Covenant's End - Ari Marmell Page 0,11

it swung, and again, driving metal into wood. Shins tried to climb, but each impact cost her most of the progress she'd just made. She sought wildly for a safe spot on the neighboring boles, but the constant shaking kept her from planting her feet solidly enough to jump.

A fearsome crack sounded; the world began to tilt, just that much more with each subsequent strike; and in the end all Shins could do was scramble around the trunk so at least she wouldn't be crushed beneath the tree as it finally, ponderously, inexorably toppled.

Looking back on it some few moments later, the experience wasn't nearly so bad as she'd expected. The woods here were tightly packed enough that her tree lacked much room in which to fall. It plunged through a layer of canopy, ripping branches from its path, but lodged in the arms of its neighbors before its crown had traveled even halfway earthward.

On the other hand, it was still a sizeable tree, taking a sizeable fall. Already bleeding from a score of tiny lacerations and abrasions, Widdershins tumbled madly—head not only over heels, but also under, beside, and even cattycorner to them—thrown from the trunk by the impact. Only a desperate surge of power from Olgun allowed her to snag the nearby branches as she flew by, barely keeping herself from crashing through the canopy and breaking on the forest floor.

For roughly a decade or so, she just hung there, arms and legs wrapped tight around the thickest limbs, shuddering and aching over every inch. Wood and leaves crunched nearby as the creature prodded at the canopy with its spear, but the mess made by the falling tree, and the fact that Widdershins had managed to catch herself at a greater height than any normal human could have done, meant the brutal weapon thrust nowhere near her.

Her lungs burned, but she forced herself to take only soft, shallow, quiet breaths. Olgun's soothing touch washed over the worst of her cuts and bruises, but she knew she'd be feeling this for a couple of days to come. And still she waited, as the bestial grunts and the scraping spear grew faster and ever more frustrated.

Until, just as she despaired of it ever doing so, the creature offered a final sullen snarl and began climbing the fallen tree like a ramp, determined to find the hidden thief. It leaned sharply forward as it came, spear wrapped tight in one fist.

Which meant it did not have both hands available to grip the tree.

“Okay, Olgun. Now'd be a good time to impress me.”

Her skin prickled, as though the air had filled with phantom bees. She felt the energies flowing through her, sensed every imperfection and every subtle sway of the branch beneath her, found her own weight fading as muscles grew unnaturally potent.

She also, beneath it all, felt the fatigue that Olgun struggled to hide, tugging at her bones and her eyelids as though it were her own. She'd asked a lot of him in a very short span of time; if this first attempt failed, the all-but-forgotten god might not have the power for a second.

So, one single chance to avoid a gruesome, agonizing end for both of us. Not something that happens to us just every day.

Only every fourth day, on average. Every third, tops.

Still she waited, bracing herself, letting the creature climb just that little bit higher. A moment more, just a moment, a handful of fluttering, pounding heartbeats…

Shins jerked her feet under her, rose, and lunged.

First the branch to which she'd clung, then the upper reaches of the fallen tree, passed beneath her. They waved, wobbled, threatened to spill her off, to turn an ankle or send her plummeting with every bend or imperfection in the bark. She had to narrow her eyes, raise her hands to ward the worst of the whipping foliage from her face. Agile as she was, as much of her life as she'd spent on tiny ledges or clinging to walls, she could never have managed more than a few steps without Olgun's aid.

The thing howled as it saw her coming, rising as straight and tall as it could on the precarious slope, spear held tight in both hands now, tip rising to meet her charge.

Pinpricks of Olgun's power beneath her boots, as though she left behind a trail of embers, she took two more steps and leapt.

It was impossible, what happened next, even for this incredible partnership of thief and god. Or