The rope snapped taut.
The raker lurched in midair. Bram swung beneath the reel, his boots kicking at empty space.
Garran threw his weight behind the line. His heels scraped stone.
“Bram!”
Jin grabbed the rope beside him.
The pull nearly stripped the skin from his palms. He leaned back, legs shaking, and hauled with Garran until the trapped talon dragged toward the lip.
Bram came with it.
Not far enough.
His fingers scrabbled at the strap around his wrist. The reel's handle hammered against his knuckles every time the bird beat its wings.
Kessa lunged past Jin and hooked her pole through Bram's belt.
“Yes. Yes. Come here, you expensive idiot.”
Jin let go of the line with one hand and reached down.
Bram looked at him. His free hand came up with a knife.
Jin's stomach lurched. Bram was going to cut the rope.
Bram sliced his own wrist strap instead.
He dropped.
Jin caught his sleeve. The seam tore straight down the arm.
Kessa's pole bent.
Jin lunged farther, got a fistful of belt and hauled until Bram's chest struck the ledge. Together they dragged him over it.
Bram rolled clear, clutching his hand.
Jin fell on his back beside him.
Bram's good hand closed around Jin's forearm. He was trying to say something, breath catching between the unfamiliar words.
“Later,” Jin said. “Pay me later.”
He squeezed back before letting go.
The reel hit the ground between their heads.
“Refund,” Jin gasped.
Bram made a noise that might have been agreement.
Then the shadow covered them again.
Garran shouted. Jin rolled toward Bram and shoved him against the boulder as a talon punched into the stone where their legs had been.
The reel was down because the raker was down.
It bent its neck and bit through the rope around its ankle.
Garran let the severed line fall. His short sword came free with a scrape.
Jin found his spear beside the boulder.
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“Down!”
He ducked before remembering nobody here understood him.
Garran had seen it too. He seized Bram by the torn sleeve and dragged him behind the rock.
The scream tore across its face.
Stone dust burst over Jin's hood. The hooked pole ripped from Kessa's grip and spun into the pool below.
The raker snapped at her exposed shoulder.
Garran's sword struck its beak aside. Iron rang against the black edge, and he drove a boot into the creature's chest.
It skidded back one pace.
One pace was enough for Kessa to escape.
Jin jabbed toward the throat.
A wing folded across it. His point struck the overlapping quills and slid sideways in a spray of sparks.
The wing came back at him.
He threw himself flat. Feather tips sheared the red wattle from his hood. It landed on his nose.
Jin blew it off.
Somewhere behind the rock, Bram laughed once and immediately sounded ashamed.
“Oh, good. You're recovering.”
The bird advanced, forcing Garran back toward them. It kept the armoured outside of its wing between itself and the sword, opening only long enough to slash.
Bram snatched up a stone and threw it at the yellow eye.
The raker jerked its head away. Garran thrust into the space beneath the beak, but the creature tucked its chin. His blade scraped the hardened front of the throat.
It struck back with a talon.
Garran twisted clear. Three grooves appeared across the front of his leather vest. He staggered, recovered and drove the sword at its eye instead.
The bird gave ground.
Bram reached for another stone.
Jin caught his wrist and pointed at the abandoned reel. The boy stared at him, then crawled toward it behind the boulder.
If they survived, Jin was buying something that fought from much farther away.
Kessa circled toward its legs.
The raker turned with her. Its tail swept low, cutting off the approach.
Jin crawled to his feet beside the boulder.
He couldn't stab through the wing.
He needed it open.
Preferably without his internal organs opening first.
The white throat swelled again.
Jin ripped the hood from his head. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
“Hey!”
He waved it over his face.
The yellow eye swivelled toward the feathers.
“Your girlfriend's filing a complaint.”
The beak darted at him.
Jin flung the hood over it and jumped back.
The creature bit through the cloth. Gray stuffing burst between its jaws. It shook its head, trying to clear the tangle.
Its wing opened.
Garran stepped in and cut beneath the joint.
Blood struck the pale stone.
Kessa drove her spear into the back of one leg. The raker kicked, dragging a raw shout from her, and wrenched free of both weapons.
Jin jabbed into the wound under its wing.
The point sank. A hot gust blew along the shaft and snapped his shirt against his chest.
He jerked the weapon clear.
Air whistled from the hole.
The raker staggered.
Jin grinned so hard his cheeks hurt.
“Found your puncture.”
It spread both wings.
The right one shook. The left opened fully. The creature backed toward the quarry mouth, keeping its beak toward them.
Garran raised his sword and followed.
Bram caught Jin's shirt.
He was pointing at the ground.
Fine dust slid toward the raker's feet.
Jin looked up.
The creature's white throat had collapsed inward. It wasn't filling the pouch this time. Its chest was expanding instead, dragging air through the open wound.
The severed rope slithered across the ledge.
Jin grabbed Garran's belt and pulled.
The veteran swung toward him, furious.
Then the raker lowered its head.
Every loose feather on the quarry floor rose into the air.
And turned its sharpened end toward them.