The Books of the Raksura: The Complete Raksura Series

by Martha Wells

  Everyone was quiet, just taking it in. “These are mountain-trees,” Chime said softly, as he leaned out over the rail. “The platforms are the suspended forest. I read about this a long time ago, but I never thought I’d see it.”

  Once the Indala had safely lowered down to join them, Niran came out of the cabin to look up at the tree canopy critically. “We should be safe enough if we can tie off somewhere down here.”

  Knell nodded, looking up. “We’re going to get wet, though.” High overhead, the heavy wind bent the treetops and rushed through the leaves as rain fell in fitful gusts.

  Stone caused a mild sensation by climbing down through the upper branches and dropping down onto the deck. Arbora and Aeriat scrambled out of his way, and the ship rocked under his weight before he shifted back to groundling. The rainwater that had already collected on his scales splashed down onto the boards to form a pool around him, and his hair and clothes were soaked. Not seeming to notice, he pointed off between the giant trees. “That way.”

  Niran turned to him, frowning. “Is it far? If the wind rises too much, we could still be driven into a tree.”

  “It’s not far, and it’s better shelter than this,” Stone told him. “If you think it’s getting too dangerous, we can stop.”

  Niran looked up at the treetops again to gauge the strength of the wind. He didn’t look entirely happy, but he nodded. “Very well.”

  Stone headed toward the bow, where Jade and Pearl waited. Niran threw a thoughtful look at Moon. “It surprises me that he listens to my objections.”

  Stone was used to taking advice from the Arbora, and he had traveled further and dealt with more different peoples than anyone else in the court, even Moon. It had been Stone’s idea to go to the Yellow Sea to trade with the Islanders for the use of their boats. But Moon only said, “He likes groundlings.”

  With a skeptical shake of his head, Niran went back to the steering cabin.

  As the Valendera began to move again, Moon left the railing and followed Stone toward the bow, making his way through the Arbora and Aeriat. They crowded along the railings, clung to the mast, perched on every available space that gave a view. The fear of being caught in the storm had given way to excitement and anticipation, and uneasiness, since not everyone was as sure of their situation as Stone. Moon couldn’t imagine the confidence it took to bring these people all this way, to live in a new place that only you had seen. Not that they had anywhere to go back to if they didn’t like it, but still.

  Jade stood against the railing in the bow with Flower. Pearl was there with River, Drift, Vine, Floret, and some other warriors. River flicked a resentful look at Moon, but even he was too preoccupied to provoke a fight.

  Moon stepped up to the railing next to Jade, and she absently put an arm around his waist. He leaned against her, trying not to feel selfconscious in front of Pearl.

  It grew darker, the green-tinted sunlight muted as clouds closed in high above the treetops. The drizzle turned into a light rain that pattered on the deck. The platforms of the suspended forest grew wider and more extensive. Many of them overlapped, or were connected by broad branches, with ponds or streams. Waterfalls fell from holes in some of the mountain-sized trees. Moon wondered if the water was drawn up from the forest floor through the roots. It was like a whole multi-layered second forest hanging between the tree canopy and the ground, somewhere far below.

  Then the trunks of the mountain-trees fell away, though the canopy overhead seemed even thicker. Moon realized they were sailing toward a shadowy shape directly ahead, a single great tree.

  Jade looked back at Stone. There was tension in her voice as she asked, “Is that it?”

  He nodded. There were nervous murmurs from the others, a shiver of movement that reverberated back through the crowded deck.

  The multiple layers of branches reached up like giants’ arms, and the trunk was enormous, wider around than the base of the ruined step pyramid that had formed the old Indigo Cloud colony. From the lower part of the trunk, greenery platforms extended out, multiple levels of them, some more than five hundred paces across. A waterfall fell out of a knothole nearly big enough to sail the Valendera through, plunged down to collect in a pool on one of the platforms, then fell to the next, and the next, until it disappeared into the shadows below.

