Embers of Destruction

by J. Scott Savage

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the guard said, “but I need you to step onto the stairs.”

  One by one they climbed the steps. The staircase was so narrow that no more than one person at a time could stand on a single step. Simoni went first, then Plucky, followed by Clyde, Trenton, Leo, Kallista, and the two guards.

  Trenton looked up through the hole. Past the opening, he could see another level with a hole in that ceiling as well. The openings seemed to continue level after level, maybe all the way to the top of the tower. Unfortunately, the stairs stopped well short of the first hole. He looked back at the guards. “Hate to tell you, but unless you’ve got some extra steps in your pocket, this is going to be a very short trip.”

  No sooner had the words left his mouth than the stairs began to vibrate.

  “Hold on to the railing,” the guard said.

  Slowly the staircase began to turn. As it did, the stairs rose into the air like a giant corkscrew. As they rose, the speed increased.

  “Like a drill bit,” Leo said, twirling his finger in the air.

  They were moving so quickly Trenton’s hair blew back from his forehead.

  “Whoa,” Clyde said, turning his face toward his shoulder. His skin was an alarming shade of green.

  Kallista was the only one who didn’t seem affected by the surprising mode of transportation. She put her foot on the step her father was standing on, pulling herself up so she could speak into his ear. Trenton leaned back to catch what they were saying. “What does your sash mean?”

  So she had noticed it, too.

  Leo looked down at his chest, running a finger along the red cloth. “Who knows? Some kind of identification, I suppose.”

  Kallista glanced at the guards standing behind them. “We’re planning an escape. You do want to escape, don’t you?”

  Leo’s face grew serious. “Of course. When?”

  “I don’t know,” Kallista said. “I’ll send you a message. Where can I find you?”

  Leo glanced at the guards as well before whispering, “The main manufacturing building in the center of town.”

  Spinning so quickly the levels they passed were nothing but a blur, they shot through an opening to the next level. Then, without warning, the stairs clunked to a stop. Leo fell forward, knocking his head into Trenton’s hip. Plucky slipped and would have fallen if Clyde hadn’t reached out to catch her.

  Feeling dizzy, Trenton looked around him. They were standing on a crystal floor that ran from one side of the tower to the other. The arched windows were open, giving them a view of clear blue sky in every direction. It reminded him of standing in the island lighthouse, only on a scale much grander than he could have imagined.

  The guards immediately stepped off the staircase and dropped to one knee. One of the guards placed a fist to his forehead and shouted, “Behold the monarch!”

  Trenton turned slowly. Although he knew what he was going to see, he still felt his breath catch in his lungs at the sight of the huge white dragon that filled the room from floor to ceiling. It was looking out the window that faced the sea.

  Trenton had no idea what the dragon’s powers might be, but he instinctively understood that this was the most powerful creature he’d ever seen. The most powerful he ever would see, even if he lived to be a hundred.

  What is it?” Kallista whispered, hands clamped to the staircase railing.

  “It’s the dragon I told you about,” Trenton said. “The one I saw right before we escaped into the fog.”

  Clearly it was a dragon. But like none she’d ever seen before. For one thing, it was huge, nearly twice as large as the black dragon they’d shot down outside Discovery with the laser cannon. Most dragons’ scales were rough, like chunks of armor, but the ones running down this creature’s back were a glassy white. They reflected the sunlight coming through the windows into tiny starbursts of color that bounced off the ceiling and floor.

  Its broad wings were divided into five distinct sections with a sharp point at the top of each segment. Its horns were silver spirals so straight and uniform they appeared to be metal sculptures. The tail curving around its hindquarters looked like a rope woven out of diamonds.

  As though waiting for them to finish admiring it, the creature stared out to sea for a full minute.

  At last it turned, spreading its wings until they stretched from one side of the room to the other. Glimmering white plates of armor encircled its face and head, creating a halo effect, and a snowy beard sprouted beneath its chin.

  Its violet eyes glittered, and for a moment Kallista wanted to worship at its feet. The only word she could think of to describe what she was seeing was majestic. Then the dragon turned its gaze to meet hers, and her guts twisted in a painful knot.

  This wasn’t a creature to be worshiped; it was the essence of nightmares. Death served cold on a crystal platter with no conscience or remorse. It glared down at her with an expression both cruel and amused. She could imagine the beast slicing her open with one of its ice-white talons and grinning while it watched her bleed to death.

  “It has six legs,” Trenton whispered.

  For a moment, Kallista didn’t understand what he was talking about. The creature stood on four massive scaled legs like every other dragon they’d seen. Then she realized it was holding a golden goblet in a smaller set of legs that jutted out from under its wings, almost like human arms.

  After looking them each in the eye, the dragon wrinkled its snout, baring dozens of icicle-like fangs. “Are you afraid? Do I terrify you?”

  One of the guards looked up and rushed toward them, pushing Trenton to his knees. “All kneel before His Majesty.”

  The white dragon laughed. “They are newcomers. I think we can do without the formalities today.”

  “It can talk,” Kallista murmured. Trina had been telling the truth. The Order of the Beast had been right all along.

