He saw the king glance back, his eyes widening, shocked that an Archain was close to his pace. Even still, Toono was losing ground. Perhaps the king’s Adrenergy was providing enough of a boost to best Toono’s efforts. Toono had prepared for this possibility.
Toono struck the ground thrice more. Three cracks raced forward, to the right, and to the left at a speed much faster than himself or the king. The crevice to the front went directly for the king. The two to the sides arched around the king, connecting together again in the distance and hopefully cutting off the king’s path. By weaving his Archaic chains so that the fissures were as wide as canyons, he made sure Supido couldn’t clear the gap with a single stride.
As chasms swallowed acres of forest, cherry blossoms disappearing by the second, tremors threw Toono off balance. Thankfully, he saw Supido come to an abrupt halt in the distance.
The king spun every which way, but Toono had already caught him. Toono charged, and the king whirled his sword. Sliding beneath Supido’s blade, Toono used the momentum to attempt a sweeping kick at the king’s ankles. Supido leapt over Toono’s legs, thrusting his sword downward midair in an attempt to skewer Toono to the ground.
As Toono slid past, he twitched his head out of the way just as the blade struck the sod. Looping the cane’s handle against the sword, he swung himself back to his feet, immediately kicking at the king’s face. Supido caught Toono’s ankle with one hand while trying to pry his sword from the ground with the other. Using the one foot Toono still had planted, he leapt from the ground, barrel-rolling midair and striking Supido in his jaw while twisting his other foot free. Toono heard a snap. The torque might have broken the man’s wrist.
Roaring in pain, Supido keeled over as he grabbed his wrist. The left side of his face was also bruised and bloodied. Toono hacked swiftly at the sword with his cane. As the wood made contact, a crack ran up the spunka steel before it shattered into pieces.
Wasting no time, Toono redirected his efforts to the king, sending him flying into a tree with a kick to the shoulder. Before Toono had a chance to strike him again, Supido recovered, disappearing as he stepped off to the right. Toono upped his concentration but didn’t spot Supido’s streak of silver until it was already in front of him. A palm collided with his chest, blasting the air from his lungs.
Toono rocketed toward the chasm behind him, his heels dragging through the sod. As his flailing body began to flip backward, he swung the handle of his cane into the ground, fracturing the surface, but also slowing his flight. He came to a stop and glanced forward, spotting a streak of silver careening back and forth in the newly formed crevice. The Adren King had accumulated speed while Toono recovered from the palm strike. Perhaps Supido thought the Rogue Demon wouldn’t be able to react. That was foolish.
Ripping his cane from the ground, Toono swung his ancient into the king’s neck, cleaving through skin, muscle, and spine. Supido was dead in an instant, his head rolling through the pink petals of Cherry Forest while his body tumbled across the ground.
Toono approached the king’s head and watched as his eyes faded to white. Reaching into his bag, Toono retrieved Anathallo, his five white gems. Three of them already burned bright, but the Gem of Courage—which had a subtle glow to it up until this point—was just now joining them as the fourth. King Supido’s death paired with Bruut’s, completing the threshold for the Courage Sanctum. This left one lifeless gem out of five, the Gem of Knowledge, responsible for holding the Dev and Intel sacrifices.
Toono dropped Anathallo into his pocket and threw his bag over his shoulder. He grabbed Supido’s decapitated head with one hand and dragged the body with the other before tossing them into the fissure. He then retrieved his cane and tapped it against the precipice. Slowly, the chasm closed, sealing away any possibility of the king’s body being discovered.
After closing the other fissures, he secured his cane within his cloak and began walking west toward Reikon Gate. He may have completed eight sacrifices, but the two that remained he had anticipated more than any. And one, specifically, would push him to his limits. He released a deep breath to soothe his nerves. He never thought he’d make it this far.
22
Mythmaker
Agnos and Tashami exited DaiSo, passing the abandoned castle until they arrived at a stretch of forest in which they had spent the majority of their past few days since receiving Toono’s gift. It was beginning to feel like home—one infested with gnats.
