Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  ***

  “Maybe the Elders will arrange a ransom for us,” Miri said toward nightfall on the eighth day.

  Emily shrugged, “I’m not sure the Encala Elders know. I can’t imagine them letting this happen.”

  “Why not? They’ve done it before.”

  “They want me on their side. This would pretty much nullify that.”

  “True”

  “I have an idea though,” Emily said, and sat down close to Miri, lowering her voice to a whisper. “If we can combine movements, and I ash the second you break your restraints.”

  Miri nodded, “Then hope that the circuit is broken when the button heku is turned to ash… a split second.”

  “It’d have to be perfect, and when the door is open, or we’d just be stuck in here.”

  “We can try. If I turn to ash, just revive me.”

  “Course, I could just turn you to ash now and get it over with.”

  Miri smiled slightly, “I’d rather try to avoid that if at all possible. Do you realize how badly that hurts?”

  “No, actually, I don’t.”

  “We haven’t seen anyone… since…”

  “Since my last backhand? I know, with them not bringing in food, then there’s no other reason to come in here except to knock me around,” Emily said, and looked over at the door.

  “It is quite irritating how they like to do that.”

  She shrugged, “Same ol, same ol… do you want to try it?”

  “I don’t know, Allen said you get kind of… forgetful… when you turn too many to ash.”

  “How big do you suppose this coven is?”

  “I didn’t get a good view. I had a blindfold on and all I remember is coming in an elevator.”

  Emily gasped, “There’s an elevator?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Damnit, I killed their mortal in the middle of the turning ceremony… years and years ago, before Alexis. I remember looking through the Ancient’s eyes and seeing an elevator,” she said, and put her head in her hands.

  “That’s how you know him?”

  “Yes, then he confronted me at an Encala ball… I lost most of my memory of that after a skull fracture, but parts have come back and now I remember him. He was so mad.”

  “He’d have to be to starve you to death. That’s a long, painful death.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  Miri grinned slightly, “Sorry.”

  “It’s ok. Let’s just see if we can get out.”

  Miri nodded, and Emily stood up and took a deep breath, “Hey, Little Brain! Why don’t you stop the circle jerk and come let us out. You hit like my 2-year-old and I’m tired of your games.”

  The door flew open and Emily wasn’t even able to see the heku before he punched her, and she flew back against the wall.

  “Shut up,” he growled as she got to her knees.

  “Now!” Emily screamed, and leaned her head on the cement as blood began to trickle from her nose.

  “Emily?” Miri said, still restrained to the wall.

  “Give me… a second…” Emily groaned, and pressed shaky hands against the side of her head. She waited until her head quit spinning and looked up at Miri. “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I think they lied about the heku with the button.”

  “Ok,” she whispered, and then slowly got to her feet. She used the wall to support her as she walked out into the hallway. It took almost an hour to find the electrical circuit to the restraints, and Miri appeared at her side moments after she turned it off.

  Miri looked Emily over and shook her head, “Are you ok?”

  “I’ll be ok,” Emily told her, and sat down on a chair in the guard room.

  “I’ll be right back. I want to see if anyone’s left,” Miri told her, and blurred out of the room. She returned and knelt down by Emily, handing her a glass of water. “I found one alive. I think he just got here though.”

  “Water! Thanks, where is he?” Emily asked, and took a long drink.

  “He’s restrained in one of the cells.”

  “Ok, let’s get out of here then,” she said, and slowly got to her feet.

  “There’s one thing… I don’t see any outside doors or even windows, and the smell down here is different, like there’s no fresh air,” Miri explained.

  Emily frowned, “Are we in a cave?”

  “That or underground somewhere.”

  Miri blurred away again and returned a short time later with ice wrapped in a towel. She gently put it against Emily’s black eye and swollen cheek.

  “I’m so tired of being knocked around,” Emily told her, and took the ice.

  “I would imagine.”

  Emily got to her feet and began going room to room, checking every hallway and every door. The two finally came to an elevator and once inside, she sighed, “We need a code to go up.”

  Miri looked over the panel, “We could wait in here until someone else comes back. Wait… I’ll be right back.”

  Emily waited in the elevator for Miri to come back. When she did, Emily saw blood on her shirt and one sleeve was torn off.

  “What happened?!”

  Miri grinned, “I tried to get the code from the heku.”

  “Did he give it to you?”

  “No, I’d need more time I think. He’s pretty tight lipped. I found an interrogation chamber, though, that I wouldn’t mind having a go at.”

  Emily’s eyes grew wide, “You would do that?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  She shrugged, “I don’t know… you’re just… sweet.”

  “I’m still heku and prone to violence. I’d love nothing more than to get him in that chamber.”

  “That could take days, let’s find a phone.”

  They both left the elevator after Miri promised she could find her way back. After searching for two hours, they found a conference room with a phone. They both sat down and Emily dialed the Encala Council.

  “Where have you been!?” Frederick yelled. “We’ve ordered you to report to the Council for four days with no answer.”

  “I’ve ashed your entire coven. Now come get us the hell out of here!” Emily screamed back.

  There was silence on the phone until William finally spoke, “Emily?”

