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Chapter 74: The Experiment
Last Updated:
2023-12-21 21:03:05
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“He was mad!” Aki exclaimed. “Only the gods have the power to create or bring back life. It’s blasphemy!” “Is it though?” Sasha asked, his eyes lowered. “What’s forbidden and what’s fated? Who are we to pass judgment? The boundaries are muddled. If the shaman hadn’t reactivated my ki, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. And if my eldest brother hadn’t died in the hands of pirates, who knows if my parents would still have sought to limit me. Even the grownups can’t tell what’s right from what’s wrong. They’re so scared of death that they hold back from liv—” “Sasha!” Aki shouted in an admonishing tone. “Don’t tell me you believe the ravings of that lunatic? Shame on you. You of all people should know that some borders aren’t meant to be crossed, some secrets are never meant to be discovered by ordinary mortals.” “Gomennasai,” Sasha quickly apologized, suddenly realizing how he might’ve sounded to Aki. He had lifted his thoughtful, lowered gaze as though from a broken spell. “All I wa
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Temujin woke to a day full of noise and confusion. Sasha was shaking him and screaming in his face. Temujin blinked his eyes once, twice, and saw dust motes floating through a ray of sunlight streaming through the cracks in the wall. The morning was otherwise bright and clear. All at once, there was a deafening, rending sound like that of wood splintering and it occurred to the red Slayer that the cracks in the main hold wall were much bigger than they normally were. His eyes flew open. “We’re under attack!” Sasha screamed at him while using his water manipulation to turn back the water that was entering the main hold in a gush. On their alarmingly inundated floor, Temujin could see cannonballs rolling around, a few of which were not their own. He was wearing nothing but his pants. There was no time to get dressed and he only grabbed his shukos (tiger claws) from inside his cork bag. “Where’s Aki?” he shouted above the din of whistling cannonballs and more splintering wood. Their
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“Ok, here’s the plan,” Temujin said in a quick huddle. “I’m going below deck and shoot the cannons. When they close the distance, we’ll make a sharp turn. Sasha, you drop our sea anchor on the left—” “Port side,” Sasha corrected. “— portside and fill it with as much water as you can. Aki, channel all the wind you’ve got to the sail. We’ll swing broadside so they’ll be in our firing line.” This was because their longship had no bow or stern cannons; all their cannons were located on the sides. Temujin finished with grim determination: “We’re gonna make these pirates regret targeting a Slayer ship.” “Yeah, we got this! The wind’s on our side,” Sasha said, referring to Aki. Temujin instinctively held out his hand for a hand-pile cheer and Sasha quickly accepted. Aki hesitated because of what happened last night, but when she saw both boys’ faces, she couldn’t help sharing their spirit and followed suit. They gave various cheers as they raised their hands. “Slayers!” Temujin cheere
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Temujin couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The thing that crashed through the deck was now standing in front of him. Its size made it look like a bear but it was actually human. A giant covered in tattoos. The pirate grinned with malice. His hair was swept back and tied up in a bun and it gave him the look of a sumo wrestler. The sumo theory explained his extraordinary bulk and warned that underneath all the layers of fat lay a whole lot of muscle mass. What it didn’t explain though was how he managed to clear the distance between the two ships in a single bound and carry steel melon hammers like batons. “Methinks I shall have ye fer breakfast, Salamander,” the pirate said. “I won’t be easy to digest” was all Temujin could think of as a retort. He hoped Sasha and Aki were having better luck above. × Things didn’t look good for Sasha and Aki. They counted a total of nine pirates in the boarding party, including the human wrecking ball that had made a hole in the deck. They were o
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Ganzorig was much taller than the average Salamander. His hair was in a top knot and he had a long thin nose that was aquiline and raptorlike. His skin was bronzed while his eyes, always half-open, belied his violent nature. He wore chain mail on his huge arms and steel gauntlets on his hands; wide chains crisscrossed his bare chest. This was the trademark attire of the Kanebori-shu or Gold-diggers. They were fire Slayers lured from distant regions by the gold rush, renowned for their skill in demolitions and explosives like nitroglycerine. Many of them had been recruited by the Khaganate to become siege-engineers and sappers in wartime. More urgently, he carried a chain whip in his left hand. It was divided into nine sections, including a hilt and a sharpened dart at the tip. Such a whip was considered a “soft” or flexible weapon and was difficult to wield. Temujin and the other child slaves had had many traumatic encounters with it. “Oh, you made some friends. How cute!” Ganzorig s
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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
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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
