Much as Wolf doubted the wisdom of taking on the oni head on as the Harbingers planned, he didn’t want the fight to reach Pittsburgh. As soon as the last of the Fire Clan troops unloaded from the train, the assembled elf forces were to move east toward the nearest oni camp.
Even if he flew, could he get to Oakland and back without delaying the attack?
“You cannot leave,” Wraith Arrow whispered. “We could be stripped of everything if the Wind Clan pulls its only domana out of this.”
Tinker might not know that but her Hand would. Little Horse and Discord were wise in the ways of political maneuvering between clans. They would have counseled her. That one of them was not here to explain suggested the weight of whatever Tinker was wrestling with now.
Still, Wraith Arrow was correct. Wolf would keep hold of the eastern coast if he left but Pittsburgh — all the humans — would fall to the Stone Clan. After the last month of insanity, he wouldn’t trust a feral pig to the Stone Clan’s care.
“What is the problem?” Wolf temporized. “Why did she send for me?”
Rainlily’s eyes went wide at the prospect of explaining. She held up her hand to tick off points as her eyes tracked up and to the left in the effort to recall all that she been told. “Esme Shanske made many babies when she made domi. I do not understand this part but this is what I’ve been told. Two are females younger — biologically — than Baby Duck, which makes them very small considering how little domi and cousin are. The tengu say that they are like domi, only younger, which we take to mean that they are very much wood sprites and all that implies. The other four are infants. How or why they are so much younger, I do not understand either, but they do not seem like they are normal infants. Jin Wong was very nervous whenever domi’s questioning turned toward them; we’re not sure why. Domi did not push for answers. It could be just the idea of having to keep six baby wood sprites contained until guardianship is decided. First assured domi that we could stand as blade parents. Personally, I’m doubtful since we are not doing well at keeping up with domi.”
Wolf laughed as he thought of the trail of destruction that his beloved left behind her. Yes, the tengu had reason to be nervous.
Rainlily continued her briefing, shifting to the next finger. “The six baby wood sprites were captured on Earth by oni forces that they escaped from — after rescuing a goodly number of tengu children. I’m sure it’s a very long story but we were told very little of it. All the children fled Earth after the gate crashed, meaning that there is or was a pathway from Earth to Elfhome open. Huh. Saying all that does really make the little females sound just like domi.”
Rainlily shifted to her third finger. “The tengu believe that the pathway is blocked but are not sure if it can be reopened or not. Jin Wong gave us a map to the cave’s location. He says it’s thirty miles southwest of here.”
She paused to rummage through her bulky messenger pack. She had used the human word of “miles.” Wolf nodded as he translated the distance in his head.
“Here.” She found said map and handed it to him. It was one of the human-made topographical maps of the area. The tengu leader had circled “Laurel Caverns” to mark the pathway.
Rainlily considered her fingers to remember where she had left off. She squinted in effort to recall all the confusing details as she moved to her fourth finger. “The children are the ones that summoned the gossamer away from the airfield. It’s been safely returned by the tengu. Domi’s little sisters have a command whistle on them that they made themselves, which kind of confirms our suspicions that the wood sprite traits breed true. All of the children are at the tengu village. The tengu want to cooperate in any way but they are not sure if they can shift the children out of the village.”
“Why not?” Wraith Arrow grumbled. “The tengu are domi’s Beholden; they must obey her.”
Rainlily fluttered a hand at Wraith Arrow, indicating that she was getting to that. “Domi’s sisters may be able to tap the Stone Clan Spell Stone just as cousin could even before he was transformed; Tinker domi felt two calls on the stones from the direction of Haven shortly before dawn. We believe that the children would be as formable as domi or cousin in battle as neither of them have had formal instruction either.”
Wolf wondered if the “we” was solely Tinker’s Hand discussing things among themselves as their domi focused on other matters. The last part sounded a little too tactical to be from Tinker.
“It also means that the other Stone Clan domana might realize that there are new members of their clan nearby.” Rainlily paused, changed hands, and shifted her eyes to the right as if reading down a second list. “The children have a dragon — a new one — with them that has claimed all of them as ‘hers’ in the manner that Providence protects the tengu. Both Providence and Impatience are allied with Joy — which is the name of the baby dragon with the babies…”
“Good gods,” Wraith whispered. “What madness now?”
“It gets worse.” Wolf knew his beloved. She would not summon him for anything listed yet. A polite warning of incoming children and allied dragon, yes, but not a summons.
“Much worse,” Rainlily said and then paused, staring at her fingers. She had lost track of her points. She tapped the tip of her left thumb. “Ah, yes, Joy might not allow the children to be moved from Haven, especially if the children do not want to leave.”
Rainlily pulled a large egg covered with complex spell tracings out of her messenger bag. She explained how Joy had been trapped inside it, that all evidence pointed to there being eleven more objects containing baby dragons somewhere in Pittsburgh, and that the oni greater bloods had used Providence to transform the tengu from humans to part-crow. “We think that the oni greater blood, Kajo, might have the traps at one of the four encampments that you are heading for.”
Rainlily stressed the word “might” in a manner that indicated that Tinker’s Hand could not come to an agreement. It was possible that Discord had a strong feeling that ran counter to the evidence gathered. “First sent the empty trap with me so that you could scry it. He believes it’s imperative that if you spot the traps, you can target all of our power toward destroying them. They should be considered possible genocide devices with a range of one mei.”
Wolf’s East Coast holdings with all his brothers and sisters were in range, then.
“I understand,” Wolf said. Evacuation of the continent was not an option; it was his sworn duty to protect his world from invaders. Queen Soulful Ember had met him at the Wind Clan airfield thirty years ago. Pure Radiance foresaw Pittsburgh’s first appearance on Elfhome. The queen charged Wolf with meeting the new arrivals — whoever they were — and holding the line against them.
Wolf had been trained as a warrior. He was given this land to protect because of his name.
It was his duty to stand and use whatever he could to keep the world safe.
“Send word to my brother, Jay Bird Screaming in the Wind,” Wolf told Rainlily. “Tell him that I have need of him.”
Rainlily left the egglike trap with Wolf. She had come on Discord’s hoverbike. She fumbled with starting it up but roared away as confidently as Discord. More proof that Wolf’s domi had chosen sekasha that fit her well.
Jay Bird should get Wolf’s message at Summer Court as soon as Rainlily returned to Pittsburgh. The distant voices allowed for instantaneous communication between devices. His older brother didn’t have Wolf’s level of wealth to pull from; he would need to borrow a gossamer. He would then need to cross four mei to reach Pittsburgh. It would take days for the beast to fly across the ocean, fighting a headwind the entire way. Wolf normally took the northern route, stopping at Whiskey’s volcanic island as a way station. Depending on the weather and the beast, it could take up to a week to make the trip, although it could be made faster.