Chapter 10 · The Monster on Trial

The first cannon fired before Xia Lan reached the harbor.

The sound rolled across Riftport like the sky breaking in half.

Stone dust sifted from the ribs of the old watchtowers. Gulls exploded from the rooftops in a white, screaming cloud. Far beyond the seawall, something enormous glowed behind the storm: a red line cutting through the clouds, descending toward the black water.

Nolan grabbed Xia Lan by the wrist and pulled her beneath an overturned supply cart.

A heartbeat later, the beam struck the bay.

Water rose in a towering wall. The shockwave slammed into the dockyards, hurling barrels, ropes, and screaming soldiers through the air. The cart jumped over the cobblestones. Xia Lan hit the ground hard enough to bite her tongue.

Salt and blood filled her mouth.

Then the world went quiet.

Not truly quiet. Somewhere, wood splintered. Someone was praying. A horse shrieked until the sound abruptly stopped. But inside Xia Lan's skull, every noise narrowed into one clean tactical line.

Four minutes had become three minutes and forty-two seconds.

The Ashfall Core had transferred its target from her to Riftport. Every frontier cannon on both sides of the continent was now aligned with the city.