Reveille: Book 1

By R. H. van de Weert

When a camping trip goes terribly wrong, young Joey Winter finds himself seriously injured, abandoned by his mother and her friend, and in the care of dangerous strangers.

As he recovers, he learns he’s in even more danger than he ever imagined, and still his mother has not come to get him so, when the opportunity arises to escape, Joey takes it.

With three companions, one the woman who’d tried to kill him already and no doubt would try again, Joey is determined to survive and to go home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris NZ
• Release date: Aug 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781543495621

R. H. van de Weert

Renee Hapimarika van de Weert is the author of New Zealand Post 2002 Short-listed children’s books ‘The Last Whale’ published in English and as ‘Te Tohora Whakamutanga’ in Te Reo Maori. A jack of many trades, including hill country farmer, agricultural journalist and columnist, creative writing and adult literacy tutor, parliamentary electorate agent and political junky, she has retired to the beach to write full time and is fully immersed in her Speculative Fiction series ‘Reveille’. ‘Reveille – Book I – Resistance’ 2019, ‘Book II – Revenge’ 2020 and ‘Book III – Redemption’ late 2021. She is now researching Book IV – working title Resolution for publication late 2022.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by R. H. van de Weert.

Library of Congress Control Number:    2019910620

ISBN:       Hardcover                                   978-1-5434-9563-8

                 Softcover                                     978-1-5434-9561-4

                 eBook                                          978-1-5434-9562-1

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/27/2019

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

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

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

Chapter 72

Chapter 73

Chapter 74

Chapter 75

Chapter 76

Chapter 77

Chapter 78

Chapter 79

Chapter 80

Chapter 81

Chapter 82

Chapter 83

Chapter 84

Chapter 85

Chapter 86

Chapter 87

Chapter 88

Chapter 89

Chapter 90

Chapter 91

Chapter 92

Chapter 93

Chapter 94

Chapter 95

Chapter 96

Chapter 97

Chapter 98

Chapter 99

Chapter 100

Chapter 101

Chapter 102

Chapter 103

Chapter 104

Chapter 105

Chapter 106

Chapter 107

Chapter 108

Chapter 109

Chapter 110

                        "…To intermingle and show them how


                        To live and love and thus endow


                        The children with the second sight.


                        A natural thing so that they might


                        Grow graceful, humble and when they do


                        The Golden Age will start anew…"

                                                        —Mother Shipton

RESISTANCE

THE BOY’S TALE

CHAPTER 1

I remembered the fall. I didn’t remember landing. Probably just as well.

Broken bones grated in both my arms and one of my legs. My fingers and toes still wiggled a bit. Movement and pain are good signs, right? Meant I hadn’t broken my neck, right? My head hurt.

Mum? Mum?

No answer. Where was she? I couldn’t stay awake and, when I was, the pain and the talk around me made me wish I wasn’t.

Every time I came to, the men carrying my stretcher were blowing, bitching and moaning, grunting and swearing. Every stumble, steep slope, narrow passage and tight corner made them complain more. I didn’t want to listen but I could hear some were so pissed off carting me out of the cave they would’ve rather left me where I was.

One man kept telling the others to shut up.

Do as you are told, he barked.

Plus, I kept being sick. I could only turn my head sideways before spewing and the man beside me jerked the stretcher and spat.

Filthy dog!

The sudden jolt hurt like hell. I groaned and the man at my head snarled.

Shut your mouth, Chert, leave the boy alone.

The whole freakin’ thing was freakin’ awful. Where’s Mum? She should be here. Why isn’t she?

The next time I came to, we were no longer in the dark and there were way more people around me. I thought we’d got out of the caves at last and I totally expected to see my mother.

Instead, we were in another cave, as big as the first one we’d explored, only this one was all lit up and, for the first time, I could see the men carrying me and the curious, angry faces of a crowd of people peering at me.

What! Weird!

Everyone was like, Asian. I’d never seen so many Asian people in one place in my life.

Had I fallen through the world and come out in China! Haha! Ow. Shit.

I couldn’t see mum anywhere.

Hey, thanks, guys. I mean it. Thanks a lot.

My rescuers spoke English to each other so I knew they could understand me. No one answered.

The guy at my head ordered the crowd to get back and let them through. Some moved away but others immediately filled in the gaps to stare and whisper.

Lying on my back, I could see the huge stone pillars and columns holding up the roof.

The walls of the cave were lined with one, two, even three storeyed buildings, stone stairs linked the ground and each floor. Other stairs led to landings and walkways and to openings at various levels in the cave walls themselves. Everything was carved out of solid rock or put together with big blocks of stone.

I couldn’t get my head around it.

A fully Asian search and rescue team? Dozens and dozens of Asian people, living in a cave? Like, living in a whole freakin’ town in a cave? A cave in the ass-end of East Nowhere? Crazy.

The stretcher bearers stopped. The crowd kept whispering and pointing.

