Subterfuge: A Cultivation Academy Series (Bastion Academy Book 3)

by J D Astra

  “Clear, captain!” students and crew alike chimed together with a salute.

  It was the closest thing I’d ever experienced to the Busa-nan military. We knew the sea’s dangers well—it had been part of our summer curriculum. I was hoping I’d never have to see a giant, three-headed silk eel.

  The nightmare creature had two heads that—apart from biting and rending victims in two—vomited a string of silk. The third head was a false one for luring predators and prey alike in for the kill. The false head was shaped like a tasty fish, and it would glow and pulse enticingly. Unsuspecting victims would get in close for a bite, then the eel would use its needle-like appendages to weave silk into nets and capture their prey. The eels would mostly use the nets to loop up their favorite fish, but every once in a while they’d snag a boat, capsize it, and get the tasty flesh of human.

  Some said that once the three-headed silk eel tasted human, it became crazed, craving the flavor. Those eel were bold. They would swim right up to boats and toss the net over them, dragging them to the depths. Convoys were essential for that reason.

  “Listen up!” the woman at the front of my row shouted. Her skin was tanned with the heat of the sun. “You’re going to plant your feet, left in front and slightly askew, right in back, parallel with the rear of the ship.”

  We had covered this pose and practiced rowing in our physical training classes, so this wasn’t new to us. I moved into position as I’d done at least a hundred times, then began the cyclical breathing for en munje. Long, deep breaths that would be most efficient for endurance munje creation.

  “Now, place both hands in front of you and reach forward.” She mirrored the movement for us, then pulled her upper body back. Her hands flowed down past her legs in a wide circle. She leaned back and lifted her arms up to her shoulder, and then over, back to the leaned forward with arms out position. She did the movement again, faster, drawing a large half circle in the air across her body as if she were scooping into the water to paddle with her arms.

  She turned away from us. “Watch carefully now.”

  Her hands glowed blue, and she looked to the other section leaders. They shared a nod and then counted down, “Three, two, one, pull!”

  She began the leaning, arm-swooping movement, releasing en munje into the water as she did. They all pulled back together, and the boat eased away from the docks. They pulled again, and I joined in the movement.

  My leg wanted to bounce. We’d practiced rowing a hundred times, but it had always been in the yard or the bay, not out to the dark waters of the sea. I exhaled hard as I dragged my arms back with my upper body. The blood in my arms pooled down in my hands as I tugged at the en munje in the water around us.

  It tingled for a moment, but when I raised my arms up and around, the blood easily rushed back to my heart.

  “Pull!” the leaders said in time, and a drum was beat behind us.

  “The open water shimmers bright,” my section leader sang the words to the beat.

  “Afar from Busa-nan’s great light,” another leader boomed next, and a song emerged to the flow of the water.

  “We know not where we’re sailing to,

  But find great company in you,

  Oh Nalkas, god of the wind and sea,

  You guide us with your hand, steady,

  We may not know the way back home,

  And need not home without your moan,

  Oh Nalkas, wraith king of the deep,

  You cannot have our souls to keep,

  So bless us with your winds so fair,

  And lead us not your storm to bear.”

  Nalkas was not a name I’d thought of for many years. The tales of a great sea creature who commanded the wind, skies, and waves was a fiction used to scare the children into going to school. I’d recalled a traumatizing moment after Mother closed the storybook depicting a giant tentacled monster dragging a ship into the depths. “You don’t want to become a sailor and have Nalkas swallow you up, do you? So, go to class!”

  Nalkas—while not a giant sea creature himself—was real, just like Jigu. And his command over the sea was just as real as Jigu’s control of the earth.

  “They’re just fables to scare children into behaving, Jiyong...” Mae whispered.

  ‘You keep telling me the gods aren’t real. I’ve lived in this world longer than you, and I can assure you they are.’

  She harumphed. “Well I’m older than you, and I say they aren’t.”

  ‘Let’s just agree to disagree on this.’

