The Armoured Ghost (11 page)

Chapter 14

The Last Two

SALT STOOD BEFORE
the five kids with his head hanging down on his chest. They were lined up in front of him in the main chamber of the Old School. Rake, Snow and Oddball had taken off their armour. Hoax was looking around in wonder. Tea-Leaf was restless and suspicious.

She had led them through a maze of sewers, tunnels and basements to the Academy garage. From there, the five had made their way down into the Armouron base. Salt had been waiting for them, relief written on his face. Now he was looking very serious indeed.

‘I sent you three out before you were ready,’ Salt grunted to his cadets. ‘If Tea-Leaf hadn’t come
along
when she did, you and Hoax would have been caught or even killed. Things turned out all right in the end, but it was just plain luck. And we can’t count on luck.’

He stepped in front of Hoax and Tea-Leaf.

‘You two know who and what we are now. We need two more and I believe you’re the ones we’re looking for. Will you join us?’

‘What’s in it for me?’ Tea-Leaf asked.

‘You will receive training as an Armouron Knight and live life by a code that will see you through hard times,’ Salt told her. ‘You become part of a group of true friends. Apart from that, there will be years of hiding away, being hunted. You will face a high risk of being injured or killed. And a slim chance that, at the end of it, the people of Earth might thank you for saving them from a cruel tyrant. But I wouldn’t count on that bit. So, how about it?’

‘Wow, talk about making an easy life for yourself, huh?’ Tea-Leaf quipped.

‘I should tell you, young lady, that I do not have a sense of humour,’ Salt informed her. ‘I consider it an overrated quality.’

‘No, really,’ she said. ‘Sounds good. I’m in.’

‘Yeah, I’m cool with that,’ Hoax responded.

Salt gave a little smile. They weren’t being as casual as they thought: he knew they would stand by their words.

Rake frowned. Tea-Leaf had never done any Gladiator training. How could she start from scratch now, as a knight? Still, it could have been worse.

‘So, Stamper’s not in?’ he asked.

‘No. He’s not made of the right stuff,’ Salt replied bluntly. ‘Now, it’s time for our two new cadets to choose their medallions.’

He brought over the wooden box, which held the last two power totems. Tea-Leaf and Hoax both hesitated – if they took turns, only one of them was going to get to choose. The two of them chose at the same time, each picking a disc in one smooth move. They both flinched as the Flow rushed through them – a mixture of energy, emotion and the faint whisper of someone else’s memories.

‘Stand Together,’ Hoax murmured.

‘Battle as One,’ Tea-Leaf added in a soft voice.

‘They have accepted you,’ Salt told them. ‘We have our five. From now on, you will live by the
Armouron
code: Honour, Duty, Compassion and Justice. But none of you are knights. Not yet. And before I let any of you out of here again wearing an Armouron suit, you’re going to need a lot more preparation.

‘Tea-Leaf, you are welcome to stay down here for the rest of the night. The rest of you need to get back to your beds. Hoax, I’ll have you moved into quarters in the Armour Department as soon as possible. So, all of you – sleep tonight, if you can. From tomorrow night, we’re going to get serious about your training.’

As they walked back towards the stairs leading to the Academy, Rake said beneath his breath:

‘What, like we weren’t being serious before? What’s he going to do us now?’

Chapter 15

A Bunch of Misfits

ONCE MORE, THE
row of cadets stood before Salt. He walked up and down the line. He did not look impressed. Tea-Leaf and Hoax were trying to hide how nervous they were. They had spent the rest of the last night and day wondering what the old knight had in store for them.

‘This is what I’ve got to work with,’ he growled. ‘A fine bunch of misfits, I must say. Look at you: a show-off, a thief, a geek, a liar and . . . and a little girl.’ Snow looked a bit hurt. Salt looked like he didn’t care. ‘Well, we’re all stuck with each other now, so we have to make do with what we’ve got. Not one of you is putting on a suit of armour again until I think you’ve well and truly earned
the
right to wear it. Let’s see if we can whip you into some kind of respectable shape before the White Knights find us and bury us in the darkest prison in the deepest hole on Earth.

‘Cadets! Up against the wall! Give me handstand press-ups! And I want to see the tops of your heads touch the floor and then I want those arms perfectly straight! Twenty times! Now!’

The five kids tipped up into handstand positions against a bare piece of wall and started lowering their heads to the floor and back up again. And so began a new level of training for all of them. Gruelling physical exercises to strengthen their bodies. Drills and sparring to improve their speed and coordination. Meditation to help them focus when they were completely exhausted.

