Elara drove her staff into the ice.
The pillars surrounding Sonya burst open.
Long blades shot from their cores, converging upon the small figure above the ruined shell. Behind them, the phoenix spread its upper wings and released a storm of crystalline feathers.
Sonya tilted her head.
The stone hand that had stopped Winterspine came apart.
Its fingers flattened into broad plates and swept around her. Ice shattered against moving rock, while feathers struck the gaps she had occupied a moment earlier.
However, one blade slipped through.
A shallow line opened across her cheek.
Sonya touched it.
Then the ground beneath Elara's pillars turned.
Their next volley fired sideways.
Elara's eyes widened and she jerked her staff upward. Her own blades stopped short of her face, trembling beneath the command that caught them.
But Sonya was already descending.
A stone slab rose behind her heel. She kicked against it, driving herself forward, and thrust a fist at Elara's chest.
