Flare, p.1
Flare, page 1
part #3 of Peril Series
Flare
Joss Stirling
Frost Wolf
Copyright © 2018 by Joss Stirling
First published 2018 by Frost Wolf
ISBN: 978-1-910426-24-1
www.jossstirling.co.uk
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For the other Joss
And with special thanks to my team of super readers who helped me put this book into what I hope is a better shape!
Helen Blakemore, Niamh Brown, Andrea Navarrete Cáliz, Vicki Cawley, Aisling Coffey, Alana Collins, Vanna Durdin, Magdalena Eifert, Jess Evans, Liz Flanagan, Lucy Gardner, Maud Grefte, Jo Hazlehurst, Rosa Hernandez, Maria Høilund, India Horton, Alice Hunt, Sarah Beth James, Rachel Langford, Laura László, Molly Kratz, Melisa Kumas, Amber Kyvelou, Janely Marcial, Nina Müller, Molly Papps, Carrie Phillips-Davies, Gracie Price, Hafsa Rahman, Hayley Reeve, Silvana Romero, Andréanne Roy, Claudia Schnaible, Katja Stout, Chelsea Van Gompel, Rheeba Van Niekerk, Andrea Valeri, Kirke Verstappen, Jemma Vial, Sophie Wright
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Joss Stirling
Prologue
‘Men intrinsically do not trust new things that they have not experienced themselves.’
Niccolò Machiavelli, in Ade’s diary
Wimbledon, London, before the Flood
The new boy was unhappy. Ade Waters could hear sobs along the corridor from his bedroom. 02:00 blinked on the Superman clock on the table. Ade picked up one of his action figures and zoomed it through the air. It was difficult. If he went to comfort Kel, then the boy would be embarrassed that he’d been caught crying. If Ade didn’t go, then they’d both lie here feeling miserable.
Surely Kel had to know that everyone would give him a pass for feeling bad on his first night under a strange roof? Ade wasn’t ashamed to admit that he had cried when his mother had gone to visit his little sister in the Netherlands last month. Kel’s father had only left a few hours ago; it was really OK to be upset when separated from family for the first time. They’d had fun playing in the garden earlier, hadn’t they, shooting each other with water pistols?
Ade decided that the sadness had only just caught up with Kel, now that he had time to think about how much his life had changed. From being known as Commander Rill Douglas’s son, Kel had just become first and foremost Ade’s bodyguard.
OK, this lying in here listening to Kel suffering wasn’t working for him.
‘Is it working for you?’ Ade asked Iron Man.
Iron Man shook his head and demanded to be zoomed into the new kid’s room. He wanted to land in there and keep Kel company. He could show him some of his moves.
Kicking off the covers, Ade used his excellent night vision to navigate across the obstacle course that was his carpet. He narrowly avoided treading on Aqua Man who was fighting sharks in the blue circle in the centre. A set of Ancient Greek soldiers trembled on their perches atop a steam train as he, the giant, passed. They were fighting hand-to-hand with orcs but Ade hadn’t decided who was going to win that confrontation. Possibly Thomas the Tank Engine would surprise them all as he took them all into a tunnel built out of shoeboxes, creaming them along the sides. Yeah, that would be a cool strategy. Go Thomas, the murderous engine! World peace through annihilation of both sides!
He reached the corridor where the going was much smoother. The light from the fire alarm glowed like a little green eye in the ceiling. Iron Man flew by and stopped by the next door along. The sobs had become sniffles. Ade raised his free hand to turn the handle.
‘Ade, what are you doing?’ His uncle had come up behind him, as silent as a panther in a forest. He was a big man, and seemed like a mountain in his night robe to Ade.
‘Just checking on the new boy,’ Ade whispered.
The sobs had stopped. The occupant had probably heard them outside because everyone knew from the medical checks that there was nothing wrong with Kel’s hearing.
Uncle Osun put his hand on Ade’s head, palm warm against the short black curls of his hair. ‘Come with me.’
‘But the new boy…’
‘Come.’
Osun led Ade downstairs and into his study. A warm circle of light bathed the desk; neat stacks of paper surrounded the computer. The affairs of the Perilous Nation were a never-ending task for their king. Osun often worked far into the night, making calls to the far-flung communities across all the world’s time zones. He often joked it was like leading a scattered flock, every member having a mind of their own and a desire to head off in the wrong direction. ‘Have a seat.’ He gestured to Ade to take the seat opposite his big leather desk chair.
Ade clambered into it and sat with his feet stuck out in front of him. Iron Man landed in his lap. He had a foreboding that he had done something wrong. ‘Am I in trouble, sir?’
‘No, Ade.’ Osun closed the computer. ‘Can I get you something? Hot chocolate?’
It was high summer so too hot for chocolate. Ade knew without asking that fizzy drinks were out. ‘No thanks.’
‘Then you don’t mind if I have something?’ Without waiting for a reply, Osun went to the drinks cabinet and poured himself a glass of liquid that was the colour of ginger beer. It looked pretty when held up to the light, sparkling alluringly.
