by Tora Moon
“You,” she said, pointing at Keandran, “with me.” She walked off, only half expecting him to follow. She was a bit surprised when he did. She heard Aistrun join them. Rizelya stepped far enough away from Dehali to keep her from overhearing, then turned on Keandran, allowing her anger to spill out. “Where in the Crone’s fires were you? No one saw you fighting and you weren’t there helping Eidstrun and Leistral protect Dehali. This behavior doesn’t suit someone in a fighting-pack.”
Keandran kept his head down. “I don’t know what happened, Alpha.”
His voice was full of a contriteness she’d never heard from him before. Then he raised his head. His face was white with terror.
“Hey, what happened, Keandran?” Aistrun’s voice was filled with concern.
“I don’t know. I was following you and Eidstrun to the battlefield, and the next thing I knew the battle was over. I was clear over there.” He pointed at the far end of the valley. His eyes were wide and his voice shook. “I was … I was walking into the swamp.”
Rizelya remembered how the first janack had tried to control her mind. “Do you remember hearing anything? Seeing anything?”
He shook his head.
The clatter of hoofs broke into the resulting silence. Rizelya glanced over to see Eidstrun and Leistral returning, leading the horses. “I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe a Gray at Strunell Keep can tell us.”
“The Keep Alpha is ready to leave.” Aistrun gestured to where Keshanal was gathered with her Reds. He looked at Keandran. “We’ll get this sorted out.”
Rizelya knew Keandran was shaken when he docilely nodded and went to his horse. Her little pack joined the rear of the group as they headed to the safe house.
Chaper 4
It was midday when they reached Strunell Keep the next day. Strunell Keep was the same size and laid out the same way as Strunland Keep. The thick outside walls were built from sheadash stone and were fifteen feet tall. Sturdy gates braced with strips of helstrim blocked the only entrance. If a nest of monsters attacked, a Red could feed fire power into the metal to discourage the monsters from the gates while keeping them intact. Inside was a large central plaza.
Directly across from the main gates was the Clan House. Three times the size of the other buildings in the keep, it was where all Keep business was conducted. In the evenings, the population of the keep would gather there for dinner and socialization. Smaller buildings were scattered throughout the keep where the community lived and worked.
To the left of the Clan House was the Temple built from white sheadash stone that sparkled in the afternoon light. A dome made from clear quartz crowned the sanctuary portion, filling it with prisms of light. Four steps led up to the walkway where four pillars rose to the ceiling. The entryway was open and a large fire-pit could be seen in the center of the room. On the doors was carved an eight-pointed star—the emblem of the four-fold Goddess. Those women who had White or Gray Talents became priestesses of the Goddess and lived in the Temple. They were the spiritual leaders and soul workers. There were no men living in the temple as there had never been a man born with White Talent.
Rizelya smiled as a mob of children tumbled in front of them. Several of the boys were in their wolf form. As they played, they shifted back to boys while others shifted into wolves. All young men were taught the warrior form once they hit adolescence, but not all men became warriors. She looked over at Aistrun. He was the only male in his pack who had chosen to become a warrior; the rest were herdsmen.
The group turned down a side street between two of the fighting-pack houses, where two or three packs lived. The stables for the fighters were a short run from the houses.
Rizelya was brushing Kymaya’s mane when her mare whickered a greeting. She glanced around the empty stable. She had lost herself in Kymaya’s loving presence as she groomed her horse. The others had taken her and Aistrun’s packs with them.
A large man walked in and headed directly to Rizelya. He smelled like horses and his dark brown hair was in a long braid down his back. He rubbed Kymaya’s nose. Holding it in both hands, he breathed into her nostrils. “Ah, Kymaya, lass, it’s been a long time.” He looked up at Rizelya’s stunned face. “I helped this one’s mother foal her and brought her to saddle.”
Rizelya ducked under Kymaya’s neck. “You must be Lehaas!”
He grinned. “The one. I now serve as horse-master here.” He walked around Kymaya, observing her closely, running his hands down her legs, picking up her feet, or stroking her hide as he murmured quiet words to her. Finally, he completed his circuit and stopped in front of Rizelya. “She’s blossomed under your care.”
