by Tora Moon
“It’s another big one, Alpha,” said one of the Reds.
“Juvie,” croaked one of the warriors.
“Almost adult,” corrected the woman. “They’ll leave the nest within the next two days.”
“Good.” Shaydan nodded. “This is exactly what you wanted.”
“It is. If we’re lucky, this nest will have a control janack,” Rizelya replied.
“Hey, they all do now,” Aistrun added, “or at least it seems like it.”
Drustrun addressed the scout-pack. “Good work. Go back to your positions. We’ll be going on to the safe house.”
“What?” the woman exclaimed. “We aren’t firing the nest?” Her face was white with fright.
“I don’t like the thought of leaving the nest either, but it’s necessary this time,” Rizelya told the scouts. They looked at her as if she had just sprouted tentacles. “We’re not leaving them to the area, for Crone’s sake.”
Shaydan added, “We’ll kill them, but when they are adults. We need to practice the new techniques if this nest has a control janack, the weird, hard-to-kill one.”
The scouts still weren’t happy with the plan. Rizelya knew they would spread the news among their fellow fighters. Gossip passed quicker than a wildfire in the fighting-pack ranks. As they resumed crossing the valley, several of the men were now in their wolf form.
Rizelya and Aistrun fell back from the lead to ride with their squad-pack. She hadn’t talked to them much all day. Dehali looked happy with Kami riding next to her; they were holding hands as they rode. Leistral and Eidstrun were busy chatting with several of the Strunell fighting-pack.
“Where’s Keandran?” she asked the group, looking around.
“Last I saw, he was in the rear”—Eidstrun paused, then sputtered—“walking.” He and the rest of the group burst into laughter.
“Hey, why was he walking?” Aistrun asked.
“His horse is giving him fits,” Leistral said, wiping her eyes. “Something happened at the last rest stop and Tejen wouldn’t let Keandran get in his saddle. Damn, that horse has some mean moves.”
“Tossed him several times,” Eidstrun continued the story. “Once, Tejen allowed Keandran to settle into the saddle before he started bucking. He threw Keandran forward over his neck, and then reared his head. Cracked Keandran’s skull good. He was a bit wobbly.”
“And he was limping,” Leistral added. “I think Tejen stomped on his foot. He tried to shift to his wolf form and Tejen kicked him in the chest. I don’t think he broke any more ribs, but Keandran wouldn’t let me look at him. Afterward, he was too hurt to shift.”
“Should we go find out if he’s okay?” Rizelya asked Aistrun, alarmed.
“Naw,” Eidstrun told them. “We’ve been keeping an eye on him. We don’t like him, but he’s still pack. He’s a bit footsore now but otherwise okay.”
“What did Keandran do to deserve an ill-tempered horse like Tejen?” Dehali asked. “I know the others were bad mannered, but this one is downright mean.”
“Hey, the others weren’t bad mannered, they were hurt,” Aistrun told her. “Keandran’s the mean one. Lehaas gave him a horse who wouldn’t be bullied.” Aistrun told them about the bit and girth strap that had tortured the other horses. When he mentioned the bramble berries, Eidstrun’s eyes widened.
“I might have seen Keandran slip something under Tejen’s blanket, just before he acted up,” he said.
Everyone in the group, including the Strunell fighters wore harsh expressions at the news. No one was cruel to their horses. They were too necessary for survival. The men could shift into wolf and travel that way, but the women couldn’t. It took both Reds and warriors to kill the Malvers monsters.
“Serves him right, then,” Dehali said, her mouth pulled taut and her eyes narrowed. The rest nodded in agreement. “We’ll make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
They soon reached the safe house. Rizelya stayed in the stable after she unsaddled and curried Kymaya. Aistrun waited with her. It was full dark when Keandran stumbled into the stable. Both of his eyes were black, and he was holding his ribs and limping. Tejen walked behind him, pushing him forward when he tried to stop.
Rizelya rushed to Tejen. “There you go, boy, we’ll get you settled in,” she crooned. She grabbed Tejen’s bridle and led him to an empty stall.
