Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  The Chief Investigator moved out of the way while Kyle revived the two sets of ashes. They both dressed as soon as they could move, and then looked up at the two members of the Council.

  “Wanna spill it?” Kyle asked, crossing his arms.

  The closest guard looked at the other nervously.

  “Lady Emily came into the barracks. We tried to get her out, and she turned us to ash and must have dumped us in here,” he explained.

  “I may not be the Interrogator, but I sure as hell can tell when I’m being fed a line of bullshit,” the Chief Investigator said, irritated.

  “Let’s try this again… Lady Emily ran off, which usually indicates someone overstepped… we find you two in her stables…” Kyle said, glaring at them.

  “He told the truth. We didn’t do anything but try to stop her from going into the barracks,” the other guard said.

  “He just said she was already in the barracks,” Kyle reminded him. He grabbed the closest guard by the collar, and hauled him toward the palace, followed by the Chief Investigator with the other guard.

  The council members dropped the two city guards to their knees and took their spots with the rest of the Council.

  Zohn looked down at them, “What have we here?”

  “We found their ashes in the stables,” Kyle said. “Their stories don’t quite match.”

  Richard, the Chief Interrogator, looked down at them, “Let me hear it then.”

  The older guard dropped his eyes, “The Lady came into the barracks. We tried to get her out, so she turned us to ash and dumped us in the stables.”

  “Now, let’s try the truth,” Richard said, sitting back down.

  “It’s the truth. We did nothing wrong!”

  “Lies”

  Zohn sighed, “I’m left with quite a problem… you see… I was entrusted with care of the Winchester, and at the moment, I have no idea where she is, and I suspect you are the cause of that.”

  The guards glanced at each other.

  “You aren’t even supposed to be in the stables,” Dustin reminded them. “That’s off limits except to the Council and the Cavalry.”

  “We didn’t walk in there. I swear… we were carried in as ashes.”

  “Lies… I hate being lied to by the guard staff,” the Chief Interrogator growled.

  “Not as much as I do… tell us what happened or we’ll have to take you into interrogation,” Zohn told them.

  “You know what?” one of them said angrily. “Yes we did walk into the stables, but you can kill me before I’ll tell you why.”

  Zohn raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

  “I didn’t! I didn’t walk in,” the other one said, with wide eyes.

  “Kyle, see if you can locate Emily… How hard can it be to hide a purple Aero?” Zohn said, and then turned to the others. “Who wants to find out what’s going on?”

  “I do,” the Chief Investigator said. “I’m tired of being lied to by these two.”

  “I’m in,” Richard said, and the Chief Investigator followed him out, while members of the palace guards hauled the two city guards with them.

  “I’m not going to be happy if Emily had a valid reason to run,” Zohn growled.

  Dustin shrugged, “It’s starting to look like she did.”

  Zohn glared at him.

  “Emily… what’s up?” Kyle asked, and the rest of the Council turned to him. They could clearly hear Emily.

  “Nothing,” she said, obviously irritated.

  “We revived the guards.”

  “Ok”

  “They aren’t talking yet… but we’ll know. Why don’t you save us time and tell us why you ran.”

  “No”

  Kyle grinned slightly, “Then let me know where you are so I can come talk.”

  “No”

  Dustin chuckled.

  “Are you heading back to the island?”

  “No, I can’t, they are turning a mortal.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Going to Thukil?”

  “No”

  “Powan?”

  “No”

  “Em, please tell me, if for no other reason than the V.E.S.”

  Emily sighed, “I don’t want to be around anyone right now… just let those two guards go, and don’t interrogate them.”

  “We can’t let them go. They broke a direct order from the Elders. City guards aren’t to be in the stables,” Kyle reminded her.

  “Then punish them, but don’t question them.”

  “We won’t question them then if you’ll tell me where you are.”

  Emily hung up the phone without another word.

