The Books of the Raksura: The Complete Raksura Series

by Martha Wells

  Moon let out his breath, resigned to being the bearer of this news. “We don’t know yet. But we might.”

  He was braced to have to explain the theft of the seed, and just hoped he could do it in a way that wouldn’t make them all feel that the tree might be invaded at any moment. But Frost just said, “On the flying boats?”

  Moon admitted this would probably be the case. Then Thorn flung the distracted Frost off him, Bitter pounced, and the game resumed.

  Snow bounded off to join the other fledglings, but Spring said, “They don’t understand.”

  Moon thought Frost, Bitter, and Thorn probably did understand, but compared to what they had been through, moving again just wasn’t a daunting prospect. The others were still unsettled by the Fell attack, and most seemed to be just pretending it hadn’t happened. Spring was old enough to realize all the implications of their situation, and maybe starting to feel the weight of the responsibility she would have soon, as a female warrior from a queen’s clutch. He tried, “We survived the Fell, we’ll survive this.”

  It worked better on Spring than it had on Bone. She sat up a little straighter and said, “We will.”

  

  Later Moon went back to the teachers’ hall, but found that in a frenzy of organization, the Arbora had moved everyone into newly-cleaned bowers. He found the one Jade had been moved into, a good-sized room on the far side of the nurseries, with a balcony looking out onto the stairwell and an intricately carved ceiling. Furs and cushions had been arranged on the floor for seating areas, there were warming stones in the hearth basin, and the blankets were piled into the big hanging bed. Moon found his fur blanket on top and took that as a good sign that he was living here too. He slung himself up into the bed for a nap.

  Jade woke him sometime later, climbing atop him for sex before he had a chance to ask how things were going with the books. Afterward, she fell asleep, and he lay there stroking the frills along her back, thinking of how much he wanted to live here with her. He would live anywhere with her, but here was his first choice.

  He drifted off again, and next time woke to Merit knocking on the bottom of the bed. “Jade? Flower says she found something.”

  

  They gathered in the teachers’ hall, under the branches of the carved glade. Stone had reappeared, aborting the argument about who would go and get him. Vine brought Pearl, River, Drift, and a few other Aeriat back from wherever they had been. Chime, Bone, Knell, and Bell were here, but none of the others had been summoned. Everyone seemed to intend to wait until they had a coherent plan before calling everyone else together to hear it. Though given the speed with which news spread among the Arbora, calling a meeting of the entire court probably wouldn’t be necessary.

  While everyone found a place and sat down, Flower settled in the center of the group. She had a roll of paper in her lap, its painted leather case lying nearby. “We found a mentor’s journal that speaks of the seeds. Unfortunately it doesn’t speak of what to do when a colony tree loses its seed. I suspect we may be the first court to ever have this problem, at least as far as our ancestors knew.”

  Jade snorted in bitter amusement. “Why does that not surprise me.” Moon had been thinking the same thing.

  Pearl spared her a glare, and prompted Flower, “Then what does it say?”

  “It says how the seeds are made.” Flower tapped the roll of paper in her lap. “They’re taken from the heart of a mountain-thorn, a very rare plant that grows only in these western Reaches. This tree was seeded from a mountain-thorn about four to five days of warriors’ flight from here, which is occupied by the court of Emerald Twilight. Or it used to be occupied by it, when this was written.”

  “They’re still there.” Stone’s expression was at its most opaque. He didn’t seem to find this news as encouraging as everyone else did. “I saw their scouts when I was here two turns ago. They’re the oldest court in this reach, and the largest.”

  Jade leaned forward, her expression intent. “So we can ask them for another seed?”

  Flower nodded. “I think it’s our best hope. Of course we don’t know if there are any to spare, but we can certainly ask.”

  Everyone looked at Pearl. She twitched her tail angrily. “I suppose it’ll have to be a formal embassy.” She said this as if it was a terrible thing to contemplate.

  Moon looked at Jade, whose expression was more disgruntled than grim. No one else seemed taken aback by the idea of a formal embassy either. Apparently Pearl just didn’t like other Raksura. At least it’s not just me, he thought.

