Vella left Garret's treatment cart as six hounds entered the drainage channel beneath the field lane.
Their heads remained below the grass, but every purple growth pointed toward blood carried on the clinic frames.
"Move the carts," she said, keeping both hands away from her patients, "Sable stays behind the last wheel until Juna clears the lane."
The driver looked toward the moving channel before pulling his horse forward, leaving Vella between the hounds and the stopped shelter post.
Violet mana spread from her fingers across the drainage cut, forming a low barrier beneath the grass instead of above the road.
The first hound struck it with its mouth open, forcing the barrier inward until its purple shoulder growth touched Vella's power.
She felt the foreign mana branching through its legs, feeding the corrupted tissue wrapped around every joint.
