He was incredible and Liv already knew that, she had known it since the fight against the crawler, but that was different and now she saw him better. At the start of the run, Liv came right behind him and following Dagny, trying to keep up while dodging thorns, roots and thick branches that sprang from every side. She and almost everyone else had to duck, jump or dodge the whole time. He simply advanced, his momentum only seemed interrupted in brief instants, always to deliver some more elaborate brutality to the forest before going back to running, losing almost none of his rhythm.
With time everyone began to tire, even so a path existed thanks to him. Until the big blow came, A branch thick as a young trunk, struck Hrafn from the side and hurled him away with a dry crash of wood and iron. For an instant, she was certain the voroir would die there. No one could take an impact like that and simply keep going.
But voroirs tended to ignore common sense and reason often.
He rolled across the ground, dodged more attacks, planted his boots on the ground again and then stopped at the last instant, just when it seemed he would be hit again. His body bent in such an impressive way that even Liv, who did not understand half of what she saw the great warriors do, could tell there was technique there. The thick branch passed and was broken and in the same movement Hrafn pointed the mace toward a tree ahead together with a shout, revealing the enemy.
From then on, the assault changed. It was no longer just surviving the forest's blows, now there was a target and the warriors began to advance in that direction with more fury, sometimes being forced to step back half a step, but always managing to gain a little more soon after.
Most of the roots also no longer seemed interested in them, dozens of them were turning now toward the voroir, who had ended up falling a little behind. His mace spun without rest and Liv could barely follow it with her eyes. In the few instants when she managed to truly watch him, she saw Hrafn crouch to let one branch pass, rise twisting his body to avoid another, break a third with the mace, step on a root that tried to trap his leg, use the impulse to throw himself sideways and, right after, bring the weapon down again. All in a single breath. Each gesture seemed to be born from the previous one so cleanly that it became difficult to understand where one ended and the other began.
"Girl!"
Dagny's shout tore Liv out of her own thoughts just in time. She turned her head by instinct and a thin branch went whistling past, missing her eyes by little, The blow still caught her ear and tore a piece from it before moving on. Liv felt the sting of the wound before breaking the branch with her hand and continuing forward, she knew she should not get distracted in the middle of a fight. But even so she could not stop herself from casting brief glances at the voroir, and it was by looking that she saw. One of the branches he had broken, it was different from the others.
The branch looked thinner and newer, that made Liv raise her eyes toward the direction it had come from. Back there, a few meters beyond Hrafn, between roots and disturbed leaves, there was a small creature. With more and more branches coming out of its little body and the ground around it, piling up behind it like a tide of living wood, waiting for the hour to fall upon someone.
Liv slowed her pace for an instant, assessing. Dagny would probably reach the creature in front. They were gaining ground every moment however little, but they were. The other one though, was a problem. A serious problem, if things went on like that the voroir would be surrounded. They would distract him with attacks from every side and when he was trapped in the rhythm of defense, the second mandrake would drown him in that sea of branches it had been gathering.
If he died, perhaps Dagny would not reach the other one in time either, thinking that, Liv drew a deep breath and started running back, much faster this time. She heard Dagny call after her a few times, but the leader was busy, too close to the main mandrake, out of breath for more than a short protest.
Liv ignored her.
She ran with everything she had toward the tiny little thing, gripping the spear so hard her fingers hurt. To her luck, now that she was falling back, she suffered less from the first creature's branches. Most of them were busy with the group, or perhaps the mandrake simply thought Liv was not worth the attention.
Hrafn kept fighting, there was something fierce and terrible in the way he resisted. Branches came from every side, and even so he remained standing. Sometimes the second creature also launched an attack in his direction, always taking advantage of some opening. Its branches were weaker than the other's, but much faster.
The little mandrake only noticed Liv when she was already close. A twenty thirty meters, perhaps less.
Maybe creating so many branches consumed something from it and stole its attention. The creature turned some branches toward the young warrior, but still seemed reluctant to fire them. Most remained pointed at Hrafn, as if the thing could not decide whether it was worth losing time with another prey. Liv did not harbor the same doubts as the creature, she knew exactly what she had to do. She ran even faster as her thighs hurt, her calves burned and her chest was already aflame with the effort.
The little creature finally seemed alarmed, more branches turned toward her and Liv understood that she would not reach it in time, at least not running. She took the impulse of her own run and turned it into something else, leaned her body back, drew her armed arm far away and snapped it forward like a whip. The spear left her hand heavy, flying straight and fast, cutting through the space between the branches.
The branches were already coming over Liv, from above and from the sides. Some so close she could hear the crack of wood tearing through the air. Even so, she smiled, pleased because the spear had gone through. With luck, with strength and perhaps with some blessing of the Star, the weapon drove into the ground behind the creature. In the middle of the shaft, impaled and pinned like a piece of meat on a spit, the little mandrake screamed in the same tone a human child would cry.
At another point in the woods, the attacks against Hrafn ceased almost at the same time. Dagny must have managed it, of course she managed it, Liv thought. She was the strongest woman she had ever known and she would not lose to a few roots.
The satisfaction warmed her for one short and precious instant, She might even have rejoiced more, if she had not felt at that moment a taste of iron rise into her mouth.
The air came in difficult and strange making Liv look down, where some branches were piercing her body.