Malgadon brandished his hunting knife and removed war plate from his fallen brothers while the rest of Fourth Claw, having managed to stop Bas from eating any of their gene-seed, more or less quietly retreated from the bridge, intending to tend to their wounds and equipment. The battle, though one-sided, still gave them quite a few injuries, and while the pain was dulled by the combat stimulants automatically administered by their armor's drug dispensers, it was still an incessant, if distant, source of irritation.

[b]"Brother-apothecary,"[/b] Sorthraal said, his voice ever saturnine, as he, Vorax, Bas and Udan entered the dark hall of the aftcastle apothecarion, [b]"we are wounded."[/b]