Phoenix Burning Read online

  “Nell and I worked in the same lab, but her husband stayed at home with the children, he was a better dad than—”

  “Than you?” Toby grabbed his father’s hand. “Never.”

  Barnaby’s smile sagged around the edges. “No matter what else Judy or I have done, you’re the best of us both. Wherever she is, if she’s still alive, she loves you, maybe even as much as I do.”

  Toby squeezed his father’s rough hand. Their fingers were both zigzagged with old scars and ingrained with soot.

  Barnaby patted Toby’s shoulder and stood, captain of the Phoenix once more. “Come and help me get these electrics sorted out.” He pulled Toby to his feet and stamped back towards the panels. “Hiko, grab a cloth and help D’von polish. Dee, what’re you doing just standing there?”

  Dee huffed. “Don’t worry, I’ll have a course plotted by the time you’re ready to move the panels into position.”

  Toby took a final moment in the fresh air and looked around. Faroe Rocks were behind them, a low cluster of caves and ridges that sheltered the Phoenix from prying eyes. Ahead, it was open sea almost all the way to Eire.

  Toby strained to see as far as the horizon, his heart thumping. He had been born before the sun’s return: his eyes saw better at dawn and dusk and he always kept a piece of light material to cover his face when the light dazzled.

  As always, he was looking for any sign of the Banshee. Nell would never give up her vow to seek revenge on the Phoenix. And now Ayla knew about her murdered sisters, she wouldn’t try to curb her mother.

  The Banshee was coming and one day there would be a reckoning.

  Toby turned from the railing and headed towards the bridge. He waved at Hiko as he passed. His serious little protégé crouched next to D’von, whose face was as open and sunny as the sky. The two were as different as the Banshee and Phoenix, yet had more in common than almost anyone else on the ship – both had lost their families and been sold as slaves.

  Yes, Toby’s mother was gone, but at least he had his father.

  Inside the bridge Toby chose a pair of wire strippers and looked at the captain. “You’ve made all the changes to the engines, like we planned?”

  The captain nodded. “They should work fine with the solar power, but we’ll know for sure soon enough.” He rolled his shoulders.

  “She’ll be able to reach ten, maybe fifteen knots with her engines running,” Toby said with a grin.

  “We’ll burn up the salt, all right! Get the rest of these small wires stripped and ready to connect and I’ll check the inverter. It’ll be in the final crate – there’s only one we haven’t unpacked.” He raised his voice: “Rahul, I’m ready for the last box.” He forged out of the bridge and on to the main deck as the wind caught in the furled sails with the sound of a flock of birds.

  Toby twisted a wire between his fingers then carefully he stripped the plastic and laid the wire down. The sun shone through the holes drilled in the bridge roof, ready for the leads from the solar array to snake through. All Toby had to do was attach each to the panel via the inverter and the Phoenix would be powered by electricity.

  Electricity. All he’d ever seen of it was a bulb swinging in a Tarifan dungeon, but he knew its power. Thrilled, he rubbed his hands together. The Phoenix and her crew were already wanted by several governments; now, with engines running at full capacity, she would be the most sought-after ship on the salt.

  Toby shuffled Polly on to the table. “Sit here and tell me if I’m missing anything.” He worked his way through all the wires his father had left him, following each back to its source and ordering them.

  As he worked he realized that the deck had gone quiet.

  He raised his head just as the captain’s voice boomed across the ship. “Bloody well find it.”

  Toby raced into a scene of panic. In the centre stood the captain, hands on his hips, an empty crate at his feet.

  “What is it?” Toby slid to a stop.

  Marcus looked up from beneath the gunwale. “Toby, help us look. The inverter’s missing.”

  Toby stared at his father. “But we can’t use the panels without the inverter! Isn’t it in the box?”

  “Yeah, have you checked the box, Cap’n?” Crocker sneered from the other side of the second mast. “Wish we’d a thought a that, hey, Peel?”

  Peel was crawling around the solar array, eyes glued to the deck. “Good job Toby’s here, ain’t it?”

  “Did anyone see it before we started work?” Toby was growing cold.