Rizelya blushed at the high praise from one of the horse clan. They lived in the plains where herds of horses ran, both wild and domestic. The Haaslair Clan were phenomenal horse trainers. Many of the Haaslair men shifted into a secondary form of a horse and it was rumored a few had become half-horse, half-man.
The horse in the next stall neighed and stuck its head over the stall. “Ah, Jezhan! Lad, you are here too?” Lehaas stepped over to the horse, who was craning his neck to reach Lehaas. “Then Aistrun must be here as well.”
“Hey, right you are.” Aistrun stepped up to Kymaya’s stall door.
Aistrun looked at Lehaas. “How did you know me? I wasn’t Jezhan’s first rider.”
“I know the riders of all my horses.” He leaned in and told them in a conspiratorial whisper, “They share with me those who treat them well and with love.” He looked over his shoulder toward the stall Keandran’s horse was in. “And those who don’t treat our children well, don’t ride them. They won’t allow it.”
Rizelya could believe it. All the plains horses she’d been around were intelligent. Sometimes Kymaya communicated with Rizelya using images and emotions. Both of Keandran’s horses were keep-bred. Plains horses all had a striping pattern. On some, like her Kymaya, it was prominent, while on others, like Jezhan, it was so faint it could only be seen up close.
“I saw your boy wearing a bruise necklace. Your doing, Aistrun?”
Aistrun nodded, frowning. “He made me do it the first day out. He doesn’t like to follow orders.”
Lehaas shrugged. “He’ll learn or you’ll kill him. I’m surprised he’s made it this long in a fighting-pack. We don’t tolerate insubordinate crap like some of the non-fighting-packs do.” Lehaas went over to examine Keandran’s horses. He lifted their lips and swore. “He’s a mean cur! These horses’ mouths are bleeding.” He went to Keandran’s tack. A stream of curses seared the air when he found the bridle and bit. He brought the bit to Rizelya. “Here, burn this vile thing.”
The bit was rough and had spikes on it. “No wonder Keandran’s horses have been so bad tempered. They were being hurt.” She’d never tried doing anything with metal before, but she was so angry at the mistreatment of the horses it didn’t take long for the bit to become a molten lump.
“If we didn’t need to cover so much ground, I’d make the caitiff walk,” Aistrun fumed.
“Why don’t you leave him here?” Lehaas suggested. Then he added in a voice roughened with menace, “I could take care of him.”
Rizelya put a restraining hand on him. “No, we can’t do that—yet. He is a part of our squad-pack and we’ll deal with him. Besides, Alpha Keshanal seems too nice of a person to drop a creep like him on her.”
“You’re right, lass,” Lehaas agreed. “She’s a good alpha and takes care of us here. She doesn’t deserve such cruelness laid at her feet unknowing.”
“Hey, speaking of which, we need to go in,” Aistrun said.
Lehaas went back to Keandran’s horses. “Go, I will take care of these poor beasts.” He glared at Keandran’s tack. “I will also go through his things and see if there’s more he’s doing to these children.”
“Let us know if you find anything,” Rizelya said. Lehaas nodded and turned his attention to the misused horses. “Damn! I can’t believe I missed that,” Rizelya told Aistru
n as they walked out of the stable.
“Hey, you’re not the only one. I don’t know how our horse-master missed this type of treatment to the horses. You can bet he wouldn’t allow Keandran to ride another horse—ever.”
“Maybe he only does this when no one is watching. But now we know and we’ll see to it those animals don’t suffer any further.”
“Damn straight,” Aistrun agreed.
***
Rizelya and Aistrun knocked on the office door of the Keep Alphas. Bestrun, the co-alpha, let them in. He was a few years younger than Keshanal. Keshanal glanced up at their entrance and put down the papers she was reading. The smell of spiced taevo, steaming in a large pot on a side table, made Rizelya’s mouth water. At Keshanal’s nod, Rizelya filled a cup of the drink for herself and Aistrun.
“Sit,” Keshanal told them, gesturing at the two empty chairs in front of the massive desk.
