Zohn raised an eyebrow, “All three Valle Elders are coming here to try to make nice with Emily?”
There was a brief pause, “Yes.”
“How long until they arrive?”
“Later this morning.”
Zohn smiled and hung up the phone, “This should be interesting.”
Emily felt herself rising out of the drug induced fog. She wasn’t sure where she was, and her eyes were too heavy to open.
“Em?” Chevalier asked softly, and touched her cheek.
She heard his voice and was finally able to open her eyes.
He smiled, “We got you some coffee to help you wake up.”
Emily sat up slowly, her head swimming, and took the coffee from Kyle.
“You scared us to death. Do you know that?” Kyle told her.
She nodded and sipped her coffee as the memories from the last 24 hours swept back to her, “Heku need to stop drugging me to get their way.”
Chevalier grinned, “Sometimes it’s the only way to keep you safe.”
“It’s not funny. It’s an assault,” she said, and finished her coffee.
“Understood, sometimes we forget,” Kyle told her, and then took the empty cup.
“Don’t be mad at Liam,” she said, and looked over at Chevalier.
“We aren’t. He told us everything and has been given a vacation.”
“Encala City is in ruins.”
“We know,” Kyle told her. “What concerns us is that you went there… there could still have been fighting.”
“I could have saved some of them.”
“You could have died in the process.”
Her eyes became pained, “They left some of them to suffer.”
Chevalier simply nodded.
“1800 dead… not turned to ash… dead.”
“Em, we know,” Kyle said softly.
Her eyes filled with tears and she wrapped her arms around her knees and sunk her head between her arms, “How can the Valle do that?”
“The Encala and the Valle both want land in Europe. It’s critical land that could be used as a central staging point for attacks and defense in Europe,” Kyle told her.
“So they kill one another over it?”
“Yes, just like humans have done in the past. Land can be very important.”
“I threatened the Valle,” she said, and looked up at them.
Chevalier smiled slightly, “We heard.”
“While we’re talking, do you want to let us know who’s after you?” Kyle asked.
Emily shook her head.
“So someone is after you.”
“I don’t know.”
“What makes you think someone may be?”
She shrugged.
“Mark said they could use your help today,” Chevalier told her, and touched her arm.
“Let me take a shower and I’ll go.”
Kyle and Chevalier left and went back to the council chambers. They were both shocked to hear that the Valle Elders would be arriving that morning to speak to Emily.
Emily quickly showered and braided her hair before pulling on a light sun dress. It was warm out and she didn’t feel like riding anyway. She’d rather stay on the ground in the shade. She smiled at the door guards, and then checked the lawn before heading out to the stables. Everyone knew by now that she’d made an impromptu trip to Encala City immediately following a Valle attack, and were furious.
She walked up to stand by Silas and Kralen, though they didn’t talk to her at all. She watched as Mark leveled a rifle at a nearby tree and shot. One of the horses reared angrily, sending its rider flying over his head and onto the ground. Emily quickly moved forward and took his reins, and was able to calm him down.
As the rider approached the horse, the stallion’s ears laid back against his head and he whinnied angrily and stomped at the heku.
“Hey!” Emily yelled, and pulled the horse to look at her. “Stop it.”
The stallion lowered his head to her, but kept a close eye on the heku. She rubbed his nose softly and leaned her head against his muzzle.
“Fascinating to watch her with animals,” Exavior said from behind them. Suddenly, the entire Cavalry was off their horses and surrounding the Valle Elders.
Sotomar smiled, “We’re not here to cause trouble.”
Emily looked over at them and decided to let Mark have at them. She wanted to calm the horse.
Mark crouched slightly, “If you have a meeting with the Council then get inside, if you don’t, then I suggest you leave Council City immediately.”
“It’s actually Emily we wish to talk to,” Exavior told him calmly.
Mark stood up and listened to something, “You’re to meet with the Council first. We’ll bring Emily in when they are ready.”
“Very well,” Sotomar said. The three Valle Elders followed four members of the Cavalry inside.
“Walk up here slowly,” Emily said as she rubbed the horse’s neck.
The heku inched forward with his hands out, but the stallion began to shift nervously. Emily held it still, and within a few minutes, the heku was able to touch the horse’s nose and rub it softly.
“Ok, hold his reins,” she told him, and hoisted herself into the saddle. “Hand me a gun.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Mark asked as he handed it to her.
“No, I’m not,” she told him. She leveled the rifle at a nearby tree and then felt the familiar sensation of being watched. She turned suddenly in the saddle, and carefully looked at the woods behind them.
Emily lifted the rifle, and used the scope to better see the distant trees, looking for any sign of someone in them.
“Go,” Mark whispered, and four of the full Cavalry members took off on foot toward the trees she was looking at.
She turned back to Mark, “They don’t need to go search the woods.”
“Then what were you looking for?”
Emily sighed, “Nothing.”
“Then they look,” he told her, irritated.
“Ok, hold on,” she said, and again leveled the rifle at the tree. She shot a single bullet and then held on while the horse began to step backwards away from the heku. She patted the stallion’s neck, “Shhhh.”
