by Tora Moon
Aistrun pointed at the seven-foot tall pasture fence they were riding by. “Afterward, they built the fences higher even though we haven’t needed them since then.” He paused, thoughtful. “Maybe they will save someone if this outbreak is the new norm.”
“I hope it isn’t,” Rizelya said with feeling. “It’s too bad killing them at the nest didn’t do what everyone hoped and starve them into nonexistence. After all these years, we don’t know where they came from or why they keep attacking us.” Rizelya suddenly stopped her horse as a memory rose to the surface of a pale, gaunt face.
“Watch out!” Keandran snapped as he fought to keep his horse from running into hers.
“Go ride point,” Rizelya snarled. When Aistrun started to follow, she said softly, *Wait.*
Dehali and Leistral began to ride by, but Dehali stopped when she saw Rizelya’s face. “You all right, Rizelya? You don’t look so good.”
Leistral had stopped too and now nodded in agreement. “You look awfully pale.” She looked around, fear in her eyes. “Did you see a ghost?”
Rizelya laughed to think Leistral was afraid of ghosts. “No, no ghosts, I’m not a Gray. I’m fine.” When it looked like they would argue, she added, “It’s nothing to concern you. Go on. Keep the boys out of trouble.” She noticed Eidstrun was keeping a careful distance from Keandran.
“Will do,” Dehali told her and then lowered her voice, “I’m keeping my eye on that Keandran. I don’t like him.”
“Me either,” Leistral added. “There’s been problems in whatever fighting-pack he’s assigned to. Watch him, Alphas; he likes authority even less than you two do.”
“Hey, thanks for the warning,” Aistrun said. “We’re watching.”
The women broke into a trot to catch up to Eidstrun, then guided their horses so they rode on either side of him.
“Hey, so what’s wrong? You really do look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Something much worse, I think.” She nudged Kymaya into a slow walk. “I just remembered something I saw when I touched the strange protrusion on the new janack.”
“What was it?”
“The face of a woman like I’ve never seen before. She was pale and gaunt, with gray skin and gray eyes. There was malice and hate in her eyes. Crap! I forgot to tell the White Priestess about it.”
“Does Naila know?” At her nod, he continued, “Then she’ll tell the White Priestess. Hey, maybe she already has and it’s why we’re going.”
“It’s possible. I think I’ll ask the Keep Alphas we meet if anyone else has heard the humming or seen someone.”
“You heard humming too?”
Rizelya nodded her head. “During the fight. Did you hear it?”
He shook his head. “No, but then I was in the south and one of the first ones fighting. I didn’t see the weird janack until after you had it surrounded with your fire-ring. I haven’t heard of anyone else who heard it or saw a strange person”
It seemed like she was the only one affected by the new janack. The sooner she found out if there were others who saw the stranger, the better she’d feel. They were past the pastures and the risk of people on the road, and moving into the forest where they could move faster. “Time’s a-wasting, we have people to see!” Rizelya kicked Kymaya into a canter and raced up the path, passing the others including Keandran.
***
Rizelya and Aistrun pushed their squad-pack and horses hard. They cantered for an octar, slowed into a trot for half an octar, then walked for a bit until the horses and riders caught their wind. Then they pushed back up into a trot and then a canter, repeating the cycle throughout the day. At this pace they would pass through their home territory within a day or two. The path they followed avoided known nest sites, so today and tomorrow would be relatively safe travel days.
Rizelya noticed her Strunland pack-mates were having no difficulty traveling at the fast pace, but Keandran was struggling. Each time they stopped to give the horses a breather and water them he’d complain bitterly about leaving so soon after they’d stopped. When Keandran wasn’t complaining, he was swearing at his horses. He was so bad the rest of the group rode ahead of him so they didn’t have to listen to his foul mouth.
Rizelya and Aistrun ignored the complaining the first time; the second time she growled at him. The third time it took both she and Aistrun growling at him to get him back on his horse. They almost didn’t blame him. It didn’t matter which of his two horses he mounted; they shied away from him and bucked when he sat in the saddle. Each time would be worse than the last. Rizelya had never seen such ill-mannered horses. The horses were so bad tempered she was considering asking the horse-master at Strunell Keep for different horses.