“What about me?” Keandran whined. “That devil horse wouldn’t let me ride or shift to wolf.”
“You did something to him.” Aistrun glared at Keandran. “You were told he wouldn’t tolerate any mistreatment.” Keandran turned to leave. “No, you stay right here.”
A wave of alpha magic washed over Rizelya at the command in Aistrun’s voice. She glanced up to see Keandran standing stock-still. She pulled off Tejen’s saddle and blanket. Stuck to Tejen’s hide were two bramble berries, their spikes buried deep in his flesh. She pulled them off and soothed him.
“Poor thing, you’ll be okay. Next time someone will know to check.” She glared at Keandran and stalked to him, shoving the bramble berries under his nose. “These were under Tejen’s saddle blanket. You put them there, just like you did to those other horses. What is wrong with you?”
Keandran glowered back at her.
“If you keep this up, you’ll walk all the way to Strunlair Keep,” she told him. “You will not be given another horse. You will not mistreat Tejen.” She looked him up and down. “I can promise you’ll suffer more than he does.”
He started to say something but she cut him off. “You will not be left behind. The Clan Alphas will deal with you.” She turned away from him and went back to caring for Tejen before she resorted to violence.
Aistrun said quietly, “That is if you survive. You hurt any of my pack, including my horses, again and I. Will. Kill. You.”
She could feel and smell Keandran’s fear.
After a few milcrons she heard Aistrun say more gently, “Come on. Let’s have a healer look at you.”
“We may not like him, but he is our pack,” she echoed Eidstrun’s words, sighing as she watched them go.
Other than the minor injuries from the bramble berries, Tejen was fine. She couldn’t understand Keandran’s behavior. She had never seen someone deliberately hurt an animal before. He was her pack, her responsibility, until they reached Strunlair Keep. But she had no idea what to do about him. Or for him. It was with a heavy heart she went into the safe house for the night.
***
Before dawn, a scout-pack went to the nest site to keep watch. The monsters matured from the larval stage to juvenile in one day, and then into adult in another day or two. They wouldn’t have to wait long; if the monsters didn’t mature today, they would tomorrow.
The horses had been saddled and breakfast was being prepared when the messenger thundered to the safe house. He pulled his horse up in front of Rizelya and Shaydan, who had barreled out.
“They’re mature, at least three janack,” he said in a rush.
“What about the new one?” Shaydan asked.
The messenger shook his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it.”
“The one I fought was hidden under all the rest,” Rizelya said. “We didn’t know it was there until the rest cleared the nest.”
“Let’s go!” Drustrun bellowed. “We’ve monsters to kill!”
The fifty members of the platoon rushed to their horses and stepped into their saddles. Rizelya and the other alphas rode out in the lead, with Rizelya’s squad-pack and Kami close behind. They rode closer to the nest site than Rizelya was used to but then she saw a copse of thick jedash bushes. The slick blue stems and leaves shed the monster’s toxins, and the scent of the yellow flowers repelled the monsters. The bushes were tall enough to hide the horses.
As they rode up, one of the men jumped off his horse and swung open a gate made from the bushes to reveal a large corral. Inside, Rizelya noticed the temperature dropped, masking the body heat of anything hiding there. She’d forgotten about this
aspect of the jedash bushes as there weren’t many in her home territory. The horses would be safe if any monsters escaped. Reins were tied to the saddle in case the horses needed to bolt from the corral without their riders.
As she left the corral, she looked back to see the few stallions, along with the geldings, herd the mares to the center of the circle. They then stood in front as protectors. Tejen was having difficulty herding Kymaya into the center. She was a battle horse as much as he and wasn’t amenable to being guarded. Rizelya chuckled. Kymaya could be just as stubborn as she suspected Tejen to be.
Two young men closed the gate of the corral and stood at either side of it, and Rizelya nodded to herself in approval. The horses would have someone to watch over them during the battle and let them out if necessary. She wiped the thought from her mind. They would all return to reclaim their horses in an octar or two.
