Ancient Enemies

by Tora Moon

  Keshanal pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. “You’ve a long journey ahead of you. I don’t envy you. Join me tonight for the evening meal. At least we can give you a good meal before you leave. We have some excellent cooks.”

  ***

  Rizelya looked out the office window as Keshanal made her way down the stairs. Dehali now had the Yellows working with Red partners. The three Reds with Yellow Talent were working well with their partners. However, the full Yellows were having trouble. They could create the cold-air shield while their Red partners were standing. But when the Reds approached with their glowing helbraughts, the cold air warmed up with the heat. Rizelya could see the frustration on all of their faces. Dehali was especially frustrated because she couldn’t tell what was wrong.

  It soon became obvious to Rizelya it wasn’t the fire they were afraid of; it was the fighting. One of the girls would drop her air shield and cower on the ground as soon as her partner fed fire into her helbraught. Three kept flinching when their partners started thrusting the helbraughts in mock combat. Two looked promising if they could learn to work with the Reds as they fought. Their movements were similar and their shields were the strongest of the bunch.

  All adults were taught how to fight, no matter their Talent. Rizelya knew from training Eiden that most non-fighting Posairs treated training as exercise, or they practiced simply because it was required of them. But the Reds found joy in combat; it was part of their fiery nature. The Reds had all fought the Malvers monsters and brought the intensity of a real fight with them into the practice, whereas the Yellows had only fought in training.

  Rizelya left the office and stopped at the practice area entrance.

  “Dehali, come over here,” Rizelya called. When Dehali reached her, she said, “I know what’s wrong. Your Yellows haven’t ever trained with a fighting Red before, nor have they fought for real. They don’t know what to do. But from helping Eiden, she and I came up with a few tricks that will help.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” Dehali said with a sigh of relief. “We’re all about ready to give up thinking I couldn’t help them because I’m a Red too.”

  “No, that isn’t it,” Rizelya told her. “Eiden is a Yellow without a drop of Red Talent. What she does have that these women lack is the conviction that fighting the monsters is the best use of her Talent. Call them over.”

  Dehali called a stop to the practice. “This is my squad-pack alpha, Rizelya,” Dehali introduced her to the group. “She’s the one who thought up this little trick.”

  “There’s a new janack that is difficult to attack and kill using our normal methods,” Rizelya said, pacing in front of the group. She stopped in front of the Yellows, who stood a little apart from the Reds, and directed her remarks to them. “Like all janacks, this one finds us using its heat sensor stalks. If you block our body heat, using the cold-air shields Dehali has taught you, then we”—she pointed to the Reds—“can get to the control janack and kill it. So from now on you’ll be part of the fighting-pack. You’re important to all of our survival.”

  The girl who had cowered fainted. The three who had flinched away from the Reds protested that they weren’t fighters, and the two she had picked out earlier grinned. As they stood together, Rizelya could now tell they were twins. They had bright yellow hair and green eyes flecked with red. They wore different scarves around their necks, but otherwise they were identical.

  The one with the longer hair and a pale lime green scarf looked at her companion. “Told you. They’re finally going to let us fight.” She turned to Rizelya. “Kami and I have been begging Keshanal to let us fight. We knew our Talents could be helpful.”

  Kami, who wore a rose scarf, spoke up. “She told Tami and me we didn’t have enough Red and had too much Yellow to be any good against the monsters. But both of us can solidify air and make air-shields. This cold-air shield is brilliant, although I can’t figure out how to keep it steady when my partner fires her helbraught.”

  “You just need the right practice tools.” Rizelya smiled at the twins. She turned to the three who were protesting. “Take your friend and leave. You aren’t doing any good here.” When they left she grinned at Dehali. “It’s time for the janack illusion spell.”

  “The what?” the twins asked in unison.

  Dehali grinned. “Another invention of Eiden’s. She wanted to practice fighting but pretending there was a monster in front of her wasn’t working, so she created an illusion.”

