Wen Spencer - Wolf Who Rules

Keiko blushed and stuck out her tongue at her cousin.

Riki returned his attention to Tinker. "Come on. Just do it quick and it'd be over."

"I don't have any mark."

Riki's face went neutral, if all emotion drained out, leaving only resolve.

Tinker considered if she wanted her dress forcibly taken off. There wasn't any running away, and while Keiko was young, the tengu girl was as tall as she was. Probably if Tinker trying calling the winds she'd end up in a wrestling match before she got the spell off. "Fine. I'll take it off."

She struggled out of her dress, and as she feared, bra had to go.

"It would be over her heart, wouldn't it?" Keiko looked as uncomfortable with Tinker's nudity as Tinker felt.

"It should." Riki took Tinker's hands and examined her arms carefully, even to the point of undoing the bandages and peering under them. It wasn't as bad as Tinker feared. She realized it was the kids' presence; she trusted Riki not to do anything with them there - watching. Hopefully she was right.

"Okay," Riki finally said. "You can get dressed."

"Does she have it? Does she have it?" Mickey called from the loft.

"No." Riki glanced down at Keiko. "Can you make it to the near cote without stopping? It's going to be dark and we'll need to move quietly and fast."

Keiko screwed up her face, torn between saying yes and admitting the truth. Finally she hunched her shoulders, looked away, and said, "No."

Riki tousled the girl's short black hair. "It's better that you tell the truth now. I'll take Joey and then come back to guide you two. Rest up."

"What about her?" Keiko asked, and then added quietly. "You promised her."

If it wasn't her freedom they were talking about, it would have been funny to see Riki realize how screwed he was. He could start to ferry the kids back home, but it would leave her alone with at least two of them. Taking her home meant all three kids would be alone for a much longer time - perhaps a very long time if he ran into trouble with the elves. He looked her in sudden panic.

She sighed and waved her hand. "Take care of them first."

"Promise me that you won't hurt them."

She scoffed. "Who is going to protect me from them?"

A wry smile came and went. "I'm trusting you two to behave. Understand?"

"Yes, Riki," Mickey said.

Keiko nodded, watching Tinker.

"Joey?" Riki motioned to the littlest tengu and the boy flung himself out of the loft into Riki's arms. "Ooomph! Settle down, you little monster. Here, sweatshirt on first." Riki knelt and pulled the sweatshirt onto the boy. "Remember, once we leave, no talking. Quiet little birds."

Joey mimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key.

"Good boy," Riki picked up the child and gave them a worried look. "Remember there are oni in the woods. Keep it down and no lights."

"Quiet little birds." Mickey said.

Riki wavered at the door, Joey clinging to his neck. "Tinker - I love them much as you love Oilcan. Everything I've done has been for them. Please - just - just wait for me to get back."

The tengu kids took the loft bed and Tinker settled by the door, her back to the wall so she could keep an eye on them. Keiko continued to stare at her. Mickey swung his legs. Dusk fell on the forest and darkness crawled into the cabin.

"How far does Riki have to go?"

Mickey started to say something but Keiko poked him.

"We're not allowed to say."

"What are you doing so far away anyhow?"

"Joey just got his wings." Mickey said. "We were on his first long flight and got cut off by a troop of oni moving through the area. We tried to go around them and got lost. When we hit the city's edge, Keiko said we should call Riki. I'm the one that remembered the number."

"Then all you would do was cry." Keiko said.

Mickey pulled up his legs, curling into himself.

Keiko gave him a look of remorse and then swung down. She rummaged through the shelves and then handed up a bottle of water and a power bar to her younger cousin. "Here. You can have the last chocolate one."

Keiko put a second bottle and bar up beside Mickey. Wordlessly, she left an offering of food and water for Tinker down on the floor, carefully staying outside of Tinker's reach, and then swung back to the loft.

Tinker hadn't had a power bar as an elf - she expected something tasteless. She was surprised how good it tasted. "Oh, these are yummy."

Mickey nodded in agreement, instantly happy by Keiko's offering. "I didn't think elves could speak English."

Keiko pinched Mickey.

"Ow! What?"

"Don't display how ignorant you are. She was a human until the viceroy turned her into an elf a few months ago."

Mickey looked at Tinker, recognition dawning on him. "Oh, she's the Dufae girl?"

"Yes." Keiko said.

Fear filled Mickey's face.

"Why are you scared of me?" Tinker asked.

"We know what Riki had to do to you." Mickey whispered. "How he had to turn you over to the oni."

"Riki didn't want to us to come to Elfhome," Keiko said. "He said that either the elves would find us, or the oni would. Better stay on Earth where we were at least free. But the oni came to our house and took Joey hostage. Riki sent us on ahead to be with our aunt, but he stayed to work for the oni - to try and get Joey back."

"He never told me about you."

"If he told you, then the kitsune would know, and then the oni would know. He couldn't tell you the truth about anything - or he'd put us in danger."

"You hate the tengu now - don't you?" Mickey whispered.

A few days ago, Tinker probably would have said yes. She knew that when she found the MP3 player, she'd been angry enough to beat Riki to a pulp again. Now, with the dead in Chinatown, and the children looking at her in fear, she couldn't hate all the innocent strangers. "No."

Keiko scoffed, disbelieving. "I'd never forgive anyone that did that to me."

"I saw what Lord Tomtom did to those that failed him - and it scared the living shit out of me." She shuddered with the memory of the torture; the flash of bright blades and white of bone stripped clean of flesh. "I was willing to do almost anything to keep the knives away from me."

"So you forgive Riki?"

There was something about the darkness that demanded honesty. "I'm still angry at him. But I was with the oni for nearly a month-I can understand why he did it and don't think I can hate him for it. He took my shit and never complained, and when he could, he protected me."

There was a sudden roar outside and a hoverbike - lift engines at full - popped up and landed on the massive branch outside the door. Its headlight flooded the room with stark white blinding light.

Tinker stood and called magic, wrapping the wind around her.

"Tinker domi!" Stormsong's voice came out of the light.

"Stormsong?" Tinker squinted into the glare.

The headlight snapped off. Stormsong sat on a custom delta Tinker had done for a charity auction last year. Somehow Stormsong had managed to land and balance on the branch - it was going to take work to get it down in one piece. In her right hand the sekasha held a shotgun resting across the handlebars and trained at the cabin door.

"How the hell did you find me?" Tinker asked.

"I closed my eyes and went where I was needed." Stormsong glanced beyond Tinker to the kids. "They're tengu."

Tinker realized that her being safe meant the kids were now in danger. "I promised that they wouldn't be hurt."

"That was a silly thing to do," Stormsong said.

"They're just kids." Tinker moved to protect them with her shield.

"Kids grow up," Stormsong said.

Tinker shook her head. "I can't let you hurt them. I promised."

"Yes, Tinker ze domi." Stormsong said in High Tongue.