by Martha Wells
He heard Chime twitch uneasily, scales scraping on the cabin roof. “Sorry. It’s just . . . I’m worried. All right, I’m not worried, I’m terrified.”
“Everyone’s terrified. If anyone on this boat isn’t terrified right now, there’s something wrong with them,” Moon said. Two of the Kishan distance-lights pointed up at the sky and moved in slow patterns, watching for Fell. There were more lights, but Vendoin had said they lasted only for a limited time before they needed to be rested, and their use had to be rationed.
“I don’t know.” Chime sounded weary. “The Kishan think their weapons are going to hold off the Fell because they did last night. I wish I thought so.”
It was far more likely that last night had been a test of the Kishan’s defenses, and a successful attempt to destroy the flying boats and cripple the Kishan’s ability to escape quickly. Moon said, “I don’t wish I thought so. It’s better not to be surprised.”
“If you’re trying to reassure me, it’s not—” Chime began.
At that moment, Stone said from the deck below, “Do you smell that?”
Moon stood and tasted the air. It held saltwater and sand, the green scent of the trees and the heavy groundcover that cloaked the dunes on the other side of the island. And something else, just a trace that smelled of the sea bottom brought to the surface, decaying mud and dead shellfish. He said, “Something came up off the bottom. Something big.”
Stone said, “That’s what I was afraid of. They’re driving something toward us.”
Chime groaned in dismay, and Moon hissed under his breath. It was a trick they had seen before, where an attacker would take control of some large being that was normally harmless, and use it as a battering ram. Moon said, “Chime, go warn the others.”
Chime jumped down to the deck. His voice drifted back as he hurried away, “I didn’t think there was anything that big out here!”
Moon hadn’t either. The sea all through this area was shallow and he hadn’t seen anything bigger than an Arbora swimming through it. “Can you tell the direction?” Moon knew it was coming toward them from downwind, but that was it.
Stone swung up on top of the cabin. “It’s behind the island.”
Moon listened, trying to separate out the wind, the waves washing against the beach, the running footsteps and growing agitation on the ship below. They didn’t know how the Fell could control other beings, but they knew it would have to be a ruler, and that ruler would have to be in physical contact to do it. The instance Moon had seen from far too close had been a ruler mounted on a cloud-walker’s back, protected by a sac made from a kethel’s secretions.
The wind carried the sound of a rushing torrent, the sound of something large moving through water. Moon said, “Do you hear that?”
Stone said, “I’m going to take a look. Stay here.” He stepped to the edge of the cabin and leapt out into the wind. Moon ducked as Stone’s large form flowed into being. Stone fell toward the water, then caught the wind and soared upward.
The distance-lights pointed toward the island now, moving along its shore, past the abandoned camp and the wrecked pieces of the flying boat, already coated with windblown sand. There was no movement there. Moon went to the opposite edge of the cabin and crouched down. One of the distance-lights was mounted on the lower deck, a big barrel with the light pouring out the fluted end. It steamed in the damp air and made ominous clicking noises. All the lights were lit now and Moon hoped they lasted through the night. He called down to the Janderi standing beside it, “Hey, can you point it east of the island, at the open water?”
The Janderi glanced around, clearly not sure who had called to her, but seized the big lever and swung the light to the east.
Moon stood again to look, but the light only revealed an empty stretch of water.
“Moon!” It was Jade’s voice.
Moon jumped down to the deck below. Jade stood there with Callumkal and Rorra. Jade said, “Stone couldn’t tell what it was?”
Moon moved his spines in a negative. “It’s behind the island, in the water, coming this way.” He turned to Rorra. “Can you move the boat?”
Rorra nodded and looked at Callumkal. Callumkal said, “You think they mean to trap us against the rocks of the—”
Then Jade snarled. She was facing out toward the sea and Moon whipped around. Caught in the glow from the distance-light were two dark shapes, each almost as tall as the ship itself. They were rounded at the top, and Moon had the impression that something moved along the sides, like tendrils or feelers. More shapes formed out of the darkness. Moon’s spines prickled with fear and dismay. There were three more, five more . . .
