A cacophony of bird cries attacked my ears. Behind us, palace guards pumped their wings and took off to defend their queen. Moments later, bodies began to fall from the sky. Silly spirits. Their “defense” was futile and ultimately unnecessary. They were throwing away their lives for nothing.

Not that I’d told Anthea that, of course.

I needed her to act like her normal self, and the raccoon dog simply wasn’t a good actress. Right now she’d be in a genuine panic, scurrying about like a chicken with its head cut off and spreading her panic to all who saw her.

The wave of landbound demons broke in front of the platform and swept around the capital to surround it. Their front line seethed with motion. Demons snapped and snarled and lunged forward in small groups, only to get dragged back by the others. To the terrified residents of Goldhill, it would look as if the horde were just waiting for a signal to fall upon and annihilate the city.

“I sssee her!” Bobo sang out. “I sssee the fox ssspirit we’re working with! Sssphaera!”

Where? Stripey and I asked in unison.

She pointed her tail into the mass of demons, but the foxling was too far away for my mortal eyes to make out.

All of a sudden, half a dozen wolves burst out of the main horde and charged at us.

What’s that foxling doing? I complained. They’re not supposed to actually attack us.

She doesn’t have as tight control over them as you think, Stripey warned. I mean, have you tried herding a bunch of demons?

What do I look like – a sheepdog?

No, you don’t. That’s my point.

“Where are your cranes?” Bobo rose up to the tip of her tail for a better view.

I told them to stay near the back. Stripey flew higher, scanned the demon horde for his clan, evidently failed to spot them, and shrugged his wings. If they have any sense, they listened.

They were his responsibility, not mine, but still, I couldn’t help flying up to his level and searching the horde along with him. You’d think a bunch of big white cranes with black necks would be easy to see, but no. They were nowhere in sight. Maybe they’d stayed well back.

“They’re attacking!” shrieked Miss Caprina.

“No, they’re not, they’re our allies, it’s just an act – ” Floridiana’s voice cut off with a yelp and a thump.

Dusty neighed a war cry, and up on the platform, Lodia screamed.

I spun in time to see the wolf demons barrel into the bear spirits, who roared and smacked them away. In one bound, Miss Caprina was on the platform next to Lodia.

A wolf leaped at Dusty’s throat. The horse reared and lashed out with his front hooves. Floridiana, meanwhile, had vanished under another wolf, although I could hear her voice shouting, “Burn! Burn! Burn!” Wisps of smoke and the stench of burning fur rose, and the wolf howled.

What are they playing at? I screeched. Bobo! What’s the foxling doing?

“Um, um, ssshe’s – it’s hard to tell, but I think ssshe looks excited? Yeah, yeah, ssshe definitely looks excited.”

Excited?! Was she following my plan or not?

“Pip!” Lodia’s anxious voice cried out from below. “Pip, what’s going on? Is this supposed to happen?”

She clung to Miss Caprina’s neck as the serow quivered, on the brink of running off to climb the highest thing she could find. The priests huddled at the back of the platform, so close to the edge that one good gust of wind would knock them off.

Katu gulped, then cleared his throat. “Pip, should I get started? Is it time?”

Jaws nearly snapped shut on Floridiana’s wrist, but she yanked her hand back before it got bitten off.

How much seal paste was left on her seal? Enough for one pale stamp, with many of the details faint or missing. Good enough. She lunged and planted her seal square on the demon’s nose. “Burn!”

Wet, black skin sizzled. The wolf howled and jerked back, scrabbling at its face with its paws.

Floridiana was already dragging her seal through the paste again. She came at the wolf from the side and thrust her seal into its ear. “Burn!”

It howled again, spun blindly, and snapped at her. She skipped out of the way and leapfrogged over its back, a stamp on her legs giving her superhuman strength. Another wolf’s head swung around as she fell back towards the earth. Jaws with steel fangs opened wide enough to bite her in two, but she stamped her right leg, shouted, “Kick!” and used that foot to kick off his forehead.

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As she arced through the air, the first wolf pounced. It crashed into her side and bore her to the ground. Air whooshed out of her lungs, but she kept her fingers clenched tight around her seal. She rolled away from the wolf, nearly got trampled by bear paws and Dusty’s hooves, and jumped back onto her feet.

“Pip!” she yelled up at the sparrow. “How much longer? Is it time yet?”

SNAP!

The Valiant Prince of the Victorious Whirlwind, Vanquisher of Invaders, seized a wolf demon by the scruff of its neck.

WHOOSH!

He swung the invader through the air.

WHAM!

He smashed the demon down. It lay in the center of a crater, moaning.

Creeeeeeeeak.

Wood shifted. Nails grated. The platform swayed. The humans on it squealed, and the serow bleated like a scared sheep.

The Valiant Prince of the Victorious Whirlwind, Vanquisher of Invaders, had no time to comfort them. Another wolf demon leaped at him. He spun on his front hooves and kicked with his hind legs. His hooves connected solidly and, a moment later, he heard a CRAAAAAASH as the wolf landed.

The earth shook. The platform swayed again. The people on it squeaked.

His mage also squeaked, closer by.

He whirled in time to see a wolf with smoke rising from its fur charge at her. It bowled her over and pinned her down.

