12
THE BATTLE OF MARESG, PART 2
Mann’s stomach churned as they plunged through branches and broad leaves towards the N’naradin steamships. Maresg burned on either side of the canal where the Grace’s navy had been pummeling the city with cannon fire. Most of the platforms and crooked warehouses that served as the port dangled in ruins like dead leaves from smoking, shattered mangroves. He could see bodies floating in the water between twisting arches of roots.
Gre’pa hit the deck head down, long arms outstretched like a pouncing cat, with such force that Mann could feel the big ship rock beneath them. Just behind, three other karakh flung themselves from the cover of the branches. There was an explosion of cannon fire, and one of them—Mann never learned its name—tore in half at the waist
