The battlefield was far from over. The cat-mask, those slender limbs cloaked in inky ether, blurred toward Eleyn.
In a flash, they were upon her, talons slashing through the air, Eleyn barely twisted aside, wrenching her wand to one side.
The blunt haft collided with the cat's wrist, sending a shower of sparks as ether flared. The masked assassin howled, springing backward to maintain distance, and in that instant, the deer-mask burst from cover, antlered head lowered in a lethal charge. They tackled Eleyn to the ground, bone-sickening crunch echoing as her ribs folded.
Pain lanced through her. The golden pendant at her throat pulsed violently, like the ether stored in it was complaining.
With a roar, she clawed at the earth, embedding her fingers into the soil.
"Burst forth!" She screamed.
At her command, the world answered: the ground fractured in concentric circles, and choking vines, it was glossy, thorn-tipped, and it snapped upward, curling around the deer's legs.
