The gonda breeding grounds didn’t look much different from other barren stretches of the Desert.
But it felt different.
The ground vibrated underfoot, a buzzing sound at first, then a constant rumble of the deck, then a shattering that wouldn’t leave your bones. They said the epicenter shook like an earthquake and rolled booming thunder in your ears. No one had ever crossed the epicenter alive.
Nico and her kull stopped at the edge of the breeding grounds when they felt the first sign of vibration in their legs. They were careful to speak in kull signs and move slowly, lest they draw the attention of a gonda before they were ready.
One wrong move could summon hundreds.
Nico looked at the faces of her kull—Azan at the tiller, Suri in the scout’s nest, Zephyr at the oar-position. Even Kelin managed to stay above deck, though his shaking wasn’t because of the ground.
Zephyr pressed a parting forehead to the baby silk spider and handed it over. Nico minded the fangs as she stepped down the windship stairs. She stopped at the second rung from the bottom and released the poor thing.
It scurried off.
The silk spider wasn’t big enough to attract a stampede of hungry gonda, but it was small enough to tempt a curious one over.
Suri signaled from the scout’s nest. Two.
Nico lifted her hand and waited. Two gonda ploughed toward the spider, cresting waves behind them. The waves raced toward the doomed spider, crashing closer and closer.
Nico opened her hand.
Azan pushed down the tiller, and they were off, speeding away from the grounds. One gonda chased the spider, but another veered and chased after them. Nico smiled, triumphant at how perfectly the plan was holding together.
“Ready your arrows!” Nico yelled.
Arrows fitted to bowstrings. Nico aimed at the gonda speeding toward them.
“Slow, Azan!”
The windship slowed, drawing the gonda into arrow range. Zephyr, Kelin, and Suri stood with their arrows at the ready, waiting for Nico’s signal. Nico widened her stance and set her sights on the reaching tentacles.
A windship crossed their path.
“HOLD!”
What the Elder?!
Nico’s confusion quickly turned to annoyance when the windship weaved between the tentacles like dancers weaving between flames on Naming night. The sail spun around, a feature Nico had never seen before, and the ship moved parallel to theirs, moving backward.
Rasia leaned one arm against her ship railing. Even without her signature flag of hair, that smirk couldn’t have been more infuriating. “You busy?”
How come when Nico had finally stopped chasing after Rasia, here she was, showing up at every turn?!
“Rasia!” Nico yelled. “What are you doing here? Kai, why are—” Nico stopped and searched Rasia’s windship deck for Kai.
“We need to talk,” Rasia said.
Rasia pushed off her railing and guided the ship with one hand on the steer and the other arm around a rope, pulling and tugging it to move the sail. Rasia’s windship veered off, away from the breeding grounds.
Nico turned toward her kull. The gonda was still chasing after them, vibrating in her ears. She saw her kull’s disappointment and frustration reflected fivefold.
Zephyr stated Nico’s thoughts out loud. “Rasia wouldn’t be here if Kai weren’t in trouble, and she couldn’t handle it herself.”
Nico rubbed at her temples. She had made her kull a promise, but something was wrong, and she needed more information. They still had time. The gonda could wait.
Nico couldn’t abandon her jih.