was probably due to the fact that she was dressed only in jewelry. Even with the scales, it had to be distracting. Esom managed, “Ah—”
Karsis put in, “Rift said that’s where Ardan took it.”
Everyone looked at Rift. He twitched uneasily and stared determinedly down at the dirty floor.
Jade watched him for a long moment, her spines flicking. Rift wouldn’t meet her eyes. Finally she turned to the others. “We need to look for this place, see how well-guarded it is.”
River folded his arms. “And make sure it exists at all.”
Moon ignored that. “We’ll need to go on foot. Dawn’s breaking, and the wind is keeping the mist from forming.”
“Not you. This Ardan will be looking for you now.” Jade glanced around at the others. “Vine and Floret? Can you walk through a groundling city without letting anyone know you’re Raksura?”
The two exchanged a worried glance. Vine said, “I think so, yes. Probably.”
Moon looked them over critically. They were dressed like the others, pants and a shirt, a sash and belt at the waist. The fine fabric was sunfaded and a little dirty from their long journey, so they didn’t look overly prosperous. He said, “Take off anything that looks like Arbora-work, especially your jewelry. And put something on your feet, a cloth or leather wrap, to make it look like you’re wearing shoes.”
Both looked down at their feet, a little dubious, but neither argued with him.
“Go now,” Jade said. “Don’t try to fly. Climb down the outside until you’re out of the wind. Find the building, but don’t try to go inside without us.”
Floret nodded soberly, but Vine said, “If we find the seed lying around unguarded, can we—”
“Yes.” Jade added, “If you do, I’ll be very surprised, since nothing so far has been easy.”
“Good point,” Floret muttered, and gave Vine a nudge.
As they headed for the stairs, Moon let his breath out in relief. At least they were moving forward again, even if they didn’t know exactly where they were going.
Stone had been leaning against the wall, taking it all in with an expression that could best be described as satirical. Now he pushed himself up with one shoulder and said, “Who let you into the tree?”
Both groundlings stared up at him, and Esom’s throat worked as he swallowed. There was no space in here for Stone to shift, and he still looked like an older groundling man, battered and gray, wearing battered gray clothes. But he seemed to be taking up far more space in the room, and the air was suddenly heavy. Esom said, “It was him.” He pointed toward Rift.
Watching Stone uneasily, Karsis said, “Rift flew to a large doorway high up in the trunk. We couldn’t have reached it. Our ship can only lift about forty paces off the ground.”
Stone turned to regard Rift, who shrank back against the wall. Stone started across the room toward him, slow deliberate steps.
Moon said, “Leave him alone.” The words were out before he thought.
Stone stopped, cocked his head. His expression was opaque. He said, “I need to take care of this now.”
Moon looked at Jade, but she watched Rift. None of the others were looking at the warrior; they were waiting, stiff and tense, anticipating violence. Moon flushed cold in realization. Take care of this meant kill the solitary. Moon growled low in his throat. “No.”
Stone was fast in his groundling form, but it took Moon’s breath when he was suddenly across the room, face to face with Moon, between one heartbeat and the next.
Moon fought down several impulses, to shift, to fall back, to squint to protect his eyes; he held his ground. Jade gave a startled snarl, a thick, rough sound like rock scraping. The others were dead silent, frozen in place. Rift had flattened himself back against the wall.
Ignoring all of them, Stone said, “This needs to be done. He betrayed us to groundlings.”
Moon said, “He didn’t know we were coming back to the tree. He didn’t know we existed.”
“And we don’t know what he did to get thrown out of a court. He’s a solitary and he can’t be trusted.”
Moon held his gaze. “Like you couldn’t trust me.” His voice shook, but it wasn’t from fear.
“What?” Stone’s eyes went hooded, but not quite in time to conceal his start of shock. He knew Moon meant the day Stone had found him with the Cordans and had taken him up to a ruin in the mountain valley. “No.”