Edge of Worlds

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Moon tried to stand, but he was lying on River and there was no place to put his weight without hurting him. Then a male warrior caught him around the chest, lifted him up, and helped him to his feet.

Moon stumbled toward Malachite. “We need mentors. The Hians gave us all Fell poison, and a sleeping simple for the groundlings, it killed Song, they took Merit and Bramble away on a flying boat—They have a weapon from the city—”

Malachite lifted a hand and two warriors bounced into the air, flapping up to catch the wind. Moon thought they were going after the Fell, which was suicidal. Then Malachite said, “I’ve sent them for Lithe. The wind-ship isn’t far away. Which way did the flying boat go?”

Moon pointed. Malachite selected two warriors with a flick of her tail and said, “Locate it.”

They took to the air, but Moon knew it wouldn’t help. The flying boat was already out of sight, it would have changed direction as soon as it was away from the Fell. Warriors couldn’t possibly fly fast enough to find it. “They won’t catch it, you have to go after it!”

“If I leave, the Fell will return within moments,” Malachite said. Her tail flicked again. He had never been able to read her expression, even after spending time at Opal Night. It would have been easy to say she was unconcerned, unaffected, except for the fact that here she was, having travelled from across the Reaches and the coast and the sea and halfway into the ocean to be here when he needed her.

The warrior who had helped Moon had been leaning over River, trying to find breath or pulse. Now he reported, “He’s alive.”

Malachite reached to touch Moon’s face, and he stepped back. A female warrior caught his arm and steadied him, and he dimly realized it was Rise, Malachite’s chief warrior.

Malachite said, “Are there still Fell aboard, or Hians?” Six more warriors dropped down to land on the flying boat’s upper decks.

Moon started to say no, then realized he had no idea. “I don’t know. I don’t think there’s any Fell, but I don’t know if all the Hians were able to leave. The Hians—They’re silver gray, with patches like rock on their heads and skin.” He remembered something else she needed to know. “The Fell were part Raksura. They had a queen.”

Malachite took this information in with opaque calm, and stared off into the distance, the direction the Fell had fled. She said, “Search this craft.”

Warriors on the upper decks scattered to climb down and enter the hatchways and open windows.

Rorra stepped out of the nearest hatchway, slowly, wary at all the strange Raksura. She saw Moon and the relief on her face was obvious as she limped toward him. She still looked sick and exhausted, but had one of the smaller fire weapons slung across her back. “Is River—” She saw him lying on the deck, the warrior crouched beside him.

“He’s alive,” Moon told her. He pointed to Malachite. “This is my mother.”

Rorra stared at Malachite. “Oh.” She turned back to Moon. “Are the Fell coming back? I can get to the larger weapon stand now—”

Malachite said, “The Fell won’t come back while I’m here.”

Rorra hesitated, eyed Malachite, then said, “That’s good, then.”

A dark shape that might have been the model for the forerunner depicted on the foundation builder city’s tiles dropped to the deck suddenly, and Rorra flinched. It carried a small Arbora still in her groundling form.

It was Shade and Lithe. Moon thought he was clearly hallucinating all this, but if he was, he didn’t think everything would hurt quite so much. Shade set Lithe on her feet, shifted to his groundling form, and flung himself at Moon. He caught Moon in a hard embrace, buried his face in Moon’s neck, and said, “Are you hurt? You look terrible.”

Moving toward River, Lithe demanded, “Is that your blood or his?”

“His, he needs help. The others are inside, unconscious from Fell poison,” Moon told her, gripping Shade’s shoulders to steady himself. Shade smelled of clean Raksura and salt wind and something indefinable that was somehow clearly the court of Opal Night, or maybe their shared bloodline. If Moon had been able to feel relief, he would have felt it then. Lithe knelt beside River, motioning a warrior to help her roll him over so she could get at his wounds.

A shadow fell on the deck and Moon twitched and looked up. But it was a wind-ship, coming around above the sunsailer’s bow.

This one was easily twice the size of the sunsailer, the hull long and slim, made of what looked like lacquered wood but was a plant fiber, much stronger. The fanfolded sails on the two central masts were closing as it came about above them.

Then things started to happen very fast and in a dream-like fashion that Moon found vague and unpleasant.

