Reign of Ash (Black Harbour Dragons) Read online

  I watched them for a moment before I realized I stood directly under them. At any moment, flames could erupt, they could fall, or even worse … they’d remember they were fighting over me and come to claim their prize. Well, I wouldn’t be the prize pet to either of them.

  Taking one glance at the bike, I decided that it would be the quickest way out of here just in case skinny Skinner broke away from the Black Sapphire tossing him across the sky. It begged me to take it for a spin. At the very least, I could take it to get away from the duel going on in the skies.

  It took me awhile to get the thing started. My training up until now had been reserved to pictures and rough sketches. It’s rare for any Anthros to get a live test drive. Luckily for me, it roared to life just as its owner roared into the air. It sounded painful, but that was no concern of mine. My life was my priority, and right now I had to get out of there.

  Riding through the ash paved streets of Black Harbor felt amazing on that motorcycle. I didn’t have to keep my eyes plastered to the sky. Stepping on stones, glass, and pebbles were an afterthought. The wind whipped through my hair and the sun beamed on my skin. Peace washed over me.

  By the time I arrived at what had been home for the last few years, the sun was higher in the sky than I ever remembered it. Somehow Scalers doing battle in the sky made it an even brighter day. Perhaps it’s because they weren’t hunting us for a change.

  With one and a half floors, the building looked like the shell outside of a complete crater, a waste of space. It’s a good thing Anthros didn’t live above ground. A solid door stood erect in the cinder block wall. It was thick. It was black. It was heavy. A doorbell sat discreetly next to it. Pushing it, a voice erupted from a hidden speaker, “What do you think you’re doing with that thing?”

  “Jasper, come on, let me in! I can’t hold this thing out here for long!” I told him desperately sneaking glances over my shoulder and to the skies above.

  The soft sound of the lock clicking out of place let me know to take a step back. That heavy black door never opened, but the eight by eight space in front of it did. It dipped down into the tunnels just under the foundation of the abandoned building I stood in front of. The square piece of steel, masked as cement, allowed me to roll the motorcycle down into our humble abode.

  Yeah, humble was the word for it. The dark walls wreaked of sludge that seeped down from the street after the rain washed away the battles of the Scalers. A string of L.E.D lanterns lit the long tunnel which brought me to another thick black door.

  Jasper didn’t wait for me to knock. His bald head gleamed, even in the dim lighting of the tunnel. With an eyepatch over his left eye and one long scar that traveled from the side of his face down to his neck, he held the door open wide for me to roll the metallic beast into our domain.

  A single ladder stood in the center of the receiving room of sorts. It stretched up to a manhole cover dozens of feet above us. Two streams of daylight found their way through the grates of the steel plate cover, letting the smallest bit of natural light stream into the room. You could never tell how deep underground you were going with that tunnel. But it didn’t matter, it kept us off the menu and comfortable enough just to survive.

  “I almost caught a rabbit,” I smiled to Jasper.

  He was my caretaker for as far back as I could remember. I didn’t have parents. I didn’t have siblings. Sure there were others who came and went as they pleased, but I had a Jasper. He’d always been there for me, and I couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t.

  Jasper was kind of tall, taller than me at least. He reminded me of that old children’s tale I used to hear about. I even saw pictures of it once, a jolly old guy in a red suit that delivered toys one night a year to every kid across the globe. It was a wonderful tale until the Scalers showed up and ate the reindeer. That was my Jasper… the jolly old man, not the Scaler. He brought me gifts and kept me alive for more than one night a year. And today? I managed to bring him something for once.

  “Are you serious, Whisper? Come on now! Instead of a rabbit for us to eat, you come back with a hog you can barely ride?” he chuckled. “Where’d you find that anyway? It looks pristine.”

  “It is. The owner was more or less occupied defending my honor, so I decided to take it for a spin. I didn’t have a way to give it back. Sooo,” I shrugged waiting for him to say he loved it.

  “Bring it back to where you got it,” he shook his head as he ran his hands over the handlebars. His eye was absent of gratitude.

  “Why? We can break this down! Sell it for scales, food, money, lights! We can use this!”

  “We’re not breaking this down, and as a matter of fact, you don’t touch it anymore. You probably got your scent buried in the clutch. I’ll bring it back, and you’d better hope its owner doesn’t come down here looking for it!”

  3

  Ashton

  I remember the first time I saw her. Her face … those light brown eyes were something special… They reminded me of the way the light shines through the broken windows of those abandoned warehouses down by the docks. Not exactly the most romantic thing but it’s the only shimmer of something beautiful against a city that’s so bleak.

  She was running that first time too. I’d just turned 16 and my gift, if that’s what you want to call it, was to go on patrol to find a pet. It’s a right given to all Black Sapphires in Black Harbor. We got the pick of the litter. The legend, as it’d been told to me, was that a few of the best Anthros were rounded up in the middle of the night. They were set free and whoever I liked I tracked, hunted, and got to keep if they were caught.

  A few of the higher ranking members, my father included, would sit perched around the edges of the Towers watching the spectacle. They enjoyed it.

