The first creature struck where the yard had been kept empty for ambulances.
It came low beneath the outer barricade, driving a timber aside with its shoulder. A local hunter met it before it reached the loading lane. His shield turned the first blow, but the impact pushed him back across the chalk boundary Kellan had drawn for the working space.
“Second position,” Kellan called.
The hunter tried to recover the ground. Behind him, a porter held the end of a transfer trolley while a medic secured a connection. There was no room for a contest over five paces of paving.
“Back to the marked position. Now.”
The hunter yielded. Kellan stepped into the angle beside him, using the prepared barrier rather than chasing the creature into the open yard. Sev took the next section under Ossa’s signal. Their movement opened the space the trolley needed and narrowed the creature’s approach.
A third defender drove it toward the barrier. The kill came without spectacle, a close thrust while its movement was checked. The timber stayed displaced. Kellan sent the runner for the repair worker and kept the damaged gap in view.
The first attack had cost them ground. It had not cost the patient the clear loading lane.
