Another blast of flames flared nearby.
“I’m hit!” Clyde screamed. Rounder rocked like a wheel on a bad set of bearings.
Dragons were all around them now, coming in from all sides, high and low. A red dragon appeared from below, shooting a stream of yellow metal-eating acid. Kallista veered right, narrowly missing Clyde and Plucky, but bits of Ladon’s right wing melted away, burned by the acid.
Angus and Simoni were a machine, firing at everything in sight. But even they were taking heavy damage. There were too many dragons to fight, and more were arriving every second.
They were halfway to the white tower, though Trenton could barely see it through the cloud of dragons. It was now or never.
Trenton clutched Kallista’s shoulder. “Hit the turbos.”
Even with the roar of the battle all around them, she must have heard him because she reached for the controls and, a second later, clouds of black smoke poured out from their steam engine’s exhaust.
Trenton’s seat began to shake as the engine beneath him howled. He glanced toward the pressure gauge, where the needle was rising rapidly into the red. He hoped Kallista was right about the boiler handling the extra pressure. She glanced over her shoulder, and Trenton waved his arm in a wide arc from left to right.
She pointed Ladon’s head as far to the right as it would go without endangering Simoni and Angus. Normally Trenton used the fire button in single bursts. This time, that wasn’t going to work.
Trenton held his hand above the button until he could feel the turbo-charged engine rattling his teeth. “Now!” he shouted, slamming his hand down.
Fire jetted from Ladon’s mouth in a cloud so hot Trenton could feel the air baking his face even from the backseat.
Kallista, using her feet to control the steering pedals and her hand to swing Ladon’s head from side to side, laid down a stream of red-hot destruction.
The dragons in front of them dove out of the way, screeching in pain and fury. Some of them crashed to the ground—wings and bodies blackened by the powerful flames.
A narrow path opened in front of them for a few seconds, but unless they did something to keep it that way, it would close just as quickly.
Trenton pointed to the top of the tower. “Go!” he shouted to his friends.
Plucky and Clyde fled through the opening. Angus grimaced, blood streaming down the side of his face from a gash on his forehead, but he followed Simoni’s lead as she flew after Rounder.
Kallista, however, banked hard left, heading straight into the swarm of dragons behind them.
Ladon’s enhanced speed pushed Trenton deeper into his harness, the straps digging into his shoulders. For a brief moment, the dragons hesitated. That was all the break Trenton needed. With a scream of fury, he pounded the fire button. Dragons scattered as blasts of flame filled the air.
Working the controls with perfect teamwork, Trenton and Kallista slashed through the creatures’ ranks, throwing the dragons into turmoil and turning their coordinated attack into chaos. Yellows dodged only to fly into the reds’ acid clouds. Greens and golds were hit by silvers’ spikes. Hit in the side by another dragon’s fireball, a blue lashed out with a jet of steam.
Kallista looked back at Trenton. “We have to go.”
Trenton nodded. Their surprise attack had created confusion, but already the dragons were beginning to regroup. Diving low over the buildings, they swooped Ladon around to the east.
On the ground, people cowered under any shelter they could find as fire, acid, and spikes rained down on them.
For a second, Trenton wondered why the people were still in the city. Why hadn’t the dragons killed them?
He didn’t have time to worry about the answer, though.
Up ahead, Simoni, Angus, Clyde, and Plucky were almost to the tower. But so were dozens of dragons. It was going to be close.
They were almost to the tower themselves, and Trenton saw what he’d hoped he would on the other side. A hundred feet beyond the great white spire, the ground abruptly fell away in a sheer cliff. Beyond it, blue water frothed and crashed against the rocks. And beyond that, the water disappeared in a wall of thick silver fog. All they had to do was make it to the fog and they’d have at least a small chance of escape.
Devastation and Rounder reached the cliff and dove over the edge, disappearing from view.
As Trenton and Kallista raced behind them, Ladon began to shake and bob. Fire belched from the dragon’s furnace.
