Ancient Enemies

by Tora Moon

  Contents

  title page

  Giveaway

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chaper 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Appendix

  To Get More

  Also by

  Thank you

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright

  ANCIENT ENEMIES

  The Malvers War

  Book 1

  Tora Moon

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  Chapter 1

  In the cold predawn light, a force of fifty fighters trotted out of Strunland Keep. They rode to battle a nest of janacks and brechas, the symbiotic pair of monsters, that had plagued their world for over a thousand years—the Malvers monsters.

  Rizelya rode to the side of her half-sister Naila in the lead of the group, consisting of twelve women, eight young boys in their late teens, and thirty warriors. Since becoming the Strunland Keep Alpha, Naila rarely led a fighting-pack anymore. She and her co-Alpha, Kelstrun, were usually too busy with all the demands of leading a Territory Keep. So when Rizelya had entered the stable to saddle her horse, she had been surprised to see Naila doing the same.

  Like all the other women in the group, Rizelya and Naila were dressed all in red: red leather shirt, pants, and boots. A red hooded cape covered their heads and shoulders and would be tossed to the side once they reached the nest. There were certain colors the Malvers monsters couldn’t see and red was one of them. It also was the color of fire magic.

  “Kaieli, I wish you wouldn’t come with us,” Rizelya said, glancing to the side at her heart-sister and best-friend, riding next to her. A few of Kaieli’s dark brown, almost black, curls peeked out from the hood of her red cloak. Like all Posair women, her Talents, her magical powers, were indicated by her hair and eye color. Kaieli was a very strong Brown, a worker of earth magic, and her blue-gray eyes showed her secondary Talents were Blue and Gray. “Let the Browns with less empathic ability take care of us on the field.”

  “You know I can’t do that,” Kaieli replied. “We all have our parts to play in our war with the monsters. Mine is to help the fighters with my healing abilities, and your job, Dear Heart, is to kill monsters.”

  Rizelya’s lips tightened into a hard line. As much as she didn’t like it, Kaieli was right. Many fighters were alive and healthy because of Kaieli being on the field with them.

  Rizelya’s own dark auburn hair and brown eyes proclaimed her a Red with some Brown. It was one of the reasons she and the other women were here. Their fire magic was an effective means of fighting and killing the monsters.

  Over the past seventy-five years the formation of the monsters’ nests had fallen into a predictable pattern that allowed the Posairs to predict the timing within a day or two. The nest they were headed to was due to mature soon. It was imperative that the fighters arrive before the monsters left the nest. If left unchecked, even a small nest would devastate all animal life, including people, in the area within a few days.

  After an octar of riding, the group pulled their horses to a stop in a clearing. A large corral sat in the center, shaded by trees, with water barrels on one end. The fighters dismounted, loosened the girth straps on their horses’ saddles, and led them into the enclosure. Besides Kaieli, two other healers had ridden with the group; all three had agreed to wait with the horses until the battle was over. They pulled blankets and baskets from the back of their saddles. Two of the warriors stayed to guard the horses and the healers.

  Rizelya grabbed her weapon, a helbraught, from its place on her saddle. Each woman carried one. The helbraught was a long staff with a long, slightly curved blade made from helstrim attached to one end. Once forged, it never needed sharpening. The two-foot blade easily penetrated the thick hide of the monsters. Rizelya looked with longing at the other women’s helbraughts. All of them were several inches longer than hers, since the length of the staff was determined by the user’s height. It meant she had to get closer to the monsters. She also had a helstrablade, a long knife also made from helstrim, in a sheath on her belt. If needed she could also feed her magic into it, like she did with the blade of her helbraught. When forging the helstrim into blades, the helstramiesters did something which allowed the blades to accept and focus magic.

  The men had their own weapons: claws, teeth, and venom. Ages past, the men had traded their ability to work most magic for the gift of shapeshifting. They now could only do very minor magic and had two other forms they could shift into, a wolf and a warrior-wolf. The men shifted into their wolf form and slunk into the forest.

