Chapter 301: Breaking the Briars

Rod gave them a few minutes before moving.

Lana drank water and sat where she could see the hollow through Midnight. Dirk checked his remaining arrows, laying the ones with damaged bindings aside. Dain loosened his shield strap enough to keep the swelling in his forearm from pressing against it.

Nessa examined Rod’s ribs through the gap in his armor.

"You can fight. You will feel it afterward."

"I feel it now."

"Then do not spend the next charge proving it."

He nodded and let her finish. Below them, the briarback settled near the hollow but did not lie down. Blood ran along its foreleg. It kept its wounded side toward the bank.

Theren brought a fresh sketch of the remaining roots.

"The large one beneath the upper track holds the retaining stones." he said. "Leave it. The dark runners across it belong to the thicket."

He had marked the living support with strips of pale bark. In the confusion below, it would otherwise look like another obstacle worth cutting.

Branth carried two short braces from the unused barrier.

"You can wedge these against the outer stones. If the track shifts, they give warning before the whole edge goes."

Dain took one. Rod took the other. They would not rely on it to stop the boar. They needed to know whether the remaining ground would hold their own feet.

The workers withdrew to the ridge under Senn’s supervision. Theren remained at the alder gap to identify growth and watch the support root. He carried no bundle of spare tools this time, only the pruning blade and a coil of line.

Rod explained the new sequence once.

Dirk would draw the beast’s attention from the lower stone. Rod and Dain would sever the runners joining the upper track to the hollow. Lana would freeze only the growth immediately ahead of them. Once the connection was broken, they would bring the animal across the open slope where its armored head could not face everyone at once.

"If it roots again, we move." Rod said. "No waiting beside a barrier."

They descended.

The first task took longer than Rod wanted. Cut stems lay tangled beneath the fallen rail, with new growth threading through them. He used the axe’s weight to separate bundles while Dain dragged them aside. Lana stiffened the thickest runners with ice, saving Rod from spending repeated blows on living cords that bent around the blade.

Dirk loosed from above.

The arrow struck the boar’s already wounded shoulder. It bellowed, turned, and began climbing toward the stone.

"Coming." he called.

Rod severed the last visible runner and stepped uphill. Dain followed, leaving the line of supporting roots intact beneath the track.

For the first time, the leaves around their feet remained still when the animal planted its forelegs.

The boar stopped.

Its snout moved from side to side. Dirk shifted above it, and the beast turned toward the visible motion. It could still hunt them. It had to choose what it watched.

Lana sent Midnight along the upper branches. His view gave her the angle behind the thorn ridge while she stood below it. She called the animal’s turns to Rod, letting him concentrate on his footing.

Dain struck his shield and moved across the track.

The boar charged him.

He kept moving. Its tusk caught the lower rail of the second barrier and tore it free. Dain was already beyond the end when the frame shifted. Rod moved in from the opposite side, striking the same rear joint he had opened before.

The wounded leg buckled.

The beast swung toward him. Rod withdrew along the open track rather than trying to deepen the cut. Dirk’s next arrow entered beneath the raised shoulder plate, and the boar turned again.

Each turn cost it more now. Blood marked the stones. Broken thorns scattered across the cleared ground.

It lowered its snout and began rooting.

"Move." Rod called.

They left the barrier. Earth lifted beneath its footings, sending the frame sideways into the empty space where Dain had stood. One brace snapped. The animal pushed through, but its head emerged between open lanes instead of into a trapped crew.

Lana froze the wet soil beneath its nearer forefoot.

The hoof slid when it tried to turn. Dain used the moment to cross in front of it, drawing its eyes while Rod reached the wounded flank. His axe struck beneath the plates. The cut went deeper than the earlier blows.

The briarback screamed and kicked.

Rod pulled clear of the hoof but caught a thorn along his upper arm. The point scraped through cloth, leaving a hot line beneath it. He ignored the urge to grip the wound and moved behind the retaining stones.

Nessa met him there, cut the torn sleeve clear, and checked for a broken tip.

"Shallow. Keep that arm away from the growth."

Across the track, Dain’s shield took another scraping impact. He yielded two steps and nearly lost his footing on loose gravel.

Dirk fired into the beast’s neck before it could follow.

"Rod." Dain called.

Rod returned to the line. They were forcing the boar to turn, but its weight still controlled the narrow ground whenever they let it close. They needed one longer opening, enough for Dirk and Lana to strike the softer places together.

Theren called from the alder gap.

"Growth behind you!"

