Wolf Who Rules

Then someone caught Tinker's wrist, and she was jerked hard in both directions.

"Let go of him!" Keiko cried, flapping madly. "I can't catch you both; we'll all fall."

"No! No! No!" The pilot wailed, dangling upside down by Tinker's grip on his leg. But she wasn't strong enough to hold his weight by one hand. He slipped out of her hold and plunged downward again. The clouds had slid away and moonlight gleamed silver on the pavement below. The pilot dwindled to doll-size but still hit the road a loud carrying thud, a sudden burst of wet on the gray pavement.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Keiko cried as they continued to slowly fall. "You're still too heavy."

Xiao Chen swooped down and tried to intercept them.

Keiko hissed in anger, bringing up her razor-sheathed feet. "She's charmed by the Chosen's blood. She's not to be hurt!"

"You heard her," Riki glided in. "She's charmed by my line!"

"It's only Xiao-" Tinker yelped as Keiko suddenly passed her to Riki in a mid-air fling.

"I got you." Riki said it as if this was supposed to be comforting. "Keiko!"

The tengu female was heading for the airship. "I was called! He's here! He called!"

"Keiko!" Riki shouted, chasing after the teenager. "Wait! Damn it, Tinker, who is on that dreadnaught?"

"Your uncle Jin."

"That's not possi-" Riki gasped as they swept back in through the shattered windshield and he saw Jin. "Uncle Jin?"

Jin reached out and pulled Tinker out of Riki's hold. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Tinker fought the need to cling to Riki, Jin, or Durrack. I'm safe inside. I'm safe inside.

"What the hell is going on? Where did you come from?" Riki gazed in stunned amazement at the tengu, elves and humans.

"We got her. She's safe." Durrack had found the speaker tubes to the gun turret and engine rooms. Cloudwalker and Keiko were holding the door that boomed with the oni's attempts to break it down. "Tinker, your cousin says that Malice has Windwolf pinned down in Oakland. If you don't want to be a widow, we better get going."

It took Tinker a second to realize that Durrack had received the last part via his earbud radio and not the speakertube. Yeah, yeah, she was fine.

"What?" Riki cried as "You're taking on Malice? Are you nuts?"

"I've got a plan." Tinker wondered if that sounded anywhere reassuring. She couldn't stop trembling. "Do we have the guns?"

"The Storms are holding the guns." Durrack meant Storm Horse and Stormsong.

Tinker hugged herself, panting, trying to remember said plan. She was missing something important. "Oilcan? Wait? Where's Impatience? I don't want to take him out with this spell-he'll revert to a wild animal and kill anyone near him."

"He's in the Cathedral with your cousin," Durrack said.

"Okay, I really don't want Impatience in the spell range then." Tinker thought a moment. "Tell Oilcan to put distance between him and Impatience - just to be on the safe side. Esme, let's do a strafing run on Malice."

"And NASA thought it covered all possible flight simulations." Esme banked the ship hard back toward city.

Clouds continued to clear, and the city resolved out of the darkness. Their shadow ran on ahead of them. Esme climbed out of the river valley, and crested over the hill district to the flat plain of Oakland.

"Where is Malice?" Tinker asked Durrack.

"See that dark cloud?" Durrack pointed at billow of darkness that looked like smoke. "That's him."

"Oh, good, he's at least a half mile from the Cathedral." Tinker started to unload her bag, setting up for the spell. "Let's get his attention. Esme, get ready to run. Pony, can you hear me?"

"Yes, domi."

"Shoot Malice with one of the cannons. He's going to come fast, so get ready with the other cannon. Fire the second cannon when my spell takes your shield down."

"Yes, domi," Pony said.

Esme had edged sideways so that they hung over Fifth Avenue where it spilled down the hill toward the flood plain of Uptown. The cannon thundered, deafening at the close range. The shell whistled away. It hit the edge of the miasma and the black deepened. Something stirred in the darkness. Massive eyes gleamed at the heart of the cloud and then Malice uncoiled and lifted from the ground.

"Here he comes!" Tinker cried.

Esme scuttled the airship backwards, roaring out over Uptown, keeping the cannons pointed toward the onrushing dragon. "Come on, come on."

Suddenly Malice dove into the ground.

"Where the fuck did he go?" Esme cried.

"He's phased!" Durrack shouted. "He can move through solid objects!"

"Oh, you've got to be shitting me!" Esme flung the airship forward and they raced up Fifth Avenue, into the heart of Oakland.

"Where are you going?" Tinker cried.

"You said run." Esme put all power into forward motion, tilting the airship to fit down the narrow places of Fifth Avenue. They lost something - hopefully not vital - as they took out one the red lights over the street.

"Not this way!" Tinker cried, pointing at the towering Cathedral that stood over Oakland, where Oilcan was with Impatience.

"It had to be this way!" Esme snapped.