“So why have you come to our territory, Rizelya?” Keshanal look tired and worried.
“Our alphas have tasked us with going to all of the territory keeps on our way to Strunlair Keep.” Rizelya handed Keshanal the letter of introduction from Histrun. “We’re to find out if the problem of the new janack and the unusual nest activity is isolated in our territory or if it’s spread across all of Strunlair Province.”
“We know it’s in both our territories,” Bestrun observed. “It might be safe to assume it’s in all of them.”
“Histrun sent us,” Aistrun said. He leaned back in his chair affecting unconcern. “He wants to be sure before sending word to the Clan Alphas.”
“That sounds like him,” Keshanal chuckled. “He was clan alpha for a long time and still doesn’t quite trust the young ones.”
“Do we know what this new janack is or does?” Bestrun asked.
“I think it controls the other monsters,” Rizelya answered, looking into her mug. “I don’t know why it’s suddenly appeared.”
“Hey, maybe because we’ve become so efficient in killing them,” Aistrun interjected, sitting up from his sprawl.
“You might be right,” Keshanal said. “Let’s call it a control janack so we can differentiate it from the others. How did you reach it? We’d been trying for quite some time. Two of my warriors died trying to kill it.”
“You know how they track with their heat sensors?” When Keshanal nodded, Rizelya continued, “Well, if there’s a shield of cold air around you, they can’t track you. Simple, really.”
Keshanal gaped. “Simple? How did you get the air cold? You don’t look like you have much Yellow.”
Rizelya shrugged. “Not a drop. I asked my talented friend Eiden and she figured it out. Lucky for us, she taught Dehali, who is a fairly strong Yellow as well as being a Red, before we left. I don’t know why we haven’t done it before this.”
“Isn’t your friend—Eiden?—a Red?”
Aistrun laughed. “No, just a feisty Yellow.”
“You take a Yellow with you to battle?” Keshanal asked shocked.
“Yep,” Rizelya said. “She followed us to a battle and we sent her back, but once everyone was involved in the fighting, she showed back up. After the third time it happened, we gave up. Now she’s an essential part of our fighting-pack. Good thing she was there. Histrun, Naila, and I were fighting the first control janack we’ve seen, and nothing was having an effect on it, not even Histrun’s venom. The only way to kill those damn things besides chopping them to bits, which takes way too long, is to explode them. Exploding is easier.”
“Makes a damn mess,” Keshanal grumbled.
“Oh, that’s the other thing. Besides surrounding them with a fire-ring, you need to create a fire shield around the control janack to contain the explosion. Because they are bigger, they have a larger than normal fallout zone. The debris has injured quite a few of our fighters.” As she said it, she remembered Kelstrun mentioning that the fighting-packs were having trouble getting near the control janack. “I need to send a message back home. They aren’t using the cold-air or fire-shields.”
“We’ll send it. Can your person teach my people how to create the cold-air shield?”
“I don’t know why not. The women must have strong Yellow Talent in order to work the spell.”
“I’ll make the arrangements. In two octar we’ll meet in the practice arena.”
The time allowed Rizelya and her team to eat and relax. At the appointed time, they went to the practice arena, except Keandran, who had wandered off.
The large practice hall, where young ones were trained in how to use their Talents, stood alone and away from all the other buildings. Sometimes those lessons, especially with the Reds working with fire magic, could get out of control.
Keshanal was waiting for them with several women. Most had deep yellow hair proclaiming them strong Yellows, but three of the women were Reds with red-gold hair and yellow eyes.
Dehali led the women to the center of the arena and began to teach them the spells to form cold-air shields. They caught on quickly and soon had the spell down.
“That Eiden of yours is a genius,” Keshanal remarked to Rizelya.
“Yep, she is, and she just turned twenty.”
“A Yellow in your fighting-pack? Remarkable.” Keshanal continued to watch the practice. “I would have never thought to bring Talents other than Red into the fight. With the cold-air shield, the Yellows will be quite useful. Hmm, I wonder what else we could use. Certainly not Blues, they are too emotional. Come, let’s talk.” She turned away from the practicing women and motioned for Rizelya and Aistrun to follow her. Keshanal took them to the small office overlooking the arena, where they could talk in private while still watching the practice.