  Eiden, the only non-Red female fighter in the group, threw back the hood of her cape and the sunlight glinted on her sunny-yellow hair. She turned to grin at Rizelya, flecks of green flashed in her gold eyes. Rizelya felt responsible for Eiden and would keep her safe. After she was caught following the pack into a battle a few years ago, Eiden had cajoled Rizelya to teach her how to fight. Yellows weren’t thought to be as effective against the monsters with their air magic as Reds were with their fire magic. But as a double Yellow, Eiden’s air Talent was impressive. She was strong and creative; not only could she cool or heat air, she had a gift for solidifying it.

  The group of nine women strode silently down the path, their hooded capes flaring around them as they walked. The shadowy shapes of the wolves flowing in the trees kept pace with them. The forest was quiet. Predators walked the forest this dawn, and they were hunting.

  It didn’t take them long to reach the nest. The forest began to give way to swamp grass and marsh. The monster nests always formed near swamps where malignant magic pooled. Rizelya had heard there were even swamps in the middle of the dry plains.

  The wind shifted slightly, and Rizelya drew in a deep breath and snorted from the stink of malignant, stagnant magic—the smell of brechas and janacks.

  With a slight movement Rizelya brought the helbraught in front of her. She fed a small amount of fire magic into the blade. Glancing at the forms shadowing the women she nodded to herself. Yes, the men have caught the smell too.

  The stench became more pervasive as the group drew near the nest site. Although the timing of the nests was in an established pattern, the size never could be predicted. Sometimes the smell would indicate how many monsters they’d have to fight. This one smelled big. Rizelya suppressed a shudder.

  Naila didn’t pause when the stench of the nest wafted over them. Instead she led the group toward the nest, her pace strong and confident, her helbraught held loosely in her hands. Rizelya admired her much older sister, who carried on the family tradition of becoming a Keep Alpha. Everyone expected Rizelya to become one, too. So far, she had evaded being even a squad-pack alpha.

  Ahead Rizelya could see the demarcation where forest and swamp vied for dominance. She, along with the rest, stopped when the glade of marshy ground came in sight.

  Soon the battle would begin …

  ***

  Rizelya adjusted the grip on her helbraught when a large dusky red wolf, his pelt dulled with age, slipped out of the forest and approached Naila. A shimmer, and an old man stood where the wolf had been a moment before. Rizelya hissed in agitation and worry. Damn old man, he shouldn’t be here. He’s too old. Now I ha
ve one more person to protect.

  “The nest is about fifty feet from the trees, Naila,” the old man, Histrun, said.

  “How many?” Naila pushed back her hood, revealing a thick braid of bright red hair with bold streaks of gold in it. Her light yellow-gold eyes narrowed.

  “Big,” he said with a shudder. “I haven’t ever seen one this big.”

  Trepidation coursed through Rizelya at the news. At over a hundred years old, Histrun had seen many battles with the monsters, and he didn’t join the fighting much anymore. Pride made him come today to watch the first real battle of the young warriors he had trained.

  “At least ten janacks and twice that of brechas.” Histrun turned his head and spat.

  Rizelya wasn’t the only one who cursed. This nest was three times the normal size. She was glad Naila had decided to come with them, they could use her vast experience. She had been a cunning leader in her time as fighting-pack alpha. They might not have enough fighters, even with the extra eight warriors-in-training. If they’d known it would be this large, they would have brought another fighting-pack with them. Usually a team of eight Reds and thirty warriors was enough to handle a group of adult monsters. But if this nest was in the adult stage, ready to leave the nest, they were in trouble.

  Adults were hunger incarnate. They would eat anything that walked on two legs or four, or flew, or crawled. The only thing they didn’t eat was plants and those they killed with the slime they excreted. The thirty monsters could annihilate all life in this valley within the eight days of a chedan if they weren’t killed before they left the nest. Luckily, their lifespan was short, only one to two chedan.

