Page 87 of Kingdoms of Night

Feron and the wolves needed time.

She dropped to the ground and pressed her hands against the packed soil. As strong as that beast was, this wouldn’t help as much as her being the Master of Venom and Poison, but something was better than nothing.

He howled.

The energy pulsed and pulled in her hands as she spoke the incantation. “Honina, tinlore tashi twi nawai kuwal.”

This time, it fought her. Snake vines grew fast and strong, and she knew it well. The ground resisted. The energy twisted around beneath her hands, stinging her palms.

She gritted her teeth and rocked forward. Both land and plant fought her now, as if unfamiliar with what she was calling up.

“Come on!” she shouted, driving her palms against the ground.

Small tendrils of green growths pushed up, then vanished.

Feron still battled the wyrm. He slashed at it with his claws and bit it at every weak point. He moved as nimbly as an acrobatic warrior. The wolves whined and barked, hackles raised.

Fine! If the earth wouldn’t grant her snake vines, she’d summon something else. She shook out her wrists and then drove her hands down once more. This time she summoned a honeysuckle creeper. “Honina, tinlore escula estro tapatro.”

The energy cramped again, tightening in her core and pulsing in her veins. Her hand slipped into the edge of the marsh, dipping into the poison.

Then—something gave. It shot from her hand into the earth. Finger-thick vines thrust up from the packed ground and twisted out, expanding and spiraling with unfurling leaves and small golden flowers.

The warm honey and citrus scent clashed with the fetid odors of poison and rotting corpses, turning her stomach.

Feron continued slashing and biting at the wyrm. Any wound left for more than a moment started healing up.

The wolves barked, dropping forward and then snarling. Their jaws snapped, but they didn’t rush in to fight.

Had he told them to stay back?

She dug her fingers deeper into the earth. The honeysuckle creeper pulled out twice as much energy now, but it surged forward, skimming over the waters until it reached the wyrm.

Another pulse of energy, and she twisted the creeper up. The thin fronds and flexible branches immediately tangled around the wyrm.

Feron glanced back at her, his emerald-green eyes showing no indication of surprise, despite his hesitation.

As the wyrm struck again, he dodged to the side. Until that snakelike neck was pinned down, it was still a great threat. The vines strained against its muscled body. She ground her teeth and arched forward as she tried to send more out.

Oh, boll weevils! The earth did not want to cooperate much more. And honeysuckle creeper didn’t make the best restraint.

Feron seized the wyrm by the throat. He dug his teeth in and looked to the edge of the marsh at the wolves.

The wolves sprang forward.

He snapped the head off again and—

He was eating it.

Her eyes widened. He was actuallyeating it.

The wolves set to devouring the wyrm as well. They tore the corpse apart in great bloody chunks, spatter flying, and swallowed it down.

Oh. She fell back and covered her mouth. That—that had to be disgusting. Bile crept up her throat just at the thought.

She turned away and wrapped her arms around herself. Oh, so gross. And they were getting that water in their mouths too and the blood. It was poison! Not to mention the meat! There had to be something in it that was generating the poison.

They were going to need an antidote. All three.

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