Chapter 25 · Wake the Dead God

"Cut the left cable!" Lyra shouted as the ironclad lurched sideways.

Cassian slammed one shoulder into the control rail and caught the wheel before it tore free. The deck tilted hard enough to throw Brant across the gun bay. Loose tools skittered past his boots. Somewhere below, a pressure pipe burst with a sharp metallic crack.

"Which left?" Brant yelled.

"The one trying to kill us!"

"That narrows it down to all of them!"

A massive shape moved beyond the forward glass.

Not moved. Rose.

The colossus climbed out of the black trench with chains of old wreckage hanging from its shoulders. Its hide scraped the ironclad's hull, throwing sparks across the viewports. Three dead red eyes opened in the dark, each one wider than the ship's bow.

Cassian pushed the wheel over. "Brant, load the forward cannons."

"They're already loaded."

"Then fire."

"At what?"

"The thing blocking my ship."

"You mean the mountain with teeth?"

"You heard me."

Brant grinned like a man who had just been handed a terrible idea and decided to enjoy it. He kicked the gun lever down.

The ironclad's forward cannons thundered.

The recoil drove Cassian back into Lyra.