He looked at the Chaser closely. The Chaser was set up so that a Fempiror would straddle its body and keep himself up by holding a pair of handles that rested horizontally at about chest level. The controls were laid out very similarly to Zechariah’s Cart, and David was able to find the switch to start the levitating. It appeared that the forward handles were the control levers, one on each handle allowing the driver to twist the entire handle forward to gain speed and adjust them forward or backward to turn or slow down. He reached out and twisted one of the handles to confirm his idea.
“David?” a voice sounded from behind him.
David jumped back away from the Chaser and twisted around to face Zechariah, whose voice he recognized when his senses came to him. Zechariah crossed the cave to stand near David. He looked at the Chaser briefly and then back to David.
“What are you doing in here?” Zechariah asked.
David shrugged. He certainly could not tell Zechariah his thoughts, or Zechariah would only lose his temper … again.
“I'm just,” David began before thinking it through, and then came to his excuse, “walking around. I won't have much to do for a while.”
Zechariah nodded. “This is true,” he agreed.
David looked at the Levi-Cart, formulating his thoughts. “A lot has changed since I first saw this machine,” he said, now touching the back of the Levi-Cart, “since I first saw you. Please forgive me. It's hard. I guess you know that.”
Zechariah smiled warmly, making David almost regret his idea of leaving. “You may be assured that anything you have said, I understand,” Zechariah said. “Your goal will be to assimilate yourself to your new life, and to make the most of these circumstances.”
David nodded. “Thank you,” he said.
Zechariah placed his hand on David’s shoulder and smiled.
“Take care of yourself,” David said, truly meaning it.
“Don't get into too much trouble,” Zechariah replied.
“I won't,” David lied, formulating the final details of his plan as they turned and walked back to the main chamber.
Once back in the chamber, he found that in the short time he had been in the chamber with the Levi-Carts, the Elewo had assembled into a rough formation fitting to the contours of the crystal cave, all dressed in dark clothing with hoods attached but hanging down on their backs. Yori and Kaltesh stood at the head of the formation facing Ulrich and Tiberius, who stood side by side facing the assembly.
Zechariah pointed to the wall next to the cave they had exited, telling David to stay near where they had entered as he walked to the assembly and stood next to Kaltesh, facing the leaders. The group was already quiet and waited for Ulrich to speak.
“Fempiror of the Elewo Order,” Ulrich said loud and clear, his low voice reaching to the very ends of the cavern. “Today, the Tepish Order has broken their promise to us. They have raided our home and done wrong to our guests. After centuries of living in silence, the time has come again to show that we are not as docile or sedentary as they believe – to show the true strength of the Elewo.
“Our Rastem brothers and sister stand with us and bring their own experience to help us. In exchange for their goodwill, we will help them in their battle to prevent the Tepish from practicing their slow genocide on the human populace of our world. We will no longer hide. We will no longer be a mystery to outsiders. We will adopt the code the Rastem have held for centuries. We vow not to allow the Tepish to enact their revenge. With great solemnity, we vow to be the last Fempiror. There need be no more.”
At this declaration, the Elewo beat their chests in unison twice in rapid succession.
Ulrich continued. “You have your assignments. Gus klug din Jehovah bato suffümor.”
As one, the Elewo lifted their hoods from their resting places on their backs and covered their faces. Like a few hundred shadows, they all disappeared out the various exits afforded by the passage-riddled caverns. Ulrich led a dozen Elewo, along with Tiberius, Zechariah, Kaltesh, and Yori through another tunnel.
David guessed it only took perhaps thirty seconds from the end of Ulrich’s speech for the cavern to completely clear. He had never seen the small population of Hauginstown move in such unity, and the cave held many more, so he was very impressed with the Elewo level of discipline.
He waited a few minutes for the extra Elewo whose job it was to keep this cavern safe and ready for the warriors to return to disperse to their various duties before he moved as well. He turned back to the cave holding the Levi-Carts, knowing that this would be his only chance. If he were lucky, he might even be able to return before they noticed he was gone.