  “Yep, add a bit of Brown earth magic to it and the illusion becomes quite solid,” Rizelya added. “I have the Brown power.” She turned to the two Reds still waiting to practice with the twins. One was tall and had red-gold hair and brown eyes, the other one was medium height with cherry-red hair with pale green highlights and pale gold eyes. “You’ll get good practice as well. What are your names? I can’t call you Red one and Red two.”

  “I’m Shaydan,” said the tall one, “and this is Bren.”

  “The new control janack isn’t affected by the warrior’s venom, well, if it is, it takes an awful long time to be of any help. The only way we’ve been successful is by exploding it.”

  As Rizelya led the group into the middle of the arena, she remembered the fire shield she had used to control the area of destruction from the janack explosion. She turned to the Reds. “Have you created a fire shield within your fire-ring before?”

  They shook their heads and looked like she was crazy. “That can’t be done,” Shaydan said.

  “Yes it can. It’s how I controlled the area of destruction yesterday,” Rizelya replied. “Looks like you two and the twins have become Strunell’s control janack demolition team.” She thought for a moment, recalling how she had destroyed the two control janacks. Both times there had been a warrior who distracted the monster. “Do you have any warriors you work well with?”

  “Yes, Alpha,” Bren answered.

  “Send for them,” Rizelya told them.

  Shaydan headed to the observation area where a few Reds were still watching. Shaydan spoke to one of the women who then hurried off. Rizelya decided the rest of her pack could also use the practice and called them out of the stands.

  When Shaydan rejoined them, Rizelya said, “While we’re waiting, I’ll teach you how to form the fire shield. Twins, go work with Dehali to strengthen your cold-air shields.” Rizelya turned to Shaydan and Bren and said, “Watch carefully.” She formed a circle of fire around the Reds, working slowly so they could see how the filaments of Red magic were woven to create a bubble within the fire-ring. She let it go.

  “Wow! That was amazing.” Shaydan eyes were wide. “How did you figure out how to do that?”

  “My sister, Naila, taught me when I was little. I think my mother, Zehala, taught it to her before she died.”

  “You’re that Rizelya!” Bren exclaimed. “Histrun is your father, right?”

  “Yeah,” Rizelya sighed. She should have expected to be known at any of the Strunlair Keeps. “Shh … I try not to let it be known. I’d rather be recognized for who I am, not for what they did.”

  “Gotcha.” Bren put her hand to her lips, sealing them shut. “We won’t tell anyone.” She looked at Shaydan, who nodded.

  “Did you catch how to do it?”

  “Can you do it one more time?” Bren asked. “I was too busy admiring how beautiful it was.”

  “Me too,” Shaydan agreed.

  “What did you do?” Dehali asked. Rizelya hadn’t noticed Dehali and the twins were avidly watching her.

  “Yeah, what was it? I just caught the last bits,” Leistral commented, walking across the arena.

  Flabbergasted, Rizelya realized not even her own pack-mates had been taught the fire shield. She didn’t understand why Naila hadn’t taught anyone else how to do the shield. It had saved their lives. “Here, stand with them and I’ll show you. It’s a fire shield and it’s how I keep the bits of monster from spreading too far.”

  “Hey,
I’d wondered about that,” Aistrun said. “I heard you mention it to Keshanal, but I haven’t had time to ask you about it. I was too busy fighting to see what you did.”

  “Wolf, you don’t have enough Red Talent to do it,” Rizelya huffed.

  “But I have enough to see it.”

  “Okay, fine,” she grumbled. “But watch carefully this time.” She didn’t mind teaching, but this was beginning to feel like a show. She formed the fire-ring around everyone in the arena then slowly built the fire shield. She hadn’t taken the time to examine it before. She now understood Shaydan and Bren’s reaction. The weaving of different shades of red was beautiful. The strands of shield glowed when she pushed her fire magic into it and activated it.

  “That is one fine piece of magic,” Keshanal observed when Rizelya dropped the shield.

  Rizelya whirled around, her surprise must have evident, because Keshanal started to laugh.

