by Tora Moon
“It is,” Layhalya said smiling. “We’ll assign a fighting-pack to escort you through our territory. In the meantime, you will teach us.” She looked them over closely. “And rest. You have traveled hard.” Layhalya clapped her hands and a teenage Red opened the office door. “Laynal will show you to your rooms. We’ll meet again before you go.” She dismissed them.
Leaving the message packet with the alphas, Rizelya and Aistrun followed the young woman. As they walked to their rooms, they learned she was Laynar’s sister. After they cleaned up, Laynal escorted them back to the practice arena to watch the trainees. Laynal reminded Rizelya of Eiden as she looked wistfully at the training.
“Have you gone out with the fighting-packs yet?” Rizelya asked.
“No, not yet. I’m sixteen and old enough,” Laynal pouted, “but Grandmother won’t let me go.”
“Go on, get training, and perhaps your grandmother will let you go with us when we leave.” Rizelya sent her over to the group Dehali was training.
“Hey, why Dehali’s group?” Aistrun asked as he watched Laynal jog over to Dehali.
“Look at her; she is both a Red and a Yellow, like Dehali. She needs both of her Talents trained.”
Rizelya and Aistrun continued to watch and wander around the various groups making small corrections and encouraging comments. By the time they released the trainees to clean up for the evening meal, the Yellows could form a cold-air shield, the Browns could cast the illusion spell, and the Reds were forming the fire shield. Rizelya was happy with their progress. The next step was to test the Yellows reactions when faced with the illusion janack.
Laynar and Laynal walked to the fighters’ hall with them. Laynal was able to form a cold-air shield and was close to forming a fire shield, neither one was small magics.
Laynal was dancing with delight. “So do you think Grandmother will let me go?” she asked Laynar. “I can do this and I’m ready. You’ll ask her, won’t you?”
Laynar sighed. “Yes, I’ll ask her and let her know how well you’re doing.”
“Yippee!” Laynal did a little jig and ran off ahead of them to the hall.
“I don’t remember being as excited to go fight,” Laynar said, frowning.
“Hey, I was,” Aistrun said. “I snuck off and followed Little Red here. We were both younger than Laynal is now.”
“How old were you? She’s sixteen.”
“I was fifteen and Rizelya was only fourteen, youngest in the clan to fight.” He puffed out his chest in pride.
Rizelya hung her head. “I had a lot to live up to. Fighting was easier than listening to the expectations of the rest of the clan.”
“Hey, sorry,” Aistrun apologized to Rizelya. “I was trying to help Laynal, not bring up old stuff for you.”
“It’s okay.”
“You know, when everyone hears about this method of fighting, you’ll be as famous as your parents! Their technique uses both their names, Zehis. What are we going to call yours? The Rizelya method?”
“You’re that Rizelya!” Laynar exclaimed. “Your parents are Zehala and Histrun?”
Rizelya nodded, heat washing over her face.
“Wait until my grandmother hears about this! She goes on and on about how she worked with them to perfect the Zehis method. I’ve gotta tell her about this.” Laynar ran to the clan house and up the stairs, yelling for her grandmother.
“Now see what you did,” Rizelya muttered, hitting Aistrun on the shoulder.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to,” he said, rubbing his shoulder.
“Besides, it isn’t my method; it’s Dehali’s and Eiden’s and even Leistral’s and Naila’s. I’m just—”
“Perfecting it and teaching it,” Aistrun cut in. “Makes it your method.”
“Well, whatever we call it, let’s leave my name out of it, huh?”
“Do I have to?” Aistrun sulked. At her nod, he capitulated. “Okay, I’ll talk to the others and we’ll come up with something good.”
At the evening meal Rizelya was invited to the Keep Alphas’ table, where Layhalya spent the evening regaling her with the struggles of the team who’d developed the Zehis method. In one instance, Zehala miscalculated and instead of forming a fire-ring, she sprayed Histrun with sand which turned into small globules of glass raining down on him.
