Pine Needles (Veil Realms Series) by Karli Rush

positions my first two fingers through a thick leather loop supporting a ten inch vile looking dagger. The handle itself is made of rich ebony and the tip of the aggressive looking blade is curved forward much like a hook.       
    I take caution of where it rests against his hip while he guides us outside. Stenciled rays of light shine between the bands of trees, I grip the edges of my garm ent, eluding the spastic, gnarly roots that screen the ground.
    Sirius ’s pace is unhurried which gives me the allowance to keep up with him. The trees easily surpass the tallest skyscrapers and the refreshing air mopes with a sweet perfumy smell. Watchful and alert Sirius probes with his roaming eyes down the trodden path.
    Step by precarious step I follow him to a misty terrain, the mugginess makes it difficult to grip his leather loop. After a few feet we come to a stop . Flowers accent the scope of the surface. Hanging from countless bulky grey tainted limbs are ruby-shaped pitchers, with the most defined colors I have ever seen.
    Lurking in I reach up to touch the top rim of the prodigious plant as flies gather like bees with vivacity. The rim of this giant flower bears fanged-like teeth over the edges and the prophylactic mammoth-size cup underneath admits a void as flies enter, but never come out. 
    “Be cautious Selene, the Banatoo Blood Tar will eat flesh.” Reflexively my hand jerks back, and I watch as he kneels down withdrawing his dagger and cuts the leaves off. Clasping a handful he offers me the green foliage as he says, “These… you can eat, but never the bloom of this plant.” He rolls a leaflet between his fingers and takes a bite.
    Warily I inch the leaves to my lips, the odor turns foul and bile begins to flourish in side me, swallowing hard I hold my breath and take a bite. The more I chew the better the taste becomes. Sirius’s impeccable face exposes an authentic smile.
    “Intolerable?”
    “No, it’s actually sugary tasting. It reminds me in a way of eating a mint leaf.” Taking another bite I regard him as he cuts more leaves from the rotund plant.
    “They eat Ketibals . Their scent lures them in and once the Ketibals reach the top, the Banatoo masticates their bodies. A poison is produced to digest the remains.”
    I shift tensely from one foot to the other as I ask, “The Ketibals are what?” Raising his full towering height he offers me more of the rancid leaflets, I shake my head in dismissal.
    “Rodents… tonsured rats that thrive here.” He takes a bite of the leaves and crunches up the stalk between his teeth before he continues, “The Banatoo is part of their main food requirement, but they too must be aware, and not become the sustenance for the plants.” 
    A broad humanistic image lingers in the distance as his figure positions sagely beside a group of trees. Infrared waves of current radiate through him. Gripping Sirius tightly, blanched and on-edge I gasp out, he gestures with only a nod towards the trees, “Do you see Rigel?”   
    “I think so, is he following us?” Sirius motions a hand upward and Rigel advances forward without a word.
    “He and many of the other warlords are guarding the area. Selene, your ability to perceive with your eyes is an armament for your survival now.  Our realm drifts inconsistently from one to another. In time we will return to the realm of Narvar . On this golden desert planet there is a beast known as the Yatora. Its body is armored in various layers from its thick spine over its head and down to his gaping mouth of jagged sharp teeth.
    The tail is that of a keen whipping blade and the claws are massive enough to crush a skull.  It is the deadliest creature I have faced.  It is dangerous because it knows how to use its weapons and defenses.  You must assimilate the same with yours, for your survival here.”
    The other ungoverned warlords move without sound, but I am able to see them deploy further into the heaping foliage. I