  “I came back with the others to see what all the fuss was about,” Keshanal told her. “I didn’t understand what you meant by a fire shield. I thought it was just a bigger or brighter fire-ring. This is something different. You’ll teach me too.” Her mouth formed a tight line of disapproval. “And I’ll have words with Naila when I see her at the clan meeting for not showing the rest of us the spell.”

  Rizelya broke down the steps of the spell and taught the group of Reds, which had mushroomed into quite a few more than Shaydan, Bren, and her own squad-pack. It looked like all of the Red alphas in Strunell Keep were in the arena. When her main students could form the shield well, she called a break.

  “That’s only part of the process to kill the control janack. I only have time to teach Shaydan and Bren, who will work with the twins, Kami and Tami. They’ll teach the rest of you. Leistral, stay here and work with Dehali. The rest of you please move off the arena floor.” As the crowd headed to the edge of the arena rather than to the stands, Rizelya looked up to see the stands were also packed. She could see quite a few women with strong Yellow Talent mixed in with the Reds. There were also a number of men. She didn’t like all the attention. Soon there were only the two Strunell teams and her squad-pack left on the arena floor.

  She glanced at Aistrun and motioned for him to shift. None of the warriors could tell her where their clothes went when they shifted into their wolf or warrior forms. They didn’t have to strip them off, nor were they torn in the change process. One milcron they were men, fully clothed, and the next, they were wolves. A bit more effort and they were warriors. Their clothes disappeared as they changed. When they returned to human form, they would be wearing the same clothes they had when they shifted. Within a few moments Aistrun towered over her in his warrior form.

  “Now, for the fun part,” she told the teams. She gripped her helbraught. “Dehali will form the janack illusion. This time, Dehali, add the protrusion and make it larger so it looks like the new control janacks. When I add my Brown magic, it will look and feel real. Dehali, are you strong enough to hold the illusion and create a cold-air shield for me?”

  Dehali nodded. “You can’t take too long to destroy it or I’ll lose one or the other.”

  “Okay, I’ll be fast. Aistrun, your job is to distract the illusion, like you did the control janack yesterday.” She directed the other teams to stand out of the way. When the arena floor was cleared, she indicated for Dehali to create the illusion.

  Rizelya felt the swirl of magic as Dehali started the spell. She gathered her own power and sent Brown magic to join with Dehali’s Yellow. When the funnel of air stopping spinning, a large control janack stood in the center of the arena. The illusion not only looked like the monster but behaved like it as well. The fight was on.

  Rizelya formed a fire-ring around it and added the fire shield. The illusion turned its maw toward Rizelya and Aistrun and she felt Dehali form the cold-air shield around them. The janack swayed back and forth, looking for them. Aistrun nodded and took off, hassling the janack. Rizelya fed fire magic into her helbraught until it glowed, then ran to the janack. Using her helbraught, she pole-vaulted onto the janack and raced up the tentacles to the head. Since this was an illusion, she didn’t have to feed much fire into it to make it explode. This fight was also easier because there wasn’t the annoying hum which almost formed words.

  She banished the burning bits of the illusion. “That’s how to kill one of these things.”

  She pointed to Shaydan’s team, “Now, it’s your turn. Kami, your job is to keep Shaydan and her warrior, Drustrun, safe. They can’t get to the janack if your shield collapses. This illusion is real enough that they’ll be in danger if you don’t keep the shield around them until Shaydan at least gets on the janack.”

  “Gee, thanks for the pep talk,” Kami said.

  Rizelya shrugged. “It’s what will happen out in the field. Keep them safe.” There wasn’t any danger, but Kami and her sister needed to believe there was so they would treat this seriously. Rizelya, Aistrun, and Dehali moved off to the side. “Are you ready?” she asked Dehali.

  Dehali nodded and created another illusion.

  Rizelya was impressed. Kami kept her cold-air shield on Shaydan until Shaydan shoved her helbraught blade into the janack. But when the debris threatened to hit Kami and Drustrun, Rizelya quickly banished the illusion. She thought about it and realized the problem.

