Embers of Destruction

by J. Scott Savage

  Her heart pounded against her ribs. Her fingers felt numb. A wave of nausea raced through her, and she felt like she might throw up. This was the one thing she’d been too afraid to consider. The thing that terrified her so badly she forced it from her mind every time it tried to sneak in.

  For her entire life, no matter how bad things got, there was one pillar of strength she’d been able to hold on to. One truth she could carry with her anywhere she went. The one and only solid thing in her life. And now her best friend was asking her to abandon it.

  She finally allowed herself to ask the questions she had never dared to ask in her entire life. Was she willing to admit that her father was wrong? Was she willing to go against something he believed in so completely? Was she willing to leave him behind and never look back?

  Blinking away the tears in her eyes, she nodded. “Yes. I’ll go with you.”

  Trenton watched Kallista all through dinner, wondering if he’d made a mistake. The others had told him what they thought of his plan to tell her their secret, and it wasn’t a universal agreement, to say the least.

  Even after she’d agreed to go with them, the others didn’t feel they could trust her. She’d always believed in her father but look what he had done. Was it a stretch to believe she might betray them as well?

  What he didn’t tell them was that when he’d been sitting on the side of the hill in the quad, he hadn’t been sure what he’d do if she said no. He told himself he’d go without her—that he’d fly Ladon with someone else—but after all they’d been through, after all they’d sacrificed for each other, the truth was, he didn’t know if he could leave her. If she’d told him she was staying, there was a good chance he might have told the others to leave without him.

  But she’d agreed to go with him, and they were a team again.

  “Are you taking me to see your secret submarine?” she asked as they climbed into the quad and pulled out onto the street.

  “No,” he said. “I mean, I can, if you want, but that’s not where we’re going now.”

  “I can’t believe you built it without me,” she said.

  “It wasn’t like you gave me much choice. You said you didn’t want to be a part of escaping. What was I supposed to do?”

  Instead of answering him, Kallista stared down the street.

  “What’s wrong?” Trenton asked.

  She stood up in the quad. “Did you see someone? By the house on the corner?”

  Trenton looked in the direction she was facing. The street was empty. They drove to the corner, but there was no one in sight.

  “Who was it?” he asked. “Do you think someone’s spying on us?”

  Her forehead wrinkled. “It was probably just someone who lives in the area.” She shook her head and checked her pocket watch. “Whatever we’re doing, it better be quick. It’s almost curfew.”

  Anyone out after nine on a work night would be taken into custody by the guards, assuming the Ninki Nankas didn’t get them first.

  “Actually,” he said, “that’s what we’re going to test. Ever since we decided to escape, I’ve known we’d have to do it at night.”

  Kallista nodded. “Too many watching eyes during the day.”

  “Right. But the Ninki Nankas are everywhere at night and would track us down in a heartbeat.”

  “So how do we get past them?” Kallista asked.

  As Trenton turned into the entrance to the mechanic shop where they reported for work every day, all the clocks around the city began to chime the nine o’clock hour. “That’s what I’m hoping to find out.”

  As Trenton shut down the quad, a group of black shapes began to appear out of the shadows. He knew all of them on sight, but Kallista frowned in confusion.

  “The kids from work?” she asked. “What are they doing here?”

  A little blonde girl, who didn’t look like she could be any older than nine, raised her fist in the air. “Night games!”

  • • •

  “You were supposed to bring Plucky,” Alex said, folding his arms across his chest. He pinned Kallista with his gaze. “Not her.”

  “Kallista’s decided to escape with us,” Trenton said. “We can trust her.”

  Alex looked at the other members of the Runt Patrol and then at Trenton. “We couldn’t before. She told her father about us.”

  “I made a mistake,” Kallista said. “I’m sorry. Please give me another chance.”

  Trenton pulled Alex aside, but even though they kept their voices low, Kallista could still hear them.

  “We need her,” Trenton said. “She can help us with both the dragons and the submarine. I promise.”

