Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Jaron?”

  “Busy… Kralen’s in charge, be good.”

  Emily crawled in and sat on one of the hard vinyl seats beside Kralen. Her helicopter couldn’t accommodate this many, so they were taking one of the transports.

  “Remember, we don’t know how well she’s going to respond to being on the island, get immediately to the yacht,” Chevalier whispered to Kralen, too low for Emily to hear.

  “Stop whispering about me and let’s get on with this,” she said, and got Dain settled on her lap.

  Kralen grinned and shut the door. Chevalier watched as the transport helicopter took them to the island before he headed inside to begin the ceremony.

  Four hours later, and without incident, Kralen was pulling Emily 2 away from the pier and headed out onto the Atlantic. Emily was sitting behind him on a little plastic chair, and Dain was down in the hold with some of the guards.

  Kralen pulled on some sunglasses and turned to Emily, “Why don’t you go get some sun? It can’t be fun watching me up here.”

  “I don’t know any of those guards.”

  “They are Cavalry.”

  “I know their faces… no names, nothing else.”

  Kralen grinned, “The Elders like it that way.”

  “Yeah… well… I don’t want to spend 3 days with them on a boring yacht.”

  He glanced up at the sky, “Clouds are coming in. If you wanted sun, now’d be the time to do it.”

  “Oh, joy, a storm… that’s worked out so well for us in the past,” she mumbled, and headed down stairs to change. She put on her bikini and slathered in sunscreen before sitting down on a chaise. She had to admit, the sun felt amazing after sitting in the cold helicopter, and then the cold bridge. It wasn’t more than an hour before the sun disappeared behind dark gray clouds and lightning flashed in the distance.

  Emily got up and pulled on some shorts before making a quick lunch. She ate by herself and then pulled Dain over to the couch for a movie. The boat started rocking with the worsening tide, and she started to get nervous. This all seemed too familiar.

  Hard rain began to pound against the side of the yacht, and she heard the sound of guards shutting windows and tying things down on the deck. Four members of the Cavalry came down the stairs, dripping wet, and Emily threw them each a towel.

  “Thanks,” the closest one said, and they dried off so they weren’t dripping. The four stood at the bottom of the stairs, which put them down in the living area. Emily tried to watch the movie, but kept glancing at them as they stood motionless and without saying a word.

  A violent wave shook the boat and slammed Emily back onto the couch. Dain laughed and Emily glanced over at the unmoving guards, seemingly undisturbed by the sudden shift in the boat.

  “Are you all from Powan?” she asked.

  “Yes, Commander,” the blond said.

  “Do you have to stand there, or can you come sit down and watch a movie?”

  “This is our post.”

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “No, Ma’am, no enjoyment. We’re on assignment.”

  “Are all of the guards on this yacht from Powan?”

  “All except for the Captain.”

  “Whose idea was that?” she grumbled, and turned back to the movie.

  “That information is unknown,” he told her, still standing at attention.

  Dain crawled down off the couch after only an hour, and began to play with his fire trucks. Emily sighed and laid down on the couch. The constant rocking of the boat was starting to make her feel queasy. She shut her eyes tightly when it got worse, and she felt like at any minute she might have to make a mad dash for the bathroom.

  “Commander, are you unwell?” the blond guard asked.

  She couldn’t answer. Another wave hit and her stomach lurched, sending her running for the bathroom. After a few minutes, she heard a knock on the door.

  “Em, are you ok?” Kralen asked.

  “No,” she said weakly.

  Kralen opened the door and looked down at her. She was leaning against the side of the toilet, deathly pale, and sweating slightly. He sighed and picked her up.

  “No, put me down,” she whispered.

  “You can’t feel better down here, you need to look at the horizon,” he said, and one of the Powan guards followed them up the stairs with an umbrella. The rain was still pounding the deck, and the white crested waves were slashing against the side of the boat.

  “Ma’am, look out there… at the horizon,” the guard said, moving the umbrella a bit so she could see.