  “We’ll have to go begging to them,” Pearl added, her tail flick turning into a full-out lash. Her warriors sidled away a little, out of immediate hitting range.

  Jade told her, “I’ll go. If you go, it will look like begging.”

  Pearl eyed her angrily. “You’ve never greeted another queen before, not as an embassy. You never even went to Wind Sun.”

  Jade bristled. “I would have, if I’d been given the chance.” She looked away for a moment, clearly gathering her patience. “It’s a good time for me to learn.”

  Pearl was obviously torn between not wanting to give Jade an important responsibility, and hating the idea of going herself. She finally said, “Fine, then. You’ll leave tomorrow.”

  Moon felt the tension in Jade’s body relax, and he took a breath of relief himself. They had a plan, a chance, or at least a way to get more information, and Pearl wasn’t going to be difficult about it. Or no more difficult than she normally was, anyway.

  Then Stone cleared his throat. Pearl regarded him steadily for a moment. “What?”

  He said, “Indigo Cloud doesn’t have an alliance with Emerald Twilight.”

  Pearl dismissed it. “We’ll offer alliance. They have no reason not to accept.”

  Moon managed to keep his expression blank. Emerald Twilight had no reason not to accept because Pearl hadn’t been here to antagonize them, the way she had Wind Sun, the court that had refused to help fight the Fell.

  Stone scratched his neck, and added thoughtfully, “We almost went to war with Emerald Twilight, before Indigo Cloud left the Reaches.”

  There was a startled murmur from everyone. “War?” Flower repeated, incredulous.

  “Are you serious?” Jade demanded.

  Pearl lifted her spines. “Was it something you did? Just tell us.”

  Stone glared at her. “I was barely ten turns old.” Under Jade and Pearl’s concentrated stares, he admitted, “Indigo stole Cloud from a daughter queen at Emerald Twilight. I forget her name.”

  “Stole?” It was Moon’s turn to stare. “What… how… That can happen?”

  “We can only hope,” River put in, nastily. Drift snickered.

  Moon met River’s gaze in deliberate challenge. “Do you need another beating?”

  “Quiet, both of you,” Pearl snapped. She turned back to Stone. “Was Cloud taken?”

  “Yes. The daughter queen took him when he was too young, and after a few turns, it wasn’t working out. There was no clutch yet.” Stone shrugged. “At least that’s our side of the story. I have no idea if that’s actually true or not.”

  Bone shook his head, affronted. “Is this even in the histories?”

  Flower groaned and rubbed her eyes. “I’ve never seen it there. And I’m fairly certain I’d remember.”

  This sounded serious. Nobody seemed to think that maybe Emerald Twilight would have forgotten the incident by now. Moon wasn’t even sure what they meant by “stolen.” Kidnapped, carried off? Like the Fell did with the Arbora? He didn’t need anything new to worry about.

  Jade tapped her claws on the floor, impatient. “How did it happen?”

  Stone said, “This was when Indigo was still a sister queen—when her mother Cerise was still alive—and she was visiting Emerald Twilight. She saw Cloud and just… grabbed him. Half the queens in the Reaches got together to settle it to prevent a war, and by that time Indigo had talked Cloud into accept
ing her and repudiating his first queen. The other queens talked Emerald Twilight into letting it go.” He spread his hands. “It was a successful match. Indigo succeeded as reigning queen, the court renamed itself after her and Cloud, and they led us to a new colony when this one started to fail. They had eight clutches. But I have no idea how Emerald Twilight sees it.”

  Everyone was silent as they digested that. Bell and Knell exchanged an uneasy glance. Bone growled under his breath, sounding disgruntled.

  Chime cleared his throat. He said tentatively, “Maybe this would be a good time to revisit the discussion about changing the court’s name?”

  Everyone ignored him. Jade asked Stone, “If we had to search for another colony, where would we go?”