Bring the litter inside, Beryl, quickly please, a woman, above and behind me called. She raised her voice. The rest of you, be about your business. There is nothing here you need involve yourselves in.

The crowd muttered and growled. No one moved. I was glad when someone closed the door on them. I was in a world of pain. Every time I moved or got bumped I could feel bones grinding. I was freaking out. I was sick. It was a tossup whether I’d chuck or cry first. Haha! Geddit?

I wanted the men to put me down and get out. Where was Mum? I wished Dad hadn’t died. He would’ve got here by now. I wanted someone to tell me I would be okay. I wanted the pain to stop.

Sorry, miss, I think I’m going to be sick again.

The woman held a bowl for me. She held my head and wiped my mouth and chin when I finally stopped gagging and coughing. My eyes and nose streamed. Stink.

She was short and round, with pink cheeks, dark eyes, her plaited hair streaked with grey and she had a little blue snake curled round a stick tattooed under one eye. She wore a stained cream gown, a bit like a priest’s, and a man’s leather belt around her middle with all these little leather and cloth bags on it.

So. Young master. Let us see what you have done to yourself and what we can do to put it right.

She spooned a potion into my mouth so bitter my tongue dived into the back of my throat and nearly choked me. I fell backwards into the dark.

When I woke again I was in another cave or maybe a room hacked out of the rock. I hurt but it wasn’t the crushing pain like before. I still couldn’t stay awake. For the longest time, I drifted in and out. I was glad I was still alive but I’d never been so scared in my life.

There was still no sign of my mother. Maybe no one had told her where I was. Maybe she was injured herself. Maybe, now she had Hunter, she didn’t care what happened to me. Or … maybe she hadn’t made it out of the caves after the earthquake. That thought was so scary I dragged it out to the back of my mind and left it there.

I slept and woke and slept again. People came, did things to me that hurt or tasted bad and left again. I slept and woke again.

My mouth was dry and tasted disgusting. Like that potion. Plus, I needed to pee. Where was everyone? I tried to sit up. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t hardly lift my head off the mattress. I struggled to even look around the room.

It was a while before I saw him, standing in the corner of the dimly lit room, dressed in black, barely visible against the dark wall.

He wore a loose shirt, belted at the waist, and one of those black and white biker scarves round his neck. There was a big curved knife in his belt and a hammer in his hand. Shit!

Sir? Hello? Sir? Excuse me?

The man’s gaze slid sideways to me then returned to focus on something beyond my bed. Even so, he knew everything I was doing, I reckoned. Which was like, nothing since I couldn’t hardly move.

Greetings.

A girl moved from behind me to stand where we could see each other. As she did, the man stepped forward quickly. The girl held up her hand. The man stopped but he was a lot closer than before.

The girl was about my age, Asian, shoulder-length hair gleaming in the flickering light of what must be a candle or a lamp behind me. She wore dark blue pants and a shirt with silver buttons, like coins, across one shoulder and silver embroidery on her breast. She looked pretty up market.

Oh. Um. Hi. God, I’m lame.

The girl nodded coldly.

Greetings, she said again.

The man coughed and the girl made an impatient sound.

Tch! Yes, Octans, I know. You are to advise Agate when the young Oppressor wakes up. So? Do it, Octans. He is obviously awake, is he not?

He went to the door. There must have been someone else outside because I heard voices then footsteps disappearing fast into the distance before it closed again.

When he came back he positioned himself between the girl and me.

He had to be like, security or something. He stared at the wall and played with the hammer, pulling it from its sling, swinging it gently, slipping it back into his belt again.

Actually, it was only half a hammer. The other half was a tomahawk and the handle ended in a spike. I didn’t like the look of it one bit. Or him, either.

The girl and I stared at each other. She didn’t smile. She didn’t frown. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She was tiny, short and slim, with shiny brown hair, a pale face and dark eyes, and her soft mouth contrasted with her strong jawline. She was cute as.

There was a little blue snake curled round a red jewel tattooed at the corner of her eye. It looked like the tat on the man’s face only his was all blue and his snake was curled around the handle of a hammer. Axe. Whatever.

The logo on their shirts were the same though, a snake and a jewel.

Plus, she had a silver snake necklace coiled around her neck. The long tight sleeves of her tunic half covered her hands, with slits for her thumbs.

Are you a nurse? I asked.

The girl lifted one feathery eyebrow. No.

Oh. Okay. So who are you?

I am Carina of Zhou. And you are?

I’m Joey, Joey Winter. Listen, Carina, where am I? And, do you know what happened to my mother? She should have been here by now.

My stupid voice cracked and wobbled and I swallowed hard. The girl lifted that eyebrow again so she’d heard it. Stink!

I glanced at the guard behind her shoulder and I could see, from the slight curl of his lip, he’d heard too. Shame!

The girl spoke slowly and carefully.

"You are in Zhong Zhou. This is the provincial capital and this is my House. A company of scouts found you in Suibei, unconscious and injured, and they brought you in. They should have slit your throat and dropped you into the nearest keng. I cannot understand why Beryl did not.

