The first spear grew faster than a person could stand.
The guard jumped backward. Its point followed, bending through the air with an animal’s certainty. Around the clearing the pale roots shuddered. Ashaun dragged Suth’s blanket clear of a second emerging spike and threw her sword flat onto the ground.
Ysabet reached Pip’s side.
“Don’t pull the line,” she said, although she could not tell who might obey.
The guard pulled.
Pip twisted toward him. Its six feet scrabbled against the root. The dart’s barbed head caught beneath a shell plate, and clear fluid spread around the shaft.
A third spear rose behind Edris.
He turned, saw it, and moved toward the guard instead of away.
