Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series (26 page)

“Then she’s here… we just have to search,” Kyle said hopefully.

“Kill him and make it hurt,” Chevalier told Kyle as he headed out of the room.

Kyle grinned and the sound of screaming filled the hallways.

***

Chevalier was out in the trees and could hear the other heku searching for Emily. They weren’t calling to her anymore, if she had been able to answer them, they would have found her already. The Ancient was dead and buried six feet under the ground in pieces. The immunity they were once granted was erased when he attacked a mortal.

“Kyle, I’ve been thinking about what the Ancient said… how we’ll not find her anywhere on earth,” Chevalier said.

“I have too, it doesn’t make much sense.” Kyle was scanning the dark trees.

“I wonder if it’s because she’s under the earth.” Chevalier turned to Kyle, “What if he buried her?”

Kyle gasped, “Buried?”

Chevalier nodded, “Make sure everyone scans the ground for new earth, anything that could indicate a recent dig.”

Kyle nodded and ran off in search of the guards.

Just before dawn, the rain began and the heku sloshed through the mud looking for dig spots.

“Over here!” Chevalier heard a voice from off to his left. He blurred and appeared beside the heku.

The guard was digging where a mound of extra soft mud was sitting among leaves and twigs. Chevalier and the other guards dropped and began to dig through the soft ground with their hands.

Chevalier’s fingers touched cement and the digging heku were able to clean off a perfectly square patch of cement. Chevalier dug his fingers under the heavy cement block and picked it up easily, something that would have taken a machine to lift had he been a mortal.

Below the cement block was a set of stairs, which Chevalier descended quickly, followed by Kyle. The air in the room below the ground was stale and smelled moldy.

“Emily?” Chevalier called out to the dark. No one answered, so he went further into what appeared to be a crypt. Dried bones scattered the ground, and Kyle accidentally kicked a skull across the room. It smashed into dust as it hit the wall, and the crash echoed off the walls.

Chevalier inhaled deeply, “She’s down here.”

Kyle nodded, he also picked up her scent. They ran through the crypt going room to room, looking for her. It was obvious by the smell of the sweet blood if Emily was in the room or not, and Chevalier grew angrier and angrier as they passed room after room through the labyrinth of tombs.

Both of the heku stopped suddenly when they entered a room and her scent became stronger.

“Emily?” Chevalier called out again, but no one answered.

There were four large cement tombs in the small room, and Chevalier tipped the lid off of one while Kyle did the other.

“Em!” Kyle gasped as he pushed the heavy cement lid off of the last tomb.

Chevalier spun and was instantly at the tomb. He looked down, and fury rose into his face.

Emily was lying in the tomb on her side, wearing only her under clothes. Her wrists and ankles were bound with heavy chain. Her eyes were fully covered and she had padding covering her ears and a gag in her mouth. Both of them looked at her, lying there on the cold cement. She had no idea anyone was even near her. The Ancient made sure to cut off all of her senses. There were two red, swollen wounds on her neck that looked like they were infected. The Ancient had fed off of her savagely.

Chevalier reached for her, but Kyle pushed his hand away.

“What?” he hissed at Kyle.

“She’s going to burn anyone that touches her. It’ll be better if it’s me she uses her abilities on. You can stop her faster than I can,” Kyle said.

Chevalier sighed and nodded, Kyle had a point.

Kyle shut his eyes and readied himself for the pain. He reached out and swiftly pulled the padding from around her ears, then curled up on the tomb, clutching his chest and screaming. He writhed in pain as Emily scrambled to sit up and screamed against the gag.

“Em… Emily, it’s Chev, stop, that’s Kyle,” he said as fast as he could, and pulled her blind fold off.

Emily looked around, her eyes wide, but she still couldn’t see in the dark.

“Emily, stop it,” he said again before pulling the gag away from her mouth.

Kyle’s body relaxed, and he lay on the cement, panting. He was still gripping his chest and groaned.

Emily was struggling to adjust her eyes so she could see.

“It’s ok, I’m here,” Chevalier said, but when he touched the chains on her wrist she pulled away from him and screamed.

“Shhh, it’s ok,” he said, and quickly broke the chains that bound her.

