Running.
Branches snapped and leaves tore free as bodies crashed through the undergrowth. Breathing's came in hard and ragged, boots pounding earth in relentless pursuit and then steel sang out.
A sharp, wet slice cut through the chaos. One grounder collapsed mid-stride, blood spraying in a wide arc as his body hit the forest floor with a dull thud. He didn't even have time to scream.
No one stopped, they surged forward instead, chasing a shadow that flowed between trunks like a monkey. The figure ahead leapt, vanishing upward as arrows whistled through the space he'd just occupied. Shafts buried themselves in bark, others shattered against stone. Spears flew, missing by inches.
Jason moved through the canopy, boots striking branches for fractions of a second before launching again. Tree to tree.
Another arrow screamed past his shoulder and he He twisted midair, catching a branch and swinging hard using the momentum to fling himself forward. For the briefest moment, the morning light broke through the canopy.
His figure was revealed.
Blood streaked across his face and soaked into the grounder armor he wore like a second skin. His sword hung low in his left hand, crimson along the edge. His jaw was tight, brows drawn into a deep frown.
'Shit,' he thought.
'I wasn't expecting them to be this resilient… or this persistent.'
He barely had time to register it before another volley came.
Jason ducked, flipped, and rebounded off a trunk, twisting his body in a fluid arc as arrows tore through the air where his head had been. He kicked off hard, launching himself forward and landed with a splash.
Shallow water exploded around his boots as he skidded to a stop, droplets clinging to his armor and soaking the grounder leathers he wore. The cold bit into his legs instantly.
Jason straightened slowly and turned.
His eyes narrowed as this is the same stretch of river where he'd nearly been skewered the first time they'd come down. The memory flashed sharp and fast.
"…Figures," he muttered.
He scanned the tree line, breathing steady, sword loose but ready in his grip.
'This'll do, he thought. Good choke point.'
His mind flicked back to the clearing and how Anya and Tristan had given the order without hesitation. How the grounders had swarmed him instantly. How, once the killing started, he'd lost sight of both leaders entirely.
He'd stopped counting bodies after the thirtieth.
Jason's gaze shifted again and felt that something was off.
The forest felt… emptier. 'Numbers are thinning,' he thought. 'Either I've culled most of them…'
The thought didn't finish.
Thwack.
Jason snapped his sword up, batting an arrow aside so hard it split in two midair.
A split second later, a grounder burst from the treeline, leaping straight at him with twin sickles raised high.
Jason pivoted and the motion was smooth and almost lazy.
His steel flashed and the grounder froze midair, impaled clean through the chest. Jason twisted the blade free as the body fell, already dead before it hit the water with a splash. Jason stepped forward and planted one boot on the corpse's chest, water rippling outward from the impact.
Across the banks, grounders emerged, weapons raised, eyes burning with fury.
Jason straightened. The water at his feet trembled. The grounders felt it in their bones, a primal warning crawling up their spines.
Jason opened his stance as an invitation. He tilted his head and smirked. "What?" he called out. "You all suddenly allergic to water?"
A few grounders snarled, teeth bared. Two of them exchanged a glance the they nodded to each other and stepped into the river.
Jason watched them approach and waited. The first grounder came at him in a straight line, boots tearing through the shallows, spear leveled and steady with a good form, disciplined, lethal. The second moved wide, faster, lower, jagged blade angled to hook muscle and drag it open. They were trying to box him in.
Jason didn't move. The spearhead closed the distance to an inch, then less until the iron tip nearly kissed his chest. Then Jason shifted with just a subtle roll of his shoulders and a twist of his hips. The spear passed so close he felt the wind of it against his skin. At the same time, he turned into the second attacker, blade sliding past his ribs where his heart had been a moment earlier.
"Too eager," Jason said calmly, almost mildly, as if offering advice then his sword flashed.
He cut for the spearman's hands with a merciless swing. The grounder reacted on instinct alone, yanking back at the last second. The blade bit into wood instead and the spear split in two.
The broken shaft spun away, slapping into the water with a hollow crack as Jason dropped low, ducking under the jagged blade that whistled overhead. The edge grazed his hair instead of his skull.
Water exploded around his legs as he pivoted and snapped a kick toward the jagged-weapon wielder's ribs.
