The Fell queen had shifted to a groundling form and looked less frightening than Chime was expecting, but maybe that was a product of all the time spent with Shade and Lithe. Jade had said her name was Consolation, an uneasy reminder of the poor consort who had given it to her. Thinking of Moon or any other consort Chime had ever known in that position made him shake with fury. She stared at them all curiously, and he found himself evading direct eye contact. He didn’t want his anger to antagonize her. Not until they found out what she wanted, anyway.
Malachite, staring at the Fell queen, said nothing. The dakti twitched uneasily and settled closer to Consolation’s feet. Jade was the one who spoke first. “What do you want here?”
“To warn you,” Consolation said. “The Fell are going to the Reaches. To kill Raksura.”
Chime froze, dread and rage gathering in his chest. Jade’s spines snapped to neutral. Balm hissed and River flinched. With her usual opaque calm, Malachite said, “Where in the Reaches?”
“I don’t know.” Consolation tried to step away from the dakti and it wrapped a clawed hand around her ankle. She told Malachite, “I know they know where a court is. They found it out from the same groundlings that knew about the old groundling city in the sea. They want to take it, and make the Raksura there tell them where the other courts are.”
Jade hissed out a breath and her spines started to lift. Horrified, Chime thought, It’s Indigo Cloud. It has to be. They knew the Fell had managed to influence a Kishan who had known about Callumkal’s trip to the foundation builder city. If that groundling had learned the direction that Callumkal’s flying boat had taken into the Reaches, the Fell could use that to find the Indigo Cloud colony tree.
Jade forced her spines down. “When are they—How many—”
Consolation’s brow furrowed, clearly aware how the news affected them. “Three flights, moving west now. But slowly, waiting for a fourth. Maybe more. Maybe two more.”
“How does she know?” Chime leaned toward Jade and whispered, “If she’s had contact with other Fell, do they know about us?”
Jade asked, “How do you know this?”
Consolation frowned at her, and frowned at Chime behind her, as if not pleased that he had thought to ask. Chime hissed and fought the urge to move behind Balm. Consolation said, “The two younger rulers can still hear them. The other Fell. They heard the call.” She added, looking at Chime, “The Fell don’t know you’re following the Hians. I think. I don’t know if they know.”
Malachite tilted her head. If she had looked at Chime like that, he would have flung himself down on the ground. Malachite said, “And why tell us?”
Consolation waved her arms. “Because we aren’t Fell. I don’t know what we are. But it’s not Fell.” She tossed her head, an odd gesture, not Raksuran or Fell, as if deliberately emphasizing her differences. “I want help. You can help us. I need to know things—”
Jade must have reached her limit. Her spines flared and she spat, “Help? Like you tried to get from my consort?”
Consolation flinched. Chime knew this was bad, that Jade should try to emulate the icy iron of Malachite’s calm. That this was Jade’s panic and fear coming out as anger and they didn’t have time for it. But he couldn’t help feeling a jolt of satisfaction at seeing the Fell queen flinch.
The dakti’s head turned to look up at Consolation, and it said, “I told you so.” Chime stared at it in astonishment. He had never heard a dakti speak in its own voice before and he had had no idea they could sound that . . . sensible.
“It was a mistake,” Consolation snapped.
Jade bared her fangs. “You make a lot of mistakes.”
Consolation hissed, “I know that!”
Then Malachite said, “Enough.”
Her tone made Chime recoil as if something had punched him in the chest. Jade twitched and Consolation froze, then stared warily at Malachite.
Malachite stepped forward and Consolation edged back, the dakti with her. Malachite said, “You came here with an offer. If you want our help in exchange for this information, I tell you it is not enough.” She bared her teeth and Chime felt all his spines involuntarily drop. “Your people have killed too many of us for that to be enough.”
“I know.” Consolation seemed to gather herself, and with obvious effort she lifted her head to meet Malachite’s hard gaze. “I offer swift travel. I have two kethel who can take you to the Reaches to warn the courts twice as fast as you can fly.”
Chime’s stomach wanted to turn at the thought. He had spent time in a sac while a Fell flight traveled and the stench still haunted his dreams. But if Consolation really meant it . . .
Malachite’s tail moved in a long slow thoughtful lash that was somehow more intimidating than a growl. “Not twice as fast as I can fly.”
“But without stopping,” Consolation said. “The kethel slow, the dakti fly down and hunt, and bring them food and water to eat on the wing, and then they fly fast again.”
Jade bared her teeth. “What kind of food?”
“Grasseaters!” Consolation glared at her. “The gleaners were a mistake. No more mistakes!” With a quick glance at Malachite, she added, “Besides, you’ll be there, to make sure we do it right.”
Jade looked at Malachite. Chime thought, it could work. If they could trust a Fellborn queen. If the whole thing wasn’t a trap. Malachite said, “And in return you want help. Instructions in how to lead your flight.”
Consolation tossed her head again. “From you, or someone. Anyone.” The dakti nudged her. “And a place. A place to live. A good one in the Reaches somewhere.” The dakti nudged her again and muttered inaudibly. She added, “There’s caves in trees there. Good ones. The consort told us that.”
Jade took a sharp breath, as if her first instinct was to refuse outright. Maybe her second instinct, too. But Chime could understand the impulse behind that request. Knowing something of what Moon had gone through before Stone had found him, he could understand it all too well. And he wondered if this had been a story Consolation’s consort sire had told, a fantasy of killing the progenitor and the other Fell and escaping back to the Reaches with his clutch, to find safety in some isolated mountain-tree. The consort was dead, but Consolation and the others must have held onto that fantasy.
And Chime couldn’t help the thought that if there was any queen powerful enough to make that happen, it was Malachite.
Malachite said, “We need to speak of this. Give us a moment.”
Consolation stared at her blankly, not understanding, until Jade said impatiently, “Go over there and let us talk alone.”
Consolation shifted and Chime managed not to hiss. She turned and spread her wings to hop down from the outcrop. The dakti scrambled in the loose rocks to follow her, clearly as afraid to be left alone with the Raksura as Chime would be with the Fell.
Malachite turned to Jade. “Celadon and her warriors will be at Indigo Cloud by now,” she said. “They and the rest of the Reaches will still need to be warned.”
The thought of all those Opal Night warriors at Indigo Cloud was the only thing that let Chime keep his fear in check. Balm reached over and squeezed his wrist, and River threw a worried glance at the queens.
Looking up at Malachite, Jade said, “Thank you.” Her spines moved in chagrin, and she added, “For thinking of sending the warriors. For talking Pearl into accepting Opal Night’s help.”
Malachite was still deep in thought, and didn’t twitch a spine. “You have my primary bloodline. Our courts are joined together, whether either of us likes it or not.”
“I like it.” Jade’s spines dipped, as if she was well aware she sounded awkward and defensive rather than grateful. “Should we take her offer? Can we believe her?”