Page 1542

((The 14 pages of Valentine's Day + Double Wednesday -- Page 10 of 16))
One of the Hun’Sho to Zeff’s right stepped forward. “Please calm yourself, Mr. Zeff.”

Zeff recognized the voice but not the face, as they all looked more or less the same to him. “Torveis?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me what is happening here,” said Zeff, able to steady his voice somewhat. “Where are my people, Torveis?”

“Mr. Zeff, you ask more than you realize...”

Zeff didn’t know what that meant, and he didn’t care, either. “I ask only what is necessary. If you cannot help me, then stand aside.”

Torveis stepped closer and reached out to him.

A wall of soul-strengthened ice shot up between them. “BACK. AWAY.”

Torveis did. A chorus of mumbles and whispers rose from the onlookers.

Zeff refocused on the direction that the laugh had originated from. “One of you will answer my questions.”

And again, there was silence.

Fine, then.

‘Hold on, Ax,” said Zeff.

The reaper latched onto his back without hesitating.

Zeff picked the first Hun’Sho in front of him and walked forward. He coated his own hand in a gauntlet of ice and grabbed the man by the molten neck. “Allow me to ask again. Where are my--?”

Someone in the back row started running away.

Zeff released his chosen Hun’Sho and launched himself over the crowd on a platform of hissing ice. The runner didn’t get far. Zeff landed on him and pinned him to the ground with both bare hands and ice alike.

“Where were you going?” he said, much calmer now that he had his target within his grasp.

The other Hun’Sho were yelling something now, but Zeff wasn’t listening. He materialized a dome around himself and his captive.

“S-stop!” the Hun’Sho man said. “I know nothing!”

“Tell me what you do know, then. Why did you laugh at us?”

“I--! I wasn’t--! I know nothing!”

Zeff tightened his grip on the back of the man’s neck.

‘You should dig into his chest and go for his core,’ advised Ax privately. ‘His heart, in other words.’

Zeff paused at that. ‘He won’t be useful if he is dead, Ax.’

‘He will not die unless you destroy his core. These people are very durable.’

That was good enough for Zeff. He ripped into the Hun’Sho man’s back with a blade of ice and started rifling around.

“Ah! Stop! Don’t do that! I know nothing that you--!”

Zeff’s hand found a very warm sphere, and he knew it was what was he looking for when the Hun’Sho man released an inhuman scream as soon as Zeff had touched it.

“Answer my questions.”

“The elders! They have been lying to the rest of us! That is all I know!”

Well, that was new, at least. “Who are these elders?”

“Ah--oh! Lemoros and Torveis are elders! And Arsok! And Meigast! Hermeios! And--!”

“That is good enough.” Zeff stood and released him.