"He’s up ahead!" Lara’s voice sliced through the thundering, metallic echo of the spillway. "The low sluice—he’s heading for the old drainage junction!""He knows these tunnels," Arto panted, his fingers clawing for grip on a rusted iron rung as he swung himself over a rushing torrent of grey wastewater. "The Halloways built them a century ago. But he doesn't know where the collapses are. Keep close, Lara!""I’m right behind you!"They scrambled down a steep, slick masonry incline. The air grew thicker, tasting of sulphur, ancient lime, and the sharp, copper tang of industrial runoff. Above them, the distant, muffled boom of the rioting city vibrated through the brickwork, but down here, the world was a claustrophobic throat of wet stone.A loud splash echoed from the darkness ahead, followed by a wet, desperate curse."Damned... ungrateful... filth!""That's him," Arto growled, his jaw tightening. He lunged forward, his boots churning through ankle-deep muck. "Vane! It's over! There'

"Move," Arto growled, shoving Vane through the heavy iron grate.They stumbled out of the damp, echoing drainage tunnels and directly into the blinding glare of a dozen burning oil barrels. The Grand Plaza of the Low-Brass was a boiling sea of humanity. Thousands of hollow-cheeked citizens, their faces smeared with soot and grease, filled every square inch of the cobblestones. The air was thick with the stench of cheap coal smoke, stale sweat, and the electric tension of a mob on the verge of tearing the city apart."Get your hands off me, Halloway!" Vane hissed, twisting in Arto’s grip. His ruined silk doublet was torn at the shoulder, dripping with grey sewer sludge. "You think these savages will spare you once they’re done with me? You’re a Halloway. To them, your name is just another brand on their backs!""We’ll let them decide that," Lara said, her boots crunching on the glass-strewn pavement as she stepped up beside them. In her hands, she clutched the heavy, leather-bound ledg

"The gates are already down," Lara said, her voice cutting through the roar of the mob with the cold precision of steel. She didn’t shout, but every word carried across the raised platform, freezing the frontline rioters in their tracks. "Every last one of them. We bypassed the locks twenty minutes ago."The man holding the iron coupling-pin blinked, his arms dropping an inch. "You... you opened the silos?""They’re wide open," Lara confirmed, hefting her pry-bar onto her shoulder. Her knuckles were bruised purple, her coat stained with grease and soot, but her dark eyes were fiercely steady. "The grain is pouring into the courtyards right now. No vouchers. No taxes. No names required. Go get your share before the rats eat it all."For a fraction of a second, the vast sea of desperate, starving humanity held its collective breath. Then, a collective shockwave rippled through the crowd. The mob didn’t cheer—they stampeded, turning away from the scaffolding in a massive, churning tide,