---
Miryam's head peaked above the sling, her fragile nostrils flaring at new scents. Kai felt miniature aura tremors run through her body, reflexive sampling of the environment. To distract her, he pulled out a decrepit two-star core and let her gnaw. Runes along her dorsal crest lit pale topaz, then faded once she swallowed.
The boars used their tusk-plows to push the scree aside, creating a narrower but stable groove. Shards skittered down the slope like glass rain, each clatter echoed for seconds.
By Mid morning, a sheet of clay rock fractured underfoot. Kai grabbed Luna's wrist and hauled her back as a five-meter slab plummeted. Stone Ram thrust one tusk into the cliff wall, hinges in his neck joints absorbing the jolt. Iron Ram anchored the sled with his opposite tusk, legs braced. The slab crashed into a lower shelf and exploded into glitter.
Kai's Insight traced micro cracks radiating from the new gap. He ordered the boars to angle higher and the procession resumed.
