The Harbors of the Sun

by Martha Wells

  The progenitor said, “We shouldn’t have run. We became prey.”

  Malachite said, “There was nowhere to go. There was never anywhere to go.”

  Moon caught Ceilinel’s arm and pulled her further away from the progenitor. He tucked her against his side and stayed in a crouch, ready to bolt. Ceilinel clung to his side, shivering with reaction.

  The progenitor twitched, breaking the hold, and lifted her arm to strike.

  But Malachite was already in motion. The crack of bone snapping made Ceilinel flinch and gasp.

  The progenitor’s body slammed down on the paving and Malachite wrenched the head off with a single sharp twist.

  “Finally,” Pearl snarled, impatient and irritable as always. She straightened and shook out her spines, as if they were in the colony and the Arbora were agitated about the tea harvest, and not at all as if she was facing the terror of the western Reaches over the mutilated body of a Fell progenitor. “Are you happy?” she asked Malachite.

  Malachite said, “I’m mildly gratified.” She turned her attention to Moon, her cool gaze flicking over him.

  “Then we can go.” Pearl turned to Jade. “Who else is with you?”

  Jade snarled so hard her spines rattled. “What are you doing here? What—The court—”

  Pearl’s spines rippled at Jade’s reaction, equal parts amusement and annoyance. Moon let out a pent breath, feeling light-head with relief. If the colony was attacked and the court fleeing in remnants, he doubted Pearl would find anything funny, no matter how much she enjoyed making Jade angry.

  Rise and a dozen more warriors dropped down from the trapdoor. Moon spotted Fair, Sand, and Spring from Indigo Cloud, along with others he recognized from Opal Night. Malachite moved one spine and they dove down the stairwell. Pearl answered, “Celadon.” At Jade’s expression, Pearl dipped her spines in irony. “Yes, I’m sure Emerald Twilight will be throwing it in our faces ten generations from now. Are the others with you?”

  Jade took a sharp breath and settled her spines. “Just Stone, and two groundlings. The rest are with Niran on the wind-ship, which went to Jandera for help. I sent Balm with some warriors back to the Reaches to tell you where we were.”

  Pearl flicked her spines. “They missed us. We had news of you from someone else.”

  Moon shifted to his groundling form so his scales wouldn’t poke Ceilinel. He stood and picked her up. He didn’t care who Pearl had left in charge of Indigo Cloud, it was just a relief to hear that all had been well when she and Malachite left. He interrupted the queenly posturing to say, “She needs help. Did you bring any mentors?”

  Pearl’s spines angled with irritation, possibly because Moon was talking to her and thereby ruining her good mood. More Opal Night warriors poured down from the trapdoor, and Pearl said, “Heart will be below with the others, they came in through the lower level.”

  Malachite, still eyeing Moon, moved a spine and a dozen warriors broke off to surround him as he carried Ceilinel down the wide stairwell. The Fell stench was fading but the smell of groundling death hung in the air. The remains of the Kish garrison must be all through these rooms.

  “Are you all right, consort?” a female Opal Night warrior asked.

  “Yes,” Moon said, having no idea how else to answer. “It’s been a long day.”

  Ceilinel held onto his arm, and croaked, “Who were they?”

  “The queens? The gold one was Pearl, Jade’s mother, the reigning queen of Indigo Cloud. The big scary one was Malachite, reigning queen of Opal Night, my mother,” Moon told her. She blinked up at him, not really comprehending. He added, “That was why it was a bad idea to hold me prisoner.”

  “We weren’t holding you prisoner,” she muttered, stubbornly. “The conclave—”

  “This way, consort,” another warrior said from below.

  The stairs ended in a big space with double doors now open to the balcony and the boarding scaffold, or what was left of it after the flying boat had yanked itself free. Warriors were stationed around on guard at the windows and doorways, others dumped dead dakti out the window. Moon saw Heart first, hurrying toward him. There was a dakti behind her and Moon stopped short, startled, until he realized it wore a braided leather and red cord necklace that was clearly Arbora work. It must be one of the half-Fell dakti, wearing the necklace as a marker to prevent accidents.

