Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  ***

  “Release me!” Frederick growled at her from behind the iron bars.

  “No, you deserve a lifetime of pain for killing my friends.”

  Frederick smiled, “I’ll kill more of them when I reform.”

  “You won’t get the chance. I’ll just ash you again,” Emily told him.

  Suddenly, Frederick broke free of the bars and flew at her.

  Emily jerked and sat up suddenly in bed when she felt a hand on her arm.

  “It’s just me,” Mark whispered, and sat down on the bed beside her. “It was a nightmare, go back to sleep.”

  She nodded, not fully awake, and laid back down, “Stay.”

  “I will,” Mark told her, and watched as she fell back to sleep. The Cavalry took turns sitting with her while she slept until the Elder came. Chevalier spent days in the palace and the last four weeks in Emily’s house at night.

  “That’s four,” Silas whispered from the door.

  Mark nodded and whispered, “They are getting worse.”

  Silas went to meet Chevalier when he came in that night.

  “Any nightmares?” Chevalier asked, kicking off his snowy boots.

  “Yes, 4 tonight,” Silas told him.

  “Frederick?”

  “Two of them she screamed his name, but the other two she didn’t talk.”

  Chevalier sighed and headed up the stairs. Mark left her room when the Elder came in, and then shut the door behind them. Chevalier looked carefully around the room. He hated the house and the fact that Exavior was here and had plans for Emily. She had redecorated a good part of it already, and it was slowly starting to fade from a Valle home to an Equites one, now that the front foyer was painted in deep greens and had an Equites banner above the door.

  He crawled into bed and wrapped his arms around her. As suggested by the Council, he’d begun delving deeper into her dreams and studied them, trying to find the source of the nightly terror.

  Emily wandered slowly through Chevalier’s Colorado mansion. She was nonchalantly looking at the art and opening random doors. Some doors opened up to offices belonging to the Cavalry, while others were small interrogation rooms.

  She opened up one door and saw Kyle inside the room. He had Frederick on the rack and Frederick was screaming in pain.

  “Oh, sorry,” Emily said, and started to shut the door.

  Kyle looked up, “Come on in, it’s ok.”

  She looked behind her and then back to Kyle, “Chev wouldn’t want me in there.”

  Kyle grinned, “You can help. Come here, I’ll show you.”

  “You’ll show me?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  Emily walked in and looked down as Frederick screamed in pain, “Why are you doing this?”

  “It’s fun, you’ll like it,” Kyle told her.

  “You’re not interrogating him?”

  “No,” Kyle said, and moved to the side a bit. “Take this lever here and pull it toward you.”

  She reached out and took the lever, but didn’t move it, “What will it do?”

  “It’ll tear him apart. It’s great!”

  She looked down into Fredericks eyes, “He’s already in pain… just kill him.”

  “Why? He deserves pain for what he did to Jaron.”

  “Yes, I guess he does.”

  “Do it, pull the lever,” Kyle urged.

  “I can’t,” she whispered, and took her hand off of the lever.

  Frederick grinned up at her, “You’re mine.”

  Emily gasped when he lunged from the restraints, and she sat up in bed.

  “Another dream,” Chevalier whispered.

  Emily looked over at him and nodded. She glanced around the room and watched the fire.

  Chevalier sat up beside her, “Not going back to bed?”

  “No,” she said, and got out of bed and threw on a robe. “I’m just going to go get some coffee.”

  “Sit and talk first,” he said, and patted the bed beside him. She crawled back into the bed and sat cross-legged beside him.

  “About what?”

  “Are you going to stay in this house permanently?”

  “No, as soon as I get it fixed up, I’ll stay in the palace.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that,” he said, surprised.

  “It’s easier to fix if I stay here.”

  “Mark said you’ve been asking a lot of questions lately about heku banishment.”

  She shrugged, “Some, I guess, though he won’t answer them.”

  Chevalier smiled, “I think he’s making sure he doesn’t say too much.”

