Wet cord crushed Jiang's ankle against the broodlift rail.
He pulled his sound foot toward his belly. Wet fibers tightened through the feathers and dragged the family carrier after them.
Beside him, the chick rolled against its father's wound.
Its cry brought the female down over both bodies. She planted her feet on the hide, but the cord passed beneath one corner and kept sawing toward the open side.
Above the lower stop, the wakehound pulled again.
Jiang's loop took the force first. Pain climbed his leg. He tried to stand on the straightened one, and the joint folded before his breast left the boards.
Hest caught him beneath the sound wing.
"Keep the foot," Hest said. "I have become attached to the current number."
Valea dropped beside the carrier and drove her bent knife beneath the wet cord. The edge lifted a few pale hairs from it.
"The blade is too dull," she said.
"The blade has character," Hest answered through his teeth.