  Heart said, “Moon, we were so worried—” She shifted to her groundling form and pulled her bag off her shoulder, kneeling as he crouched to set Ceilinel down. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  “Me too.” Moon hesitated. Malachite would have told Heart and the others about Song. “This is Heart,” he told Ceilinel in Kedaic. “She’s a mentor, a healer, and she’ll take care of you.”

  Ceilinel nodded distractedly to Heart, then asked Moon, “Can those queens speak for the Reaches?”

  “Parts of it,” Moon said. Ceilinel’s focused determination was almost as bad as an Arbora’s. He asked Heart, “Is the court all right? Did you leave any warriors there?”

  “It was fine when we left. Celadon brought over two hundred warriors when she came. Plus Sunset Water and Emerald Twilight and the other courts were patrolling the fringe.” Heart gently turned Ceilinel’s face towards her, wincing at the gashes in the gray skin of her collarbone.

  That was good to hear. Maybe Pearl and Malachite hadn’t lost their minds after all. Moon caught a glimpse of Stone and Rorra outside and pushed to his feet again. “I’ll be back.”

  He went out onto the balcony. Kalam stood with Stone and Rorra, watching the broken flying boat. It still hovered in the air, though the stern rested in the tree canopy. The Solkis scrambled around on the broken deck, putting out the still smoldering fire. Thiest balanced atop the stern cabin, injured but alive, pointing and shouting orders.

  Moon squinted up at the towers. Warriors had settled all over the sides and conical roofs, familiar faces from Indigo Cloud and strangers from Opal Night. Spines flicked everywhere as they sighted Moon. “They brought half the court,” Moon said, not sure if he was complaining or not.

  Stone was not pleased. “And mentors. As if we don’t have enough Arbora running wild out here.”

  Moon would hardly describe what Bramble and Merit had been doing as running wild, but Stone clearly wanted a post-battle argument and Moon had no intention of giving him one. He nodded toward the Solkis. “The mentors can help with their wounded.”

  “We asked, they said no,” Kalam said, clearly not happy with the answer. He wiped a smudge of singed moss off his face. “It’s stupid.”

  “It’s Solkis,” Rorra said with a glare at the boat. She asked Stone, “How did you get them to stop shooting so the Raksura could come in?”

  “Took Thiest off the Fell ruler that had her.” Stone’s gaze was on the flying boat. Thiest strode across the cabin roof to stamp out another smoking patch of moss. “I wasn’t sure if she’d keep her word.”

  That was a frightening thought. Moon rubbed his face, realizing he felt a little dizzy. He probably wasn’t as recovered as he thought he was. Then Kalam pointed and said, “Look!”

  Moon braced for more Fell. But a large Kishan flying boat loomed into view over the treetops. It was built more like Callumkal’s ill-fated craft, with the ridge up the center. There were two more flying boats much higher in the air, their course intended to flank the emplacement.

  “Reinforcements,” Rorra muttered. “This could be good or bad for us.”

  A figure came out of the tower doors, the warriors parting for him with only a few growls, and Moon was startled to recognize Kethel. The skin of his chest now had a rippling scar pattern from the healed burns, but he didn’t move like he was hurt or ill. He was wearing a braided cord like the dakti, but his was blue and brown.

  “You live,” he said to Moon. He glanced at Stone. “Old consort.”

  Stone eyed him. “So you found your flight.”

  Kethel scratched the scars on his chest. “It was e
asy. They were following a lot of Raksura.”

  Moon knew what he wanted to say and there was no point in delaying. “I’m sorry I nearly got you killed. It was a bad idea.”

  “I’m not dead. I had the bad idea too.” Kethel appeared unbothered by the whole thing. “She thanks you.”

  Moon hadn’t seen the half-Fell queen, but she had to be here somewhere. “For what?”

  “For not killing me.” Kethel squinted up at the top of a tower. Moon followed his gaze. A number of dakti huddled in the lee of the roof, out of sight of the groundlings, with some Opal Night warriors perched beside them. The braided cords were bright against their black scales. Kethel added, “She would tell you herself, but the big queen will kill her if she speaks to you.”

  Moon could imagine. “What are you going to do now? Chase more Fell flights?”

  Moon had never seen a Fell look happy before, so it was something of a shock to realize that was the expression on Kethel’s face. Kethel said, “The big queen has said we can have a place to live. A big tree.”