  Stone’s expression wasn’t encouraging. “If we stay in the Reaches, we’d have to find an unclaimed territory and build one ourselves. That means no solid shelter for the rain seasons, no prepared ground for gardens.” Her voice quiet, Flower said, “I’m afraid to think how many of the wounded and the aged wouldn’t survive that.”

  Chime hunched his shoulders, as if shuddering at the thought. “We’ve had too many illnesses in the last twenty turns. I know it was the Fell influence on the old colony, but if we have another outbreak of lung disease…”

  Moon could imagine it all too readily. He had seen enough failing groundling camps to know what could happen. A fire, a flood, a bad crop year, a disease that took too many for the group to recover. Small settlements were vulnerable, especially when forced to migrate.

  Stone didn’t acknowledge their comments, and just continued, “If we go back outside or into the Fringes… I’d have to scout for a ruin to settle in.”

  “And hope you could find one before this tree collapses on us,” Knell said.

  Pearl told Jade, “We’ll try Emerald Twilight first. You’ll just have to go anyway and hope that… Just hope.”

  Jade nodded, for once in complete accord with Pearl. “I will.”

  The talk turned to who would go, and exactly what a formal embassy should consist of. Apparently five warriors was the right number for a formal greeting, and everyone thought that the addition of Stone and Flower would show how serious their errand was. Also, Jade admitted, it might make Emerald Twilight think twice if they were inclined to be difficult and refuse the greeting. It was a much more serious breach of etiquette to ignore a line-grandfather and an elderly Arbora mentor.

  “It takes away their choice to refuse,” Pearl explained, still cranky even though she wasn’t going. “Be aware that that alone may make them angry.”

  It was a good point, but Moon didn’t think it mattered. If the other court was inclined to be angry, everything they did or didn’t do was just going to make it worse. He was going to say so, when Pearl added, “And you’ll need a consort with you. Moon will have to go along.” Her tone made it clear she didn’t enjoy this prospect at all.

  Startled, Moon looked at the others, expecting an argument. Instead, everyone just nodded agreement. Some of it was reluctant agreement, but no one protested. Jade said, “But is he recovered well enough for a long flight?”

  Flower said, “He should be. He’s young, and his injuries healed well. And I’ll be there if he has any trouble.”

  It wasn’t his injury that Moon was worried about. “Are we sure that’s a good idea?” He wanted to go, to see the mountain-thorn if for no other reason, but the etiquette of the formal visit sounded fraught with complication. There were so many nuances he didn’t understand, even here. He didn’t think he was ready for a big busy court yet. “Stone’s already going.”

  Flower explained, “Stone is a line-grandfather. And they’ll expect Jade, as a sister queen, to bring her own consort. A sister queen and a consort are essential for a first-time meeting with a court of Emerald Twilight’s stature.”

  With a grim expression, Knell said, “And when they ask what court he’s from, what are you going to say?”

  And here was yet another nuance Moon didn’t understand. As far as he knew, he was from this court. “What do you mean?”

  Jade answered, “It’s going to be a formal embassy. If we introduce you, we have to give your lineage.”

  “Oh.” That was going to be awkward. He didn’t want to have to explain himself or prove that he wasn’t a crazy solitary every time they met someone new. “Can’t we just make one up?”

  Jade gave him an exasperated look. “No.”

  He thought it was the best solution. “You could say I came from Sky Copper.” The only survivors of the destroyed court were Frost, Thorn, and Bitter, and they could probably be coached to confirm the story if it was ever necessary.

  Stone looked intrigued at the suggestion, but Jade said, “Moon, no.”

  There was an uneasy silence.

  Stone said, “So it’s going to be, ‘This is Moon, we won’t say where he came from so you can assume he’s a feral solitary.’”

  Jade gave him a sour look. “How about, ‘and this is Stone, our cranky line-grandfather that we dragged along so he could start fights with everyone.’”

  Grimly determined, Pearl told Moon, “You’ll have to tell them the truth. Just don’t embarrass us.”

  Moon suppressed an irritated hiss. “I’ve walked into strange camps and settlements all my life. I know how to act.” But even as he said it, he knew he would probably eat those words.

