The axe cut into the bark with a delayed thunk! Llew gasped and went to jump from the cart, but her body cried out in pain. Jonas was at her side in a moment, a warning shake of his head accompanying a steadying gloved hand on her arm.

Braph slid from his horse. ‘This is not good,’ he stated plainly.

Karlani, who stood facing the road, looked over her shoulder and said something to Aris. Aris paused his hacking to wave at them, smiling, then he took the axe in two hands and swung again.

The wood must have been hard, as the axe only chipped away at it. But Aris worked quickly, incredibly quick. A large wedge of wood had already been extracted and every other hack was accompanied by a heart-wrenching creak. How long had they been there?

Each time the axe cut in, Llew felt sick, but Jonas wouldn’t let her go. He gripped her arm and assessed the situation before them, his gaze taking in the Immortal and the Syakaran woman, and then sweeping across their group; one Syakaran, two Kara – one of which was missing half an arm – and Llew, with her gut injury counting her out of any fighting, unless she could get to the tree, assuming it could still help her. His frozen expression did little to settle Llew’s nerves.

‘What do we know about the girl?’ Hisham asked, moving up beside Jonas. ‘I mean, she’s Syakaran, but does she have any training beyond what you were workin’ on back in Brurun?’

‘My bet is she could best you in a one-on-one,’ said Jonas. ‘No offence.’

‘None taken.’ Hisham didn’t take his eyes off the woman. She stood casually, waiting for them to make their move, bow in one hand, quiver of arrows slung off a shoulder. ‘This is gonna hurt.’

Jonas stepped in close to Chino. With small, deft movements he detached his crossbow from the saddle and flicked off its safety catch.

‘That won’t have the range to fire from here,’ said Braph.

‘I know,’ said Jonas, checking the weapon was ready to go. His cheek rippled as he clenched and unclenched his teeth. None of them knew exactly what Aris was capable of.

‘I offered you the use of my Gaards for a reason,’ Braph continued.

‘You said yourself Aris would heal easily from those.’ Jonas said, still fiddling with his crossbow. ‘Seems to me the best way to slow him down is to do as much damage as possible. Bolts and arrows, they do damage.’

Braph smiled. ‘I retract any unfavorable comments I may have made about your intellect, brother. When it comes to sizing up your fellow man and how best to injure him, I admit, you are better than me.’

‘Hisham, Braph: swap places.’ Jonas glanced between the two Karan men before returning his attention to his weapons. ‘Hisham, you’re with me. Take one of Braph’s Gaards and you focus on Karlani and slowin’ Aris down. Braph, you get Llew to her tree by any means.’

Llew opened her mouth to protest but stopped herself. Now was the time to suspend her grudge against Braph. Didn’t mean she had to drop it altogether. She focused all her attention on Aris and her tree.

Braph reached into the back of the cart for his Gaards and ammunition. He handed one of the devices and a spare cartridge of pellets to Hisham and gave him a swift lesson in reloading. Then he handed the other to Llew.

She stared at all the metal, wide-eyed.

‘It takes me a little longer to load these things than it used to.’ Braph gave her a pointed look. ‘Besides, you may like to be of some help, too.’

Llew looked at Karlani, who had raised her bow and held it drawn and ready. She looked back down at the cold metal in her hand.

She fought to control her breathing as Braph leaned closer to instruct her in the weapon’s use. Fear and panic were not good lesson companions, but Jonas and Hisham needed her now. She put all her energy into listening. The tricky part was the reloading, with a switch to flick and one cartridge to pull out and another to insert and click into place. She hoped she would remember it all in the heat of the moment. At least the Gaard itself didn’t seem too hard to use. Point it at the person you wanted to kill and squeeze the trigger. Simple.

She spared another glance at Karlani, still patiently waiting for them as Aris continued his assault on the tree. As far as she would know, Jonas presented her only real challenge.

‘Good,’ said Braph. ‘Now, I suggest you lie low. Those arrows are about to come thick and fast.’

Fighting down a moan at the all too familiar pain, Llew swiveled her feet around and lay flat, making herself as small a target as possible. The men had the luxury of being able to dodge anything they saw coming. Llew wasn’t so lucky. Even without the shooting pain, she lacked their Karan speed.

All the while, the axe continued to swing. Thunk, thunk, thunk.

At some signal Llew missed, Hisham and Jonas took off running, and Karlani fired and reloaded and fired again in a blur. Jonas flung an arm out in front of him, knocking arrows left and right. Hisham, slightly slower but fast enough, ducked and dodged the arrows coming his way. Breaking his concentration on the arrows for a moment, he lifted his Gaard.

Boom! The clearing filled with thunder.

Nothing happened. There was another and Karlani went down, a shower of red leaping from her chest. A soft schuck announced the arrow she’d loosed before going down sinking into Hisham’s shoulder. He stumbled but kept on, snapping off the shaft and shifting his aim to Aris.

The meadow reverberated with Gaard-thunder and wood-chopping, broken as Aris paused to heal a Gaard-pellet wound, but it never took long enough, and he was back to his task in moments.