  “Well, it was worth a try,” Dustin said. “Obviously one of what Elder Quinn calls a personal violation.”

  “Damnit, why does this always happen when I’m alone with her?” Zohn yelled. “We’ve spent years shaping up the guard staff and have come no further.”

  “Maybe the infraction isn’t that bad, and we can deal with it quickly, and she’ll return,” the Court Reporter said.

  ***

  Emily tipped the bellboy and then shut the door behind him, locking all of the locks on the door. She sat Dain down on the soft carpet and looked around the elegant hotel suite. She went to the phone and ordered lunch, and then started to skim through the TV while Dain used the wall to walk around the room and explore.

  They stayed in the hotel room all day and into the evening. Just after dark, Emily curled up with the baby on the bed and fell asleep with the TV on to drowned out the normal sounds of a hotel. She didn’t wake up until she heard a knock on the door early the next morning. It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, and then she pulled on a robe and peeked through the peep hole in the door.

  Sighing, she opened the door and let Zohn and Kyle in. They came in and quietly looked around the room, the tension growing.

  “So… what?” Emily asked, picking Dain up off of the bed.

  “We can’t get out of the guards what they did,” Zohn said. “Which tells us that they would prefer death over telling the Council.”

  Emily shrugged, “Ok, doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

  “We want you to tell us,” Kyle said.

  “If they want death, then give it to them. I’m not telling either.”

  Zohn looked at her, shocked, “You’d let us kill them?”

  “Do I honestly have a say in it?”

  “Well… not really.”

  Emily picked up the phone and ordered pancakes and orange juice, then pulled her hair back, ignoring how they watched her.

  Kyle walked over and touched a small puncture wound on her shoulder, “Did one of them bite you?”

  “No”

  “That’s an odd location for a heku bite,” Zohn said, bending down slightly to look at her shoulder.

  Emily pulled her shirt to cover it, “Stop inspecting me.”

  “Sorry,” Zohn said, and moved to the couch to sit down.

  “You don’t have to stay here. As soon as Storm calls and tells me the ceremony is over, I’ll head back to the island.”

  “Yes, well, you were assaulted somehow in my care, and I want to find out how,” Zohn told her.

  Emily glanced over at him, “Like you care.”

  “But I do.”

  “You think I’m a pain in the ass that is always in the way and throws hissy fits to get my way.”

  “True… however, when the others trusted that I would take care of you, I took that responsibility seriously, and I’m quite disturbed that I failed.”

  “You didn’t fail,” Emily said to him. “They can’t blame you for this.”

  “They will,” Kyle said.

  “Well I don’t blame you,” she said, and started digging through the cooler.

  “Appreciated, however, they will,” Zohn told her.

  “So if I tell you what happened, will that fix it?”

  “Yes, as long as it’s resolved by the time they get back… which includes you i
n the palace where they left you.”

  “Fine… then punish them for hitting on me, but I’m not coming back.”

  “Em, you’d never ash someone for hitting on you,” Kyle said, and took a pen away from Dain.

  “That’s all you’re getting.”

  “Let’s just call it a sexual assault then, and punish them accordingly,” Zohn suggested.

  Emily cringed, “Let’s not.”

  “Then tell us,” Kyle said, sitting down on a chair beside her. “Let us do our jobs.”

  She shook her head and went to get the door when someone knocked. She took the tray and shut the door behind the delivery boy.

  Zohn sighed and answered his phone when it rang, “Zohn here.”

  Emily put the pancakes down and took a small bite, watching Zohn carefully.

  Zohn frowned, “I figured he would eventually.”

  The room was silent as Zohn’s face changed, a shadow passed over his features and his eyes darkened, “No… don’t kill them. I want them.”

  Emily jumped slightly when Zohn slammed his phone shut.

  “Sir?” Kyle asked, tensing.

  “Why are you embarrassed about that? You did nothing wrong!” Zohn hissed.

  Emily shrugged, afraid to speak when he was so angry.