The squad-pack alphas listened attentively as Shaydan and Drustrun gave quick orders. The platoon leaders wouldn’t be leading the attack this time. Their job was to destroy the control janack using Rizelya’s new methods. Rizelya’s team would stay out of the fight until the control janack, if there was one, emerged from the nest.
Rizelya looked over at Kami, who stood next to Shaydan. Kami bounced up and down on the balls of her feet in anticipation while her face was tense, telling a different story. Kami was scared but excited. Rizelya thought she’d do well.
Rizelya stepped over the rise and could see the nest. Although she couldn’t hear the tell-tale hum, she was certain the nest contained a control janack. *It’s as big as the first one,* she mind-spoke to Aistrun. He nodded. The massive claws of his warrior form clicked as they opened and closed.
The monsters in the nest began to writhe with increased activity as first one sensor stalk shot up from the mass and then another. The monsters knew they were there. The first brechas boiled out of the nest and the battle began.
“This is so weird,” Rizelya said to her team, gripping her helbraught, “standing here and not fighting.”
“Yesss,” Aistrun and Drustrun hissed. They both trembled with the need to fight.
“Those are my people down there,” Shaydan said with a grimace.
Rizelya rubbed her ears to clear them and then realized she could hear a faint hum.
“Let’s go! There’s a control janack in the nest.” Rizelya winced as the volume of the hum grew as more monsters left the nest. She ran down the incline, feeding fire into her helbraught.
“How can you tell?” Shaydan asked, catching up to her.
“I can hear a hum. Can’t you?”
“No,” came a chorus from the others.
“Look!” Rizelya pointed to the south where a group of monsters was breaking off from the fighting. “They’re heading back to the nest!”
The last of the janacks had left the nest with its group of brechas to reveal a control janack. The humming was now a screech. Rizelya suddenly felt cold air around her as they raced down the incline and to the nest. She glanced behind her to see Dehali running next to Kami and shouting instructions. The control janack didn’t turn its attention to them, so she assumed Kami had formed a cold-air shield around her team as well. She was amazed at their ability to perform such a complicated piece of magic while running.
Rizelya was also impressed when Shaydan began forming a fire-ring around the control janack as she ran. It flared into a fire shield as soon as all six of them crossed the boundary. Rizelya glanced back to see Leistral and Eidstrun skid to a halt at edge of the fire-ring and then turn. She couldn’t see Keandran.
The control janack wasn’t alone. Two brechas roamed around the circle of the nest; for all appearances, they were guarding the janack. Rizelya hadn’t seen anything like it before. The brechas lifted their heads, snuffing the air with their large nostrils. They made a wuffing noise as they dropped their heads. Rizelya realized the cold-air shields blocked their scent as well as heat. The brechas couldn’t smell them and the control janack couldn’t sense their body heat.
“That changes things,” Shaydan commented.
“It does,” Rizelya agreed. “You two stay as far back as you can,” Rizelya told Kami and Dehali. She turned to Dehali. “If we split up and you can’t shield both of us, break off and help Kami protect Shaydan. Destroying the control janack is top priority.”
The screech from the control janack was almost deafening. Rizelya ignored it. “My team will take on the brechas, yours the control janack,” she shouted. Shaydan and Drustrun looked at her strangely, then nodded.
Rizelya pointed to the brecha closest to them. “I’ll take that one, you can have the other,” she told Aistrun. He grinned, lifting his lips to show his fangs, and took off for his brecha.
Rizelya fed fire magic into her helbraught as she ran and swung at the brecha. It must have sensed her, because it moved at the last moment and her blade sliced into its side rather than its short neck. It turned again and slashed at her with its claws. She jumped back.
The screech of the control janack beat at her, insisting she drop her weapon. Rizelya shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. She swung her blade in time to block another slashing strike from the brecha. Either her cold-air shield was gone or the control janack was tracking her via her mind. She could almost hear words, although she couldn’t understand them. She’d worry about it later. Right now she had a brecha to kill.