It was late by the time Rizelya ambled to bed. She shook her head realizing how many people had been part of the team trying to make fighting the monsters safer for the fighters. Layhalya was as much a part of the discovery and application as her parents, but hadn’t received the accolades like her parents had. They had been famous Clan Alphas and so all the attention went to them. Rizelya wasn’t anything but a squad-alpha, so perhaps for this new fighting method, the others would get credit too. Dehali, Eiden, Leistral, and even Naila had as much—or more—input in discovering their method as she did.
Snuggling under the blankets she found a new appreciation for her parents. Ever since she was little, they had been larger than life. Layhalya’s stories made them people struggling to keep their teams alive in the constant struggle against the Malvers monsters. She resolved to get to know her father better when she returned home. Maybe he’d tell her the story from his perspective.
***
Rizelya and her pack spent the next day in the practice arena with the trainees. That afternoon, Rizelya met with Layhalya.
“You will not leave here until I am satisfied my people can use this new method of yours.” Layhalya leaned forward in her chair. “I won’t have another one of my people die because we can’t kill these monsters.” Her gnarled fist struck her desk in emphasis.
“I understand, but I only planned on staying here two days, Alpha,” Rizelya argued. “We still have to get to Strunven Keep, teach them, and get to Strunlair Keep before the clan meeting. We won’t have time if we stay any longer.”
“Yes you will, dear. We can get you to Strunven Territory in good time.” The old matriarch’s eyes narrowed. “How is my granddaughter doing truly?”
“She is quite talented. She’s able to create both the cold-air and the fire shields.”
“So she says. But that’s in training. We’ll see how she does in a real battle.”
“Well, if the monsters here keep the same schedule as everywhere else we’ve been, we won’t have to wait long for a nest to mature.” Rizelya glanced toward the darkened windows. The rain which began in the morning hadn’t let up yet. “This cold rain is keeping them from forming.”
“They hate the cold,” Layhalya agreed. Her fingers drummed on the desk while she studied Rizelya for a long time.
Layhalya was quiet so long, Rizelya’s foot started to shake in her anxiety.
The old woman finally stilled her fingers and said, “You’re a fine credit to your parents, Rizelya. A little rough around the edges yet, but you’ll make a fine leader—that is, when you grow up.”
“Maybe I will”—Rizelya said with a smile—“grow up.” She thought about the stories Layhalya had told her last night and how much that team had suffered, some of the team even giving up their lives, to ensure the survival of the Posairs. Wasn’t it the same thing her squad-pack was doing? She hadn’t wanted to be a leader, not even of a small squad, but now that she was, she’d do everything possible to keep her team safe. This task force had started out as Histrun and Naila’s way of forcing her into a role she didn’t want, but now, now she couldn’t imagine letting anyone else lead her squad-pack. It still didn’t mean she wanted to lead a platoon or become a Keep Alpha, being squad-alpha was enough for her.
“You’re a leader whether you acknowledge it or not. Now off with you. I’m tired.” Layhalya’s wave shooed her to the door and Rizelya stood and bowed.
It was late the next morning when Rizelya awoke. She’d slept deeply without any dreams. She stretched, luxuriating in not waking with the sunrise. In the two and a half chedan since leaving Strunland Keep, she hadn’t slept so late. Sitting up in bed, she looked ou
t the window and realized it was almost midday. Her stomach rumbled. It had been a long time since the evening meal. She washed and dressed quickly and rushed out of the room, braiding her hair as she hurried down the stairs.
Rizelya reached out to open the main door when it was flung open by Leistral.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” Leistral said when she all but ran into Rizelya. “We’re to join Laynar.” Leistral turned Rizelya toward the stables. “A nest is maturing. We have less than an octar to get there before the monsters emerge.”
“But I haven’t eaten!” Rizelya protested as they entered the stable. Leistral ignored her, rushing to her horse’s stall.
Rizelya shrugged and went to Kymaya’s. Aistrun was already cinching up Jezhan’s saddle.