The two friends stood in a clearing amongst the trees. Agnos slapped at his neck and pulled his hand away, grimacing at the black splotch on his palm. He wiped it against the rope tied around his waist as a belt, then grabbed onto Orbaculum with both hands.
He swung the wonky ancient to the left, throwing himself off balance in the process. After witnessing Toono wield it with such ease, he didn’t imagine it would be so difficult. The staff was heavier than he thought, though, and the distribution of weight was impractical in regards to combat for any normal person. He would have expected the imbalance in weight to favor the side with three holes since there was more wood, but instead it lay in the lone hole at the bottom. Every time he picked it up, he’d forget that, which would send him staggering into a tree.
Planting Orbaculum into the sod, he regained his footing and leaned against it. Tashami, meanwhile, sat in a nest of roots. “You just have to remember why the weight is distributed the way it is,” Tashami said. “Sure, the instinctive assumption is that the end with more wood should weigh more, but you must consider the properties of each hole.”
Logically, Agnos understood this but applying that logic was easier said than done. The three holes at the top produced elastic orbs of varying sizes depending on which one he used. On the other hand, the lone hoop at the bottom created orbs of translucent steel, which weren’t moveable unless Agnos swung the staff while creating them. Thus, the theory was that the properties of the orbs determined the weight.
Tashami broke a twig and threw it into the dead grass. “You don’t have to worry about using it for combat anyway. You’re not fighting. Its purpose to you is that it can get you where you need to go. All you need to do is blow a few bubbles. That doesn’t require flailing it around like you’re an Adrenian with a sword.”
Agnos looked at the ancient from top to bottom and then exhaled. “I suppose you’re right.”
“You saw how Toono used it and now you want to match him,” Tashami said.
“Slanderous,” Agnos muttered. He eyed the biggest hoop at the top and blew into it. A bubble began to inflate on the other side, growing from the size of a fist to a shack until it rivaled a nearby full-grown maple tree. It swallowed the tree whole, enveloping it in its elastic walls.
As Agnos craned his neck to admire the magnitude of his creation, Tashami said, “Three days, and you’re that good already.”
Agnos shook his head. “There’s still so much more to learn. The most difficult aspect of the weaving is weakening the EC chains in the right places so objects or people can pass through it.”
“You’ve taught me everything I know about weaving—hence my wind bullets—so I believe you’ll master every concept there is to learn with your new toy,” Tashami said. “You and Toono are probably the only two people who could master an ancient this quickly. Even Gray Whale said it took her five years to accomplish anything with Marigium.”
“Ancients like her Marigium or Ophala’s Cheiraskinia are completely different beasts than Orbaculum. Trust me.”
“Just let me flatter you for once,” Tashami said, standing up. “Now come on; we have a lot of recruitment ahead of us.”
Agnos watched his friend wend between the trees. He had pushed this part of the process off for a while, but now it was time to form his crew.
* * *
Night had come. Agnos stood in front of the Whale House, the dirt road underneath him glowing orange from the torches perched behind him. The rest of the street couldn’t be seen, hidden beneath a horde o
f pirates some twenty paces ahead of Agnos. Several members of Gray Whale’s crew had to hold them back, Barloe being the most effective of them all.
Agnos sifted through a ream of parchment that he had spent the past couple nights organizing. As he shuffled through each sheet, the hopeful crowd grew restless. It was best to not keep pirates waiting. He glanced at Tashami, who gave him a nod.
“Well, the time has come,” Tashami shouted. The din dulled slightly. “My name is Tashami Patter. I am Captain Agnos’s quartermaster and only member of his crew—for now. Soon that last bit will change as we list those who have been given the opportunity to embark on the most meaningful journey any pirate or sailor has ever envisioned. When you hear your name, make your way to the side of the street. Someone will escort you to the front. Keep in mind, there is no rhyme or reason to the list’s order.”
Agnos handed Tashami the first approved application as someone from the crowd exclaimed, “Why doesn’t the captain speak?”
