The Fortress

By Faye Carlisle

Nargassus is in trouble from the evil Sinisters. A prophecy says that a boy who is able to control the four elements of earth, fire, air and water will be able to restore peace to the land and defeat evil.

Cameron has these extra-special abilities and is sent on a mission to find the Sinisters with his two friends Anna and Sam. Anna is able to see visions of the future, and Sam has navigating powers.

The children’s search for the Sinisters leads them to a fortress where they meet Electro. Can they win against his lightning powers?

Fans of the Beast Quest series will enjoy this fantasy adventure aimed at 7- to 10-year-olds.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Faye Carlisle
• Release date: Mar 4, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370036677

Faye Carlisle

Faye Carlisle lives and writes in Buckinghamshire, UK. She has written a number of educational and fiction books for children and young adults.

Book preview

Prologue

Holographic phone message September 2314

Subject: Betrayal

To Raydon,

I trusted your Kodo soldiers but three of them have betrayed me by stealing keys which give the holder special powers. I do not have sylins in the blood like your kind and I rely on the keys to keep control of Nargassus. I worry your rogue soldiers will take over if we don’t stop them. You need to send some trustworthy soldiers immediately to seek them out.

King Henry of Nargassus

Holographic phone message March 2315 (six months later)

Subject: Prophecy

To King Henry of Nargassus,

So far we have been unsuccessful in tracking down the three rogue soldiers who we have named the Sinisters. The soldiers we have sent to find them have not returned and we fear they have been captured or killed. Hope has come in the form of some ancient scripts. They tell of a rise in evil during our time but also prophesise that a boy with the ability to control the four elements of earth, fire, water and air will restore peace to the Kingdom. We are currently monitoring our students to see if any have such powers and I will send you a message when we have news.

Raydon, Leader of the Kodo School

Chapter 1: The Kodo School

Cameron looked at his classmates. They stared at him wide-eyed in their white martial arts uniforms except for Anna and Sam who grinned back. He hadn’t meant to light all the candles in the room, but their teacher had asked them to use their powers. Most of the Kodo students couldn’t light one candle never mind all of them.

The Kodo School trained students in battle skills and mind-control, using shields and meditation. The main purpose of the school was to create an elite class of soldiers to defend the King against evil forces including the Sinisters, a group of three ex-Kodo soldiers who had turned to evil.

‘Well done, Cameron,’ said Zedric, their teacher, sweeping towards Cameron from the other side of the large glass-roofed room. ‘But perhaps you should let your classmates have a go too.’

Cameron went red beneath his olive skin and dark hair and focused on the candles, extinguishing them in a puff of smoke.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,’ he muttered.

Cameron spent the rest of the class willing himself not to do anything out of the ordinary. Zedric asked them to swirl the water around in a large trough. Cameron only swished the water up the sides like all the others did. It was an effort to control his abilities, but Cameron did not want to stand out. He wanted to be like the students who had been there since birth. His mother had taught him to conceal his powers and although most of the Kodo students had special powers themselves, he felt nervous about revealing that he could control all four elements already.

After class, Cameron escaped as quickly as he could to the lunch hall. Anna and Sam caught up with him in the queue.

‘That was cool,’ Sam said with a look of awe.

Cameron blushed. ‘It was no big deal. You and Anna have powers too.’

‘Yeah, but we can’t do that,’ Sam replied.

‘Navigation skills are more useful,’ Cameron said. ‘It helped us find our way off the mountain last year, didn’t it?’

‘Yes, but it was my fault we got lost anyway.’ Sam grinned.

Cameron laughed. ‘Losing everyone to skip meditation was a pretty dumb idea.’

‘That’s me. Anything to get out of boring meditation.’ Sam smiled, running a hand through his fair, wavy hair.

‘You don’t give it a chance,’ Anna protested.

‘We can’t all be perfect,’ Sam said, using