Golden Islanders in climbing harnesses dropped from the railing of the wind-ship and Moon had a confused memory of trying to explain to Niran about the object Vendoin had said was a weapon and what had happened to Delin and about Rorra’s distinctive scent while simultaneously introducing her to all his relatives. Lithe had River carried inside and went to help the other Raksura.

In the common room, Moon insisted on showing Malachite what had happened to Song. Malachite had hissed in regret, and made Moon let Rise gather Song up and carry her away. Moon had followed her, aware the Golden Islanders moved through the ship with the warriors, trying to help the Kishan crew. At some point Shade cupped Moon’s face and said clearly, “Moon, you need to lie down.”

Moon ended up back in the common room with Jade and the others. They were all still unconscious, and even with Lithe tending them, Moon didn’t feel easy until he had checked to make sure each was still breathing. With the help of a couple of warriors and Shade, Lithe had moved everyone except Stone to pallets on the floor. Stone had been left stretched out on the bench, with a couple of cushions tucked around him. “I don’t have any experience with line-grandfathers,” Lithe said, “but I feel like it’s not a good idea to move him.”

Briar had been found and brought in to recover with the others, and River had had his wounds cleaned and been put into a healing sleep in a nest of cushions and blankets. Shade made Moon sit down on a cushion near Stone, while Lithe tried to get him to drink a cup of something. He said, “Is that a simple?”

“No, it’s just tea. More simples are the last thing you need,” Lithe assured him.

Moon took the cup. When he drank it he realized how abraded his throat was. No wonder he sounded so hoarse. It was suddenly a little easier to think, and he asked, “How are the Kishan?”

Lithe’s expression told him it wasn’t good news. She got to her feet and said, “Ivar-edel, the Golden Isles healer, said that so far she’s found four dead, and some of the others seem very badly off. I’m going to go help her now.”

As she went out the door, Moon tried to get up and follow her. He had no idea why, or where he thought he was going. Shade caught his arm and urged him to sit again. Moon said, “Where’s Song?”

Shade winced. “They took her to an empty cabin, where they’re putting the others who died.”

Moon sank back down on the cushion. “Right.” He closed his eyes and his head swam. “How did you find us?”

“We went to Indigo Cloud, and then we caught up with Diar and Niran. We followed the map out here, then we caught Fell stench. It was from the ocean, so we knew the Fell had to be looking for groundlings or Raksura.”

Moon managed to get his eyes open again. He didn’t want to sleep yet. “You wanted to come? Malachite didn’t make you?” He was too groggy to put it into the right words, but if any consort should want to stay far away from the Fell, buried in the safety of a powerful court, it was Shade.

“She didn’t want me to come, I insisted.” It would have been an unbelievable statement from anyone else, but Shade was one of the few people who could actually talk Malachite into things. Shade lifted his shoulders a little, half-shudder, half-shrug. “Our mentors had the same vision as yours, right before Jade’s message arrived. I thought, if we need to get into the city, and it’s like the other one and I’m the only one who can open it, I have to go.” He added, a little reluctantly, “And . . . I just had to do it to make sure I could.”

“That was brave.” It was one of the bravest things that Moon had ever heard of anyone doing.

Shade seemed reassured. Maybe he had expected Moon to disapprove of his decision to come. Moon was too loopy to judge anybody’s decisions about anything at the moment. Shade said, “I didn’t feel brave at Indigo Cloud. But Ember invited me to have tea, so it was all right.”

It didn’t surprise Moon. “Ember always knows what to do.” He rubbed his face, trying to stay conscious. “The Fell were part Raksura. There was a Fellborn queen only twenty turns old.”

“You told us, about her and the dakti.” Shade’s brow furrowed. “You said she killed the progenitor. You don’t think . . . Maybe we could talk to them, to her?”

Moon hesitated. He only vaguely remembered telling them about the Fellborn queen, so he wasn’t sure his opinion was worth anything right now. “I don’t know.” He remembered how desperate the queen had been. Like he had been desperate, not that many turns ago, a lost fledgling with no idea who or what he was. But he also remembered the paralyzing fear at the possibility of being taken away by Fell, so intense despite the drugs and sickness. “Maybe I should have tried harder, but—”

“No, no. I meant all of us with Malachite. The Fell queen tried to take you away.” Shade twitched uneasily at the thought. “We have to be careful.”

Through the deck, Moon felt a gentle thrum. “They got the motivator started.”

Shade said, “Niran was going to try to help Rorra get the boat moving again so we can get out of the ocean.”

