Chapter 417: Forming Cracks
Trapped within his own mind, Hauke watched helplessly as Ashlynn and stood in a deadlock with Ansgar and Ines until she kicked off of the frozen ground, wrenching her blade free and spinning. Ashlynn used pure momentum more than technique to bring her weapon around for another strike, trying to force an opening where there was none.
Ansgar blocked again, staggering slightly, ice cracking under the impact and sending fragments flying through the air like diamond dust in the dim light of their icy prison.
"She has no training," Eraric observed clinically from his pedistal. The entire time they’d been watching, his hands never stopped working on the blade in his lap. When the first side of the blade had been covered from hilt to point with dimly glowing, hooked runes, he simply turned the blade over and began carving another set on the opposite side. "All she seems to possess is raw power and determination. In life, Ansgar would have dismantled such an unprepared opponent in seconds."
Indeed, as he watched the battle heating back up, Hauke could see Ansgar’s growing frustration as his attempts at trickier combat maneuvers failed against Ashlynn’s brutally effective swings. When he tried to brush her blade aside to create an opening, even if it was a narrow one, Ashlynn simply powered through, ignoring his subtle positioning and forcing Ansgar to defend against her direct assault.
"Your body is not responding as he expects," Kimsel said, paying more attention to the fight occurring in the world outside of Hauke’s mind. "His memories tell him he should be stronger, faster, with greater advantages of reach and size. If he doesn’t adjust quickly, young Hauke may be badly injured."
"So let me talk to her," Hauke snapped bitterly. "Let me put a stop to this before he gets me killed and we all die!"
"Told you already," Eugen said. "Some things, more important than life are. Protecting your people, worth sacrificing your life is," he said with a grim determination that should never have come from someone who looked and sounded as young as the fabled Greenwind Healer did.
In the vision of the battle, a particularly vicious clash sent both combatants staggering backward. Ansgar’s ice gauntlet shattered completely this time, while Ashlynn nearly lost her grip on her falchion as the bitter cold numbed her hands. Both of them panted heavily in the frigid air, their breath creating clouds that hung between them like the ghosts of the ancestors watching the battle from within Hauke’s mind.
"No one can be allowed to wield a weapon made from our horns. You’re a witch, why can’t you understand this?" Ansgar demanded, his voice still resounding powerfully despite Hauke’s heaving chest.