Ten thousand pounds of rusted royal iron blotted out the sky.
The anchor was a relic from the siege wars of the last dynasty. A four-fluked river monster forged from black soul-iron to hold floating castle barges against the pouring currents of the Cangwu River.
Thick clusters of hardened river barnacles and stone-hard black snails clung to its four-foot shank like a diseased crust.
The Catfish Patriarch hauled the huge mass overhead. Then, the air screamed with the agony of violent sky shifted weight.
A nearby gale flattened the river surface. It sent waves crashing wildly against the timber wooden support posts.
High upon the sixty-foot dark rock castle walls of Gu Ning, a collective shriek went up from the crowd.
“The anchor! The river demon has the Great Sluice Anchor!”
“Merciful Mother, the raft will be smashed to kindling!”