  Once Emily caught sight of the horizon, her stomach started to settle down and she was able to stand on her own. Kralen went back up to the bridge, and she stayed out on the rain drenched deck and watched the waves and storm. After a few hours, the storm began to subside and the boat stopped rocking as badly. She finally was able to go back down and lay down in bed for the night.

  Kralen watched out over the dark ocean. He stayed alert as he watched for any sign of an approaching boat.

  “Emily 2 from Island,” the voice came over the radio.

  Kralen picked it up, “Emily 2, go.”

  “CC advises Valle are aware of your location, move to point 2.”

  “Copy that, point 2.”

  “Radio silence initialized, continue to point 2 with mission beta 4.”

  Kralen hung the microphone back up and started up the engines to move to the next staging location.

  Emily sat up in bed when she heard the engines roar to life and felt the boat begin to move. She turned to the guards at the door, “Why are we moving?”

  “We were not informed,” the blond told her.

  She glanced over at the clock and figured because it was already 6am, she might as well get up. She made a fresh pot of coffee and took a steaming cup with her when she went to talk to Kralen. She stepped onto the bridge and sat down.

  “Sleep well?” Kralen asked, glancing at her.

  “No… where are we going?”

  “It’s customary to move, so we keep our location a secret.”

  “Oh… Do the Powans have an off-button?”

  Kralen chuckled, “Not sure what you mean.”

  “They’re too… well… by the book… they need to lighten up.”

  “Not sure they can. That’s why all of the guards are now being trained there.”

  “So are any of these Powans wolves?”

  “Just one, the rest were taken to Powan from other covens for training.”

  Emily glanced up at the cloud covered sky, “Any chance of sun?”

  “Not on this trip. We have storm after storm rolling in.”

  She smiled, “Let’s go to the island.”

  “We can’t, they are turning a mortal,” he reminded her.

  “Not Island Coven… our island… the one we shipwrecked on.”

  “Why would you want to go back there?”

  “Just to see.”

  “Well we can’t. The Council is keeping tabs on our location.”

  “So tell them.”

  “We’re on radio silence.”

  Emily frowned, “You’re keeping something from me.”

  Kralen’s body tensed, “Get below… now.”

  “What’s going…” before Emily could finish, she was blurred below deck by one of the Cavalry. The four guards on the stairs moved back down into the living area. She heard the engines slow and then stop. The silence was deafening as she listened to try to figure out what was going on.

  She moved forward to see if the Powan’s would stop her, but they didn’t. She ran up the stairs and peeked out. They were floating alongside another larger boat, and two of the guards were tying their boat to the other while another guard put a plank between them.

  Kralen appeared on deck and Emily went up beside him. He glanced at her and then yelled over, “Is anyone on board?”

  “What’s up?”

  “This boat was putting out an unman
ned distress call.”

  “Meaning…”

  “Meaning the distress call was started by the automated system. The boat thinks no one’s driving.”

  “Let’s go check it out then,” Emily said, and started for the plank. Kralen grabbed her arm.

  “Stay here,” he said, and quickly crossed onto the other boat. She grinned and followed him across.

  “Hello?” Kralen called out again, and then headed up to the bridge.

  Emily saw a door heading below and opened it, “Is anyone down there?”

  “Commander, the Captain asked you to stay over here,” the blond guard told her.

  “I know,” she said, and propped open the door. She started down the stairs slowly. The first door she opened was the dining hall. She noticed the plates set out were partially full, but the chairs were thrown around.

  She shut that door and went to the next, which was a long room with 12 bunk beds. The beds weren’t made and the sight of a red stain caught Emily’s eye. She walked forward and touched it, and it looked like blood on the sheets. She wiped her hand off on a bedspread, and then checked the bathroom at the end of the room, but it was empty.