  “Stage?” Naila’s voice was rough, barely above a whisper. Her throat had been mangled by a janack years ago, ruining her voice and making it difficult for her to talk. She lifted a hand to rub absently at the scar covering her throat.

  “Adult. They’ll leave the nest as the day warms up.”

  Naila gestured and the group of women split up into pairs, each with a group of wolves and two of the unproved boys following them, to surround the nest. Each pair took a stance at a cardinal direction point. The wolves spread out to form a large circle around the nest, being careful not to get too close to the swamp. No one entered the swamps alone, there were too many dangerous plants and small monsters hidden in their murky depths.

  Rizelya was teamed with Naila and Eiden in the west. Rizelya not only had to help her team keep the monsters from escaping their assigned area, but she was also responsible for keeping Naila and Eiden safe. Both of them would scoff at her, but it had been a long time since Naila had led a fighting-pack against the monsters. She was a good Keep Alpha and well liked. If Rizelya didn’t keep her safe, she might as well become a rogue wolf. While she was at it, she’d better keep herself safe, or Kaieli would be difficult to live with. Rizelya looked over at the side where Histrun waited with the young boys. She’d keep him safe too.

  A tingle in the air told Rizelya that Eiden was forming a shield of cold air around the nest. It was a new technique she was trying for the first time. It would give them a few more milcrons to get into position before the janacks in the nest detected their body heat.

  Rizelya drew in a breath when she saw the size of the nest. Histrun hadn’t lied; it was huge. The monsters in the nest were starting to stir with the warmth of the day. Spiky shapes intertwined with slick tentacles as the janacks caressed the spikes on the brechas’ backs. Rumbled growls from the brechas were answered by clacks from the janacks.

  Rizelya began to pour her fire magic into her helbraught, readying for the fight to come. The glow around the circle showed the other women were also preparing their blades.

  Naila waited until the groups on the far side of the nest reached position, and then sent in mind-speech the order to change.

  Soft snarls filled the glade as the men began to transform into something more powerful, stronger, and faster than even their wolf form: the warrior form, a perfect blend of wolf and man. The women averted their gaze. The shift from man to wolf, or back, was easy for the men. Just a thought and they traded one form for the other. The shift to the warrior form took more effort and was painful as limbs stretched, muscles bulked, and claws lengthened. Standing, a warrior towered over his brothers by two feet or more and had fifty to a hundred pounds more mass. They became a match for the monsters.

  A growl and yelp of pain nearby caught Rizelya’s attention. Leistrun must be caught in the change. Murmured instructions confirmed her guess as Histrun helped the teenager through his shift. Rizelya felt a moment of pity for the young men. After this fight they will truly be warriors—or dead. Mother grant mercy we all go home. She smiled at the snarl of satisfaction as Leistrun completed his change. It shouldn’t be much longer for the men to finish.

  As if on cue, a howl sounded across the glade, picked up and answered by the other warriors. The nest squirmed as the howls reverberated over and over. The ground vibrated with the challenge. Sensor stalks poked up out of the mass, tentacles unwound from spiky limbs, rumbled growls and clacks grew more intense. The shapes of individual monsters began to separate from the mass, and those on the outer edge moved toward the sound of the howling warriors.

  On an unseen block of air created by Eiden, Naila stood above them all, giving her an advantage in directing the fight. *South!* she shouted in mind-speech.

  The southern part of the circle blazed with heat and light as the women fed more fire magic into their helbraughts. The sensor stalks of the outer janacks whipped toward the heat. The monsters used their heat seeking stalks to detect life forms. Fire erupted in front of the women, drawing more of the monsters’ attention.