“I have to shut it down,” Kallista yelled. She switched off the turbo, and the black smoke turned white. The roaring of the engine dropped, as did their speed.
Ladon dove nearly to the street, and Trenton and Kallista maneuvered their dragon around buildings, dodging the attacks. The cliff approached agonizingly slowly as more and more dragons converged around them.
“Can you use the turbo again?” Trenton yelled. One boost would get them over the edge.
“Not for a couple of hours.”
A fireball blasted their right rear leg, and it took every ounce of Trenton’s control to keep Ladon from smashing into a raised pipe.
Eyes fixed on the water ahead, Trenton barely noticed the white tower sliding open until something launched itself out of the uppermost level.
Sun glinted off pearly scales and silver horns, and Trenton felt as though a physical force was forcing his head to turn. A white dragon. He’d never seen anything like it. The creature’s wings unfurled as it flew from the window, spreading wider and wider, until they blotted out the sun.
No dragon could be that big.
The white dragon soared in his direction, and when its violet eyes met his, Trenton’s blood turned to ice and, for a moment, his brain swam aimlessly. His fingers left the flight controls.
“What are you doing?” Kallista yelled.
Trenton’s head snapped around, and he realized they’d reached the cliff. Blue-green waves rolled beneath them. Ramming the flight stick forward, he dove toward the water. Dragons screeched above, but already the icy-gray mist began to wrap itself around them.
Just before they disappeared into the fog completely, Trenton risked one last look back at the white dragon. It was strange—it was almost as if he’d heard it call out to him.
Kallista had no idea how long they’d flown or which direction they were going. The cold gray waves below them all looked the same. She could still hear dragons screeching and howling, and an occasional fireball lit up the clouds. She kept waiting for a dragon to burst out of the fog, talons bared, but the longer they flew, the fewer dragons she could hear, until at last there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the soft whoosh of the ocean below.
Had they lost them? Had the dragons turned back? Or were they silently stalking them, waiting for the right moment to attack out of the mist?
Somewhere in the distance seabirds cried. Did that mean they were heading toward land or away from it? Or did it mean nothing at all?
She assumed the others had escaped, but she hadn’t seen or heard anything from them since they’d disappeared over the cliff.
“Did you see the dragon?” Trenton asked.
Kallista snorted. “Which ones? The dragons that nearly killed us, the ones that almost killed us, or the ones that should have killed us?”
Trenton slid forward in his seat, leaning toward her. “This one was pure white. You didn’t see it?”
“I was sort of occupied.” Kallista didn’t understand why he was all worked up. Since they’d left Discovery, they’d seen green dragons, red dragons, dragons with two sets of wings, dragons with stripes. What was another dragon? “I’ll add it to the list.”
“This one was different. For a second I . . .” He was silent so long Kallista glanced back to make sure he was okay.
“For a second, you what?”
Trenton
swallowed, blinking behind his water-spotted goggles. “I don’t know. Nothing, I guess.” He shook his head. “Do you think the others made it out?”
“I hope so,” Kallista said. “I saw them fly over the cliff.” Now they just had to find each other in the middle of the ocean.
For the next ten minutes they flew in silence, then Trenton tapped her shoulder. “Do you hear that?”
Kallista tensed, searching the mist for a sign of scales or flames.
“It’s not dragons,” Trenton said. “Listen.”
Kallista lifted the earflap of her helmet. “I don’t hear anything except the waves.”
“Exactly. Waves hitting land.”
He was right. Since they’d left the cliff behind, the water had been a gentle murmur. Now she could hear a crashing.
“I think it’s coming from that way,” Trenton said, pointing to the left.
Kallista adjusted course, trying to steer toward the sound, but it was hard to tell exactly which direction it was coming from.
Slowly the mist cleared, and a bare expanse of rocky land came into view. It was an island, mostly flat but covered with a profusion of rocks and boulders. Except for clumps of grass and brush, there was no sign of life. Certainly no dragons.
