Elias struggled weakly beneath the attackers' relentless blows, but his body had long since reached its limit. Every attempt to push himself up only earned him another strike, another crushing weight forcing him back down.
Soon, he could no longer even lift his arms. His face was swollen and discolored, his left eye bloodshot and barely able to open. Blood clung to his split lips, and every breath rattled painfully through his chest. He looked less like a man now and more like something discarded and barely conscious.
Not far from him, Soren was being dragged across the frozen ground by his shoulder with his heels scraping uselessly against the snowy ground as they hauled him beneath the wide, looming shade of the oak tree. The numb cold seeped into his skin where his robes had shifted, and before he could even steady himself, they shoved him down roughly with his back striking the ground with a dull thud that knocked the air from his lungs.
"S… Soren…"