"And then Agate determined to keep you alive instead of easing you from this world as she should. It is all very strange. First, Beryl defies custom and common sense then Agate. It is not the first time Beryl has ignored orders but Agate is normally a level headed and sensible woman.

Clearly, there is something going on here I have not been told. I shall be most interested to discover what it is.

The girl’s eyes flashed though her low husky voice remained quiet and calm.

My mouth had dropped open when she’d said the men who found me should have cut my throat and dumped me. I closed it hurriedly. It was probably a girl-joke. Only, she wasn’t smiling and the guard had nodded not laughed.

I felt sick and like I might start crying again. Oh crap! I chewed my lip until the pain drove away any risk of doing either.

I stared at her. She stared at me. The guard stared at nothing and everything. He was one spooky dude.

At last, there was a rap at the door and it began to open. The guard moved quickly to swing it wider and the little woman who’d first looked after me bustled in. The guard shut the door in the face of another guy, wearing the same black shirt, pants and scarf, trying to look over his shoulder into the room.

"So. Lady Carina. What a surprise. What are you doing here? I can think of no reason for your presence. Except for your usual… curiosity, shall we say? As always, where there is a mystery, there is the Lady Carina.

Step aside, please.

The girl moved but not before I saw her eyes flash again and her lips twitch. It might have been anger but it looked more like amusement.

"So. Young master, you have survived, I see. Let me look at you.

Lady Carina, I realise if I were to ask you to leave you would refuse, however, this is no place for you. Step behind the screen, if you please. Octans, put your maul away and help me here. The boy cannot harm anyone.

The girl didn’t move and nor did the man.

Now, if you would, Zhan Shi. Now, Lady Carina.

The woman’s voice didn’t change but the guard slipped his weapon into his belt and came to stand beside her.

Tch, Agate! said the girl before she did as she was told.

I knew I’d been badly hurt but I hadn’t thought about what I’d look like. When the sheet was lifted off I got a shock.

I was naked under the sheet except for a thick cloth nappy. Oh. My. Lord! Thank god the snotty girl had been packed off behind the screen.

Every part of me not covered by bandages was like, black and blue and swollen and grazed.

My leg was in some kind of weird metal frame and bandaged from foot to crotch.

Both my arms were splinted, shoulder to wrist.

Two fingers on my left hand were splinted and bandaged together.

There were heavy bandages on my right knee and right ankle and a long cut on my right hipbone was stitched but not covered.

Miss? I asked the woman. Miss? Are you my doctor? How much damage have I done? I can’t move very well. How serious is it? Will I be able to walk again?

I am but one of several healers who worked on you when Beryl brought you in. You fell a long way, young master. The fall could have killed you…

…should have killed him. It would have saved you and Beryl so much unpleasantness in the long run, the girl behind the screen said. Man, she was nasty.

That will do, Lady Carina. Your opinions are not needed at this time. I am sure you will get the opportunity to share them when the time comes. For now, you will get back behind that screen and you will neither peek nor speak again, if you please.

What? Wait! ‘Peek again’? Oh no! She didn’t! Well, shit, of course she did. She was exactly the kind of girl who would peek. Bloody, bloody hell!

The girl laughed softly. As you say, Agate. As you say.

The woman, Agate, shook her head and smiled at me. I rolled my eyes. I reckoned Agate was probably okay. She acted like she knew what she was doing.

Young master, you have broken bones in both your arms and that leg. Your head is lacerated in several places but your skull is intact. Your neck is uninjured as is your spine although you have abrasions and contusions everywhere. We have closed a deep gash in your knee as well as the lesser one you see on that hip. You will take a long time to mend but mend you will…

The girl behind the screen made that impatient sound again. Tch! If he lives long enough to mend which he probably will not.

Enough, Lady! You know nothing of what we know or what we suspect! Wait and you will be told all you need to know. Until then, my advice to you is, as it always is, speak less, listen more.

With Octans’ help to turn and hold and lift me, the woman Agate set about checking, cleaning, replacing bloody, icky dressings with clean ones and removing the piss soaked pad. She looked at it with interest.

Good. There is no blood. Your kidneys and bladder are likely undamaged. You will not need these clouts now you are properly awake. Octans will remain with you until the next on the roster comes to take his place. He and they will assist you to use a chamber pot. You have but to ask.

I glanced at Octans. Octans stopped staring at the wall and stared at me instead with cold dislike. Terrific. Still, anything, even a grumpy security guard, was better than wearing nappies.

So. Young master. What do we call you? Agate asked.

The girl behind the screen answered before I could.

Oppressor? The Foe? Tyrant? Snatcher? Is that not what we call his like? Dead man walking? Oh, no, that cannot be right… he cannot walk. Oh dear.

Listen, you, you snotty bitch! Shut the hell up, you sneaky, peeking cow! Aargh!