Right, that was important, Moon remembered. Being carried further into the deeps wasn’t going to help anything. “We’re going after the flying boat?”

Shade watched him with concern, as if worried what his reaction might be. “The warriors couldn’t find it. But Rorra thinks it must be going back to Kish.”

Moon slumped a little. He had known the warriors were too late to catch the Hians, but hearing it confirmed was painful. If Rorra wasn’t right . . . And even if Rorra was right, Kish was a big place.

On the bench above him, Stone made a faint noise, as if trying to wake. Moon shoved himself up and leaned over him.

The scale pattern on Stone’s skin had perhaps started to fade a little, though it was hard to tell, and it hadn’t been nearly long enough. He tried to explain this to Shade, who said, “Why don’t you lie down with him? It will help keep him calm.”

That sounded like a good idea, but Moon hesitated. “You’ll keep watch?”

Shade said seriously, “I will.”

Moon lay down beside Stone, and sank into sleep.

Moon slept off and on, listening to Stone’s steady heartbeat and the motivator’s thrum. He was aware when Stone stirred, rolled over, and curled up around him, but didn’t really wake.

Moon woke finally, far more alert, to realize it was night and the liquid lights had been adjusted to a soft glow. Song’s dead, he remembered again, and squeezed his eyes shut until his self-control returned.

He pushed up on one elbow. Shade sat on a cushion near the stove, and Rorra, bleary but conscious, sat on a stool nearby holding a cup of tea.

Stone was deeply asleep. Chime, Briar, Root, and Balm still lay unconscious but they had rolled over, changed positions. Moon could see River’s chest move with his breathing. Jade was missing.

His voice a rusty creak, Moon said, “Where’s Jade?”

“She woke a little while ago and went to talk to Malachite,” Shade said, watching him worriedly. “She’s very upset.”

Moon moved Stone’s arm off his waist and began the slow process of sitting all the way up, and possibly standing in the near future. Every bruise had settled into a sustained ache, but at least his head was clear. A memory tugged at him, an echo of something someone had said. In another moment he had it; it had been Callumkal, when the Hians had first arrived. “Can we find the Hian flying boat the way it found us? With the moss in the motivator?”

“We thought of that,” Rorra said, her voice hoarse. “But Magrim was the only one who knew enough about the moss varietals to do that.”

Moon wanted to growl. He hadn’t believed Magrim’s death was some sort of avoidable accident before; now it seemed sure that he had been killed deliberately, on Vendoin’s orders.

Then Stone snarled and sat bolt upright. Shade and Rorra flinched. Moon grabbed Stone’s shoulder and said, “It was the Hians. They gave us Fell poison.”

He watched the blank, blind rage in Stone’s face turn slowly into awareness and recognition. Stone’s gray brows drew together as he focused on Moon, then on the wide-eyed Shade, and then Rorra. His voice a gravelly rasp, he said, “Malachite’s here.”

“The Fell found us,” Moon told him. “She drove them off. She’s outside now, with Jade.”

Stone looked at the others’ unconscious forms, tasted the air. “Where’s Song and Merit? And Bramble?”

The words stuck in Moon’s throat for a moment, and he had to force them out. “Song died. The poison killed her. The Hians took Merit and Bramble away, with Delin and Callumkal, maybe back to Kish. We’re trying to find them now.”

Stone stared at him. Then abruptly shoved to his feet. Moon grabbed his wrist, and said, “Don’t leave!”

Stone blinked, his expression clearing. He said, “I just want to see Song.”

Moon let go of him. He didn’t know where that outburst had come from. It wasn’t as if Stone could fly anywhere at the moment; the faint scale pattern was still on his skin.

Rorra pushed herself upright, wavering a little. She looked exhausted and sad. “I’ll show you. And tell you the rest.”

Stone squeezed Moon’s shoulder almost hard enough to hurt, then followed Rorra out.

Shade let out his breath and reached for the kettle.

Moon told him, “I’m going to find Jade.” He shoved to his feet and went out into the passage. Under one of the brighter lights, he examined the skin of his forearm. He could still see the faintest impression of scales in the bronze of his groundling skin. He resisted the urge to try to shift. He wouldn’t be able to yet and he didn’t want to waste his slowly returning strength.