  The captain shook his head and glowered at Rahul.

  Rahul pointed at the plastic crate. “All that was inside were wires and more silicon sheets.”

  Toby exhaled. “OK. So let’s search the wreck room in case it fell out in there.”

  The captain nodded. “Marcus, take Hiko. Theo, Simeon, if it isn’t found, take Birdie back to Cobh and find Dorah – make sure you didn’t sell her our inverter.” He turned to Rahul. “You and Nisha inventoried. I want a list of everything that came out of that storage container.”

  Toby straightened. “What can I do?”

  “Keep working. We’re going to find that inverter and when we do, we’ll need to be ready for the installation.”

  “And if we don’t find it?”

  The captain clenched his fists. “Then all we have here are some very expensive ornaments.”

  TWO

  As the sun began to lower in the sky, Toby checked the leads again.

  Polly nudged him with her cold head. “You’ve done all you can.” He ignored her. “Toby?”

  His knuckles turned white on the handle of his pliers. “If we hadn’t had the coordinates of the panels, the Banshee would never have attacked. We wouldn’t have needed to dock in Tarifa.” He continued to coil and uncoil wires. “Our friends died for those panels and now they’re worthless?”

  “Toby, please stop.”

  Carefully, he placed the last wire. “We’re ready to go.” He cleared his throat. “I suppose we’d better go and tell the captain.”

  As Toby stepped on deck, the Phoenix rolled against her anchorage. He automatically adjusted his balance and wiped the stinging spray that splashed his face. Once, he had been told, the salt had been clean, but seven billion people had filled it with rubbish. Then the super-volcano had poisoned the sea with gases and the tsunamis had broken up the great garbage patches. Fifty years ago, people had swum in the sea; now it was the salt and he had to wipe it from his face in case it burned his skin.

  Under a swaying canopy, Uma was repairing a net. She looked up as he dried his hand on his trousers. “How are you doing, Toby?”

  Toby shook his head, unable to answer. “When will Theo and Simeon be back with news?”

  Uma looked up. “A week? Sailing day and night, it’ll be at least two days each way.”

  Toby groaned. “Any word from Rahul?”

  “He and Nisha are still going through the inventory with the captain. If there’s a box or piece missing, we’ll know about it. Here, hold this.” Toby caught hold of the needle she offered, while she examined the netting she had just sewn.

  Toby took a moment to check the sky; they were anchored a day out of Reykjavik and he worried about hail. He and the captain had weighed the danger that bad weather posed to the solar panels against the fact that the oil war between Reykjavik, Scotland and St George, which had started over the North Sea oil reserves, would keep St George ships away from Faroe Rocks. They had decided the anchorage was worth the risk.

  At the moment the clouds seemed to be racing away from them. Toby squinted up at the crow’s nest where Arnav was keeping watch, then over the swinging plastic shades to the bow where Peel had set up a barbecue and was cooking gull stew for dinner.

  As he watched Peel stir the broth, Toby thought of how the awful cook had tried to save him from the Banshee. That led his mind down familiar pathways back to Ayla. The last time Toby had seen the Banshee, she had been facing a St George naval vessel
and fighting for her life. Even with one arm broken, she had whirled like a tornado.

  “You’re thinking of her again.” Uma touched his arm.

  Toby flushed. “How do you know?”

  Uma smiled. “I remember how you looked when you brought her to me, injured.”

  Toby shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Even if the Banshee escaped St George, we’ll never be together again.”

  Uma tied off a knot. “Because the Phoenix left the Banshee to the Greymen?”

  “Because my mother betrayed Nell and had her family killed.” Toby sat at her side and adjusted Nix so that the sword wouldn’t dig into his thigh. “Nell blames the captain.”

  “If the captain hadn’t fled, Judy would never have been in Nell’s home – it would never have happened.”

  “I know.” Toby leaped to his feet as the deck hatch that led ultimately to the wreck room was flung open and the captain appeared. He climbed up the ladder and stood with his shoulders bowed.

  Toby froze. “Bad news?”

  “We’ve been through that inventory three times.” Rahul climbed on to the deck behind the captain. “We never pulled any inverter out of the salt.”

