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Chapter 52: The Wog
Last Updated:
2023-12-10 21:01:23
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Temujin and Aki stayed quiet, signaling Sasha to go on. “I had my fair share of beatdowns,” Sasha confessed, “of being dunked in the toilet, of being the Wog.” His voice had taken on an edge as though it grieved him to relive these things but they had to be said. Aki looked sympathetically at Sasha. If she had only known. She was Sasha’s best friend when she was six and he seven. She should’ve been there for him. Having indeed led the isolated yet sheltered life of a princess, she could only imagine how alone he had felt after the memory wipe. Temujin, on the other hand, finally understood Sasha. He could never have known that behind such a charmed-life, apple-of-my-eye image dwelt rough experiences. “Why didn’t you tell the principal or your teachers?” Aki asked. “The same reason I couldn’t tell my brothers, sisters or parents,” Sasha answered. “There’s an unspoken code of secrecy among blue Slayers. I didn’t want to be called a snitch. That was even worse than being a Wog.” A l
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Aki and Temujin were both quiet. They wanted to commiserate with Sasha but they didn’t know what words to say. “I’m very sorry to hear this,” Aki attempted. “I wish I…” “It’s all right. It’s all in the past. And it was my fault for playing the fool and believing that I could be loved by an Ice-nin.” “No, it’s not your fault,” Aki insisted. “What they did to you was wrong in so many ways. And I wished my clan hadn’t done the Memory Wipe Spell on both of us and I could’ve been there for you as your friend. I’m sorry for all that. I truly am.” “I guess…” Sasha said, flattered that the future empress of the Gold Lotus Throne would say such words to him. “At first, it disturbed me that some Slayers could be so evil but as I stood completely frozen in the Touketsujutsu, the thought of all the teasing afterwards made me entertain the thought of never coming back to school. Ever. After that, I knew the shame was something I could never live down.” “I can’t imagine how you could’ve ha
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“The door creaked open,” Sasha narrated to his petrified audience. “There was no one there, at least no one immediately outside. I buttonhooked to my left and looked to the middle of the bathroom. There was the Ayakashi floating in all her spectral glory. I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck. The legends were true. She did look like someone who was eternally trapped in a dark, watery grave, clumps of her long hair waving like octopus tentacles. Because she had her head bowed and her neck bent in an odd, impossible angle, she was looking at me from the top of her eyes. She was smirking so her tiny face looked very malicious. I knew then and there this was no prank Lorelei or any student could ever arrange. “‘H-Hello there,’ I greeted in a small, cracked voice. I was forcing my mouth to say something, anything. “‘My name’s Sasha Babor and I’m a student here… in W-Wani-ryu. Just like you were. F-from what I heard.’ Instinctively, I was treating the ghost the way I would a
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“’Tis a sin tah suffer such a numbskull as ye live,” Captain Fang said, “but it appears we be a perfectly even match. Ye know as well as I do ’tis futile tah resort tah our mother element.” The pirate could barely stand in his exhaustion and was leaning on his sabre. Sasha was also down to his last reserves of energy. He was poised low on the ground, ever ready to strike with his shinobuken held horizontally in front of him, his left hand behind. “Were we in a trainin’ dojo where ye’ve been raised,” the captain said, “no one would claim victory… BUT HITHER IS NOT A DOJO!” Captain Fang thrust his amputated right arm and released the harpoon on the end of it. As a matter of fact, Sasha had earlier grabbed a handful of salt when he tumbled forward across a drying pan. Now he swung his left hand from behind him and flung the salt to the captain’s eyes like a sumo wrestler purifying the ring. Sasha felt a certain amount of pleasure when he heard the captain utter a pained squeal. In a s
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Aki leapt from roof to roof. Her tabi boots touched the tiles lightly before pushing off. She was harnessing Karamijutsu (Body-lightening). Without warning, a tile she was stepping on broke and she slid straight down to the edge of the roof, only managing to grab the gutter in the nick of time. She was dangling there when Yuriko appeared on the incline, just a few feet away, crouching and fanning out a set of throwing knives. Apparently, she had launched a projectile that broke Aki’s foothold. “Fancy a prince tah rescue ye, princess?” “I’m not a princess,” Aki replied through gritted teeth. “I’m a SLAYER princess!” With a back flip, Aki brought herself upside-down with her legs spinning in a wheel kick. Yuriko held her forearms up in an X shape and the casings of her katars blocked the kicks. Aki landed right in front of her. They were soon locked in hand-to-hand combat; something rare for Stork Slayers who emphasized defense over offense, evasion over brute strength. Yuriko projec
