He nodded. “Jade told you why?”
Selis sighed, and scratched at a bug bite on her arm. “It’s been used in the east, down in the peninsula, for a long time. It’s not as good a weapon as they tell each other. You have to get it inside the Fell or it’s useless. The story says that the last garrison of Borani in Kiaspur drank it.” She rolled her eyes. “A seer told them it would save them. It didn’t do anything to the men, but the Fell ate them, then sickened and couldn’t pursue the refugees.”
Jade lifted her brows, startled. “I can see why it’s a last resort.”
Selis threw her a dark look. “A last resort for fools.”
“We know where these Fell are living,” Moon told Selis. “We can get it into their water.”
Selis’ permanent frown turned thoughtful. “That could work,” she admitted grudgingly. “I’ve never heard that done before, but then all we know are rumors. They say the Duazi, a wild tribe down in the moss forests, found it by accident. It was in their food, and they’ve never been attacked by the Fell since.”
“Do you know what’s in it?” Jade asked, watching her sharply.
“No. But it must be things that are easily found or we wouldn’t have it. I know they keep it in the elders’ meeting tent.” Selis lifted her chin and looked hard at Moon. “I want to see you.”
Moon knew what she meant, but it felt like a strangely intimate thing to do. He had always had two lives, one as a groundling and one as something else. Once he met Stone, the two lives had come together, but Selis had only known him as a groundling. “You’ve seen me.”
She took another step forward, determined. “Not up close. Change.”
It was a challenge, and he didn’t want to show his reluctance. Moon shifted, on impulse making it happen slowly. Selis, being Selis, didn’t flinch. He settled into his Raksuran form, and she studied him, leaning in. He raised the frills and spines around his head, showing his mane. After a moment, she reached up and touched his nose. She said, “It still looks like you.”
“It is me.”
She blinked at his voice, then stepped back. “I’ll get the poison for you. I’ll try to copy the ingredients out of the elders’ simple book, or get one of the vials they keep already made up.”
Jade closed her eyes briefly in relief, then asked Selis, “What do you want in exchange?” She turned to reach into her pack. “We have gems and metal.”
Selis shook her head impatiently. “I’ve no use for it. There’s no one to trade it to. And what else would I do with it? Wear it?” Her laugh was abrupt and bitter. “I’m doing this for myself, to spite Ilane and the elders.”
Moon shifted back to groundling, finding it easier to argue with her that way. “Then let us take you somewhere, another settlement. There’s one on our way back, a trading city in the mountains. A lot of travelers go through there. You could get passage down into Kish.”
Selis looked as if that was the worst idea she had ever heard, but that was nothing new. “I couldn’t leave the camp.” Impatiently, Moon demanded, “Why not? You hate everybody here.” Selis folded her arms stubbornly. “It’s what I’m used to.”
Moon knew all about that. He said, “You can get used to something else.”
Selis looked, if anything, more stubborn, and Jade put in quickly, “You don’t have to decide now. Think about it, and tell us what you want when you bring us the poison.”
Selis shrugged. She leaned down to reach for the basket, but Moon beat her to it, picking it up to hand to her. She snatched it, glared at him, and stamped away.
Jade shouldered her pack and moved to follow Selis, saying, “I’ll meet you after dark at the river.”
Moon watched them go. This should work. If the Cordans had really believed Jade’s story, if Selis didn’t get caught searching for the poison. Those are big ifs. And he had another long day of waiting ahead.
At dusk, Moon slipped into the river again and drifted downstream. He arrived a little early, and though the shadows were heavy, a few women still rinsed out the big clay jars used to store seed flour, and their children splashed in the shallows. Moon stayed away from the bank, hooking his claws around a rock and letting his face break the surface just enough to let him breathe. The water pulled at his spines and frills as if he was a drifting weed.
Finally the women carried the jars away and the children reluctantly followed. Moon let go of the rock and drifted closer, fetching up in the reeds where he had waited for Jade last night.
Darkness fell, and he caught faint, distant voices from the camp, though he couldn’t make out the words. Time crept on and Moon started to fidget, absently ripping up weeds from the sandy bottom. Where are they?
Then he heard feet pounding on packed earth, and a moment later Selis ran over the top of the bank. She reached the shallows, hastily wading out until she was knee-deep. “Moon!” she whispered harshly. “Are you—yah!”
Selis hopped sideways, cursing, as Moon stood up out of the water. He shifted to groundling and demanded, “What’s wrong?”
“They must have been suspicious of her all along, and then they saw her talk to me,” Selis explained rapidly. She waved her hands in frustration. “They never pay heed to me. Why should they do it now?”
Moon felt his heart nearly stop. “They caught her?” He started for shore. “They saw her shift?”
“No, I think it was Ilane.” Selis splashed after him. “Fianis said Ilane saw something about Jade, something that reminded her of you. She said Ilane told the elders about it and made them suspicious.”
Moon ran up the bank and through the greenroot plantings, Selis hurrying after him. It was dark between the tents ahead, but the common spaces were all lit by cooking fires and torches. And he could hear voices raised in argument. Jade said in exasperation, “Why do you think I want it? I want to kill Fell! That’s the only thing it’s good for, isn’t it?”
Slipping through the first few rows of tents, Moon saw that Jade stood in the center of the camp with a milling crowd of Cordans gathered around. Most seemed more confused than angry. Jade faced the elders Dargan and Tacras, with Ildras, Kavath, and some of the other hunters surrounding her. And Ilane stood behind Ildras, watching with wide-eyed concern. She was also the only Cordan woman toward the front of the crowd. The others had all drawn back out of the conflict.
She’s behind this, Moon thought, torn between anger and exasperation. Of course. Selis and Fianis were right; Ilane had seen something about Jade. Something that had told her that Jade was like Moon.
Grimly determined, Dargan told Jade, “We know you are lying to us! There is no settlement near here, no place you could walk from in the time you say.”
Moon stopped at the edge of the communal space, catching Selis’ arm. The elders’ tent was a large conical structure on the far side of the open area. The flaps were drawn back and a couple of lamps were lit inside. A few people sat in front of it, watching the confrontation. He told her, “When they’re distracted, go get the poison.”
Selis threw him a dark look. “Make it a good distraction.”
Selis slipped into the shadows, circling around the crowd. Moon started forward. Between the confusion and fitful light of the torches, no one had noticed him yet. Many of the hunters still carried their weapons, long spears for killing the smaller vargits, bows with bone-tipped arrows.
“Tell us who you are!” Tacras faced Jade, angry and a little frightened. “Are you Fell?”
“Of course not,” Jade snapped, and Moon could hear the frustrated growl under her voice. “My people have been attacked by the Fell. We need help, help that you can provide! That should be the only thing that matters!”