He had to grip the railing to get down the steps. The ship sounded more like it normally did, with voices and movement audible from down the corridors. Though some of the muted noise he could hear were groans and Kishan being very ill.

Moon heard familiar voices ahead, then Kalam stepped out of a doorway. Moon leaned against the wall to let the dizziness pass. Kalam had to know about the artifact or weapon or whatever it was by now, know that the Raksura had brought it onto the sunsailer.

Kalam came toward Moon. He looked terrible, his cheeks sunken and his eyes clouded. He said, “They took my father.”

“I saw it.”

Kalam stepped forward and almost fell into Moon’s arms. Moon said, “We’ll find him.”

Kalam looked up, and suddenly he had pulled Moon’s head down and was pressing their lips together.

Kissing wasn’t something Raksura did, though Moon had seen it in some of the different groundling communities he had lived in. He had been careful to avoid it; even in groundling form, his teeth were too sharp. Moon gently disengaged Kalam and said, “That can’t happen. You’re too young.” He used the tone that worked best for firm commands to fledglings.

Kalam buried his face in Moon’s shoulder for a moment. Moon said, “I know they killed Magrim. Was anyone else . . . ?”

Kalam stepped back, and pressed his hands to his face briefly, a gesture of apology. He looked up and said, “Kellimdar died, and three others of the crew, Viandel, Hith, and Semdar.” He sounded wounded, and bewildered, and angry all at once. “Do you think the Hians will kill my father?”

Moon took a sharp breath. “I think they wanted hostages.” He hoped that was what they wanted.

Niran stepped out of another doorway, with Lithe and Esankel, the Janderi navigator. Frustrated, Niran said, “We searched this Hian person’s quarters but she left nothing behind.”

Kalam said, “We’ve known Vendoin for five turns, since I was a child. How could she do this to us?”

Moon didn’t have the answer to that. It had sounded as if all the Hians, not just Vendoin, had been planning this ever since Callumkal and the other Kish-Jandera scholars had found the map to the city. He pushed off the wall and started forward again. “The Fellborn queen said the other Fell flight heard groundlings talk about a weapon in the builder city. Did Callumkal know about it?”

“No, no one did. No one . . . It must have been the Hians.” Kalam lifted his hands helplessly, trailing after him. “And the Raksura. Why did you hide it from us?”

Moon stopped and faced him. “We didn’t know it was there until we found it. We didn’t know what it would do, and we were afraid of it.” It was the bare truth, and he hoped it was enough for Kalam. “There was a spell; it tricked us into taking the weapon back to the sunsailer. We just wanted to get rid of it in the ocean, where the Fell wouldn’t find it.”

Lithe watched Kalam carefully. “It wasn’t why your people wanted to get into the city?”

“No, I swear it.” Kalam lifted a hand in helpless frustration. “I’ve seen my father’s work, I’ve traveled with him, I’d know if there was any idea about a weapon. If it is a weapon.”

“Vendoin believed it was,” Esankel said, wearily. “I’m sure she believed it. Would she have done all this if she hadn’t?”

Moon looked away. He was standing by the doorway to the other room the Raksura had been using and found himself looking at Delin’s bag, tucked under the bench next to Stone’s pack. Delin. Delin who had gone through Vendoin’s things and then became even more insistent that the object from the city should be dropped into the ocean as quickly as possible. He pointed at the pack. “Delin looked through Vendoin’s notes when she was up in the steering cabin. Maybe he copied something. He was suspicious, I think. I didn’t realize it at the time . . .”

Niran snarled, “Of course he was,” and went to snatch up the pack. “I’ll send this up to Diar so we can examine it all. Perhaps grandfather left us some clue or message.”

Moon knew Niran’s fury was mostly terror at what might happen to Delin. He turned away and went down the corridor to the hatch.

Guarding it was a young Golden Islander. She said, “They’re on the stern deck.”

He nodded to her and stepped outside into the night. The cool salt-scented wind was like being dashed with cold water. The outside lights had been dimmed and shaded to help conceal the boat’s position from the Hians and the Fell and whatever else might be after them. The reassuring shadow floating above them was the wind-ship.

Jade and Malachite stood near the stern railing, their spines outlined by the faint moonlight. Jade was still in her Arbora form, and Malachite had her wings.

He heard Jade say, “I shouldn’t have done this. I’ve done everything wrong.”

Moon stopped in mid-step. He hadn’t thought Jade would take it that way. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought it. Of course she would. Queens thought they were responsible for everything.

