Expatria: The Box Set by Keith Brooke Read Free Book Online Page A

studiously at the wall. Their gazes barely flickered as Mathias passed by.
    As they walked quickly through the corridors and across the Manse gardens, Mathias kept expecting to hear voices raised in pursuit, but the night remained still. The guards at the main gate stared right through Mathias, choosing not to see him, and then he was out in the Playa Cruzo, believing at last in what was happening.
    'Come on,' said Sala. 'You're not clear yet.'
    The streets they followed were empty and it was not long before Mathias realised they were heading for the docks. It made sense: a boat would not have to pass through the unsettled back country where the clans would be at their strongest and Mathias might be recognised by citizens mourning the loss of their Prime.
    As they climbed the steps inside West Wall, Mathias thought of his grandfather. He had never heard much of the story, except that the disgraced Prime had fled Newest Delhi under cover of the night, much as Mathias was doing now. There had been some sort of scandal and his grandfather had fled in an old shuttle, restored in secret in case it should ever be needed. But the scandal had been so great, or the escape so hasty, that the shuttle had been struck down from the skies, ending, finally, the influence of the old ways. Tonight Mathias was fleeing, but there the resemblance ended; he did not expect to be struck down in the sea, he just wanted to be free from all that had happened. March had done well to retain control under the circumstances of his father's demise; he had managed to keep tight rein on the excesses of the transition. Any excesses March had inherited from his father had long been suppressed. As Mathias's feet crunched along the upper reaches of the beach, he felt a sudden affinity with the grandfather he had never met.
    Sala stopped ahead of him on the jetty, the dark shape of a barge just visible over her shoulder. She stepped towards Mathias and embraced him. 'I'll pray for you,' she said. 'Maybe someone will hear.'
    'Edward will pay for this,' said Mathias. It was a wish more than a threat.
    'Edward? You think he killed the Prime? Maybe, but I don't think he would have it in him, he's just capitalising on it. My guess is that one of the clans is responsible. They will make their move on Newest Delhi soon enough and then we will know.'
    She released him and nodded at the barge. 'Idi Mondata arranged the boat through his Krishna friends. It will take you to Orlyons, out of Edward's reach. Mathias, you are like a son to me, or a brother... I don't know. I'll clear your name, somehow. I'll find out who killed your father and then you will be free to do what you wish. Mathias, look after yourself. Don't be bitter.'
    Mathias turned away, confused again. Things should not be like this. A hand reached out to help him on to the boat but he shrugged it off and stepped aboard, clambering over a pile of rope and feeling in his bones the rhythmic beat of the vessel's meth manoeuvring engines. He turned to wave but Sala had vanished. He wondered if he would ever see her again.
    As the engines quickened Mathias settled down in the aft cargo hold and tried to get comfortable. He released a long-held breath and slowly the barge edged away from the dock, away from Newest Delhi and into the darkness of night.

PART TWO
    MidNight
    Chapter 5
    Kasimir Sukui was not fond of the sea. It was untamed. It followed no internal framework of logic. It aroused feelings he preferred not to acknowledge: fear, anger, awe. Fear was perhaps to be expected—drowning was not something to anticipate in any other way—but why be angered or awed by slabs of water, stirred by gravity and by the wind? Kasimir Sukui disliked such impulses. He was a rational man.
    Facing his fears boldly, he stood at the prow of the barge and watched the waves. The largest—barely three metres from trough to tip—were capped with foam that was green with algae. He tried counting the waves in an attempt to find