Late in the afternoon, Merit finished scrying and came up to join them in the upper cabin. Bemadin had sent down some containers with cooked food, including a stew with big pieces of fish in a spicy brown sauce and fruit in sweet syrup, apparently two Jandera favorites. Igalan, the crew member in charge of supplies, had made sure Bramble had been given enough for all the Raksura. Both dishes were surprisingly tasty, probably because both the fish and the fruit were much fresher than what they had been eating on the boat for the past few days. Briar, having already eaten, had gone outside to carry a portion up to River, and to take a turn at watch so Song could come inside to eat.

“Did you get anything?” Jade asked, as Merit slumped down on the floor. His expression wasn’t encouraging.

Merit sighed. “No, it was all confusing. I saw the ocean, I saw the Fell, the city, but it was all fragments. I don’t think it’s the same as before, where the trap in the city was clouding everything.” Bramble put a bowl of food in his lap and he took a bite. “I think there’s just too much happening right now.”

“Fragments are what you get when there are too many possibilities,” Chime explained to Delin. He took Moon’s empty bowl and his own and put them in the stack near the stove. “They’re usually just images of things that have already happened.”

His mouth full, Merit nodded confirmation.

Jade grimaced and set her empty bowl aside. “At least there’s nothing to change our plans.”

“No, I think we should do as we have already decided,” Delin said, so firmly that everyone stared at him.

“I’m glad someone is sure,” Chime prompted, but Delin ate some more fruit and didn’t respond.

Song stepped into the cabin then, reporting, “Stone is coming this way with Rorra.”

Moon leaned back against the cabin window in frustration. They wouldn’t be able to discuss this in front of Rorra. Not that discussing it was helpful.

Bramble readied two more bowls and handed them to Stone and Rorra as they came in. Stone sniffed skeptically at his, but tasted it anyway. Rorra took a seat on a bench and started to eat. Between mouthfuls, she said, “So what do you all think about Bemadin’s sudden appearance?”

Jade said, dryly, “I’m glad we’re not the only ones who noticed how sudden it was.”

Rorra’s nod was grim. “If they were going to show up, it would have been nice if they had done it while the Fell were trying to kill us.”

“What does Callumkal think?” Moon asked. Chime hadn’t finished his fruit, and Moon stole a piece. Chime glared at him.

Rorra grimaced in frustration. “He is very ‘diplomatic.’”

Stone leaned against the wall, giving in reluctantly and eating the fish and sauce. “Tell them what you told me about the Hians.”

“You know they were driven out of their old territory into the Kishlands because of the Fell?” Rorra asked.

“Vendoin spoke of it a little. And Delin mentioned it,” Jade said.

Delin, who had leaned back against the bench and started to drift off to sleep, snorted at the sound of his name but didn’t wake up. That’s probably for the best, Moon thought. Delin clearly needed the rest.

Rorra said, “The territory they live in now is heavily forested, and has deep gorges, and is very difficult to view from the air, if you see what I mean.”

Balm nodded understanding. “Lots of cover.”

“Yes. For a long time, the Kishan scholars who study the builders have believed there are more builder ruins there. Turns and turns ago, they discovered fragments of a road leading that way, and some of the other writings they found referred to something—people, trade perhaps—coming from that direction.” She waved a hand, setting her bowl aside. “I don’t recall all the details, but Callumkal and others believe it likely that there is at least one ruined foundation builder city in that region. But the Hians say they have searched, and it isn’t there.”

Chime was frowning absently. Jade said, “Maybe it really isn’t there.”

“Maybe. There seems no reason to hide it if it is. But it has made for some disagreement between the scholars of Hia Iserae and the Kish-Jandera.” Rorra blinked and rubbed her eyes. “I should go back to the bridge.”

As she got to her feet, she stumbled a little. Moon caught her hand to steady her. He said, “I’ll go with you. I’ll take another turn on watch so River can come in and rest.”

Jade gestured assent. Chime was already curling up to sleep, and Bramble and Merit were both yawning. Stone was still eating, frowning at his bowl.

Moon walked with Rorra to the stairwell. The corridors seemed quiet, but then everyone was probably eating while the food was still warm. As Rorra started up the steps, he told her, “You probably need more sleep, too.”

“Probably, probably.” She waved a hand absently.

Moon went on down the corridor toward the bow. He passed an open doorway to a cabin, but the several Janderan and Janderi inside were all asleep on the benches. Everyone breathed deeply, the sleep of the exhausted.

Moon was almost to the bow and the second stairwell when he caught a scent in the air. He couldn’t identify it immediately, which seemed odd in itself. But it was coming from the draft down the stairs. It was just strange enough to make him want to investigate. He started up the steps.

The scent in the air was blood, mingled with something else.

As Moon reached the top of the stairs, his shoulder bumped the wall as he swayed sideways. A wave hit us, he thought. But then his head swam and he realized it was him.

He grabbed a rope handle at the top of the steps, put there for unsteady groundlings, and pulled himself up. He blinked, not understanding why it was suddenly so hard to keep his eyes open. Someone lay in the passage, slumped against the wall. It was a Janderan, and Moon thought he recognized the red-trimmed jacket the figure wore. He stumbled forward and slid down the wall, and carefully lifted the man’s head. It was Magrim, and his dark eyes were open and staring; the warm fluid on Moon’s hands was blood, from the deep gash in Magrim’s throat.

A soft step on the deck made him look up. Vendoin stood there. She said, “Unfortunately, he didn’t like the food.”