  Alex still looked unconvinced.

  “Okay,” Trenton said, “if you can’t trust her yet, trust me. She’s my friend.”

  “I’ll do whatever you ask,” Kallista said to Alex.

  Alex straightened his back. “Whatever I ask?”

  “Just say the word.”

  Alex paused in thought for a moment, then finally nodded. “Pass our initiation—both of you—and then we’ll talk.”

  Kallista and Trenton exchanged a glance. “What do we have to do?” she asked.

  Alex grinned and pulled a white cloth from his pocket. “Easy. Just swipe this across the nose of a Ninki Nanka and don’t get bit.”

  She looked at Trenton. “Please tell me this is a joke.”

  He raised his hands. “I thought it was too. But they say every member of the Runt Patrol has done it, and so far no one has been eaten. Not so much as a scratch.”

  Alex gave them a slight bow. “No one knows exactly who figured it out, but kids have been doing it since before I was born. It’s pretty much a requirement if you want to go anywhere in the city at night.” He pulled several clay balls out of the bag by his feet. He handed them to Trenton and Kallista. A funnel stuck out of one end of the ball and a candlewick poked out of the other.

  Trenton turned the balls over in his hand and sniffed the clay. “What are these for?”

  “Put them in your pocket for now.” Alex pulled a pair of white cloth strips from the bag. “Rub these across your skin. Arms, face, the back of your neck. Anywhere you sweat. You want the cloth to smell as much like you as possible.”

  “What now?” Trenton asked once they’d finished.

  Alex handed Trenton a small glass bottle. “Careful with this stuff. It’s powerful. Only put a drop or two on the cloth.”

  Trenton unscrewed the cap, and an overpowering aroma drifted out.

  “I’ve smelled this before,” Kallista said.

  Alex nodded. “Eucalyptus oil. Highly concentrated. Do not get it on your skin or in your mouth or eyes. If you do, you’ll be burning for hours.”

  Carefully, Trenton added two drops on his cloth and two drops on Kallista’s, then put the bottle in his pocket.

  She took a whiff of the cloth, and the smell seemed to penetrate straight through her sinuses into her brain. Even such a small amount made her eyes water. “Wow, that’s strong stuff. What now?”

  Alex grinned. “Now the fun starts.”

  Footsteps echoed out of the darkness, and a skinny girl with wild yellow hair ran into the circle of light in front of the building. “It’s coming. It’s coming.”

  “She’s about to become our newest member,” Alex said.

  The girl held out one of the clay balls, and Alex lit the wick with a glowing stick. The string hissed and spit sparks.

  “It’s called a punk,” Alex said with a grin. “You actually don’t need the smoke bombs, but they make it more exciting, and the littler kids think it’s funny.”

  The click of talons on stones drew closer, followed by a loud hiss. Out of the darkness waddled a massive, dark-green Ninki Nanka. It stopped in front of the little girl, stared at her with emotionless black eyes, and
opened its fang-filled mouth.

  “Ninki Nanka!” the little girl called. She tossed the clay ball in front of the beast. There was a soft pop, and smoke billowed out around the Ninki Nanka’s head. It jerked back for a minute as if confused, and the kids howled with laughter.

  The smoke didn’t stop the creature, though. If anything, it appeared to have made it angrier. It growled and lunged toward the girl.

  Kallista put her hand to her eyes, sure she was about to see the child get devoured. Instead, the girl reached out and slapped a white cloth on the Ninki Nanka’s horned snout.

  The dragon pulled back with a hiss. Its dark eyes narrowed. It shook its head, sniffed, and let out a huge sneeze.

  “Ninki Nanka, Ninki Nanka,” the girl sang, taunting the creature and waving her hands in its face. Incredibly, the dragon only stared at her with a dazed look on its face.

  “What’s happening?” Kallista asked. “Why isn’t it attacking?”

