The Eastern Forest. Night. Grog's POV.
Davin was down. Ken was down. The boy's teleportation had finally failed him, the cost of too many jumps, too much blood loss. He lay crumpled against a tree, his chest rising and falling, his eyes closed.
Ben's sword was still in his hand, but Grog was on him. Shoulder to chest, driving him back, the ground churning beneath their feet. Ben was fast—faster than most—but Grog was stronger. The berserker was awake, the red creeping at the edges of his vision.
Ben swung. Grog dodged. The blade passed inches from his face.
Grog punched.
His fist caught Ben in the ribs. Not a killing blow, but hard. Bone cracked. Ben gasped, stumbled, raised his sword again.
Grog grabbed his wrist. Squeezed.
Ben's fingers opened. The sword fell.
---
Tina raised her staff.
Lightning arced toward Grog—blue and white, crackling, hungry. It hit him in the chest, spread across his body, lit up the darkness.
Grog didn't fall.
The berserker drank the lightning. The red surged. His muscles tensed, his hair stood on end, his teeth clenched. It hurt. It hurt like nothing he had felt since the canyon. But he didn't fall.
Tina's eyes widened. "What are you?"
Grog didn't answer. He grabbed Ben by the throat.
---
Ben's hands clawed at Grog's grip. His feet kicked. His face was pale, his eyes wild. He wasn't a weak man. He had survived worlds, fought hunters, escaped Vorlag's servants. But Grog was something else.
"Stop," Tina said.
Grog didn't look at her.
"Stop, or I'll blast them."
Grog turned his head.
Tina's staff was pointed at the fallen log where Lira crouched with Ken. Lightning crackled at its tip, ready to fire. Lira's knife was still in her hand, but she was too far away. Ken was unconscious.
"Let him go," Tina said.
Grog's grip tightened. Ben choked.
"I said let him go!"
Grog didn't move. The red was everywhere now, burning in his blood, screaming in his ears. He could kill Ben. He could break his neck, turn on Tina, end her before she could fire.
But Lira was behind her. Ken was behind her.
He couldn't risk it.
---
The forest was silent.
The crackle of Tina's lightning. Ben's ragged breathing. The distant sound of the fire still burning where her earlier blast had ignited the trees.
Grog's hand was still around Ben's throat.
"Put the staff down," Grog said.
"No."
"Put it down, or I'll kill him."
Tina's hands shook. The lightning flickered. "You won't."
Grog tightened his grip. Ben's face went red.
"Try me."
Tina's eyes glistened. Tears? Fear? He couldn't tell.
"Tina," Ben choked. "Don't."
She didn't lower the staff.
---
The light came from behind her.
Soft at first, then brighter—a glow that grew and spread, warm and golden. Tina spun, her staff raised, but the light was already on her. It wrapped around her, gentle as a blanket, heavy as chains.
Her eyes fluttered. Her staff dipped.
"What—"
She fell.
The lightning died. The staff clattered on the ground. Tina lay still, her chest rising and falling, asleep.
---
Mirena stepped out of the trees.
Her staff was glowing, its crystal bright, its light fading. Her face was pale, her robes were torn, her breath was ragged. She had run. She had followed. She had made it.
"Grog," she said.
Grog looked at her. The red was fading. The berserker was settling.
He looked at Ben. At the man in his grip, pale and bleeding and barely conscious.
Then he punched him in the jaw.
Ben's head snapped back. His eyes rolled. He went limp.
Grog let him fall.
---
The forest was silent.
The fire still crackled in the distance. The smoke still curled through the trees. But the fighting was over.
Grog stood over Ben's body, his chest heaving, his hands shaking. Lira was beside Ken, checking his pulse, his breathing. Mirena knelt by Davin, her staff glowing, her hands steady.
"They're alive," Mirena said. "All of them."
Grog looked at the strangers. At the boy, the woman, the man. At the artifact lying on the ground where Davin had dropped it.
"What are they?" Lira asked.
Grog shook his head. "I don't know."
He picked up Ben's sword. He picked up Tina's staff. He picked up the artifact.
"But we're going to find out."