Songs of Insurrection (2nd Edition): A Legend of Tivara Story (The Dragon Songs Saga Book 1) by JC Kang

Author:JC Kang [Kang, JC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dragonstone Press
Published: 2017-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Eldaeri Princes

Between the lack of sleep, her aching thighs and butt, and the ridiculous pink dress, Jie hoped she would have little need for her physical Moquan skills today. Just like the day before, she picked her way north among the longshoremen, sailors, and boys crowding the docks at dawn—the difference being that today, she wasn’t disguised as a boy, and she waddled like a duck.

And these types were not known for their chivalry. If she castrated every man who catcalled her in the first two blocks, Hua’s next generation of foul-mouthed, flea-ridden sailors might never be born. Instead, she ignored them, walking toward the five-mast Tarkothi ship moored at the twenty-sixth berth.

Or was it the twenty-third berth? That’s what the sign at the head of the dock indicated. Had they taken the time and effort to move it three berths up overnight? The enormous black ship filled her visual field, and would have needlessly clogged up the harbor.

She walked up the dock to the gangplank. Two marines stood guard, cutlasses dangling at their sides. They looked too small to be soldiers, and their features were almost effeminate. Eldaeri, in all likelihood. The nine-pointed silver sun emblazoned on their crimson surcoats—

Crimson?

The Tarkothi livery had been forest green. Unless they’d moved the ship and dyed their wardrobes, this was the Serikothi ship bearing their Prince Koryn all the way from Tivara’s far east.

Fan hostilities, Crown Prince Kai-Guo had said. As if she knew enough about these northerners’ customs to do so.

“We have no need for whores,” one of the marines called in Arkothi.

The other elbowed him. “The way she walks, I’d bet my mama’s teats she serviced the entire Tarkothi ship last night.”

The first laughed. “You’d lose that bet, since Tarkothi peckers are so small from crossbreeding.”

Both men chortled.

Jie rolled her eyes and spun on her heel, but not before looking up at the deck. Unlike the Tarkothi, who employed the larger ethnic Arkothi and Estomari, all the Serikothi appeared to be the elf-blooded Eldaeri. If the two countries’ rivalry were limited to trading insults about manhood sizes, Hua wouldn’t sell many cannons.

Ignoring their continued jeers, she went back to the harbor front and continued north. Past the Serikothi giant, the Tarkothi behemoth loomed over the three-mast Hua ships. Jie paused and scanned from north to south and back, comparing. The two foreign vessels, with their black wood hulls and sheer size, might have been twins. Perhaps the size of their ships compensated for…

She blew out a sigh. Serikoth and Tarkoth—along with a third kingdom, Korynth—had once been a single Eldaeri empire, divided over a century ago by a greed-driven civil war. That made it a lesson for Hua to learn from, given present circumstances.

“Hurry up, girl,” a male voice called.

She turned to find the large, belligerent Tarkothi officer from the day before. Snake Eyes, the one who had begrudgingly found her the dress that she begrudgingly wore now. Her attempt at an Arkothi-style curtsey met with a chuckle. “I am sorry, sir.

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