by Tora Moon
Rizelya whimpered when they slid her pants over her calf and squeezed her eyes shut when they began removing her tunic. She couldn’t help the tears when the leather rubbed against her shoulder. Kaelyn’s eyes widened as she examined the wounds and she began to croon a sleeping spell. I must be bad, Rizelya thought as her eyes closed and she drifted off.
Chapter 10
Rizelya woke up with the flickers of the dying fire providing meager light. All three moons had set and there was an octar or so before sunrise. She tried sitting up and moaned. Her right shoulder and calf were on fire while the rest of her was clammy.
“Shh … here, I’ll help you,” Kaelyn’s voice murmured softly. A gentle arm slipped under Rizelya’s back and lifted her while the pillow was propped against the wall. She was carefully laid back down. “Here.” She was handed a cup of cool water. It soothed her dry throat.
“The others,” she croaked and took another sip of water.
“They fared much better than you did,” the healer told her. “Laynar has a few surface scratches, nothing much to worry about. Dehali has a puncture on her forearm where a narhili bit through her leathers and a few scratches. She’ll be fine; there’s no sign of poison.” Kaelyn paused and looked at Rizelya for a long moment, then added, “Unlike you.”
Rizelya wasn’t surprised. She’d figured as much when she woke up sick. “The men?”
“Ach, only scratches; their fur protected them.” The healer smiled. “That warrior of yours didn’t even get a scratch. I hear he accounted for at least three of the narhili beasts himself.”
“Yeah, he’s something.” She moaned as she inadvertently moved her leg.
“I’ll give you something for the pain.” The healer picked up another cup and held it for a few moments. Rizelya saw the deep forest-green healing light pulse from the healer’s hands into the cup until it and its contents glowed. She handed it to Rizelya who sniffed and screwed up her face in disgust. “Oh, it isn’t that bad,” Kaelyn admonished. “Just drink it down.”
Rizelya took a deep breath and then gulped the liquid, trying not to taste it. She coughed at the awful taste. The healer, with a look of disdain, took the empty cup and handed Rizelya the water. When Rizelya was finished drinking the water, the healer helped her to lie back down. In a few moments she drifted back to sleep.
A commotion in the courtyard roused Rizelya. It was late morning and someone was yelling, “Alpha Laynar! Alpha Laynar, come quick!” When she tried to get up to see what was happening, a strong hand pushed her back down.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Kaelyn told her. “If it’s something important enough to disturb you, Laynar will let you know.”
“At least let me sit up!” This time Rizelya was able to sit up on her own. She heard several people run out of the safe house, one she assumed to be Laynar. There was a mumbled exchange and then she heard Laynar call out, “Get to your horses! Be ready to leave in ten milcrons.” Then there was the sound of many people scurrying and running.
Leistral threw open the curtains around Rizelya’s sick bed. “There’s a huge nest ready to leave by the minor keep we stopped at yesterday afternoon. They need our help. It’s triple the size they usually see.”
Rizelya tried to throw back her covers but yelped with the pain the movement caused her shoulder and leg.
“You’ll be staying right here,” the healer told her. “You’re too weak to be fighting monsters.”
“We’re going with Laynar,” Leistral said. “She’s keeping Keandran here. She says it’s to guard the people staying here. But I think she doesn’t trust him. Gotta go.” She patted Rizelya’s uninjured arm and then hurried back out.
It wasn’t long before Rizelya heard the horses thundering out of the courtyard. She was impressed they were gone in less than the ten milcrons Laynar had given them. She banged her head against her pillows in her frustration of being stuck in bed.
Kaelyn brought her a bowl of thin porridge. Rizelya’s stomach grumbled and she realized she hadn’t eaten anything since the midday meal yesterday. After she ate, the healer gave her another cup of medicine. She knew it was laced with sleep herbs when she felt her head bob to her chest. It would be a while before the fighters returned. She gave up trying to stay awake and lay back, letting her eyes close.
