Krail’s hook scraped twice along the chamber floor. 🪨
THE BOOK OF TAD
PAGE 116
A REACH TOO FAR 🏮
Krail’s body could not pass through the stone throat. His foreleg could.
TurboTAD found a loose slab lying beside the inside entrance. He and Zale tipped it onto its edge, then pushed it across the opening while Vael and Finley carried Glint higher.
The hook struck the slab.
Zale flinched but kept pushing. The slab settled against two fixed shoulders of stone, leaving narrow channels for water at its sides. Now the shoulders took the pressure.
Krail tested it twice.
“You can’t carry him very far,” he said.
Glint stared at the blocked entrance.
TurboTAD looked up towards the service gap. Pip was beyond that turn. He could come through it; Glint could scarcely bear a touch.
A scrape crossed the slab, then stopped.
TurboTAD checked its edges before moving away. Silence did not tell him whether Krail had gone.
Glint lay in the shallow bowl of stone with Finley supporting his injured side. He was breathing carefully and watching anyone who came near the flipper.
“Vael,” TurboTAD said. “Fetch Pip.”
Vael loosened the covered route copy from his harness and passed it to Finley. Then he swam towards the high gap.