The man had jabbed the spike on his hammer under my jaw. I never even saw him coming. The woman laughed softly and patted his arm.

Put it away, Octans. I told you, and any fool can see, even you, Octans, yes? The boy cannot move. Lady Carina is quite safe unless she cuts herself on that sharp tongue of hers. Words are the boy’s only defence. I for one am pleased to see he is prepared to use what he can to defend himself when he is attacked.

Octans slowly withdrew the spike. There was a spark in his dark eyes though his pale face was a mask. I gasped and only then realised I’d been holding my breath.

And you, Carina, be told. You do not know this boy and you do not know what we want with him. He is here for a reason. My previous advice to you stands. Speak less, listen more.

There was a short silence.

"I hear you, Agate, and I apologise. Again. As usual. I spoke without thought. And you are right; there is something going on here I do not understand. You know how that irks me.

Winter, you are a guest in my home. I behaved badly. I apologise to you too.

Agate shook her head but she smiled too. They’d had these conversations before. And they were fond of each other.

Yeah. Well. I shrugged and gasped again. Shrugging hurt. A lot. "Look, I know I’m a nuisance to everyone. I’m sorry about that. And I’m sorry I was rude. I’m really grateful for all the help you’ve given me, honestly.

If someone could just let my mother know where I am? The sooner she comes and I can go home and get out of everybody’s hair the better.

The man, Octans, caught my eye. Behind Agate’s back, he tapped the hammer he’d slung back on his belt.

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CHAPTER 2

I was never alone and I’d never been so lonely. Or so scared.

Even when there was no one in my room with me there was always someone outside my door. At first, it made me feel safer but later, when I thought about it, having guards just seemed scarier.

I couldn’t lie on my sides because of how my arms and my leg were splinted. Lying on my back was horrible because of the grazes and bruising.

And anyway, it was boring and I had too much time to think. I didn’t like thinking. No matter how hard I thought I hadn’t come up with a single decent answer.

I recovered enough to wriggle myself up, like a caterpillar, and sit propped against the big hard pad at the head of my bed. It took time, pain and effort but it beat asking for help. With almost as much effort and pain, I could also wriggle down again to lie on my back when I got tired.

Sitting up, lying down, staring at the ceiling, doing arm and leg lifts, sleeping and thinking was pretty much all I could do by myself. Anything else required someone else to do it for me. I couldn’t eat, drink or toilet myself. I didn’t reckon I’d be walking any time soon.

So, anyway, I finally worked it out. Having guards outside my room wasn’t because they thought I was a danger to anyone but because I was in danger from someone. But who? And why?

There were six guards, Octans, three other men and two women. They worked in pairs and took turns guarding my room and looking after me.

They were all short, slim and fit, their heads were shaved from above the ears down, their topknots twisted into buns and the snake and hammer tattooed under their dark eyes.

They wore loose black shirts, belted at the waist, with silver snakes coiled around rubies on their chests, black pants, baggy to the knee and skinny from knee to ankle, and checked, fringed scarves.

They all had the big knives and the weird hammer axe weapons. They were wicked. Hammer and axe at one end and a sharp metal spike at the other.

I absolutely hated asking them for the pot, especially when it was one of the women who brought it or worse, collected it after I’d used it.

They were like, totally chill and professional. There’d been no repeats of Octans’ initial aggro. If they were real nurses maybe I wouldn’t have been so embarrassed but these guys weren’t nurses or even orderlies. They weren’t like, security guards either.

Whatever else they were, they were soldiers first. And having them potty me and wash and wipe my arse after was the pits.

I hadn’t noticed the passing days at first. I was in pain and Agate kept me doped up and asleep most of the time. It wasn’t until my pain relief was reduced I began wondering how long I’d been there and how long before I’d be well enough to go home.

Sometimes, I thought, usually in the middle of a miserable restless night, probably my mother wasn’t too sorry about my disappearing. Like, now she had Hunter, she was probably glad to see the back of me. I mean, we hadn’t been getting on that well. That was probably why she hadn’t come looking for me or sent someone to find me.

Anyway.

I was underground. There was no natural light. I’d been out for ages. I didn’t know if it was day or night let alone how much time had passed.

They came in, woke me if I wasn’t already awake, lit candle lamps in the corners of my room and chucked more coal into the little fireplace.

They put me on the pot, washed me, cleaned my teeth with a wood and bristle brush and gave me a lump of gum to chew. It tasted like pine and mint. I had to spit it into a bowl after they’d got me dressed in clean shorts and changed my bed then they chucked it and my toothbrush into the fire.

They fed me stewed fruit, bread and honey, helped me sip water or fruit juice or tea, my choice, cleaned me up again and left.

I reckoned, from all that, it was probably morning.

Good morning, I said to them, at first. No one ever answered me. If I was lucky, someone might nod.

How are you today? I’d ask. I might get a nod, a shrug or nothing back. That was it.