  The convoy pulled away from the docks, and within minutes, Busa-nan was shrinking into the distance behind us. My heart hammered as I kept the steady pace of the rowing. We had trained our upper bodies hard for this, but somehow, it hadn’t been enough.

  After an hour, we traded out with the second shift. We drank water infused with en boosters and electrolytes to get our strength back up. We would have to row again after the third shift, and would need to be fully recovered by then.

  The convoy moved together like a navy fleet escorting cargo. The ships most at risk of pillaging were positioned at the center, and the outside ring was interspersed with battle cruisers loaded to the teeth with projectile weaponry.

  I moved to the upper deck to enjoy the view for the last few minutes of my break. Hana’s dark hair swept in a soft circle as the sea breeze blew through it. Her skin glistened with the spray of the salt, and her face glowed with serenity.

  I wanted to capture her like this and remember it forever. I felt Mae take a mental imprint—a picture. I smiled. ‘Thank you.’

  “You’re welcome,” she said with a happy sigh.

  Hana opened her eyes, and her face shifted from joy to dread. She turned, looking to the captain at the helm of the ship. “What is that?” she asked, pointing into the water.

  I ran to the edge of the railing to get a better look. Something long, dark, and tube-like emerged from under the boat to our right. It didn’t slither or have three heads, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t dangerous.

  The dark object came closer to the surface as it pushed forward, directly for our starboard bow. It was metallic, man-made without a doubt. My mind raced with the images of the submarine I had seen when I infiltrated the Wong dojang last year. It was a close match to this silhouette that was on a collision course with the Swift Sola.

  “It’s surfacing!” I yelled.

  The captain’s voice boomed over the songs of rowing. “Brace for impact!”

  Chapter 5

  THE CAPTAIN SPUN HIS arms overhead, launching a powerful burst of en munje at the surfacing submarine. The water around it swelled, then pushed us away—but too slow. I reinforced my feet and legs with zo munje to bolster my muscles.

  We listed to the right, and the boat trembled. I kept my footing, then the boat rocked down hard, throwing many students to the deck. Seawater splashed up over the edges, and the rowing students below shouted in fear.

  Woong-ji and Sung-ki scrambled up to the top deck, their hands already glowing with ghostly blue light. They mimicked the captain’s gesture, pushing another big swell of water between us and our attacker.

  “Keep rowing, do not lose momentum!” I heard a section leader shout below. It was near the end of their shift, and the rowers quaked with weakness. They were just students after all.

  I looked to Hana, her eyes wide with fear, then to the captain. “They’re exhausted!”

  The captain looked over the edge of the deck with me to see the students trembling, knees buckling. They weren’t going to hold out much longer.

  “First rowing shift, prepare to step in,” the captain boomed with ry. “Second shift to the top deck, assist the instructors. Third shift, get out of the way and conserve your energy!”

  Hana and I rushed down the stairs. The terrified students of third shift scrambled away from their posts, looking for anywhere safe to hide out of the way. I took up the same position at the front of the row and calmed my hammering heart. Steady b
reathing was how we got through this.

  Mae announced herself clearly in my head. “Jiyong, I’ve analyzed the submarine. It’s definitely the same build as the smugglers who delivered the drugs to the Wongs last year. I’m not able to penetrate the shell, they’re running some kind of munje repellant shield, but the silhouette matches.”

  How could I alert the others without telling the whole exchange class that something was afoot? It didn’t matter for now. We needed to focus on escape and survival. The details of the attack could come later.

  The boat rocked again, and the scrape of metal on metal set my teeth on edge. The deck trembled and shook erratically, and the wood of the bow splintered. Then we jostled hard, like something had grabbed ahold of us.

  The boat trembled like an earthquake was right below us. Cho lost his footing, falling into the student ahead of him. Clear blue water rushed up over the bow and swept across the deck in a meter-tall wall.

  I twisted, slicing the wave with a burst of blue munje. Some of the water splashed out over the sides of the boat, but a half-meter wall of blue followed it. The icy wave smacked against my shins, sending a mind-numbing chill through my spine. Cho was swept away with the water and heading for the stern.