Emily stood up suddenly and fell against the wall of the tomb, then tumbled onto the cold floor. Chevalier was at her side instantly, and he touched her on the shoulder.

“Emily?” She was freezing, and he could see her body shiver violently, “Listen to me.”

“Don’t touch me,” she screamed, and pushed his hands away.

Chevalier slipped off his shirt and laid it across her shoulders, “You have to trust me.”

She pulled the shirt off and threw it into the wall, “Go away,” she yelled, then got on her hands and knees and felt around the floor to the wall.

He watched as she quickly felt her way up the wall until she was standing. He could see her body was tense and shaking uncontrollably.

“Emily,” Kyle said, finally getting to his feet.

She spun, putting her back against the wall and her eyes were fighting to see in the pitch darkness, “Go away.”

“It’s me, Kyle. Let me help you,” he said, reaching out for her.

Kyle screamed and fell to his knees, his back arched and he fell to the dirt stiffly.

“Emily, stop it, you’ll kill him,” Chevalier said, and moved to her side.

Kyle fell silent at her feet, and she began to edge away from them, feeling her way along the stone walls. She was breathing rapidly and he could see the vapors disappear into the cold air.

“Listen to me,” Chevalier said softly, and she spun quickly toward him.

“No, no more listening,” she hissed. She finally found the door and stepped out into another room full of dried bones.

He was beginning to understand, “I’m not the one that put you in here. Listen to my voice, you can tell the difference.”

She stopped and listened to him.

“It was an ancient, the first of our kind. They were banished thousands of years ago because of their unwarranted aggression to the new beings on their planet, the humans. Ok? They killed mortals, tormented them, and used them as toys.” He moved slowly toward her, glad she couldn’t see him.

He lowered his voice so she wouldn’t know how close he was, “The new heku, those like me, we banished them to the ground for eternity for what they did. I don’t know how one got out, but he’s been destroyed. The ancient ones, they have powers we don’t have any more. One of them was a shape shifter.”

Emily stopped and looked toward his voice, “He got out and was furious about how you lived among us and about how we had Allen. He tried to take your place. He thought if he could replace you, that he would have finally had his revenge on me, an ‘old one’.”

“Do you understand?” he asked from right beside her.

“I don’t… I don’t know who you are,” she said, her voice was shaky.

“If you come back up above ground where you can see, we’ll show you. For now, though, you have to stop using your abilities on Kyle.” He reached out and touched her cold hand.

She jerked it away, “Don’t touch me.”

“Ok, ok, that’s fine. Follow my voice, I’ll lead you out,” he said, stepping ahead of her. She turned toward him with blind eyes and nodded slightly.

“You ok, Kyle?” Chevalier asked, looking at his first officer.

Kyle nodded and stepped ahead of Chevalier.

“Ok, follow my voice. Let’s get out of here. We need to get you warm,” he said softly. He wanted to reach out and take her in his arms, to rush her to the castle where it was warm.

“Talk to me… who was it that got you down here? Was it me or Kyle?” he asked, watching her feel her way along the cold, wet walls of the crypt.

“It was Chevalier,” she whispered.

He nodded, glad she couldn’t see the fury in his eyes, “Will you let Kyle touch you then? Can he just help you out of here?”

“No!” she screamed, and crouched down on the wall.

“It’s ok… he won’t touch you, I promise,” he told her, and she stood up slowly, dragging her back along the wall.

“Keep talking to me… how did he get you out of the castle?” Chevalier asked her softly. He could see light ahead, but knew her eyes wouldn’t be able to pick it up yet.

She shook her head and her teeth chattered in the dark.

“Ok then, I’ll talk. I had a meeting, I was out of town. When I came back, Kyle had locked the Ancient in the prison… he knew that wasn’t you.” He tried to keep her mind off of fighting them.

Emily stumbled over old bones and continued along the wall.

“The Ancient pretended to be you… but he thought you needed improved. He had you in frilly dresses, yelling at the staff, he even tried to get Kyle fired.” He watched her, but she didn’t deviate from her current course of feeling along the wall.

“He didn’t realize that you don’t need improved. He thought I wanted a submissive, timid wife who was a tyrant to the castle and its servants. What he didn’t bank on was Kyle figuring it out so early and locking him up.” Chevalier reached his foot out and kicked a skull out of her way.