  I wasn’t alone on this fateful day. Three others my age were set free to hunt. We flew high letting the sun warm our wings. Once the Anthros were let loose in the city, a red flame beamed up to the sky fired off by Bartholomew Victor, leader of the Scarlet Wings. He and I shared something in common, we had no interest in keeping pets, but there I was, perched on the shattered tenth floor of a building that could have crumbled underneath me at any moment.

  When she raced by me, her scent nearly knocked me over. I followed her, skulking from building to building watching with a smirk across my face as she tried pathetically to hide herself from us. I couldn’t help but walk up to her.

  In my Anthros form, she had no idea. She actually tried to save me. As soon as I approached, she grabbed me hard and yanked me down behind a cinder block wall, “What do you think you’re doing out here?!”

  “I don’t know,” I chuckled, “Can’t make up my mind really.”

  “Well whatever you’re doing, you’d better do it quick. We’re being hunted,” she whispered. One of the Scalers out with me flew overhead forcing us to duck for cover. I knew they wouldn’t come near us ... well because I was me.

  “I’m not being hunted,” I told her shaking my head.

  She leaned back away from me, eyeing me from head to toe and shook her head, “No way buddy. You’re far too healthy and good looking not to be someone’s pet. You don’t want to be one of those, I heard the boys get the worst treatment. Who are you anyway?”

  “Name’s Ashton,” I told her.

  “Whisper,” she stated.

  “Why?” I asked her in a far more hushed tone.

  “No, silly,” she laughed, “My name is Whisper. On account as I don’t know how. At least that’s what my Jasper tells me.”

  I laughed too. I liked her. I wanted to bring her home, but I didn’t want to keep her locked away in my chambers. Unfortunately for her, that’s the only way she’d be safe. No Anthros survived walking through the Towers without their owner nearby.

  “So you’re not going to be a pet?” I asked her.

  “Never, and if you knew what was good for you; you wouldn’t be out here either! So which station are you out of?” she asked me.

 
I hadn’t any idea what she was talking about.

  “Come on! You gotta live somewhere near here or the Scarlet Wing wouldn’t have grabbed you for this stupid thing. What station?”

  “I live near the Towers,” I told her. I didn’t want to lie to her, but I didn’t want her to think of me in any other way than she was at that moment.

  “Nice! No wonder you look so healthy. Word is The Tombs have electricity and an abundance of food. It’s a pain in the ass trying to get in there though. They’re so snooty and uppity. No offense, Ash.”

  “None, taken.”

  “So I’m gonna take off, but next time you see me I plan on being clean and fit for initiation into the Tombs. You can put in a good word for me and my Jasper right? We’re coming from The Gears and all, but we’re not trashy or anything just because he fixes stuff. He can fix anything with moving parts, alive and metal. And me? I’m the best helper he’s got. So will you put in a good word for us?” she asked with her bright brown eyes wide open with hope.

  “I’ll see what I can do,” I told her and that was the last thing I said to her. She ducked off and ran into a building before we could talk about anything else. I never checked to see if she ever tried to get into that underground station she was talking about. If I could have helped her I would have, but I didn’t know the first thing about Anthros politics, or how they lived.

  Now in present day, as I scoured the sky, I simply wished I’d told her then … what I was. She’d look at me, well a lot like she looked at Skinner. I couldn’t take it if she held that much hatred for me. I couldn’t take it if something happened to her either. With an Anthros riding around on my bike, anyone could pick her off claiming to have done it as a favor to me. I had to get to her first.

  Like a beacon to the sun, a blue flame shot up to the sky. I knew it all too well. I could feel it in my bones. I was being summoned. My search would have to continue another time.

  The Towers had been my home and while I enjoyed the luxury of lights and consistent food. I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about how other Black Sapphires lived. They overindulged, hunted Anthros for sport, and disposed of them as pets by simply torching them alive or tossing them out of a window. I was expected to behave the same way.

  Landing on the rooftop, the beam of flames had disappeared as I made my way inside. The penthouse didn’t have any windows at all. A river of flames burned lightly around the perimeter of the floor keeping it a steady temperature. They danced delicately around the edge and only came up about two feet. The lack of walls and windows allowed the higher ranking members who lived up here the ability to take off whenever they deemed necessary.

  The floors were made of black marble while the only walls in the entire space were used to separate the living chambers of each member. My father was one of those members and had undoubtedly been the one to summon me. As second in command, he held the reigns of power pretty firmly, especially since our leader spent most of his days traveling outside of Black Harbor. There were talks of expanding our territory and leaving my father in charge here. I didn’t care either way. I’d be perfectly fine being left alone.

  “Ashton, how many times do I have to explain to you the process of -”

  I didn’t need the lecture as I interrupted him, “You don’t have to say anything, Father. I did everything I was supposed to do but that bastard, Skinner, doesn’t know how to listen. I told him to leave her alone.”

  “Was it marked?” Preston Cane growled at me. His salt and pepper hair fell into his face, shading me from the anger building in his steel grey eyes. They flecked with hints of royal blue whenever we had these discussions.

  I didn’t answer.