For two weeks, Salt used every minute he could spend with them to work them until they dropped. Then he taught them how to pick themselves up so he could work them some more.

By the third week, he decided they were ready to start training in their armour. For the first time, Tea-Leaf and Hoax got to see what the old knight had made for them.

Like the others before them, they each looked
at
the tough polished surfaces of their armour. And, for the first time, saw the knights they might become. All five cadets brushed their fingers over the plastallic plating. They could feel the power of the totems flowing through the skin of their armour. They hefted the weapons in their hands, admiring their weight and balance. Finally, Salt had decided they each had earned the right to wear the armour of an Armouron Knight.

All of the cadets were suited up and given the weapons they would use in combat. They struggled to contain their nervousness, their excitement, as Salt walked down the line. He described the qualities of their armour to each of them.

Rake stood proudly in his red and black armour.

‘You carry the most weapons in the group,’ Salt told him. ‘Your suit is designed for strategy and offence. It has a range of small hand-to-hand and throwing weapons. The suit’s gauntlets can fold down into wrecking-ball-style fists to deliver devastating punches. Your armour has a selection of maps of Earth on microfilm slides that can be viewed with the helmet’s visor. The visor itself
comes
with a selection of magnification lenses for studying the environment – close-up and at a distance.

‘Your main weapon is your short sword, whose handle extends out so that it forms a lance.’

Tea-Leaf was admiring how light and flexible her grey and black armour was.

‘You are the spy and scout,’ Salt declared. ‘Your armour’s light-sensitive material can change colour, reflecting its surroundings, which offers a very effective camouflage. Equipment includes lock-picks, a manual microfilm camera loaded in the helmet, and climbing gear. The suit also carries a digital storage device for carrying software for hacking and downloading viruses. But once it’s plugged into a computer, there is a serious risk of detection. Built for silence and speed, your suit is the lightest and most vulnerable suit of armour.

‘Your main weapon is your crossbow, which has a dagger in the handle.’

Oddball was examining all the features of his yellow and black armour.

‘You are the scavenger and engineer,’ Salt informed him. ‘Your suit is the heaviest in the group. It is built to make best use of its
environment
. The suit carries a wide range of tools and a small selection of basic chemical compounds. It also has sockets for channelling power and electrical signals. These connections will allow you to hook into most forms of technology, but always at the risk of being detected. The vents in the helmet will enhance your sense of smell many times over, making you an effective tracker and allowing you to identify a wide range of materials and chemicals. As with Rake’s helmet, your visor comes with a selection of lenses.

‘Your main weapon is your warhammer, which breaks up into different tools.’

Hoax was already fiddling with his orange and black armour, wondering what kinds of tricks it had up its sleeves . . . and any other places.

‘Your roles are deception and misdirection,’ Salt growled, pulling the boy’s helmet up and making him stand straight. ‘Your armour plates are sprung to give them a counter-punch quality. If someone hits them, some of the force of the blow rebounds back at them. You can also jettison armour plates in order to slip out of an attacker’s grip. The suit’s helmet can amplify your voice – so you can make good use of that overactive
imagination
of yours. Secret compartments in the armour will enable you to trick your opponents. You can spread oil or ball bearings on the ground to cause your opponents to slip, or toss a smoke bomb and disappear.

‘Your main weapon is a stick that breaks into a nunchaku.’

Hoax pulled the stick apart, revealing that the two halves were joined by a chain. He practised swinging it around his body.

‘Finally you, Snow, are responsible for protection and evasion,’ Salt said to the smallest in the group. ‘Your armour is almost as light as Tea-Leaf’s armour, but is much tougher. It offers the best defence of all the suits. It can protect you against extreme heat and cold. It is light, to allow you to move easily. The low friction surfaces will make it hard to keep hold of you. A fold-away hang-glider can be fitted onto the suit’s back, and there are roller-blades in the soles of your boots. You also carry basic medical supplies and your shield can be expanded to three times its size, allowing you to shield others.

‘Your main weapon is your baton, which can also fire a climbing rope.’

Snow looked at the T-shaped baton, careful not to release the safety catch on the weapon’s trigger.

Salt stood back and stared at them long enough to make them uncomfortable.

‘The suits will improve your strength and speed and your senses. They will make the most of your talents. The visors will help you see through illusions and spot magic when it is being used against you. You need another few days to get used to training in your armour and to practise with their features,’ he said. ‘Then we go outside. I don’t need to tell you, that’s when things really get tough.’