hull hovering a few paces above the swirling water. Waves rushed continuously over the pier and made the walk along it wet and dangerous. Moon reached the dock just as Negal and the others reached Lethen.
“You have it?” Lethen demanded, raising his voice to a bellow to be heard over the wind and water. The men with him weren’t all armed guards, and they weren’t all blue-pearls; a few members of the other two dominant groundling races were present, the golden-skinned and darkskinned people. Some were dressed richly enough to be other magisters or prominent traders. A few wore working clothes.
Negal looked at Moon, who shifted to groundling, to startled exclamations from Lethen’s companions. He took the bridle out of his pack and said, “Let them go to the ship, and I’ll give it to you.”
Lethen glared, frowned suspiciously at the bridle, then said, “Very well.”
Negal threw Moon a guarded look and led his people past. This was their most vulnerable moment, but somehow Moon didn’t think even a magister would have brought this diverse group out to see him betray the Raksura.
Moon waited until the groundlings had made the uneasy trek down the pier and were crossing the little walkway up to the ship. Jade and the warriors had already landed on the upper deck and were watching intently. Then he handed the bridle to Lethen.
The Magister turned it over, examined it carefully, rubbed at the crystals with his thumb. Then he grunted, and asked Moon, “Will you need assistance casting off?”
In other words, go away and don’t come back. That suited Moon. He said, “No, thank you.”
He turned his back on them and went to the edge of the dock, then shifted and reached the Klodifore’s lower deck in two long bounds.
The groundlings were all aboard, gathered on the deck. “Thank you,” Negal said to Moon. His voice shook a little, though he kept his expression calm. He looked back at the city, the towers rising on the leviathan’s flanks. “I never thought we would leave this place.”
“We’re not gone yet.” Captain Damison was still grim. “We’ll need help to cast off. They’ve still got us tied to the—”
The deck jerked as the forward cable snapped. Moon said, “It’s all right.”
With a tremendous splash, Stone slung his big body up onto the pier, making the wood groan. He snapped the stern cable between his claws, then shifted to groundling. Rolling to his feet, he wrung out his shirt and crossed the walkway onto the deck.
Damison shouted orders in his own language and strode away toward the nearest hatch. Two men scrambled to cut the walkway loose, while the others bolted along the deck. Negal followed Damison, and Esom and Orlis hurried inside to clatter down the first stairwell into the bowels of the ship. Karsis stood with Moon and Stone.
Drifting loose, the ship was already moving over the pier. Or the pier was moving under the ship as the leviathan pushed forward. Moon felt a tremor through the metal deck underfoot, and there was an answering rumble from somewhere deep in the hull. Then the ship rose a little higher and jolted into motion.
Moon swayed and Karsis caught the rail to steady herself as the Klodifore pulled rapidly away and turned to head for open water. As they came about, Stone muttered, “Uh oh.” They were nearing the giant ridge of the leviathan’s leg, which pumped rhythmically as the creature swam, water swirling in a dangerous whirlpool around it.
That could be a problem, Moon thought, glancing up to where Jade and the other Raksura climbed down from the top deck. If the ship was struck, the Raksura could get into the air, but the ship would be sucked under before they could get the groundlings out. And then the Raksura would be trapped out here. As aware of the danger as he was, Karsis leaned forward on the railing and said grimly, “We can make it. I know we can make it.”
The big chimneys atop the ship belched white smoke, then it suddenly surged forward. The thrashing leg fell behind them and they angled sharply away. The city passed them rapidly, the creature’s mountainous body moving forward with powerful strokes of its legs and tail.
Moon let out his breath in relief and shifted to groundling. They were going to miss the tail by a good distance. The wind fell away with the sound of the churning water. The sun was moving toward evening and then there was only