by Mick Farren
Cordelia moved a small trunk so it was beside the door. “This is what we heard.”
Slide raised an eyebrow at the quantity of stuff that Cordelia had amassed. “Gifts?”
“From a grateful nation.”
“You’re out in the open now. The Four are no longer a secret.”
Raphael sat down on the bed beside his single bag. “It would have been a lot better if we’d stayed one.”
T’saya shrugged. “What could be done after the business with the king and the Mothmen?”
Slide moved aside as two privates, in fatigue overalls, started to carry out Cordelia’s baggage. She instantly became the Lady Blakeney. “Be careful, you hear? Don’t drop anything, or you’ll be in fatigues for the rest of your military career.”
“The High Command has managed to keep you out of the Albany newspapers so far, but most of Albany seems to know about you and wants to see you.”
Again T’saya agreed. “You no longer have any element of surprise.”
Cordelia glanced at Slide and T’saya as though she completely failed to understand their concern. “So? What do we have to lose? The enemy knows all about us anyway, so what’s so wrong with a few parades? We’ve earned them, haven’t we?” She turned to Jesamine. “You wouldn’t mind being famous, would you?”
Jesamine seemed less certain and moved beside Argo. “Perhaps. I’ve never been famous, so it’s hard to tell.”
T’saya gestured warningly. “It brings its own pressures.”
Cordelia appeared to completely forget to whom she was talking. “How would you know?”
T’saya regarded her coldly. “I was Jack Kennedy’s lover once, girl. I’ve seen your high society.”
Cordelia immediately regretted what she had said. “Oh … yes, right. I’m sorry.”
Slide stepped in before the confusion could plough any deeper. “Your only option now is to become as good as you can get.”
Cordelia pouted. “And I suppose that means a lot of boring training sessions?”
“It’ll take work.”
“But everyone’s saying nothing’s going to happen until the spring. We have plenty of time.”
“I doubt the Ahrach siblings will leave you alone until spring.”
A short silence ensued as each of the Four considered this. Slide had to be right. Quadaron-Ahrach and Jeakqual-Ahrach had been thwarted and humiliated, and they would be looking for any and every chance for vindication and revenge. They were not going to wait until spring. Finally Cordelia looked round questioningly. “There is one thing that I don’t understand.”
“What’s that?”
“How is anyone going to actually train us? Who can teach us? Archbishop Belfast? Rabbi Stern? Shaman Grey Wolf? The Lady Gretchen? I don’t think so. No one seems to know exactly what we are or what we can do. There’s no one to teach us.”
Slide laughed and made a unique and inhuman movement of his hand. “Don’t forget me, Lady Blakeney. Don’t forget Yancey Slide. I’m going to be with you, parade or no parade, every step of the way.”
Cordelia’s eyes narrowed. “You really don’t see us as anything but a weapon, do you, Yancey Slide?”
A slow and less-than-pleasant smile spread across Slide’s cadaverous face. “In that, my sweet Cordelia, you are, for once, absolutely correct. To me you are just a sword to be sharpened, an edge to be razor-honed and ground on the wheel.”
Argo quickly stood up and reached for his bag before Cordelia could compose a retort. It was time this conversation came to an end, at least for the present. “Let’s not keep our heavily guarded train waiting, shall we? Even heroes have to respect a timetable.”
TO BE CONTINUED
OTHER NOVELS BY MICK FARREN FROM TOR BOOKS
The Time of Feasting
Darklost
More than Mortal
Underland
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
KINDLING
Copyright © 2004 by Mick Farren
All rights reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Farren, Mick.
Kindling / Mick Farren.—1st ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN 0-765-30656-5 (alk. paper)
EAN 978-0765-30656-2
1. International relations—Fiction. 2. Imperialism—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Youth—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3556.A7727K56 2004
813'.54—dc22
2003071142
First Edition: August 2004
eISBN 9781466838758
First eBook edition: January 2013
