Chapter 16

Regrets and Reconciliations

‘I WOULD HAVE liked to have seen him again,’ said Tea-Leaf quietly.

Through one of the Sieger’s side windows, she watched the dark speck retreating into the blue sky. The Inimitable was rapidly leaving Nu-Topia’s airspace, heading east.

She turned away, a wistful look in her eyes, and began removing her breastplate. Her four cadet friends were a little ahead of her. They were already stowing their armour in the shuttle’s secret storage hold.

‘He would have stuck around if he could,’ said Oddball. ‘But by the time I’d managed to get that rust-bucket’s manual controls working again, and Tock and I had talked Griffin through how to fly her so that he could drop us off, they couldn’t hang about.’

Hoax stashed his last piece of yellow armour, then turned and nodded his agreement.

‘It won’t take long for Decimal to organize a pursuit,’ he said. ‘Griffin wanted to get well clear before there are Kettle fighters all over his tail.’

Tea-Leaf knew they were right, but she was still bitterly disappointed. She, Snow and Rake had arrived at the rendezvous only minutes after Hoax and Oddball, to see the Inimitable heading off into the distance. She had been amazed to hear that her much-loved former guardian was on board the fleeing vessel. Salt had arrived in the Sieger moments later, just in time to pick up his team before they set off down into the sewer tunnels.

Tea-Leaf removed her remaining armour in silence. Once it was safely hidden, she moved to the window once more. The Skirters’ ramshackle ship had now completely disappeared from view.

‘Where do you think he’ll go?’

‘Dunno for sure,’ said Hoax. ‘Somewhere he and the other Skirters can set up without the Corporation breathing down their necks, I guess. They’ll lie low for a while, regroup, then – who knows? I seriously doubt we’ve seen the last of him . . .’

Rake approached Salt, who sat silently at the shuttle’s flight controls. The old armourer had said little since picking them up.

‘Master?’

‘Yes, Templer?’

‘I’ve been thinking. Griffin has an obvious gift for leadership. He’s a superb warrior – your top student, you said. And he clearly hates the Corporation. So why didn’t you ever enrol him as an Armouron knight?’

Salt gave an indignant grunt.

‘Don’t think I never thought of doing so!’ he rumbled. ‘But back in the days when Griffin was at the Academy, I was in no position to recruit anyone. I had the five medallions in my possession, yes. But I lacked the means or materials to craft such suits as you now possess.’

He turned to look at Rake gravely.

‘Besides, not all great champions are destined to bear a medallion. An Armouron Knight must serve as one member of a unified team. Griffin was – and still is – a courageous and noble-minded individual. But he is just that – an individual, a lone operator. There was always something a little . . . reckless about the boy.’

His steely gaze shifted from Rake to Tea-Leaf.

‘In that respect, he is not unlike another of my pupils . . .’

Tea-Leaf braced herself. She was only too aware that having stormed off from the mission briefing, then followed her own plan of action, she was bound to be in big trouble.

But before Salt could launch into the lecture he clearly had planned, Rake cut in.

‘Master . . .’ He hesitated, a little red in the face, as though what he was about to say didn’t come easily. ‘Before you give Tea-Leaf a hard time, you should know that if it wasn’t for her, the mission would have been a disaster.’

Tea-Leaf was gobsmacked. Her number one critic was coming to her defence.

‘I was all set to blow the containment field sky-high until she showed up,’ Rake continued. ‘That would have done for everyone. It was only because she cracked the generator’s control systems that we got the field down at all. She saved my skin too. And Snow’s.’

Salt frowned.

‘That may be so, but it does not excuse her earlier actions. Going off on her own like that put us all at risk.’

Rake wasn’t finished.

‘But that was only because I objected to having her on the team.’ He looked down awkwardly. ‘I shouldn’t have. We need her, just as much as anyone else.’

It was Tea-Leaf’s turn to blush a little. Snow gave her a warm grin.

Salt studied Rake silently, still scowling. But he said nothing further and a small smile crept across his lips. The young Armouron were beginning to stand together as a real team and he was quietly pleased. He gave another grunt, turned back to the Sieger’s controls and dipped the shuttle’s nose towards the Academy, the Old School and home.

Rake turned. ‘Stand Together . . .’ he said softly.

‘Battle as One,’ Tea-Leaf whispered back.

They grinned at each other.