Rizelya once again saw the pale, emaciated woman hooked up to the strange device. Rizelya tried to wake up; she knew by now what these dreams meant. But the sleeping potion and the call of the woman was too strong. All she could do was watch. The woman and device had become well-known from so many dreams that Rizelya now understood the language the woman spoke. It seemed to be an archaic form of the Posair language.
“Yes, my sweets, run, kill!” the woman cried as she intently watched a mirror. It didn’t reflect her image but showed a different scene. This was new. Rizelya hadn’t seen this in any of her other visions. In the mirror she saw the familiar landscape of Lairheim; she recognized the area near the minor keep she had just visited. A janack and brecha broke out of the nest before any of the other monsters were mature. Rizelya noted the direction they took. They disappeared over the rise just before Laynar and her fighters came into view.
“No!” screamed the woman, “Not yet, my lovelies aren’t ready.” There was furious writhing in the nest as the fighters scurried to surround it. A heave within the nest and a janack with five brechas burst out, racing for an opening. Warriors blocked them while Reds surrounded them with fire. The woman screamed curses at the Posairs. Another heave disgorged the remaining monsters from the nest, leaving the control janack.
The woman cackled with glee as a janack whipped a Red off her feet. A brecha leaped on her and raked its claws along her stomach, disemboweling her. As it bent its head to feed, Rizelya was distracted from the scene by the woman.
“Yes, yes, my pet, feed!” The woman’s eyes were closed in ecstasy. Thick pus-colored smoke filled the tubes and raced down the funnel, where beads of pus formed quickly and dropped into the bowl. Rizelya dragged her attention away from the woman to look back at the mirror.
She was in time to see the feeding brecha’s head fly off and a helbraught thrust into its back. It slumped. The woman cried out in loss. Rizelya jerked back to see the smoke begin to thin.
“No, you cursed mehelis!” the woman swore. Rizelya looked back at the mirror. Aistrun and Laynar’s partner were fighting the control janack. Rizelya assumed someone, maybe Laynar, was on the control janack and making their way to its head. A bright light filled the mirror as the control janack exploded. The perspective shifted and seemed to be looking up rather than down. Suddenly the mirror was filled with static and the woman was holding her head, screaming in pain.
Rizelya clapped her hands over her ears.
“What’s wrong? What is it?” Kaelyn rushed to Rizelya’s bed.
It was then Rizelya realized she was screaming. She shook her head to release the last of the dream’s hold on her.
“Get me Keandran, now,” she commanded the healer. Rizelya struggled into a sitting position. When she tried to lift her hands she found her right arm was in a sling. Grimacing with pain, she covered her face with her hands and rubbed the sleep, and the dream, from her eyes. She heard footsteps and opened her eyes to see Keandran approaching her bed with the healer behind him.
“You must go find Laynar and tell her a janack and brecha escaped,” she told Keandran. “They were heading east when I saw them.”
“How do you know?” he sneered at her.
“I don’t know how. Just go!” She pushed some alpha magic into the command. Keandran jerked back as if he had been struck. Maybe it was more than a bit of magic.
“Yes, Alpha,” Keandran said stiffly, then turned around and ran out of the safe house.
It wasn’t long before she heard his horse clatter out of the courtyard.
“How did you know?” Kaelyn asked quietly.
“I had a dream,” Rizelya whispered, a little embarrassed now the pani
c from the dream was wearing off. “Maybe it was a vision but we can’t risk it was only a dream.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw the nest. I saw the monsters leave it before Laynar reached it. I saw the battle. A Red was killed by a brecha.” Rizelya didn’t want to frighten the healer with tales of strange people feeding off of death. She hoped it was only a nightmare and no one had been killed during the battle. They would find out soon enough when Laynar and the rest returned. The healer swept back the curtains so Rizelya could see the rest of the large room of the safe house.
Rizelya envied the healer’s ability to pace while they waited for the return of the fighters. Midday came and went with no one remaining at the safe house able to eat. Finally, the sounds of the gate opening and horse’s hooves clomping on the courtyard cobblestones could be heard. A call for the healer made her rush out to tend the injured. The others who had stayed to guard them went out with her. Rizelya, alone and unable to go help, fidgeted, cursing the pain in her leg that made it impossible to get out of bed. The suspense of not knowing what had happened was worse now an answer was near. At last Laynar entered the safe house.