  “What happened?” Kyle asked.

  “Zohn, please… no,” Emily begged.

  “The others have returned, and Richard was able to get information from Anthony,” Zohn said, heading for the door. “He wants us all to return immediately.”

  “Let’s go,” Kyle said, putting a hand out.

  Emily shook her head, “I don’t want to see him right now.”

  “Chevalier?”

  She nodded.

  “Why not?”

  “He’s going to be… really… mad.”

  Zohn nodded, “That’s putting it lightly.”

  “I’ll go check out,” Kyle said, heading for the door with the card key.

  Emily turned to Zohn when Kyle left, and his features softened some.

  “I wish you would trust us,” Zohn told her. “What they did was uncalled for and inappropriate. You did nothing wrong, nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about.”

  “It keeps happening to me,” she whispered, and started throwing her things in a bag.

  She stopped when Zohn put a hand on her shoulder, “No one’s blaming you.”

  “I don’t want to see them.”

  “We need you to testify.”

  She shook her head, “No.”

  “I’ll talk to Chevalier. See if I can get him to let you miss this trial.”

  Zohn grabbed her bag while she picked up Dain, and they headed out to meet up with Kyle.

  She sat in her Aero in the palace garage and watched Kyle and Zohn get out of Kyle’s Ferrari. They turned to wait for her. She sat back until Zohn came to the Aero and opened the door.

  “Do you want me to send Chevalier out?”

  “No,” she said, watching the door.

  “Come in with Kyle, then. I’ll go talk to him first.”

  Emily nodded and watched him blur into the palace. Kyle walked over and got Dain out of his seat.

  Emily finally relented and followed them into the palace. They quietly walked up the stairs, and Kyle handed the baby off to Silas and disappeared into the back of the council chambers. He started to fuss, so the heku blurred away with the baby and left Emily by the trial room doors.

  “Going in?” Derrick asked.

  “Are the heku in there… the ones on trial?”

  “Not yet. The Elders want briefed by the Chief Interrogator first.”

  “Is that what they’re doing now?”

  “No, they are waiting for you to begin.”

  Emily glanced down the stairs, “Tell them I didn’t come in.”

  Derrick grinned, “They already know you’re out here.”

  “I’ll give you $500,000 to blur me away.”

  Derrick responded by opening the door to the trial area, “I don’t need $500,000.”

  Emily sighed and headed in, and stood on the floor beneath the Council while they all looked down at her. She risked a glance at Chevalier, and he looked confused, yet on the verge of being angry.

  “Lady Emily, we appreciate you returning,” Quinn said. “Elder Zohn made it perfectly clear that you do not wish to be here at this trial.”

  “So I can go?”

  “No, we need you to tell us if what we were told by the two city guards is correct. The Chief Interrogator was able to get them to talk, but still feels like something is left out.”

  “What did they tell you?”

  “We need you to tell us in your own words what happened,” the Chief Interrogator said.

  Emily looked at Zohn, and he smiled, “It’s ok, tell us.”

  “No, you ask them, and if they are telling the truth, I’ll let you know.”

  “That won’t help if they are leaving parts out,” Quinn said.

  Zohn stood up, “Come with me, for a moment.”

  Emily nodded, glanced at Chevalier, and then followed Zohn out the back of the council chambers and into a private conference room.

  “She just left with Zohn?” Quinn asked, wide eyed.

  Chevalier was still staring at the door, “Without a fight, even.”

  “Bring them in here, Derrick. At least let us make them squirm while we wait,” Quinn said.

  “I don’t understand why you won’t tell us,” Zohn said, sitting down in a chair. “Is it because you’ve done something wrong and are afraid of getting into trouble?”

  Emily shook her head, “No.”

  “Are you afraid of the two guards?”

  “No”

  “Can you help me understand?”

  Emily sighed, “It’s humiliating how the heku think of me.”

  “There’s more…”

  “Yes”

  “Please, tell me.”