With just an edge of sarcasm to her cool voice, Malachite said, “So you should have ignored the dreams and the augury and waited like an animal in a trap.”

“Waited for help.” Jade looked toward the water and the silver glimmer of the ship’s wake. She added, almost not grudgingly, “Waited for you.”

Malachite’s spines took on a skeptical angle. It had to be for Jade’s benefit. Malachite seldom betrayed any recognizable emotion unless it was deliberate. “Was I in the augury?”

“No, but—”

“All this is hardly over. We’ve seen nothing of most elements of the vision.” Malachite flicked a spine. “Moon.”

Moon moved forward and Jade turned toward him. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and just folded himself into her arms.

When he looked up, Malachite was gone. Jade muttered, “She’s up on the roof of the second deck, looming over us.”

“I thought you two were getting along better.” Moon buried his face in her frills. “When Root wakes up, we have to tell him about Song.”

“I’ll do it,” Jade said. Her grip on his waist tightened, almost enough for him to feel her claws. “I don’t know why she died, and not the rest of us.”

Moon knew. The Hians had dumped her and Root on the floor like garbage, with no concern for what might happen. The poison had made Song sick and she had choked on her vomit. Even Rorra, a sealing, had been aware of this danger and had crawled around half-conscious making sure the others with her had been propped up.

Chime staggered out of the hatch and headed for Moon. Jade let Moon go and he caught Chime, who stumbled and wrapped his arms around him. He muttered into Moon’s neck, “Stone told us about Song, and the Hians.”

“Are you all right?” Moon asked him.

“I feel sick, and you smell terrible,” Chime said miserably.

Jade patted Chime’s back. “Let’s go inside.”

When they got back up to the common room, Lithe, Rorra, Kalam, and Shade were in the corridor. Shade was telling the other three, “I thought you all should talk.”

Inside the room, Stone sat on the bench. His face was drawn and exhausted. Raksura didn’t show age the way most soft-skinned groundlings did, but there was something in Stone’s face right now that revealed the weight of many, many turns.

The others were awake, sitting around on the floor, still bleary and sick, the scale patterns visible on their skin. Root was curled up in a ball, his head in Briar’s lap, and she was stroking his hair.

“They killed Song, and stole the Arbora and Delin.” Root sat up suddenly, his face etched with pain. “They took the weapon I found and we don’t know where they are.”

“Root—” Moon began. “You didn’t find the weapon—”

“It found you,” Jade said firmly. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Briar’s fault.”

“I told you that,” Balm said. She sounded as if she was barely holding on to her own composure. Briar looked wretched. “Listen to your queen.”

“But we can’t find them,” Root persisted. “They stole Merit so we couldn’t find them.”

Then Stone said, “But they didn’t know about Lithe.” He watched the group just outside the door.

Lithe was saying, “But it’s the moss, correct? The moss is from the same plant, and the two have an affinity.”

Moon’s heart thumped, and he stepped closer to listen. The others fell silent.

“Yes, that’s it,” Kalam said. He gestured in frustration. “But Magrim was the only one who would have been able to use our moss varietal to find theirs.”

Rorra explained, “Magrim was a horticultural, which is someone who can manipulate the stored sunlight in the moss for different tasks, like making it release light, produce the lift for a levitation harness or an air-going sailer, or to draw water into a motivator. The rest of us can tend those things and keep them working the way they should, but he knew how to make them.”

Everyone was listening now. Chime took a step toward them, his brows drawing together.

Hope making her voice tight, Jade said, “Manipulate the moss for light. Like a mentor could.”

Moon realized he was holding his breath. If there was still a chance . . .

Lithe turned to them. “Yes, that’s what I was thinking.” She asked Kalam and Rorra, “Can you explain to me exactly what you would do to find the flying boat if Magrim was here?”

Kalam glanced at Rorra. “I’ve seen it done but . . .”

Rorra thought it over, frowning absently. “There are several varietals of moss for the motivator. Magrim would have been able to choose the varietal that we share with the Hians’ ship. Then it would be put into a growth liquid, and the moss would start to grow in the direction of the other ship.”

“Maybe,” Chime said, his voice thick. “Maybe—”

“Maybe,” Lithe agreed. She asked Rorra, “Can you do the second part without him? The growth liquid?”

