River crouched on the floor. His arms and legs still shook from a combination of nerves and the strain of hanging off the metal hull by his claws for so long. “The Hians are leaving?” He wasn’t sure what to do. He could follow the flying boat, maybe even hang onto its hull, until he could find a way to free Merit and Moon. But he hated to leave the others here and helpless until the poison wore off.
“Yes, with hostages.” Rorra pushed her hair out of her eyes, and he saw the pale skin of her hands had been abraded by the metal steps. “They said they were going to take Moon. You didn’t see him?”
River hissed. “I can’t get over to that side without being seen. They have fire weapons!”
“I know, I know.” Rorra held up a placating hand. “I’m not complaining.”
River remembered about her communication scent, the need to filter it out. Good, something else to feel inadequate about, he thought. “You can use the fire weapons, right? If I follow the flying boat, can you take care of the others, and get the ship back to the sea?”
“Yes. But I’ll need my boots, so I can walk. The Hians left them in the steering cabin.” She added desperately, “We have to hurry. I think the poison is killing the Jandera.”
River grimaced as he pushed to his feet. Merit was the only one who could help with that, and the Hians were taking him away. “Stay here.” He slipped past her up the steps.
Moon growled, clawed, and managed to bite one of the Hians, despite getting slammed and scraped against the walls of the passage and stairwell. They dragged him out into the bright sunlight of the deck and dropped him, skipping out of arm’s reach. He lay there, panting, what was left of his strength nearly gone, and he hadn’t even been able to delay them much.
He managed to roll over. The flying boat hung low in the air, about a hundred paces above the surface of the water, and a dozen Hians in flying packs moved upward toward it. One attached straps to the still unconscious Callumkal’s harness and dragged him up off the deck. Two more came out of a hatch lower down, carrying smaller bodies. Moon squinted and realized they were Delin and Merit. Another Hian came out carrying Bramble. He hissed helplessly. “You’re leaving the others to die.”
Vendoin said, “No, we will leave them, but they are free to recover and return to land. I want word of what we have done spread as widely as possible.”
“Why are you taking Bramble?”
Vendoin made an irritated gesture. “Bemadin thinks you are too dangerous, that we should only take the wingless ones.”
Moon wanted to rip her throat out. The sunsailer was drifting farther into the ocean, and Rorra was the only one who had shown any sign of recovery. He said, “Then give Rorra her boots so she can get up to the steering cabin and get the boat back to the sea.”
Vendoin ignored him, watching as Delin, then Merit and Bramble were lifted up toward the flying boat. Then she gestured and two Hians moved toward Moon. One carried a small flask. They were going to give him more Fell poison. Moon shoved himself back on the deck, desperate to stand. Another dose might make him unconscious or kill him.
Then he caught the Fell stench on the wind.
His reflexive attempt to shift was useless. He was still trapped in his groundling form and there were Fell close by. Too close for the Hians to fight them off. So this is how it ends, he thought. The Fell would either eat them all and die of the poison, or realize the danger and wait until it wore off before feasting. He said to Vendoin, “You might want to drink that yourself.”
She stared down at him. Then her head jerked up and she spun around to scan the sky. To the southwest, dark shapes cut across the wind. Moon spotted a ruler and a small swarm of dakti, with three kethel following further back. They must have circled around to approach from upwind.
Vendoin fell back a step, then shouted a warning to the other Hians. She said, “How are they here? We should be too far out for them to reach us!”
Maybe the Fell wanted to reach their prey more than they feared falling out of the sky from exhaustion. “Too bad you don’t have any Raksura to fight them off,” Moon told her.
She looked down at him, lips drawn back in a grimace. “We’re not leaving without you.” She made a sharp gesture.
The two Hians lunged in and grabbed Moon’s arms to haul him upright. He twisted to pull away. One grabbed him from behind and lifted up off the deck, dragging Moon with her. The few other Hians still on the deck lifted into the air.
As they moved upward, Moon eyed the flying boat above and the water below, trying to make a decision. The only reason to take him along was to keep him drugged and helpless and keep Jade and the others at bay by threatening to kill him. The Hians could do the same with Merit and Bramble, but they might not realize that. He twisted his head around and tried to sink his teeth into the arm holding him.
Then the Hian jolted sideways as a heavy impact knocked both her and Moon back over the sunsailer’s deck. He got a bare glimpse of a dakti’s wing, then with a cry the Hian let go of Moon. Instinct made him go limp to minimize the damage, but he landed with a stunning impact.
Rolling over, he bit back a groan. His whole body felt numb. Lying on his back he saw the dakti tear the Hian’s pack off, then fling her overboard. It darted away toward the upper deck. Three other Hians dropped toward the water as dakti tore and harried them.
Vendoin shot upward to reach the railing of the flying boat. A kethel swept past as she scrambled aboard. Other Hians ran to get to the fire weapons on its bow and stern. The weapon on its top deck swung around. Moon didn’t see it shoot the wooden disk, but the kethel slipped sideways and the fire stream passed it, missing completely. The Kish-Jandera were obviously better marksmen.
Moon tried again to shift, but again nothing happened. He shoved himself up to his hands and knees and crawled to the wall. It was instinct to seek shelter, but he thought that would only delay the inevitable. There was no fire weapon on this deck that he could reach, nothing he could do. He tried to force himself to his feet, using the metal wall as a ladder. His head swam again and his knees gave out, and he sank back to the deck.
Two more fire streams shot out from the flying boat, but these kethel were just too quick. They darted in and away again. They’re fighting smart, Moon thought. More like Raksura than Fell. As the last two Hians reached the boat’s railing, it turned from the sunsailer and started to lift up and away.
Several dakti landed on the sunsailer’s deck barely five paces away and Moon thought, this is it. But they approached slowly, cautiously, staring at him.
Moon waited for them to figure out that he was helpless. Then the ruler landed on the railing.
She wasn’t a ruler. She was the half-Fell queen.
She called to him, “Should we chase the flying boat?”
It took Moon several heartbeats to realize she was actually asking him, expecting an answer. It was tempting to send them after it, but Merit, Bramble, Delin, and Callumkal were on that boat, helpless. He said, “No. Let it go.”
She didn’t make any gesture, but the three kethel broke off, curving away from the Hians’ flying boat. Moving fast with the wind, it headed out over the ocean.
The queen hopped down from the railing, and shifted. Her form flowed and blended into a figure who could have been mistaken for a Raksuran warrior. Except her skin was bone white, like the groundling form of a Fell ruler, and her dark hair was long and straight. She stepped closer, and he saw there were patches of dark scales on her cheeks, down her neck and shoulders. What looked like heavy braids in her hair might actually be frills. It was like a queen’s Arbora form blended with a ruler’s groundling form. She wore a loose dark tunic, patched and stained around the hem.