‘Can I try some of that?’ asked Ade.
Osun laughed. ‘This? This is whisky – far too strong for five-year-olds. Ask me again when you flare out; then I’ll let you try it.’
Ade rubbed his smooth arms. He couldn’t wait until he hit the age when his markings came through; they would shine brightly against his dark skin. Then he would be a true Perilous male. ‘Why didn’t you want me to go in to see Kel?’
Osun took a mouthful and tasted it with appreciation. ‘Kelvin’s life has changed today for good.’
Ade knew that. He waggled Iron Man’s arms. Left, right, left, right.
‘He’s going to need time to adjust but he has to do that on his own. He has to be tough to survive his life as your bodyguard. Ruthless. Focused. That’s why I sent his father away as soon as he handed Kel over to begin his training. The Douglases have always been our guards; it is what they’re raised to be. It’s not good for Kel to cling on to the old life he had as an infant without responsibilities; he’s got to find a new way of handling situations. He has to be self-reliant.’
Ade wasn’t sure he understood all the words his uncle was using. They sounded so grown up, marching along like storm troopers. He fell back on what he did know. ‘I was only going to see if he wanted anything. It’s his first sleepover with me.’
‘And you would’ve embarrassed him if you’d done that because you would’ve told him by that action that you see him as someone who needs babying.’
Ade didn’t know how to explain that he just wanted to be Kel’s friend. Iron Man hopped up and down in frustration.
‘Ade, Kel’s already lived through much worse than the first night under a strange roof. He lost his mother to the Teans just a short while ago. If he’s upset, it’s more likely to be about that. Can you do anything to take away that grief? He needs privacy for that. Do you know what that means?’
Ade shook his head.
‘It means he has to know there’s one room in the house where he can work through his sadness, a place he can lock it away and function normally during the day. That’s what a man does, deals with this emotional stuff privately. Properly directed, the grief will become his strength.’ Osun swirled the amber liquid, gazing into it like a crystal ball. ‘His hatred of the Teans who took his mother from him will, I predict, make him your most devoted bodyguard once you earn his trust. To him, nothing will be more important than keeping my heir safe from our enemies.’
Iron Man lay flat under Ade’s hand. ‘I just wanted to help.’
‘I know, and that was kind of you, but you can’t, not with this. We all have to make sacrifices – that means we all have to give up something we love. This is Kel’s sacrifice. He is no longer an ordinary boy; he’s your guard, the closest person to you. That will define every decision he makes from now on.’
Ade looked up and met his uncle’s patient gaze. Since Ade’s own father had died in a climbing accident a year ago, Osun had always been much more than just an uncle to him. ‘And what’s my sacri…’ He couldn’t remember the rest of the new word. ‘…The thing I give up, uncle?’
Osun tossed back the remaining contents of the glass. ‘Yours is even harder, Ade. Sometimes your duty will be at odds with your feelings – feelings of friendship, love, pride, even honour – but duty must always win. Do you understand?’
Ade shrugged. ‘Not really.’
Osun came around the deck and caressed Ade’s hair. ‘How could you? You’re only five. But you will.’ He checked his watch. ‘However, this is deep stuff for two-th irty in the morning. Back to bed now. And no deviations into Kel’s bedroom, agreed?’
Ade slipped off the chair. ‘OK.’
‘And Ade?’
He paused at the door. ‘Yes, uncle?’
‘If anything happens to me, you understand that you’ll be the next king of the Perilous, don’t you? You can’t play at being heir like you do with your toys. It’s deadly serious.’
Ade swallowed and hid Iron Man behind his back. ‘OK.’
Osun shook his head. ‘Listen to me: lecturing you when you’re half asleep. I forget sometimes that you’re not your father. I miss him, you know?’
Ade held still. Talk of his father made him feel all squirmy inside. Mum still cried – so did he when he saw her tears.
Osun sighed. ‘There are enough dangers in the world without adding rock climbing to them. Go on: get to bed. We’ll talk more, when you’re older.’ He ushered Ade away.
Ade ran back towards his room, Iron Man clutched tight in his palm. He paused outside Kel’s room, but it was silent.
He didn’t go in.
1
Over the lost city of Atlantis, near Spain, after the Flood
Standing on the bridge of his ship, Ade looked through the binoculars at the yacht anchored in the blue coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic. He could see Kel and the girl getting out of the water, shedding water like seals. So far so good. That confirmed the report from their intel that the two were on board the yacht together.
‘Well done,’ murmured Lee Irving. He had become Ade’s second now Kel had defected to the Tean side. ‘You got them.’
‘Yeah, well done me,’ Ade said sourly. It hurt to see Kel far more than he expected. He found it scant comfort that his plan had worked. He had tracked his enemy’s movements through an undetectable sub-dermal implant on one of Meredith Marlowe’s supporters.
Had he been justified in violating the man’s human rights? Ade wondered.