All my questions, comments, requests and thanks were met with shrugs, nodding or shaking heads, and silence. The only thing to improve as the days went by was two or three of them smiled at me. They wouldn’t talk. They wouldn’t even tell me their names.

After a while, someone would come back to offer me the potty again, wash my hands and face, spoon a stew of meat or fish, vegetables, grains or noodles into me and help me drink my water, juice or tea. That, I guessed, was lunch.

More time spent staring at the ceiling, sleeping, doing arm and leg lifts, sitting up, lying down, then someone would appear to feed me thick meaty soup, cheese and crackers, raisins or dried apples, more water, juice or tea. Dinner. Probably.

Soon after dinner, Agate or one of the other healers came to dress my injuries, dose me and check my progress, along with one of the guards to help move me around or hold me down if I wriggled too much.

There’d be questions about my pain, sleep, appetite and, you know, embarrassing stuff and, if it was Agate, there’d be lots of humming and nodding over my wounds, then off they’d go.

The guard would bring me a warm drink that could have been goats’ milk with honey or maybe runny yoghurt, and the godawful pot once more, wash my hands and face, clean my teeth, watch me settle down, bank up my fire, blow out all but one of the lamps, and leave. Good night, me.

The nights were long and lonely and I couldn’t stop thinking. When I did sleep, I dreamed of falling, and running, and being chased. Horrible dreams. I didn’t know whether being awake and scared or asleep and terrified was worse.

Really, I didn’t know if it was day or night and after a while I decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was getting well, getting away from this freaky place and these freaky people and going home.

I hated thinking about home and mum and why she still hadn’t come to get me. It scared me stupid. I was never alone, not properly alone, and I’d never been so lonely in my life.

Agate, I asked her one night. What’s with these guys? Octans and the others? Who are they? Why are they always outside the door? And why won’t they talk to me? They won’t even tell me their names! I only know Octans’ name because you said it in front of me.

Agate didn’t reply. She was poking about in the gash on my hip. I jabbered on to distract myself from what she was doing.

"It’s awful being here, day after day, with no one except you even talking to me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to have done and why everyone’s so pissed off at me.

I know looking after me is a pain. I know people must have better things they’d rather be doing but shit, I don’t want to be here either. I just want to go home.

I heard myself whining. And saying ‘home’ out loud was a mistake. My voice went all wobbly again.

I flicked a shamed glance at Octans, expecting to see him staring at the wall the other side of my bed with a sneer on his face, as usual, but Octans was frowning at me thoughtfully.

Made me feel like blubbing even more. The last thing I needed was kindness especially from someone like Octans. I used to think Hunter was a hard bastard but Hunter had nothing on Octans and his mates.

Hmm. Agate straightened her back and looked at me. How old are you, young master?

What? I’m fourteen, fifteen in a few months.

Hmm.

Agate did a lot of humming. Sometimes her hums sounded like pleased hums, sometimes they sounded like cross hums, sometimes, like now, they sounded like thinking hums.

What, ‘hmm’? What does ‘hmm’ even mean? I’m fourteen. So what?

So, young master, you have not yet reached your majority? Interesting. You are tall, are you not? Even for an Elite youth, you are tall, I think. Never the less, you are young for your age, I think.

"What? Wait! I’m not ‘young for my age’! What d’ya mean? I’m okay! All the guys in my class are the same as me! So I’m tall. So what? I’m smart enough! I do okay! Shit! This elite! Elite means ‘special’ doesn’t it? You’re calling me ‘special’, aren’t you? You think I’m ‘special needs’! You do, don’t you! What would you know?

"Jeez! How would you feel if you got smashed up, lost your family, and ended up with a bunch of freakin’ weirdos in a place you’ve never even heard of!

You lot live like freakin’ rabbits in holes in the freakin’ ground! And you call me ‘special needs’? Jeez! I bet you’d want to go home. I bet you’d wish there was someone to talk to while you were getting better!

I ran out of words and spluttered into silence.

Hmm, said Agate, unmoved. She patted me firmly on my sore hip and left, with Octans right behind her.

I was spewing. I forgot how miserable I was, I was so pissed off.

The next night, when Agate arrived, I was still salty about it. I’d been picking at the scab, poking the sore spot, all day.

Okay, I’m tall. I’m the tallest in my class. So what? I’m not ‘elite’. I’m not ‘special’. And I’m not freakin’ young for my age. I’m normal. I reckon.

Okay, I’d been doing a fair bit of bitching and whinging. I’d had a think about that overnight. Yeah, I wanted to go home. Yeah, I wanted my mother. To be honest, I was starting to think she must have died in the earthquake.

Anyway, I reckoned, none of the guys I knew would be like, acting much different if they’d got into the mess I was in and some of them would have kicked off heaps more than me, for sure.

So, I answered Agate’s questions as briefly as I could, did what I was told, smiled and acted chill. Agate hummed, patted me and left, alone.