Callumkal swung around to Rorra, “Tell the captain, get us underway—”
Rorra waved an assent, already limping rapidly toward the hatchway that led to the nearest stairwell.
“Do you know what those are?” Jade asked tightly.
Callumkal shook his head, his horrified gaze on the approaching sealings. “There should be little in the way of large sea life in this area, especially carnivorous sea life. I don’t—”
“They don’t have to be carnivorous, they just have to be able to swamp the boat,” Moon said. From the stern, someone bellowed orders to release the anchor lines.
Jade said to Callumkal, “Can you—”
The hull moved under Moon’s feet, then it suddenly jerked upward. His claws slipped on the wood as water and wet sand flooded over the rail. He slid down the deck toward the opposite side.
The distance-lights swung crazily, groundlings screamed. Moon slammed into the rail and held on despite the torrent of water, realized the tight grip around his waist was Jade’s arm. He shook his soaked frills out of his face and saw Jade gripped Callumkal’s arm, keeping him from being washed over the side; Moon was the only one with a free hand to hold onto the rail.
Looming over the deck was a dark shape, rounded on top, a long flowing fin along its edge. There was no sign of eyes, but a narrow lip across its belly poured out seawater. At least it’s not a carnivore, Moon thought, not reassured. It must be something that normally lay flat on the seafloor, drawing in water and sand through some other orifice and pushing it out through this one, filtering out everything that had fallen to the bottom.
Something metallic screeched from the stern. Callumkal, shielding his face against Jade’s shoulder, sputtered and gasped, “The anchor lines! They’re holding us—”
Keeping this thing from turning the boat over, Moon thought, struggling to push himself off the rail. When the other sealings got here, the lines wouldn’t be enough. Or this one would pour enough water into the sunsailer to sink it in place. He tried to plant his claws in the deck and push himself upright.
Then another dark shape loomed up over the sealing; Moon’s heart stuttered for an instant because he thought it was a kethel. Then it buried jaws and claws in the top of the sealing and he realized it was Stone.
The torrent of water stopped, and Jade choked and spit out a mouthful. “Finally,” she gasped, then yelled, “Balm, Briar! Where the shit are you?”
From the stern, Balm yelled, “Jade!”
Moon braced himself as Stone reared back, dragging the sealing with him. The hull swung back to rock toward the sealing, and Moon tightened his grip, holding on to the railing to keep all three of them from falling into the creature’s maw.
With a crunch, Stone ripped the sealing away from the boat, taking a chunk of the opposite railing with it.Jade let go of Moon and Callumkal and they staggered on the rocking deck.
Callumkal recovered and ran down the deck toward the stern, shouting for the crew. Jade said, “We need to keep them off until the boat can move,” and leapt to the top of the cabin.
Moon followed her to the cabin roof and jumped from it to the upper section. He caught a glimpse through the large windows of the steering cabin, saw the flying boat navigator Esankel and two Janderan pulling levers and turning wheels and shouting at each other. Callumk
al was just climbing up the stairs from below.
Moon leapt down to the stern deck where Jade had found Balm, Briar, and River. There were Kishan on the overhanging deck working the distance-lights and the weapons, and another group huddling over the winch attached to the anchor line. But there was one person Moon didn’t see. Chime was heading here, he thought, sudden fear tightening his chest. Where is he? But then Chime, with Song and Root behind him, slammed out of the nearest hatch.
Chime staggered on a buckled deck plate and said, “Sorry, we got stuck inside when the ship went sideways. What happened?”
Moon turned him around to face the island, where the shapes of the sealings were visible in the shafts of the distance-lights. Chime made a strangled noise.
Jade said, “Balm, Briar, Song, get in the air and try to see where the Fell are. River, Root, and Chime, get back up on the cabins, watch this deck. Don’t let anything get inside.”
The warriors took flight from the deck. Moon started to follow and Jade grabbed his frills and jerked him to a halt. “You stay with me,” she said.
