Moon turned to her. She was crouched on the floor, and her eyes were like mirrors, blind and opaque. She shook her head, suddenly normal again, the moment passing so quickly Moon thought he imagined it. She said again, “Let him go.”
Pearl spat. “You’re finally having a vision? Now?”
Jade just said, “Chime, go with Moon to warn the Islanders. Come to the colony as soon as you can.”
Moon flew back to the ships at Chime’s fastest pace. There was no sign of the Fell in this direction, but that didn’t mean they were safe.
Against his will, he was seeing Pearl’s situation from a different perspective now. He was beginning to think this had been the Fell’s plan all along, to make the other leaders of the court distrust her. Stone, Flower, and Jade hadn’t completely fallen for it, though Moon certainly had. But it had made them doubt her, perhaps kept Pearl from speaking to them until it was too late. It didn’t mean Moon trusted her any more than before, but it would be a relief if she wasn’t actively in the power of the Fell.
The tips of the ships’ masts came into sight, barely distinguishable among the trees. Moon slowed and circled in. All three vessels were moored to the ground with heavy ropes, about forty paces above the jungle floor.
Moon landed on the deck of the Valendera, Chime not far behind him. As startled sailors hurried toward them, Moon shifted to groundling. They halted around him, staring. The Fell blood that had been on Moon’s scales transferred to his clothes and skin. He felt punctures on his back and sides from the kethel’s claws, sharp pain in his ribs from slamming into the temple’s floor. Chime shifted, then winced and rubbed at the claw-slash on his chest.
Delin, Diar, and Niran pushed through the other Islanders, and Delin stopped, staring at the blood. The others looked aghast, but Delin only furrowed his brow. He said, “We were too late.”
Chime flinched at that accurate assessment of the situation. “Yes. And the Fell know you’re here. You have to run.”
There were shocked exclamations from the crew gathered around. Delin swore in the Islander language, then said, “We must abandon the ships and hide. We can’t outrun them.”
That was what the Fell would expect, and that was what Moon was counting on. “The one who betrayed us never saw how many ships you brought. Take the fastest, put everyone on it, and run for the coast.”
Delin’s expression cleared. “Excellent.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Chime said in relief. “When the Fell find the two empty ships they’ll search the forest for the crew, and not look for a third.”
Diar nodded agreement, obviously thankful to have an option that didn’t mean certain death. “It’s worth the chance. We’ll take the Dathea.” She turned away, shouting to the others. The crew scrambled to obey, some running for the ladders to the holds.
Niran drew breath to speak, and Moon knew he was going to say it was a trick to keep the boats. Moon was prepared to throw him onto the Dathea; they didn’t have time for an argument. But what Niran said was, “I’ll stay behind. If the Fell don’t destroy the ships, I can try to take one back and—”
Delin turned to him in exasperation. “The Fell will search for us, and when they find you they will force you to reveal where we’ve gone. Then they will know to look for a third ship, and they will catch us all. And you will be dead for nothing!”
“We can’t lose these ships!” Niran folded his arms, as if determined not to budge. “We can’t afford to, and you know it.”
“Can you even make it work by yourself?” Chime asked, waving a hand toward the mast and the complicated array of ropes.
Delin answered, “It’s possible, but difficult and dangerous. He wouldn’t be able to use the sails, only the forward motion of the sustainer, so progress would be slow. And if a storm came up, he wouldn’t be able to drop the anchors and crank the ship down to the ground or tie it off, so it would surely be damaged by the wind.”
“It’s worth the chance,” Niran said, stubborn as a rock. “If I can return with one—”
Moon barely managed not to hiss in frustration. “The Fell will eat you alive, and that’s if you’re lucky. Keeping your people away from them is the only thing that matters.”
The Islanders, carrying packs and bags brought up from below, climbed over the railings onto the Dathea, while several men stood ready to cut it free from the other two ships. Diar turned back to listen to the argument, and said, “He’s right, Niran, we must leave. We can build new ships.”
“Not if we can’t pay our debts.” Niran shook his head. “I have to stay behind. Once they see we aren’t here, they may leave.”
Chime stared at him incredulously. “The Fell will find you, and even if they didn’t, you couldn’t survive on the ground in this forest, not alone.”
Niran still looked unmoved, so Moon added, “If you stay behind, you’ll have to come with us.” There was no way Niran was going to agree to that.
Niran said, “All right, if I have to.”
Before Moon knew it, it was settled. Delin hurried off to make sure his books and writing materials were moved onto the other ship, Niran went with him, and Moon cursed his own stupidity. Chime snorted and said in Raksuran, “Pearl’s going to love this. She doesn’t like groundlings.”
“Pearl doesn’t like anything,” Moon pointed out. Maybe the Fell wouldn’t destroy the ships once they found the Islanders gone. Anything was possible.
As the crews readied the Dathea to leave, Diar arranged a few details for verisimilitude. They hung a long rope ladder from the railing of the Valendera that dangled all the way down to the ground, as if this was the route the crew had used to flee. A few sailors climbed down and ran around in the ferny growth below the ships, breaking branches, leaving tracks and trampled plants. They also dropped a hastily gathered bag of bread and dried fruit, left a torn head cloth behind on a thorn bush, and pitched a couple of sandals down the hill into the thicker trees. Moon thought it would work. The Fell weren’t ground trackers; they hunted almost exclusively by air, and since their prey was nearly always groundlings trapped inside buildings or on the open streets of towns or cities, he thought they would be fooled. He hoped they would give up quickly when they couldn’t find the Islanders in the surrounding jungle.
It all took only a few moments, and they were done by the time Niran returned. He wore a sturdy cloth jacket and carried a pack. “I’m ready,” he said. He looked more determined and angry than nervous.
The Dathea was casting off, and Delin waved from the deck. “Take care!” he shouted. “Send word to us when you can!”
Moon waved back, watching as the ship lifted up, turned, and headed back toward the coast.
Sounding miserable, Chime said, “The boats were a good idea. It would have worked. We could have moved the whole court. If we’d been a day sooner—”
“Then the Fell would have attacked a day sooner, or come after us,” Moon said. There was no point in what-ifs. He turned to Niran. “You’re going to have to trust us.”
“I know.” Niran sounded like he would rather do anything but.
As they flew over the jungle toward the colony, Moon knew it must already be under attack. They were flying into the wind and the stench of Fell was laced all through it, mingled with blood and dirt and the clean scent of the river.
They passed over a clearing, an area where a large fallen tree had flattened the other growth around it, and on impulse Moon circled back to land. Chime followed him, alighting on the piles of broken deadfall, setting Niran on his feet. Niran staggered sideways and sat down on a heavy branch, holding his head. “You fly much faster than I thought,” he gasped.