He found the gap on the second attempt and pushed through it with both hands behind the blade, holding on through the thrashing that followed until the movement stopped.
He straightened up and rolled his shoulder, confirming it was functional, and looked at Magnar who had positioned himself to cut off the creature's retreat angle and had taken a glancing blow from the tail in the process, a scrape along his left shoulder that was superficial but would need watching.
"How is that?" Neil asked, nodding at the shoulder.
Magnar turned his head, inspected the scrape, and made a sound that indicated it was not worth the inquiry.
"Good." Neil said, and they moved on.