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They sat around Koumori-shishou on the moonlit beach. Like real students, Aki thought excitedly. Sasha had returned to his human form and was still half-naked. Apparently, shrinking back down was relatively easier than blowing up to the fearsome scale of Dragonkist Ryūjin. The master sat on a large piece of driftwood. He took off the tunic-like uniform of the Dark Emperor and revealed his usual attire underneath: the saffron robe and pom-pommed surplice of the hermit monks, the Yamabushis. From inside his sleeve, he drew out his shakujō staff with the six rings. Like Aki’s bō staff, it could be retracted and extended. Next, from his slightly hunched back, he produced his straw conical hat and placed it on top of his head. Finally, he unclipped his one-toothed geta sandals from his belt and put them on. He was completely transformed. Aki clapped and Sasha muttered, “Wow.” Koumori-shishou bowed with a flourish. “You’re a true master of disguise, shishou,” Aki complimented. The monk
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From the strong rocking movements, Aki could tell they were on a small boat. Her captors were using oars. All at once, the bag was pulled from over her head and the wind coating was removed from her mouth. “Get your stinking hands off me or I swear you’ll lose them!” Aki blinked to adjust her eyes. It was still night. Have they arrived in Dragon’s Horn already? “Spoken like a true warrior-princess,” said a familiar voice. Aki couldn’t believe it. She strained her eyes in the dark. “Temujin?” she blurted out. “That’s right. It’s me.” “But I thought…” “I had some help,” he said, gesturing to a second figure behind him. Aki let out a frightened gasp. In the pale moonlight, she could make out the Dark Emperor! “Oh, don’t be alarmed!” Temujin said. “It’s just my master, Koumori-shishou.” To Aki’s great consternation, the Dark Emperor swept back his hood and took off his iron dragon mask. An old man with slanted eyes and a long wispy beard like a mountain goat’s was beaming at her
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“What do you think they’re going to do to us?” Aki asked Sasha. They had eventually given up hope that Temujin would return. As much as it pained Aki to admit it, she knew he would succumb to brainwashing. Most Slayers did, sooner or later. “Well, at first they were pointed south like us but then they made a U-turn, which explains why we didn’t see them coming. My guess is they’re now taking us to Dragon’s Horn. It’s a big and busy trading port, for all things legal and illegal.” “They’re gonna sell us as slaves?” Aki said in horror. “No, we’re much too old to be submissive. But they know you’re the heiress apparent so they’ll demand a princess’s ransom.” “A princess’s ransom? How much is that?” “Let’s just say they’re gonna try and bleed your empire dry.” “My grandfather would never allow that. I’m sure he’ll have imperial soldiers waiting for us when we reach port. I’ll have these pirates arrested before they even—” “They probably wouldn’t tell anyone about you just yet. The
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In the afternoon, after their cheerless and tasteless brunch, the captain came down to the brig to grace them with his presence. Aki was right, the four most important people on the ship were: Captain Fang, the Dark Emperor, Kosano and Yuriko; in that order. But because they were pirates, it was easy to imagine incessant politicking among the last three. The entire crew was of course curious about the young Slayers who had kicked their butts, but they were under strict orders to stay on their posts and perform their duties. Nevertheless, Aki recognized Zaterra and Ganzorig; the first was endlessly cutting his nails with a dagger. Temujin also noticed his cork backpack slung on Zaterra’s shoulder. “Hey, that’s mine!” Temujin shouted, gripping the dragon-bone bars of his cage. “Finders keepers,” Zaterra replied and stuck out his tongue. “Give it back to him!” Aki demanded. “Be yer companions knowin’ yer secrets in this here bag?” asked Kosano. Temujin fell quiet. “Cat got yer ton
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They were held in separate cells down the ship’s brig. Aki’s and Sasha’s were adjoining while Temujin’s was across from theirs. Each cell had an additional feature. For instance, Aki’s had a water barometer to monitor the slightest change in atmospheric pressure if she attempted to form winds inside the ship. Sasha’s had a quicksilver thermometer to keep the room temperature in check. Last, apart from confiscating his flint and steel, the pirates put Temujin in a cell with the fire-proof bones of a red dragon for bars. In case the prisoners showed any signs of defiance by using their powers, the pirates also had a weird-looking contraption like an electrically charged spear. Sasha figured it was a weaponized version of the Leyden jar. If it touched their prisons (the conductor), it would discharge tens of thousands of volts. This last piece of technology suggested a link between the pirates and Tamerlane’s research on the fifth element, but all of them pointed to the fact that the cap