  “A big—” Moon bit his lip, turning that thought over. “That . . . will be interesting.”

  “In the Reaches?” Stone said, floored. “What have they been doing while I was gone?”

  As Moon carried Ceilinel down the stairs, Jade turned to Pearl. “I need to speak to both of you in private.” She knew she should ask to speak to Malachite alone, but even after all the turns of aggravation and distrust in their relationship, Pearl was still her birthqueen and Jade wanted her here.

  Malachite eyed her without any hint of expression in her face or spines, then flicked her claws. All the Opal Night warriors leapt, scrambled, climbed, or bolted out of the room.

  Pearl’s spine flare and eye roll said eloquently what she thought of this display. She turned to Floret, “Take everyone outside.”

  Floret gathered the Indigo Cloud warriors with a glance and they dropped down the stairwell. Jade saw Serene cast a worried glance back at her and tried not to react. Then the warriors were gone and they were left alone in the stink of Fell and dead groundlings.

  Malachite nudged the dead progenitor with a thoughtful claw, then fixed her gaze on Jade. “We had word of how Moon was injured, lost, and taken away by groundlings.”

  Jade’s jaw tightened. “How?”

  Pearl said, “The half-Fell flight is with us. The kethel that followed Moon and Stone rejoined it some days ago, and we had its story from Consolation.” Pearl watched her critically, with a trace of impatient confusion in the line between her scaled brows. “I assume you retrieved your consort since he was just here. What is it? Just tell me, you know how I get.”

  The Kethel obviously didn’t know about the bargain Lavinat had offered Jade, anymore than Moon did. The urge to pretend she had nothing else to say was for a heartbeat overwhelming; but Balm and Stone and River and the others knew. Shade, as close and loyal to Malachite as if she was his bloodline birthqueen, knew. And Jade couldn’t ask them all to lie for her.

  Jade didn’t clear her throat though it felt like there were ashes on her tongue. “The Kethel told you about the weapon, how he and Moon were trapped by the Hian groundlings?” When Pearl flicked her spines in assent, she continued, “The Hian leader offered me a choice: if I let her use the weapon, she would spare Moon. I could save my consort or I could save the Reaches. I chose the Reaches.”

  Malachite made a noise, a huff of breath like something had punched her in the chest. Pearl met Malachite’s gaze, and for once there was nothing of irony in her expression. The silence went on long enough that Jade was tempted to attack one of them just to break it. Then Malachite whipped away and was suddenly on the other side of the chamber, facing the stairwell, breathing hard.

  Pearl let out a breath, but there was nothing tense in her demeanor. She seemed more resigned than anything else. With a sense of shock, Jade recognized Pearl’s I hate dealing with your emotions face. Pearl said, “We were on the fringe of the Reaches, fighting the Fell, when it happened. We saw it come over them in the wetlands, and Heart said it was a wave of death. We fled and it stopped in the fringe.”

  “So close?” Jade managed. Cold prickled her spines. If she had stood in that chamber for another moment of indecision, if she had tried to bargain for Moon, the weapon’s effect would have spread further across the Three Worlds. It might have killed Pearl and Heart and everyone with them. How many more moments until it would have reached Indigo Cloud and the other courts of the eastern Reaches? It had been an excruciating decision but she had thought it the right one. Now she knew it was, but it didn’t help. She turned to Malachite. “Even if you kill me, believe there was nothing else I could have done.”

  “She’s not going to kill you and spoil all this fun we’ve had,” Pearl said, dryly. Malachite turned her head enough to give Pearl a look that would have dropped a warrior dead on the spot. Pearl barred her fangs in amusement, then told Jade, “Go now and make sure the warriors aren’t doing anything stupid.”

  Jade took a half-step away, the accord between Pearl and Malachite enough to make her reel. Then Malachite’s voice rasped out, “Does Moon know?”

  Jade’s whole body went cold with dread. She made herself say evenly, “No.” It came to her that it would be better if Malachite knocked her across the room. This restraint was somehow more devastating. She wanted to say, “I’ll tell him,” but the words dried up in her throat.

  Pearl flicked her spines in a clear order to go, and Jade went.

  The flying boats had dropped to approach low over the treetops, so it was hard to see any detail from this angle. “We’re going to have to leave soon,” Moon told Stone.