  I shook my head and leaned forward, putting my arm out for Cho. He caught my hand, and I jerked him up to standing. Cho ran back to his rowing position, shocked and shivering. Another wave of blue rose in front of us. A flicker of orange clothes caught my eye amid the massive attack, and I focused on the figure it adorned. Fiery fox ears poked out from the white and orange mask that covered his face.

  Hiro Kumiho.

  Rage unquenchable burned in me like an inferno. I gritted my teeth and summoned all my energy into one massive repulsion. I pushed my arms overhead, then down in front of me to repel the wave. It was like holding back an army with a tiny shield.

  My body strained under the force of the attack, and the water in my body responded to Hiro’s command. Blood pressed to the back of my skull, and my vision blackened at the edges. I couldn’t let him on board!

  The power of the wave launched me from my feet and I gasped. I landed on the deck with a whoof of air from my lungs. I sucked down one quick breath, then freezing water ripped me from the ground.

  I clawed at the floor as the water pulled me to the stern of the ship. Two fingers caught the stairs to the upper deck, and I clung to it with all my might. Zo flowed to my hand and I pulled. Saltwater stung my eyes as it hammered the skin of my face but I ignored the pain, feeling only my two fingers.

  Just as my grip failed, the wave relented. I sputtered as I dropped to the deck. I shook my head like an animal, whipping my frigid hair from my eyes.

  “Back in positions!”

  My muscles burned as I climbed to my feet and ran back to the spot behind Cho. I bared my teeth and grunted into the work made harder by my shivering, icy muscles. How could Hiro be this powerful? Unless he wasn’t alone. There was no way we could stand against this kind of power for much longer.

  I screamed for the only person who came to mind. “Shin-soo!”

  The ship trembled harder, and the cracks in the bow lengthened. Shin-soo stumbled up to me, holding tight to the mast for support.

  “Get my bag!” I ordered. Shin-soo would know what was in there, and why it was so important we rescue it.

  He nodded acknowledgement and was off for the lower decks. Who knew if Woong-ji had heard me say there was a leak, and if she’d been doing anything to stop it below? Had I just sent Shin-soo to a watery nightmare?

  A massive wave domed the Swift Sola and there was no time to think of anything else. The icy water collapsed the deck with a crack, splitting the boat in two. We dipped forward, and I slid toward the break point. Water splashed up from the crack, enveloping me in icy agony.

  I grabbed at a length of dangling rope from the mast and heaved myself from the sinking vacuum. My head breached the surface and I breathed in a gasp.

  Shin-soo!

  The ship was staying afloat, perhaps held aloft by the captain and his crew, but the lower deck was still submerged. I circled a halo over my head, weaving a quick spell bubble around my head. I dove, throwing a bright ry glimmer into the bubbly darkness.

  The ship had been ripped apart at the bottom, exposed to the dark open ocean below. A looming black silhouette circled the failing wreck like a predator. Urgency constricted my lungs, but I gulped down a shallow breath from the diving pocket I’d created around my head. I infused my legs with zo, then kicked with all my might toward the stairs to the lower deck.

  There was another ry glimmer on the other side beaming back at me. It was Woong-ji. She had Shin-soo by the collar in one hand, and my bag in the other as she paddled her feet. I grabbed Shin-soo and helped drag him to the surface.

  “Yuri!” Woong-ji yelled when we reached the air. I didn’t hesitate, turning back in a heartbeat. I swooped my arms through the water and kicked my legs with all my might. I climbed through the opening and cast another glimmer light.

  There she was.

  My heart slammed against my ribs as I paddled. She was pinned to the cubby wall by a wedged shelf. Her eyes were closed, and her hands floated lifelessly at her sides.

  ‘Mae, prepare to overclock.’ The thought was fast and fearful. I pressed my feet on either side of the wall and grabbed the obstruction, then heaved. ‘Do it!’

  Fire seared down my arms and legs as my nanites went into overdrive. My muscles bulged, then contracted even tighter. The shelf shifted, and Yuri floated toward the broken bottom of the ship. I turned, pulling her close before she could fall into the abyss of the sea.

