Chapter 80 — The Sun-Keeper
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
At the heart of the Dawn Ark a crisp, bright voice rang out, and the jade pendant on Shen Mu's chest floated gently upward, as though it meant to fly to the ship. Shen Mu's heart gave a small jolt; he hastened to look toward the voice, and saw that the speaker was a giant of incomparable stature, taller by many times than the other giants aboard, like a deity of the heavens.
Her legs, meanwhile, had already sunk into the hull — more than half of each leg swallowed by the ship, almost to the waist — and even so, she stood a hundred zhang tall.
She had four arms, and with each of the four she gripped a pillar before and behind her; the pillars were wound about with iron chains, and those chains were the very chains that tethered the black sun hanging in the sky.
Flames blazed all around her, so that she seemed a woman of fire. The fierce heat of it made Shen Mu feel scorched the moment he looked at her.
Strangely enough, when he saw her face, he felt she was no grown woman at all, but a little girl younger even than himself.
Yet how could so vast a body belong to a little girl?
She looked utterly weary, gasping for breath.
"Does the honored elder recognize this jade pendant?"
A stir passed through Shen Mu's heart. He hastily took the pendant from his chest, and saw the giantess's four palms open; her body began to shrink, and before long, from a giant over a hundred zhang tall she had become a girl half a head shorter than Shen Mu himself.
"Honored elder?"
Her voice was clear and bright, and she laughed with great delight. After two more gasping breaths she said, "I'm no honored elder..."
She pulled her legs laboriously out of the hull. The Dawn Ark was a strange vessel indeed: her legs seemed to have fused with it, the ship's flames running into them like blood vessels, and it took great effort to draw them free.
When she had pulled both legs out, the place where she stood grew smooth again. Where her legs had merged with the hull two openings remained, slowly closing.
The girl tried a couple of steps; her legs trembled, she nearly toppled over, and hastily braced herself with all four hands against the deck. A little sheepishly, she said, "Could you come aboard?"
Shen Mu looked at the other giants on the Dawn Ark. One old giant nodded and said in a low voice, "Let him up."
A plainly dressed giant came to the prow and extended an arm, making of it a bridge between a dragon pillar and the Dawn Ark. Shen Mu hesitated, then stepped onto the giant's palm and walked the thick forearm at a brisk pace until he stood aboard the Dawn Ark.
Once on deck he was somewhat taken aback: it was far cooler here than he had imagined. He had thought it must be scorching as a furnace; instead it was almost chill.
"That little brat Shen!"
In Crimson Dragon City, the headman and the others had marked the strange doings aboard the Dawn Ark as well. Turning to look, they caught sight of Shen Mu walking up the giant's arm onto the ship. The alchemist laughed in sheer exasperation and scolded, "The boy's daring is too wild — he would board even a god's ship!"
The butcher drew two slaughtering knives and said, reeking of killing intent, "They dare to snatch one of our own children? Let us go cut our way over!"
The headman glared at him and said slowly, "They mean no harm. Let Shen go. Those aboard that ship — I think they are not a god..."
Shen Mu walked to the little girl's side, and the Dawn Ark slowly leveled out again. The girl had not walked in a long time and her legs served her poorly; she wished to rise and salute him but found it hard, and so could only sit and bow slightly to Shen Mu.
Shen Mu returned the courtesy and placed the jade pendant in her hand. The girl studied it closely, a thoughtful look coming over her face, and uttered strange, obscure words, questioning an old giant beside her.