Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (65 page)

“
Thanks, I really
appreciate this,” she said, and cupped the coffee in her
hands.

“
There are some… that want
to watch. I hope you don’t mind.”

Emily frowned, “Like who?”

“
Some of the council
members are interested to see how the Lieutenant will show you to
fight a heku,” William said, grinning slightly.

“
Fun, a spectator sport,”
Emily said, putting the coffee down.

“
How is your
hand?”

Emily held up a finger when her phone rang,
“Damn, it’s Mark.”

William smiled and nodded for her to answer
it.

“
Hi, Mark,” Emily said,
trying to sound casual.

“
I just wanted to see if
you’re ok,” Mark whispered.

“
Why are you
whispering?”

“
Zohn… he’s so mad at you,
that he said you’re no longer welcome back in the palace,” Mark
said quietly.

Emily frowned, “Can he do that?”

“
Right now, yes, but Quinn
and Chevalier aren’t going to back him, and that means he’ll be
outvoted… he’s pretty mad,” Mark told her.

“
Exavior knows I’m here,”
Emily said.

“
What? How?”

“
I don’t know, but he
called and threatened to kill the Encala if I don’t
leave.”

Emily could hear the amusement in his voice,
“I hope he tries.”

She frowned, “They’re being nice to me. Why
would I want Exavior to attack them?”

William chuckled.

“
I have to go… Chevalier
will be back in 3 days. Stay low until then.”

Emily sat her phone down when Mark hung
up.

“
My, my, Zohn is angrier
than I thought,” William said.

Emily sighed, “He and I don’t exactly see
eye-to-eye.”

“
What caused
that?”

“
He tried to interrogate me
once…”

William gasped and started to speak, but
Emily held her hand up.

“
Not in the chamber... but
started questioning me and then called me a liar,” Emily
explained.

“
Were you
lying?”

“
Yes… but still…” Emily
said, and it made perfect sense to her, but William watched her
questioningly.

“
So he questioned you and
called your bluff… what else?”

“
Isn’t that enough?” Emily
asked. “Since then he’s just been a dick.”

William chuckled, “Remind me not to get on
your bad side.”

Emily sighed, “Shall we go give them a
show?”

“
I can’t go, but your
guards will take you to the training hall,” William said, and stood
up. Emily followed him out and then let the guards lead her out to
a large training facility. She felt overexposed as the thirty or so
heku gathered watched her enter. She covered her bare midriff and
walked over to the Lieutenant.

“
Welcome, Emily, I’m
Lieutenant Andrew,” he said. Emily looked up at him and her eyes
grew wider. The Lieutenant was inches taller than any heku she’d
seen, and his broad shoulders made him look massive.

“
Th… Thanks…” Emily said,
blushing. She took a step back so she didn’t seem so small. She
barely came up to his sternum.

“
The Elders said you are
having some problems?”

Emily nodded, “I keep breaking my hand.”

Lieutenant Andrew chuckled, “Do you hit a
lot?”

Emily shrugged, “Sort of.”

“
Heku or human?”

“
Both”

“
Very well, what else?” he
asked.

“
Unless you know of a heku
off-button, then I don’t know,” Emily told him.

“
As there’s no off-button,
let’s start with a punch,” he said, and glanced at her hand. She’d
removed the ace bandages earlier, “Zack, come here.”

A rather short heku stepped forward. He was
muscular, with no neck and broad shoulders, but stood only a foot
above Emily, which, by heku standards, was short.

“
Let’s see it then… hit
him,” Lieutenant Andrew said.

Emily looked over at Zack, and he wasn’t
even wincing. She glanced back at Andrew, “Excuse me?”

“
Punch him in the
nose.”

“
I… I can’t hit him…” Emily
said, blushing.

Andrew grinned, “You can’t hurt him… I can’t
help unless I see it.”

Emily sighed and started to punch, but the
Lieutenant stopped her.

“
To start… keep your eyes
open,” Andrew said, amused.

