Chapter 11

Galva’s unit marches to the Plaza of Anchors as screams and smoke signal a naval disaster already underway. The goblin juggernaut reveals itself, having trapped newly arrived troopmules while our fireships stall for lack of wind and are burned. The Brawling Bear rows to meet it but is outmatched by tide and the juggernaut’s speed.

Through Inocenta’s field glass, Galva sees the monstrous ship: charred springwood hull, red sails patched with human skins, and cages of sun-seared captives. A mage-wrought bronze figurehead devours drowning sailors while a massive pick-armed limb smashes the Brawling Bear’s decks and tears its hull below the waterline.

The Holtish fireship Sounding Bell circles bravely, loosing firedarts that scorch a sail and kill deck biters but cannot ignite the blackened wood. Out of ammunition, Captain Margalin Woodshire orders a ram; the juggernaut pins the ship and boards, and the crew dies fighting. Their sacrifice lets four of seven troopmules unload before the juggernaut can reach them.

Onshore, the plaza is cleared to avoid fire as the juggernaut finishes its work and sinks every kynd ship in the harbor. The Lament of Avraparthi then departs. Galva notes that the Pragmatist had summoned Fulvir and other magickers, but their counterattacks arrive too late to alter the sea battle.

The chapter closes with the promise that Amiel will recount the concurrent clash of spellcraft, while Galva bears witness to the scale of the Horde’s sea power and the cost of Holt’s stand.