“I’ve thought a lot about this,” Keshanal said when they were all seated. “I even went to the White Priestess and she confirms this is too important to wait the lunadar or two it will take you to visit all the Strunlair territory keeps to tell the Clan Alphas.” She held up her hand, halting Rizelya’s and Aistrun’s protest. “But it is equally important for the Clan Alphas to know the extent of the problem. So, here’s what we’ll do.” She pulled out a map and unfolded it on the table. “I’ll send a team east to Strunville and Strundale. You head north along this route to Strunheim and Strunven. But instead of you just finding out what is happening, you’ll be teaching them the cold-air and fire-shields. Don’t worry about the minor holdings in the districts, the Territory Keeps will train them.”
Rizelya had worried how they would help the smaller keeps, but Keshanal had just taken that responsibility from her shoulders. They wouldn’t have to worry about individual houses; no one lived alone or in a single dwelling. Everyone lived within the protection of a keep made of sheadash stone and granite and in the company of others to fight the monsters. Each keep, no matter its size, housed a fighting-pack. The largest concentrations of people and fighters in the territories were found in the major keeps, and the territory keep where the alphas of each territory lived and ruled.
“Oh, good,” Rizelya said. “They need help too. With your schedule we’ll only have time to stop at the Territory Keeps. But what about gathering information for the Clan Alphas? I thought you said it was important too.”
“The Keep Alphas will inform the Clan Alphas themselves. I will be adding a note to your introduction telling the Keep Alphas we’re having an emergency clan meeting about this problem. I expect the Strunven Keep Alphas will travel with you to Strunlair Keep. We’ll send a courier to Strunland Keep and Strunhelos to let them know of the meeting.”
“Hey, isn’t it the Clan Alphas who call clan meetings?” Aistrun asked.
“Normally, but we Keep Alphas also have the authority to call an emergency meeting. This is an emergency.” Keshanal looked at them, then back at the map, considering. “This should work. We’ll meet in four chedan, on the first day of Sandar, at Strunlair Keep. You’ll be pushing yourselves, but you’re young and tough. Most of your squad-pack is riding plains horses; they ca
n handle the fast pace.”
Rizelya considered Keshanal’s plan for several moments. “I can’t see any reason not to follow your plan. We’ll still be accomplishing the same thing Histrun wanted.”
“Hey, it cuts our travel in half, and I’m all for that,” Aistrun said. “I’d rather travel only four chedan rather than the full ten or twelve chedan it was going to take.”
“Keshanal, we’ll need winter supplies, including tents,” Rizelya said. “Our original plans had us getting to the northern keeps at the beginning of the summer lunadar rather than late spring. There may still be snow in some of the higher mountains.”
“You’ll have what you need when you leave in the morning.” Keshanal thought for a moment, then said, “You know, the northern keeps may not be having the problems with the Malvers monsters that we’re having. The monsters don’t form much in the cold. Strunven and Strunhelos Keeps are far enough north that even in the heat of summer and autumn they don’t have as many nests as we do here. I hear the southern territories of Posanlair and Dehanronlair are hit quite a bit worse all year than the rest of the territories. We at least get a break during the winter.”
“I don’t know how they do it,” Rizelya commiserated. “The two northern keeps may not be plagued with the control janack.”
“Even if they’re not, we still have to go,” Aistrun broke in. “We still need to know what’s happening there.”
“And tell them how to destroy the control janacks. There’s no reason to think they won’t have them eventually,” Rizelya finished.
“You’re good kids. I wasn’t planning on not sending you,” Keshanal interrupted them. “If there’s a new janack controlling the others, there may be new monsters that can stand the cold better.” Keshanal stood up. “I’ll make the arrangements for your supplies.”
“Do you want our letter of guarantee to recompense you for your aid to us?”
“Posh,” Keshanal waved her hand in front of her. “No need, girl. We’re the same clan; anything you need we freely give. Besides, with the new cold-air shield and the information on how to kill those control janack, you’ve more than paid for any supplies we give you.”