A raucous outburst from his fellow pirates implied they shared his curiosity.
Agnos waited for it to die down before explaining. “I prefer not to shout. It’s an unnecessary action to take in most cases.”
“What?!” a woman bellowed.
Tashami yelled back on Agnos’s behalf, “He doesn’t like to shout! Get over it!”
Barloe, whose back was turned to the mob, grinned.
Tashami went on to read twenty-four names before faltering. As he gazed at the name on the parchment, his right eyebrow arched. When he read it out loud, it sounded like more of a question. “Zorra Zandia?” He whipped his head toward Agnos and whispered, “Is that the Zorra we know from Flailing Fin?”
Agnos nodded. “Not many people with such a name in this world, so it’s a fair assumption.”
Tashami’s gaze turned to the walkway to their left, where he eventually saw the woman with skin like caramel break free from the crowd. Her dreadlocks fell freely down her back; her shoulders nearly as broad as Barloe’s, who seemed just as shocked as Tashami.
Barloe didn’t look in her direction as she approached the front, but when she did reach the open area, his jaw moved as if he was grinding his teeth. Ignoring him, Zorra retrieved a folded note from Agnos before joining the crew off to the side.
Time crawled forward another hour before Agnos’s hand finally emptied of parchment. Tashami addressed the crowd once more. “We appreciate the overwhelming interest this town has shown in our endeavors over the past few months. Unfortunately, a ship can only hold so many people. Agnos and I wish you luck in your future voyages.”
A low murmur filled the street as pirates turned to leave. As other members of Gray Whale’s crew began escorting the rejected pirates away from the dead-end street, Barloe left his post and made a beeline for Agnos.
“Why are you putting her on a ship?” Barloe asked.
Having expected this, Agnos lazily gazed up at the quartermaster. “Because it’s something she’s wanted to do her whole life.”
“As if that’s a valid reason,” Barloe spat, catching Agnos by surprise. Barloe had never displayed aggression toward him. “Plenty of men want to sleep with a different woman every day for their whole life, but you wouldn’t grant them that wish.”
Agnos stared at him in silence for a long moment before saying, “That is the worst analogy I’ve ever heard. Besides, that’s not the only reason. If that was the case, she’d still be at Flailing Fin.” He glanced to his right, where Zorra stood apart from the rest of the crew, observing the two quarreling men. “She’s a great navigator.”
“I can have Captain Gray give you Graft if that’s what you need.”
“And leave her without a navigator?”
“She could steal one from any crew.”
Agnos turned away and walked toward his new crew. “I’m not changing my mind. The navigator is the most critical role of this specific journey. Zorra can read stars better than me—scratch that—better than anyone I’ve ever known.”
Barloe reached out and grabbed Agnos’s arm, stopping him mid-stride and pulling him in close. “I beg you to stop. Must I get on my knees?”
Agnos crinkled his nose. “Barloe, I never thought I’d say this to a man I’ve come to respect so much, but this is sad and shameful. I’ve lived in the Flailing Fin for some time now and have gotten to know Zorra. She’s told me about your overbearing, overprotective habits in regards to her. You’ve barred any crew from bringing her on their ship. No pirate will even approach her, fearing that their crew will become the next target of the Whale Lord.” Agnos grabbed his bangs, stammering for a second in disbelief. “Do you not realize how crazy that is?!”
As Barloe’s back straightened, his eyes wide with aghast, Agnos continued his tirade. “You’ve squashed the woman’s dream! You were together for twenty years, and she sat by your side waiting for the day you’d let her join Gray Whale’s crew! Every voyage you’d return from, you promised her a spot on the next one. And every time that opportunity came, you did the opposite! And why?”
Agnos paused, a dumbfounded look on his face as he gazed at the quartermaster. He then said, “Because you love her? Sure, I get that. But the truth is that that reasoning stems from an archaic belief that is rooted deep within you: she’s a woman, and thus you don’t think she’ll survive the sea.”