  “You said that was impossible,” Trenton hissed.

  Kallista shook her head. This wasn’t simple mimicry—­repeating a word or phrase. The white dragon spoke perfectly, as if it had been speaking English its whole life.

  She glanced toward her father, but his eyes were locked on the dragon’s.

  A guard raised his spear over his head. “No one talks to the monarch without permission!”

  “Hold,” the dragon said, stroking its beard with the talons not holding the goblet. “This group is special. Do you know what makes them unique?”

  The guard lowered his eyes. “No, my lord.”

  The creature’s violet eyes flashed, and Kallista felt her legs wobble. “These humans have killed dragons.”

  The knot in her stomach turned to ice. It knew.

  The dragon lifted the golden goblet, and a red liquid that looked suspiciously like blood ran into its mouth. “These boys and girls before you, these children,” it roared, rattling the tower walls, “have killed not one, not two, but more than twenty of my brothers and sisters.”

  Still looking at the floor, the guard gripped his spear in both hands. “Allow me to avenge the death of the chosen, my lord.”

  Angus grabbed the stair railing and vaulted over it to land on the crystal floor. “You want to kill me?” He spread his arms wide, pushing out his chest. “Go ahead. Because if I have the chance, I’ll kill another twenty of you.”

  “No!” Kallista yelled, shoving her way past her father on the stairs. She was sure the guard would launch his spear through Angus’s chest. His arm was drawn back, muscles quivering, but he only stood there, fingers tight on the shaft, waiting to be commanded.

  Instead, the dragon’s expression shifted in a way Kallista couldn’t understand. It wasn’t like reading a human face, but somehow she knew that, for the moment at least, the threat of death didn’t feel as near. The creature laughed until its beard shook. It threw the goblet at the wall, mashing i
t into a gold-and-red lump. “I’m not going to kill you. I brought you here to congratulate you.”

  For a moment, there was silence. Then the dragon waved them forward with one of its legs. “You’re confused. Come down and let’s talk.” It motioned to the guards. “You two, fetch me another drink. I’m parched.”

  Trenton leaned toward Kallista. “Do you hear an echo in your head when it talks?”

  Kallista nodded. It was like she could see the words coming from the dragon’s mouth while hearing its words in her head an instant later. It was an odd, disorienting feeling. Could it have something to do with how easily they understood the creature’s words?

  Slowly, as though still fearing an attack, Trenton and the others stepped onto the crystal floor. Kallista was positive it was a trap. The only question was when and how it would be sprung. Her father was the only member of the group who didn’t seem terrified. He studied the white dragon like a man seeing stars for the first time.

  Once all of them were off the staircase, the guards moved onto the steps and the machinery whirled them down out of sight.

  “I’d offer you a chair,” the dragon said in a magnanimous tone, “but I’m afraid my kind doesn’t use them. Although, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind a throne if someone could design one that fit my proportions. Who knows? Maybe one of you will invent it.”

  “I don’t think so,” Trenton said.

  The dragon raised its wings in a gesture that looked surprisingly like a human shrug. “Feel free to stand or sit on the floor. Whatever makes you comfortable.” As if taking its own advice, it curled its front and rear legs beneath it and lowered its massive body to the floor.

  “You’re wondering why I don’t punish you for killing my brothers and sisters. To answer that, you must first understand the history of this city, which is really the history of the world as it has now become and ever will be.” It flicked a wing tip toward one of the windows. “Look outside.”

  Kallista glanced at Trenton, then walked close enough to the edge of the room to look over the city. She angled herself so she could see out while still keeping a wary eye on the creature behind her.

  “Two hundred years ago, humans ruled everything you see below you. Of course, it was a pale shadow of what it is now, but you get the idea. Humans weren’t the strongest species; they weren’t the fastest. Please don’t take offense, but they definitely weren’t the most attractive. Do you know why they ruled?”

  “Because they were the smartest,” Kallista said. The answer was obvious.

  “Perhaps. Although, based on my experience, humans are rather stupid. No, it’s because they were the most effective killers. Now and then, one of them was slain by a lesser predator—a bear, a large cat, perhaps a sea creature—but most of that goes back to the stupidity. By and large, they took what they wanted and destroyed anything that got in their way. Thus, they were the rulers. Until one day they weren’t.”

  “You’re talking about the arrival of dragons,” Trenton said.

  “I’m talking about the birth of a new ruling species. Stronger, faster, smarter, yes, even better looking. But most importantly, more effective killers. I suppose you’ve read the stories. If not, feel free to visit the library. There are some lovely photographs of the carnage that took place once humans realized they were no longer at the top of the food chain.”

  “But where did you come from?” Simoni asked.

  “Where does any advancement come from?” the dragon asked. “You may as well ask where the wind comes from when it blows away the fog. Where the sun comes from that swallows the darkness.”

  It was avoiding the question, but Kallista sensed there was a hint of truth in its words. Did the dragon not know how its species had come to be? Or was it hiding something?

  The dragon stretched all six of its legs, flicking the talons out like crystal daggers. “What matters is that our arrival marked the beginning of a new day. Humans’ time at the top of the heap was over.”

