Jolthar and Haryntha moved through the swarm at a steady pace, surrounded on all sides by the pressing mass of nynthralls that slid and scraped against Haryntha's barrier without ever finding a way through it.
The sphere of her shield caught the creatures and pushed them aside like water splitting around the prow of a ship, pale bodies tumbling away only to be replaced immediately by more pale bodies pressing in from behind. The sound of them against the barrier was constant and wet and deeply unpleasant, a noise that lived in the back of the teeth rather than the ears.
Jolthar walked with his hands loose at his sides, his breathing measured and deliberate. It took him a day extra to move again.
Three days of rest had done most of what it needed to do. Not everything — the roughness Haryntha had described was still there in his channels, a texture that hadn't been present before the Void Requiem and the Yan engagement had done their combined damage — but enough.