  

  Later, Moon and Jade sat outside on the edge of the knothole, watching the fall of night under the mountain-trees. The light had turned a deep green-gold, gradually fading as the sun set somewhere past the trees. A little flurry of tiny yellow flying things played in the spray of the waterfall. When one strayed close enough, Moon realized they were flying frogs, something he hadn’t seen before. On one of the platforms about a hundred paces below, a group of Arbora still explored the beds of the old gardens, searching for buried roots. A few young warriors flew around under the upper branches, looping and diving in play.

  Her voice tight, Jade said, “I hope we can stay here.”

  It had to be what everyone was thinking tonight. Stone hadn’t promised them anything, and this place had been more than any of them had expected. Moon leaned against her shoulder and said, “That was good, when you got Pearl to send you to Emerald Twilight instead of going herself.”

  Jade’s spines rippled in a shrug. “It’s not as if she wanted to go. She hates talking to other queens.” She added, “I think we’ll take Vine with us. Pearl trusts him, and taking him will make us look more united to the rest of the court.”

  Moon thought it was a little late for that. No one in the court with any sense could possibly have missed the tension between the two queens. But he didn’t have any real objection to Vine. “What about Balm? She’s done this before.” Balm had gone to Wind Sun with Vine in an unsuccessful attempt to ask the other court for help.

  “I want her to come. We need a female warrior to speak for us when we arrive. Floret’s the only other one who’s spoken to other courts before, and she’s close to Pearl.” Jade stirred uneasily. “But I’ve tried to talk to Balm, and it didn’t go well. It was hard on the boats. There was nowhere private, and she wouldn’t fly off anywhere with me.”

  It might be that Balm just didn’t want to talk about what the Fell had done to her, not yet. Moon could understand that at a bone-deep level. “Tell her you need her help. Tell her it’s her duty.”

  “It’ll make her feel guilty.”

  “She already feels guilty.” It might as well be used for a good purpose.

  Jade thought about it a moment more, then nodded. “It can’t hurt to ask. I’ll go find her.”

  Jade went inside, and Moon sat there a while longer, watching the light fail. He was about to go in when a green warrior swooped down from above, cupping his wings to land on a narrow ledge just below the lip of the knothole. It was River.

  Moon leaned back and propped himself on his arms, deliberately casual. “Here for that beati
ng?” He really hoped so.

  Sounding amused, River said, “You should be afraid of this trip, solitary. This will be a big court, with lots of consorts to spare.”

  Moon didn’t show his sudden sense of unease. “So.”

  River climbed a little closer, gripping the bark with his claws. “Jade’s never been near an adult consort she wasn’t related to. All the ones at the courts near us were taken already, or too young. Why do you think she settled for you?”

  Moon shoved forward and shifted in a blur of movement. But River fell backward off the ledge and twisted into a dive through the spray of the waterfall.

  Moon stopped, trying to settle his spines. Chasing River was no good. It wasn’t as if he could kill him when he caught him. It would upset the others too much.

  The words stung because they were true. By the time Jade had grown to adulthood, Pearl had driven off the consorts who had been born to Amber, her sister queen, sending them to other courts. The other consorts had died of illness, or been killed in fighting off attacks on the colony.

  Stone had said Azure had chosen him out of the lot, but Jade hadn’t had a choice. It had been Moon or nobody, and the court had been reluctant to move without a consort for her.

  He knew Jade wanted him now, but his position in Indigo Cloud had been far more secure when he was the only available consort in flying distance. He knew queens could take more than one consort, and have warrior and Arbora lovers, but that wouldn’t affect his place in the court. And he had thought that as long as he was with Jade, he could handle it. He hadn’t counted on the members of the court who weren’t happy with an ex-feral solitary as first consort having the opportunity to pressure Jade to replace him.

  Moon turned and went back to the passage, taking it through to the greeting hall, snarling under his breath. Now he had yet another reason to be uneasy about this trip.

  Chapter Five