Enough. He couldn’t agonize about right and wrong. It had served the greater good. Sacrifices had to be made.
‘So Woolf held true to character?’ asked Lee.
‘Yep. Theo met up with Kel in Paris and they both led us right to Meri and the Tean base in southern Spain. A good result, I suppose.’ That much Ade had anticipated, knowing that both Theo and Kel’s feelings would overrule any logical objections they might have had that going to her would put her at risk. He understood what it was like to love unconditionally – he once thought he’d felt that for Kel as his friend.
‘It’s more than good: the best!’ Lee was far more enthusiastic for this confrontation than Ade.
‘Yeah, but I exploited the fact that they love her and believe they should be with her, even if it puts her in danger.’
‘It’s not your fault that neither of them knows how to put emotions second for the sake of their larger duty.’
‘That’s their weakness – or is it their strength?’ Sometimes Ade felt sick of himself and the things he had to do.
‘Strength? Give me a break, sir. You’ve done well. The king will be pleased.’
Ade shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
‘What now, Ade?’ asked Lee, tone revealing that he was willing his friend to show more enthusiasm for the task ahead. ‘Open fire? We’ve an RPG that could take out their control room. Get lucky and we might be able to hit one of the fuel tanks. Cripple the ship and we can take them down in a swift boarding from two directions.’
That would be the best tactic and no doubt what his crew were expecting him to order. A rocket-propelled grenade would do serious damage. But did he seriously want to turn this into a military confrontation?
‘I’m not sure. Give me a moment. We’re not exactly in a position of strength here. We have weapons and manoeuverability, but they have size, and probably numbers, in their favour.’
Ade now had to decide what his next move should be. He wasn’t certain what had happened to cause Meri and Kel to flee last night – some internal Tean political falling out, he guessed. He had watched while a small party of Teans had made a dash for the yacht with others shooting at them: typical Tean behaviour to turn on their own. That much had been predictable but now they had unaccountably stopped in this patch of ocean just off the Spanish coast and taken time to go diving. His small flotilla of two Perilous vessels had been able to catch up and move into position either side of the much larger Tean yacht. Kel’s dad, Rill, was commanding the second craft but Ade had overall responsibility for this operation. His uncle had said it was his chance to redeem himself after having had a role in failing to prevent Meredith Marlowe’s escape from Perilous captivity in the first place. The eyes of Ade’s community were on him to see that he had the qualities that made a leader.
On days like this, he wished he could just tell them to stuff it.
Rill came through on the ship-to-ship radio. ‘Orders, sir?’
‘What do you think are our chances of boarding them successfully?’ Ade asked the commander. The yacht was much more than just a pleasure cruiser; it was twice the height and length of his own ship.
‘It’s in the balance, sir. I estimate they have at least fifty people on board and have posted an armed guard on all decks. If we had air power we would definitely succeed, but, in the absence of that, I think there’s a danger that they will flick us off like flies if we try to force our way aboard.’
That’s what Ade had been thinking. ‘What do you advise?’
‘Stay with them until we can call in more assets. Our one advantage is that we are faster than they are. They won’t be able to shake us off.’
Gazing out at the opposition through the window, Ade felt the gut punch when Kel’s binoculars came to rest on him. His best friend was now looking at him like an enemy – and that’s exactly what he had to be.
He remembered the odd dream he’d had the night before, circling back to the first time he’d met Kel. Now there was no Osun to tell him not to knock on the door.
‘I want to talk to Kel,’ he heard himself saying even before he’d properly processed the thought.
‘Are you sure that’s wise?’ asked Rill. Even through the crackle of the radio, Ade could hear the catch in the man’s voice. Ade couldn’t imagine what it was like for the commander to have his son known as the most notorious traitor to the Perilous since records began. Many had demanded Rill’s resignation but so far Osun had stood by his most trusted commander.
‘I can’t see that it would do any harm and it may reveal what was going on last night when they were chased out of Cadiz. If we knew that, it might give us a bargaining advantage.’
‘You think he’ll talk?’
‘He will if I offer to go over there.’
Lee put his hand on Ade’s arm to shift him away from the window. It was as if he wanted to move Ade behind him to defend him from even the hostile glares from the Tean ship. If there was one thing to understand about Lee, it was that he was serious about his job. ‘You can’t do that, sir. You’re too valuable to us to risk in a nest of Teans.’
Ade shrugged. He wouldn’t allow himself to be known as a coward as well as a failure. ‘There are other heirs after me, but I don’t think it’ll come to that. If Meredith Marlowe is calling the shots on that ship, we both know she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.’
‘But she’s been in the hands of the Teans now for four months. She may well have changed.’
‘Then it’s a risk I’m prepared to take. I think I know her better than that.’
The radio hissed. Rill wasn’t waiting to be asked for his opinion. ‘If you’re going, then I am too, sir.’
‘Commander Rill, I need you to take control while I’m on that ship,’ said Ade. Having Kel’s father there would add an unstable element in an already volatile situation.
