Dangerous Offspring Read Online Free Page A

self-evident, and their waffling questions always lead me away from the point.’
    ‘I’ll make sure it goes smoothly.’
    She pulled her oversized cardigan closed and sipped her coffee. ‘This is the culmination of years of work since I unveiled the model. The dam has occupied my every waking hour…and my sleep too. But I doubt the reporters care. They look for other stupid stories and then concentrate on the wrong one. They’ll chase off after any scandal no matter how momentous the occasion.’
    I said, ‘It’s all right. Don’t worry, just leave them to me. I’m used to keeping them in check. If they ask me a question I can’t answer, I’ll bring you in.’ I waved my hand in the air and Frost stared at it. I dug it into my pocket. ‘I’ll find a quick flight refreshing. The dam breaks up the air in interesting ways. It is a masterpiece.’
    ‘Oh, yes! It really is the most efficient structure! There’s never been a dam with the functional strength of this one, there’s never been a lake so capacious!’ Keen enthusiasm lit her face. She had been boring people on the subject of river engineering for three hundred and fifty years and this was her greatest project. ‘It makes Micawater Bridge look like an apprentice piece! Every engineer said I was being over-ambitious, but the figures were sound. So is the actualisation! They said it was impossible. They said, “You might hold the model in your hands but you’ll never raise the biggest construction of all time right on the Insects’ doorstep.” Three years later, I took them for a tour! Since the Wrought blast furnaces are operational again I’ve had iron for the rack and pinion cast in segments and assembled here, an elegant solution, you must admit, and you should look out for the way I’ve bridged the walkway above the overflow conduit so–’
    ‘Frost, please…’
    ‘I thought you liked it.’
    ‘I do, but you’ve just asked me to call in Lightning and Eleonora.’
    ‘Oh yes,’ she said, chastened. ‘So I did.’
    I blew her a kiss with both hands that became a mock bow. ‘See you in an hour, OK?’
     

    I walked out to the cobbled central courtyard, enclosed on its three other sides by the cookhouse, mess room and tavern. Each was built of limestone blocks and roofed with lauze; thick, heavy slabs that looked shaggy, like the boughs of a fir tree.
    The buildings were pierced with arched alleys, three in each side, just wide enough for one man at a time. They were designed to stop all but the smallest Insects reaching this square, a final refuge if the town’s outer defences were ever penetrated.
    The plain hall had fulfilled many purposes over the years: a hospital, a headquarters for immortals, and it was now Queen Eleonora Tanager’s temporary residence and Frost’s office. Frost’s orange banner ran along the length of the roof: ‘Riverworks Company Est. 1692’ in bold black letters. Beside it flew Tanager’s swan pennant, Micawater’s argent mascle on an azure field, and the Awian white eagle on sky blue.
    Soldiers had gathered outside the Primrose Tavern opposite. They sat on stools made from barrels to watch two immortals sparring in the middle of the square. The Swordsman, Serein Wrenn, was fighting the Polearms Master, Lourie Hurricane. They had an Eszai competitive edge to their play; they both knew that if they weren’t training, somewhere a potential Challenger was.
    Lourie Hurricane was a quiet perfectionist, a tall man from Plow who used to be a vavasour cart-driver before he became immortal. Serein Wrenn, on the other hand, was short and stocky and had the silliest haircut of all the Eszai–waxed up into short spikes with bleached tips. His narrow sideburns tapered into a little chinstrap beard.
    Wrenn had come forward and beaten the previous Serein in a fair Challenge, according to the Castle’s rules, only five years ago. Many still said that his predecessor was the more steadfast fighter, but Wrenn was quick