Chapter 22 · One Hour Until the City Sinks

"Move!" Nora's hand closed around Samuel's collar and yanked him sideways.

The automaton's jaw snapped shut where his head had been a second before.

Bricks exploded across the chamber. A metal hound hit the floor in the red glow of the core, six legs bent at wrong angles, brass jaw hanging open. Steam hissed from the split in its neck.

"I'm trying," Samuel said.

"You're bleeding on my boots."

"That's not slowing me down."

"It's disgusting."

Another machine crawled through the hole in the wall. Then another. Inspection hounds, built to sniff out illegal magic. Now their plates were black with oil, lenses burned red, paws scraping sparks off the stone.

Feral.

The core had woken them up angry.

Samuel shoved Nora behind a support column and drew his pistol. His left arm shook so badly the barrel clicked against his glove.

Nora noticed. "You can't shoot like that."

"I can shoot fine."

"You missed the wall."

"I was warning it."

The nearest hound lunged.

Samuel fired twice. One round punched through its eye. The other hit the jaw hinge. The machine staggered but didn't fall.