Wen Spencer - Wolf Who Rules

Wait, if she modified the Reinhold's spell based on Impatience's theorems, she might be able to trigger magic equivalence to a wide-scale electromagnetic pulse. It would basically clean the slate. The danger would be that it wasn't only on the magic wavelength, but included the electronics of the ship. She could accidentally kill all the computers maintaining the ship's life supports. That would be bad.

But if she wiped out the build up, and then used one shielded source to do a call on the Wind Clan Spell stones - would that be enough magic to trigger the jump? It might. Too bad she couldn't pull from a second set…

Or could she? She had felt the Stone Clan magic. She had watched Forest Moss call on the Stone Clan's spell stones. Did she remember the hand positions and vocalization? Yes, she was sure.

She was nearly quivering now with possibilities. If she could pull on both stones, at once - wait-at once-that kind of meant at the same moment. Since the vocalization was different she couldn't do both. She wished she could pace. She thought better pacing. She settled for bouncing between the walls, flying through the air.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jin suddenly caught her, and brought her to a stand still. "You're going to hurt yourself doing that."

"I can't say two things at once! I considered sampling the resonance, but I suspect that the genetic key equates to vibrations in the quantum nature of magic - not that I know that for sure - and certain I'm at a loss as to how to test that theory. There isn't time for me to invent a device that can sample how the magic interplays with molecular level, or the equipment we probably need to recreate that resonance. And according to all my last dream, resonance was the key to everything. And if getting home isn't the full ball of wax -"

"Shhhhhh." Jin put his finger to his lips.

She frowned at him and then put her finger over his lips. "Do that again."

"Tinker, listen."

"No, do the 'shhh' thing again."

"Shhhh." Jin repeated and then said, with her finger still in place. "We're picking up the radio from Pittsburgh again. They say that Malice is attacking Oakland."

"I need to get home. And I think I know how."

True Flame drew Wolf aside to speak quietly with him. "You and I have the only attack spells that have a hope of hurting Malice. We need to pair off with the Stone Clan. They'll provide defense while we focus on attack. Which do you want? Forest Moss or Earth Son?"

The mad one or the male that hated him? Both had good cause to see him dead. If they were wise, they would hold their political maneuverings until after the dragon was dead. Where Forest Moss lacked sanity, Earth Son lacked political savvy; Wolf did not think either was rational enough for wisdom. While he trusted Jewel Tears to defend the enclaves, he was not sure he could entrust his safety to her. From True Flame's perspective, however, Jewel Tears' youth made her unfit material for the front line, so it was a moot point.

"I rather not stake my life - and the lives of my people-on the Stone Clan." Wolf spoke the blunt truth.

"I realize that." True Flame said. "But we will need both hands to our most powerful attack spells, which means no shield."

"In that case, I don't want to take Hands into this battle. I do not want to leave them at the mercy of the Stone Clan."

True Flame nodded. "That would be wise."

"I'll take Earth Son." When faced two evils, Wolf would rather deal with the known.

When True Flame announced the pairing, Earth Son shook his head.

"I do not like this pairing. Forest Moss will go with Wolf."

"You will go with Wolf."

"I see reason for the pairing, and as clan head I should be with you."

"I have given the choice of partners to Wolf since he is in disadvantage," True Flame said. "We don't have time for this. You are to pair with Wolf."

Thorne Scratch stepped forward to murmur in Earth Son's ear. The Stone Clan domou cast a dark look at his First and then smoothed his face to the unreadable mask of court. Wolf wondered what Thorne had to say to Earth Son.

"So my mewling infant of a cousin, I swear that was the last time that you'll twist matters to get an unfair advantage."

Clouds boiled across the sky. Wolf could sense a magical shifting of the winds, as if someone called them with a spell.

"I think the dragon is coming."

"Wolf." Storm held out something. "This goes in your ear. It's like the walkie-talkie but smaller. Nagarou wanted you to have it. You should be able to use it without it interfering with your magic - I tested it with my shield."

Wolf took the small bud of plastic. "How does it -"

Storm fitted it into Wolf's ear. " Nagarou has gone to act as a spotter with the NSA. He is in the Cathedral. He will talk to you."

"Windwolf, this is Oilcan." The young man's stated calmly in Wolf's ear. "The dragon is in south east Oakland, at the intersection of Bates Street and Boulevard of the Allies. It's seems to be leveling houses."

Which meant it was less than a mile away.

Wolf did a wide range scry and caught the passage of something large in that area. Earth Son finished his spell and as he shook his head, Wolf lost the scry on the dragon.

"This way," Wolf started to walk. Forbes Avenue was a major street in Oakland with multiple lanes leading from the downtown out to the Rim. The EIA had stopped traffic in the city, erecting barriers. To his right, at the center of its lush lawn, was the towering Cathedral of Learning with Oilcan at its summit. To his left was the massive stone Carnegie museum.

"Tell me how to get to Bates," Wolf said.

"Go through that parking lot your left." Oilcan started into the directions.

True Flame indicated that he would continue down Forbes Avenue, following his scry.

The boil of clouds had darkened to angry gray, with streaks of black where thunderheads were starting to build. When Wolf reached the top of Bates Street and looked down the hill it climbed, he saw that the shield around the massive dragon created a miasma that was forming the clouds. He understood now why the humans thought his lightening would be able to strike - it was the perfect lightening weather. Cloaked by his shields, Malice moved within the misty darkness, showing only flashes of himself.

"Call your shields," Wolf told Earth Son. "Keep him back, otherwise the lightening will arc to us."

Remember, you can't trust Earth Son, Wolf thought to himself, and called on the winds in order to summon his lightening.

The darkness shifted, as if Malice had turned, and the gleam of his eyes appeared in the miasma and then vanished.

"He's shifting to your right." Oilcan's voice was flat with the effort to keep the information concise. "He stopped just around the corner, behind the brick house."

Wolf didn't know how Oilcan could tell from his perch above the miasma but Wolf knew the humans had their ways. Magic thrummed around him, ready to be used. He shifted through his call lightening spell. His right hand primed the clouds as his left hand readied the ground. Magic flooded the street on a hot wave of air that flared out his duster. The hairs on his arms lifted as the magic shifted into potential. He felt it reach critical point and he brought his hands together, aiming the channel through which the lightening would run. The faint leader flashed downward out of the belly of the clouds, and then the return stroke leapt from behind the brick, up to meet the leader with a deafening clap of thunder. The blinding column of light flared the dark miasma to white haze, and the thunder rumbled as the stroke climbed up into the sky.

Malice roared in pain and anger. The lightening licked the sky, as leader and return stroke danced back and forth over the open channel.