  She was sure the creature was avoiding something, but she didn’t know what. “If you’re all-powerful, why bother to let humans live at all?”

  For an instant the dragon’s eyes flared, and a purplish-blue light filled the room. Kallista felt as though the tower had briefly been turned upside down. Her legs wobbled, and she would have fallen if Trenton hadn’t grabbed her hand.

  “I think you know the answer,” the dragon said.

  Kallista’s father, who had been silent up until that point, stepped forward. “You need us.”

  The creature chuckled. “Need? Do humans need pigs or chickens or”—it glanced toward Plucky—“or noisy little balls of fur? No. We don’t need you. But we can make use of you. The same way humans make use of chickens to get eggs.”

  “Or pigs to make sausage,” Trenton added.

  The dragon burst into startled laughter, its back talons gouging the crystal floor. “If I wanted to eat you, I’d have you on a spit now.”

  “Is being forced to serve you any better? Should we be pleased that you view us as pigs instead of sausage?”

  “Yes, well, that’s what it really comes down to, isn’t it?” The dragon flashed its wide grin, composure regained. “The history of humans is filled with tales of encountering lesser animals. Some they domesticated: the sheep, the cow, the dog. Others—too dangerous to be trusted or trained—they destroyed, occasionally going so far as to wipe them completely from the face of the earth.”

  The dragon stood and walked toward them until it was so close a single flap of its wings would send them hurtling through the arched opening to the ground below. “You wonder why I do not begrudge the fact that you dared to murder dragons. What would be the point? Can you blame a wolf for biting? A snake for striking? It is the nature of humans to kill. To be perfectly honest, I blame the dragons you killed for their weakness.”

  It moved its wings slightly, and Kallista leaned forward to keep from sliding across the floor toward the window behind her.

  “I admire your ingenuity. I know about your mechanical flying machines and find it a touching attempt to be like those you admire. At this very moment, they are being transported from the island for disassembly and inspection. I’m sure there’s much to be learned from them. Perhaps we can use some of your technology in our machines here. Flying vehicles might speed up certain operations.”

  Trenton’s shoulders slumped, and Kallista felt what little optimism she’d had for escape begin to fade. Clearly they knew about the dragons, but she’d hoped for a few more days before they discovered their hiding place.

  Clyde moved closer toward Plucky. “What are you going to do to us?” he asked the white dragon.

  “That is up to you. For a time, it seemed your species was destined for the same fate your kind inflicted on so many other species. Extinction. I changed that. The humans we find useful, we save. The others, well, when the chicken stops laying eggs . . . The seven of you appear smart, talented, resourceful, even. But you also bite. The question is, can you be domesticated or must you be destroyed?”

  “What if we don’t want either choice?” Kallista demanded. “We were told we were free to leave the city.”

  The dragon grinned, exposing every fang in its mouth. “Every human in this city is free to come and go as they like. Of course, if you stay, you will be expected to contribute. In exchange, you will be provided with food, safety, lodging, entertainment, and most important of all, protection. Should you choose to leave, I can promise you none of that.”

  “You’re saying if we try to leave you will kill us?”

  “I’m saying that if you stop being useful to the city, I can no longer offer you protection. Not from wild animals outside the city, and not from the tribes of feral humans living in the woods. Not even from the Ninki Nankas; it’s in their nature to kill as well.”

  Across the room, the stairs spun up throu
gh the hole and clanked to a halt as the guards returned with a huge pitcher and another goblet.

  “Time for you to go,” the dragon said. “Consider your next decisions carefully. Your lives may depend upon it.”

  As they started toward the stairs, the dragon held out one leg to block Kallista’s father. “I’d like you to stay awhile longer. I have a few more questions for you.”

  The next few days stretched out until Trenton had to remind himself it had been less than a week since they’d been captured and not months. Every time a dragon flew overhead, he flinched. How could anyone ever get used to the creatures watching you everywhere you went? Eyeing you like a spider considering a fly.

  The worst were the ones that spoke. At first, he’d assumed it was only the white dragon, but he quickly realized many of them could speak at least a few words. You might be walking along and a red dragon would drop to the ground in front of you, point a talon, and grunt “Go” or “Food.” If you didn’t figure out what it wanted quickly enough, it would knock you down or singe your clothing with flames.

  Every time he heard footsteps behind him or caught a flash of motion from the corner of his eye, his heart raced, sure that the monarch had decided Trenton and his friends should die for their crimes after all.

  The day after they’d met the monarch, a group of men had stopped them on their way to the fields. Angus had balled his fists, ready for a fight, while Trenton searched for a way to escape. Neither were necessary. It turned out Clyde was being given a new job. Apparently his artistic talents qualified him to be an apprentice in the building-and-community design department.

  That night, he came back to the dormitory wearing a white shirt and pants.

  “Look who’s all fancy,” Angus said, plucking a clod of dirt from the knee of his pants and smearing it down one of Clyde’s sleeves.

  Clyde brushed at the dirt, trying to laugh off the comment. “It doesn’t mean anything.”