She took a step and almost fell over.
Vale caught her elbow and supported her. “Miss Winters, you are in no condition to accompany us. You should rest here while Mr. Strongrock and I go in search of your errant comrade.”
“While I would normally agree with you,” Kai said, “there are those werewolves.”
“Didn’t you even deal with the werewolves?” Irene snapped. She was aware that she was being just a little unfair here, but at least presumed allies hadn’t stabbed them in the back while they were trying to do their job. Or their neck. Whatever.
“True,” Vale said. “The werewolves may be a problem. We only inconvenienced them, rather than finishing them off. I have sent for the police, but they will need to reach here first. Perhaps if we—”
“Perhaps if yer what?” a snarling voice enquired. A ragged figure stood in the open doorway, hair sprouting from his clothes at neck and cuffs, with snarling teeth gaping in his mouth. “This time it’s too late for Mr. bleedin’ Vale—”
Kai snatched up the ink-well from the desk and threw it straight at the werewolf’s face. Ink splattered everywhere, on the varnished floor and the papered walls, but mostly on the werewolf. He had time for a single black-drooling look of surprise before Kai’s kick caught him in the chest and sent him stumbling back into the central hall. Kai followed it up with an elbow blow to the werewolf’s chin, another kick to the back of his knee, and a two-handed smash to the back of his neck.
The werewolf lay flat in a splatter of drool and ink. Vale half supported, half dragged Irene out of the office and into the main hall. “It seems you will have to come with us after all, Miss Winters,” he said.
“Quick,” Kai exclaimed, ignoring the general mob of bystanders either shrieking or staring. “We need to catch a cab.”
“A cab? My dear fellow, a cab would be far too slow,” Vale said. “We need to get to the roof.”
“The roof?” Irene said. She was possibly being a bit slow here, but she wasn’t sure that Kai turning into a dragon and flying them there would be much use, unless . . . “Oh. Of course. The airships.”
“Precisely,” Vale said, hurrying her to the stairs. “Of course, there may be some problems with mooring subsequently, but it’s our best option.”
Kai caught up with them and grabbed Irene’s other elbow to assist in the dragging-her-along-like-a-giant-doll process. “I hear more of them coming . . . Which way, Vale?”
“Left at the top,” Vale instructed. They dashed past two astonished tour groups and turned left, entering a wide gallery full of large glass cases. Here, stuffed hyenas menaced stuffed deer, a giant stuffed polar bear towered over some bored-looking stuffed seals, and a rainbow of stuffed birds sat mournfully among dried flowers.
“Catch them!” she heard Silver’s voice calling from behind them.
An utterly blood-chilling howling rose ahead of them. Panicked visitors fled the room, forcing Irene and the two men to one side as they stampeded out the far doors.
“Get me a megaphone,” Irene said quietly to Kai. Her legs were still cramping, and she had to hold on to Vale to stay upright. But she had an idea, and this time, just this time, she had the feeling it was going to work. “The tour guides have them . . .”
Kai grabbed a tour guide as he rushed past and swiftly relieved him of his megaphone. “Will this do?”
The first werewolf came howling into sight, rounding one of the glass cases. Its head and hands were totally wolf-like now, and its clothing was splitting down the seams as it changed shape.
Irene tried the megaphone. “IS THIS THING ON?”
Feedback fuzz echoed in the room.
The werewolf seemed to laugh. Another one joined it. They were approaching slowly. Clearly they were just as interested in fear as they were in bloodshed.
“Miss Winters,” Vale began, “if you have anything in mind—”
Irene held up her hand in apology. Very precisely, she directed the Language through the megaphone, “Stuffed creatures, come to life and attack werewolves.”
The words shook in the air and drew energy from her to make themselves real in the world. It was simple enough to tell a lock to open, or a door to shut. These actions came naturally to those objects, and the universe was glad to oblige. But stuffed animals weren’t in the habit of reanimating to attack things.
Except now, as Vale looked at her in growing comprehension and Kai smiled a sharp-edged smile, it was coming true.
The polar bear burst from its case with a silent roar, mouth open to display all those carefully preserved teeth. The glass panes crashed in a waterfall of shards onto the tiled floor, shattering in all directions. The seals came crawling after it, flopping in spasmodic jerks across the floor. Elsewhere in the room, more glass cracked as a flood of creatures fought their way out. A wolf pack staggered forward on stiff legs, and a carefully wired boa-constrictor came writhing out of its own case, uncaring of the glass daggers stuck into its sawdust-stuffed body, and even the birds threw themselves at the walls of their cases, struggling on the ends of their wires.
“Dear heavens,” Vale said. “Miss Winters. What have you done?”
“They’ll only attack the werewolves,” Irene said, tossing the megaphone to one side. It crunched and tinkled as it hit the floor. “We need to run while they’re distracted, before Silver gets here.”
Vale had a good instinct for knowing when to act now and ask questions later. It must be part of being a great detective, Irene decided giddily, wondering if the strychnine-curare cocktail was making her delirious. One of the werewolves tried to break away from the attacking mob of otters and crocodiles to get at them, but a persistent baby alligator (Observe the Young of the Species, Only Two Feet Long) chomped on its ankle and dragged it back into the mêlée.
Vale navigated confidently through more stairs and corridors, and then they were on the
