hn flicked his fingers, arcing the liquid sphere neatly back into Griff's glass. He looked back at Dai. "In answer to your question, kin-cousin, when I sing the sky your tale, not a single droplet shall fail to grow fat with rage."
"You can control the weather?" Virginia said, sounding awestruck.
"No. I merely talk to it." John shrugged one massive shoulder. "But clouds are just water stricken with wanderlust, and are often pleased to hear a voice from home." His teeth gleamed in a feral grin. "You may expect it to become very, very wet indeed."
"Which should stop Bertram's builders, at least for today," Dai said. He looked at Virginia. "You said that you could report the find tomorrow?"
She nodded. "As soon as my colleagues in London are back at work. A find of this magnitude needs to go straight to the top, to the Head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme at the British Museum. I've met him before, so he should take me seriously. He'll have the authority to shut down Bertram's building works."
"Why wait until tomorrow?" Chase asked. "Why not send him a message now?"
"I don't know him that well," Virginia said. "It's not like I have his private phone number or anything."
Chase grinned lazily. "I wasn't thinking of a phone call. More like a personal courier." He cocked an eyebrow at Commander Ash. "If you can spare me?"
"You're not on call until Tuesday, anyway," Ash replied. "Can you find him?"
"I can find anyone," Chase said, with complete confidence. He inclined his head at Virginia. "If the lovely lady would care to write a note, I will personally put it in the hands of the Chief-Digger-Upper by dinnertime."
A corner of Virginia's mouth curved upward. "Okay, now I know what to put as my title on my next business card. Virginia Jones, Digger-Upper."
She took a notepad and pen out of her jacket pocket and started scribbling away, still looking amused. For once, Dai was grateful for Chase's clowning, if it could put a smile on Virginia's face.
"Griff," he said, turning to the dispatcher. "Can you talk to some of your contacts, see if anyone knows anything useful about the dragon shifter? I'd really like to keep track of where he is and what he's doing."
Griff nodded. "I know some shifters in the police. If I drop a few hints that he was involved in the fire last night, we might even be able to get him brought in. What was the name again?"
"Bertram Russell," Virginia supplied, tearing off her note and handing it to Chase. "But be careful. His family's rich enough to buy him out of trouble, and powerful enough to cause trouble. They own Russell Development Group, you see."
Chase whistled. "RDG? That isn't small potatoes. No wonder he trumped your hoard, Dai."
"Thanks for bringing that up," Dai muttered, as his inner dragon snarled at the memory. "But it does bring me to the final part of my plan." He took a deep breath, his dragon's shame at having been forced to submit amplifying his own shame at having to ask for this sort of help.
"Commander," Dai said, not quite able to meet Ash's eyes. "This isn't like our usual rogue dragons, the ones I can freely fight. He challenged me in accordance with dragon custom. And..." His throat clenched on the words, but he forced them out. "He won."
"It wasn't a fair fight," Virginia said, and some small part of Dai's anguish was eased by her defense of him. She folded her arms over her chest, scowling. "His family just bought him a lot of trinkets, and he flat-out stole the rest from archaeological sites. It shouldn't give him any power over you, Dai."
"Unfortunately, by dragon law, it does," Ash said quietly. He considered Dai in silence for a moment, his expression unreadable. "You know that my freedom to intervene is tightly constrained."
"Bertram attacked a mundane and committed arson in the process," Dai said. "Doesn't that put him into your domain?"
Ash steepled his fingers. "In the heat of the moment, yes," he said. Dai couldn't tell whether the pun was deliberate. He'd never quite been able to decide whether or not the Commander had a sense of humor. "But the event has passed, and there does not appear to be immediate threat. I cannot trespass into the jurisdiction of the dragons."
Virginia was looking from Dai to Ash, trying to follow what was going on. "So you can't do anything about Bertram?"
Ash shook his head slowly. "Not while he keeps the peace. If he physically attacks you again, however, it will be a different matter. Let us hope it does not come to that." He looked at Dai. "But it if does, I shall be there."
"We all will," rumbled John, to general murmurs of assent.
"Is there anything in particular you need of me?" Hugh asked Dai.
Dai shook his head. "Not at the moment."
"Wait, yes there is!" Virginia interrupted, sitting up straighter. She poked Dai in the arm, glowering at him. "Or have you forgotten the enormous hole in your shoulder?"
"It's nothing," Dai said hastily, as Commander Ash raised an eyebrow in his direction. "She's exaggerating. I'm fine, honestly."
Hugh sighed. "One day," he said, addressing the ceiling, "one, just one of my colleagues might finally grasp the subtle distinction between stoicism and stupidity." He rose gracefully from his chair, taking a sealed packet out of his inside jacket pocket. Ripping it open, he extracted a pair of surgical gloves, pulling them onto his hands. "Let me see it, then."