The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale Page B

vision went dim. The guests were packed too closely; they’d all moved to the innermost ring of the stands, and I couldn’t break through. I crouched and made to crawl between a tangle of legs, but a heavy boot crunched my hand and sent me scrambling back.
    There was no way through the rabble. I wasn’t strong enough to barrel through them, and I didn’t have the voice to shout them down. I cast about desperately.
    The big circus tent above us hung from two tall beams crossing the center of the pit. There were six support beams radiating out from the center to the back edge of the stands. The tent itself was made of wicker weave we’d bought from the tribe in exchange for a few guns.
    I’d seen the tribesmen light the wicker on fire in little pits to use as smoke signals. It burned dark and smelly, but very slow. If I could set a small fire in the corner of the tent, it would smoke up the entire circus. I leaped up the stands to the back of the Sky Shrine and lifted the bottom of the wicker tent, rolling out on the ground.
    The sun was hot and the sky was clear. The roar of the crowd came right through the tent and pressed me to work fast.
    I hopped down the steps of the pyramid to the nearest exhibit, where there were three torches. We had them burning all around the zoo to keep out malarial mosquitoes.
    The nearest torch happened to be burning next to the Sloth Cage, where Minxy was hanging upside down on his tree. He blinked at me. “Hello there, Marlin,” he said as I wrenched the torch from the stand.
    â€œDon’t tell anyone,” I said, and bounded back up the steps to the corner of the Sky Shrine.
    The torch flame was big and long, and I guarded it with my hand as I made my ascent. When I reached the corner where the massive wicker tent was pegged into the stone, I crouched and carefully let the flame lick itself upon the fabric.
    â€œCatch,” I whispered. “Catch.”
    â€œMaster Marlin! What are you doing?” Kenji bounded to my side and tried to blow out the flame. I pushed her away.
    â€œAre you crazy?” she shrieked.
    â€œI’ve got to stop that show,” I said. “Do you have a better idea?”
    â€œOh, Master Marlin.” Kenji hopped up and down. “Oh no, oh no.”
    The wicker browned. Then smoked. Soon, the yellow fire was dancing on the surface of the tent, growing bigger. I dropped the torch and guarded the fledgling flame with my hands, covering it so closely that it burned the skin on my right palm. But it was stronger now, and a light wind was blowing it gradually upward. Soon smoke would spew into the tent.
    I grabbed the now-extinguished torch and raced it back to its place by the Sloth Cage with Kenji following behind.
    â€œTorch went out,” said Minxy.
    â€œDon’t worry, there’ll be enough fire to keep mosquitoes away.”
    I leaped back up the Pyramid stone and sprinted to the opposite corner of the Sky Shrine. Once I’d rolled under the tent flap, I could see the first plumes of smoke rising on the other side.
    Father and the men were tying lines to the doors of the cages so they could pull them open from a safe distance. They were just about to clear the pit when Father froze. He could smell the smoke.
    Then a cry went up from a guest. “Fire!”
    The Jungle Look was on Father’s face. He saw the flames now and waved the men away from the edges of the pit. “Put it out!” he shouted. “Cut it down!” But the smoke was everywhere now.
    A wall of flames rose up before me. A swoosh of hot air blew my hair back. The entire east flap of the tent was writhing with fury. Black smoke streamed out along the top of the tent, and the flames roared like a demon.
    I didn’t know what had happened. The wicker was supposed to burn smoky and slow. I had seen it a dozen times. I was there when Father bought it. Then I remembered a conversation he’d had with Drake Mandrian,