Marked From Birth
"He does not come... to take the boy. He comes... to be him."
With a final, shattering crack, the Tide-Caller vanished, leaving the ramparts of the Silver Citadel slick with black slush and the wreckage of brass machinery.
Audrey stood over the spot where he had fallen, her chest heaving. Her hands were raw, the silver-scarred palms throbbing with a dull, human ache. Behind her, the Clockwork Exiles were already busy venting the steam from their overheating cannons, the green emerald fire receding back into the roots of the World-Oak.