“Over here!” Clyde shouted, waving from the seat of his dragon.
Kallista turned to see both Rounder and Devastation crouched close to the ground. They were nearly hidden by a rocky outcropping, but as they flew closer, Kallista could see the heavy damage both dragons had taken.
Rounder’s neck was bent at a strange angle, and several of its talons were cracked or missing. Scorch marks covered its body, and a trail of oil dripped down one leg.
Devastation was in even worse shape. It tilted too far to the left, leaning heavily on a damaged leg joint. The left wing was almost completely blackened and so shredded it was a wonder they’d been able to fly at all. Although the engine was off, a trail of dark smoke drifted up from the turbine.
Deep gouges in the dirt several hundred yards away made it clear how hard both of the dragons had landed. They must have walked Rounder and Devastation until they found a place to hide.
“They’re lucky to be alive,” Trenton said.
Kallista rubbed her face. “We’re all lucky to be alive.”
Ladon’s right wing pulled strangely in the wind, and she leaned around to see how much damage their own dragon had taken. Two of the struts on the wing were broken, steam puffed out of a large gouge on the left side of the boiler, and the tail hung straight down as though every one of its joints had been snapped.
“This is going to be a rough landing,” Trenton said.
“Come in low and slow.” She searched for a stretch of smooth sand to cushion the blow, but the entire island was nothing but rock.
“Hold on,” Trenton said as he brought them down.
Ladon’s tail hit the ground first, throwing them hard to the right.
Kallista tried to correct, but the leg controls were sluggish in her hand.
“Pressure’s dropping!” Trenton yelled.
They began to tilt. Rocks blurred by as they tried to slow down. Kallista fought the controls, leaning to her left as if her weight could keep them from going over. “Use the wings as brakes.”
Trenton spread their wings, titling them back. They caught a gust of air, lifted, bounced hard on the ground, and came down with a loud crash.
Kallista dug Ladon’s talons into the rocky earth, grinding the machine to a stop less than fifty feet from the other two dragons.
Clyde, who had ducked down, both arms thrown over his head, slowly uncovered his face. He looked like someone had pounded him with a mallet. Both eyes were blackened, and blood tricked from a gash on his chin. His helmet was twisted sideways, and his jacket looked like an animal had chewed it up and spit it out.
But he was grinning as he sat up. “Hey, you two, I missed that landing. Think you could try it again?”
“We were afraid you didn’t make it,” Simoni called as Kallista walked Ladon toward them. For once, she didn’t look like she’d just attended a fancy luncheon. Her face was covered with smudges that could have been grease but were more likely bruises. Her hair was a rat’s nest of snarls and knots. The ends were frizzled as if they’d been scorched.
“Not me.” Plucky grinned, revealing a split lip and a missing tooth. “Knew you was right as wrenches, I did. Did you see them rusty dragons running for cover, yeah, yeah?”
“If we’d had a turbo on Devastation we’d probably have killed twice as many dragons,” Angus said before seeming to hear what he’d said. He shook his head. “You know what? I don’t even care about painting skulls anymore.”
The right sleeve of his jacket was gone, and he stuck his tongue out, touching the blood that coated his cheek. “To be honest, I thought we were goners.” His arm hung limply at his side as he nodded toward Trenton. “That was smart thinking going for the ocean. You probably saved our lives.”
“Well, um, th-thanks,” Trenton stuttered. “I didn’t think about it. It was just instinct.”
Kallista noticed his face turning red. Was this the first time Angus had paid him a compliment?
She studied the three heavily battered dragons and sighed. “We have a lot of repairs to do.”
Trenton patted her shoulder. “The dragons can wait. Right now, we need to take care of ourselves.”
Simoni pulled open the storage hatch on the back of Devastation. Luckily the storage compartments of all three dragons had taken minimal damage so their food, maps, and other supplies were mostly okay. “I’ll get the first-aid supplies.”