“I’m pretty sure he was planning on leaving you here until you died and hoping we’d never know. It was a bad plan. He didn’t have your temper.” He laughed and saw her wince, so he quickly changed tactics, “Allen hated him. He was probably the first that knew.”

Chevalier saw Emily turn her face toward the growing light, “There, you see, we’re almost out.”

She stopped as soon as she could see him and looked at him suspiciously.

“Prove it,” she hissed at him. Chevalier didn’t realize until that moment how many of the heku traits Emily acquired after living with them for so long.

“Prove that I’m me?” he asked, unsure exactly how.

She nodded.

He looked at Kyle, who shrugged, “Well, let me think.”

Emily rubbed her arms with her hand, trying to warm up a little.

“What do you want, Em? I don’t know how to prove it’s me.” He was getting frustrated with the way she shivered and was so close to getting warm.

Her eyes scanned him, “Then leave.”

“Leave?” He looked at the stairs and then back to Emily. “If I leave are you going to come up?”

“As soon as no one is up there,” she said, and then crouched again when she heard the voices calling down to see if they needed help.

He nodded, “Ok… I’ll move everyone away. Head directly southwest to the castle.”

“Southwest?” she whispered.

“Away from the ocean.” He smiled and headed up the stairs.

Emily stood alone in the dark crypt, and listened as the voices grew quieter. She waited as long as she could stand it, and headed up the stairs slowly. It was still raining, and the drops were cold against her already frozen body. She wrapped her arms around herself and listened for the ocean, then headed away from it. She kept a keen eye out and listened for even the smallest noise of a heku, ready to ash them.

When she got free of the tree line, she could see the castle and stumbled through the mud, twigs, and rocks as they cut into her bare feet. The rain soaked her hair and she shivered worse now, her teeth clattered and she couldn’t seem to focus.

Chevalier watched her from behind the trees. His heart ached as she shivered and stumbled her way through the muddy pasture. Her hair was soaked and clung to her already cold body. He wanted to reach out and take her, grab her and run into the castle, but he knew getting close to her could get him killed.

Chevalier was never so happy to see Sam. Sam ran out of the barn toward Emily and threw a horse blanket over her shoulders. He growled when she threw the blanket to the ground and pushed Sam’s hands away.

“When do we get to help her?” Kyle whispered from behind him.

“I don’t know,” Chevalier said, irritated.

Emily fell against the door to the castle and opened it, stepping inside she shut the door. Waiting a few minutes, Chevalier and Kyle stepped into the castle and followed the muddy footprints up the stairs and looked into her bedroom.

Emily was curled up on the floor in front of the fire. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her knees, which were pressed to her chest.

Chevalier cleared his throat, and she sat up quickly and looked over at him, “May we come in?”

Emily nodded slowly, but kept her eyes on both of them.

“Can I run you a bath? You have to warm up,” Chevalier said as she sat shivering on the floor.

She nodded again, and he disappeared into the bathroom.

Kyle smiled at her, “I’ll just say this for later… I’m not mad about the burning thing.”

Her eyes narrowed.

Chevalier came back out, “It’s ready.”

He watched her as she lowered her forehead to her knees and trembled forcefully. She wanted to get into the warmth, but couldn’t move her legs. The more she shivered, the harder it became to coordinate her muscles to move.

“To hell with it… ash me,” Chevalier said before picking her up and taking her into the bathroom. He sat her down slowly into the hot, steamy water.

The heat seeped into her muscles, and they relaxed enough she could let go of her legs and stretch out in the water. She slipped off her underclothes and threw them out onto the floor.

“Thank you,” she whispered, leaning back against the tub and shutting her eyes.

He touched her cheek softly, frowning when she winced, “You know it’s me now?”

She nodded.

“How?” he asked curiously.

“You risked your life to get me warm… it had to be you,” she whispered as the shivering began to die down.

Chevalier reached over and flipped on the jets, “Just sit back and relax. I’ll go get you something to eat.”

Emily nodded, unable to speak through her chattering teeth. She was hungrier than she could ever imagine. As far as she could tell, it was over two days since she’d had anything to eat or drink and her lips were painfully dry. She looked around the bathroom. It all seemed surreal as she remembered the cold, dark tomb.