sent her soaring." He shook his head. "They definitely wanted us off of their mesa. We crashed the wrong party."
To make the loss less painful, Kendra found herself hoping that Tammy had been secretly working for the Society of the Evening Star. They waited without speaking, listening to the wind outside keening stridently among the ruins. The storm raged more forcefully than ever, as if exerting a final effort to sweep them off the plateau.
Somebody strode through the doorway. Kendra swung the flashlight over, expecting Neil. Instead the coyote man stood on the threshold, an angry gash visible beneath the wet, matted fur of his chest. She gasped and nearly dropped the flashlight. The intruder shook his staff. Even with the wind howling, Kendra could hear the rattles. The coyote spoke in a human voice, chanting in a strange, warbling language.
"C-c-catch any of that?" Gavin asked softly. "Nope."
The coyote man sidled into the room, snarling. Gavin stepped in front of Kendra, and then advanced with his spear. As the coyote and Gavin drew close to each other, Kendra wanted to look away. Instead, squeezing the flashlight like a lifeline, she shifted the beam so it shone right in the coyote man's eyes. He wove his head to avoid the glare, but she kept the beam on him, and Gavin poked at him with the spear.
Slowly Gavin prodded the intruder back. With a sudden grab, the coyote man seized the spear just below the head and yanked Gavin toward him. Instead of resisting, Gavin sprang forward and nimbly kicked the coyote man right where his chest was injured. Staggering back and whining in pain, the coyote man relinquished the spear and dropped his staff. Gavin charged, the stone spearhead biting into his enemy until the coyote man fled the room nursing new wounds.
Panting, Gavin backed away from the doorway. "If he returns, I'm going to make you a souvenir-coyote-on-a-stick."
"He already left behind a souvenir," Kendra said.
"Does that mean you're claiming it?" Gavin asked, stooping to pick up the staff with the rattles attached. He shook it gently. "It's certainly magical." He tossed it to Kendra.
"Will he hunt me down to retrieve it?" Kendra asked apprehensively.
"If he ever tracks you down, give it back. I wouldn't worry. Since the preserve surrounds this mesa, I imagine the coyote guy is stuck here."
"What if he comes to retrieve it tonight?"
Gavin smirked. "Coyote-on-a-stick, remember?"
Kendra shook the stick hard, listening to the crackle of the rattles. Outside, the wind rose, lightning flashed, and thunder erupted, drowning out the rattling. She kept shaking it briskly, trying to hear the rattles over the wailing gusts outside. The wind shrieked even louder. Hail began drumming against the roof and pelting through the broken portion. Ice pellets skittered across the floor.
"I'd be careful how you shake that," Gavin said.
She stopped, holding the rattle still. Within a few seconds, the hail stopped, and the wind wasn't gusting as hard.
"This is controlling the storm?" Kendra exclaimed.
"Influencing it, at least," Gavin said.
Kendra studied the staff with amazement. She held it out to Gavin. "You earned it, you should keep it."
"N-n-nope," Gavin said. "It's your souvenir."
Kendra held the staff carefully, keeping it still. Over the next minute the storm went into a lull. The wind no longer blew as hard. The rain diminished to a sprinkle.
"Do you think the others are okay?" Kendra wondered.
"I hope so. Dougan has the key. If they don't show, we may have to fight our way back to the stairs." Leaning on the spear, Gavin glanced over at Kendra. "The way things played out, I know it seems like I made a good call about the danger, but this is much worse than I'd guessed, or I would have been more forceful with everyone about you not coming. Are you hanging in there?"
"I'm okay," she lied.
"That was smart, shining the light in the coyote's eyes.
Thanks."
The wind and rain picked up again, but still didn't lash the mesa as furiously as earlier. Sheet lightning started flickering regularly, accompanied by growls of thunder. On the fifth flash, three men staggered through the doorway.
Warren, Dougan, and Neil crossed the room to Kendra and Gavin. Dougan no longer had his axe. Warren held the top half of his broken spear. Neil limped between them, supported by the other men.
"Ugly business out there," Dougan said. "Have you had any visitors?"
"C-c-coyote man dropped by," Gavin said.
"He came inside the room?" Neil asked, his face haggard.
Gavin nodded. "I had to repel him with the spear."