The woman guard remained in my room, near the door, paying attention, standing easy. Any of the guards staying on was something new. I eyed her warily as I tried to sit up without losing my pants. No point asking her what she was doing because she wouldn’t tell me anyway.

There was a quick, double rap at the door and the guard leapt to open it. I was surprised to see the girl come in.

Winter. She nodded politely.

Oh, hi, Carina. I wanted to pull my sheet over my bare bruised bony chest but my freakin’ arms were useless.

Carina was very pretty.

She was wearing dark blue again, a knee length shirt, a bit of silver stuff on the cuffs and collar and the ruby and snake, like the ones on the guards’ uniforms, embroidered over her heart. She had skinny pants underneath and slippers the same blue.

May I sit with you for a time?

What? Oh, yeah, of course. I blushed. I could feel it. Like, my ears were burning. You want a drink? There’s some juice, I think?

I looked at the guard. She’d already set a chair for Carina beside my bed, down by my right knee. She was the scariest of all my guards but she nodded and poured a cup of juice for the girl. She held the jug up to me and raised an eyebrow.

Uh, no, thank you. No way was I having Carina see me helped to drink like a baby.

Carina sat and sipped and examined me closely.

Are you mending, Winter? You look much improved from when last I saw you.

Yeah, I am, thanks, it’s heaps better now I can sit up. I raised my splinted arms and flapped them at her. When I get these off and can do stuff for myself, things will be great.

What do you do all day? She looked around the bare little room.

I didn’t bother to look. There was nothing to see except rocky walls, a couple of candle lamps, the little coal fire, a chair and a table, shelves hacked into the wall holding the covered juice jug, folded towels, wash cloths and stuff.

Please god, she couldn’t see the potty, please god, it was safely under my bed. I blushed more, thinking about that.

Oh well, you know, I spend a lot of time enjoying the view through the window, of course, admiring the art, amusing myself with the books. And we have lovely long chats, me and my mate here and her mates.

I waved my arm at the guard at Carina’s shoulder. She squinted at me and her grim mouth twitched.

The girl nodded. Of course. I am pleased you have enough to occupy yourself. I had thought you might need distraction but, if you are well and content…

Carina rose and held out her half-full cup. The guard didn’t move.

…I shall not disturb you…

Oh hey, Carina, don’t go! You know I was joking! What d’you think I do all day? I mostly lie here, waiting to get better and go home, hoping my mother survived the earthquake, feeling sorry for myself.

She sat down again and resumed her examination.

"Agate tells me you are much the same age as I. You will soon turn fifteen and I am just turned fourteen. Perhaps we will find we have something in common. It seems unlikely but Agate thinks it possible.

You speak often of your mother. What of your father? Who are they? Would I know of them?

That’s how it began.

Most evenings, after dinner, Carina came to sit and talk with me. I looked forward to her visits and hated when she didn’t come. Her other duties took precedence over wasting time with me, she said.

Carina asked like, a gazillion questions. She picked up on everything she didn’t understand. That was heaps. And everything she didn’t believe. That was heaps more. She’d shake her head, roll her eyes, change the subject. Sooner or later, she’d return to what she hadn’t understood or believed and she’d ask me again, in a different way.

I was happy to talk about my life and family but Carina wasn’t keen to talk about hers or to answer questions.

Hey! Get this! She’s the Lady Carina Zhou! Her family is the leading family in Zhong Zhou, which is the provincial capital and the centre of Purgatory.

Purgatory. Hell of a name for a place. Haha! Geddit? Purgatory? Hell? Haha! Unless… God! Unless it really was Purgatory? I parked the idea I was dead and gone to hell in the back room with ‘maybe mum is dead’. Way too disturbing.

Carina had a brother three turns, that’s years to us, older than her. His name was Leo and he was away on some trade mission or something. He was expected back soon. Her parents were dead. The Zhou family was headed by her grandmother, Lady Zhou Xiao-Lun, her father’s mother.

I told Agate and Octans what little I got from Carina about who she and her family were, Agate said ‘yes, that is so,’ and Octans nodded, so I had to accept maybe it was like, weird but true. I mean, they believed it was true, anyway.

Anyway, that’s about all she told me. Mostly, she wanted to hear about my life. She wanted to know everything.

I told her my father was dead too. She shrugged.

I told her my parents hadn’t got on. I told her I reckoned that was why my dad started drinking and why he drank and drove and hit a tree and died. She shrugged again.

I told her my mother had a new boyfriend, told her I called him the Great Brown Hunter. Haha! That’s probably why she hadn’t bothered to look for me, I told her. She frowned at me and shrugged once more.

I told her about my home. My school. My city. My friends. Their families, homes and parents’ jobs.

She wanted to know everything about everything. She didn’t understand when I talked about technology; mobile phones, teevee and tablets. She didn’t understand transport; cars, buses, trains and planes. She didn’t even understand bikes. I wished I could hold a pencil and could draw for her what I couldn’t describe.

They were the weirdest and funnest conversations! It was like I’d travelled to another world.