“Yes, that’s part of the necessary tending—” Rorra stopped, suddenly hopeful. “You think you can find the varietal?”

“I was going to scry to try to pick up their direction. But I thought we might try this first.”

Moon followed Lithe and Rorra and the others to the stern and the steps down to the motivator chamber. Jade had let Chime and Stone come along, but none of the others, telling them to stay and rest. She had said quietly to Moon, “If nothing comes of it, it’ll just be . . .” She didn’t finish the thought.

Just be another blow on top of all the others, Moon thought. Shade had stayed behind with the recovering warriors, still keeping watch the way he had promised.

The chamber took up the whole stern of the sunsailer, its air filled with heavy green scents and a salty acrid odor, and the sound of the steady thrum and rush of water from the motivator just on the other side of the hull. All across the back wall were large webbed containers for the moss itself, and gray-veined vines that looked unpleasantly like tentacles wound all through it. They led out through an opening in the back wall. Rasal and another Janderi woman had some of the small containers open. Rasal seemed well enough, though the other woman swayed on her feet.

Looking around at it all, Niran said, “I’m not sure I understand the mechanism. The motivator is a creature, which is eating the moss?”

Chime said, “No, it’s a plant that’s eating the moss.”

“Eating the heat the moss produces,” Rorra corrected. “Rasal, we need samples from all the core moss varietals. I’m going to get the growth liquid out.”

“There’s three tens of varietals,” Rasal protested. “We’ll never be able to tell which is the right one.”

“We might,” Rorra countered, going to a set of pottery jars against the far wall. They were all tied up to wooden racks, their lids carefully strapped down. “Lithe here is a Raksura arcanist and may be able to tell.”

Rasal and her helper exchanged startled looks, then started to pull various tools out of a storage box. Lithe sat down on the floor nearby. After a moment, Chime went to join her. He said, softly, “I know I can’t help. If you want me to go—”

“No, I want you to stay,” Lithe told him. “You know more about groundling magic than I do.”

After watching them carefully snip pieces of moss out of various containers while Rorra laid out even more containers and more tools, Moon found a seat on the steps. It was becoming rapidly obvious that this process wasn’t going to be instantaneous. Stone settled beside him, while Jade and Niran started to pace.

Rorra carefully put the first sample into a pottery cup of unpleasantly acrid fluid and presented it to Lithe. Lithe cupped it in her hands, and they waited. The fifth time Niran almost tripped on Jade’s tail, Moon decided he couldn’t take it anymore. This was going to take forever, might lead to nothing, and the intense scents were beginning to make his stomach protest. He told Jade, “I’ll be up on deck.”

As he went up the stairs, he realized Stone was following him. He went out the first hatchway, onto the stern deck. There were two of Malachite’s warriors on top of the cabin overlooking it, and he could sense the presence of more nearby. The wind was still cool, sweeping away the Fell stench that still lingered over the sunsailer. Moon went to the railing and sat down where he could see the wake. Now it was outlined against the dark water by the little blue glowing bugs or plants that lived in the sea. It was a sign the water was now shallow enough that they were safe from giant oceanlings, though it could give their location away to anything in the air. But between Malachite and her warriors, the wind-ship, and the Kishan who were recovered enough to work the fire weapons, Moon wasn’t too worried about that.

Stone sat next to him, hissing under his breath at either stiff muscles or the leftover effects of the poison. Moon said, “I’m sorry I . . .” He wasn’t sure how to finish that sentence. “I’m just sorry.”

“Me too,” Stone said. Then he admitted, “I don’t know what we could have done differently.”

“Me neither.” They had been suspicious, just not of the right people. And now Song was lying cold because of it. “Jade doesn’t know why she died. She thinks it was just the poison. But you saw her.”

Stone looked out at the water. “Whatever happens, none of the Hians on that flying boat are going to live through this.”

“Whatever happens,” Moon agreed.

Moon wasn’t sure how long they had been sitting there, when Chime bolted out through the hatchway. He crouched beside them, saying breathlessly, “Lithe found it. She found it. It was the eighth sample, it triggered a vision of the Hians’ flying boat. They’re going to grow it now so it’ll show the direction in the liquid. It’ll grow toward the moss aboard the flying boat.”

Stone let out a breath of relief. Moon swallowed down the urge to growl. He hoped Vendoin was afraid. He hoped she knew they were coming. He said, “Let’s go back inside.”