From her downcast gaze and solemn expression, Rizelya guessed her vision had been true. “So did a fighter die?” Rizelya asked, unable to stand the suspense.
Laynar looked up, grief on her face. “Yes. How did you know?”
“I had a dream about the battle.” She ducked her head, still embarrassed about it.
Laynar came to Rizelya’s bedside and sat suddenly, as if her legs wouldn’t hold her up any longer. “It was a bad fight. It’s as if the monsters are learning how to fight us as quickly as we learn how to kill them. We have several fighters injured. The Red who died was from the minor keep.” Laynar leaned over, her head in her hands, elbows resting on her knees. “It’s a good thing we went to help them. The woman Dehali taught yesterday, the older Yellow, panicked when the control janack rose out of the nest.”
Rizelya hadn’t seen it in her vision.
“I don’t blame her. The damned things are huge,” Laynar continued. “A teacher fighting monsters!” She shook her head. “You know that is what the woman was before we came along yesterday?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Now she is a fighter.” Laynar’s voice was heavy with sadness for the woman. “Dehali was able to calm her down and the woman cast a tight, damned-cold air shield. When her daughter was injured, her fear turned into rage.” Laynar paused. “Maybe that is what we need, more mothers fighting for their children.”
“No, we don’t,” Rizelya disagreed. “Are any of my pack injured?”
Laynar shook her head. “They fought like the warriors they are. None are even scratched, let alone injured. They are good fighters.”
“We’ve had to be. We’ve fought more Malvers monsters in the past half lunadar than we usually fight in a season. Did Keandran reach you with my message?”
“Yes.” Laynar gave a curt nod. “After he arrived, we searched and found tracks leading away from the nest in the direction you indicated. Aistrun took your pack and a couple of my fighters to chase them down. Laynal went with them.” She looked hard at Rizelya. “So have you had many dreams like this one?”
“No, none like this one,” Rizelya lied with the truth. This was the first time she had dreamed about a battle. “I don’t know if it’s linked with being able to hear the hum of the control janack. I didn’t hear it this time, I was too far away.” She didn’t want Laynar to look at her with less respect. Besides, the White Priestess hadn’t detected any taint. She didn’t know why she was having these dreams, these visions. If she could stop them she would.
She hid her sigh of relief when the injured fighters were brought into the safe house. Her corner was already the infirmary, so they were carried there, making further discussion with Laynar impossible.
Laynar looked at her for a long time, trying to determine if she was lying. More fighters were coming in and her second called to her. Laynar stood up and asked, “You’ll tell me if there is a problem, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” Laynar strode across the room to meet with her second.
The room was loud and noisy as the fighters came in talking about the fight. It always took some time for them to calm down after a battle. Rizelya was tired, hurting, and worried about her pack, but she couldn’t sleep with the loud talking. Eventually the room quieted to the normal levels of conversation and the soft murmurs lulled Rizelya to sleep.
She woke up to Kaelyn lightly shaking her awake. “Time for dinner. You should eat.”
There was a commotion at the door. Rizelya sat up to see what was happening, and realized she had done so without assistance. Aistrun strode through it with the rest of her pack behind him. They were covered in gore but otherwise healthy.
“Thank you, Mother!” Rizelya prayed. She sent another silent prayer of gratitude—her sleep had been dreamless.
“I take it you were successful,” Laynar called to Aistrun. She strode across the room to where the tired fighters stood just inside the door, searching their faces intently. She relaxed when she saw her sister Laynal.
“Yes, ma’am we were.” Aistrun saluted her and grinned. “A fine merry chase, but we finally cornered them.”
“They killed a few animals, but no people,” Dehali added.
A collective sigh of relief filled the room at her news. One death today was enough.
“Hey, that smells wonderful!” Aistrun said. “I’m starving.”
“You can smell dinner over this stink?” Eidstrun asked incredulously. “I can’t. I’m off to wash monster goo off of me.”
