Still unable to get away because of the pain in his abdomen and the crack to his head, Caim tried to wrench away when a foot - a boot - came down on his neck hard. He choked immediately and struggled to wrench it off with both badly injured hands. While it didn't snap his windpipe right away, it hurt like all hell, and he couldn't breathe at all.

Damn you, demon! he snarled in his mind, trying and failing to rip himself out from under the painful catch. He lunged, bucked, fought, tried to force that foot off him - but the bleeding and exertion was sapping his strength, and the lack of air wasn't helping the situation any.