Stone wings did not flap above Maelin's hall.
They folded into the creature wearing them.
Jiang saw the first grey point punch through the cloudshear's breast. Another followed beside it, then a whole fan of stone feathers drove inward from both wings.
The flying host tried to open wider.
Its own new bones stabbed deeper.
Black blood sheeted across the white belly as the cloudshear fell toward the hall.
"Open the roof," Kessa said.
Hest stared at her.
Water already filled his boots. The cracked founder rib bowed across his shoulders, and every breath made the split undercroft wall spit more starwater.
"That is the roof," he said.
"Then teach it to move."
Kessa hooked both hands beneath Maelin's oldest ceiling root.
Valea cut beside her.
Above them, families dragged children away from the widening seam. Salt-Suture riders helped Bone Orchard fighters move the injured, though several still watched one another's knives.
Jiang stood where Raska had set him.
