Fellis Dain didn’t shout. He drove his left heel backward into the fiery gravel, locked his hip against the belt toggle. Then he threw his entire seven stone of weight into the rawhide tether.
The iron grappling hook bit into the rotted oak chock with the savagery of an anchor catching a reef.
When Fellis leaned his weight into the line, the decayed wood of the wedge didn’t merely slide. It crumbled under the shearing load. The heavy iron tire of the rear left wheel dropped three inches onto the stone cobbles with a bone-shaking slam that sent a shudder through the courtyard floor.
Then gravity took command.
The twelve-hundred-pound freight wagon possessed a huge, pent-up striking force. It rolled off the flat apron. Then, the steep fifteen-degree cobbled slope funneled its iron-banded wheels downward like a chute. The ungreased axles screeched with a high, agonized wail that set the pack mule’s ears flat against its skull.
The heavy wagon gathered speed with terrifying rapidity. Two paces down the apron, it was rolling faster than a trotting horse. Four paces down, the tongue was whipping wildly from side to side. It bounced two feet off the ground as the iron tires struck broken stone floor.