Barloe didn’t say a word. Agnos knew his assumptions were correct. He wouldn’t have lost his composure if there had been any doubt in his mind. He seized the silence to add one more thing. “Take a look at my crew right now. Dammit, Barloe, you don’t even have to do that; all you have to do is walk a few steps that way—” Agnos pointed toward the Whale House’s front door “—and you’ll see that your own crew is filled with women. I hope you don’t think the same way when you look at them.”
The street had fallen quiet, for most of the pirates had emptied it. Those who still lingered, however, were watching two of DaiSo’s iconic figures go toe to toe.
Agnos lifted his hand, palm up, and asked, “You know Sephrina Jordan, correct? The Second of Five? You’ve lived next to this gulf for most of your life, so I know you do. At the age of fifteen, she had the most potential as a sailor in the Spirit Navy, yet her father, who was a Navy Captain, refused to let her join. Meanwhile, her older brother, who was terrible in every facet of sailing, had an expedited process in joining the navy. Sephrina was forced to find another way, which she did thanks to Brulane.”
Barloe’s gaze skated toward Zorra, realization dawning on him. Agnos nodded and said, “Yes, are you seeing how the three of us fit into those roles?”
The quartermaster’s eyes lingered on Zorra before landing on Agnos again. “You keep her safe, you understand?”
“Did everything I say just go in one ear and out the other?” Agnos balked. “She can keep herself safe.” As Agnos walked off, he felt Barloe’s hand grab him for the second time. This time, however, Agnos yanked free and continued forward.
Zorra stared at Barloe as Agnos brushed past her. He hadn’t expected such a confrontation. Perhaps he had underestimated Barloe’s temper when it came to Zorra. The man was passionate about her—far more than anything else. It was something Agnos could never understand—that attachment to a woman—for all of his desires were contained within a chronicle hidden in the sea.
* * *
Agnos and Tashami visited the beach after a couple more weeks spent getting to know their crew. An applicant document only provided so much depth. Agnos was quite confident in his selections. The reality of the situation, however, was that anyone could have been a good fit as long as they stayed out of the way when it came to the dive. Besides himself, the most important pieces were Tashami and Zorra.
Agnos held his clogs under his arms while wiggling his toes in the sand. Tashami scanned the shore and said, “Notice how everyone picks up their pace whenever we come down here?”
“Not everyone,” Agnos said. “A lot of them just snarl in our direction; some com
pletely stop what they’re doing.”
“Because you didn’t pick them.”
Agnos shrugged. “That’s life.”
After a short pause, Tashami said, “Barloe has been different.”
“As expected,” Agnos stated, matter-of-fact. “Maybe a bit more extreme than I had predicted, but oh well. This voyage means everything to me, so I need the best of the best in the positions that matter.”
“Agnos! Tashami!”
Upon hearing their names, the two Jestivan turned. Eet and Osh, the Whale Lord’s two cabin kids, were flying down the golden beach, their bare feet kicking up sand behind them.
“Hey, guys,” Tashami said with a smile.
They didn’t stop to say hello. Instead they grabbed the shirt of each Jestivan and began pulling them along the beach. Tashami and Agnos followed, allowing them to act as guides.
“What’s the rush?” Tashami asked.
“It’s a surprise!” Osh screamed as she and Eet ducked under a longboat being carried by a pirate on each end, detaching themselves from the Jestivan, whose much larger frames had to move around it.
They had covered most of the shoreline by the time Agnos realized they were heading for the shipyard. A horde of people, who he recognized as both his and Gray Whale’s crew, stepped onto the beach next to it.
“Hurry up!” Eet shouted.
They reached the crews as they huddled outside the shipyard’s exterior wall. Every face was present except the most important of them all: Barloe. And now Agnos felt a bit of a sting. Until then, he hadn’t regretted their altercation on the night of the recruitment.
Crole, a squallblaster on Gray Whale’s crew, stepped away from the crowd and joined the two Jestivan. “An early birthday gift,” he said, throwing his arm around Agnos’s neck. It wasn’t even noon, yet the young man reeked of rum.
The Chronicle Page 24
