Chapter 943 - 943: Todd Lands With Nine Unpaid Shifts

Todd wedged one staff section between the two wooden treads before the closing gap reached Cava's injured ankle.

The other section crossed her chest strap. She had wrapped her good leg around it and kept the bad foot inside Todd's elbow, where the route could pull on him before it twisted her ankle again.

They had spent most of the Cross Link route climbing a stair that built itself behind their shoulders and removed each tread below their heels. Todd had stopped asking where the stair led after the third answer tried to bite his fingers.

The cracked fragment in his fist jumped.

A wedge of pale stone pushed through the metal and struck his palm. Its cut marks matched the fragment. Its weight pulled toward the recovery jaw hanging from Cava's belt.

"The stone in your fragment has started pulling toward my belt."

"That belt already owns enough equipment without collecting my weapon."

Cava unhooked the jaw with one hand. The blunt metal teeth opened toward the splinter. A packing cord still ran through its hinge, cut short where Jade had freed Cava from Griswald's recovery crew.

"The jaw is carrying us toward the stone, and I would rather reach it with both ankles and one free hand."

She passed the jaw through her capture hook and turned both tools across her chest. The old crown cuts on her shoulder tightened under the cloth.

The lower tread split down the middle.

Todd shoved Cava upward with his forearm while the gap took his boot to the ankle. The staff section behind them bent between the wooden steps.

"Keep your injured foot inside my elbow when the lower tread breaks."

"I can keep my own foot if you stop dropping floors."

"I have dropped one floor today, and your captain owned it."

The splinter drove farther into Todd's fragment. Through the crack, he saw a strip of black metal wrapped around a moving chain. Bone ribs strained beneath it. Jade's hand held the chain from one side while a woman with a roof knife hauled two injured workers from the other.

Ty had found another place where the floor required negotiations.

The Cross Link opening narrowed around Todd's trapped staff.

Cava kicked the remaining section out from behind her chest and put it in his free hand.

"Let the trapped section go before the route closes on both ankles."

Todd released it.

The wooden stair kept the second piece of his staff. He entered Kavel with one section left and Cava's bad foot still inside his elbow.

They fell through Orra's hide seam above a rope crowded with bodies.

A man in an anchor harness swung across Todd's path. One leg followed the rope. The other pulled toward the black band around Ty's chain.

Todd caught the harness beneath the man's hip and shoved his last staff section between the damaged leg and the stone seam. The shaft took the impact. His shoulder took the rest.

Cava hooked a woman's chest brace before their combined weight could wrench her sideways. Three separate lines pulled at the woman's body, each one choosing a different piece of Orra.

The fallwright on the recall rope seized Todd by his coat.

"Explain each person after Jori's leg stops moving toward the wall."

Todd pushed the harness back toward her.

"His left leg wants the band, and my staff can hold it until your rope takes his hips."

She looped her waist line around Jori and pulled his chest against her side. The injured man corrected the knot while she worked.

"You put the turn above my buckle, Meya, and that will take the wrong knee."

"You may complain after Clinic Five records every surviving part."

Jade hauled Ty's chain clear of Todd's shoulder. The skull tied inside her coat turned its green eye toward him, then checked Cava's reopened ankle cloth.

"You lost another piece of that staff before finding me twice."

"You lost nine houses between meetings, so neither of us improved."

Ty's jaw shifted against Jade's belt.

"The houses belonged to people who would dislike your arithmetic."

"Then I will apologize after your chain stops stealing my coat."

Jade pulled one link from beneath Todd's collar without loosening the black band.

"Ty Hockenson, keep the band on one chain and leave Todd's route alone."

"Todd's route has already attached itself without asking either of us."

The fallwright pushed Jori ahead of her on the public rope. Cava kept the other injured worker's chest braces level as Orra's hide tightened around them.

"My name is Cava Dren, and the jaw on my belt is choosing your skeleton."

The woman in braces turned her blank helm toward Cava.

"Dema Voss carries three directions, and your jaw is pulling all of them toward that band."

Todd caught the jaw before it struck Ty's chain. Its teeth closed around his last staff section and dragged him against Cava's shoulder.

The old crown cut beneath her collar opened. Blood soaked through one long line and six shorter ones.

Ruvan's recall pulled from above without cadence. The rope climbed faster through Orra, scraping every buckle against the hide seam.

Behind Todd, a red packing cord pushed through the Cross Link opening. The freight landing guard came headfirst with his pay card wrapped around one fist, all nine wax boxes still unstamped.

He caught the seam with one boot and hauled himself toward Cava.

"Return the seventh runner with crown skin intact, and preserve the blade holder's breath."

Meya moved Jori above the man's reach.

"This rope carries named rescues, and your recovery order waits behind them."

The guard looked at Ruvan's line, Jori's harness, and Dema's braces. His cord could reach Cava only by crossing all three.

"My nine shifts die if that account closes."

Cava kept both hands around the capture hook.

"Your office spent my shoulder before it spent your wages."

"The office has no other living address left."

He pulled the cord.

When the recovery jaw snapped toward Cava's crown, Todd stepped between them and laid his chest across the packing line; the pull checked itself before the cord could crush his ribs.

The guard's order had preserved the blade holder's breath twice already. Todd intended to make it suffer from consistency.

"You were told to keep me breathing, so pull through my chest."

The guard tested the cord once. It refused to tighten across Todd's lungs.

"Then your breath can wait while the account proves itself."

He opened his fist and slapped the unstamped pay card against the black band.

The prison metal took the wax.

Every link in Ty's chain turned toward Cava. Jade planted both boots against the hide seam and held his skull against her ribs.

"Ty Hockenson, keep one down while Meya clears the living rope."

"One down remains, but the band is pulling through my fractures."

Two cracked ribs spread at their chain holes. Todd hooked his last staff beneath the band to keep it from sliding into Ty's open chest.

Ruvan's voice traveled down the recall rope.

"Jori reaches Clinic Five before this band receives another worker."

Meya clipped Jori to the upper line and pushed him toward the waiting hands inside Rillhold. Dema remained beside Cava, held by three braces and one public knot.

"Dema remains on my rope until somebody cuts her free."

Cava pressed her good hand against the blood opening across her shoulder.

"That mark is turning because the band recognizes her labor."

Dema's four circles rotated inward against the side of her helm.

"My helm counts work groups, and her shoulder carries an office."

Nessa reached the band with her usable hand. The recovered field finger climbed along its separate chain link and fitted two joints beneath the wax pay card.

The finger lifted the card.

Twelve square punches opened along the band's inner face.

Seven of them pulled at Cava's crown. The long cut tightened first. Each shorter scar followed until Todd felt her shoulder drag beneath his forearm.

Dema's four circles kept turning in the helm without aligning to any punch.

The landing guard stared at the open count.

"Seven account positions remain attached, so the landing ledger can return my nine shifts, the cutters' pay, and the family places promised to three dead men."

Ruvan hauled another length of recall rope through Orra's hide.

"Your wages remain yours, but Rillhold will not pay them with Cava."

The recovered field finger pressed the first empty punch. Nothing moved.

At the second, a breathing cup knocked somewhere beyond the band. Nessa received five breaths through the finger, followed by an empty sixth pull that closed her hand around the prison metal.

"That is Tovan's missing sixth breath, and this band is carrying him."