“I sent her after Shade. I didn’t think we’d make it out.” The coast seemed empty, with no sign of her or the progenitor’s group.
Chime, wild-eyed but determined, snarled, “Neither did I, believe me! Where do we go now?”
Moon had no idea; he had never expected to actually survive to this point. But there were no undistracted Fell to see which way they went, and if they could get the boat and the wounded far enough away, he could double back to look for Floret and Shade.
The cliffs ran back from the shore, turning into rocky canyons with peaks shaped by the wind into rounded pillars and arches. Moon pointed to a gap between two sloping cliff faces. “Inland, downwind, fast.”
Chime leaned on the steering lever, bringing the bow around to point in the right direction. At least the wind was with them, though Moon wasn’t certain if trying to open the sails for more speed was a good idea or not. All his instincts about wind and how to ride it didn’t seem to apply to this craft, and he didn’t want to get swept into a mountain by an errant gust.
As the boat drew further away, he saw the three kethel supporting the sac from above were flapping in confusion, the smoke pouring up over them. Two were trying to tug the sac inland and one was pointed back toward the sea. Dakti had come out the top and buzzed around them, in and out of the smoke, adding to the chaos. With the wind rushing in through the bottom, the fire had turned the whole sac into a chimney. Dealing with that should keep the kethel nicely occupied.
“How did you make that big burst of fire right as we started down?” Saffron asked, blinking into the wind. Her eyes were red and streaming from the smoke.
“Dakti got most of the projectiles and threw them in the fire.” Moon decided the sail was worth a try. “Let’s get the—”
“Kethel!” she snapped and pointed toward the sac.
Moon turned in time to see the big dark shape drop out of the burning opening. It flapped its webbed wings, shaking off sparks and flaming debris, then caught the wind and headed straight for them. Moon pulled the fire weapon off his shoulder, readied and loaded the last projectile, aimed as best he could and fired.
It clipped the edge of the kethel’s wing and exploded into bright fragments. The kethel roared and jerked away, then plummeted toward the rocks below. But it twisted out of the fall and flapped hard, climbing rapidly toward the boat.
That’s that, Moon thought. He dropped the empty weapon, snarled, “Stay with the boat,” at Saffron, and sprang to the railing. He snapped his wings out and fell into the air.
Flying against the wind slowed him down but the kethel was advancing so fast it didn’t matter much; he cut straight towards its face, slashed, and then twisted away from a grab. He hadn’t connected but the creature was already furious, and it had seen that he was the one who had fired the weapon at it. So when he dropped toward the cliffs it dove after him.
Moon knew he had to keep the kethel’s attention and last long enough for the boat to lose itself in the mountains. He slid left and right in the wind, flapping to keep his speed up. The kethel closed with him, so near that its hot breath rushed over him.
He flew in close to a cliff, skirted dangerously along the rocky face, fighting the gusts that tried to push him into it. He felt the kethel behind him, too close, and tipped his wings up and fell to the side and away.
The kethel scraped along the cliff in a flurry of dust and rock, then shoved off it with one foot. Moon dipped down towards a rounded peak, losing track of the kethel for one dangerous heartbeat. Then it slapped him out of the air.
He bounced off rock with stunning force, just managed to pull his wings in, then tumbled down the slope in a rush of pebbles and dust. He clawed at the rock to stop his headlong fall and caught himself on a ledge.
Dazed, winded, he looked up to see the kethel climbing down the slope toward him, its big claws crunching into the gray rock, its mouth open in anticipation, fangs gleaming.
As the kethel loomed above him, something big and dark dove in and struck its back. It flattened the kethel against the cliff face and the kethel flailed and writhed to try to dislodge it. Its clawed hand slammed down next to Moon and a small avalanche of rocks rained down on him. He scrambled along the ledge, trying to take flight but the kethel’s bulk was too close and its huge wings beat frantically around him. In an instant it was going to crush him.
Then he caught the scent of familiar Raksura in the wind and somewhere below him, Jade’s voice shouted, “Moon, jump!”
Moon’s heart leapt, and he rolled off the ledge into open air.
Chapter Nineteen
Moon fell into Jade’s arms, and she whipped away from the cliff so fast it took his breath. She crossed the narrow canyon, landed on a sharp slope, and slid down to firmer footing on a ledge. She set Moon on his feet but didn’t let go of his waist; her scent washed over him, clean and welcome. He leaned into her warmth, the relief so heady it made his knees weak.
From this angle he could see that the dark shape with claws sunk deep into the kethel’s back was Stone. He had bitten down into the creature’s neck, cracking through its armor plates. The kethel thrashed again, its tail lashed, and it slid further down the slope.
The abrupt change of fortune had scattered all Moon’s thoughts and half-formed plans. All he wanted to do was stand here and hold on to Jade, but he made himself try to catch up. “Celadon escaped?” She must have, for Jade and Stone to have followed so quickly behind the sac.
“Yes, with Delin and four of her warriors.” Jade took his chin and turned his head to face her, looking into his eyes with a sharp intensity. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” It was also a relief not to have to lie. “It was Shade they wanted. The progenitor and the rulers took him somewhere. I sent Floret after him when the fire started. Chime’s all right, too. Root and Song are alive but hurt.”
Jade released his chin and his gaze with a hiss of relief. “When I saw the sac catch on fire, I knew it had to be you and Chime.” She raised her voice to yell, “Stone, stop playing with that thing and finish it!”
Stone’s snarl echoed off the canyon. With his teeth still clamped in the kethel’s throat, he slid his claws forward and into the space under the kethel’s armored collar. He jerked his hands down and twisted his head, and black blood fountained out and down the cliffside. The kethel struggled wildly and dragged Stone down the rocks and almost over the ledge Moon had been trapped on.
Moon told her, “The flying boat—”
“We found it before we found you. The others are there now.”
“How did you get here so fast?”
“We left the warriors and Delin behind to warn Opal Night, and Stone flew as fast as he could, carrying me and Celadon and the other queens. When he had to rest, he shifted and one of us carried him. We stopped only to eat.” Jade added with more than a trace of wryness, “Malachite kept up on her own.”
“Malachite kept up with Stone?”
“Yes.” Jade bared her teeth, an unconscious grimace of irritation. “Your mother is sustained by pure rage. Why did the Fell want Shade?”
The kethel’s struggles grew weaker, turned into death throes. Stone released his grip and the kethel tumbled down, bounced off rocky protrusions and ledges, then plunged toward the bottom of the gorge. Moon answered, “They’re following a voice, something that they can hear but we can’t. It’s been telling them to come to some place along this coast. It told them it wanted a crossbreed consort; we’re not sure why.”
Jade growled in a combination of anger and dismay. “Is that what this was about?”
“I think—” Moon sensed movement above just as Jade dropped him and snarled a warning. He flared his spines and crouched. Two rulers and a cluster of dakti arrowed down toward them.