Jin took hold of Tinker and murmured, “Hang on.” And then they were airborne.
Amazingly, in some strange heart stopping manner, winging upwards was fun. In her flights with Riki, she had been so concerned about their end destination that she never noticed the thrill of flying. Did it say something about her that as long as she knew where they were going, she could now enjoy the ride?
Jin landed them between Ushi and Xiao Chen.
“I think I envy you.” Stormsong murmured to Xiao Chen.
Tinker smothered a laugh, and whispered. “Yeah, once you get used to it, it’s fairly cool.”
“It’s wood!” Jin whispered, running his hand over the hull’s surface.
“Of course,” Tinker whispered. “These are elves.”
Her Hand activated their shields. Pony asked a question with blade talk. Getting a nod from the others, he opened the hatch and the sekasha dropped down into dim engine room.
She had never seen the elves really fighting before. Not a full Hand against hordes, unconcerned for her protection because she was safe behind her own shield. She hadn’t expected it to be so beautiful. Their swordplay became a fluid dance with the oni seeming like paper cutouts instead of real opponents. The dreadnaught, though, was buzzing like a kicked beehive, and they spread themselves thin.
On the bridge, Tinker used her shield to back the oni warriors away from the door. Cloudwalker slipped around her on the right and Durrack went left.
“Don’t shoot any of the instruments!” Tinker had her pistol out, but was afraid to fire. She rarely hit what she aimed at and all the controls were vital to their success.
“I — don’t — miss.” Durrack picked his shots with deliberation. “Someone get the pilot before he crashes us!”
Two warriors blocked Tinker.
“Esme, the pilot.” Jin spun on one heel and kicked one of the warriors out of Tinker’s path. Tinker hedged sideways, covering Esme as her mother scrambled into the low cockpit.
The ship banked hard to the left, rushing toward the hills that lined the valley, Esme struggled with the oni pilot.
“Tinker!” Esme cried. “We need to lift! Pull up on the collective.”
Dropping her shield, Tinker scrambled into the cockpit and grabbed hold of the collective control stick and pulled up. The engines roared louder and they started to climb.
“Tinker!” Jin shouted warning, and she ducked instinctively.
Bullets sprayed the windshield just over her head. A dozen bullet holes reduced the Plexiglas to a haze of cracked glass.
The oni pilot kicked Tinker backwards. She hit the cracked windshield; it held for a moment then gave way. She screamed, flailing and caught hold of the pilot’s leg as she fell. Her weight jerked him half out the cockpit. He grabbed the edge of the cockpit before he fell the full way out. They dangled far above the last mile of the I-279 before it ended at the Rim; the oni pilot holding onto the airship and Tinker onto his leg.
“Jin!” Esme shouted, struggling to keep the airship aloft and reach for the oni pilot at the same time. “I can’t reach her!”
Jin shouted; his words resonated against Tinker’s senses with magic.
The oni pilot clawed at the edge of cockpit, trying to pull himself up. He grasped the windshield wiper and started to pull himself up.
The wiper snapped and he fell — and Tinker with him.
Tinker screamed and Esme — staring down at her — cried out in dismay.
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.