The child was jolted out of his memories when a sad sound broke the harmony of the trees' song. Above the treetops, the muffled roar of a Karavan flying machine had shaken the air and frightened away the javings, these strange creatures with jagged, greenish wings and whose long, black, shiny, barbed tongue was used to pierce their prey. Rising to his feet at full speed, Pü checked the strength of his lifeline and began to climb the last few meters of the large trunk that separated him from the sky. As his frail body pulled itself out of the ocean of leaves, he was forced to squint behind his mask, so blinding was the daylight. Not far from him, the infernal machine was losing altitude. The strange black matter which composed its hull reflected the bright astral glow of Jena, as if to taunt him. Despite this, Pü was able to identify the device. It was one of those small transporters that the Karavan usually used to harvest the resources gathered by its human slaves. Strangely enough, it seemed to have come right from one of the immense celestial roots that made up the [[Canopy]], that mysterious part of the Bark that was still unexplored. Atys was an entirely vegetal and living planet. Its opulent valleys and lush hills were formed by colossal roots, on which the homins had established their civilizations. The water that filled the deep root cracks gave life to its lakes, lagoons and oceans. The most inclined roots formed its mountains and extended towards the sky in a slow and inexorable rise. Certain thermal anomalies even caused the slow burning of the root mat, giving rise to deserts. And deeper under the Bark were the Prime Roots, the most mysterious ecosystem in Atys after the one that was supposed to exist in the Canopy. It formed an immense labyrinth made  of verdant and humid caverns, plunging into the bowels of the plant planet right into its Heart.

In response, Pü moved forward a few feet, as the riders lined up their mounts and stood in front of the cart. The Zorai cleared his throat and got his best mateis. His mother had taught him the languages used by other peoples, with an emphasis on mateis, the one most used for international relations.

Pü stopped his gesticulations and caught his breath. If the gunner was certainly not dead, he seemed to be passed out, and therefore was no longer a threat for the moment. As the general began to heal him, the young Zorai mistakenly thought he would have time to consider his next move. But the two riders had a different take on that, and urged each other to attack.

The general protested, but the two riders flung at full speed toward the Zorai, who did not seem to mind. The last few dozen meters that separated them were swallowed up in a few seconds. But remembering the death of their first comrade, the Matis did not make the mistake of charging the young warrior. They stopped before they reached his level, jumped off their mounts and moved forward to catch him in a pincer movement. Judging by their respective behavior, the two Matis must have been inexperienced soldiers. Blinded by hatred and the desire for revenge, they did not know yet that they had just thrown themselves into the jaws of the gingo. In the distance, the general had just reached his capryni to join in urgency the two imprudents. Alone against two, the young warrior had all his chances. He had to finish it as soon as possible before the only really experienced soldier of the squad joined them. The Matis who had positioned himself at his back held a heavy, nicely ornamented amber sword in both hands, while the one facing him was armed with a long pike crowned with braided amber. Pü would have liked to read his face, but the imposing horned helmet he wore prevented him from doing so. Soon the Matis drew closer. Logically, the soldier in front of him would launch the first attack, giving the one behind him the opportunity to use a blind spot to attack. That's exactly what happened. The pikeman shouted and pierced the air with a precise gesture, hoping to impale the Zorai with a single blow. Without even moving his feet, Pü sent his right hand into contact with the spike while pivoting and shifting his pelvis to the opposite side. The protection of his forearm scraped loudly at the multiple sharp points. Abruptly twisting his wrist, he grabbed the long handle of the weapon. Instead of pushing back the offensive, he encouraged the movement, and used the momentum of the Matis to destabilize him while preserving the impetus of his assault. Deviating slightly the direction of the attack, and always without taking off the feet of the ground, he curved his back behind, and dodged the horizontal blow that the swordsman tried to strike him. He then had only to make the pike maintain its velocity so that its deadly points pierced the left thigh of the unfortunate swordsman, who collapsed under the shock while screaming. Carried away by the uncontrolled movement of his weapon, the assailant almost fell on top of the injured man. Pü seized the opportunity and helped him. Drawing his dagger with his free hand as the other dropped the spike firmly embedded in his comrade's flesh, he took a step back to regain his balance and with a precise blow drove his blade into the neck joint of the pikeman's helmet. A long spray of blood spurted out as he pulled his dagger from his opponent's carotid artery. As he expected, the soldier panicked and quickly removed his helmet to compress and heal his throat before his brain stopped getting blood. Leaving him no time to act, Pü grabbed the Matis' brown hair and delivered several sharp blows in his throat with his dagger. When the soldier's head finally separated from the rest of his body, the decapitated collapsed onto the spike, which sank even deeper into the bloody wound of the grounded man. Pü glanced back: the general would soon be here. He put away the blood-stained dagger, dropped his victim's head, and approached the badly wounded soldier who, now trapped under his comrade's heavy, still throbbing armor, was no longer able to extract the spike to heal his leg. The homin took off his helmet and started to moan. He must have been Niï's age, about ten years older than him.