The loading shelf had lost a third of its width by the time Iven reached the upper spur.
Below him, dirty water struck the stone in heavy slanting bursts. Three workers stood against the inner wall beneath a shallow roof. One waved a scrap of pale cloth. Another held a lantern whose light barely showed through the rain. The third kept looking at the grain stacks behind them, as if attention could hold the lower sacks above the flood.
Iven crouched beside Ruka and read the ground before reaching for a line.
The nearest iron ring stood in a block whose outer edge had already cracked. A rope through it would draw a rescued person toward the failing part of the shelf. Neri had seen that on the map. On the actual slope the mistake looked even easier to make.
“The far eye,” he said.
Kardo looked along the cliff. “You can reach it?”
“Yes. Give me the safety line from here. Don’t load the near ring.”
Ruka and two station workers cleared the upper working place. Kardo checked the main block with a hammer, inspected the ring’s seating and rigged the rescue block there. It would carry the actual lifting load. Iven’s movement would make the lower connection possible before the shelf went away.