  When Emily got back into the hallway, she head an odd scratching sound coming from down in another room. She opened the door and looked into a large stateroom. There was a single bed with silk sheets and a TV mounted to the wall. In the corner, was a tall cage and scratching on the inside, was a ferret with black feet and a raccoon like mask. He was angrily scratching at the door. Emily unlocked the cage and gently pulled him out. She held him up, and he began to nose around in her hair and tried to crawl onto her shoulder.

  Taking the small animal with her, she went to check the last door in the hallway. The door only opened an inch or two, so she pushed harder, but it didn’t move. Bracing herself, she cradled the ferret in one hand and pushed with her other, using her legs for force. The door broke free of its restraint, and she fell forward into the room, coming face-to-face with a purple, bloated corpse.

  Emily screamed and scrambled to her feet as she realized she’d fallen into a room full of bodies. All of the guards appeared in the room behind her, and she backed into one of them, screaming louder.

  “Em… it’s us,” Kralen said. She finally calmed down and turned around as the heku were moving throughout the room.

  She ignored the ferret as he hissed at the guards, “What happened?”

  One of the Powan guards whispered to Kralen, but she couldn’t understand. Kralen nodded and said something to the others.

  “Tell me,” she said. It was obvious they were keeping something from her.

  Kralen sighed, “These bodies have all been drained.”

  “What?” she yelled. “By who?”

  “No way to tell,” he said, and then stood up. “17 bodies in all… we’ll have to burn the boat. We can’t risk this getting into the news.”

  “No! We need to take them back. Their families will be worried.”

  “We can’t… it’s obvious they were drained, and there are puncture wounds all over them.”

  She frowned, “Who would do that?”

  “Smells Encala to me,” one of the guards said, and then quieted down when Kralen glared at him.

  “Everyone out,” Kralen said. “Get back to the boat, I’m burning it.”

  “Wait! I have to get that cage and food,” she said. Kralen turned and looked at her, instantly catching sight of the ferret.

  “Why do you have that… thing?”

  “It’s not a thing, it’s a ferret, and he’s scared.”

  The ferret hissed angrily at one of the Powan guards as they passed.

  Kralen sighed, “I suppose you’re keeping it?”

  “Of course, not going to let you burn it,” she told him, and headed out. One of the guards brought the cage, and another grabbed a large bag of food. Emily stuffed the rest of the ferret’s things into a pillow case, and then carried them all across to the yacht.

  Kralen appeared after a few minutes, and they untied the boat and watched it float away from them as smoke began to pour out of the windows.

  Emily watched as a tear streamed down her face, 17 mortals killed at the hands of the Encala. Kralen started up the yacht and pulled away from the burning wreckage. When she could no longer see anything but smoke, she went down the stairs with the ferret to clean his cage and put him away.

  “Can you hold him while I clean?” she asked one of the guards. He reached out and took the ferret by the scruff of his neck as the animal hissed and chirped at the heku, then tried to bite him, “Just be nice to him, I’ll hurry.”

  The guard didn’t answer, but continued to hold the squirming ferret at arm’s length. Emily plugged her nose as she cleaned out the bottom of the cage. It was obvious that it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time. Once it had fresh wood chips, food, and water, she took the ferret from the guard and put him back in his home, then locked the door and sat down to watch him play.

  “What’s that?” Dain asked, sitting down by the cage.

  “It’s a ferret.”

  “Ew,” he said, and wrinkled his nose.

  “Not ew, he’s cute.”

  “Tinky,” Dain said, and moved away from the cage.

  “No it’s not stinky. I just cleaned it.”

  “I beg to differ,” Kralen said from the stairs.

  Emily knelt on the couch to look out the window when she heard thunder, “Damnit, I hate storms.”

  “Do something fun, get your mind off of it.”

  She smiled, “Poker?”

  Kralen shrugged, “Poker’s no fun with 2 of us.”

  “Do you four know how to play?” she asked the stiff guards.

  “Affirmative, Commander,” the blond answered.

  “Come play then. It’ll be fun,” she said, and pulled out a deck of cards.

  “Sorry, Ma’am, this is a mission. We can’t play games.”

