"Damn it—get down!"
Freya hears me, but her first move is to look up.
The scythe rises with her arms. Ice starts to cover her shoulders as she searches for the shape hidden among the leaves, trying to turn an ambush into a fight before she's even located the enemy.
The forked jaw is already dropping.
I cross the distance and throw myself against her.
My shoulder hits her back. Freya loses her footing and falls between the roots, out of the main line of the attack. I'm still on top of her when a camouflaged mass tears free of the canopy.
The Reef Stalker's front claw catches my left arm.
The Horizon soaks up part of the force. The reserve drops in a single chunk, and the rest of the impact runs through the wrist guard up to the shoulder.
I feel a dry shock inside the arm.
Then the pain comes.