Late in the afternoon, they stopped to rest the horses one last time before reaching the safe house.
“I’ve had enough of those evil horses,” Keandran said, plopping on the ground. “You can’t make me leave.”
“This spot isn’t safe.” Rizelya turned, removing her foot from the stirrup. “We can’t stay here. Get up, get on your horse, and let’s get moving. I want to get to the safe house before dark.”
“What’re you scared of?” Keandran jeered. “The monsters aren’t active after sundown.”
“Tell me you’re not that stupid.” Rizelya put a fist on her hip. “The monsters aren’t the only danger. Have you forgotten about narhili beasts? I haven’t. They’d tear us apart in our sleep if we stayed here.” The beasts lived in the swamps during the day and hunted the surrounding area at night.
“Hey.” Aistrun bopped the back of Keandran’s head. “Haven’t you been paying attention? The monsters aren’t acting normal. Get up, we’re moving.” Aistrun turned his back and walked toward his horse, seeming not to hear Keandran’s growls.
Keandran surged to his feet. “How dare you hit me!”
Aistrun spun around, his narrowed eyes glowing a dark amber gold. “I am the alpha. It is my place to punish insolent curs.”
Rizelya was surprised how calm he sounded.
He looked at Keandran’s fisted hands. “Do you dare challenge the alpha?”
In answer, Keandran leaped at Aistrun, shifting in mid-air to his wolf form. Aistrun stayed human and stood still as the wolf sailed toward him. His large hand swung out and slammed into Keandran’s head, knocking him to the side. The wolf stood, shaking his head to clear it, then snarled at Aistrun.
“Really, that’s all you got?” Aistrun sneered.
He still didn’t shift. Rizelya wondered what he was waiting for, until she realized it would be more humiliating for him to trounce Keandran while still human. He had guts. Keandran wouldn’t know what hit him. Even as a human, Aistrun was a formidable fighter.
She felt a new power rising within her, that of the female alpha. She cast the Alpha magic over the clearing, preventing Keandran or any other male from shifting into warrior form. From her training she knew it was to keep the men from tearing each other to bits. Aistrun, not taking his eyes off Keandran, nodded. He’d sensed her magic.
Keandran snarled again and charged. Aistrun ducked under Keandran and threw him across the clearing. He landed with a thump and slid, hitting a tree so hard that leaves tumbled to the ground. Keandran staggered to his feet. He tried shifting into his warrior form and snarled at Rizelya when he couldn’t. He changed direction and launched himself at her.
Aistrun intercepted the wolf’s path and punched his muzzle. Blood dripped from Keandran’s fangs. He howled then rushed Aistrun. The wolf again went flying into a tree, swiping at Aistrun as he went by. Aistrun shook his hand, spraying droplets of blood. This time when Keandran charged, Aistrun caught him and lifted him high. The wolf whined in terror.
“Aistrun, remember not to kill him,” Rizelya called out. She could see the anger burning in his eyes.
Aistrun struggled for a moment, then dropped the wolf. As soon as Keandran hit the ground, Aistrun kneeled on his body, hand on his throat. The wolf glared at him. As Ai
strun applied more pressure, not looking away from Keandran, he said to Rizelya, “I won’t if this cur yields. If not, he is dead.” Keandran finally lowered his eyes and whined. When Aistrun stood up, the wolf lowered his head to the ground, tail tucked between his legs, fully subservient.
Aistrun walked to the small creek and washed the blood off his hands.
“Come on,” Rizelya said to the rest of her pack. “Let’s go.”
She hadn’t known Aistrun was so strong. It surprised her how fast he cowed Keandran’s wolf.
The wolf was nearer to the surface of the men in the fighting-packs, and fighting among themselves was common. Only incredibly strong alphas could fight a wolf while human. Eidstrun’s crouch caught her attention. He looked ready to run, and his breath came in quick pants. His wild eyes followed the source of his fear—Aistrun.
