Chapter 8 - The Net Tightens
""Put out the fire! Shield the light!"" Maren shouted, but it was already too late. The pillar of blue radiance had shattered the overcast sky, illuminating the Shrouded Reef for leagues in every direction. Out across the churning waves, the horn of the flagship sounded—three short, brutal blasts that signaled the hunt had locked onto its prey.
Within minutes, the surf began to boil. Slender iron skiffs propelled by mechanical paddles broke through the reef's outer breakers. Aboard them were elite hunters carrying repeating harpoon-launchers and accompanied by mechanized war-hounds—beasts of brass and black iron that ran across the jagged basalt with unnerving agility, their metallic jaws snapping with alchemical fire.
Sylva rose to her feet, her wing partially mended by the magical surge, but still too fragile for prolonged flight. ""Rowan, take the young ones down into the lower grotto!"" Maren commanded, pulling an ivory harpoon from the rocks. ""There are catacombs beneath the reef that predate the Citadel! Go!"" But the war-hounds were already scaling the rocks. One of them leaped over the boulder, its glowing red sensors locking onto Rowan and the revived hatchling in his arms, lunging forward with its razor-sharp steel teeth bared.