Once he calmed down, she again shot a single bullet and this time the horse’s ears laid back briefly, but he didn’t move. Another shot rang out and the horse stayed steady. Emily slipped off of him and motioned for the heku to take her place. He easily jumped onto the horse, and Emily shot off the final round.
“There,” she said, and handed the rifle back to Mark.
“The Elders would like you in the council chambers,” Derrick said from behind her.
“Tell them no,” she told him, and headed into the stable.
Derrick grinned and shook his head, while the new recruits gasped and looked at one another nervously.
Mark sighed, “Tell them we’ll work on it.”
“Will do,” Derrick said, and blurred away.
“Start shooting while on horseback. I’ll be out in a bit to check on you,” Mark told the recruits, and then headed into the stables with Silas and Kralen.
Derrick stepped into the council chambers and everyone turned toward him, “The Lady Emily said no… however, the General is going to see what he can do.”
Chevalier grinned, “I’ll never get used to that.”
“Yes, well it’s unacceptable behavior,” Dustin growled.
“It’s Emily,” Exavior told him.
“Kyle…” Chevalier said, and Kyle disappeared.
The Chief Enforcer walked into the stables and headed for where he heard Mark talking.
“Don’t you at least want to hear what they have to say?” Mark asked. He was looking down at her while Emily cleaned out the horse shoes on Chevalier’s Arabian.
“No,” she said, and glanced up when Kyle came in.
“They want to apologize,” Kyle told her.
“They need to apologiz
e to the Encala, not to me.”
Kyle smiled, “You know that’s not going to happen. They don’t want to apologize for attacking the Encala.”
“Then what do they want to apologize for?”
“For upsetting you.”
“No,” she said again, and brushed the dirt off of her skirt. She stood up and grabbed the little foot stool, and carried it over to her horse.
“Em… just come with me, please,” Kyle said, following her.
“Why? Do I get to ash them?”
“We’d prefer if you didn’t.”
Emily looked down at the ground and softened her voice, “I don’t want to see them… what they did was… it was inexcusable.”
“It’s what heku do to solve disputes,” Silas said softly.
“That’s what humans do to solve disputes,” Mark added.
Kyle put his hand out, “Come on.”
Emily stood up and brushed the straw off of her dress and then slipped her shoes off, and carried them in one hand as she took Kyle’s in the other.
They stepped out of the stables and Emily stopped. She looked hard at the tree line.
“What did you see?” Kyle asked, carefully scanning the trees.
Emily didn’t answer, but once she was sure no one was watching, she took off running across the lawn. Kyle easily kept up and watched around in case she’d seen something dangerous. Once they got into the palace, she slowed to a walk.
“What was that?”
“What?” she asked.
“Are you being followed or threatened?” Kyle asked, frowning slightly.
“No”
Derrick smiled and opened the door for him. When Emily saw the Valle Elders, she gripped tightly to Kyle’s arm and stepped inside. She walked with him up to the council members and let go to sit down beside Chevalier, her eyes never leaving the enemy.
“Thank you for coming,” Sotomar said, and bowed slightly.
“Why are you here?” she asked, taking Chevalier’s hand under the desk.
“We want to apologize for upsetting you with the attack on the Encala,” Valle Elder Ryan told her.
“You need to apologize to them, not me.”
“We aren’t sorry for what we did, it was necessary… but we are sorry for causing you unnecessary stress and grief.”
Emily frowned, “You left some of them alive to suffer.”
Exavior nodded, “Yes, we did.”
“You don’t find that at all uncivilized?”
“No”
“So it’s ok if I just sit and torture you for fun?”
“No… what we did was necessary. You’re just being illogical and emotional,” Exavior told her.
Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Shut up, Exavior… nothing else from you.”
“But…”
Sotomar held his hand up, “She warned you.”
Exavior sighed and stepped back.
“We wish you wouldn’t have seen what you did. We didn’t expect you to rush into Encala City,” Sotomar explained.
“Neither did we,” Zohn explained.
“So that’s how it’s going to work? How long before you attack us?” Emily asked.
“We have no plans on attacking the Equites. They are too strong,” Ryan explained.
“For now… but in 100 years when you’re bigger, you’ll do the same to us… What stops me from taking pre-emptive measures and doing away with the Valle Elders right now?” she asked.
Sotomar smiled slightly, “We’ve done nothing to the Equites to warrant that.”
“Besides… if you did that, you’d feel guilty, and no one needs that kind of regret right now,” Exavior said haughtily.
Emily turned him to ash in an instant and sat back in her chair, “Nope… not feeling guilty or regretful.”
Quinn chuckled, “She did warn him.”
Sotomar nodded, “That she did.”
“What are you doing to help the Encala now? Their city is in ruins,” Emily said to the Valle.
Ryan frowned, “Nothing… we made our point, and we will allow them to rebuild.”
“Since when, in the history of your species, have you stayed around to help clean up after a mess?” Dustin asked, laughing slightly.
Emily glared at him, “One more word and I’ll mix you up with Exavior.”
