an answer. Stone just rumbled and tapped his chest with one claw.
“I’m coming.” Moon hated being carried, but he wasn’t staying back here, plodding along after Nobent. He flew up to Stone, matched his pace, then grabbed onto Stone’s outstretched arm. Shouting to be heard over the wind, he said, “There’s waterlings as big as major kethel hunting this sea. I don’t know how Nobent survives.” Possibly he smelled too bad for anything to want to eat him.
Stone grunted thoughtfully. Moon pulled his wings in and folded them tight against his back, then climbed up Stone’s arm to hook his claws into the big scales across his chest. Stone reached up and closed a hand around him, holding Moon securely. Then they shot forward over the clouds.
At Stone’s speed, following the direction that Nobent had taken, it wasn’t long before Moon saw the outline of an island. It was a series of seven rising hills in a half circle, and it was inhabited. He could see the glitter of reflected sunlight on the regular shapes of tall octagonal towers. Stone gained altitude, skirting the bottom of the clouds to lessen the chance of anyone looking up and spotting them.
This wasn’t what I was expecting, Moon thought, as Stone tilted his wings to slow his flight. Maybe this was the sea-goers’ home port, and they had fast-moving vessels to travel in. They used something to move the seed away from the spot where the mentors saw it. They didn’t… Moon stiffened, eyes widening. What in the Three Worlds…
They were close enough now to look down on the island, to see that it wasn’t an island.
The seven low hills formed a half circle, and were completely covered with the stone buildings of the groundling city. But the water was so clear Moon could see what was just under the surface. From one end of the island a long curving tail stretched out, tipped with giant fins. On each coast were three massive flippers, angled down to vanish in the blue depths. And at the other end, a huge triangular head, tilted down so only the brow ridge just below the waves was visible.
Above Moon’s head, Stone hissed incredulously. Moon echoed the sentiment. He couldn’t believe that groundlings had managed this. But there was the city, mostly composed of towers and bridges and raised plazas, as if built to stand as high above the surface of the creature as possible. He could see the sparkle of fountains, people moving on the bridges between towers. There was even a harbor, formed by the curve of one haunch, with sailing vessels docked in it. They could have the seed. A creature this size could have easily swum the distance between the point the mentors had augured and here in only a few days.
Moon looked up, though all he could see was the scaled underside of Stone’s neck. “We need to talk to Nobent again.”
Stone must have agreed. He banked away and headed back toward the shore.
“While it sleeps, anyone can approach. When it wakes, it moves.” Nobent sunk down further into his mat, his knobby brow furrowed in sullen dismay. “That’s all Nobent knows.”
“That’s not what Nobent told us earlier,” Moon pointed out. “Nobent’s memory has improved.”
Nobent sniffed self-righteously. “You didn’t ask Nobent the right questions.”
It was evening, the sun setting over the sea, and they stood on the forest beach, just out of sight of the Kek city. Stone had acquired Nobent by scooping him out of the sea with his free hand, and had flown back here at his best speed. They had told the others what they had found and, with difficulty, had gotten them past the initial “groundling city on a giant water monster” shock. Now they were trying to decide what to do and how to do it.
Flower was the only one not present. The warriors had built a small blind up on one of the mountain-tree branches, and she was inside it, sleeping. Chime had said she had been exhausted again after the augury and had spent most of the day asleep.
Jade cocked her head, watching Nobent, not hiding her skepticism. “And you say if we land on this thing, in the dark, it won’t react to us.”
Nobent eyed her nervously. “As long as it’s sleeping.”
“Do we seriously believe that?” Vine asked, waving a hand in frustration. “A giant water beast isn’t going to notice if we land on it?”
Nobent grimaced. “It doesn’t notice Nobent. Fools. Groundlings come all