He walked quickly to Zechariah’s Levi-Cart and switched on the Chaser. He heard it hum to life and saw it tug on the rear of the Levi-Cart as it struggled to hold itself up against the bonds of the Cart resting on the ground. He untied the ropes, and the Chaser rested freely about a foot off the ground between the rear of Zechariah’s Cart and the outer wall.
The light coming in through the crystal cave showed that there was still some sun out, so David opened the hold of Zechariah’s Cart and retrieved a day travel cloak. He did not know how much sun remained, but since it was summer, it could be light still for some time, and he could not look at the sun to gauge the time.
He walked to the handle on the outside wall that he had found earlier and pulled it. Despite the mountain rock construction of the door, it moved very easily on the hinges. He would not have the time to close it behind him, but the light that was coming in was indirect, and they would see it from the other chamber, so someone would close the door behind him soon.
He ran to the Chaser and sat on the seat behind the levers. He checked his cloak quickly to ensure that he had securely attached it. Suddenly, he heard footfalls behind him.
“Hey, what are you doing?” A voice called out. David turned to see one of the Elewo medics standing at the entrance. He looked back to the open exit and twisted the handles forward. The Chaser blasted out of the cave, faster than David had anticipated. He was grateful for the coverage provided by the cloak or the wind would have whipped it right off his back. Even the hood stayed in place.
He steered the Chaser to the east to where he remembered seeing Hauginstown on the way to Urufdiam. The grass fields flew by underneath the Chaser at speeds David never dreamed he would reach in his life. As the initial thrill wore off, David looked forward and could just make out the speck of a little town many miles off resting in the setting sun.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ulrich led the small quartet of Rastem ahead of his own Elewo through the halls he had helped to carve over the past four hundred years. The idea of a coup against the Tepish had never occurred to him since such impulse was against his nature. However, as the Tepish had openly violated their friendship and suddenly decided to take over, they left him with little choice. It was this or leave.
He had sent his Elewo to every corner of the plateau in the hope that his people would serve to divide the Tepish forces enough that they had a chance. The goal of his own group was Nikolai and the throne room. Nikolai made him a promise twenty-five years ago that the Tepish would keep to themselves and not interfere with the Dark West way of life. But slowly, Nikolai had moved into Ulrich’s own hall and set himself up as some kind of personal advisor – a position that Ulrich had neither offered nor approved. As Nikolai seemed to be positioning himself to take Ulrich’s position, Ulrich believed he would set himself up in the hall of the Deldral as the leader of the Dark West while attempting to remove all the remaining Elewo from their home.
It did not take long for them to work their way through the passages to the Deldral Hall, as they encountered minimal resistance. In fact, Zechariah’s comment as they reached the door echoed his own thoughts.
“That was too easy,” Zechariah said, worriedly.
“It is possible we took them by surprise,” Ulrich replied. “The Elewo are not known for their rash actions. That’s mo
re of a Rastem trait.” Zechariah smiled at the light jab at his sensibilities, though it was true that Elewo kept a cooler head than the sword-wielding Rastem. They tried the door, but it was locked.
Ulrich took a step back and closed his eyes. He visualized the door in pieces and passing into the room behind it. He gathered his strength. Though the door was solidly made, the locks would not stand to his might. He reeled back his arms and shot his fists forward, smashing the locks and flinging the doors wide open.
But the room was empty. Everything from the tapestries to the rock throne that had rested in this room for hundreds of years was just where it had been. He studied the various ways out of the room if Nikolai had indeed been here to begin with.
“Thoughts, Ulrich?” Tiberius asked.
“There are many passages from this room,” Ulrich said, “but I would take this one.” He walked to the rear of the room where the builders had hidden a passage behind the tapestry that hung behind the throne. The door rested between some wooden posts that the tapestry hung on. Between the posts and the door, there was a great deal of space, almost like a small hall.