Jonas raised his crossbow and fired. Aris dropped the axe, stumbling and cursing. He ripped the bolt free, flinging it and a chunk of his flesh away. He reclaimed the axe as Jonas reached him, throwing the spent crossbow aside.

Braph snapped the carthorse to life. Movement caught Llew’s eye. Karlani was bringing her bow across her body. Llew called out. The tree creaked. Wood groaned, cracked. Aris swung his axe at Jonas. Jonas gripped his wrist and tried to slash at him with a knife, but Aris twisted out of the way, freed his wrist, and came at Jonas again. They moved so fast Llew could barely see the strikes. A horrible recollection of Jonas fighting Braph came back to her. That fight had resulted in Jonas’s death, and there was every chance this would go the same way. She never wanted to relive that memory. this time she wouldn’t be able to bring him back.

Karlani loosed her arrow. It took Hisham in the side, sending him floundering to the ground.

Llew remembered the Gaard in her hand. You pointed and shot, and blood spurted from whoever you hit. She remembered Jonas getting hit, the shower of blood and him going down. The thought of doing that to anyone, even Karlani, nearly made her sick. But Karlani had sided with Aris and, right now, little else mattered than keeping Jonas alive and saving the tree.

She pointed the weapon and squeezed the trigger. The recoil jarred her entire body, again bringing her gut wound to the fore and sending the pellet wild. Burning with pain, she clutched the Gaard in both hands, took aim again and fired. Again, the jar. Again, the pain. And all the while the cart bounced and bucked across the rough ground. She wasn’t going to achieve anything until they pulled up by the tree.

Karlani dragged herself to her feet. Blood flowed down her front, but she could still move, dashing in to help Aris, only to collapse again at his feet. But he didn’t need her. He swept his axe in a blur, forcing Jonas to dodge and duck, barely giving him the chance to return the strikes. They moved too fast for Llew to see clearly, and whatever damage Jonas inflicted on Aris healed immediately.

‘I don’t want to kill you, fool boy!’ Aris growled, swinging the axe again.

Braph hauled the cart to a stop just back from the fight, and the tree. Llew lined her Gaard up on the pair, but there was no way she could be sure she would hit Aris and not Jonas.

Braph scrambled from the cart, ran to where Hisham lay and pulled his Gaard. He crouched, using his stumpy arm to help support the one with the weapon, training it on the fighting pair. But he would fare no better than Llew.

Jonas tumbled and danced around Aris, trying to wear him down with whatever damage he could inflict, but he was slowing. They both were.

And then Aris feinted a swing with the axe and Jonas moved to avoid it, only to wind up with the blunt end in his gut. Llew’s breath caught as his expelled. Aris craned back, readying the axe for a final blow. Llew and Braph both had him in their sights, and yet Llew found herself muttering ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot,’ willing Braph not to take the chance of hitting Jonas. The axe came around, taking Jonas in the side with the dull end, sending him flying. He disappeared into the long meadow grass, and the meadow filled with thunder again as Braph and Llew let loose.

Aris stumbled back. He dropped the axe. He fell.

Llew reached beside her for the extra cartridge. Flick, click, shake out the empty one. Thud on the cart’s floorboards. Fit the full cartridge. Click it in place. Flick the switch.

By the time she looked up, Aris was halfway between the tree and her. His blood-stained clothes were evidence of their attack, but he ran with ease, if not superhuman speed.

Llew squeezed the trigger. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Aris stumbled, collapsed to his knees. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Llew squeezed her trigger again and again. Click, click, click. No more thunder. No more pellets. She reached back for another cartridge, but she’d used the only spare. She turned to Braph; he should have had a spare. He was on hand and knees, searching the ground around Hisham. He looked at her and they shared a grim look.

But Aris was still struggling. He staggered up again. His shirt, or what was left of it, was almost solid red. Even his trousers, already dark in color, had blackened with blood, the tears in them displaying the blood-smeared skin beneath. He groaned as two pellets popped from his chest. He was still healing, but slowly.

Aris was still down, though fighting to stand all the while.

Braph ran to the cart.

‘Come on. Time to get you whole.’ Rolling Llew to her back, he slid his hand behind her shoulders, his stump beneath her knees. He carried her, running half-crouched, and dumped her at the base of her tree. He gathered up one of Jonas’s discarded knives and turned to face Aris alone. Aris stood, gripping his arm, dripping blood, and Braph took the chance to lash at him. Aris jumped back, still alert, still nimble, but once out of reach he stood catching his breath. Braph lunged at him again, and again Aris dodged him. Braph grew bold and had another go. This time Aris swept him aside and turned to finish off the one and a half-armed Karan with his bare hands.

Llew peered up into the tree. The gaping hole on the other side of its trunk made her want to weep. But if she remained injured, she risked causing too much damage to anyone and anything else she came in contact with. She loved the tree and didn’t know what healing from it now might do to it, but she had to.

Grunts and mutterings came from both men in equal measures. Aris was weakening, but he was still a tough fight for the damaged Braph. A whole Llew could tip the scales. She pulled her hands free of her gloves.