Moon hissed at the stupidity of it. “Why do they think Kalam and Rorra and the whole crew would lie about something like that? And what about the dead people?”
“They believe it happened, but they think the Jandera got into a fight with the Hians?” Chime shook his head helplessly. “I didn’t understand it. Maybe it’s a groundling thing.”
Moon rubbed his face wearily. Merit had slumped against his side and breathed deeply in sleep.
Chime hesitated, then said, reluctantly, “I don’t suppose . . . The weapon. Were the Hians telling the truth about it? It wasn’t a lie to frighten us?”
Moon saw Jade step into the doorway, her spines down, listening intently.
Bramble, her face still pressed to Stone’s chest, said flatly, “It’s the truth. I know it.”
Stone grimaced. “From what they told Delin and Bramble, there’s no way to tell it who to kill or not kill. The Hians thought it would destroy all the Fell from this coast across Kish and down to the tip of the Abascene peninsula. They knew it would kill all the Raksura too, and the Jandera. The area they’re talking about is a big chunk of Kishan territory. But it’s worth it to them to kill the Fell.”
Bramble stirred, and lifted her head and blinked blearily. “It killed Aldoan, too.”
“Who?” Moon asked her.
“The Hian who was holding it, when the Fell grabbed her. At the river trading city. They don’t know how she did it, but they think that’s how it works when it isn’t attached to the rest of it, the part they think is here somewhere. Aldoan must have accidentally made it work because she was so afraid. But she was probably thinking ‘kill Fell’ not ‘kill Fell and all the Jandera in the town and oh, take a swipe at that Bramble back on the flying boat and oh, kill me too while you’re at it.’” Bramble rubbed her nose. “So it does kill Hians too. Maybe they’re related to the foundation builders, like the Jandera.”
Stone frowned and Moon thought of the Hian scholar and her family. It would make more sense than Vendoin killing them.
Jade stepped into the room. “We have to assume it’s true. It’s too dangerous not to. Once we get the weapon, we’ll have to find somewhere to hide it again.”
Chime nodded. “A good hiding place.”
Then Briar came in with a jug of tea and an armful of ceramic cups. Shade, Lithe, and Flicker followed her in, Rorra and Kalam trailing behind. As Flicker helped her distribute the tea, Moon told the others everything they had been able to find out about the artifact. When he repeated Bramble’s description of the message stones and how the Hians had used magic to find them, Kalam was astonished. “I’ve never heard of the Hians being able to manipulate rock, or anyone able to do that.” Kalam turned to Rorra. “Have you?”
Rorra shook her head a little, her frown grim. “It’s bizarre, to conceal an ability like that just so no one would suspect they were hiding the discovery of foundation builder ruins.”
“Have they fought with the Jandera before?” Chime asked. Moon thought he was trying to make sense of that apparent indifference the Hians had to the possibility of Jandera victims. The indifference to Raksuran victims needed no explanation, but the Jandera were groundlings, not much different from the Hians.
“No.” Kalam made a gesture of confusion. “Well, a long time ago, when the Hians were first driven from Hia Majora by the Fell. They wanted the Imperial Conclave to extend the border and protect it, but the Jandera speakers didn’t agree. There are mountains in the way, and it would have used up so many moss reserves.” He looked painfully baffled. “Could that be it?”
No one had an answer for that. Jade asked Moon, “Chime told you why Malachite left? Are you all right?”
“Uh, no, not really,” Moon said honestly. If he wasn’t so exhausted, he knew he would have been more upset. Merit was deeply asleep, and Moon lifted him and put him down on the blankets Briar had gotten ready. “Bramble, do you want to lay down here with Merit?”
Stone ruffled her hair. “I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Moon woke with Niran leaning over him, saying, “We found the Hians.”
He sat up abruptly and bumped his head on the bench built out from the wall. He had fallen asleep on the floor of their cabin, curled between Jade and Chime. From the light falling through the narrow windows, it was nearing dawn. Bramble and Merit were wound together nearby, still asleep. On the other side of the room, Shade was a lump under the blanket and Lithe yawned and rolled over. Root, Flicker, and some Opal Night warriors were in a pile near the door. Jade, already on her feet and shifted to her winged form, asked, “Where’s Stone?”
Niran pointed up. “Sleeping on the roof.”
Chime groaned and sat up. Moon managed to reach out in time to catch his head before it hit the bench. “Thanks,” Chime croaked, and struggled upright.
Moon climbed to his feet, aware his back was stiff and his throat was raw from the dry air. Niran had turned to point. “Their ship is that way, at the far end of this ruin. River and Spark went atop the masts just before dawn, and were able to spot them.”
Jade hissed out a breath. “Let’s go say hello.”
Not long later, when the sun was just starting to break above the horizon, Moon perched on the back of a flower-pod. Behind him was Chime, Shade carrying Lithe, and most of the warriors. Stone curled below the pod to keep his larger form out of sight, and Jade had climbed further up to get a better view over the top. They had left River and two of Malachite’s warriors behind on the wind-ship with the Arbora and groundlings. Though there had been no scent or sense of anything stalking the wind-ship, there was no point in not being careful.
Speaking of careful, the kethel had followed them, though it hadn’t voiced any intention of participating in the fight. It was in its scaled form, tucked behind the next pod, waiting and watching.
Moon peered around the nearest fluted edge, trying to get a better view. The outline of the Hians’ flying boat was just visible where it floated above a pod at the far end of the structure. No lights showed in the cabin windows and no one moved on deck.
Moon lifted up a little for a better angle. In the growing light the ruin was even larger than they had thought, with dozens of the huge flower-pods forming a curving forest around the open central area. It looked a little like the docking stalks of the swampling port, and Moon wondered if those had been built in imitation of this strange place. A causeway like the one that had extended out over the bay lay a few hundred paces below, and led to a large building like a pile of domes and spheres. It had obviously been deserted a long time, with scars and jagged holes in its white stone. Bands of carving decorated it, faint colors still visible on the reliefs, and steps led up from the causeway to a large round doorway at its base. Platforms extended out from the sides supporting clumps of vegetation, including a few tall trees with long elegantly curved branches, bare of all but a scattering of leaves.
The building didn’t look like it was made of the same material as the flower pods. It looked like someone else had come in after the forerunners and plunked it down. Which was exactly what happened to so many old ruins, everywhere Moon had traveled, new people moving in and adding things to what was already there and using it for new purposes. So maybe it was a little reassuring to see.