The brecha reared onto its hind legs, slashing at her with its eight-inch front claws. She knocked the claws aside with the staff of her helbraught and quickly brought the blade around and into the belly of the monster. The glowing blade slid easily into the tough hide. She dragged the blade down, opening the belly. The entrails were already smoking and so were the edges of the wound. The monster dropped to all fours. Rizelya swung her blade again, this time severing the large head. She touched the head with her blade, feeding more fire magic into it. It burst into flames, burning quickly to ash. The body followed.
Rizelya turned back to the nest and saw Shaydan on the body of the bucking and thrashing control janack, making her way to the head. Aistrun had killed his brecha and was working with Drustrun in attacking the control janack. She heard a strange sparking sound and spun around. Brechas were smashing into the fire shield. Leistral and Eidstrun were fighting a janack with a brecha held in its tentacles. It tossed the brecha at the fire shield. Instinctively, Rizelya ducked. The shield hissed and crackled while the brecha burst into flames. She looked up and could see several piles of ash on the dome. This wasn’t the first brecha that had been flung into the shield.
She scrutinized the fire shield. Minute cracks in the pattern were spreading and she realized it wouldn’t hold much longer. She rushed to the fire shield and added her strength to it.
She heard an insistent, “Come to me.” Rizelya shook her head and realized it wasn’t directed at her. She looked up to see Keandran stumbling like a sleep walker in the direction of the swamp.
“What in the Crone’s fires is he doing?” Rizelya swore. If she left the fire shield, it would shatter. She glanced back. Shaydan was two steps away from the head. It wouldn’t be much longer before she exploded it.
She looked back to Keandran, who was almost to the trees. Rizelya was frantic. She didn’t like Keandran, but she couldn’t allow him to enter the swamp. Alone, he would die. Just then the janack Leistral and Eidstrun were fighting collapsed from Eidstrun’s venom.
*Go get Keandran!* she mind-shouted at them. *He’s going into the swamp.*
They twisted around in time to see Keandran step into the trees.
*We’ll get him.* Eidstrun replied as the two raced across the mucky ground.
“Run! It’s blowing!” Shaydan shouted as she leaped off the control janack.
Rizelya turned her attention back to the fight. The strange protrusion was still attached. Shaydan had forgotten or hadn’t had the chance to cut it off before burying her helbraught into its head. The screaming was so loud now Rizelya won
dered why no one else could hear it. She threw a fire shield around herself while she kept her eyes firmly on the protrusion. The control janack burst, flying pieces hitting the fire shield, and falling back down in chaos. As soon as the pieces stopped falling, Rizelya raced to the spot where she had last seen the protrusion. There it was, unharmed. A scrap of hide was still attached at the base. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her head from the screaming, she placed a small fire shield around it. Then saw darkness.
Rizelya opened her eyes to see Aistrun, Shaydan, and Drustrun looking down on her. “I passed out again, didn’t I?” she groaned.
“Yep,” Aistrun said. “Why?”
“Damn thing screams a fit when its janack is destroyed.”
“What thing?” Shaydan looked worried.
Rizelya waved in the direction of her mini fire shield. “The protrusion.” She looked closely at them and scrunched her face. “You can’t hear it, can you?”
They all shook their heads. Rizelya struggled into a sitting position. Her head pounded and black dots swirled in front of her eyes. Standing, let alone walking, would be impossible, so she settled for crawling back to the protrusion. She released the fire shield. “What about now?”
“Still nothing,” Shaydan said. “Dehali, Kami, come over here,” she yelled.
Rizelya winced. “Can you hear anything?” she asked the two when they arrived.
They both cocked their heads in a listening stance for several long moments, and then shook their heads. Rizelya took a deep breath and prodded the protrusion. This time it sounded angry. “What about now?” she ground out through the pain.
“Nothing,” Shaydan said, “but it’s obvious you do.” She looked at Dehali “Burn it!”
Rizelya screamed with the protrusion as Dehali set it on fire. This time when she came to, blood trickled from her nose and her head was cradled in Aistrun’s lap.
“Hey, Little Red, don’t scare me like that,” Aistrun said as he stroked her hair.
It took her a few moments to realize Aistrun had shifted into his human form.