“I’ll get some food cooking,” Clyde said. He looked up and down the shoreline. “Do you think we can find enough wood to start a fire?”
Angus winced as he climbed out of his seat. “There should be some on the beach.”
“You aren’t in any condition to gather wood,” Kallista said. “You need someone to look at your arm.”
Angus snorted and climbed down the ladder one-handed. “I can carry more wood in one arm than the rest of you combined.”
“Let him,” Simoni said.
“I’ll help,” Trenton said. His pant leg was torn, and he limped as he climbed to the ground, but Kallista guessed that after surviving such a close call, maybe they all needed to prove to themselves that they were okay.
“Got any idea where we are?” Plucky asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kallista said. “I’ll have to look through my father’s maps.”
Plucky fiddled with the key on her mechanical leg braces. “What are we going to do now?”
“I have no idea,” Kallista said.
The sun was edging toward the western horizon before they finally felt safe. At least for one night. Most of the fog had burned away that afternoon, and there had been no sign of dragons. Kallista thought the smudge she could see in the distance might be the mainland.
If she could see it, could the dragons see her? The thought wasn’t comforting.
Now, as the evening air began to cool, the fog was rolling back in.
“Any idea where we are?” Trenton asked, gnawing on the edge of a hard biscuit. He and Angus had managed to bring back enough bits of driftwood and brush to get a fire started.
Kallista shuffled through her father’s maps before finding the one she was looking for. “It’s hard to tell because my father didn’t have the best maps of this area, but I think we’re here.” She tapped a series of small dots about thirty miles off the coast of a place labeled San Francisco.
Plucky leaned over Kallista’s shoulder. She’d cleaned up her cuts, but unless they could find a dentist, she would always have a gap where one of her teeth had been knocked out. “Looks too rusty close to them dragons for my liking.”
Trenton nodded. “Once we get back
in flying condition, we should find somewhere safer to hide.”
Clyde looked up from the cook pot hanging over the fire. “Discovery’s safe.”
When no one else responded, Kallista set down her map. “You want to go back?”
Plucky exchanged a glance with Clyde. “Can’t rightly stay, can we? Dragons is hunting us now. We was plum lucky to get out’a there with our lives.” She tried to take a bite of her biscuit, grimaced, and dunked it in a cup of water.
Kallista’s head hurt. She didn’t want to go back to Discovery, but she also didn’t want to fight a hundred dragons again. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t see a good solution to their problems. Her stomach rumbled, and she nearly sighed in relief. That was a problem she could solve. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, Clyde, but whatever you’re cooking smells pretty good. Is it ready?”
“As ready as it will ever be.” He grabbed a metal ladle and spooned stew into a bowl.
Kallista crumbled her biscuit into the bowl and tasted it. “This isn’t bad,” she admitted. Although the dried meat was stringy and hard, Clyde had added something sweet.
“It’s the dried apples,” Clyde said proudly. “They give it a certain zing.” He stirred the last of the stew and glanced at the others from under lowered brows. “The truth is, we’re completely out of onions, potatoes, and dried carrots. Other than the apples and jerky, we only have a few questionable turnips left, some flour and rice, and several dried tomatoes. Oh, and the rest of the bulbs Simoni dug up last week.”
“How long will that last us?” Trenton asked.
“Depends how much weight you want to lose,” Clyde said. When no one laughed, he shrugged and said, “A couple of weeks. Three, tops.”
Angus, leaning against a boulder, picked up a rock with his right hand. His left arm was in a sling. He claimed he didn’t need it, but Kallista noticed he didn’t move that arm any more than he had to. He hefted the rock, eyeing the seagulls that hopped about in the shallow water. “I might be able to get us some meat.”
Simoni looked down from the top of the outcropping. “It doesn’t look like there’s any better cover than where we are. We should set guards through the night to watch for dragons.”
Embers of Destruction Page 5