  “DAMN IT, ASHTON!” he slammed his hands on top of the table. It rattled the chains of the Anthros cuffed to the leg underneath it. He scurried away from us not wanting to bear the brunt of my father’s anger. He continued to talk, forcing himself to use a calmer tone, “You know the rules. We all agreed to it, and if you want to break them, you know what that will do. We cannot afford a battle with the Onyx Skulls. Too many will die. I will not have the blood of any Black Sapphire on my hands because my son doesn’t want to follow the rules!”

  “It’s different,” I assured him, “It was her.”

  “Then you should have marked her all those years ago! Why won’t you just make her your pet?” he sighed plopping down into one of the chairs around the table.

  The table was huge. It looked like it was sliced out of the middle of a sequoia tree. Completely round, every chair that had a place was ornate in carved mahogany. Three chairs stood out from the other six sitting around it. My fathers was marked with a beautifully sculpted dragon sitting back on its hind legs blowing fire upwards, which carved around in an arch to connect with the sides of the chair. It looked more like a fat tree with branches and leaves until you took a closer look at it. The chair next to him held an even more elaborate carving of a three-headed dragon blowing flames upward and arching down while the chair next to that was the mirror image of my fathers. Those two were empty nearly all of the time as Grady and his wife Celia, the third in command, were always gone. I think I’d seen them twice in all of my time living here.

  My father looked at me with worry this time, “I need you to follow the rules or else you’ll force me to treat you like the others who don’t.”

  “Don’t worry, father, I’ll leave before you ever have to act on that.”

  “I don’t want you to leave, Ash. I want you to stay, take on your responsibilities as my son, and be the Sapphire I know you are. You’re more powerful than all of these guys, and you keep it hidden.”

  I had my own reasons, but for him I simply stated, “No one deserves the terror of having me unhinged, unleashed, and out of control in Black Harbor, father. I’m not going through that ever again. So just forget it. And if it helps you feel any better, the next time I do battle with Finch Skinner, I’ll leave to make your job that much easier.”

  “How about you just claim the Anthros already? Make her yours and save all of us the trouble,” he sighed.

  A flash of her gorgeous eyes and blonde hair flying behind her in the wind played before my very eyes. I shook my head, “That saves us the trouble. But what about her, Father? What about her?”

  4

  Whisper

  The moon rose high in the night sky. I had the only room with a skylight. I could look at the stars without worrying as to who may see me, because no one could. The underworking’s of a lot of these dilapidated buildings held floors within floors. The workshop was one of them. From that open space under the manhole cover, a door led to a short tunnel which opened into Jasper’s shop.

  The walls were covered in steel, and wooden pallets lined the walls with hooks fastened to them along with shelves carved into their bases. Each pallet held a different set of tools and equipment. Chains and hooks were suspended from the ceiling to either haul something up, or anchor something down. A large drain sat in the center of the circular room. There was another hallway toward the left that led toward the station’s living quarters. To the right was another door that opened to a bathroom and a short flight of stairs that led me into my room, my room with the skylight.

  It wasn’t much; just a bed, a few blankets, and a chest full of clothes. We used L.E.D lanterns to light up our space, and I got to have two in mine. Everyone hated how much Jasper spoiled me, but he’d found the space and made it habitable. I was under his care, and while that presented some challenges when I wanted to go off on my own, I wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s loosened the reins a bit after I turned 20, but that still didn’t mean he stopped watching over me completely.

  With thoughts of my future roaming around my head endlessly, I zoned out only to be interrupted by the voices of people I wasn’t too fond of. That’s one of the things I didn’t think Jasper planned for ... me being able to listen to whatever was going on in his shop and right now he was arguing.

  Abigail and
Charlotte were twin sisters who followed Jasper around like dark clouds. While they were beautiful in comparison to most, their lives scavenging for survival had done very little for their personalities. They despise me for whatever reason, but Jasper wouldn’t let them or anyone else get close enough to harm me, nor could they convince him to abandon me. However on this night, with a Scaler’s motorcycle in the shop, it sounded like they were closer than ever.

  “You should just break it down, Jasper,” Abigail demanded with a flutter of fear in her voice, “Break it down and send one of the frail ones out to sell each piece at a different station, see what we can get. Who knows? We might be able to furnish this place like The Tombs.”

  “That’s all you care about isn’t it?” Charlotte replied snidely, “Trying to be like those uppity dragon ball suckers! Who cares about the damn thing?! We just need to get it out of here before Ashton comes looking for it. Or if he does, we give him his bike and Whisper! She’s brought enough trouble down here as it is! She’s old enough to fend for herself now!”

  “Relax, and she ain’t bringing any more trouble than I reckon any of you two ever have,” Jasper countered. I loved how he stood up for me.

  The sisters reminded me of the story he used to tell me about a young girl whose father married an evil woman. She brought along her two daughters who hated the young girl and wanted nothing more than to see their new step-sister killed. They worked her like a pet. There was a party where she met a prince while she was disguised as a princess, but then the Scalers came and torched everything, leaving the two stepsisters and their awful mother in charge. Yeah, Jasper didn’t like to tell stories with happily ever afters. He said they weren’t real.