“You go, I’m eating.” Aistrun waved to the door and took a step further into the room.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Laynar blocked his way and pointed to the door. “You’re not eating with us until you’ve washed.”
“But I’m hungry,” Aistrun whined.
“Wash, then eat,” Laynar commanded.
When he hesitated, Rizelya called out, “Oh, for the love of the Mother, Aistrun, go get cleaned up. You’re stinking up the place so no one else wants to eat.”
Aistrun’s shoulders drooped as he turned around, mumbling, “But I’m hungry.” He and the rest of the filthy fighters left to get cleaned up.
Rizelya tentatively moved her arm and leg. They were stiff and still hurt but thankfully, the fire was gone.
Kaelyn put a hand on her forehead. “You’re not fevered any longer.” She unwrapped the bandage on Rizelya’s shoulder and arm. “Hmm, the swelling has gone down and the wounds show no more sign of poison.”
She changed the bandages on both of Rizelya’s arm and leg, then stood up, patting Rizelya’s uninjured shoulder. “You’ll live. I’d prefer you to stay in bed another day, but I know you alpha types. You’ll be up and moving without my say-so. I’ll tell Laynar we can travel tomorrow.”
Rizelya threw back her covers to get up.
“But, I did not say you could get out of bed tonight.” Kaelyn pulled the covers back over her. “You stay put. I’ll bring you dinner in a moment.”
Rizelya nodded contritely at the healer’s orders. As she watched the healer cross the room to Laynar, she chafed at the added delay. They would be traveling slowly tomorrow. She wasn’t the only wounded in the group.
She turned her head to look at the man next to her who moaned in his sleep. A large gash started at his left eyebrow and ended on his right collarbone and his left eye was covered with a bandage. Rizelya had heard the healer worry he might lose the eye. Kaelyn had to stitch the gash closed because it was too deep to heal solely with magic. The skin around the wound was gray from the janack’s toxins. The warrior hadn’t had the wound cauterized to neutralize the poison. She didn’t blame him. A cauterized face wound would scar badly and hurt like the Crone’s fires. The fur of the men’s warrior-form usually protected them from the acidic, toxic ichor of the monsters. But with a face wound li
ke he had received, his fur hadn’t helped him much.
They could leave the wounded behind at the small keep but Rizelya knew Laynar wouldn’t abandon her people. Besides, she’d overheard Kaelyn and Laynar talking and knew the keep didn’t have a healer talented enough to treat the wounds.
She heard footsteps approaching her cot. She looked up as her dinner arrived, delivered by Aistrun, now clean.
“Hey, you look much better,” he commented as he handed her a bowl. He sat down next to her.
“And you smell much better.” She looked at the thin, broth in her bowl and then at the mashed tubers and roasted rabbit on his plate. “Yours looks much better than mine. Wanna trade?” A hunting party must have gone out while she napped.
Aistrun laughed. “I don’t want to get you in trouble with Kaelyn.” At her pout, he relented. “Here, one bite.”
He told her about the fight and the chase. Then he went on to regal her with a funny tale. Soon, first Dehali, then Leistral followed by Eidstrun found their way to the side of her bed. Rizelya looked up over their heads to see Keandran, alone in the sea of people. She caught his eye and indicated with her head for him to come join them. He turned his back to her.
She realized he was a lone wolf who just hadn’t made the break with the pack. Lone wolves didn’t survive long, nor were they trusted. She and the rest of her pack continued to hold out the hand of friendship to Keandran and he continued spurning them. Soon they wouldn’t try and he would become what he was: alone.
***
The healer woke Rizelya up with a light touch and a steaming mug of taevo. A bowl of porridge sat on the small table next to the bed. Other than the wounded, the room was empty.
“Everyone is out getting the horses ready,” Kaelyn told her. “Eat.” She stood with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face. “I don’t want you to do any lifting, including using your helbraught, for at least another two days. Nor are you to put any weight on your leg, or you just might lose it. We can’t chance the poison isn’t gone.”
