Marigold's Tale

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawaresHebrews 13:2 Copyright © 2023 Maggie Allder The moral right of the author has been asserted. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. MatadorUnit E2 Airfield Business Park,Harrison Road, Market Harborough,Leicestershire. LE16 7ULTel: 0116 2792299Email: [email protected]: www.troubador.co.uk/matadorTwitter: @matadorbooks ISBN 9781805146193 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Matador® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd To refugees everywhere,and those who work with and for them. CONTENTSAbout the Author PrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Epilogue Local Dialect ABOUT THE AUTHORMaggie Allder was born and brought up in Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire, the second daughter of a village police officer. She studied at King Alfred’s College, Winchester (now the University of Winchester); in Richmond, Virginia; and later at the University of Reading. She taught for thirty-six years in a Hampshire comprehensive school. After exploring more orthodox forms of Christianity, Maggie became a Quaker and is happy and settled in the Quaker community in Winchester. She volunteers for a not-for-profit organisation, Human Writes, which aims to provide friendship to prisoners on death row in the United States.Maggie has previously written three novels which form a trilogy of sorts: Courting Rendition, Living with the Leopard and A Vision Softly Creeping. Her fourth and fifth novels, The Song of the Lost Boy and Beyond the Water Meadows, each stand alone. All these first five novels take place in and around Winchester, UK. The first of the Lonely Island novels is called Dark Waters. Marigold’s Tale is the second book in this series. PROLOGUEFor the second time in a few months, a child was asleep on the settle in my bothy. This child, though, was at peace. She was warm and well, a slight smile on her face, the quilt drawn up to her shoulders, a slight flush on her cheeks.Marigold.It was her sister Lavender who had last lain there. Lavender, who had died in my arms just hours after I had found her on the beach. Lavender, who had started off the whole train of events that had led to the uncovering of a gang of arms smugglers and the release of a group of modern-day slaves who were climate refugees.The child looked grubby, I thought. The whole group of refugees who had CHAPTER 1For the previous couple of days life had felt crazy; from the moment that the coastguard had arrived with two Shetland police officers, En-Somi had seemed incredibly busy. First the islanders and refugees, who were just about keeping the villains at bay and stopping them from making some sort of getaway, had been relieved. Then there were people talking on radios, islanders phoning friends and family, refugees distributing the unidentifiable soup and potatoes on which they seemed to live, and children running around, laughing, screaming and, inevitably, sometimes crying. Lyle, the local nasyoni or police officer, who had been involved with Malcolm, Verity (the minister of the kirk) and me in bringing down the smugglers, was talking to the Shetland