The man blocked barely by bringing his weapon up sideways. The Metal rang, vibration traveling up the man's arms. He staggered back anyway, boots skidding, water splashing violently around his knees.
They disengaged in near-perfect unison and Jason slid back a pace, sword angled downward, weight loose on the balls of his feet. The two grounders spread out, circling now, eyes sharp. The recklessness was gone.
Jason smirked.
"Not bad."
His gaze flicked past them, counting without ever seeming to look.
'Eighteen.' His brow creased. 'Plus the ones in the forest… the ambush… the chase…'
His jaw tightened.
'That's at least fifty.'
The realization landed heavy. 'They're not trying to end this quickly.'
Four more grounders splashed into the shallows, fanning out in a half-circle. Six with him now, weapons raised with their breaths controlled. Twelve more lined the banks, watching, waiting for him to falter.
Jason frowned. 'They're pinning me.'
The thought finished forming just as the six attacked together. The first charged head-on, wielding a brutal shield fused with iron spikes, thrusting forward like a battering ram. Another swung a spiked mace overhead, muscles bulging as he committed fully to the strike.
Jason jumped up.
He sprang off the riverbed, water erupting beneath his boots, clearing the shield entirely. The mace crashed down where his skull had been a heartbeat earlier, sending a shockwave through the shallows.
Jason twisted midair, flipping backward as an axe blade sliced through empty space beneath him. He landed low, rolling and coming up already moving.
A third grounder lunged, too aggressive and overextended.
Jason caught the man's wrist mid-swing and twisted sharply until his bones snapped.
The sound was unmistakable. The man screamed as his arm folded the wrong way, fingers spasming uselessly. His double-sided axe slipped from numb hands.
Jason caught it in one smooth motion and without any hesitation.
He spun, axe flashing low, and cut through another grounder's knee. Bone gave way with a sharp crack. The man collapsed instantly, screaming as the water around him turned red but Jason didn't stop.
His sword reversed grip mid-spin and drove backward into the spearman's side. The blade punched through muscle and sank deep into the kidney. The man stiffened, breath leaving him in a choking gasp as Jason ripped the sword free.
He was dead before he hit the water. The shield-bearer roared and charged again, rage replacing caution. Jason stepped into him instead of away, planting a boot directly onto the spiked shield. Pain lanced through his foot but he used it.
He then vaulted, the metal screamed as spikes scraped his sole. Jason flipped forward and came down behind the shield-bearer, blade plunging through the base of the man's skull.
The jagged-weapon wielder rushed him from the side.
But he came in too slow. Jason pivoted and drove steel straight through the man's throat. He kicked the corpse off his blade and sent the jagged weapon spinning across the water.
It struck another grounder in the neck.
The man dropped without a sound.
Silence fell for half a heartbeat.
Bodies floated in the water
Jason stood among them, chest rising steadily, axe in one hand, sword in the other. Water lapped around his calves, thick with blood.
'They're stalling me,' he realized grimly. 'Tristan isn't here. Anya isn't either.'
His eyes flicked toward the treeline.
'They've gone for the camp.'
A shout came from the bank.
"You won't leave this place alive!"
Jason laughed, "Already surrounded?" he said, spreading his arms slightly. "Wow. I must be improving."
Several grounders snarled. Others hesitated.
"Do you really think," Jason continued, stepping forward through the bodies, "that this many of you is enough to kill me?"
He tilted his head, eyes cold.
"Did you forget the bridge?"
Faces twisted with rage and fear. "How many of your friends died there?" Jason asked lightly. "Ten? Twenty? I lost count."
He stepped over a floating corpse and without looking, pressed his boot down on the man's head, forcing it under with a wet crunch.
The reaction was instant with most of them gripping their weapons tighter and shouting at him in rage.
Jason smiled wider.
"Oh and let's not even start on the hideout cleanup," he added thoughtfully. "Mmnn. That was messy."
Several grounders recoiled. Until one of them snapped, "Rush him!" the man screamed. "Overwhelm him!"
They obeyed and all surged forward. They surged into the water together, splashing wildly, anger drowning out discipline.
Jason's smile sharpened.
'Good,' he thought. 'Come angry and come sloppy.'
The first reached him and Jason kicked the corpse beneath his feet forward like a battering ram, sending it crashing into two attackers and knocking them off balance.
Then he moved.
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