“No!” Nali’s cry was swept away in the wind.
She slid off of Pai’s back and fell several feet before she called forth her wings. Shooting forward, she flew as fast as she could until the superheated shockwave knocked her backward. She tumbled several times before she righted herself. Pumping her wings to stay airborne, she stared in horror and fear at the smoking remains of the Daktyloi’s longhouse.
Blackened framework, glowing deep red from the heat, reached up from the ground like skeletal fingers begging for help from beyond the grave. The explosion, initiated by the Fire Beetles and intensified by the chemicals stored in the house, had flattened an area of over a hundred yards in every direction. Tall trees lay like matchsticks in a circle around the house. Small fires burned in pock
