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.
