Page 63 of Cloak of Night
“And they’ll send reinforcements soon,” Wolf said.
“Or now.” Fairy pointed at a flurry of black flying at them from Jade Forest.
Wolf put on speed. Unfortunately, the burst of poweralso set off brilliant sparks, and he streaked light through the sky like a comet.
“You’re too bright,” Fairy said, clinging to his fur as the frigid wind gusted in her face. “Douse your sparks, or we’ll never be able to lose them if they can see you like this.”
Themwere hundreds of bats, flying in formation like a single enormous creature with sword-long fangs. Menagerie, the ryuu who controlled animals, must be commanding them.
Wolf quelled his sparks. But it probably wouldn’t matter anyway. The bats would use their sonar to track him, as long as they stayed close enough.
He accelerated to the right.
They followed.
He careened down, back into a different part of Jade Forest.
They didn’t lose his trail, even weaving in and out of the trees.
Wolf pulled back up into open air, breathing hard. “What do I do?”
“Speed of light,” Fairy said. “Get us out of here.”
“It’ll make you sick if I fly any faster than this.”
“Just do it!”
Too late. The buzzard swooped near them. Menagerie crouched on its back, a smug smile on his face.
“Watch out!” Fairy cried.
Menagerie pounced onto Wolf’s back. “Impressive magic you’ve got here,” he said. “Sure you don’t want to join the ryuu?”
Wolf snarled. “Never.”
Fairy twisted to fight Menagerie, but she was partiallytrapped by the harness that was ironically meant to keep her alive. She pulled out a stiletto blade with one hand and fumbled to undo the belt across her lap with the other.
“Do not unbuckle,” Wolf said. He jerked sideways midair to dump Menagerie off his back.
The ryuu let out a yell as he tumbled off. But he fell only about ten feet.
“How?” Fairy gawked at him, dangling beneath them but trailing everywhere they went.
“I’m holding on to a rope of ryuu magic that you can’t see,” Menagerie taunted. “It’s also a noose around your pack mule’s neck.” He yanked on it, and Wolf gasped.
“He can’t strangle you from there,” Fairy said. “He doesn’t have enough force to pull the rope tight enough.”
Wolf growled. Fairy knew it wasn’t much in the way of reassurance. It hardly comforted herself.
She looked down again. Menagerie wouldn’t stay there for long. He was already climbing up the invisible rope. And where were Firebrand and Hana in all this?
Meanwhile, the bats attacked again. Fairy ducked as they came in screeching. Their talons and fangs grazed her neck and arms and Wolf’s back. “You’d better not have rabies!” she shouted as they retreated, regrouping for their next assault.
“They don’t have tails,” Wolf said.
“That’s a Liga-like non sequitur that makes no sense. Do tailless bats not have rabies?” Fairy held tightly to Wolf’s fur as they swerved again. Menagerie was making progress climbing up his rope of ryuu particles.
“I don’t know. But most fruit bats don’t have tails. Sora saw them before, after I’d left Prince Gin’s ship. Anotherryuu battled Menagerie in a duel by drawing the bats away with fruit.”
