“This means that both Merry and Rustle are in the same location,” she said. “Wherever that may be. They are able to communicate with each other and exist in a manner that allows them to create music.”
Tommy gave her an odd look. “And?”
Tinker tugged at her hair. “I’m still analyzing data to draw a conclusion.”
There was a sudden flare of power from the spell, an overwhelming sense of falling without actually moving.
Tinker cursed softly. “Was that Startup?”
“Sure the hell felt like it,” Oilcan said.
The spell collapsed to reveal Merry standing in front of her olianuni with Rustle pressed against her back. Both kids had mallets in hand, sweating and panting heavily.
Merry yipped triumphantly and brandished her mallets, nearly smacking Rustle in the nose. “We did it!”
“Well,” Tinker said. “At least that part of the plan worked.”
The entire hotel, including the frictionless parking lot, had been transferred to another world. They stood in the doorway of the casting room and studied it with fear. Tall trees shrouded the island and something gave an echoing call.
“Well. . at least we now know why the Skin Clan wanted the kids so bad,” Tinker finally managed. “They’re a portable large-scale gate system to multiple worlds. It’s quite possible that the more power you feed into them, the bigger the area they can shift.”
“Quiee,” Baby Duck said. “Quiee. Quiee.”
“Which planet is this?” Blue Sky asked.
“It’s not Onihida, is it?” Barley asked with fear.
“We can get back home?” Cattail Reeds asked.
“I’m sorry,” Rustle said. “This is all my fault.”
“Actually, it’s mine,” Tinker said. “And this isn’t Onihida. This section of Onihida is overpopulated. Actually, much of Onihida is overpopulated.”
“That’s what those of the flock that were born on Onihida report,” Riki said while Tommy nodded in agreement.
“Earth?” Oilcan guessed. “This area would be virgin Elfhome forest where Pittsburgh should have been on Earth.”
“I think this is Ryuu,” Riki said. “Home of the dragons.”
Was this why Providence and Impatience had gotten involved with protecting the children? Was the Skin Clan trying to find a way to conquer Ryuu after it took Elfhome? Tinker thought about the emperor “distilling down the essence of a god” and shuddered.
“We can get back?” Cattail Reeds repeated.
“I want to go home,” Baby Duck added in quietly.
So did Tinker.
Something moved in the shadows. It wove closer through the massive tree trunks.
“Incoming,” Tinker cried and tried to set up a link to the Spell Stones. Nothing happened. “Oh, not good.”
Oilcan did a call on the Stones and shook his head. “I’m getting nothing, too.”
The sekasha triggered their shields, and anyone with a weapon pointed it toward the shape.
“Wait!” Riki cried. “It’s Impatience!”
“What is he doing here?” Tinker had thought the dragon had been stranded on Elfhome. Then again, if the kids had a dragon’s ability, then he should be able to come and go as he pleased. Why had he stayed in Pittsburgh? Just to be close to the kids? The little dragon butted up against Oilcan, talking nonstop, patting him over and over. “What is he saying, Riki?”
Riki’s eyes went wide at the question, and he scrambled to answer. “Ah, he’s saying. . um. . it is you but not you. All the little pieces are the same and yet different. Why would they do this? Oh, I see, they made you more like the little princess.”
Was Impatience talking about the small changes in Oilcan’s ears and eyes, or was he talking smaller, as in DNA?
“Ask him why he’s here,” Tinker said.
Riki spoke in dragon. Impatience cocked his head, his eyebrows jumping up in very human surprise, and then he gave a rumbling “huuhuuhuuhuu” of a dragon laugh and answered.
“To help you to return from whence you came, of course,” Riki translated Impatience’s reply. “Why else would I be here? It is not like our little ones know what they are doing. Babies must be taught, despite what others might say. What is ours is ours. We have duty to those who are no longer able to do for themselves.”
“Huh?” Tinker said.
“Providence has implied that the dragons loosely cooperate but are territorial. The tengu are Providence’s, and he will allow no other dragons to tamper with what is his. I believe Impatience is bucking someone’s authority to help out Oilcan’s kids.”
Weird that no matter what their shape, they were all alike enough to share the concept of politics.
Impatience looked expectantly at Tinker, and she looked expectantly at the dragon until she finally growled to Riki, “Ask him how do we get back.”
After a few minutes of talking, Riki said slowly, “Everyone does the same as they did before. But this time. .” He paused to apparently ask Impatience for clarification. “This time the babies are to tune to home.”
Tinker managed not to scream in frustration. “Tell him that was what they were trying for in the first place!”
“Huuhuuhuuhuuhuu.” Impatience laughed and patted Oilcan gently on the chest and said something at length.
“What did he say?” Tinker asked.
Riki looked confused. “They know the truth when they hear it. They must remember the sound that touched their soul and made them know that they were home.”
“Oh!” Merry gasped. “I know what it is!”
Tinker checked the inscription of the spell. It was no longer active but still drawn on the only clear spot in the bomb-blasted casting room. Having been out of phase with Elfhome’s reality, that section of the pool had been spared. Reassured that it had taken no damage, Tinker waved Merry and Rustle into position with the olianuni. She made sure that they hadn’t stepped on any of the glyphs and blurred them. Oilcan double-checked all her work.
Reassured that the spell was perfect, she spoke the command that brought it to life. The kids vanished into brilliance.
“That’s what happened before.” Tinker took Oilcan’s hand. “They’ll be okay. If nothing else, they’ll come back to here again. Probably.”
Oilcan snorted and leaned close to whisper, “You hate not being able to lie.”
“Yes!”
Music started inside the shell. Judging by the heavy driving beat, it was a human song. It sounded familiar, but Tinker couldn’t place it. Oilcan laughed as he recognized it.
“What is it?” Tinker asked.
“’We are Pittsburgh,’” Oilcan said.
She recognized the song then. Oilcan had created it during the impromptu concert in the gym. A defiant anthem to the city, it snarled their fierce independence and unity to all those that would try to beat them down and divide them.
“Blood on the pavement,” Oilcan sang along with the music. “Blood on the blade, blood flows through common veins. Three worlds bridged by a single span, steel that climbs from earth to sky. Freedom to create, freedom to fly — one world, one people, one kind. We are Pittsburgh.”
Yeah, that’s home, Tinker thought.
The universe dropped out from under their feet and reality shifted and they were home.
46: KNIGHT ERRANT
Tommy had always hated the legend of King Arthur, a boy yanking a sword out of a stone and suddenly he was the king. He realized now that the boy had always been a king — the sword was just an outward symbol of what was inside. The sword was more than just a weapon, it was a crown.