She hurried over to Eidstrun and grabbed his arms. Looking into his eyes, she used her alpha magic to spin calm around him. In a soft voice, she said, “Eidstrun, be easy. There’s nothing to run from. It’s just Aistrun, you know he won’t hurt you.” He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath.
“I’m okay now Rizelya,” he said, his eyes not meeting hers. “He really is scary. He seems so friendly, and then … that.” Another shudder went through him. He turned away, gathered his horse’s reins, and mounted. Dehali and Leistral were both already in the saddle.
Keandran hadn’t moved and was still whining. She stalked over to him and snapped, “What’s wrong with you? Shift back and get on your horse. Move it, now!” He had forced Aistrun to almost kill him.
He tucked his tail in further and whined more.
“Ah, Rizelya,” Eidstrun called, “he can’t change. You have to release your hold.”
“Oh!” She hadn’t realized the Alpha magic also kept the men from shifting into or out of their wolf forms; she thought it only affected their warrior forms. She didn’t apologize to Keandran as she let it go.
Panting, Keandran shifted back to human. He lay still, taking shallow breaths. A bruise was beginning to show on his throat where Aistrun had held him down. He struggled to his feet, holding his ribs tight. Keeping his eyes down, he said, “Alpha, I think he broke my ribs.” Rizelya could hear a faint snarl in his voice. Even though Aistrun had beat and humiliated Keandran, he hadn’t learned Aistrun truly was his alpha and the better man. If he tried to fight Aistrun again, he would be killed.
“You’ll live. Leistral, wrap his ribs for him. We don’t have time for his bellyaching.”
Leistral climbed off her horse and rummaged in her pack. Pulling out the first aid kit, she ran over to Keandran. “Lift up your shirt,” she ordered.
He started to growl, and Rizelya smacked him in the head. “Behave. She’s helping you.”
Keandran took off his shirt. His entire torso was a livid bruise from hitting a tree a few times.
Dehali whistled. “That’s going to hurt like the Crone’s fires.”
Leistral began wrapping Keandran’s ribs. “Oh, quit whimpering. You asked for it. You’re lucky to be alive. Damn, he has control.”
Aistrun stomped through the clearing to Jezhan, leaped into the saddle, and rode off. Rizelya stopped Dehali from going with him. “He’ll be fine. Let him be. We’ll catch up to him soon enough.” She looked at the slowly moving Keandran and put a bit of command in her voice. “That is, if this one gets a move on it.”
She wasn’t in the mood to be sympathetic. He had hurt her friend. One of the reasons Aistrun hadn’t wanted to become an alpha was that he was stronger than most and didn’t like fighting to prove dominance. He tried hard to be a likable, nice guy, and smelling Eidstrun’s fear would have hurt Aistrun even more.
Eidstrun had to help Keandran get on his horse. They left the clearing and rode on.
When they arrived at the safe house, smoke rose from the chimney. They went into the stable and found Aistrun’s gelding, Jezhan, muzzle buried in his grain. Only after taking care of their own horses, did they go into the safe house to find their own comfort. It was large enough to house more than a full platoon of sixty fighters. Their little pack of six wouldn’t even make a dent in the accommodations.
Rizelya looked around. Aistrun’s pack was sitting open on one of the beds, and a pot of stew simmered on the wood stove. He must have galloped the entire way to arrive far enough ahead of them to make the stew, but right now Aistrun wasn’t anywhere in sight. After listening a moment, she could hear him behind the house chopping wood. He used the activity often to burn off steam. She put her bags on the bed next to Aistrun’s and then stretched.
Keandran groaned as he fell into a bed across the room from her. The rest of the group let him have the wide berth and chose beds near their alphas. Rizelya knew it wasn’t healthy to have such a division in their small group, but she couldn’t bring herself to coerce Keandran to join them.
Leistral rummaged in her saddlebag and pulled out a packet. “Ah ha,” she said. Without further explanation, she went to the stew pot and stirred it, wafting the steam toward her and breathing deeply. She opened the packet and added some herbs to the pot. Then she opened the supply cabinet all safe houses had that held basic food like flour, beans, salt, rice, and the ever-present taevo. Leistral mixed together a batch of pan bread and put it on the stove next to the stew. She then started brewing a pot of roasted taevo berries which gave the drink a dark, rich flavor. A lighter drink was made from the taevo leaves. Rizelya sniffed appreciatively, glad Leistral had joined this little pack. They would eat well tonight.
