Kaul's breath moved before his body did.
The foreign tendril tightened around his living strand. Every copper mouth in Skykeel emptied at once. Water burst from flooded horns, doors slammed in distant towers, and Kaul bent over the hook with no air left to cry out.
Aylin reached for the blade.
The green-sailed rider turned its edge toward Kaul's throat. "The hook comes out."
Jiang put his beak across the metal.
"Move," Aylin told him.
He held his place.
Her free hand closed around the release line at his back, but she did not pull it. "That root is breathing with him. We wait, it takes whatever the hook touches next."
Jiang struck the copper brace with one foot, then pointed his beak toward the red strand where it entered the black-green root. The hook did more than pierce Kaul. It had grown through the frame carrying the center's weight.
Cutting blind could free his throat.
It could also open it.
Aylin understood. That did not make her agree.
