Wolf Who Rules

Stormsong snickered.

"I know how pissed you must be, Tinker. Believe me, if this wasn't important, I wouldn't come anywhere near you."

She scoffed at that. "What does this mark do?"

"So it marked you?" Judging by the excitement in his voice, it was very important to him.

Stormsong shoved Tinker suddenly behind her and activated her shields with a shout. At the movement, Riki jerked back out of sight. A second later, a bullet struck the tree truck where Riki had been standing, ricocheted, and struck Stormsong's shield.

"Shields, domi." Pony triggered his own and pulled his sword.

Tinker felt a kick of magic from the west. She forced herself to find her center and cast the trigger spell. Her heart was pounding as the distorted into her shield.

Sekasha emerged from the forest shadows; their wyvern armor and tattoos were the black of the Stone Clan. Five in all - a full Hand, the back two acting as blades, which meant they had someone to guard. They halted some twenty feet off, tense and watchful.

"Lower your weapons," a female shouted in High Elvish.

"Lower yours! This is Wind Clan holding!" Tinker shouted angrily.

"It's a royal holding," The stone clan's domi came out from behind one of the ironwoods. "And you're conversing with the enemy."

The domi was short for an elf, several inches shorter than her sekasha, but willowy graceful as any other high caste female Tinker had ever seen. She wore an emerald green underdress and an overdress with a forest of wildly branching trees over it. Her hair was gathered into elaborate braids, dark and rich as otter fur, twined with emerald ribbons and white flowers. Two small gleaming orbs circled around her, like tiny planets caught in her gravity.

"Yeah, I was talking to him," Tinker almost dropped her shield but then she realized that her sekasha hadn't put away their swords. "It's a good way to find out things you don't know. Like who are you?"

"Hmm, short and vulgar - you must be Wolf Who Rules' domi. What was your name again? Something unpronounceable."

"This is one of my issues from court." Stormsong murmured in English. "Lowest ranking introduces themselves first; it's a matter of honor. You outrank her, so she should go first. She's trying to provoke you since she can't call insult; you are still under the Queen's protection."

"Fuck that. Who the hell is she?"

"Her name is Jewel Tears on Stone. She and the rest of the Stone Clan arrived this morning."

"Is she right about this being a royal holding now?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Shit!"

"You are talking to me, not her." Jewel Tear picked her way gracefully toward Tinker. Despite the sweltering heat and her long gown, there was no sweat on her creamy white skin. "You are Wolf Who Rules' domi? Tinkle? Thinker? "

Screw this. "Can you introduce us, Stormsong?"

"Me doing it would be a breach of etiquette and be considered extremely rude."

"Good. Do it."

Stormsong executed an elegant bow and said. "Jewel Tears on Stone, this is our Beloved Tinker of Wind."

Amazing how they all reacted as if she slapped Jewel Tears. All the Stone Clan sekasha moved forward as if to attack.

"Hold." Jewel Tears snapped. She glared at Tinker for a moment, but murmuring, "You are such a rude little beast. I don't know if I should be flattered or horrified that Wolf Who Rules chose you after I cut him loose."

Tinker glanced to Stormhorse, who nodded slightly, confirming that yes this was an old girlfriend of Windwolf's. Well, if it was a battle of wits that this bitch wanted, she came to the right place. "That proves what they say."

"Which is?"

"Only an idiot would turn down Wolf Who Rules."

"Your arrogance is only matched by your ignorance."

"I'd rather be unlearned than moronic - since it's so much easier to cure."

"When Prince True Flame learns of your treason, he will cure that arrogance too."

"I might have been talking to the tengu - but you let him get away." Tinker pointed out.

Jewel Tears spoke a spell and made a motion and magic pulsed underfoot, pushing up through the ground, the low ferns and then the trees to the every ends of the leaves. Tinker felt the ten sekasha standing around them, even Rainlily standing behind her. She and Jewel Tears echoed differently - their domana shields creating the change, or maybe their innate magical talents. Around them there were birds and animals unseen but now sensed.

She didn't, however, feel Riki - and by her angry look - neither did Jewel Tears.

"Horse piss!" Jewel Tears hissed quietly.

"I was trying to get as much information out of the tengu as I could." Tinker rubbed Jewel Tears' nose in it. Interestingly, the female didn't take it gracefully.

"The oni subverted you when they held you prisoner."

"No, they did not." Pony answered the charge. "I stand as witness to my domi - by my blood and my blade-she never bowed her will to them."