  The platforms held only flowers, mossy grass, and stands of smaller trees, but many showed signs of once being worked into beds for crops, with the remnants of raised areas for planting and dry ponds and channels that must have been for irrigation.

  Everyone was silent. Then Pearl twitched and settled her spines. She said, “Stone, lead us in.”

  The warriors moved back, and Stone took two long steps forward, caught hold of the railing, and vaulted it. He shifted in midair, his big form momentarily blotting out the view of the tree as he snapped his wings out.

  Pearl hissed a command and went over the railing. The warriors followed, and Vine paused to pick up Flower. Moon leapt after Jade.

  They flew through the light rain, and Stone led the way toward the huge knothole, which was more than big enough for him to comfortably land in. He moved further in, around the edge of the pool, and shifted to groundling. Moon landed beside him, folded his wings, and turned to look around. Jade and the others landed, and Vine set Flower on her feet. Chime and a few other Aeriat caught up with them a moment later.

  In the cavernous space, folds of the trunk formed multiple nooks and chambers, extending back into the interior until the green-gray light failed. The pool, partly choked with weeds and moss, wound back away into the depths. The water fell over the edge of the opening, the sound as it struck the pond below so faint it was lost in the rain. Lush green vines wound over the walls, but Moon could see carvings in the smooth wood: serpentine shapes, claws, a pointed wingtip, like the images on the metal vessels and jewelry the Arbora made.

  Stone walked beside the pool toward the back of the chamber. No one seemed to want to break the silence. Moon glanced back and saw River touch Pearl’s arm, pointing to something on the floor. He looked down and saw small squares set into the wood, something with a faint shine like mother of pearl, white shading to green and pink, glittering in the dim light. They were set all along the rim of the pool, scattered over the floor.

  There was a doorway ahead, round and ringed with carvings. Stone stepped through, Jade and Pearl followed him, and the others trailed after.

  Moon paused to taste the air, but there was nothing but the muskysweet scent of the tree itself, and the earthy smells of dirt and dead leaves and water. Whether he liked it or not, this would be their permanent home, he reminded himself. He took a deep breath, told himself to stop worrying, and followed the others.

  Light shone ahead in the entry passage, and he found a disk set into the wall, a curving, graceful shell-shape, like something that would wash up on a beach. It glowed now with the soft, heatless light of magic. Flower must be renewing the spells on them as she went by. It was enough to show that the passage narrowed to only a few paces across and wound through several switchbacks, probably for defense. Major kethel, the largest breed of Fell, couldn’t get through here at all without shifting to groundling form. Even minor dakti, the smallest Fell, would have to come through a few at a time; an attempt to swarm would probably leave them jammed up in one of these tight turns, and the whole passage could be easily blocked or defended from the inside. And if there were multiple exits, hidden in the folds of the trunk, it would be near impossible to trap the inhabitants inside. And that canopy, nothing could dive through that without knowing where the openings are.

  Right at the point where Moon was wondering if the whole place was a maze, the passage widened out again and he heard water falling.

  He stepped out into another cavernous chamber. Two glowing shells were already lit and Flower was just touching a third, its light blooming to catch reflections off walls so smooth they seemed lacquered. Two open stairways spiraled up the far wall, with s
lim pillars widely spaced along the steps. They criss-crossed and led up to balconies, higher levels with round doorways. Directly across from the entrance, just below the first cross of the stairways, there was an opening with water falling out of it, streaming down the wall to a pool in the floor. There wasn’t any open channel leading away, but this could be the source for the water flow in the outer knothole.

  The others moved around, staring, exclaiming softly. Stone said, “This is the opening hall, for gathering, for greeting.”

  Jade turned to take it in. “The court must have been huge.”

  Chime went to the nearest stair and ran his hand down one slim pillar, marveling at it. “Did they carve it all out?”

  “No.” Stone stood in the center, his face tilted up to the central well. “The Arbora made it grow like this.”

  Everyone looked around again, as if trying to picture it. Flower shook her head, regretful, awed. “There’s much we’ve forgotten.”

