The dead stars left no opening wide enough for Skykeel.
Black current ended at their white shells and returned in the cramped spaces between them. Some shells were round. Others had broken into hooked plates with edges facing the oncoming city.
Morrowfin drove them toward the field with one sound wing.
Her wounded wing remained folded against her belly. White fire seeped between the fold and her dark skin, making each hard stroke shiver before it reached the crosswake.
The fold had swallowed Jiang's lee.
Kesta understood the collision before anyone called it. She crossed the remaining root with her wrapped hand raised, sent residents out of the empty east rooms, and kicked loose the door teeth behind them.
"Strip every roof outside the nursery brace," she shouted. "Leave the east root ready to cut."
