Wood Sprites

The whistle seemed dangerously loud and shrill when she blew the “come” command. A flock of birds flew up and something large crashed at the foot of the cliff, screened by the foliage. The twins squeaked and crouched down.

“What was that?” Jillian whispered.

Louise shrugged, heart hammering. Minutes passed and nothing emerged out of the forest. Cautiously, she stood up and blew a second “come.”

Crow Boy ghosted down beside them. One moment the sky had been empty and then he was settling silently on the rocky outcrop. Louise wondered how he did it; was it one of the ninja powers that Providence had given the yamabushi? There wasn’t even a noise from his metal fighting spurs on the bare rock. “How long before we know it isn’t coming?”

Louise winced. “An hour if there’s one in Pittsburgh. If we’re pulling one from the East Coast, it could take almost a day.”

“I’ll get the others ready.” Crow Boy sprang up into the air, black wings rustling as he unfurled them.

His confidence in her was at once calming and embarrassing.

* * *

An hour later, they spotted a gossamer floating toward them. The body glittered in the sun like a thousand diamonds. The sight of it took Louise’s breath away. None of the videos did justice to its massive size. It dwarfed any airplane she’d ever seen. The long wooden gondola slung under the beast was a comforting solid Wind Clan blue. Mooring ropes trailed down from the gondola’s underside.

“How are we going to anchor it?” Jillian asked quietly.

Louise breathed out a curse. “I’ll deal with the gossamer.” Louise gestured to the rocks and trees around them. “You set up temporary anchors.”

As Louise watched the gossamer approach, she tried to determine what else she might have forgotten. She planned to take the gossamer to the tengu village — probably scaring the daylights out of them — so probably sending Crow Boy on ahead would be wise.

As its massive shadow started to eclipse her, Louise played “hover” on the whistle.

Suddenly she was scooped off her feet in a fury of black wings. She squeaked in surprise as Crow Boy leapt backwards with her in his arms.

“What?”

“Back off!” Crow Boy growled, warding off an adult tengu male with his spar-sheathed feet.

“Yamabushi?”

“She is under my protection.”

“A human?” The male cocked his head to study Louise. “Wait — Tinker domi?”

“That isn’t domi.” A woman came floating down out of the sun. Hidden by the brilliance, she was only a warm voice and shadow of a female figure with wings arching like an umbrella above her.

Crow Boy gasped as if struck and lowered Louise to the ground. “Wai Sze!”

Louise gasped with recognition. She had seen this before. “You’re Mary Poppins!”

The female landed silently before them, black-winged and almond-eyed. She didn’t look at all like a British nanny. And yet, there was something very much like Louise’s dream. The female laughed with surprise and delight, “I am?”

“I dreamed of you. You are — were Mary Poppins.”

The female knelt down in front of Louise. “I’m Gracie Wong. Gracie Wong Dufae.” She took Louise’s hands in hers and gazed at them with wonder. “And you’re one of my beloved Leo’s babies. They said that there was just one of you, but I kept dreaming that there was a whole nest of you, still so young, needing me.”

Something inside of Louise released. She crumbled into Gracie’s arms and felt completely safe for the first time in months. Grief long buried deep inside her — too dangerous to release until now — roared out of her. The sorrow tore through her, hot and huge. She felt as if she would choke on it as it burst out of her chest, her throat far too tight and small to release it all. She clung to the safety she had glimpsed again and again in her dreams, desperately wanting to believe it was real.

“You’re safe, my little one, you’re safe.”

“I don’t know what to do!” Louise cried. Between painful sobs that tore through her, she tried to explain the whole horrible mess. Of the babies in danger of being thrown out and magical nactka and the nestlings and how their siblings were now trapped within the protective spell on the polished stone.

“I would bear them if I could. I loved Leo so much. Nothing would bring me greater joy than to have his children.”

With a loud rustle of wings, another tengu female came flying in from the southwest. “There’s a major force of oni not far from here. They’ve spotted the gossamer and are coming to investigate. If they have human weapons, the ship is too big a target to miss.”

“Get the children onto the airship,” Crow Boy ordered. He scooped up Jillian and launched himself up into the air. Jillian’s yelp of surprise trailed after them as he flapped upwards.

There was a thunder of wings as the tengu adults swooped down, snatched up the children, and carried them upwards to the waiting ship.

“We need to move the babies!” Louise stepped back to avoid being carried off. “Joy! Joy!”

The baby dragon appeared on Gracie’s shoulder. “Hello, who’s there? Oh! Providence!”