Chapter 427 — The War Machine Turns Again
Blade of Dawn · Page 4 of 5
Gaoyang turned his head and glanced at Amber. "Do you think day and night mean anything to Tyre? She's asleep every hour of the day—there's no telling when she isn't!"
Just as Gaodai had said, Tyre, a siren stranded far from the sea, had essentially only one thing to do on land: sleep. When Gaoyang and Amber reached her room, the mermaid was floating on her back in her great pool, looking for all the world like a corpse. To be honest, this saltwater fish had far too many eccentricities of style—not only did she walk with a swagger that acknowledged no kin or stranger, her sleeping posture was just as brazen. It had taken the maids of the lord's manor a long time to get used to the fact that the "mermaid" floating belly-up was not dead, but merely backstroking...
Waking Tyre was no easy task. Amber went at it for ages and the fish slept on as soundly as ever; in the end, Gaoyang was just hesitating over whether to leap in and split her with a jumping chop to get the salted-fish spirit up when Tyre finally stirred and slowly woke.
The instant she opened her eyes, the mermaid saw Gaoyang and Amber standing before her, and gave a great start. She spun around and slapped a tailful of water into Gaocen's face. "Don't you people know how to knock?!"
"Like hell we do! Even if we blew the door off its hinges out there, waking you up would be a miracle!" Gaoyang wiped the water from his face in distinct annoyance and turned to glance at Amber, who had ducked behind him at the first splash to avoid the spray. "Do you have any idea that we were one step away from pouring boiling water into the pool to get you up?"
"Boiling water is nothing. I've been near undersea volcanoes before," Tyre said with a sidelong glance at Gaocen. "Well, out with it—what do you want with me in the dead of night? It is night now, isn't it?"
As she spoke, Tyre looked around her, and only when she saw that it was indeed pitch black beyond the window did she confirm that it was night. "So it really is night... Then I've only just fallen asleep..."
"You went to bed last night!" Gaoyang said, eyes glaring, and began to seriously doubt whether coming to see this saltwater fish had been a mistake. Still, he stated his business. "I came to tell you something—we're about to attack Boulder Fortress."
Though Tyre spent most of her time asleep, she was at least aware that the Cecil Territory was at war with the outside world, so she showed no bewilderment now—only a trace of puzzlement. "And so?"
"Would you be interested in going to have a look?"
Tyre was taken aback for a moment; then her fish tail swayed gently in the water, stirring up sprays as she said unhurriedly, "Have you forgotten what we agreed in the beginning? I can tell you what I know of the deep sea, and I can help when those so-called 'Aberrants' attack cities, but I will not involve myself in your human wars. Such things are far too boring for me."
"Of course I remember, and I don't intend for you to join any human war. I only want you to carry a few things north for me—then you can just stand by and watch."
"As simple as that?" Tyre looked at Gaoyang with suspicion. "I know you. You're a cunning one—you've dug your pit already, haven't you?"
Gaoyang did not answer her question. Instead he prompted: "Aren't you interested in the magical arts of the land? Haven't you sirens run into a bottleneck in your own system of craft? Perhaps at Boulder Fortress you'll see something that interests you—it will be a head-on collision between humanity's traditional magical arts and Cecil's arcanotechnology. I believe that even for an advanced civilization like yours, a clash of that magnitude would be worth seeing."
Tyre's expression shifted slightly; she seemed tempted. But after a moment she shook her head a little. "Honestly, I'd still rather sleep..."
"I've given it careful thought. Amorn the Giant Stag is so huge—it wouldn't hurt to let you gnaw a few bites off him..."
"Deal!"