  Stone threw an impatient glance toward the tower and growled with annoyance. “When they’re done.”

  Kethel followed his gaze and said, “Your queens talk to each other a lot.”

  Compared to progenitors, they probably did.

  Floret dropped out of a window to land beside Moon. She peered at him. “Are you all right?” He had shifted back to his winged form and the healed burns had left ridges on his scales.

  Moon saw Stone tense but he was too distracted to wonder at it. “I’m fine. So . . . Pearl and Malachite like each other.”

  “It’s terrifying,” Floret confided, keeping her voice low. “But it’s also kind of . . . attractive.”

  Stone muttered, “They could have gotten half the court killed.”

  Moon looked for some sign of Jade again and spotted her perched atop the roof of the next tower with Sage and Serene. He frowned, wondering why she hadn’t come down yet.

  Then Pearl and Malachite dropped abruptly to the pavement. Warriors scattered and Kalam stumbled into Moon. Kethel backed away immediately, but Pearl told him, “Tell Consolation to take the half-Fell and withdraw to the camp.”

  Kethel jerked his chin, a gesture of acknowledgement, then said to Moon and Stone, “I’m telling the others your stories.” He turned, vaulted the balcony railing, and disappeared into the trees below.

  Jade extended her wings to glide down from the tower. She landed neatly, glanced once at Moon, then reported to Pearl, “The wind-ship is with them.”

  Moon turned as Stone hissed in startled relief. The first Kishan flying boat had just angled down toward the towers’ landing pier. As its bulk moved aside, he saw the Golden Islander wind-ship trailing behind.

  Kalam waved wildly at it and Rorra clapped a hand to her head and swore in relief. She added, “It must have reached Kish-Karad not long after we left.”

  The sight of those three sets of fanfolded sails was more than welcome. That was Diar standing in the bow signaling to whoever was in the steering cabin. And Chime and Lithe at the railing with the warriors and crew. Moon let out his own hiss of relief. The two craft appeared to be in perfect accord, as the wind-ship turned to pull alongside the Kishan boat and dropped its own anchor cables.

  Chime and Lithe saw them and called out, pointing. Bramble bounced into view, waving
back at Kalam. Niran appeared on the deck, helping a tall Janderan . . .

  Kalam gasped, recognizing that figure an instant before Moon did. It was Callumkal.

  Moon shifted, grabbed Kalam, and bounced into the air. As he landed on the wind-ship’s deck he realized a dozen Opal Night warriors had followed him, surrounding him like a fledgling taking its first flight. That’s going to get old quick, he thought grimly, as he set Kalam on his feet.

  Callumkal didn’t look well and had to lean heavily on Niran. But it was a huge improvement over the half-dead body Moon had retrieved from the Hians’ flying boat. As Kalam flung himself at his father, Moon was immediately surrounded by a noisy group of Raksura and Golden Islanders.

  Chime wrapped his arms around Moon. “We thought you were dead,” he said, his face buried in Moon’s neck, his voice harsh with emotion.

  Everyone kept saying that. Moon hugged him back, just enjoying the familiar scents. Over Chime’s shoulder, he spotted Bramble and Merit, bouncing excitedly, and Root, who looked guilty. “I’m fine,” he told them all. Chime stepped back, still keeping hold of Moon’s wrist.

  “You don’t look fine.” Shade turned Moon to face him and studied him intently. “We really thought you were dead.”

  Lithe stepped between them so she could examine the burns on Moon’s scales. “What happened to you? Does this still hurt?”

  Then Kalam called, “Moon! Please come speak to my father.”

  Moon gently pried Chime off and stepped away from his half-clutchmates. He shifted to groundling and reluctantly went to Callumkal.

  The others must have told him how the artifact had ended up on the sunsailer, and Moon was aware of a tight knot of guilt sitting in his stomach. They hadn’t meant for any of it to happen but it had, and there was nothing to be done about it now.

  Callumkal stepped forward to wrap his arms around Moon in a hug. Moon returned the embrace, partly to make sure Callumkal didn’t fall. Callumkal felt even more boney than a Janderan should and his scent still had a trace of sickness. Callumkal said, “There is no way to thank you for everything you did.”