The seemingly impenetrable shield wall was torn apart by chaos in an instant. Fire raced upward, setting the soldiers' clothes and hair alight, and the pain sent the men of the Arbor dropping their weapons and rolling across the deck, howling.
The soldier who had already been too nervous to hold his spear was the first to break. He screamed and tried to flee the inferno, only for Asha's hurled axe to strike him between shoulder and neck. He fell stiffly onto the burning deck.
After throwing her axe, Asha leaped down into the chaotic crowd, landing precisely beside the corpse of the man she had killed. She pulled her axe free and swung it into a spear thrust at her amid the confusion, cleaving its wooden shaft in two.
The spearman backed away in surprise. Seizing their chance, the Ironborn surged through the gap blasted open by the flames, shouldering aside the shields still blocking them before driving their swords backhanded into the shield-bearers' flanks.
The sharp clash of steel once again rose above the roar of the flames and the dying howls of the Arbor soldiers.
Half of Oliver's already wounded arm had been burned raw by the flames, and a stray arrow had pierced his side beneath the ribs.
Supported by others, he could only slide down the cabin door to sit on the floor. As he watched the battle spiral completely out of control, surrounded by the still-burning remains of Arbor soldiers, a few hoarse sounds rumbled from his throat, but he could not form a single complete sentence.
Like the men aboard some of the earlier ships, the remaining Arbor soldiers on the Greenstone began falling back into the cabins. They took Oliver with them, hoping to use the narrow passageways to keep holding up