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CHAPTER 3

I worked hard on my fitness.

I did leg lifts for ages at a time, the left leg, anyway. The broken leg was splinted so my foot was flexed and my knee was bent. It was almost impossible to raise it off the bed and the pull on my belly muscles was like, intense but I kept trying.

I waved my arms about; lift, hold, forward, hold, side, hold, circles, rinse and repeat, until I couldn’t hardly lift them at all and I worked to sit up without using my elbows or losing my boxers.

After that happened a couple of times, and I’d had to yell, frantic, for someone to haul them back up, I made sure everyone who bathed and dressed me tied them on securely.

I ate everything spooned into me and drank everything held to my mouth. I was always starving by mealtimes. My mother would say I was having another growth spurt.

I looked forward to mealtimes, bigly, and I looked forward to talking to Carina. I reckoned our talks were either brain gym and I’d end up a genius or they’d send me as mental as her. What little she said about her family and her life and her people was nuts.

It was crazy but it was backed up by Agate and Octans so it might be batshit but it was also probably true. Weird or not, Carina was a pretty cool girl. Pretty and cool.

I asked if there were books I could borrow to read. Carina was surprised I could read or did I mean picture books? She pointed out I couldn’t hold them and couldn’t turn the pages.

Couldn’t someone read to me?

No one who can read has time to sit and read to you, said Carina.

Not my guards?

They cannot read!

No? Well, you could, couldn’t you, I asked.

No. I am busy. Besides, books are too rare and valuable to be shared with the likes of you, Carina snarked.

Nice.

The snotty bitch who said I should have been killed immediately, because custom and convenience, never came back after the first night. The snarky one was always around and the hot head dropped in often but nasty Carina had disappeared.

Practically everything I told her about my family, life and times, she took to be either the imaginings of my crazed mind or stone-cold lies.

Once, when I swore people got into big machines and flew to other cities and countries, she slapped the bed, just missed my sore hip, took off in a snit and didn’t come back for two nights. Despite all her head shaking, raised eyebrows, impatient tongue clicking and sighing, Carina seemed to enjoy the time we spent together almost as much as I did.

One night, I asked her how long I’d been there.

A moon and three quarters, she said which probably meant seven or eight weeks already. It felt like forever.

The following evening, I asked Agate how long before I could have my splints off and begin walking and feeding and taking care of myself.

Perhaps another moon for your arms to be strong enough and another moon after that for your leg, she said. A month! Two more months! So long? I couldn’t wait that long!

Agate? How do you know how long a moon is, living underground like this?

We do go UpOver, occasionally, young master. Besides, we have learned to count quite well.

Right. Of course. Dumbass.

That night, when Carina arrived in my room, there was a boy with her. The family resemblance was obvious. He was older and taller than his sister, broader across the shoulders, his hair darker than Carina’s soft mouse brown.

When the boy walked in, Octans snapped to attention and his right hand slapped the snake and jewel emblem on his shirt. The boy responded with a nod.

At ease, Zhan Shi, he said but, though Octans lowered his hand back to rest on the head of his hammer and his shoulders were not quite so rigid and his back not quite so straight, he didn’t look anything like ‘at ease’ to me.

Leo, this is the Elite boy, Winter. Winter, this is my brother, Lord Leo of Zhou.

We nodded to each other. We eyed each other warily. Carina stood quietly, hands folded, and waited.

Leo wore the same shirt, pants and scarf as Octans and the other guards though the snake and ruby on his chest was bigger and fancier. His hair was cut like theirs, shaved back and sides, bun secured with a leather thong. His belt and knife scabbard were plain leather, nothing fancy about them, and his hammer hung in its belt loop.

He had the snake and jewel tattoo beside his eye and a necklace like his sister’s though his was thicker and heavier than hers. The jointed silver snake coiled twice around his throat where hers only circled her neck once and its head nestled in the hollow between his collarbones.

Leo looked at me with his arms folded and a slight frown on his pale handsome face. His narrow eyes were darker than Carina’s, his jawline a bit squarer and a lot harder, his eyebrows heavier but otherwise his face was a guy’s version of hers.

Winter. I regret I was not here to greet you when you first arrived. I trust my sister has been hospitable.

I still struggled with their formal manners and all but I’d listened to how Agate and Carina spoke and now I tried to copy it. I nodded politely while maintaining eye contact with Carina’s brother.

Uh. Lord Leo. Greetings.

This dude was cool, like the Head Boy or the captain of the 1st XV is cool, you know, but he was still just another kid, just a few years older than me. No way I’d suck up to him.

Yes, Lady Carina has been, um, very kind. Everyone has, thank you. Please, won’t you sit down? Octans, could you find another seat for, uh, Lord Leo and Lady Carina, maybe? And maybe another cup? Please?

Octans flashed me a look. Might have been approval. Or not. He went to the door and gave instructions to the guard outside.

