way back toward the mortuary temple. They moved in long bounds, and Chime carried Esom. That had to be rough on Esom, though
Chime had partially extended his wings so he could make each landing a fairly light one. Esom didn’t complain, but kept a grimly tight grip on Chime’s collar flanges. There wasn’t another choice. They had to move fast and they couldn’t leave Esom behind down here.
The foundations and heavy buttresses above them dropped even lower, the columns grew wider. Then Stone came to an abrupt halt, head cocked as he listened. They all stopped and froze into place. Moon tasted the air, but all he could scent was rot and leviathan. It was hard to hear over the rush of the leviathan’s breath, but he was certain there was a voice from somewhere to the east, not far away. An oddly familiar voice. Incredulous, Chime whispered, “Is that Root?”
Before Moon could answer, River interposed, “Of course it is. He’s the only one who can’t shut up.”
“He’s not the only one,” Moon told him. Stone growled low in his throat and bounded away to follow the thread of sound.
The supporting pillars were closer together through this area, blocking the view, but as they traveled Moon started to make out some movement in the hazy light ahead. At least it was no mystery how the others had gotten down here. Vine and Drift would have seen Ardan’s men enter the mortuary from the main entrance, and had gone back to the tower-camp for help. Now they must be trying to find the underground entrance to the temple, which was what Moon would have done in their place.
Ahead, dim light glittered off scales and Moon spotted the Raksura, gathered with their backs to a pillar. He couldn’t tell what threat they faced… Then his eyes adjusted and he thought in disgust, Oh, that’s typical. The Raksura confronted a large group of the pale armored Thluth.
Moon shot ahead of Stone, River, and Chime. Coming up behind the Thluth, he swarmed up the nearest pillar, hopped to the next to get above them. In the group of Raksura he saw Vine, Floret, Song, Root, Drift… And Balm! She was leading the others, and faced the Thluth leader, her spines bristling. Relief was sharp and almost painful. Balm was alive; he just wished he could tell Jade.
And there was one extra Raksura: Rift was here, too.
Moon saw enough to tell the confrontation with the Thluth was angry. The Thluth seemed to be demanding tribute and Balm and the others weren’t taking it much better than Moon had. The Thluth leader spoke, pushed forward aggressively. Balm lunged to swipe him back.
Then Stone slammed between the pillars and sent the Thluth scrambling frantically away. Moon leapt down behind the leader.
He wasn’t certain if this was the same tribe of Thluth, but apparently it didn’t matter. The leader spun around, saw Moon, and bellowed a wordless warning. It wasn’t needed, since the other Thluth were already loping rapidly into the shadows. The leader bolted away, desperate to catch up with the others.
Chime and River arrived, and Esom staggered away as soon as Chime set him on his feet. Then Karsis darted out from behind the pillar and flung herself at Esom. They hugged each other, speaking rapidly in their own language, Karsis laughing with relief. Moon tried not to be envious.
“Balm!” Chime shouted. He grabbed her in a hug, and released her immediately when she gasped, “Ow!”
“Are you all right?” Chime asked her worriedly, holding onto her arm to steady her. “We couldn’t find you. We thought you were dead!”
“No, I’m fine,” Balm insisted. At close range, she didn’t look fine. She had scratches and dark patches in her golden scales, and her left wingjoin had a dark, livid scrape. She asked, “But what happened? I thought you were trapped.”
“We got out the hard way,” Chime told her. “It was horrible, but it worked.”
Drift greeted River enthusiastically, Root bounced around trying to greet everybody, and the others gathered around, excited, relieved, and demanding immediate answers. Only Rift hung back, watching them uneasily. “We thought the groundling sorcerer had you,” Floret said to Moon. “Balm saw—”
Balm frowned suddenly. “Wait, where’s Jade and Flower?”
Moon said it quickly, to get it over with. “They didn’t get out. They were trapped in that dome we found. We opened it, but then the warden-creatures attacked, and the door slid shut.”
That put an end to all the relieved excitement. Balm hissed in dismay,