Moon bounced impatiently, thought about protesting, and decided it would make him sound too much like Root. Then he saw Stone bank through the air and come in low over the top cabin roof. “There’s Stone,” he said.
Jade hissed, “Come on,” and went up the wall onto the next deck. Stone shifted, dropped down to the cabin roof, and landed on his feet in his groundling form. He swung down to their deck and said, “Where’s Callumkal?”
“This way.” Moon turned to the nearest hatchway.
It opened into a corridor with two stairwells, one up and one down. From the watery rushing noises and yelling, the down one led to something important, probably the motivator. Moon took the upper one and climbed rapidly, rounded a corner, and up again into the steering cabin. It was a wide cabin with windows all around, like the steering cabin of the Kishan flying boat. The wall below the front window had a number of levers and wheels and long tubes with horns on the end, which, from how Esankel and the other two were using them, were apparently for yelling at people in other parts of the sunsailer. Vendoin was there with Callumkal, and Kellimdar clutched one of the fabric maps. Rorra held the steering lever, her weight braced against it to keep it in place. They looked up as Moon stepped aside to let Jade and Stone get into the room.
Callumkal started to speak and Stone interrupted, “They’re coming in from the east and the west. There’s no way to go.”
Rorra swore in another language. Callumkal and Vendoin just stared. Kellimdar said, “But—” and stopped, as if he had no idea how to finish that sentence.
“The sacs.” Jade turned to Stone. “If we can rip open the sacs on some of the sealings, maybe just enough for the sunsailer to get past the others—”
Stone said, “I couldn’t see any sacs, and no rulers. The Fell are controlling the sealings some other way.”
Moon hissed in disbelief. He felt unexpected sympathy with Kellimdar. He wanted to say but that’s impossible. He heard footsteps on the stairs behind them and saw Delin climbing up. He looked a little shaky and Moon stepped out to give him a hand up. Moon had forgotten he was in scaled form, but Delin closed his soft-skinned hand around Moon’s scaled palm and claws with no hesitation. His face etched into worried lines, Delin said, “Oh, this has not turned out so well.”
Moon steadied him on the landing. Figuring he might as well get the worst out of the way, he told Delin, “They’ve got us trapped between the island and the escarpment.”
Delin nodded grimly as he stepped into the steering cabin. “I thought as much.”
Callumkal was saying, “We’ll fight them. We still have our weapons.”
Jade’s tail flicked continuously, a sign of her racing thoughts. “How long? Do your weapons run out?”
“Yes,” Kellimdar said, his voice thready. “They will function for some hours, but the mosses need to rejuvenate. They need sunlight . . .”
Then Delin said, “We must try to open the city.”
Moon, and everyone else, turned to stare. Delin said, “We can retreat to it, take shelter. If we can open it.”
Jade recovered first. Speaking Raksuran, she said, “I thought it would take a crossbreed Fell-Raksura to open it, someone who looks like a forerunner. We saw the Fell have a half-Raksuran queen.”
“That was our theory and may be what the Fell believe,” Delin replied in the same language, “but we do not know if that is so. There may be another way. If it is a foundation builder city and not forerunner at all, there is certainly another way.”
Callumkal found his voice. “Please speak Altanic. Do you know how to open it?”
Delin spread his hands. “Bramble, Merit, and I accomplished much today. We found the door, we can find the way to open it.”
“Can you do it in time?” Vendoin asked.
“That is a good question,” Delin said. “Perhaps the Fell and their sealing battering rams will be driven away by our weapons and it won’t matter.”
Stone made a skeptical noise, and Delin added, “I agree.”
Callumkal looked at Vendoin and Kellimdar, then Jade. He said, “He’s right, we have to try. Even if the city holds some danger, there is no other option. We can send Delin and the others over in the small boat, if your people will guard them—”
Rorra gestured toward the railing. “Both the small boats were hulled when that thing tried to overturn us.”
