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."