  “The concentrated eucalyptus oil combined with the person’s individual scent short-circuits something in the Ninki Nanka’s memory,” Alex said. “And since their memory is tied to their sense of smell through their rudimentary hive mind, once you short out one of them, your scent is removed from all the Ninki Nankas’ memories.”

  “Capture the flag. Capture the flag,” the Runt Patrol kids chanted.

  The yellow-haired girl danced in front of the dazed beast before snatching the cloth off the end of its nose. Turning to the others, she took a deep bow, and everyone cheered.

  “Okay,” Alex said, turning to Kallista. “She’s next.”

  Her heart was racing, but she managed to nod. She’d promised she’d do whatever it took to get the Runt Patrol to trust her. She couldn’t let them down again. She couldn’t let Trenton down. “Okay, what do I do?”

  Alex pointed to the spot where the little girl had stood. “Wait right there, and we’ll lure in another Ninki Nanka.”

  She walked to the spot by the building and stared out into the fog. She tried to tell herself she wasn’t afraid. She’d faced bigger, more dangerous dragons than these Ninki Nankas. But it was one thing to fight a dragon when you were flying your own mechanical dragon and had fireballs at your fingertips and a friend at your back to help you. Coming face-to-face with one on your own was a different thing altogether.

  The sound of nails clicking on the street floated out of the darkness, and it was all she could do not to run.

  A curly-haired boy she thought might be named Asher came running out of the fog, and all the children began to shout, “Ninki Nanka, Ninki Nanka.”

  Kallista dug one of her smoke bombs out of her pocket. She turned around so Trenton could light the wick for her. When she turned back, a giant Ninki Nanka was less than twenty feet in front of her. Somehow, she managed to toss the smoke bomb in the beast’s general vicinity.

  She nearly froze when the huge creature hissed and lunged at her, but she forced herself forward and slapped the cloth on the creature’s snout.

  Just like the other one had before, the Ninki Nanka reared back, sneezed, and then lumbered away into the shadows.

  Kallista sighed in relief. She looked at Alex, wondering if she had done enough to earn his trust.

  “Congratulations,” Alex said, patting her on the back. “Welcome to the Runt Patrol.”

  After Trenton tagged his Ninki Nanka, Alex shook his hand and said, “We’re still testing the submarine in the ocean next week?”

  “Absolutely.” Trenton tried to hand his extra smoke bombs, punk, and the bottle of eucalyptus oil back to Alex, but he shook his head.

  “Keep them. They might come in handy. Don’t forget, the Ninki Nankas won’t bother you now, but you still have to avoid the guards.”

  “Thanks,” Trenton said. “We won’t forget.”

  As they walked back to their quad, Kallista noticed a figure walking across the street. At first she thought it was one of the kids, but the shadow was too tall. She pulled on Trenton’s arm.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  The figure stopped, seemed to look straight at her, then walked past the building to a dragon tower. He said something to the guard in front of the tower, and the man stepped aside.

  “Who was that?” Trenton asked as the door to the dragon tower closed behind the shadowy figure.

  Kallista clenched a hand in front of her chest. “I think that was my father.”

  Are you sure?” Trenton asked. “What would he be doing out at night?”

  “It’s him,” Kallista said. She’d only seen the figure in the shadows, but she knew his walk. “I thought I saw him earlier, when we left the house. I wasn’t sure then, but I’m almost positive.”

  Trenton peered into the darkness. “What would he be doing out at this time of night?”

  “I’ve searched the city for him for days. And now I see him twice in two hours?” It didn’t make any sense, unless . . . She grabbed Trenton’s arm. “I think he wants us to follow him.”

  “Into a dragon tower?” Trenton rolled his eyes. “Sure, we’ll just stroll up to the guard and say, ‘Excuse me, but my friend’s dad went through that door, and we’d like to follow him.’ We aren’t even supposed to be outside.”