  I kicked for the upper deck, my body screaming for relief.

  “I have to shut it down!” Mae yelled.

  ‘Not yet!’

  “You’re going to burn up!”

  ‘Keep going!’

  The water around me bubbled as I transferred my heat through it. There was no time to reabsorb anything, I had to let it go.

  My leg kicked something solid, then I was jerked back. I released Yuri, shoving her toward the opening with everything I had. I looked down to see the orange mask I dreaded. I kicked his hand, trying to loosen his grasp.

  He yanked me down into his bubble of atmosphere and held me tight. “Stop. I’m saving you!”

  I bashed my face against his mask and twisted away from him. My halo of air evaporated as I left his bubble, and cool seawater closed in around me. I had to survive. I had to escape him. The team needed us.

  Hiro grabbed my dobok, wrenching me back toward him. Music filled my ears as I struggled against the burning in my eyes and lungs. I thrashed, not willing to give in to him. The song intensified, filling me with gut-jiggling vibrations.

  A shockwave of sound rocked my body, and Hiro’s grip loosened. I kicked off from his chest, propelling myself toward the light of the surface. Another sound wave blasted my body, and a blurry image of a woman came into view. She reached out for me, and I reached back. A darkened vignette crept in around my vision as her haunting voice drifted farther away.

  My fingertips touched hers, and the world faded to black.

  Chapter 6

  MY VISION RETURNED as I slammed down onto a dry deck. I coughed, evacuated a breath of salty water from my lungs. It felt like glass ripping through every fiber of my chest. I broke into a racking cough, as I scrambled away from the pair of boots below my face.

  “Easy boy, we’re with the convoy!” the man said and reached out for me. My eyes were still blurry from the salt water, and I blinked like mad to clear the fog.

  Next to him was a girl in flowing silver aurora robes. She knelt beside me. “We’ve chased off your attacker, you’re safe.” Her voice was a sweet melody to my waterlogged eardrums.

  I closed my eyes, focusing on my core. I needed more zo and en fast. Trickles of energy fell through the bands into the core, leaving me with very little munje to work with.

  “The overclock was too much.
Your pathways are inflamed,” Mae informed me with a sigh. “But we didn’t die.”

  “Yuri,” I croaked hoarsely. “Our boat.”

  “They’re being pulled out of the water now,” the man assured me.

  “Thank you,” I said, looking to the woman. “You saved me.”

  She smiled, then waved her hand over my eyes. The pain receded with the cloudy vision, revealing a familiar face with light golden hair. It was Cho’s older sister. “Zari—” I cut myself short.

  Her smile turned nervous for a blink, then she was calm. “You must be feeling confused. The sonic spell can have powerful effects, even for those not targeted, if used in water.”

  “Sonic spell?”

  She nodded. “It can be used to disrupt a great many things. I destroyed the air halo and forced him to retreat. But it also disrupted the air still inside you. I’m sorry I had to use such a dangerous spell; I didn’t know what else would work.”

  I breathed shallowly, my lungs still aching from the water. “I’m grateful, truly.”

  “Do we have them all?” the man—the captain—asked.

  My gaze followed him as he walked among the sopping wet Bastions rescued from the sea. Yuri lay on her back, unmoving, surrounded by Hana, Cho, and Shin-soo. I scrambled to my feet and ran to them.

  “Move aside,” I demanded, knowing what to do. When Daegon had suffocated last year, Mae taught me the way to revive him. True, he’d choked in a different way, but I felt confident—and Mae’s confidence—that this was the right thing to do.

  I tilted Yuri’s head back and plugged her nose, then breathed three times into her mouth. I placed the butt of my palm against her lower sternum and pumped her chest. I breathed into her mouth again, and Yuri gurgled. I turned her face to the deck, and she vomited up a breath of water, just as I had.

  “Ouch,” Yuri groaned between coughs.

  I laughed, patting her on the back. “You’re supposed to drink it, not breath it.”