  The captain growled. “It must have been in a separate shipment.”

  “All of this for nothing?” It was Oats. He was standing with Marcus by the winch and his hook glinted as he raised it over the panels. Toby couldn’t tell if he meant the work they’d done getting the solar array fixed up, or the loss of his hand.

  The other pirates started to mutter and Polly hopped quickly across the deck, her metal wings clattering as she spread them for balance. Toby lifted her on to his shoulder.

  “You’d a known we needed that inverter from the start,” Crocker snapped. “You shoulda made sure it was there before we worked our butts off gettin’ those panels all fixed up.”

  “Watch it, Crocker.” Dee stalked forwards. “That’s your captain you’re speaking to.”

  “Crocker’s right,” Rita called. “Why wasn’t this checked before we started?”

  “The box was there—” Rahul began.

  Toby raised his voice. “There’s no use arguing about it. What’s done is done. Your work’s not been for nothing. All we need is an inverter. Fix the panels in place, then I’ll fire up the boiler and we’ll find one.”

  “There’s a problem with that.” Marcus tugged at the scarf that covered the scar on his throat. “The solar panels on land were all destroyed in the riots – that’s why our salvage was so precious. And if the panels were all destroyed, their inverters likely were, too.”

  “Marcus is right,” the captain said roughly. “There might not be any inverters left to find.”

  Toby swallowed. “But you can make anything out of anything, right? Make an inverter.”

  The captain spread his palms. “I can try, but I’ll need components compatible with the Solaris array. I just don’t know…”

  “So, we’re screwed,” Oats spat. “That’s just great.”

  “Well, there’s a surprise. Looks like the Phoenix needs me again.”

  Toby’s brain stuttered. It was the voice he had been hearing in his mind for weeks. Polly jerked upright, digging her claws through his shirt.

  As the rest of the Phoenix erupted in furious cries, Toby slowly turned. He could barely believe it, but his ears hadn’t lied. Ayla was climbing over the side of the Phoenix, the beads in her hair clattering on the railing.

  “Ayla!” D’von’s face was bright as midday. “You came back.” He grabbed her arm and helped her over the gunwale.

  “Let go of me.” Ayla swung her legs over the side of the Phoenix and brushed rust from her hands.

  “Arnav, what the hell?” the captain yelled up at the crow’s nest as he pulled his blunderbuss from his belt. Dee grabbed a hook.

  Arnav waved frantically. “I were distracted – listenin’. Sorry.”

  “Are there more of them?” Marcus shouted.

  Arnav pressed the binoculars to his eyes. “Only the girl.” He called eventually. “She’s come alone … again.”

  “Well, now,” Crocker hissed. “Weren’t that stupid!”

  THREE

  “How’d she get on board?” Dee ignored Ayla and spoke to Rita, who ran to peer over the side.

  Rita gasped. “There’s a lifeboat tied to the anchor cable. It looks like she climbed it…”

  “And from there, I caught the pulley for the winch.” Ayla strutted forwards with a swing in her hips.

  “Amit, Ajay, we need razor wire around the top of the hawsepipe. Get on that,” the captain shouted as he marched to intercept Ayla. “How did you find us?” he growled, blocking her view of the solar array. “Rahul, check her for weapons.”

  Ayla held out her arms so that Rahul could frisk her. “Once we found out where you’d offloaded your spare panels – and thanks for those, by the way – all I had to do was work out where you’d go to install yours. Faroe Rocks are the nearest safe cove.”

  “Where’s the Banshee?” The captain scanned the horizon.

  “Reykjavik,” Ayla said. “We wanted more supplies and there’re none in this barren place.” She still hadn’t looked at Toby. “Don’t worry, Captain, we’ve a lot of repairs to do – we’re in no position to take you on right now.”

  “So you escaped the St George warship. I’m glad.”

  “Sure you are.” Her almond eyes roved over the ship’s crew and finally came to rest. “You’re looking well, Toby.”

  Toby forced ice into his voice. “You, too. Your arm?”

