The Baron lost his second griffon knight on the ninth day.
Sir Aldren's griffon took three boomstick balls in the dive. The first ball struck the beast's neck armor and deflected. The second struck the saddle's flank guard and penetrated, the ball lodging in the griffon's hip muscle. The third struck Sir Aldren's right leg above the knee, the ball entering through the cuisses' inner surface and shattering the femur.
The griffon's dive continued on momentum. The beast's wings, still folded, could not arrest the descent because the folded position was the dive's committed phase and the committed phase's aerodynamics did not permit recovery until the wings opened at the pull-out altitude. The hip wound's pain caused the griffon to twist in the dive, the beast's body rotating along its longitudinal axis, the rotation throwing the dive's trajectory off the ammunition wagon target and toward the thundermaker battery's crew positions.