She was right; the mast of the boat that had been tied off there was still visible above the rail. But it sat at an acute angle that didn’t bode well for the rest of it. The Kishan had those little rowing boats, but they would take too long. “We can fly them over,” Moon said. He thought it was a bad idea. He also thought it was the only idea.
Jade’s tail lashed in frustration but she snarled, “We don’t have a choice.” She turned and flung herself out the door and down the steps.
Stone caught Moon before he could follow. Stone said, “Tell Jade I’m going to try to hold them off as long as I can.”
“Right,” Moon said. He wanted to say a lot of other things, but there was no time right now, and no real point.
Delin tapped his arm. “Your assistance?”
“Sure.” Moon lifted Delin up and carried him down the stairs, then outside and over the rail down to the lower deck.
There, River and Chime waited with Jade. She must have told them how bad things were. River looked the way he usually did, except maybe less sullen, but Chime’s spines and tail twitched nervously. As Moon landed, Root came out of the hatch with Bramble and Merit. Moon sat Delin on his feet and told Jade, “Stone’s going to try to hold them off.”
Jade flicked her spines in assent. She said, “The Arbora will go with Delin to try to open the city, Root, River, Chime, and Moon will fly them over. I’m going to join the others.”
Overhead, Stone launched into the air, his shifted form skirting the distance-lights and diving toward the oncoming sealings.
Bramble nodded tensely. She and Merit were in their scaled forms, spines and tails twitching in anticipation and nerves. She said, “We could use Chime’s help.”
Merit seconded that. “He’s done this before.”
“Sort of,” Chime corrected, but he didn’t object.
“Whatever you have to do to get that door open,” Jade hesitated, then grabbed Moon’s shoulder and nipped his ear. “Be careful,” she whispered. “And take care of them.”
Moon’s throat went tight; she didn’t mean just the Arbora. He thought of their clutch again. But he said, “I will. Just come back.”
Jade stepped away, jumped to the railing, and then into the air.
Moon took a deep breath. “Everybody grab someone,” he told the warriors. “I’ll take Delin.”
Root obligingly picked up Bramble. “What are we doing?” he said, “because I missed that part.”
“We’re going to open the city,” Moon said, lifting Delin up. It sounded far too optimi
stic.
“Oh.” Root’s spines drooped. “I was hoping it wasn’t that.”
Moon asked Chime, “Are you going to be all right?”
Chime moved his spines in an assent that wasn’t quite as confident as Moon would have liked. “The wind’s better than it was before. I can do it.”
River snarled, “Let’s just get it over with,” and picked up Merit. Moon decided to let that go and leapt off the deck into the wind.
He caught the strong current and banked to turn back toward the escarpment. As the others followed, Delin gripped his collar flange and gasped, “One of the creatures nears the ship!”
Behind Moon, Kishan yelled warnings and he heard something strike the ship’s metal hull. Moon hissed and concentrated on his flying. The wind had died down a little when the sun had set earlier, but this was still going to be tricky.
He let the wind carry him toward the escarpment, then pulled up at the last instant and let it shove him toward the wall. He caught hold of the rock with his free hand and his foot claws. Delin, whose head was a handsbreadth from the stone, whistled in admiration.
Moon twisted to look over his shoulder. Chime hit the wall several paces below him and slid a little. River and Root landed with less velocity, Bramble freeing one hand to help Root hold on.
But the sunsailer wasn’t doing so well.
Moon couldn’t see the sealings, but there must be at least one or more, possibly underwater or just above the surface. They were pushing the sunsailer slowly toward the escarpment. The wind carried the sound of a straining rumble: the motivator that drove the sunsailer, fighting the pressure.
“The ship?” Delin gasped.
“You need to hurry. Hold on, I’m going to climb down.” Delin gripped his collar flange so Moon could use both hands to climb down to the ledge. Bramble and Merit had already spread out over the wall, pounding and clawing the obscuring coral-rock off the surface.
Moon set Delin down in front of the carvings at the base. He started to say, “Do you need any help?” when River shouted, “Dakti!”
