Brell let Iven have the first clear step.
Then the line drew him sideways and the piston head came in from an angle the step had opened.
Iven caught it on plate. He felt the blow through forearm and shoulder, turned his body with it and drove his right fist toward the gap beneath Brell’s raised guard.
The other plate met him.
Hard.
Brell’s tether tightened against the stone post, giving the impact somewhere to go. His right hand returned while Iven was still taking his own fist back.
Iven sprang away from the short head and landed beside the old loading frame.
The contractor had a longer working arc than he first appeared to have. The line did not merely keep him from being pushed backward. It let him change the center of his stance, draw into a turn and recover after putting more force into a strike than an untethered fighter would have risked.
