At first, Lyra thought the ground was coming alive, breathing like a mortal being. She thought the mages had enchanted the area itself to fight the boy she had prayed to the moon for. Then sand gave way to rock rising from the floor. Boulders rose in a grinding crawl, shaping and fusing themselves as the air grew thick with the taste of magic. A humanoid giant formed, shoulders like cliffs, arms thick as tree trunks. Its head was a rough wedge of stone with no eyes, no mouth, only carved angles that suggested a face.
A golem.
The crowd erupted. Merrow hadn’t given them all his spectacles. Lyra worried about what might be coming next but had little time to think it through.
Kade moved first. He sprinted to the left, fast enough to dodge the golem’s massive arm. The club-like appendage p