A new runner had crossed the cut line near the large supporting root. Leaves unfurled rapidly along it. Theren reached with his pruning blade, cut the tip, and pulled it clear. Another stem rose beside it.

Lana turned her cold toward the line. The growth slowed, but she could not keep doing that and control the beast’s footing.

"I need the gap held." she said.

Senn appeared above Theren with two hooked tools. He had left the workers on the ridge and come down when he saw the first new connection. The two fey cut from behind the alder, remaining outside the open track.

Rod checked their position before accepting it.

"Stay behind the trunks."

Senn nodded and caught another runner with his hook.

Theren called for a brief shift while the beast faced the second barrier. The dryad had found another runner beneath a loose mat of leaves. It passed directly behind the position Lana was using, close enough that another burst of growth could close around her ankles.

She moved to the next stone before he cut it. Midnight remained above, keeping the view of the animal while her own sight was blocked by an alder. Rod followed her call as the boar turned, trusting the warning early enough to avoid the sweep of its tusk.

Dirk had only a few clean arrows left within immediate reach. He moved two from the reserve bundle and discarded one whose shaft had cracked against the shelf. Recovering the arrowheads would wait until the beast was down. He took longer over the next shot, choosing the existing gap instead of testing another plate.

The arrow entered cleanly. The boar’s front step shortened, and its head dipped closer to the ground.

Dain noticed the change and called it. Rod watched the next turn confirm it. The animal still had enough strength to kill any of them, but the wounds were beginning to affect how it placed its weight.

Nessa moved her supply bag before the party yielded ground again. She had no reason to crowd the front rank. From the next opening, she could still reach either fighter while staying clear of the charge. Senn saw her movement and made certain the cut growth did not block that path.

The adjustment bought them space rather than another wound. Rod used it to breathe, reset his grip, and judge the remaining slope. They had stopped reacting to every movement at once. The field was becoming small enough for the five of them to manage.

The boar tried to return downhill.

Its wounded rear leg dragged. It wanted the hollow, the mud, and the dense growth where the party could not keep circling. If it reached that cover, they would have to begin cutting toward it again.

Rod moved into its path.

He did not strike. He stood just long enough for the beast to see him, then stepped toward the outer retaining stones. Dain followed a few paces away, leaving what looked like a narrow opening between them.

The briarback lowered its head.

Lana saw the muscles tighten through Midnight’s view.

"Now."

Rod and Dain separated.

The boar lunged through the opening. Its injured leg failed to drive evenly, turning the charge toward the bank. Lana froze the exposed water seep beneath its front feet. The animal slid, struck the retaining stones with its shoulder, and dropped heavily onto one side.

The stones shifted but held.

Thorn plates spread along the raised flank as it struggled to regain its feet. Dirk put an arrow into the opened joint behind the foreleg. Lana followed with a concentrated strike through the same gap.

Lightning flashed beneath the armor.

The boar convulsed. Its front legs locked for a moment, then scraped against the ground.

Rod reached it before the opening closed.

His first blow cut through the exposed neck beneath the lower jaw. The second finished the work. Dain remained beside him with the shield angled against the last movement of the tusks.

The beast sagged onto the stones.

Rod stepped back, breathing hard. Blood darkened the ground beneath its head. The thorn ridge moved once as the body settled, then became still.

He kept everyone back until Dirk’s next careful inspection and Theren’s test of the nearest runners confirmed what they could see.

The growth had stopped advancing.

It did not wither. Existing stems remained tangled across the crossing, and the beast’s thorns were still sharp enough to open a hand. But new leaves no longer unfolded while they watched.

Rod lowered his axe.

"Clear."

Nessa called him uphill before he could help with the carcass.

She cleaned his arm, checked the bruise at his ribs, and examined Dain’s wrist. His shield arm was strained badly enough that he would need rest. The bent shield would need more than a new strap.

Lana sat on a dry stone with Midnight pressed against her leg. She had enough strength to drink without assistance and no interest in standing again immediately. Dirk collected the arrows he could recover without entering the thicket.

Senn went to the ridge and brought the workers down only after Theren marked the safe ground.

For a while, nobody discussed the bell.

Branth checked the retaining stones beneath the dead beast and found one shifted out of line. Hadrin arrived with the first repair crew, saw the body, and removed his cap. Corren came behind him carrying water and a bundle of clean cloth.

"It is done?" Hadrin asked.

Rod looked toward the bridge, still half buried beyond the broken barriers.

"The boar is dead. The road needs work."

Corren set down the water. Hadrin rolled up his sleeves.

Neither argued about that.