I lost my footing but somehow held onto the vine, and the fey held onto me. We swung outward, leaving the path again, and it took a moment for me to realize that the fey below me had been knocked off, too, and had grabbed my vine for support. That was good for Arsen, who I spied clinging to the fabric and riding the waves up high. But it was bad for me, as I had another two-on-one fight.

And I was getting tired.

I didn’t know if that was because Mircea’s body was using his power to heal, which the stake had previously prevented, and therefore accidentally restricting the flow, or if I was just running out of steam. But it was suddenly a far more even fight than it should have been. I was socked in the jaw by the first fey, hard enough to make my ears ring, and had my leg jerked on by the second, who was below me.

And who clearly intended to send me flying, as I had his friend.

I kicked him in the head, but I wasn’t sure how hard I’d connected, because I was getting pulverized up here. Blow followed blow until I couldn’t see straight, and it was impossible to return them as I needed two hands just to hold on. So, I head butted the fey instead, which… yeah. Did me as much harm as it did him.

But at least the punching stopped, as both of us tried to remember which way was up. I wasn’t doing too good with that, twisting and whirling through the air while fumbling on my belt for a blade. I intended to cut the damned vine and lose one of these bastards, at least, but my fingers didn’t work right and the world was spinning and I was pretty sure I was about to fall off, all on my own.

But then the fey did instead.

The one who had been using my head for a punching bag suddenly wasn’t there anymore. I blinked, unsure of what had just happened, but the only person I saw was the jerk below me, who was still trying to pull me off. I kicked him again, and stared around as we swung back over the path. I was afraid that the punchy fey had jumped for it, intending to go after Arsen—

But that wasn’t what had happened.

I finally spied him, wrapped up in a bunch of vines over by a huge tree. It was the same one that my vine was connected to, only mine was farther out on an overhead limb. The was some species I didn’t recognize, being almost as tall as the sequoias but with rough bark like an oak, and spreading limbs as big around as normal trees that were draped in more vines—very agitated ones.