Read Chapter 14: — THE POISONED DART

Yagyu’s hand flicked.

Lin saw the black darts and moved instantly.

Ten years earlier Tang Xiao had turned too late.

This time Lin was ready.

He knocked one dart aside. Dodged another. A third vanished past his shoulder.

Behind him Tang gasped.

Lin turned in terror.

The dart had struck the wooden rail beside Tang, not his body.

That instant of distraction was enough.

Yagyu kicked Lin hard in the chest and leapt over the stern.

His old wing mechanism unfolded.

Even after ten years, the device remained absurd and effective.

He glided toward shore.

Tang followed without thinking.

He jumped onto a narrow cargo line, ran along it to a lower boat, then from the boat to a piling, moving with the reckless balance of a street youth who had spent years surviving by refusing to admit gravity existed.

Lin pursued by boat.

On shore, Yagyu found Xiaoxi first.

She had dragged an unconscious Tang from the water moments earlier after he slipped during the chase and had gone for help.

Yagyu seized her from behind.

History repeated itself with cruel precision.

Ten years ago he had held a little girl at sword point.

Now he held the woman she had become.

Tang regained consciousness on the riverbank and saw her struggling in Yagyu’s arms.

Yagyu laughed.

“Your father died because he cared about a child.”

Tang froze.

Yagyu had understood who he was.

“And now,” the pirate said, “you can die for the same weakness.”

Tang got to his feet.

“No.”

He spat river water.

“I think that is the part you never understood.”