  “Getting better.” Ayla opened and closed her fist to show him. She was wearing a new long jacket over her old leather jerkin. Her hair remained lopsided where the explosion had taken it off – on her left side it formed spikes around her ear, on the right it swung down to her elbow, mixed with the braids that kept it off her face.

  “You took your cast off early.” Uma pushed her way forwards. “It’s only been three weeks. That break won’t heal right.”

  “Nell wanted it off. A cast on her second in command? It shows weakness.” Ayla’s eyes flickered.

  “I’ll take a look at it, assuming…?” Uma looked at the captain.

  “We’ll see. What are you doing here, Ayla?”

  “Yeah, your invitation was rescinded.” Crocker hopped on to the steerage to glower down at their visitor. “We offered you a berth on our ship and you shoved it in our faces, got Toby jailed on the Banshee. Got Peel stabbed an’ me almost keelhauled by yer crazy mother. You ain’t welcome on the Phoenix any more. No way, no how.”

  The sun caught in Ayla’s hair, sparkling among the beads and creating a slick of colour in the black. She was thinner than when Toby had last seen her, her eyes shadowed with dark circles. Toby could see she was in pain even as she straightened her back against the crew’s jeers.

  Something inside her had been broken by Nell. She had said she never wanted to see him again, yet here she was. Toby was drawn to her as if she had a fishing line and he was hooked on the end of it.

  Ayla sneered at the shouting crew. “You know, we saw the Phoenix leave us to the St George Greymen. Saw you sail past, with your paddles churning as fast as they could go – you couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Cowards.”

  “We offered Nell the chance of working together against the Greymen, dint we?” Peel’s fingers traced his stab wound. “She turned us down flat. Your captain can’t complain when she gets what she wants.”

  “Oh, she’s not complaining,” Ayla retorted. “In fact it worked out well for us. Slimmed down the crew of course, but we picked up some decent salvage from that ship before we sank her. And we got the panels anyway. That Dorah was a friend of yours, wasn’t she? Very helpful.”

  “What did you do to Dorah?” The captain’s voice was low, dangerous.

  Ayla turned her smile to him. “We traded honestly. More or less.”

  “Less, I’m guessing,” Uma spat, and the crew surged forwards. />
  “I’ll show you cowardice,” Crocker yelled.

  “That’s enough.” Toby moved to Ayla’s side. “She’s no threat – we know she’s alone.”

  “We’ve only her word the Banshee’s in Reykjavik,” Oats yelled. “And we know what her word is worth. They could be preparing an ambush.”

  “Then why would I be here, warning you?” Ayla shook her head. “You really aren’t that bright, are you, Oats?”

  “You’re the one being a fool.” He lifted his hook. “Coming here after what you did.”

  The captain raised his fist. “Enough! I’m going to get to the bottom of this. The best way to find out what the damned Banshee wants this time is to talk to its second in command. Take her below, Toby.”

  Toby turned to Ayla. “I’ll take you to the mess.”

  “Not the mess – the galley,” the captain snapped.

  Toby realized instantly that Ayla could not be allowed to see their map and Hiko’s translated text.

  “I’ll join you in a few minutes,” the captain added. “There are a few issues left to deal with up here.”

  Toby gestured towards the nearest hatch and Ayla marched across the deck, the eyes of the crew boring into her as she passed.

  “Be careful.” Dee touched Toby’s shoulder. “Don’t get drawn into her scheming.”

  Toby only nodded as he followed Ayla into the bowels of the ship.

  “You said you wanted nothing more to do with the Phoenix. Why are you here?” Toby sat on Peel’s butcher’s block, Ayla on the work surface beside the oven. He frowned as Polly shuffled on his shoulder. “You said you got our spare panels from Dorah. Did you install them?”

  Ayla gave him a measuring look. “Yes, just like you did. And just like you, we found out a key component was missing.”

  “You were coming to steal our inverter.” Toby’s eyes narrowed.

  “It crossed my mind.” Ayla shook her head. “But as you don’t have one either, we have to go straight to plan B.”

  “Plan B?” Toby’s breath caught. “You have a way to get an inverter?”