Feros and the Underworld Prince (50 page)

“
Hmm, very good. Where are the others?” the Queen exhales a cloud of bright pink smoke.

“
We do not know, my Queen. There are traces of other footprints, but they disappeared.” The ghoul replies.

“
Why don’t we ask our friend here?” the Queen suggests as she turns her attention towards me. The pink smoke begins to fill the surrounding area. I start to disengage my helmet so I can have a conversation, but I’m halted.

(Caution. This smoke is imbued with magic. It appears to be something of a deception detection spell along with a scanning agent that will tell her what you are. There doesn’t appear to be any mind-altering or illusion magic so she doesn’t seem to want to control you… yet)

At Airi’s warning, I keep my helmet engaged. There is no point in lying about the girls since they already know that they were here.

“
I had three companions, but they were in my way so I sent them home.” I reply.

“
You eliminated nearly a dozen ifrits single handedly?” the Queen asks with a raised eyebrow.

“
Yes, your highness.” I reply.

“
What are you? Most beings can’t see the jinn… are you one of Horus’s new creations?” the Queen inquires.

“
Horus’s creations? What has that bastard been up to!? ANSWER ME!” I demand as I take a few unconscious steps forward.

(Behind you)

I quickly turn while forming and throwing explosive darts into the barrels of the four FAMAS rifles that are pointed at me. I detonate them as the ghoul from before charges at me with a large dagger aimed at my stomach. He’s faster than the enemies I’m used to, but I’m still quicker. I grab the blade of the dagger with my left hand, his wrist with my right hand, and redirect the dagger across my body while tugging downward. With the ghoul off balance, I kick out his legs and forcefully pulling downward. He twists onto his back while I fall onto his chest and turn the dagger in his hand towards his neck.

“
CEASE!” the Queen shouts and I halt my current action of driving this dagger into the ghoul’s neck.

“
To me, it appears that we are on the same side.” The Queen says and I stand up. I hand the dagger back to the ghoul, handle first.

“
I’m on no one’s side; I just want Horus to pay. Once I get to him, he will be begging for death for hours in retribution for my daughter.” I say with a malicious tone.

“
Then we both want the same thing. I know what it feels like to have your child taken from you… to have them stolen from you… but what makes you think that you are capable of defeating Horus, god of the sky, the hunt, war, and a head of the Egyptian pantheon?” the Queen asks.

“
Because killing gods is in my job description.” I reply. The Queen smiles at me in response.

“
Horus is currently at the palace of that bastard, the Ifrit King. Horus has been performing unethical experiments on our people; he takes jinni of all races to the laboratory in the palace and they’re never seen again. The Ifrit King even gave his own hybrid daughter to Horus.” The Queen vehemently says and I immediately think of Naia.

“
Rumor has it that Horus has been trying to develop some kind of super jinn or some new breed of soldier. We have been planning to overthrow the Ifrit King for months for his involvement with Horus, but we haven’t had the force necessary to do battle against the Ifrit King
and
Horus.” The Queen explains.

“
I can help with that. Can you get me to Horus?” I inquire.

“
There is actually a passageway that leads directly into Horus’s laboratory that is relatively unguarded; presumably because there are few people crazy enough to willingly confront the head of a Category 3 pantheon. We can show you how to get there so long as you keep Horus preoccupied long enough for our forces to eliminate the Ifrit King.” The Queen responds.

“
Then I’m in.” I reply and the Queen smiles.

“
Welcome to the Marid-Ghoul Freedom Coalition.” She says.

“
Just to be clear, I’m not joining the MGFC, we are simply working towards a common goal.” I reply.

“
COLE!” Cheza’s voice explodes in my mind.

“
Cheza?” I think as I feel that she is headed towards me.

“
You guys should open that door, like immediately!” I say to the guards.

“
Why?” the ghoul from before asks.

“
Just hurry up and open the door!” I demand. The guards look to the Queen and she gives them confirmation.

I quickly walk through the steel doors and up the steps as the trap door opens. Cheza informs me that she’s arrived by tackling me back down the stairs.

“
COLE! WHAT THE FUCK!?” Cheza screams. This is just a guess… but I think she’s angry.

“
Are you okay?” Cheza asks as her ice blue eyes soften.

“
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Cheza angrily screams while her eyes suddenly narrow.

“
Are you hurt?” Cheza asks, concerned once again.

“
WHY THE FUCK DID YOU SEND ME BACK!?” Cheza screams as her eyes start to glisten. I think I might’ve broken her…

“
I’m sorry Cheza, but my priority is always keeping you safe and you couldn’t even see the jinn, let alone fight back so I did the only thing I could think of to protect you.” I try to explain.

“
You’re always doing that! Stop trying to protect me all of the time! You just don’t get it… I always want to be with you, regardless of the consequences…” Cheza softly replies as I watch a tear leave a sparkling trail down her left cheek.

“
Okay… next time, I promise I’ll keep you by my side, no matter what.” I tell her.

