a little appalled, he set Karsis on her feet. “What are you doing here?”
Song explained, “Pearl sent us. We caught up with Jade and the others late yesterday, and just reached this place a little while ago. Stone saw us and guided us here. They’re all downstairs. Why do you have a groundling—” Rift stepped in and Esom staggered after him. Startled, Song stared at him. “Who’s that?”
Rift hesitated, then stepped back toward the balcony. “No,” Moon said sharply.
Rift quivered, on the verge of bolting. If he fled, Moon would have to catch him again, if the wind whipping around the tower didn’t kill them both. On impulse, he shifted to groundling. It was Raksuran etiquette that when the highest-ranking person shifted to groundling, everyone around them did as well. Song followed suit immediately, and Rift, by habit too ingrained to break, shifted too.
Moon reached, caught Rift’s wrist, and towed him toward the door. He could deal with Esom and Karsis later.
They passed Root in the dim stairwell; he was hanging from the ceiling. He saw them and shouted, “Moon! Moon’s back!”
Light shone up from the room on the level just below, and Moon heard familiar voices raised in argument. It was an interior room, no windows, so no one venturing out into the streets would see suspicious light from an abandoned and inaccessible tower.
Moon stepped into the doorway. Some broken tiles had been spelled for light and tucked into various wall niches, so he could clearly see Stone, Jade, Chime, Vine, Balm, and Flower. But the other three warriors were Floret, Drift, and River, which was a surprise of a whole different kind. I can’t believe Pearl sent River, he thought incredulously. That’s all we need.
He couldn’t believe they were here at all. It was a bad idea, it was going to cause trouble, and Jade should have waited before leading the warriors to the leviathan. But Moon couldn’t help a warm swell of relief at seeing them all. He said, “I thought you gave us three days.”
Everyone’s attention snapped to the doorway. Jade stared. “Moon—”
Moon said, “This is Rift. He helped Ardan get the seed, and he’s going to help us get it back.”
Esom and Karsis sat on a marble bench built out from the wall, watching nervously, but then the conversation was in Raksuran. Rift’s presence had caused some awkwardness. Most of the others had stared at him, then looked away. Stone hadn’t betrayed any reaction, and Balm was expressionless, but Chime kept looking anxiously at Moon.
Moon had explained something of what he had found out about Ardan and the tower, and where Rift and the two groundlings had come from. They had also established that by everyone’s sense of direction the leviathan was moving further west, away from the coast, and the distance was probably already too great for the warriors to make in one flight. They were lucky, Moon thought grimly. If the creature had chosen to move while they were still flying towards it, they could have all drowned.
How they would get back to the coast was another question. River swung around and snarled at Moon, “This is your fault.” Moon regarded him. All things considered, he had had a hard day.
“If you’re not careful, Floret is going to be taking you back to Pearl in a basket.”
Floret lifted her hands, protesting, “I didn’t say anything!” Jade said, deliberately, “If I have to tell you all to stop fighting one more time, I’m going to beat every single one of you senseless.”
There was a short silence. Then Karsis whispered to Flower in Kedaic, “What are they saying?”
“It’s not important,” Flower said, wryly. She sat next to them on the bench, her legs drawn up under her smock. Her face was drawn and weary, but that must have been from being carried on the long flight out here.
“Esom knows where the seed is,” Moon said, speaking Kedaic so the groundlings would understand him.
Everyone turned to Esom and he recoiled a little under the concentrated predatory gazes of a roomful of Raksura. Even though most of them were in groundling form, it was a little intimidating. Even Karsis flinched. Jade said, “Where?”
Esom coughed, and uneasily repeated the story he had told Moon. He finished, “So, I think you should search that building.”
Jade took a step forward to stand over him. “Why are you certain it’s there?”
Esom blinked up at her and appeared to have difficulty answering. Considering how many clothes his people wore, Moon thought it