“
Hrm, didn’t realize they
were shut… ok… here goes,” Emily said, and took a swing at Zack.
Andrew’s hand shot out and caught her fist before it connected with
Zack’s nose.

“
Pull your thumb out and do
this,” Andrew said. He pulled her thumb out and moved her fingers
back, exposing her palm, “Hit with your palm… an upward
motion.”

Emily frowned, but nodded, “Ok.”

“
Hit him,” Andrew told
her.

Emily felt awkward with her hand that way,
but lined up and hit Zack squarely in the nose. He kept grinning
and didn’t move.

“
Is that as hard as you can
hit?” Andrew asked, frowning.

“
She’s just a girl, give
her a break… mortals are weak,” Zack said, and winked at
her.

“
I’m not weak,” Emily said,
starting to sound angry.

“
How tall are you
anyway?”

Emily glared and hit him again, using the
entire weight of her body and drawing from the anger. A loud crunch
sounded and Zack fell to the floor, grasping his nose as blood
poured out.

“
Oh my God, are you ok?”
Emily asked, kneeling down beside him. She pulled his hands away
and watched as the black bruise under his eyes disappeared and his
nose healed, “I’m so sorry.”

Zack grinned and stood up, “Now that was a
punch.”

“
Thanks, Zack,” Andrew
said. “Let’s try on someone taller, Don, come here.”

Emily looked over as a tall heku came
forward. She guessed he was almost the same height as Chevalier,
which was taller than most gathered.

“
It’s different if they’re
taller,” Andrew explained. “You may have to bring them down to you
first.”

Emily frowned, “How?”

“
Same way you would a
mortal, knee him in the groin,” Andrew said, smiling
slightly.

“
Can’t I just knock out his
kneecap? I know how to do that.”

“
No, that’ll make him fall
backwards. You need him to bend over toward you.”

Emily glanced at Don and reached up to
whisper in Andrew’s ear, “What if I can’t reach his groin?”

Andrew laughed and turned to Don as Emily
blushed.

“
C’mere Don,” Andrew said,
and Don walked up so he was toe-to-toe with Emily. “See if you can
get your knee up high enough.”

Emily brought her knee up, but was only
barely able to hit him. She blushed deeper and stepped back.

“
Use your hand then,”
Andrew said.

Emily’s eyes grew wide, “Do what?”

“
He means… punch me in the
nuts,” Don said, laughing.

Emily cringed, “I don’t know if I can do
that.”

“
Do it fast, groin to nose
should be in one fluid movement. Too much time, and the heku will
have time to hit back,” Andrew said. “Let’s see.”

“
I don’t know… it… seems…”
Emily started to say, and was bushing profusely.

Andrew nodded, “Don’t think of him as Don…
think of him as an attacker, someone after you.”

Emily nodded and looked at Don’s face. It
was irritating how he didn’t seem intimidated by her at all. He
acted like she couldn’t hurt him and she drew from that irritation
and let it fly. Soon, Don was on the floor, groaning, clutching his
groin in one hand and his broken nose in the other.

“
Are you ok?” Emily asked,
frowning.

Don nodded, no longer laughing, and got to
his feet. Blood drenched the front of his shirt as he walked back
to the watching heku.

Andrew grinned, “That was great! Keep
hitting like that and you won’t break your hand.”

Emily nodded, “Seems easy enough.”

“
There’s… something… else,”
Andrew said, hesitating. “The Elders thought maybe we could help
you out with some restraint escapes.”

“
Restraint
escapes?”

“
Yes, like… well… how did
Exavior carry you to the interrogation room?” Andrew asked
softly.

Emily’s body tensed and she looked around at
the heku.

“
It’s ok. We’re all here to
help.”

“
He… he picked me up by my
neck,” Emily whispered, and heard the angry murmurs through the
crowd. The noise stopped when Lieutenant Andrew glared at
them.

“
Dragging you or did he
actually pick you up?”

“
Picked me up,” Emily said,
watching the ground.