While Leistral finished cooking dinner and the others relaxed, Rizelya slipped out the back to find Aistrun. She threaded her way over the remnants of old foundation stones that jutted out of the grass. This safe house, like many others, was built on the ruins of buildings and villages from the Before Time. Before the menace of the Malvers monsters forced the Posairs to consolidate the population into the Keeps. There were ruins scattered all across the continent of Lairheim. Rizelya loved to explore them and imagine the way the old ones lived. Once in a while she would find a cache of old things that had survived: a piece of jewelry, a knife, a statue. Thirty measures south of Strunland Keep were the ruins of a town, even larger than the Keep, with individual houses instead of the communal houses they lived in now. It hadn’t been surrounded by the tall walls of a Keep. She couldn’t imagine how many people lived in the Before days to populate so many cities and towns.
The chopping sounds continued. She followed the edge of the ruins around to the back yard. As large as the foundations were, Rizelya surmised this had been an inn for travelers at one time. Now it served the fighting-packs. Rizelya stopped to survey the large pile of wood Aistrun had chopped. He had taken off his shirt and sweat poured off his face and back.
“How are you doing?” she asked.
Without stopping he answered, “Fine. I didn’t want to prove my dominance over him. I hate it. It’s worse than I imagined. Is he okay?”
“A few broken ribs and bruises. You had excellent control.”
He put down the ax with great precision and turned to her. “I almost killed him. If you hadn’t been there, I would have.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. He was simply being a complaining jerk. Now, if he had endangered any of us by his stupidity, then maybe he’d be dead right now.”
“You’re right. Hey, can I kill him next time he’s being a stupid jerk?”
Rizelya considered for a moment. “If he’s still being an ass and a baby,”—she made sure to keep her tone light—“and we decide we’re better off without him, then you can.” It might sound as if they were teasing, but if Keandran put them in danger, they had the right to protect the rest of their pack. “Come on, dinner’s ready. Leistral doctored up your stew, so now it’ll taste great.”
He laughed, wiping off his sweat with his shirt, and then hugged Rizelya to him as they walked back into the house. “Hey, you were wrong,” he said, reaching for the door.
“H
ow?”
“It only took one day for that cur to get into a fight with me.”
They were laughing together when they entered the common room. It immediately put the rest of the pack at ease. If the alphas were happy then nothing was wrong. Keandran took his bowl to one of the other tables and ate alone. The rest of them laughed and told stories. By the time they crawled into bed, Rizelya felt they were becoming a solid squad-pack, except for Keandran.
***
The next day they rode at the same demanding speed. Keandran continued to complain about his horses and added in complaints about his broken ribs and bruises. Rizelya wasn’t worried too much about him; he’d heal in a few days.
The early evening cast dark shadows when they rode past the cairn markers signaling the border between their own Strunland Territory and the neighboring territory of Strunell. Several measures past the cairn, they stopped at the safe house for the night.
The next morning Rizelya had her pack put their barding on their horses. The decorative reins, saddle blankets, breast collars, and breeching proclaimed them part of the Strunlair Clan. The rose and turquoise pattern and the symbols embroidered on the saddle blankets indicated they were from the Strunland Keep.
“Why are we putting on all this stuff now?” Keandran complained, his voice hoarse and raspy. “It takes so long to take it off and then put it on when we switch horses. We don’t need it.”
Rizelya sighed. She finished buckling the barding straps across Kymaya’s hindquarters to the saddle before turning around. The beating Aistrun had given Keandran wasn’t keeping him from being a whiny brat. Maybe it was his normal temperament.
She looked at the pained face of the others. They weren’t used to having their alphas questioned. A fighting-pack needed to follow their alphas at a moment’s notice to survive the Malvers monsters. If Keandran didn’t stop soon, he’d get another beating and this time not from Aistrun. Rizelya watched bemused as Dehali stalked up to Keandran.