  “So will you answer my questions?”

  “Try me.”

  “Are the heku aware when they are ash?”

  “Not at first, no.”

  “How long do they have to be ash before the pain and suffering starts?”

  “Usually about a year. Why?” he asked her, and brushed her hair away from her face.

  Emily shrugged slightly, “I was just curious. Then… how long before they reform and come back to life?”

  “That takes around 10 years before they are formed enough to be sentient.”

  “Is it different if they are banished in the ground as opposed to those that aren’t?”

  Chevalier sighed, “Tell me what’s going on, please.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why the questions and the nightmares? Why is Frederick all of a sudden haunting you?”

  She looked up at him.

  “You’re using your poker face, Em,” he said, and sighed. “Just tell me.”

  “Curiosity is all the questions are.”

  “And the nightmares?”

  “I don’t know about those,” she said, and looked away from him.

  “It would really help if you’d tell me.”

  A loud crash sounded from down the stairs and Chevalier blurred out the door. Emily ran for the stairs and stopped at the top of them, watching wide-eyed as Chevalier joined in a massive blur of fighting. She sat down on the top step, ready to ash anyone who wasn’t an Equites that might head her direction.

  The fight was short. It only lasted a few minutes, and then she was able to see what was going on. When the fighting stopped, Mark, Kralen, and two other members of the Cavalry had four Encala knelt down before Chevalier, who was panting and crouched as if to attack.

  Silas stood beside them, visibly angry, and Emily thought he looked like he might tear the Encala to shreds if given the approval.

  “Care to explain?” Chevalier growled, and stood up, though his hands were still balled into tight fists.

  “We don’t have to tell you anything,” one of the Encala growled. The four enemy heku were suddenly gripped in the fierce burning pain Emily sent at them. The Equites watched and waited to see if they would fall to ash or if the pain was enough to make them talk.

  When Emily released them, they got to their knees, panting and groaning with the lingering burn.

  “Try that again. Why did you attack this house?” Mark asked, backhanding the one closest to him.

  “You can kill us. We’re not telling you anything,” another one yelled.

  “Are there cells in this house?” Chevalier asked, looking up at Emily.

  She nodded, and then headed down the stairs. The Cavalry restrained the Encala, and they all followed her down a staircase and into a small prison. When the last Encala was in a cell, Silas flipped the switch that electrified the bars.

  “Are they staying in here?” she asked, looking over at Chevalier.

  “No, we’ll get prison guards to transport them to the palace.”

  “Daddy got you!” Dain said, and then grinned from behind them. Emily turned and picked him up, and then started out of the prison. When they got to the main floor, Chevalier stopped her.

  “I have to go back,” he told her.

  “I figured. Will you come again tonight?”

  “Of course,” he said, and kissed her light
ly. He then turned to Mark, “I’ll send help. I don’t want them in this house.”

  Mark nodded and watched the Elder leave.

  “So what’s on the agenda for today?” Kralen asked Emily, and leaned up against the wall.

  She put Dain down on the floor, “First up… I’m going to make popcorn.”

  Mark’s nose wrinkled, “Ugh, time to patrol outside.”

  “Definitely,” Silas said, and followed Mark, Kralen, and the three other members of the Cavalry outside. The last one picked Dain up and shut the door after him.

  Emily smiled. She knew that popcorn was one sure way to get heku out of the building. She ran some quickly through the microwave to make sure they stayed out, and then grabbed the sledgehammer from the closet and headed down to the ceremonial room.

  She stopped and looked through the door. Trying to calm her nerves, she took a step inside and then opened her eyes. The room was dark, but she could still make out the runes etched into the walls, and could hear her heart pounding. She had to fight to breathe as the room closed in around her.

  Knowing it had to be done, she grabbed the sledgehammer and turned to the nearest rune, then took aim and swung as hard as she could.