Leo indicated his sister should take the stool and he parked up on the end of my bed, cross legged, his elbows resting on his knees. Like that, Leo looked like one of my mates, except for his clothes. And his weapons. He eyed me thoughtfully.

Carina watched her brother, watching me. Octans watched us all.

"You know, Winter, as the heir, I travel constantly. I travel in Purgatory, moving between the provincial centres on my family’s business. I have not yet been UpOver but I have spoken, or rather listened, to many others who have, others with wider worldly experience than I.

My sister has not travelled as often as I but she too meets and listens to others who have when they visit us. She has reported to me much, I think, of what she and you have discussed. You must know almost nothing you have said seems to her remotely believable.

I grinned at Carina. I could imagine the garbled version of what I’d told her she’d repeated to her brother.

And yet, Carina tells me, she believes you believe what you say. She does not think you are a liar but she does think you are quite mad.

I glared at Carina. I couldn’t think of anything to say that wasn’t very rude.

Carina wrinkled her nose at me and said Pfft.

Leo frowned at both of us. Carina is quick to judge people. Too quick. She is constantly told this by those who know her best but, I would add, in my experience, she is more often right than she is wrong about character.

Someone knocked at the door. Octans opened it and took the stool and two cups from the woman standing outside. Leo stopped speaking while the door was open and only started again after he’d shifted from the bed to the stool beside his sister and both had accepted a cup of juice from Octans.

Octans held out the jug to me and I shook my head. No thanks. I was no keener for this dude to see me being babied than I was for Carina to see it.

The two of them sipped their drinks and looked at each other over the rims. They didn’t speak, not out loud but, I reckon, they’d just agreed on something. I didn’t much like the look of it.

Now, hear me, Winter. I am fond of my sister, and have regard for her opinions, so I am prepared to accept her opinion of you. For now. She is not the only one to have formed opinions of you. I have yet to speak to anyone who knows you, who thinks you have an ulterior motive for being here or that you were sent to do us harm. Is this not so, Octans.

It is so, m’Lord, said Octans, coming to attention and slapping his snake and jewel badge. The boy is just what he seems. A child. M’Lord.

And Octans went back to standing, at ease, with his hand resting on his hammer head, staring at his fave spot on the wall. So, the hard man could speak if he wanted? And who’s a child? I stink eyed him and Octans grinned. I’d never seen Octans even smile let alone grin before. The occasional twitchy lip was all I’d seen and might’ve been wind. Tosser!

Leo continued. "I have spoken to Agate. She says you are healing and will be able to leave this bed in a moon or two. At that time, you will be examined by our grandmother and the council. What happens as a result of that examination may not be… to your advantage.

Carina is concerned for you. She has asked me to join her and to get to know you. She believes you will need friends in council and she does not believe she will be friend enough; she is but a girl and her opinions are not always held in much esteem by her elders, it is fair to say.

Carina said Pfft! again then shrugged.

Seriously? I’m going to be put up in front of a bunch of strangers and I’m facing some sort of punishment? What freakin’ for? That’s not fair! I don’t even know what I’ve done! Why doesn’t somebody tell me what I’m supposed to have done! Why do you all hate me so much?

This guy marched into my room and told me I’m in a shitload of trouble and I have no idea why. I was totally freaked out.

Lord Leo looked at me with his lips pursed.

Carina and I are agreed. From now until you are well enough to leave this bed, this room, and go to face the Council, between us, we will try to ensure you have some understanding of the danger you are in and why.

Winter? Carina spoke for the first time. Winter, you had so many questions I would not answer for you. Leo and I would do that now if you wish?

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CHAPTER 4

You are in Purgatory, said Leo. You know this word, Winter?

Hell. It means hell. I think. The opposite of heaven, I whispered. Was he telling me I was dead?

"Not exactly but near enough for now. Our forefathers named it so and it is well named.

"Purgatory is our land; if ‘land’ is the right word. It is our home. Even before the Endless War began, the old and the young came here, to the caves and old mines that ran all through the Eastern Hills, for safety.

"Back then, we called these places Sanctuary. Now, collectively, we call them Abaddon and this region of Abaddon we named Purgatory.

Times have changed. We have not. We made the first tunnels and every tunnel since. We know them from adit to work face. Mining and metal craft were our greatest strengths. They still are. We were miners, colliers, tunnellers, smiths, jewellers, cutlers and armourers. We still are.

Everything changed when the Elect began spreading like a blight across the lands, Carina chipped in.

"Yes. A blight. Or a plague. The villages, where some of our people lived and worked, went first. They were hollowed out. People followed the work and work, more and more, could be found only in the market towns increasingly run by and for the Elect. When all but a few were left behind, eking out their subsistence livings, or their life savings, the Centuries moved in. The villages were razed and the people fled with what they could carry. They would never return.

"The market towns, where most of us lived and traded, where the Freemen also came to trade, were slowly overrun. The Elect regulated the marketplaces, fees were charged to sell our goods and services. Plus a cut of the profits, of course. Sometimes, our goods would be