Dustin stood up, “You cannot speak to me like that!”
Emily stood also, “Wanna watch me?”
“Sit down!” Quinn yelled, and both sat suddenly at the furiousness of his voice.
Emily sighed and turned to Sotomar, “Now tell me the real reason you came here.”
“We told you…”
“No you didn’t. You don’t need to apologize to me, and I suspect you are here because you’re afraid I’m going to seek revenge for the Encala deaths.”
“Well… that too…”
“You did say we would pay,” Ryan reminded her.
Emily smiled slightly, “You’re afraid of me?”
“Yes, of course we are,” Sotomar said.
“Yet you were brave enough to bring idiot back.”
“That wasn’t really bravery, that was strategic.”
“Emily, Yisolatara…” someone whispered softly from behind her. Emily turned suddenly in her chair, but no one was behind her. She ran and opened the ante-chamber door, but it was empty also.
“Em?” Chevalier asked, and when she turned, she saw the entire Council looking at her.
“Just… never mind.” She walked back over and sat down.
“So are we ok to return to our city and know you won’t personally be launching an attack on us?” Ryan asked.
“Is your ceremonial room ceiling painted or etched?” Emily asked Sotomar.
He was taken aback, but then answered, “It is etched.”
“Have you ever seen one that’s painted red?”
“No, I have not,” Sotomar answered, unsure of why he was being asked.
“And what’s Yisolatara?”
“What!?” Sotomar screamed, his eyes wide.
“Where did you hear that?” Chevalier yelled, and stood up.
Emily stood up and took a step away from him as the entire room erupted in angry shouts.
“Tell me!” Chevalier growled, and took her arm. “Where did you hear that?”
“Answer him,” Kyle yelled, and stepped toward her.
“Stop it!” Emily screamed, and Chevalier turned to ash as the rest of them looked at her with piercing and accusing eyes. She turned and took off running, not sure exactly where to go, but she knew she had to get away from the heku in the council chambers.
“Emily!” Kyle yelled after her.
Emily didn’t stop. She started toward the garage, but Jaron stepped out, “Why are you running?”
She stopped and took a few steps backwards.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, taking a step towards her.
She spun and ran for the stables, relieved when Jaron didn’t follow her.
“Emily, what’s wrong?” Mark asked when she flew past him and dug around in the storage shed. She came out with a cell phone and her Taser, and pointed it at where Mark, Silas, and Kralen were talking.
“Whoa… what’s up?” Kralen asked, taking a step back.
Emily grabbed a bridle and slid it onto her racing stallion, keeping a close eye on the heku.
Silas suddenly moved toward her, “You can’t leave. The Council wants to talk to you.”
“Get back, Silas,” Emily said, and inched her horse forward.
“No,” Kralen said, and stood beside him. “The Council wants you to stay here.”
Emily took aim and shot Mark in the chest with the Taser. The sound of electricity filled the stables and he writhed in agony on the floor. Silas started toward her, but he and Kralen both turned into ash. She kicked her horse and jumped Mark as she headed toward the trees. The Council stepped out of the palace as she disappeared into the city.
“Mark!” Kyle yelled, a
nd ran up to him. He removed the Taser electrodes when Mark stood up, shaky and still in pain.
When Emily was deep into the trees, she opened the cell and quickly dialed William.
“Good afternoon, Emily,” William said, sounding pleased to hear from her.
“Help me,” she whispered, and kept the horse steadily running toward the west.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m in trouble. I don’t know what to do… I ashed Exavior and Chevalier, and a few guards, I Tasered the General…”
William spoke quickly to someone else and then came back to the phone, “Calm down and tell me what happened.”
“I need one thing… tell me what Yisolatara is.”
William growled, “Where did you hear that?!”
“Just tell me damnit! What is it?”
“Did the Valle say that to you?”
“Tell me!” she screamed.
“No… can you get to Encala City?” William asked hurriedly. She began to weave a pattern through the trees, crisscrossing and doubling back to confuse anyone tracking her.
“I doubt it,” she told him, and stopped when she got to the old log she found a few years ago. She slid off the horse and hit him on the rump, sending him flying back toward the palace.
Emily slid easily into the hollowed out log, making sure her feet were hidden deep inside.
“Please,” William asked calmly. “Tell me where you heard that word.”
“I can’t… why can’t you just tell me what it means and why when I asked the Council, they turned on me.”
“It’s unspeakable. No one’s spoken that word in thousands of years.”
“Why?”
“Even the reason isn’t spoken, Child. It’s too… well it just isn’t.”
Emily whispered, “They’re coming to get me.”
“Go to them, they won’t hurt you. I would imagine you just surprised them,” William told her.
Emily hurried and turned off the phone, and then shut her eyes to control her breathing. She was ready to turn as many of them to ash as she had to, to get away.
“Emily?” Chevalier called out. “We know you’re around here… I’m sorry I yelled, and I’m not mad.”
She could hear her own heart pounding and prayed the heku didn’t.
“You know we won’t hurt you,” Zohn said.
Emily almost cried out when someone jumped up to stand on the log above her.
Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Page 42