  ***

  “That’ll make the Encala talk,” one of the Cavalry said as he patrolled by one of the kitchen windows and the smell of popcorn wafted past him.

  “We should add a microwave to the interrogation room,” Silas joked.

  “Make it stop,” Dain said, and covered his nose. Kralen was holding him and laughed.

  “Who has popcorn for breakfast anyway?” Silas asked.

  “Emily does, I guess,” Kralen said.

  “She doesn’t have a penis,” Dain told him.

  Kralen nodded, “Hope not.”

  “Why?”

  Kralen looked over at Mark and then turned back to the toddler, “Because she’s a girl.”

  Dain frowned slightly, and they could tell he was thinking about that.

  “Enough… Em hates when we talk to him about that,” Mark said, stifling a grin.

  Silas glanced around and then lowered his voice, “I’ve been thinking about Emily’s nightmares.”

  “What about them?” Mark asked.

  “About how they’re usually about Frederick… How can she be that upset with a missing Encala?”

  “Well, they spent time in a Ferus prison together, that could be part of it. Maybe they grew close.”

  “I just don’t think so… what if…” Silas glanced around again. “What if she isn’t planning on seeking revenge for the death of the Cavalry?”

  “Of course she is.”

  “No… what if she’s not planning it, because she’s already in the middle of the revenge?”

  “How so?”

  “So… what if she has Frederick?”

  Mark frowned, “Like… in ash form?”

  “Right, that’d be why we can’t find any sign of him.”

  “When would she have done it?”

  “While we were fighting, out on the battlefield,” Kralen said. “I’ve been wondering also if she has him somewhere.”

  “Why would she keep him though?” Mark asked. He found the idea intriguing.

  “Revenge for Jaron and the others,” Silas said. “We’re so worried she’s going to seek revenge, but what if she’s already doing it?”

  “She hates turning heku to ash though,” Mark reminded him. “I can’t imagine her doing it and then keeping it from the entire Council.”

  Kralen raised an eyebrow.

  Mark sighed, “Damnit, she would keep it from the Council.”

  “It’s just a thought,” Silas whispered. “However, we don’t have the authority to ask her about it.”

  Kralen grinned and looked over at Dain, “How are you, Boy?”

  “Can I get down?” Dain asked.

  “Not right now… I want to ask you a question. Can you be a big boy and answer it for me?”

  Dain nodded and grinned.

  “Do you know what ash is?”

  Dain nodded.

  “What is it?” Kralen asked him, keeping his voice light.

  “It’s your bum,” Dain announced proudly.

  Silas choked and started coughing and Mark had to turn around to keep from Dain seeing him laugh.

  Kralen chuckled, “Not ass, ash.”

  Dain shrugged, “No.”

  “It’s like dirt… black dirt.”

  “Ok,” Dain said, watching Mark with interest.

  “Have you seen Mommy with any ash?”

  “No”

  “Maybe in a little bag, or maybe she buried it in the house?”

  “Nope… can I get down?”

  Kralen set him down, still chuckling, “No luck there.”

  Mark finally regained his composure, “If there’s heku ash in that house, we would know it.”

  “So maybe it’s not in the house, maybe it’s out here.”

  “Gah, Dain!” Silas yelled, and ran after the naked boy.

  Kralen picked up Dain’s clothes and then frowned slightly, “If she has Frederick as ash… that could cause one huge problem for the Council.”

  “What would you do if you found him?” Mark asked.

  Kralen thought for a moment, “I think I’d probably bury him out in the middle of nowhere and hope he didn’t remember who burned him.”

  “She asked the Elder about a heku that’s been turned to ash.”

  “Did he answer her?”

  Mark nodded, “Yes… damn, this is all starting to make sense.”

  Kralen glanced over when Silas came up, holding Dain’s hand. He tossed the clothes over to Dain and Silas helped the toddler get dressed.

  “It makes too much sense,” Kralen said. “We have two options. We either break protocol and ask her, or we tell the Council what we suspect.”

