I.H. Mace

In the kiln-warmed fortress of Braamkerk, bronze is life, voice, and prayer. For generations, the Great Bell has chimed over the mud-brick terraces to keep the mountain darkness at bay. But an invisible fracture has spread across its sacred crown. Now, the ringing does not protect—it summons. One by one, smiths, herders, and children put down their tools, smile at the sky, and walk serenely into the white-hot slag pits. As the foundry fires turn cold with ash and terror, a bellows master, an ox-herder, and a bronze-caster must find a way to silence the god within the metal before the whole city marches into the flames.