The door behind the tapestry, however, was another hallway to nowhere. The actual escape from the hall of the Deldral was to the right where there was a door hidden in the molding that led into a passage into the inner workings of the cave network. Ulrich opened the door to the surprise of his Rastem companions.
“This also used to lead to the crystal caves,” Ulrich explained, “but we blocked that passage as soon as Nikolai discovered this escape on his own. It does lead into our power center, however, and provides a good place to either make your escape or, as likely as not in this situation, to ambush someone.”
They passed through the door, and the trailing Elewo closed the door behind them. They walked a short distance down this bare hall, but Ulrich sensed something was wrong. This hall had never been long before. Tiberius opened his mouth to say something, but Ulrich held up his hand to stop him. He looked around cautiously and could hear footfalls very near. It sounded like they were behind the walls.
“They’re here,” Ulrich said. As if on cue, paper thin walls collapsed to reveal the large room that Ulrich had expected to see filled with young, Tepish warriors, swords out and ready. Nikolai stood among them watching his prey. The Rastem drew their swords and the Elewo assumed a ready position, waiting for the strike.
“So predictable, Ulrich,” Nikolai said, stepping out of the throng of Tepish. “I knew you would look here.”
“We have nothing to say, Nikolai,” Ulrich said. Never before had he longed to take someone’s throat so completely.
“Then I bid you farewell,” Nikolai said with more than a hint of superciliousness.
Nikolai walked away from them, and the warriors swarmed. Despite the overwhelming numbers and their obvious training, Ulrich was able to defend himself easily against their blows. Knowing how brainwashed they had been by the Tepish, he had no desire to kill them, but he had to incapacitate them, so they would not hurt any of his people. With blinding speed that not even his victims saw, Ulrich moved around them, throwing punches hard enough to break bones, but not kill them. The recipients of his blows ended up on the floor, writhing in pain but alive.
He glanced at the others and found that the Rastem and his other Elewo were easily holding their own against the apparent onslaught. Nikolai was a fool to set such a rebellion against them with such a young force, and he felt the fool for allowing it. Ulrich broke the line easily and followed Nikolai through a door at the far end of the large room.
The door led to the Urufdiam Plateau’s enormous waterpower chamber. A thick stone walkway without curb or rail spanned the hundred-foot diameter of the cylindrical chamber over an underground lake dozens of feet below. Churning pools had always been the hallmark of the Fempiror power supply powering everything from their lights to their Levi-Carts, and the sparks that flowed under the water in this chamber lent an eerie glow to the dim lighting in the room. Power lines ran up from the bottom of the lake against the walls and out various holes in the walls feeding the power to the lights throughout the caves of the plateau.
Ulrich walked slowly into the chamber, wondering where in this featureless room that Nikolai could have disappeared. He walked towards the door at the far end of the room, but a sound behind him drew his attention. He turned to find Nikolai leaping down from above the entry door where he had perched himself on the wall using a line exit hole as a handhold.
Without time to react, Nikolai kicked the old Elewo back, causing him to slip off the edge of the walkway. Ulrich recovered quickly, though, and while Nikolai was drawing his sword, Ulrich grabbed the edge of the walkway, kicked off its rocky side, and flipped back to the top of the walkway in enough time to block Nikolai’s first sword blow.
Ulrich had often been curious as to Nikolai’s skill as a swordsman since he had only ever seen him face off with new recruits in the large gathering chamber. Now forced to defend himself against Nikolai’s onslaught of blows, Ulrich found him to be as simple as his own crew. Nikolai seemed to be working desperately to get through Ulrich’s defenses, yet Ulrich had done little more than block him without attempting a hit of any kind.
Clinks of the sword feinting off of Ulrich’s gauntlets rang through the large chamber echoing off the walls and ceiling, but still, Nikolai’s blade could not find its mark. His desperation was clearly mounting as his blows were losing their focus. He brought down his final blow to Ulrich’s gauntlet again, but this time, Ulrich swept Nikolai’s sword to one side, surprising him. Ulrich reeled back in an instant and hit Nikolai square in the face.
