Free History Keepers 1: The Storm Begins by Damian Dibben

voice echoing around the cavern. ‘The Barco Dorado , Spanish warship, one of the few survivors of the Armada fleet. And the Stratagème , a very early submarine. A Dutch ship and an Atlantic clipper are being repaired at the port of Brest. Shall we continue?’
    As Topaz swept back through the arch, Nathan caught up with Jake and whispered loudly in his ear, ‘In case you weren’t sure, she loves the sound of her own voice.’
    They crossed the landing and passed through a door into a large vaulted room.
    ‘The armoury,’ Nathan announced with relish, assuming the role of tour guide.
    In the centre of the room stood two raised platforms like boxing rings, where agents in helmets and armour were practising combat. Every inch of the surrounding wall was covered in gleaming weaponry.
    ‘Greek, Roman, Celtic, Byzantine’ – Nathan indicated the various sections – ‘Crusader, early medieval, Renaissance, Age of Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, and so on. Catapults, slings, crossbows, longbows. Swords, sabres, long swords, broadswords. Axes, spears, lances, maces, daggers, glaives—’
    ‘I think he probably gets the gist of it,’ interrupted Topaz wearily. ‘There’s a lot of metal.’
    ‘But you will notice a lack of firearms and explosive material,’ added Nathan with an arch of his brow.
    Jake hadn’t noticed at all, but he nodded knowingly.
    ‘You see, explosives cannot be transported in the time flux,’ Topaz continued. ‘If they somehow found their way onto a ship, the unstable elements could get mixed up with our atoms and …’
    ‘… it would be goodbye tomorrow!’ Nathan imitated an explosion. ‘Any good with a longbow?’ he asked Jake, taking one down from a rack.
    ‘He wants to show off his somewhat limited skill,’ explained Topaz.
    ‘No, I – I don’t think I ever …’ Jake stammered.
    Nathan primed his bow with an arrow and aimed for a target in the far corner of the room. They all squinted to see where it had hit. The arrow had found the bull’s-eye, but not quite the very centre.
    Topaz sighed, took a longbow herself, nocked the arrow and let it go. Her arrow hit the exact centre of the bull’s-eye. But she did not stop there. She fired another arrow, then another and another and another. Nathan squinted at the target. With her perfect shots, Topaz had written the letter T.
    Nathan scrutinized it, then turned to Jake. ‘She’s jealous, you see, as I am currently regarded as the Secret Service’s most valuable agent.’
    ‘So how many agents are there exactly?’ Jake asked, trying to diffuse the tension.
    ‘At any given moment,’ Topaz replied, ‘there are usually about forty actual agents working for the organization, although there are dozens more auxiliaries – like the crew on the ship, et cetera, et cetera. About a third of the agents are based in the Peking bureau in Ming Dynasty China. They report to the commander, naturally, but they’re in charge of the eastern hemisphere.’
    ‘And the agents here, from the western hemisphere,’ Jake asked, ‘they all live on the Mount?’
    ‘ Ça depend .’ Topaz shrugged. ‘Depends how much dangerous activity there is. In quiet times, most of them return to their own eras. Except Nathan and me, of course.’
    ‘We’re stuck with each other.’ Nathan gave a wink. ‘You should tell Jake that out of all those agents you’ve mentioned, only ten or so are real hot shots like us.’
    Topaz explained. ‘A small number, invariably us younger agents, have the greatest valour – hence our name: Valiants . It means we can travel further in history and with greater ease. As agents age, their abilities usually weaken – the diamonds much less so, of course, but even their valour coalesces and hardens over time. These older agents—’
    ‘The has-beens,’ Nathan teased.
    ‘– are called Advancers . They’re largely involved in the day-to-day running of things. But the strong ones, the diamonds – like your