  “A dragon tower,” Kallista repeated thoughtfully. When she’d been in front of the white dragon, she’d asked her father where he was working, and he’d said . . . What was it? “He said that if I needed him I should go to a dragon tower, that the dragons would know how to find him.”

  “Who said that?”

  “My father. I think he was trying to tell me something.”

  Trenton frowned. “You’ve talked to your father? When? You’ve been looking all over for him since they moved us out of the dorms.”

  Kallista swallowed. She hadn’t mentioned what happened with the monarch in the white tower because she didn’t want to tell Trenton what her father had asked her to do, but the time had come to tell the truth—the complete truth.

  “What I told you about the bruises before was a lie. I went to the city offices demanding they tell me where my father was. A dragon took me to the white tower. Once I got there, the monarch threw me around and threatened me.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Trenton asked.

  She dropped her eyes. “My father was there. He asked me to spy on you. But I swear, I wouldn’t. I didn’t.”

  She could see the pain of her betrayal on Trenton’s face. “I told the Runt Patrol they could trust you,” he whispered.

  “They can,” Kallista said. “You can. I won’t blame you if you don’t come with me tonight, but I have to go. There’s something my father is trying to tell me.”

  “What can he tell you that he hasn’t already said?”

  Kallista shook her head. “I don’t know any more than I know why he came here tonight. But I have to go after him.”

  Trenton folded his arms. “I’m not letting you go alone. But whether you think your father is trying to tell you something or not, I won’t let this jeopardize our plans. He’s not going to stop our plans for the submarine the way he stopped us leaving on our dragons.”

  “I won’t let him,” Kallista said. “I swear.”

  Trenton didn’t seem completely convinced, but at last he nodded. “All right. How do we get in the tower?”

  Kallista looked around. They needed a distraction. Her eyes stopped on the guard’s quad parked only a few feet away from him, and a plan came together in her head. She turned to three of the Runt Patrol kids still standing nearby. “What are your names again?”

  “Hallie Meredith,” said a girl with long brown hair and blue eyes.

  A tall boy with freckles across his nose said, “I’m Michael. And this is JoeBob.”

  “You were the ones who took us to the warehouse to get our dragons?”

  JoeBob sm
irked. “Fat lot of good it did.”

  “Maybe I can make it up to you,” she said. “Teasing Ninki Nankas is fun. But how would you like to tease an actual city guard?”

  Trenton frowned. “You really think it’s a good idea to get them involved?”

  “We need their help,”

  “We want to help,” Hallie said. “Guards are the worst.”

  Trenton shrugged, and Kallista pulled the three Runt Patrol kids close, giving them specific instructions on what to do and when. She turned to Trenton. “Now we need to find a way to get the guard away from his quad.”

  “Let me take care of that,” Trenton said. He took one of the extra smoke bombs out of his pocket and pried open the top. He poured a measure of eucalyptus oil around the inside of the funnel, careful not to wet the material as well.

  Kallista squinted her eyes. “Ouch! That’s going to sting.”

  “That’s the idea,” Trenton said. He licked his finger and held it up to check which direction the wind was blowing. “This way.”

  Keeping a close eye out for any additional guards, they crept upwind of the tower. Trenton used the punk, which had burned almost to the end, to light the smoke bomb. The fuse sizzled, then hissed, turning a bright orange. He tossed the clay ball into the street, waited until a steady stream of smoke was pouring out of the funnel tip, and then shouted, “Fire!”

  The guard outside the tower turned and ran toward the cloud billowing up from the street. Pushed by the breeze, the smoke floated into his face a few feet before he reached the bomb. The results were nothing short of spectacular.

  As soon as the smoke made contact with the guard’s eyes, he screamed and coughed. He tried to wipe his eyes, but that only made things worse. He tried to back away, but the wind had picked up and the cloud followed him.

  One arm covering his face, he turned to run. At that moment, his quad roared to life. “Hey!” he screamed, tears dripping down his face. “You kids get off that!”

  “Come get us!” Hallie shouted, waving her hands in the air.