Still crouching, the dakti nudged Consolation’s knee. Consolation twitched at the reminder and said, “Why do you want to talk now? You didn’t before.”
Jade countered, “Why are you still following us?”
“Because you’re here.” Consolation seemed to think it was obvious. “Why are you here? Why didn’t you go back to the Reaches? He said the groundlings took a weapon out of the old sea city, is that why?”
Rage burned in Jade’s chest at the reminder that this deceptively naive queen had tried to steal Moon off the sunsailer. Would have stolen him, if River and Rorra hadn’t delayed her long enough for Malachite to arrive.
Malachite said nothing, and Jade forced herself to answer, “That was true.”
Then Malachite said, “They stole two of our Arbora, and two of our groundlings.”
Jade managed to control her reaction down to a tail lash. It couldn’t be a good idea to give that much information to Fell, but Malachite apparently didn’t care.
Consolation frowned at the ground again. “I saw that. Some of that. I didn’t understand it.” The dakti nudged her again and she stepped out of its reach.
“You did understand it,” Malachite said. Her head tilted. “You tried to steal the consort.”
Consolation’s head jerked up to meet her gaze, as if that slight change in tone had been a shout. “Not like that,” she said. She was angry, and the sheer audacity of that made Jade’s fury rise until she could taste blood in her throat. But Consolation said, “We need help. We need someone to tell us things. The young rulers are useless. Our consort died. We need . . .” She looked from Jade to Malachite again, and let the words die away, as if it was just occurring to her that two Raksuran queens might not react well to talk of stealing consorts, whatever the reason. The dakti tugged belatedly on her ankle.
Malachite said, “You wanted a consort to help you rule the flight.”
“There’s a lot I don’t know,” Consolation muttered, and kicked at a drift of sand. She said suddenly, “The other Fell hate us. They want to use us to fight you, like back at the sea city.”
“Where is that flight?” Jade asked. The last thing they needed was another Fell flight involved in this. “We know you fought them.”
“They’re here somewhere,” Consolation admitted. “Their rulers told the rest of the Fell what happened.” She hesitated, then finished, “The Fell think everything that’s wrong is because of you. That it was all a big trick.” The dakti stared at her in apparent shock. “What?” she asked it. “What do we owe the Fell? They hate us.”
Jade didn’t understand. “What’s all a big trick?”
“Me, and the others.” She indicated the dakti with her foot. Malachite’s gaze went to it and it huddled in on itself, covering its face with a wing. Consolation said, “That it was a trick to make us.”
“A trick,” Malachite repeated. Her spines didn’t move, but it was as if the air around her had gotten colder. Jade’s fangs itched in reaction. For once, she knew what Malachite was thinking. All that pain the Fell had caused, the consorts and Arbora stolen for forced breeding, the courts destroyed, the fate of the crossbred offspring not strong enough to survive. A trick.
Apparently oblivious to Malachite’s reaction, Consolation said, “Making Fell who are part Raksura just gets flights killed, and there’s never any advantage, like was promised.”
“We weren’t the ones who promised them,” Jade said, part of her attention on Malachite. She couldn’t decide if an explosion was imminent or not. She had always thought that Malachite’s self-control was more daunting than her rage, but she might be about to be proved wrong. “Raksura had nothing to do with it.”
Consolation watched them, the breeze stirring her frills, her brow furrowing as if it was just occurring to her that something was wrong. Jade’s jaw hurt from gritting her teeth. She wasn’t certain what Malachite wanted from this meeting, if she was asking the right questions, if there was any point to this. In a small voice, Consolation said, “That’s what they think.”
Jade snarled, mostly at herself. She thought they had heard everything they needed to hear. “We should go.”
She was surprised when Malachite lifted one spine in agreement and turned away.
“No,” Consolation said, startled. “Stay!”
The dakti tugged on Consolation’s ankle again. It’s afraid she’ll fly off with us, Jade realized suddenly.
Then Malachite whipped around, hissing in a breath to taste the air. The abrupt movement made Jade flinch back a pace. Consolation leapt back and ducked. The dakti almost fell off the outcrop.
Malachite tilted her head, and said to Consolation, “If this is a clumsy attempt at a trap, none of you will live to regret it.”
Jade tasted the air, but Fell stench was already heavy through these hills. She threw a glance at Consolation, who just looked confused. “What trap?” Consolation said.
Suddenly a dark shape appeared over the hill from the camp. It was the size of an adolescent warrior, its limbs still gawky and its wing control awkward. It made a keening sound of alarm as it dropped to a landing on the outcrop down from Consolation and the dakti. It called out to her in the Fell language, and that was when Jade realized it was a young ruler. Consolation shifted into her winged form, and said, “He hears the Fell. The other Fell. They’re coming.”
The dakti made a squawk of alarm, and said in a low gravelly voice, “He’s not here. What do we do?”
Then Jade caught fresh Fell stench on the wind, coming from the northeast. Another flight was coming. She snarled, “If you planned this—”
“No,” Consolation growled at her. “Not a trap. They hate us because they know we fought the flight at the old sea city.” She glared up at the sky, gathering herself to leap. “They think we’re allies with you.”
Malachite said, “Stop.”
Consolation froze, then shook out her spines and stared at Malachite in confusion. “What?”
Malachite said, “Don’t take to the air yet. Wait until their kethel are overhead. I’ll take the first one.”
“I know.” Consolation backed away. The dakti and the ruler scrambled down the outcrop. “I know what to do. I just forgot, because I was mad.” She whirled around and bounced up, snapped her wings out for one powerful flap, and then dove behind the hill.
Jade turned to Malachite, incredulous. “We’re going to help them fight off a Fell flight.”
Malachite didn’t take her gaze off the sky. “I am.”
A growl rose in Jade’s throat. She shouldn’t have been surprised. The bloodline resemblance between Moon and Malachite was particularly strong, though Moon couldn’t see it. And you have five of them back home in the nurseries, she reminded herself.
The first kethel swept into sight, then two more not far behind. They were the largest Fell, and always the first sent to attack. The lead one was probably half the size of the Golden Isles wind-ship, the other two a little smaller. Like all Fell, their armored scales were a deep unreflective black, but they had distinctive halos of horns protecting their heads.
They were flying far too close together. Jade bared her teeth. “They don’t think much of the half-Fell.” Bunching like that might be a good tactic for approaching groundlings, but not for fighting in the air. Perhaps they were relying on surprise; Fell weren’t good scent hunters, and if Malachite and Jade hadn’t been here, the half-Fell flight might have been taken unawares.
Malachite moved one spine. “They wouldn’t. The progenitors and the rulers think of these half-Fell as something to be used against us. It’s a mistake.” She spared Jade a glance. “Perhaps their penultimate mistake.”