Consolation said, “None of the others are as powerful as her. They’ll try to take the lead, but the others will resist, and they’ll fight.”
Pearl and Malachite looked at each other. Watching the accord between them, Heart realized she had never seen two reigning queens work in concert like this.
Pearl’s spines moved in inquiry and Malachite moved one spine in response. Heart wasn’t even sure what that meant, but Pearl hissed again and said to Consolation, “What secret information?”
Consolation seemed exasperated. “Can’t I just tell them it’s something secret?”
Pearl regarded Malachite again, her spines twitching in irritation. Heart read that expression clearly as I can’t. I’d have to kill her. You do it. With the patience of a rock, Malachite said to Consolation, “Send a message, tell her you know where another Raksuran colony is, a small one, not well guarded, closer to the fringe. You won’t lead her to it, but you’ll tell her where it is when she meets you.”
Pearl’s spines moved in thoughtful consideration. “When the progenitor asks why she wants to meet instead of just sending the direction?”
Malachite tilted her head at Pearl. “She wants something in return.”
“A big tree, but not like this, a better one,” Consolation supplied. The dakti nudged her, but whether it was to urge her to be quiet or agree about the tree, it was hard to tell. “With an inside,” Consolation added.
Pearl and Malachite ignored her. Pearl said, “The Fell aren’t going to believe that.”
This time it was Consolation and the dakti who exchanged a look. The dakti said, “Correct. They don’t understand us.”
It was right. The Fell would never understand the half-Fell’s desire for a permanent home. Heart wasn’t even sure if she believed in it or not, if it was a whim or if it was the Fellborn queen’s real goal. It seemed an incredible thing to consider, and the Arbora had worried about the possibility of Fell influence being directed against courts inside the Reaches, even if the half-Fell didn’t intend it consciously. But Opal Night’s mentors had said that the lack of a progenitor meant the flight couldn’t direct their attention toward Raksura like that, even if they wanted to.
Consolation’s expression turned exasperated. “Then what do I say?”
Malachite said to Consolation, “Tell them you want a consort. From the spoils, after you kill us all.”
Heart twitched and felt her spines flare despite her best intentions. The movement rippled through all the warriors, an instinctive response. Even the idea, even if it was just part of a trick, made rage pulse inside her chest.
Consolation’s brow furrowed, as if she suspected a trap. She glanced at the warriors and said, “It’s just a trick. We’re really getting a big tree.”
Pearl growled under her breath and twitched her spines at Malachite. Malachite told Consolation, “In the western Reaches, there are old abandoned colony trees in my territory, owned by Opal Night. I will give you one, and you will be shown how to live in it. But if you touch any Raksura, Aeriat or Arbora, or kill and eat any sentient being, groundling or swampling or skyling or other, if I find you have lied to me, I will kill every single one of you.”
There was no change in her inflection but Heart felt the air turn just a little colder. She drew a sharp breath. Malachite did that. That was not my imagination.
Consolation eyed her warily. The dakti drew back a little. It poked Consolation and said, “This tree is good.”
“You’re not having this tree,” Pearl growled. “It’s the one in the west or nothing.”
Consolation gave the dakti a gentle push to the head. “We’ll take the tree in the west.”
Malachite stood still for so long, Heart felt the nerves ripple under her spines. It was a predatory stillness, that seemed to affect everyone except Pearl. Consolation watched her with an uneasy air, and the dakti hunched down again. When Pearl finally demanded, “What?” Heart flinched.
Malachite said, “This needs something else.” She turned to regard Pearl. “It’s just her word that she knows where a court is. And these Fell will know by now that she helped destroy a flight in the sel Selatra. We need something more convincing.”
Pearl let out a hiss and lashed her tail a little, but admitted, “You’re right.”
Consolation drew breath, clearly to protest, but the dakti said, “Correct.” Then it added, “You know what they think of us. They will suspect.” Consolation subsided mutinously.
Malachite said, “She needs a captive.”
Heart hissed to herself. She’s right, the Fell will never believe it without some kind of proof. Before she came to her senses, Heart said, “I’ll do it.”
“It can’t be a queen, because the Fell aren’t that stupid,” Heart said. Pearl had picked her up by her frills and hauled her to the edge of the platform, out of earshot of the Fell, to discuss it. Heart didn’t mind, because it was Pearl’s version of discussing, which involved a lot of growling and veiled threats that Pearl had no intention of carrying out, so it was better to do it in private. “It can’t be a warrior, because they don’t want warriors. It has to be an Arbora.” She wasn’t even going to list the reasons it couldn’t be a consort. They were just lucky Moon was with Jade and not here to volunteer.
“Heart—” Pearl put her hands on Heart’s shoulders as if she wanted to shake her. Well, she did want to shake her.
Heart clasped her wrists. “You know this is best. You’re just angry because you can’t think of a good reason not to do it.”
“I can’t risk the chief mentor for this stupid plan,” Pearl hissed.
“It’s not stupid,” Heart said. “It can work. It could save so many lives, if the Fell panic among themselves and fight, or leave. And Malachite is right, if Consolation has a prisoner, the progenitor is more likely to be fooled long enough for the plan to work.” She met Pearl’s gaze. “And I’m the chief mentor and I say I take the risk.” As difficult as it was to do this, Heart knew asking someone else to do it would be worse. She added, “And I’ve done it before, for real. I can handle it.”
Pearl growled in frustration. “If you get yourself killed—”
Heart did what only an Arbora or a fledgling could have done in this situation. She stepped forward and leaned against Pearl’s chest. “Don’t be angry.”
Pearl stopped growling. After a moment, she said, “Stop that.”
To the Far South, On the Cloudwalls
As the wind-ship flew, the cool wind turned colder. Moon stayed up in the bow, resting and keeping watch.
The gorges still wound through the plain but the low hills looked as if they were moving off toward the east. Literally moving, as Moon realized they weren’t hills, but enormous creatures with gently curving backs. They had legs like the trunks of mountain-trees, stepping with ponderous deliberation. Not long after, Chime spotted a flight of wingless birds that were flying anyway, slipping through the air like fish in a stream.
It was cold enough for the groundlings that the Golden Islander crew had to get out extra clothing. Shade came up to sit on the deck with Moon, bringing some of the extra garments the Islanders had loaned them. He gave Moon a loose shirt, made of a very soft fabric woven from the fibers of a plant that grew on the shallow seabed near the Golden Isles, dyed a soft blue. Chime wore one similar to it but an undyed yellow. Moon wasn’t that cold yet but the cloth still carried the scent of the Golden Isles: a hint of the spices they used on their food, and the salt and sun scent of the wind that crossed the Yellow Sea. He had already changed into the other clothes he had brought, the shirt and pants of dark-colored silky material woven by the Arbora at Indigo Cloud. He had left them with Jade and the others as too fine to blend in with the groundling crowds at the trading ports and settlements he and Stone might have had to stop at. But the sleeves were long and the pants went all the way down to his ankles, and they provided more protection from the cold. He pulled the borrowed Islander shirt over his head.