were groundlings called ‘sea-goers’ who lived on the water and moved around.” He told the rest of it, with Chime inserting more details.
“That might explain it,” Jade said. “If we knew how these sea-goers were moving, it would help.”
Vine shrugged. “They could be on boats, or they could have a flying island.”
“If they have a flying island, it must be moving fairly fast,” Chime countered. “Too fast.”
“That’s right.” Flower sounded thoughtful. “It moved out of Stone’s range in only seven days. Flying islands drift slowly with the wind. Unless there was a big storm, and we’ve seen no sign of one, it would still be in the area. It’s more likely to be a boat.”
“Or a fleet of boats,” Moon added.
“Maybe.” Jade scratched her claws on the wood, thinking it over. “How does the water traveler find them?”
“That’s… I don’t know,” Chime said slowly. “It has to be scent, doesn’t it?”
“Something in the water.” Moon shook his head. “The sea-goers leave a trail, somehow.”
Stone sounded weary. “We’ll figure that out when we get there. You all know how we’re getting there, right?”
“An augury?” Vine asked, turning to Flower.
“No, we don’t need an augury,” Moon said before she could reply. He smiled. Old Nobent was going to help them after all. “We’ll follow the water traveler.”
Chapter Eight
Once everyone had agreed on a plan, Moon and Chime flew immediately toward the Kek city, following the dark line of the shore. The others were to follow later, after leaving a marker for
whoever might be coming after them from Indigo Cloud. Stone, who would be doing the biggest share of the tracking once Nobent set out, needed to sleep before he started another long flight.
Before they left, Flower had asked, “If this creature does lead you to the sea-goers, do you have any idea what to look for?”
“Besides the seed?” Moon had to admit she had him there. “No.”
Flower sighed and rubbed her forehead. “You’ll need something to go on besides that. I’ll augur again.”
Chime frowned at her. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Flower stared hard at him. “Yes.”
After they had taken flight away from the camp, Moon asked Chime, “Why didn’t you think Flower should augur?”
“She hasn’t been looking well,” Chime replied, slipping sideways in an unexpected air current. “I just have a bad feeling about it.”
Moon hoped he was wrong. Flower’s augury was the only thing that had gotten them this far.
When they drew near the Kek city, Moon tipped a wing at Chime. Chime broke off and flew into the deeper shadows under the trees. Moon turned toward the city.
There were a few smudge pots and lights lit in the lower levels; by the smell they were using some kind of nut oil. Several lamps hung on the outer edge of the dock area Nobent occupied.
Moon had debated approaching underwater, and decided against it. He didn’t know what kind of senses Nobent had for detecting prey in the water, and it was best not to find out the hard way. He was pretty certain he could take Nobent in a fight, but that wouldn’t get him what he wanted.
He circled the city, playing the cool damp wind against his wings, dropping lower and slowing until he could catch the side of a hivetower. He heard a slight stirring of movement through the woven reed wall, and a sleepy squeak, but no one gave the alarm. He climbed down the wall head first, found the heavier support for the half-roof that hung out over the dock, and eased out onto it.
This close to the piers and the surface of the water, he could scent Nobent’s rank odor, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as it had been before. Taking a chance, Moon crawled to the end of the roof and hung his head down over the edge.
The dock area was lit by three hanging lamps, the wan light showing him the empty pier where Nobent had rested. Huh. Maybe he left as soon as we were out of sight. That was a little odd. If Nobent only wanted to take his next cargo of edilvine and rushes to the sea-goers, he should have waited until morning. His eyes hadn’t had the appearance of a nocturnal being’s.
He could be rushing off to tell the sea-goers that Raksura were searching for them, but Moon didn’t think Nobent could know about the theft. Nobent hadn’t recognized Moon as a Raksura, hadn’t seemed to know about the courts inhabiting the forest. But maybe the sea-goers