Jade Fire Gold(93)

Flaming arrows detach from the main rocket tube, exploding as they smash against hull. Smoke erupts. I start to cough as a pungent smell reaches my nose and tickles my throat.

“Black powder!” someone yells. “They’ve got black powder!”

Ten Hells. Black powder. I’ve heard of this material. The Empire has only begun experimenting with it, but rumor has it that our southern neighbors have found a way to harness it for their own weapons. It’s said to be a deadly explosive and I can see why.

There’s a deafening boom, and something round like a ball sails past our ship. It lands and the sea bursts forth, sending a torrent of cold water onto us. More rockets and flaming arrows rain down. One of the sails goes up in flames.

What chance does one pirate vessel stand against the might of three military-grade naval warships? We’re not going to make it if I don’t do something.

Slipping and stumbling, I get below deck to the captain’s quarters. The door is locked. Quickly, I tap into my magic and blast it open.

The dark sword lies on the table, waiting. Calling.

This time, I don’t resist.

My fingers wrap around the hilt, and it molds to the valley of my palm. It starts to glow a smoky sea green. Something seeps out of me, flowing through my hand and into the blade. I feel my magic intertwining with it, bonding with it.

The sword comes alive in my hand.

I come alive.

A vivid sense of purpose seizes me. I sprint back up to the prow, brushing aside anyone standing in my way. The sword guides me as I grip it with both hands and raise it to the sky.

Lightning crackles. Shards of white light split midnight blue into fragments. A blazing splinter shoots down from the Heavens, spiking into the tip of the blade.

The jolt of energy goes through me, but there is no shock. Only exhilaration.

I bring the sword down.

And the lightning cleaves an enemy ship in half.





43


Altan


Explosions light up the night sky. Bodies and flotsam litter the waters. But everyone on deck stands motionless, our eyes focused on the prow.

On one girl.

The girl who stands ramrod straight, glowing sword in hand, hair dancing wildly like a thousand snakes. The girl who split a naval warship in half with a mere swing of her arm. The girl who brings her arm down again and again as lightning tears apart two other warships.

She raises the sword up to the Heavens again, and the lightning vanishes as suddenly as it came. She looks right at me when she turns around, fiery amber flames glowing in her eyes.

Beside me, Tang Wei shivers. “Looks like your little tigress has finally found her wings.”

Dawn breaks over the horizon. Slowed down by damaged sails, we leave last night’s destruction behind. The crew gives Ahn a wide berth when she appears on deck and beckons me down to her cabin.

When I enter, Tang Wei looks up and gives me a subdued smile, her usual exuberance gone.

“We’re all here; tell us your plan,” she says to Ahn.

Ahn takes a deep breath and declares, “I’m going back to my father.”

“No, you’re not,” I say right away. “You can’t stop me, Altan. No one can. I’m going to rescue my grandmother.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“I’ve thought about it, this is the only way.” She’s too calm and there is something else different about her that I can’t put my finger on. “I think I know why my father sent out that decree. He wants to recruit large numbers of men and boys and somehow tether them to the dark sword to form an army. He wants to go to war again.”

“An army? What does the sword have to do with it?”

“An army of the undead.”

Tang Wei’s jaw drops. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s what Altan’s great-grandfather did.”

“What?” Tang Wei and I both exclaim.

“Why didn’t we know that?” asks Tang Wei “Historians.” Ahn throws a glance at me before pointing at the Obsidian Sword resting on the table. “The Soul Beast showed me a vision and Yuan Long was holding this sword. I’m sure of it. He used his life-stealing magic together with the sword’s own to command phantoms and spirits—an army of the undead. That’s how he conquered those lands. That’s how our empire was built. Yuan Long’s victories meant that he was free to create his own narrative of what happened all those years ago. That’s why we didn’t know.”

I sink back into my chair, bewildered. Tang Wei sticks her dagger into the table with a grunt, leaving a gash on the wood.

“Did Zhao Yang know the dark sword was in the sea? Were we being played all this while?”

“I don’t know,” says Ahn. “All I have are faint memories of conversations he had with my mother when I was a child. Leiye tried to warn me back in the bamboo forest. He told me not to get on the ship to find the sword, said he was researching, and something didn’t add up.”

The sound of my former best friend’s name hovers like a storm cloud. “Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean that your plan will work,” I point out. “You’re going back into the lion’s den. What makes you think Zhao Yang won’t lock you up again?”

“I know him,” she says, a small, sad smile on her lips. “He wants the sword badly enough that he’ll be glad to have me back. He won’t harm me because I’m the only who can use it. I’ll tell him I changed my mind because of the Nandah attack. If the south declares war on us, we’ll have to protect ourselves and that’s where I come in. I know I can convince him.”