Metal Slinger

Brynn's sea-born people trade once a year at a cliff-side Market

Brynn has spent her entire life on the floating city of Alaha, a treeless island of bridges and rooms built over the open ocean, where her people were exiled centuries ago.

Brynn's sea-born people trade once a year at a cliff-side Market

Brynn has spent her entire life on the floating city of Alaha, a treeless island of bridges and rooms built over the open ocean, where her people were exiled centuries ago. An orphan with copper hair and no family name, she owes her place in the guard to Kai, the golden-haired future captain who fought for her acceptance. The annual Market—the single day of trade between sea-dwelling Alaha and land-dwelling Kenta—is her first chance to stand near solid ground. She arrives alongside Kai, her best friend Messer, and fellow trainee Aurora, marveling at the cliff-side bazaar, the Kenta women's flowing dresses, and foods she's never tasted. Then Kai pulls her onto the dance floor and announces he's asked his parents for permission to marry her. Stunned, she runs.

A Kenta soldier forces Brynn's palm to the cliff wall and her body screams

A dark-eyed Kenta soldier trails her through the deeper stalls. He accuses her of theft, plants a gemstone in her hand, and before she can protest, forces her palm against the cliff wall. Pain like a thousand electric eels sears through every nerve. She screams, and it ends as suddenly as it began. Kai and Messer charge in—Messer tackles a guard while Brynn slashes the soldier's heel with his own dagger. Aurora, seizing the chaos, detonates a booth of kerosene. The explosion swallows a section of the Market, collapsing a century of trade infrastructure into the sea. The Alaha flee to their ships. Brynn climbs the mast and watches hundreds of Kenta treading water where peace used to stand—the soldier's black-bladed dagger still clenched in her fist.

Acker sails alone to Alaha and speaks only to Brynn Back in Alaha, Brynn carries the blame. Captain Wren reveals Aurora was part of a growing uprising and that Kenta demands two prisoners: Brynn and Aurora. He shields Brynn by announcing her betrothal to Kai, but Kenta extends the trade ban to two years—starvation on a timetable. Weeks later, a horn sounds from the north tower. A single man rows from a Kenta ship on the horizon, surrendering himself at the dock. It's the dark-eyed soldier—Acker—and he refuses to speak to anyone but Brynn. She sneaks to his cell through the underside of the Main bridge at night. He tells her a blood oath limits what he can say, but he came for her. He reveals her real…