  Moon moved to Stone’s side and looked up. The well wound up through the tree in a big spiral to vanish into darkness. It was like the central well of the step pyramid that had held the last colony, only much larger and far more impressive. He wondered if the slight resemblance was why the Raksura had chosen the ruin.

  Stone nodded toward a stair spiraling down the wall. “That leads down to the nurseries and the teachers’ bowers. We should be able to fit most of the court in there, at least for tonight.”

  “One section of bowers big enough to fit all of us?” Chime muttered. “I don’t know whether it means our court is too small or this one was too big.”

  “A little of both, maybe,” Floret said, looking up at the well.

  “This was our court.” Stone’s voice was quiet, but everyone went suddenly still. “You’re all descended from the Raksura who lived here.”

  Except me, Moon thought. He had found Indigo Cloud intimidating enough when it had been installed at the small colony. Trying to imagine this place populated with hundreds of Raksura made his nerves twitch.

  Thunder rumbled outside, and Moon flinched, then settled his spines to hide it.

  “We need to get the others in, and tie off the boats,” Jade said to Pearl.

  Pearl flicked her spines in acknowledgement, but for once she seemed more excited than annoyed. She turned to the warriors. “Go back and tell Knell and Bone to choose a group of soldiers and hunters as guards and scouts, and have the rest of the Aeriat fly them over. We need to make certain there’s nothing dangerous before we bring in the clutches and the rest of the Arbora.”

  Everyone scrambled to obey.

  Chapter Two

  Moon helped fly the first group of Arbora, including Bone, Knell, forty or so other hunters and soldiers, and the two young mentors, Heart and Merit, from the boats to the tree’s knothole

  entrance. With all the warriors joining in, it didn’t take long, though the steadily increasing rain drumming on their wings and the deepening gloom under the canopy reminded them that time was limited. The other Arbora still stuck on the boats weren’t happy with the delay, but they had to make certain the tree was safe.

  Once they were assembled in the greeting hall, Pearl told them, “The Aeriat will search upwards, the Arbora will go down. Move quickly, make certain there’s nothing dangerous here. You can stop and gawk at it all later.” She jerked her head at Knell. “You stay here with the soldiers and make certain this level is safe.”

  Flower turned to Merit and Heart, both bouncing with barely restrained excitement. “One of you go with Chime, and light the lamps for the Aeriat. The other stay here with Knell and light the rest of this hall and the passages around it.”

  “I’ve never done shells before.” Merit looked anxious. “Just moss and wood.”

  “You’ll learn as you go,” Chime said firmly, and caught Merit around the waist. He sprang up after the warriors who were already climbing the central well.

  Moon hissed to himself in frustration, torn between wanting to join the warriors who were heading upward, and wanting to be a good consort. Stone had already disappeared and was unavailable to give advice; possibly he was making his own search or getting reacquainted with the place. Not wanting to admit to insecurity, even to himself, Moon followed Jade, Flower, and the Arbora exploring party down the stairway that led below the greeting hall, to the section Stone had said they should make their camp for the night.

  They followed the curving stairs down into another large, central chamber with a high domed roof and round doorways leading away. Only a little light from above fell down the stairwell. The room was a dark pit, even to Raksuran eyes. But the only scent was of must and leaf rot, and the space felt empty. Moon ran his hands over the wall as high as he could reach, feeling for light shells. Groundlings would have brought a candlelamp or a torch, he thought, frustrated. The hunters went down the steps, spread out along the wall in the dark, searching, until someone said, “Here’s one!”

  After a moment, a shell further down the steps started to glow, revealing Flower standing on tip-toes to reach it. Jade and the hunters turned to look around the room.

  The light crept up the wall onto carvings of trees that curved up across the ceiling. It was a forest, picked out in detail, with plumes, spirals, fern trees, many others Moon couldn’t name. Their branches entwined overhead, and their roots came down to frame the round doorways that led off to different rooms, as if you were standing in an enclosed and protected glade. The hunters murmured in appreciation, and Bone said in a hushed voice, “If every part of this place is as beautiful…”

  Flower nodded, amusement and awe mingled in her expression. “If this is just the teachers’ gathering hall, I can’t wait to see the queens’ level.”