  “Yes, who else can ash your coven? Now tell me the damned code to the elevator so I can get out of here.”

  “The entire coven is gone?”

  “No, I just ashed the little ones,” she sighed, and rolled her eyes. Miri grinned and watched her. It was foreign to the heku to casually speak to the enemy.

  “What did they do!?” Encala Elder Aaron asked.

  “They kidnapped me and my daughter-in-law and put us in a cell… she was almost electrocuted and I’m being slowly starved to death as punishment… now tell me that code and I may let the Encala Council live!”

  “We don’t know the code,” William told her. “That coven was supposed to be wiped out by our Chief Enforcer for heinous crimes, but we can’t get down the damned elevator.”

  “Great,” Emily sighed and hung up. She turned the speakerphone back on and dialed.

  “Equites Council, who the hell is this?” Kyle growled.

  Emily smiled, “Be nice.”

  “Emily!”

  “Yes, Miri and I are stuck in an Encala Coven and can’t get out.”

  “Ash them and get the hell out of there,” Kyle told her.

  “Oh, good idea, Kyle. Miri and I didn’t think of that!”

  “Sorry… we’ve just been looking for you.”

  “Where’s Chev?”

  “Out looking, the entire Council is out looking, I’m all that’s here.”

  She sighed, “We’re in an underground Encala Coven. I’ve ashed all of them but one, and no one seems to know the code to the elevator for us to leave.”

  “You left one?”

  “Sort of, he came down after.”

  “Get the code from him.”

  “Freak, Kyl
e, how dumb do you think we are?” she yelled, and hung up the phone.

  “He’s just trying to help,” Miri said.

  “I know, but treating us like morons isn’t going to help.”

  Emily thought for a moment and then dialed another number on the speakerphone.

  “Emily! Kyle just told me,” Chevalier said.

  “Damn, that was fast.”

  “Are you ok?”

  “We’re fine, just… well… stuck.”

  “Quinn’s talking to the Encala Council. We’re heading to the coven now.”

  “That Sonofabitch told me he didn’t know the elevator code!” Emily said angrily.

  “He doesn’t, but we’ll be there for when we do find it,” Chevalier explained.

  “Oh, ok, well… Miri wants to have a go in the interrogation chamber with a heku, and I’m going to see if I can find some food.”

  Chevalier sighed, “How long has it been?”

  “I don’t know how long I’ve been down here.”

  “Go, call us when you get something to eat.”

  “Ok,” Emily said, and hung up. She grinned and looked over at Miri.

  “What?” Miri asked, unsure she really wanted to know.

  “I have the sudden urge to be mean.”

  “To who?”

  “The Encala.”

  “How?”

  Emily thought for a moment and dialed again while Miri watched.

  “Valle Council,” a strange voice said.

  “Is Sotomar there?”

  “Emily?” Sotomar asked, shocked.

  “The Valle are the smartest of the factions, right?” Emily asked, grinning.

  “Yes, why?”

  “I was kidnapped by the Encala…”

  “What!?” a member of their Council screamed.

  “I ashed them… but… we’re under ground and no one knows the code to the elevator. Do you have a techy that can come look?”

  Sotomar’s voice held some amusement, “Do the Equites know you called us for help?”

  “No, I don’t need their permission.”

  “We’ll get with them and send someone down. We’ll get that code,” Sotomar promised.

  “Thanks,” Emily said, and hung up.

  “I can’t believe you enlisted the Valle! The Elders are going to be mad,” Miri told her, frowning.

  “No they won’t. They’ll know I’m just messing with the Encala.”

  Miri stood up, “I really do want a go at that heku.”

  “Can you find me down here if I go look for food?”

  “Of course, your scent… well… it’s easy to track.”

  “Right, go play with your heku,” Emily said, and watched as Miri blurred away, then began a systematic search of the coven, going through each room in search of food. Whenever she came to a pile of ash, she took a pinch and placed it into a plastic sack she found in one of the rooms.

  Emily jumped when the eerie quiet of the underground coven was broken by Miri’s voice, “Find anything?”

  “Don’t do that!” Emily yelled, and put her hand over her pounding heart.

  Miri grinned, “Sorry.”

  “Nothing,” she told the heku, and moved on to the next room.

  “I have to tell you, I don’t smell any food around.”

  “Great… how is your toy?”

  “Dead, he doesn’t know the code, someone up above punched it in for him.”

  Emily turned to her, “There’s a heku up there that knows the code?”

  “Apparently”

  “We should go tell Chev,” Emily said, and started down the hallway.

  “The phone’s back this way,” Miri said, and moved to the side so Emily could pass. The heku showed her to the conference room and she dialed on speakerphone.

  “How are you holding up?” Chevalier asked.

  “We’re having a ball, you should join us.”

  “We’re above you, trying to figure out the damned code. Did you call the Valle?” He sounded amused.

  “Yes, I did.”

  “The Encala are furious.”

  “Good, then it worked… Miri was playing with our little heku toy down here and he said there’s someone up there that punched the code into the elevator for him.”

  She could hear Chevalier whispering to someone else and then came back to the phone, “We’ll keep looking. The Encala want to know who the heku is with you.”

