For a moment, the platform looked like a city of low hills. Lilith ran up one ridge and came down the other side as if the change had been made for her.
Elowen stepped into the low place between, and the low place became a bowl. Roots like ribs rose around her.
Arrows of light struck the ribs and stuck there, quivering, then dissolved into sap.
"I can keep this up all night," Lilith said.
"So can I," Elowen said. "But you knew that before we began."
There was no more chatter for a while. The fight tightened again. Lilith's blade-horizon arced across the world in long, clean sweeps that cut and did not drag.
Elowen's spear-question rose and fell and rose again, never tired, never sloppy. Where blade and spear met, the arena screamed.
The scream rolled out past the seals and came back as pressure from the outside. Something ancient leaned in to listen. It did not speak. It only breathed.
