The drainage pipe brought us out beneath the Guild square.
The hostages stood above our heads. Guards were posted around the edges, and controlled beasts crouched on the rooftops. Kane expected the swarm to come by air and had not checked the old slum tunnels.
Cole assigned his people to the manholes. Lily connected to the city broadcast. Mira fixed the consent key to the main water pipe: the metal could carry the freeing pulse beneath the entire square at once.
We lacked the energy and the beasts' consent.
The main ran beneath the captains' cages. White crystals were discharging residual suppression into the water. If we released the freeing signal too soon, the two pulses would meet in the pipe and cook everything alive above it.
Mira asked for five minutes to run the calculations, though they were already beating the captive dyer above us. Cole did not hurry her.
I lay in the cold water and heard Styx's faint movements through the metal. She could send a scout to check the cages, but then Kane would see activity from the swarm.
We waited.
Every second felt like cowardice. But the man I had been would already have thrown all his strength at the first target in sight. That was exactly what Kane was counting on.
At last Mira marked the moment between the pulses.
"The window will last four breaths."
Styx called the broods, and mosquitoes settled on the pipes every few metres. Each captain chose whether to join the chain; nine agreed.
Leon brought the Void Dragon to the old sewer. The beast laid one claw on the metal. His power would hold the freeing signal inside the network and keep the Crown from swallowing it.
"On my whistle," Cole said.
I took out the copper whistle.
The first blast brought the workers up at the western manholes. The second started Lily's broadcast. The third carried Styx's request to the swarm.
Mira activated the key.
A red wave passed through the pipes. Cracks lit up across the beasts' collars. The dragon kept the void contained, and the captains passed the signal on.
The guard beasts on the rooftops stopped watching the hostages.
The manholes opened.
Cole's people led the first rows down while the guards tried to understand why the animals no longer obeyed their commands.
The swarm paralysed the shooters without killing them.
Kane saw the square slipping from his grasp.
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