  “Was… Miri had an… accident?” Emily asked, looking at her.

  “No accident, I killed him during an interrogation,” Miri told her plainly.

  Chevalier chuckled, “Nice.”

  “His name was Charles,” Miri said.

  “Ok, we’ll keep looking.”

  “Have fun, we’re just going to party down here.”

  “Find any food?”

  “Not yet. I’m about to dig into the dead heku. Wonder if I can find a barbeque.”

  “Em…” Chevalier said, laughing. “That’s disgusting, even for you.”

  “Tell Sotomar I said ‘Hi’.”

  “Will do,” he said, before hanging up.

  Emily turned around and looked at Miri. She was still covered in blood, “I found a shower…”

  “Good, me first!” Miri said, and stood up. Emily led her to the large bedroom with an attached bathroom and dug around in the closet while Miri showered.

  “I’m putting clothes out here for you, I hope they fit,” Emily said, and hung a long-sleeved red dress shirt on the door and set a pair of black pants beside it.

  “Thanks,” Miri called out.

  Emily found another identical shirt, and laid it out so she could shower, then started looking through the room out of boredom. She tore open a manila envelope and pulled out a stack of papers, then looked through them, shocked to find an application to join the Valle along with a twelve page letter explaining why. It listed numerous incidents when the Encala enlisted Emily’s help and also the death of their mortal. The last few pages contained a rejection, signed by Sotomar, stating invalid reasoning to switch factions.

  She put it on the bed and began to go through the dressers and wardrobes again, even checking under the bed.

  “Much better,” Miri said, coming out of the bathroom. The red shirt and pants fit her almost perfectly, though she had to cinch the waist up with a belt. “I hate Encala red.”

  “It’s ok, it’s just us,” Emily told her, and then went in to take a shower. The shirt came to her knees, and she had to roll the sleeves up numerous times to even get to her hands.

  When she came out, Miri was going through a box of papers. “What did you find?”

  “Personnel reports, just entertaining to read,” Miri said, and pulled out another file.

  Emily sat down beside her and grabbed a file, “I found a letter from this coven to the Valle, asking for a faction change.”

  “No way!” Miri gasped.

  “Yup, but Sotomar said no.” Emily grinned, and showed Miri a file, “This heku had sex with an Equites.”

  “Who?” Miri asked, and looked closely. “I know her!”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah, she’s in Council City.”

  “Hrm, let’s put that in my pile to show Chev,” Emily told her, and tossed the file onto the bed.

  “It’s almost midnight. Do you want to sleep in here?”

  Emily looked at the large bed, “I am kinda tired.”

  Miri stood up and started for the door, “I’m going to keep snooping, get some sleep.”

  She nodded and laid down on the massive bed, afraid she wouldn’t be able to sleep. With the dark, cool underground building, and the hard cement of the last week, she was soon asleep.

  “Lady Emily?” Miri said softly, and touched her arm.

  Emily looked at her and sat up in bed, “What’s wrong?”

  “I found some food, sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  “Well, they have a bar, so there are olives and onions, thi
ngs used in drinks.”

  “That’ll do!” Emily said, and got out of bed. She followed Miri along the dark passages and into a large bar, then began to dig behind the bar and pulled out several jars.

  “I figure you can’t survive on that, but it has to help the hunger,” Miri told her, and sat down at the bar.

  “Oh my God these are awful,” Emily said as she ate a handful of olives. “They’re soaked in alcohol though.”

  “Yes I saw that, so are the onions and cherries.”

  “Find anything else?”

  “Not really. I talked to Allen for a few hours, but that’s all I’ve done.”

  Emily sat down at the bar beside Miri and dug into the cocktail onions.

  “Those smell nasty,” Miri told her, wrinkling her nose.

  “They taste nasty too,” Emily said, and ate another one.

  “Allen said that the entire topside is surrounded by heku from all three factions.”

  “We’re famous!” she said, and grinned.

  “You’re famous. They keep talking about rescuing you and not mentioning me, it’s making Allen mad.”

  “Sorry”

  “Not your fault, he’s just touchy.”

  “Well…”

  Miri jumped from the stool and turned to the door, “Someone’s down here.”

  Emily stood up quickly and whispered, “Can you tell who?”

  “No, I don’t know the scent.”

  “It’d have to be the Equites, right?”

  “Unless there’s a second way down that we don’t know about.”

  “Damnit, that’s true,” Emily whispered. “Can you tell where they are?”

  “They’re heading this way, quickly.”

  “How many?”

  “Six,” Miri said before crouching defensively. Her arms arched out from her sides and her hands balled into fists.

  “I’ll ash them,” Emily said, and turned to face the door. She took a deep breath and waited beside Miri.

  The two women looked angry when they came face-to-face with six strange heku. Their clothing had no indication of faction.

  “We’re here to help,” one of them said, and stepped forward some, putting his hands up.

  “Stay back or I’ll ash you,” Emily growled. “Who are you?”

  “Equites, we came down the elevator when the Valle got the code.”

  “I don’t believe you. Where are your green capes?”

  “We are from Powan. Capes can get in the way of our illusion.”