The first guardian struck the inner door before Iven had finished opening it.
He let the door swing back against its stop and stepped through the gap behind it. A pale wedge hit the place where his chest had been, hard enough to ring the metal. The creature’s forelimbs folded for another blow. Its body stood no higher than his waist, but the raised joint above its head nearly reached his shoulder.
Iven sprang left.
The second blow hit stone. He landed beside the first rib, his right hand already paying out the hooked cable. Above him, beyond a narrow grille, Kesh called the movement of the other two.
“Middle coming. Far one stays by the strand.”
He saw them. The gallery had looked longer through the viewing slit. Inside, every distance belonged to a body crossing it. Four paces to the second rib. Another three to the maintenance hatch. The marked wall on his right must remain untouched.
He threw the hook around the first guardian’s near forelimb as it lifted.
No cast imprint. Physical iron, a practiced throw and a loop large enough to catch the thick joint. The hook bit behind a mineral ridge. Iven drew through winch, using the overhead eye to turn the pull upward and left.