“Hey, hurry and saddle Kymaya, we need to leave,” he said when he noticed her.
She grumbled along with her stomach as she saddled her horse.
“What are you muttering?” Aistrun asked.
She swiveled around to see him leaning against the doorway to Kymaya’s stall. “Why didn’t you wake me up earlier so I could get something to eat?” Anger made her voice rough. “I haven’t eaten anything yet and I’m supposed to help fight a control janack? That’s just mean.” She turned back to cinch Kymaya’s girth strap. Finished, she reached for the headstall and gently tugged Kymaya’s head out of her hay. A stray hay stalk hung from her horse’s mouth. “Well, at least you were fed.”
Kymaya whickered softly.
Aistrun joined her in the wide corridor, leading Jezhan. “None of us has had our midday meal.”
“You at least had breakfast. I didn’t!” She heard him chuckling. When she rounded on him, he held out a packet.
“Here,” he said. “I wouldn’t let you starve. I know how snarly you get when you haven’t eaten.”
She opened a corner of the packet to find a sandwich of roasted billocks and creamy cheese. The fresh bread smelled heavenly. The packet contained two sandwiches and she had devoured them both by the time Laynar called the order to mount. Feeling better, Rizelya rode next to Laynar. She heard a clear laugh and turned in her saddle to see Laynal riding next to Dehali.
“I’m surprised Layhalya allowed Laynal to come with us,” Rizelya commented to Laynar.
“She decided she couldn’t hold her back any longer. She is quite talented with the new shields you’ve taught us.” Laynar gazed at her sister for a few moments, then said in a quiet voice, “Besides, Grandmother realized Laynal would follow us if we didn’t let her come with us. She’d rather I keep her close than have her lurking about on her own.”
Rizelya laughed. “Smart woman.”
“Yes, she is,” Laynar agreed with a grin.
They continued to ride at a ground-eating canter. It wasn’t long before the scouts met them on the road and led the platoon to the nest site.
Laynar gave the signal to dismount. They were as close to the nest as the horses would go. From here on they would walk. One of the trainees, a young woman with golden-yellow hair, formed a cold-air shield around the horses. Rizelya approved of the new use for the shield since there weren’t any jedash bushes here to protect the horses from any escaping monsters.
Rizelya wondered if the jedash bushes would even grow here. They worked so well in Strunell Territory. It was another thing she added to her mental list to talk to Naila about so she could bring it up at the clan meeting.
Aistrun jabbed her side to get her attention. “We’re here.”
Rizelya gasped. So did quite a few of the other fighters. The nest was huge. It was even bigger than the first one she had fought with a control janack in it.
“Gracious Mother, protect us,” Laynar prayed as she caught sight of the nest.
Rizelya heard muttered prayers echoing Laynar.
“Judging from the size of it,” Rizelya said, “we’ll be very, very lucky if there’s only one control janack in the swarm.” She could feel the tingle of a hum, more intense than any other time, beginning at the bottoms of her feet.
The mass of monsters stirred in the warmth. A heat stalk poked up out of the tangle and the movement increased.
“They’re getting ready!” Laynar yelled. “To your positions,”
The fighters surged around the small group of specialty fighters, men snarling as they changed into their warrior form. The group sent to the farthest position barely reached it when the nest seethed. Six brechas and three janacks rolled out of the nest toward the group. A ring of fire flared around the monsters. The fight was on.
More monsters boiled from the nest. The fighting teams were hard-pressed to keep them contained. Rizelya felt a shudder and the hum increased in volume. She clapped her hands over her ears, trying to block the sound, but then she saw a break in the seething pile of monsters. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she dropped her hands. She had to function to rid the world of this nest of monsters.
“Damn! I hate being right about this,” Rizelya swore. “There are two control janacks.” She turned to Laynal. “Looks like you’ll get your chance to fight. We’ll need both teams at full strength to demolish these monsters.”
The control janacks seemed to sense their presence; one left the nest and headed toward the swamp. “We’ll get that one,” Rizelya shouted as she ran. She had to trust the Strunheim pack had learned the shields well enough to keep them safe and to kill their control janack.