  A group of two janacks and five brechas broke away from the nest, trundling toward the heat. Once they moved away from the nest a thin stream of fire erupted on the ground behind them, blocking any retreat back to the nest. Warrior-wolves raced behind the monsters. The fire continued, now a curtain behind the warriors, until the group of monsters and warriors were surrounded. One of the brechas left the nest and headed toward the group. The fire flared and drove it back to the nest. Fire and the venom of the warriors were the only things they knew that could kill the monsters.

  The inner fire separating warriors and monsters dropped. The warriors swarmed the monsters from behind, using their long, sharp claws to slice through the tough hides of the monsters. A tentacle from a janack went flying, putrid green ichor splashing the warriors. Their pelts protected them from the acidic ichor. The ring of fire in front of the women flared, burning any flying ichor before it reached them. The monsters turned from the women and engaged the warriors. The women used their burning helbraughts to fight any monsters attempting to cross the ring of fire.

  Rizelya turned her attention away from the fight as Naila called out, *East!* Helbraughts glowed in the east, and another similar group of monsters broke off from the nest, the janacks’ clicks drove the brechas forward.

  The glade rang with snarls and growls as the warriors attacked the janacks in the group. Once they were destroyed, the brechas would fall into cannibalistic disarray.

  The nest rumbled. Naila, with long past experience, cried, *North!* just as three janacks with their accompanying brechas erupted from the nest and headed to the northern section of the circle. Before they were engaged, two more janacks and six brechas left the nest and swarmed toward Naila and Rizelya in the west.

  “What in blazes?” Naila sounded startled. She had spoken so only Rizelya could hear her. “That’s never happened.”

  Rizelya threw a shield of fire around Naila and Eiden. Histrun was too far away for her to shield. She looked at the nest. It wasn’t empty. “May the Mother be merciful. There’s more than we thought!”

  “Guard me,” Naila told Rizelya as another group of brechas was sent from the nest to attack the southern contingent from behind. “Not typical nest.”

  Rizelya felt Eiden put a shield of air around Naila just behind her fire
. Rizelya nodded in approval. The warriors in her group howled and rushed to meet the monsters coming toward them. Fire now surrounded the entire clearing. Rizelya heard a scream and the fire flared out of control in the north. One of the Reds had been hurt, but she didn’t have time to wonder who it was.

  A tentacle reached toward her. She slashed with her glowing helbraught, feeding it a bit more fire magic. A slight resistance, and then the blade slid through the tough hide to sever the tentacle. Ichor flew toward her. Fire blazed and caught the ichor, burning it to ash. A young warrior—it looked like Leistrun—attacked another tentacle that was reaching for her. Claws dripping with venom, he slashed. Another tentacle was gone. It would take a few moments for the venom to go through the ichor system of the monster and reach the bulbous head-body; until then, the janack was still deadly. Other warriors were attacking the other tentacles, working their way to the head, staying away from the open maw filled with huge, sharp teeth.

  Before Leistrun could move away, a brecha swiped him, catching him in the hip. He howled. Rizelya used her helbraught as a spear and drove the brecha away. Leistrun nodded thanks and turned back to the brecha, ignoring the blood running down his side. The warrior grabbed the brecha by what passed for the brecha’s throat and ripped it out, jumping back from the fountain of green ichor. If he survives his wound, he’ll be a warrior to watch.

  Leistrun paced in front of her, keeping away any monsters. No, not in front of me, but in front of Eiden. Eiden’s helbraught glowed with a pale-yellow light. She was keeping her own against the monsters.

  “Rizelya, with me!” Naila called. She added in mind-speech, *Something’s different about the janack still in the nest. We need to destroy it now!*

  Rizelya took a quick look around the glade. The warriors in her section were taking care of the monsters—but just barely. One of the janacks was down and the other would soon follow. It took a moment for her to realize what was wrong. None of the brechas that had been controlled by the dead janacks were attacking their nest-mates. They were still attacking the warriors and Reds. Several still human bodies littered the area. Monster parts were strewn in utter abandon.