  “It’s not strip poker, now sit down, and play,” she said, and sat down at the table to shuffle. Kralen chuckled and sat beside her, and then looked up at the unmoving Powan guards.

  “I think that was an order,” he said, and the guards all moved to the table.

  “Hmm, what are we going to use as a wager?” Emily asked, still shuffling. She winced slightly when thunder cracked above them.

  “Guard hours,” one of them said, and smiled.

  “I can’t work guard hours,” Emily said. “What will I use?”

  “We have cleaning hours too, the barracks.”

  “Ok… but what do I win?”

  “Babysitting?”

  “Deal, Kralen, cut the deck.”

  Emily got up and grabbed a bag of spaghetti. She handed each player eight pieces to represent a guard hour.

  Kralen sighed, “I don’t think the Elder would like it if you clean the barracks.”

  “He won’t care… come on, cut it.”

  Kralen shrugged and cut the deck.

  “Blondie, what are we playing?”

  “5-card draw,” he said, and then glanced at Kralen. “Will we log these hours?”

  “Yes, we will,” he said, and chuckled. “It was an order.”

  “Ok, Sir, are we to let her win?” the guard asked Kralen, too low for Emily to hear.

  “Not a chance,” Kralen whispered back, and watched as Emily dealt each player 5 cards.

  Everyone shifted their cards and then Emily turned to Kralen, “You’re up.”

  “I’m opening with 3,” Kralen said, and slid 3 pieces of spaghetti across the table.

  The guard beside him thought, and then slid 3 pieces forward, “Call.” Everyone else called and slid 3 pieces of spaghetti forward.

  “How many, Kralen?” Emily asked, and handed him two cards when he asked. She went around the table and gave each guard the cards they asked for.

  Kralen grinned, “Opening with another 1.”

  “Fold,” the guard next to him said, and laid the cards down. />
  “Raise 1,” the next guard said, and slid 2 more onto the pile.

  The next guard looked around at everyone’s face, and then slid 2 spaghetti onto the pile.

  “Fold,” the next said.

  Emily thought and then smiled, “Call it at 2.”

  Kralen showed his cards. He had three of a kind with Queens.

  “Ouch,” the guard said, and then grinned, “But not enough… full house, 2’s and Jacks.”

  Everyone looked at Emily and she shook her head, “Damn… I only have a flush.”

  “Ooooh yeah,” the winning guard cheered, and pulled the spaghetti toward him.

  Five hours later, one guard held almost all of the spaghetti and the last round was just ending.

  “Fold,” Emily said, and laid her cards down.

  “Open with 2,” Kralen told them.

  “Fold”

  “Fold”

  “Fold”

  “Calling 2,” the guard by Emily said.

  “Show’em,” Emily told them.

  “Flush, aces high,” Kralen said, and showed his cards.

  “Damn, flush jack’s high,” said the guard, and Kralen collected his spaghetti.

  “Back to work,” Kralen told them, and the four guards disappeared up the stairs and were soon replaced by four different ones.

  Emily smiled and started picking up the cards, “Thanks… that was fun.”

  “Won’t be when Chevalier catches you cleaning the barracks.”

  “Oh he won’t care. He knows I have small betting issues.”

  “Is that what you call it?”

  “Yup,” she said, laughing. “He better get used to it, I owe 6 hours of cleaning.”

  “Yeah well I owe 2 hours of guard duty, and I’m not even assigned to the city like they are.”

  “Nice,” Emily said, and wiped down the table.

  “We get to go back tomorrow and it’s supposed to be sunny out,” Kralen said, and started up the stairs.

  Emily shooed the guards to the top of the stairs and got herself and Dain ready for bed. Once she was tucked in bed, two guards moved to the living area and shut off the lights. She tossed and turned. Every time she shut her eyes, the image of those 17 dead bodies filled her mind. Her screams pierced the night as she cried out in her sleep. They became bad enough that Kralen sat beside her on the bed so he could touch her arm when she began to get upset.