Her squad-pack was hot on her heels. She was relieved when several other Reds and warriors joined them. The group of monsters—two regular janacks and five brechas, along with the control janack—was too large for her small squad-pack to handle. As she ran, she began to build the fire-ring to stop the control janack and its minions from escaping into the swamp.
It flared to life.
The control janack screamed in frustration. It sounded unaccountably like the woman in Rizelya’s dreams. She didn’t have time to wonder at the oddity. They were now close enough for Dehali to cast the cold-air shield. The control janack swung its head around searching for them. Rizelya paused, taking a steadying deep breath. She gestured at Leistral. They would both have to cast the fire shield to contain this mob of monsters.
“Now!” she shouted.
The fire shield flared.
The humming nearly knocked Rizelya off of her feet, but the fire shield held.
“You’ll not stop me like that!” she screamed at the control janack—and the mind behind it. She ran toward it with Aistrun right behind her.
Even with the cold-air shield around them, the control janack seemed to sense where they were. It took Rizelya a long time to realize it wasn’t tracking Aistrun, only her. She howled in frustration when one of the control janack’s tentacles whipped her off her feet, again and again. She rolled out of the way as it slammed into the ground where she had just been. The humming turned into an angry buzz. She had to fight against it drowning her in its fury.
That’s it, fury! She pitted her rage against the anger of the entity behind the control janack. She was sure now some intelligence rode the janack and controlled it, even as it controlled the other monsters. She didn’t know why she could sense it while no one else could. She built a wall of raging fire in her mind, ringing herself with its ferocity. And suddenly she couldn’t hear the buzzing or humming.
She feinted to the right. A surge of elation filled her when the control janack couldn’t sense her anymore. She fed fire magic into her helbraught until it glowed orange with intense heat. She pole-vaulted onto the control janack and raced up its back to plunge the fiery blade into the head.
“It’s going to blow!” she yelled. On impulse, she grabbed the protrusion and sliced it off. Pain burst in her head. Screaming, tears flowing down her face, she flung herself from the janack as it exploded. She forced her hand to squeeze the protrusion, not letting it go when she smacked into the ground.
Chapter 8
Rizelya looked up to see Aistrun in his human form and Leistral grinning down at he
r. “I blacked out again, didn’t I?”
They nodded.
“Hey, but this time we don’t have to go searching for the protrusion.” He pointed to Rizelya’s still-clenched fist.
The protrusion was a mangled lump of fibers and goo. She grinned too. It wasn’t buzzing at her anymore.
The thought of the control janack wiped the grin from her face; it had been searching for her. She shook her head to clear the fear. When they reached the Clan Keep, she really needed to see a White priestess and ask her why she could hear and sense the malignant entity. It was now stalking her.
Sitting up carefully, she slid a small package out of her jacket. The healer in Shaydan’s platoon had made it for her to combat the headache and fatigue that came from fighting the control janack. Shaydan had killed the control janacks during the journey through Strunell, so Rizelya hadn’t needed the medication until now. She opened it to find it in the form of a travel bar. Examining it, she discovered it lacked the hated dried fruit, so she bit into it and swallowed a bite. Immediately her headache eased. She’d have to send a gift to the healer and wheedle the recipe out of her so Kaieli could make it. It seemed like the control janacks were going to be a permanent part of the monster nests.
“So did the others get their control janack?” she asked after a couple more bites of the bar.
“Yes, they did.” Aistrun nodded. “From what I hear, Laynal not only created the cold-air shield for them but also accounted for one of the brechas.” He looked over at the other group and nodded to the happy girl. “She’s mighty proud of herself.”
“With reason,” Dehali said, pride filling her voice. Dehali took her role as mentor to the young girl seriously.
“Where’s Keandran?”
Aistrun looked around. He swore a streak, damning Keandran to every possible hell and then some. “The cur isn’t around. Neither is Eidstrun.”