The Valiant Prince of the Victorious Whirlwind, Vanquisher of Invaders, galloped to her rescue. He seized the wolf’s bushy tail in his teeth and pulled. The wolf howled in pain but refused to budge.

The mage screamed, not a war cry but a shriek of pain. The Valiant Prince of the Victorious Whirlwind, Vanquisher of Invaders, sank his teeth further into the wolf’s tail, braced his hooves, and pulled harder.

The wolf whipped its head around to snap at him. Drops of blood flew off its red, wet muzzle. The mage gasped in pain.

With his teeth clamped firmly on the wolf’s tail, Dusty couldn’t speak, but in his head he shouted, Isn’t it time yet?!

Creeeeeeeeak.

The platform swayed, and the priests, the tailoress, and the serow spirit wobbled and cried out. Camphorus Unus simply stepped sideways.

After a moment, after the swaying had subsided, he stepped back up to the platform, pushed a tapestry aside, and placed a palm on one of the beams. He could feel the wood, feel its structure. The sensation of little fractures poured into him. It was a familiar feeling, one he’d experienced countless times during his service to the lords and ladies of South Serica. He was, after all, the one who maintained their estates.

Bracing both palms against the wood, he murmured, “Heal, friend,” and pushed his energy outward. It raced through the beam he was touching, and from there it spread out all over the support structure. The minor cracks and breaks knit together before they could expand and bring down the platform.

Satisfied that it would survive the next round of quaking, at least, Camphorus Unus stepped back and folded his hands into his sleeves.

From behind the tapestries, the star sprite from Heaven whispered, “Is it time yet?”

“Not yet, sir.”

“It will be soon, though, right?”

“The time will come when it comes, sir.”

Bobo saw a wolf jump at Mage Floridiana and crush her and then start biting her. Dusty ran over and tried his hardest to pull it off, but it was too heavy.

Bobo had to help! But how could she help?

Before she could figure out what to do, the ground shook, and the platform made horrible creaking noises, like it was going to fall apart right under Katu and Lodia and Miss Caprina and all those poor human priests, and onto the head of that nice star sprite who’d come down from Heaven to help them.

They needed help too! But how could she help? What could a snake do?

Bobo swiveled back and forth. Go help Mage Floridiana and Dusty? Go help everyone on and under the platform? Who needed help more? What should she do?!

Then the steward, Camphorus Unus, went up to the platform and put his hands against it. He used his tree magic to fix the wood. Whew! Good thing he was there, because she couldn’t have done that.

That left Mage Floridiana and Dusty. Bobo slithered towards them as fast as she could, but a wolf jumped out at her, and she hissed and fell over and got herself all tangled up. By the time she untangled herself, Mage Floridiana was back on her feet, and Dusty was stomping on the wolf.

The cracks of – of breaking bone – were really, really horrible. It was good that it was her friends doing it to the demons, and not the other way around…but Bobo still had to wrap her tail over her eyes and ears until it was over.

She craned her neck up to check on Stripey and Rosie. They were circling overhead, too high for the wolves to get them, but not so high that the bird demons would attack them. Whew. They were okay. Both of them were mortal now, which meant that their bodies were so breakable. She’d already lost Stripey once and only just gotten him back – she couldn’t lose both him and Rosie again today.

Which meant that she had to do something to help! But what?!

She didn’t have wings. She couldn’t fly next to her friends and protect them. Sadly, she looked up and down her long body, wishing for the first time ever that she would hurry up and grow legs and turn into a dragon so she could fly. But by the time she did that, both Stripey and Rosie would have reached the end of their bird lifespans and reincarnated as something else.

Bobo, called Rosie, Bobo, what’s the foxling doing now?

Right! With their normal bird vision, they couldn’t see as far as she could. This was something she could do to help!

Balancing on her tail, Bobo stared through the whole giant crowd of demons, straining to catch a glimpse of red-brown tails. There! There was the fox spirit! She was lying on her litter, like before. She was talking to that really big wolf demon chieftain, and she was – she was laughing, as if he’d told a really good joke! They were joking around – when people were dying!

“No! Ssshe’s not allowed to do that! I won’t let her do that!”

Without a second thought, Bobo took off straight into the crowd of demons.

Bobo! No! Come back! I shrieked, but the snake was already gone, slithering in the straightest path she could manage towards the foxling. I flapped after her, but Stripey put out a wing to stop me.

It’s all right, let her go. She’ll be all right.

What do you mean, she’ll be all right? She’s going to get trampled! She’s going to get killed!

She’s a spirit. You’re more likely to get killed than she is, and we honestly can’t afford to lose you. You’re the one running the show here. Unless you’ve told someone else all of your plans in case you die?

I hadn’t. The thought hadn’t even occurred to me.

Also, she’s doing this to protect us. If you get yourself killed going after her, that defeats the whole purpose. She’ll be devastated.

That’s why we have to call her back! You’ve been her friend longer than I have! Aren’t you worried she’s going to DIE?

Stripey gave his signature wing shrug. I considered slapping him. Yes, but sometimes you have to let your friends make their own choices, and all you can do is decide whether to follow them.

Those words made me stop trying to dart around his wing at last. I met his eyes.

Decide whether to follow your friends? I asked, more quietly.

Yep. Let Bobo handle it on her own. Watch her. Have faith, Piri.