  “We’ll see it later.” Jade stepped over the edge of the stairs to drop down to the floor. “We need to find all the approaches to this section, make certain we can guard it tonight.” She turned to Bone. “And there have to be more passages outside, and a better place to land the boats and unload them.”

  “We’ll find it,” he told her. He turned for the nearest doorway and made an abrupt gesture. The other hunters scattered, and Flower hurried after them to light the shells. Moon and Jade followed more slowly, lingering to look. The other doorways led into an interconnected, multileveled maze of rooms, smaller stairways winding up, with balconies extending out over the wells. Without the sound of moving water it was too silent, haunted, much of it lost in darkness. Moon tried to shake off his uneasiness as he followed Jade through the empty place.

  In one of the first rooms, they found something hanging from the ceiling, a big wooden thing like half a nutshell, only it was nearly ten paces across. It swayed gently when Jade pushed at it. “It’s a bed,” she said, sounding startled. “Stone’s right—I think they grew this. Or made the tree grow it.”

  Moon felt the thick rope supporting one end of the bed, and realized it wasn’t rope but a heavy vine. It joined the wood seamlessly, with no knots. The basket beds made for the old colony were obviously an attempt to duplicate this.

  As they wandered through the level, they found more beds hanging from the ceiling or extending out from the walls. There were also shallow metal basins set into the smooth wood floors. Flower scratched experimentally at one, and said they were probably for the stones that mentors spelled to give off heat. She added, “I hope it means they had a forge, somewhere lower down.”

  “Did they bring the anvils?” Moon asked, remembering there had been some concern about that at the old colony.

  “I left with Stone before they settled all that,” she told him, looking around distractedly. “Niran thought they would plummet right through the ship’s hull, and he may have been right.”

  Moon kept finding bits of debris, things left behind that hinted at the life once lived here. A spill of beads in the dust, each carved like a tiny flower; a curved wooden comb, some of the tines missing; a scrap of faded fabric caught on a carving; a white-glazed bowl, s
et aside and forgotten on a ledge.

  Finally one of the hunters called Jade to come and look at another entrance on a lower level. It was a large round doorway closed by a heavy wooden panel that slid into place and sealed with bolts. After some tugging and pushing, they had got the panel open, and found the doorway sat just above a big branch nearly forty paces across, that lay nearly atop one of the old garden platforms. The Arbora thought it would be a good spot to secure the two boats, and would make it easier to unload them. Moon followed them out the doorway into the rain and picked his way across the big muddy expanse. It felt like solid ground, barely trembling in the wind, and was covered with rambling root vines, probably all that was left of the crop that had once been planted here. He watched as, with careful maneuvering and a lot of shouted instructions, Niran and Blossom brought the two ships close in to the massive trunk. Arbora scrambled under Niran’s direction to cast ropes over the huge branch at both ships’ bow and stern.

  As the Arbora finished fastening the ships into place, Pearl and some of the Aeriat flew out of the knothole entrance above them and spiraled down to land nearby. To Jade, Pearl said, “The upper levels are empty.” Chime came over to Moon, squelching in the mud, his tail twitching with excitement. “It’s the best colony we could ever have,” he said. “There’s so much room!”

  Bone came out to report that he and Flower and the other hunters had ventured nearly down to the roots, to the bottom of the habitable areas, and found no sign of anything big enough to threaten them. “There’s a lot of dirt and beetles, and tiny treelings that eat beetles, but that’s all,” Bone finished, the rain dripping off his spines. “The roots and the ground may be a different story, but the doors down there are sealed, and we didn’t want to chance opening them without more help.” Lightning cracked somewhere overhead, and everyone ducked and winced. Jade said, “Even if there’s a Ghobin colony down there, we still need shelter now.”