For three long seconds, nobody in the tent moved.
The smoke from the shattered cannonball rolled slowly across the sand. Little shards of diamond glittered in it like broken glass. The Diamond stood beside the mess with his arm still shining, his torn sleeve hanging off his shoulder, his jeweled mask turned toward the hole in the north wall of the tent.
Thousands of people sat frozen in the stands, staring.
Then someone started to scream.
It was only one voice at first, high and thin, somewhere on the far side of the tent. But Jin could hear the panic in it spreading. People were starting to stand. Some were grabbing their children. Some were looking toward the exits. Jin saw a man in a tiger mask push past the woman beside him to get to the stairs.
In a few more seconds, the whole tent was going to run.
And then Ho-seok laughed.
