Then came another roar. It exploded across the city without warning, a sound so vast and unnatural that it seemed to tear through the air itself.
It did not sound like the roar of a beast. It was a wail. Ancient, furious, and agonized. Every person in the square froze as the sound washed over them. Some dropped to their knees. Others covered their ears.
The tremors intensified.
The Chief's Fortress, a little distance away from the square, seemed to shift. For a terrifying moment, it looked as though the enormous structure was rising higher, growing taller against the darkening sky. Shadows crawled across its walls.
Then two colossal red eyes opened above it. The eyes hung over the fortress like twin burning moons, their crimson glow spilling across the city below.
