Before the Storm Read Free Page A

‘How terrible. But how did you survive?’
    â€˜Can swim.’
    â€˜Ah, now it all makes sense!’
    â€˜So when you saw Daniel and me in difficulties, it reminded you of how your own parents died?’ asked Emily.
    Fox gave her an uneasy, deferential glance.
    â€˜Parents, yes,’ he replied, nodding slightly.
    â€˜Such a fine young man, and all alone in the world,’ said Mrs Lang, dabbing at one eye with a handkerchief. ‘Well, perhaps we can be a family to you, Fox.’
    â€˜Family?’ asked Fox. ‘You?’
    â€˜Yes. You simply must accept our help while you get your life in order. You could visit us here, and play with Emily and Daniel.’
    â€˜Play?’ asked Fox, as if he had never heard the word.
    â€˜Oh goodness, you really have lost your childhood,’ said Mrs Lang. ‘Never mind, first things first. You must have a bath, and while your clothes are being scrubbed and dried, you can wear something from Daniel’s wardrobe and have dinner with us.’

    Daniel called out that he was done with the bathroom, and now Mrs Lang sent Emily to have the maid bring more hot water and dry towels. Fox and Daniel were roughly the same height, so the fit of Daniel’s clothes was not much of a problem.
    With the change of clothes and the towels under her arm, Emily burst into the bathroom … to be confronted by Fox already undressed and sitting up in the bath. Emily saw lurid red stripes criss-crossing his back. He looked around as Emily gasped.
    â€˜I … I brought you a towel, and, um, clothes,’ she stammered, so mortified and embarrassed that she stood frozen to the spot. ‘Danny’s clothes.’
    Fox nodded, his face blank. ‘Thank you, Miss.’
    Suddenly Emily realised that the strange, striped pattern on his back was not an undershirt.
    â€˜Fox, your back!’ she exclaimed.
    â€˜Scars, Miss.’
    â€˜But how?’
    â€˜Flogged, I was.’
    There was a brief silence as the words registered with Emily. Flogged. That was something that only happened to sailors who misbehaved.
    â€˜I, um, yes, flogged,’ she managed. ‘That happens to sailors. I’ve read of it in Danny’s adventure books. I’m not supposed to read adventure books, so I do it in secret.’
    â€˜Floggings, happen,’ said Fox.
    â€˜But you’re a child … well, a youth, that is, a young man. I mean, like Daniel.’
    â€˜Discipline, on ships, strict.’
    â€˜Goodness,’ whispered Emily, still staring at the scars. ‘What did you do?’
    â€˜Insolence. Fifty lashes.’
    â€˜Fifty! Goodness. You must be awfully brave. Daniel once got six strokes of the cane at school, he could not sit down without a cushion for days. How old were you when it happened?’
    â€˜Fifteen.’
    â€˜I … goodness! Fifteen. My goodness, I’m so sorry.’
    â€˜Apologies, not required.’
    Suddenly remembering that she was alone with a naked youth, Emily snatched up Fox’s wet clothes and backed out, then pulled the bathroom door closed behind her. For some moments she stood very still with her back to the door. Fox had been flogged while the same age as Daniel.
    â€˜Three reporting, serial K37WCB0542. Trans.’
    The words had come from within the bathroom, and the voice belonged to Fox.
    â€˜Accident, boating, saved children. Maintenance facilities, courtly family, offered. Feeding, also. Currency, supplied, shillings, ten. Supplies, medical, available. Returning, estimate, twenty-two hundred. Trans.’
    Another pause. It was as if Fox were talking to someone at the other end of one of the speaking tubes like they had in the big emporium stores.
    â€˜Status, neutral. Status, self? Trans.’
    Emily remembered that Fox had referred to himself as Three. There was definitely something military about him, she was also sure of that.
    â€˜Understood. Trans end,’