A sickening crack sounded through the emptiness of the room as Nikolai’s head swung straight back, breaking his neck as well. His body went limp and fell straight back, thudding on the stone walkway. Ulrich stood beside the corpse and looked at it sadly.
The door opened and the Rastem and Elewo he had left in the other room stormed in. Tiberius left the company at the entryway and walked to Ulrich. He looked at Nikolai’s body and back to Ulrich.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
“It is such a waste to spend one's life in the hatred of others,” Ulrich said. He looked at Tiberius. “Tell me, Tiberius... Do you fight because you love man or hate the Tepish?”
Tiberius looked at him for a moment, silently. He glanced back to Nikolai, considering the answer carefully, and then looked back at Ulrich. “It is for the love of mankind that we have always fought. But to love man is to hate the Tepish.”
Ulrich nodded solemnly. “Well said,” Ulrich said. “Then we have much to finish.” He looked at Tiberius, who appeared ready to head back to the battle.
“Shall we go?” Tiberius asked. Ulrich nodded, and they ran out of the chamber to face the rest of the Tepish forces.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Homecoming
The sun was well below the horizon by the time David reached Hauginstown on the Chaser. He looked at the town as he passed hoping this task was something he could actually do, and he hoped that it would help Beth to move on as well. He rode toward the Old Mill in the east where all this had truly begun for him.
He rode around the mill to the cave where he had found Ben that night. He was not sure how many people in Hauginstown knew about this cave, but since it was coming onto night, he doubted anyone would disturb the Chaser if he left it there for a little while. Then again, even if they did find it, they would have no idea what to do with it.
He stopped easily inside the cave and turned off the Chaser. It lowered to the ground setting itself on small legs permanently attached to the bottom of the vehicle. David removed his day-travel cloak and laid it on the seat of the Chaser, as the small vehicle had no place to stow even this item.
David looked into the darkness at the back of the cave, where Ben and his captor rested not so long ago and wondered if Ben was still there. He knew that Zechariah had killed the Fempiror who had changed him and that t
his person’s declaration of being a member of the Tepish order had placed Zechariah’s own quest into motion. He was short on time, however. That Elewo had seen him leave and would be telling Ulrich and Zechariah about it as soon as their fight was done, so he had to move.
He walked out of the cave onto familiar ground again, and for the first time in several days, he knew exactly where he was. Familiar air blew against his face, although it felt hotter now that he was colder. He jogged across the fields towards the place he had dreamed of leaving not so long ago, and now that his new life forced him to leave it, he wanted nothing more than to return. His mind raced with what he would say – how he would explain this to her.
He slowed to a walk and passing around the shops on the south end of town, his feet touched the road that led past his father’s store and the Whitt’s End Tavern, now resting dark in the moonlight. He had considered approaching Beth’s house without ever going through town, but since he would never see Hauginstown again, he felt the need to walk through it one last time. He looked around and saw no one stirring in the town, though several windows showed light behind the curtains. He figured they must have done a total lockdown at night when he disappeared.
This was a welcome sight, though, since it would allow him to get to Beth’s house unnoticed. He was unsure how he would explain himself to anyone else he ran into. He knew they would be worried about him, but he was not going to be able to stay here very long, so he would not have the time to explain his situation to everyone who might need to know. Beth would have to deliver the message if she chose to tomorrow.
He crossed the grassy square around the statue of Gerald Haugins. He recalled vividly the face of the Tepish stopping him, and the searing pain of the nilrof as it forced the poisonous blood into his veins. This was his birthplace into this new life where at another time, he had disobeyed a directive, and it had gone ill for him. He considered with a certain irony that he was disobeying another directive and had ended up at this same place, but this time, it would not end with anyone’s life being lost.
The Awakening (The Fempiror Chronicles Book 1) Page 21