“
Cole… I want to get married… like actually married with a ceremony and a dress and everything…” Cheza timidly says.

“
That sounds nice.” I reply.

I feel Cheza’s happiness through the connection as her face lights up. This is the face that I could definitely look at every day for the rest of my life. I imagine Cheza waking me up after having made breakfast for me whilst wearing only an apron… just like Kita… I imagine us starting a family together and playing with our child… just like Addie… but before any of that can happen, Horus will pay for those he has taken from me. He will pay dearly.

(Yes, we will see to it that he rues the day that he ever crossed us; however, I do not approve of your plan)

“
What? It should work! Horus is very well informed about me so I can’t just charge him with the Mu-cutter, especially since he’s as strong and as fast as Dagda. By allowing him to exploit the fact that my waist isn’t covered by my jacket and armored jeans, and letting him cut me in half, he will be lured into a false sense of security, causing him to start monologue-ing, which will buy me the time to pull myself back together and launch a surprise Mu-cutter attack!”

(Yes but that plan only works under several serious fallacies. 1: we don’t know that he knows about the chink in your armor. 2: we aren’t positive that he’ll monologue. 3: you assume that you can pull yourself back together after being cut in half when you couldn’t even keep your severed little finger attached long enough to fool around with Cheza)

“…
Wow, it sounds really stupid when you put it like that.”

(Right?)

“
Do you have an alternative strategy?”

(Yes, but you are not going to approve, which is why I went above you)

“
Above me?”

“
Cole, you aren’t stopping me from helping you fight Horus.” Cheza says with a tone that promises death to whoever stands in her way.

“
Alright, so what’s your plan, Airi?”

(First, transfuse two liters of your blood into Cheza)

“
How do you expect me to go into battle while two liters low on blood?”

(You won’t be. You will give her two liters of your blood while sucking out the last two liters of hers)

“
So your plan requires Cheza to only have my blood in her?”

(That is correct)

“
Hey Queenie! How long will it take you to assemble your troops?” I shout into the throne room from where Cheza has me pinned at the base of the stairs. The ghoul says something about insolence, but it’s drowned out by the Queen’s response.

“
Approximately two hours.” She replies.

“
Perfect. We’re going to need to do this thing tonight before Horus realizes that I’m here and gunning for him. I need someplace where I won’t be disturbed for about an hour.” I inform her.

“
I’ll have a room set up for you. We need to move to a safe house as she might’ve compromised our position.” The Queen replies.

“
Alright, I’ll just follow you. Come on Cheza.” I say as I turn my attention back up to face Cheza.

“
Cole, who were you talking to and where are we going?” Cheza asks as she gets off of me.

“…
You know, this is exactly the kind of situation I was talking about.” I say as I look around the room at the dozen jinn that are watching us.

“
Oh… there’s a jinni in here isn’t there.” Cheza says with a smattering of embarrassment on her face.

(Allow me to assist you with that, Chezarei)

“
AH! Whoa! Is this how everything looks to you, Cole? Do you see auras all of the time? Wow! My aura is so pretty; no wonder you like looking at me so much!” Cheza says as she moves her hand in front of her face.

(Chezarei is currently linked to your senses)

I look around the room and demonstrate to Cheza what she has been unable to see.

“
Um, Cole? Why do all these jinn have guns?” Cheza asks.

“
Cheza, this is the MGFC, the Marid-Ghoul Freedom Coalition. They are opposing Horus and the Ifrit King who supports Horus so they will be helping us get to him. This is the marid Queen, head of the MGFC, and the person I was talking to.” I introduce as the Queen walks over.

“
I’m Tali and we need to change locations immediately; a scout just reported that a small squadron is headed this way.” The Queen quickly says.

“
Dagda must’ve headed back then. I’m Chezarei; sorry for giving away the location of your bunker.” Cheza replies.

“
And I’m Cole.” I say as I take Cheza’s hand and follow Tali back into the throne room.

“
What’s this about Dagda?” I think to Cheza.

“
Dagda ported me here and said that he would cause a distraction while I found you, before porting back to prepare the army.” Cheza replies as everyone files into the throne room and shuts the steel doors.

“
Hopefully we will have this wrapped up before he even gets here!” I think as five guards work on moving the dozens of pillows aside.

A steel trap door with ten steps is revealed once enough pillows are pushed aside. Given Cheza’s lack of tripping down the steps, I’d say that Airi probably switched her vision back. We walk single-file down into a tunnel and the tunnel starts to branch off. I continue to follow Tali as guards in groups of twos and threes proceed down different branches. Once we’re all split up, only two guards with FAMAS rifles and the ghoul remain with Tali, Cheza, and I.

“
Here, you may need this in case things get rough.” The ghoul says as he hands me back my holster pouch.

“
Thanks. What’s to stop the enemy from following us down the tunnel?” I ask.

“
The bunker is wired with laser grids that detonate explosives when the throne room doors are opened while the tunnel’s door is also open. Explosives are also wired to collapse the tunnel along certain points.” The ghoul explains.