“
May I?” Andrew asked, and
put his hand out.

Emily sighed and nodded. She squeezed her
eyes shut as she felt his gentle hands against her neck.

“
Can you reach my neck?”
Andrew asked.

Emily opened her eyes and reached out. She
wasn’t able to reach his neck when he had her at arm’s length. The
feel of his hands around her neck started to make her panic and she
envisioned Exavior picking her up and throwing her at the torture
table. Her breathing became faster and the terror in her eyes made
Andrew let go.

“
Take a deep breath, it’s
ok,” Andrew said softly.

Emily nodded and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be sorry. Many heku
have gone insane from his tortures. I think you must be one strong
human to have survived,” Andrew told her. “I really want to show
you some things though, ok?”

Emily nodded again, “I’m ok, go on.”

The room became deathly quiet as they
watched Emily regain her composure. They’d heard of the tortures of
the famous Exavior, and were surprised that she survived and was
still able to function.

“
Zack,” Andrew
called.

“
Sir?” Zack asked, stepping
forward.

“
Ok, let me show you on
him.” Andrew picked Zack up by his neck, but was only able to get
him a few inches off the floor.

Emily took a deep breath, calming the new
panic as she watched him.

“
The weakest point you will
be able to reach is going to be his elbow,” Andrew said. “Bring
your elbow up and then slam it down onto the crook of his arm. You
want to try to get him to bend it, even if just a little. Your main
goal is going to be to get at his neck.”

Emily watched as Zack demonstrated. He
brought his elbows down hard on the crook of Andrew’s arms, and
they bent slightly. Zack reached out and pinched Andrew’s airway
between his thumb and finger, not putting enough pressure to close
it.

“
Then you claw out his
airway. Even a heku will need a few minutes to heal from that,”
Andrew said. “You and I will try it in slow motion, and then we’ll
try it for real. You’re going to need the element of surprise or
this won’t work.”

Emily took another deep breath and nodded as
Andrew picked her up by her neck. Her feet dangled over a foot from
the floor.

“
Now don’t panic… do what
Zack did,” Andrew said, watching her closely so he knew if she was
starting to panic.

Emily positioned her arms, but couldn’t get
them high enough to slam into his elbow. Andrew gently put her
down.

“
I’m sorry,” Emily said
again.

Andrew smiled, “Don’t be, I didn’t realize
how far down that put you… can you get a gut kick off?”

Emily shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“
Try it,” Andrew said, and
picked her up again.

Emily grabbed his wrists for leverage and
kicked out. Her foot lightly connected with Andrew’s stomach, and
he smiled and put her down.

“
That’s the trick then. A
stomach kick will force their head forward… then you can either
claw out the eyes or rip out the windpipe,” Andrew told
her.

“
Ok,” Emily said, still
unsure.

“
Jeffery, your turn,”
Andrew said, and another tall heku stepped forward. He was shaved
bald and had the Encala crest tattooed into the side of his head,
and intricately woven vines were tattooed up his arms and
neck.

Emily looked up at Jeffrey, “You want me to
hurt him?”

Andrew nodded, “Yes, you can’t hurt him for
long and we noticed he’s about Exavior’s size.”

“
Come on, Tiny, gimme your
best shot,” Jeffery said, smiling.

Emily hesitated and then walked up to him.
She cringed as he gently picked her up by her neck.

“
Do it, Emily, hard,”
Andrew cheered her on.

Emily grabbed his wrists for support and
kicked as hard as she could. She was surprised when he gasped and
doubled over slightly, bringing his neck within her reach. She
started to panic as his hand tightened on her neck, but she reached
out quickly and dug her fingers around his windpipe and tore it out
violently. Blood sprayed her, and Jeffery dropped her to the ground
where she landed on her butt with a thud.

Andrew put a hand out to help her up, “That
was perfect!”

“
Are you ok?” Emily asked,
and then took a step back as several heku tackled Jeffrey before he
could get up.