  “She can’t know we’re going to the Council,” Mark told him.

  Silas nodded, “You two go. I’ll stay here with the other three… We can watch the perimeter of the house.”

  “Let’s go,” Mark said, and he and Kralen blurred away.

  ***

  Derrick stepped into the council chambers three hours after Mark and Kralen arrived, and requested an audience. The Council had just finished a trial.

  “Sir, General Mark is requesting to speak to the Council,” Derrick told them.

  “Is Emily with him?” Chevalier asked.

  “No, Sir, and they’ve been here for a while.”

  “Let them in.”

  Mark and Kralen walked in and stood before the Council, bowing slightly.

  “Is there a problem?” Chevalier asked.

  “We have some suspicions we want to inform the Council of,” Mark told them.

  Zohn nodded, “Ok, what suspicions.”

  Mark glanced at Kralen.

  Kralen took a deep breath, “Silas and I have been talking, and we’re starting to see a lot of signs indicating that Lady Emily… well… that she may have Frederick.”

  Chevalier frowned, “What makes you think that she has him?”

  “There are a few things,” Mark said. “Her nightmares, most of them are about Fredrick… She’s been asking a lot lately about how and when a heku can recover from being turned to ash.”

  “We’ve all been so concerned… watching and waiting for her to seek revenge for Jaron,” Kralen told them. “She hasn’t done it, and we wonder if that’s because she’s already in the middle of getting revenge.”

  Chevalier fell deep into thought and after almost twenty minutes, he sighed, “They’re right. She’s hiding something and I wrongly suspected it was something she’d found in that house.”

  “Hiding something?” Quinn asked.

  He nodded, “Yes, her poker face. She used it while we were talking this morning.”

  “If she has him, it could start a war that we aren’t ready to face,” Dustin growled.

  “We don’t know anything yet,” Quinn
said, and turned to the Chief Interrogator. “If she’s using what the Elder calls her poker face, can you tell if she’s lying?”

  “Sometimes, she has a problem keeping it for long.”

  “With all due respect, Sir,” Kralen said. “If she sees the Chief Interrogator coming, she’ll clam up and we won’t get any information.”

  Chevalier nodded, “He’s right.”

  “However,” Mark said, and smiled slightly, “I think she tends to forget that Elder Zohn used to be the Chief Interrogator.”

  “She might get suspicious though. I’ve never been to that house,” Zohn told him.

  “We can think of something,” Chevalier said. “The hard part is how to casually bring it up without her turning defensive.”

  “It’s an emergency that calls for drastic measures,” Dustin said. “I suggest you control her and ask.”

  “That seems a little harsh,” Quinn said to him. “We’ll simply ask her and see if Zohn can pick anything up.”

  “And if she does have him?” the Chief of Staff asked.

  “Then we’ll handle that when we come to it,” Chevalier said, and stood up. “Shall we?”

  Zohn nodded and they all walked out of the council chambers. Ten minutes later, the Humvee pulled up in front of Emily’s house and they were met by Silas and the other Cavalry guards.

  “Why are you outside?” Zohn asked, frowning.

  Silas glanced at the window, “She’s making popcorn.”

  “This early? That’s odd,” Chevalier said, and walked into the house. He covered his nose with his arm and looked around before calling out for her, “Em?”

  Dain ran in and stopped at the door leading down to the ceremonial room, feeding room, and the interrogation chamber, “Mommy!”

  Chevalier looked over at him, “Is Mommy down there?”

  The tiny heku turned back to the door and inhaled, and then nodded and called down to her, “Mommy!”

  “Why in the world would she be down there?” Chevalier asked, and he led the way as they all went down into the dungeon. “Em?”

  He first opened the Interrogation chamber door and found it empty. She’d already tried to throw away all of the devices, and wasn’t aware that Mark simply moved them to the palace.

  Kralen opened the feeding room and looked inside, “That leaves just… that one.”