  “Next time, Shaydan, form the fire shield two feet inside the fire-ring. All of you get your butts to the fire-ring as fast as possible when the janack blows.”

  The illusion formed again. This time when the janack exploded, the inside team was safe. The other teams took turns until both Rizelya and Dehali were too exhausted to form the illusion anymore.

  Keshanal had stayed the entire time. “Good tactics, Rizelya.” She patted Rizelya on the back. “Your pack should be proud of you. After the evening meal, I want you and Dehali, to teach me how to form that illusion. Good training tool. Make sure you have a training session like this at the other keeps you travel to and I’ll do the same.”

  After the evening meal, Rizelya and Dehali met with Keshanal and several of her platoon alphas in the practice arena and taught them the training illusion. It didn’t take long for them to become proficient in casting the spells. Rizelya and Keshanal walked ahead of the others back to the fighting-pack house.

  “You’re a fine teacher, Rizelya girl,” Keshanal told Rizelya as she put an arm around Rizelya’s shoulders and drew her into a quick hug. “This makes me wonder what other things we keep from each other, even in our own clan.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t intentional,” Rizelya reassured her. “Eiden and I developed the illusion spell recently. We haven’t had our Clan Gathering yet. Besides, she and I are so low in the rankings no one would ask us to show them anything.”

  Keshanal growled low in her throat. “There has to be a better way to exchange information and techniques than what we’ve been doing. It takes too long, and like you said, if it’s developed by a lower rank, we don’t have a system in place for them to show the rest of the clan.”

  “Of course, Eiden could have presented it. She’s a Yellow and they’re expected to be inventive. But a Red like me”— she snorted—“not likely.”

  “It makes me wonder what else has been developed that we know nothing about.” Keshanal thought for a moment, and then added, “Even in my own Keep. It’s time to remedy that.”

  The two women walked the rest of the way in silence. When they reached the entry-way of the pack house, Keshanal turned to Rizelya. “We’ll have your supplies and a multa ready for you an octar after sunrise. May the four-fold Goddess watch your journey, child.” She strode off without allowing Rizelya to reply.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning Rizelya and Aistrun arrived at the stables before the rest of their group.

  “Hey, Lehaas, bright morning to you,” Aistrun said.

  “Bright morning, laddie, lass.” Lehaas smiled in greeting. “Come to see what else that caitiff di
d to his fine horses?”

  Rizelya nodded. “I was afraid there would be more. He may be in my squad-pack, but something is off in him.”

  “Anybody who could harm one of the Mother’s children for pleasure has to have something wrong,” Lehaas agreed. He led them into his office. On his desk were a number of bramble berries, long thin cylinders with sharp thorns all along the surface. “I found these under the saddle blankets.” Lehaas indicated several of the crushed berries. He lifted a length of leather, studded with sharp spikes that were dulled with blood. “This fit under the girth strap. Damn torture device. That caitiff won’t be riding those horses again. They are too injured and spooked.”

  Aistrun reached out and took the leather strap, fingering the spikes. His face was white with anger. “I’m keeping this. He may just find out how it feels.”

  “Aistrun, you can’t do that!” Rizelya knew how he felt, but they weren’t cruel.

  “Oh, yes I can. That beast needs to be taught a lesson.” His grin was full of malice. “Besides, I’d like to see what Clan Alpha Nestrun has to say about this. Too bad you turned that bit to slag, Riz, we could have shown it to him.”

  “Not to worry, laddie,” Lehaas said, his voice deepened in anger. “There was another one in his saddlebag.” He tossed the torture bit onto the pile.

  “You went through his bags?” Rizelya asked, incredulous.

  “’Course I did and with Keep Alpha Bestrun at my side,” Lehaas said. “The cur was hiding in his room while the lot of you worked in the practice arena. Nice work, by the way. Bestrun sent him on an errand and while he was gone we searched his packs.” He tilted his head toward the leather strap. “The girth strap was in his packs too. I could see the injuries on his horses, but there wasn’t anything left in the stables to make such wounds. The dastard was hiding his devices.”