  “Kyle and Chevalier… they get… really mad.”

  “Yes, they do, but not at you.”

  “This was pretty bad.”

  “And you don’t want to see how the Council reacts.”

  Emily nodded.

  “Will you tell us if we swear not to get angry?” Zohn asked softly.

  “Can I just tell you?”

  Zohn grinned slightly, “We need a first person to testify. How will it be easier for you?”

  “Have the heku tell their story, and I’ll tell you if they are correct.”

  “Will you tell us if they are leaving something out?”

  She thought about it and nodded.

  Zohn smiled, “Ok… let’s go back in.”

  The Council all watched, shocked, when Emily came in holding Zohn’s arm. She sat down between him and Chevalier, and tensed when she saw the heku on the ground. They both looked at the ground when she appeared.

  “We will be doing this a little differently. Please question the city guards, and Emily will tell us if they are correct and if anything is left out,” Zohn told the others. They all nodded and turned to the trial area.

  Richard, the Chief Interrogator, stood up, “This trial is against Anthony and John-Paul. They are city guards who were discovered yesterday afternoon. They were in the stables and had been turned to ash.”

  “Upon interrogation, Anthony admitted that they went to the stables to find Lady Emily, and to clear up some rumors they heard about her. When they confronted her about the rumors, she became upset and turned them to ash.”

  Emily leaned over and whispered softly into Zohn’s ear.

  Zohn sighed, “So far it’s all wrong. They aren’t exactly lying, though.”

  Richard turned to the heku, frowning, “What’s it going to take to get a straight answer out of you two?”

  She reached over and whispered to Zohn again.

  “Ok,” Zohn said. “Start when you caught her attention in the stables, and motioned her into the overseer’s room. You shut the door behind
her and…”

  “We thought the rumors were true,” Anthony said, still watching the ground.

  “Shut up,” John-Paul growled at him.

  “What rumors might that be?” Richard asked him.

  “That… she… you know.”

  “No, we don’t know.”

  “That she sometimes cheats on the Elder.”

  Chevalier growled softly.

  Zohn nodded, “So… what? You decided to proposition her to get in line?”

  Emily frowned and looked at Zohn, but he was glaring at the guards.

  Anthony nodded, “Yes.”

  “I thought we stopped those rumors,” Kyle yelled angrily.

  Zohn glanced at Emily, “Was that all? They asked to… you know…”

  Emily shook her head.

  “We… we wanted… you know… both of us… at once…”

  Emily cringed when the Council erupted in angry talking, until Zohn cleared his throat and they all calmed down.

  “Was that the end of it?” Richard questioned.

  “Yes, Sir,” Anthony said.

  She looked down at her hands and whispered, “No, it wasn’t.”

  “This really would go faster if you would just tell us,” Richard said bluntly. He was silenced by a glare from Zohn.

  “They wanted to role-play,” Emily whispered softly.

  “No… no we didn’t,” John-Paul said, glaring at Emily. “She’s lying.”

  “Seems to me like you are,” Richard told him.

  Emily leaned over and whispered quickly to Zohn, trying to make her voice low enough the others couldn’t hear. When she was done, she turned in her chair and ran out of the council chambers. She heard Zohn hiss as she shut the door, and she called for Silas to bring the baby to her, then took Dain and disappeared into the game room.

  Once she and the baby were settled onto a large fluffy pillow, she started a movie and cuddled with him while he napped. Two movies later, she looked up when Chevalier, Kyle, Quinn, and Zohn walked in. She was gently running her fingers through Dain’s thick black hair as she watched them come in.

  The heku all sat around her and she muted the T.V.

  “We have one question, something not explained,” Kyle said, and smiled slightly. She could tell he was still fighting to control his rage.

  “Ok,” she said.

  “Who bit you?”

  Emily frowned, “No one bit me.”

  “How did you get a puncture wound on your shoulder?”