“Em…” Chevalier sighed.
“Don’t say it,” she told him as she wound a rubber band around the base of the braid. “I’m fine.”
“Look though,” Kyle said, pointing to the monitor. “Your blood pressure is still high.”
“I’m sure it is,” she said as she dug around in the closet. “It’ll be the same here as it will be outside in the sun.”
Kyle looked at Chevalier and he shrugged before walking over, “It’s not safe.”
Emily stood up and slipped on her cowboy boots, “I can’t sit here. The Cavalry is out training and I’m just going to go watch.”
Chevalier reached down and picked her up from under her arms, and lifted her so he could look into her face directly, “It’s too dangerous.”
She sighed, “I can’t sit here anymore. I’ve been good and stayed in bed for 2 weeks. Now though, I’m bored, I’m anxious, and I need to get out of here.”
He set her down gently, “Then take Dr. Edwards with you.”
“No”
“No?”
“You heard me,” she said as she headed for the door.
Chevalier looked down as the St. Bernard puppy pulled at his pants, and then he looked at Kyle, “Now what?”
He shrugged, “I guess we let her go.”
Alexis smiled and pulled the puppy off of her Dad, “She’ll be ok. Hold on too tight and she’ll explode, remember?”
“I know,” he said, and then headed back down to the council chambers with Kyle.
Emily smiled and turned her face up toward the sun as she walked to the stables. The Cavalry was all out on the hills above town, except for the 4 trailing her. When she slipped a bridle onto her stallion, the one closest to her gasped.
“You’re getting on a horse?” he asked with wide eyes.
Emily looked over at him, “Yes, so?”
“It’s… the… well the Elders said no horses.”
“They aren’t my Elders,” she said, and slipped onto the horse.
The other four blurred around the stables and came out on their horses. She smiled and kicked her stallion into a nice, slow walk toward the gates.
“What the hell!” Kralen growled when he saw them coming.
Mark sighed, “Nice.”
Emily stopped her stallion beside them and smiled, “How’s it going?”
“What are you doing out of bed… and on a horse?” Kralen yelled.
“Stop it!” she said angrily. “I’m not sitting in that bed anymore.”
“The Elders said…”
“Need I remind you that I am not, nor have I ever, listened to the Elders.”
Cavalry members around her tensed and looked nervously at Mark as he shook his head, “You know it’s dangerous.”
“No, what’s dangerous is forcing me to stay in bed for another four months. I’ve had babies before. I think I have this down.”
“Do you have a headache?” Mark asked.
“Yes”
“Flashes of light?”
“Yes”
“Then you should be inside!”
“No I shouldn’t!” Emily yelled, irritated. “Now either get on with training or I will.”
Silas, silent up until now, grinned, “You’re going to train them?”
She looked over at him, “Yes.”
“That should be interesting.”
“You think I can’t?”
“Oh, I know you can.”
Her eyes narrowed, “Do I detect sarcasm?”
“Not at all,” he said, smiling broadly.
“Fine,” Emily said, and then turned her horse toward where the Cavalry was doing training. “Listen up, heku!”
They all turned, unsure, and looked at her.
She smiled, “Time for some Emily training.”
“Oh God,” Mark sighed, and rolled his eyes.
She glared at him and then turned back to the Cavalry, “I don’t care how you tackle a heku, or bite your donors… what I care about is how well you ride your horse.”
“You don’t what?” Horace asked, not sure he heard right.
She smiled, “I’m going to see how well you maneuver through trees.”
“How exactly, are you going to do that?”
“Easy, divide up in Cavalry from before my death… and then Cavalry that joined after. Gifford stays with the seasoned though.”
The Cavalry Leaders watched as they divided up and then turned to Emily.
“New guys,” Emily said, and turned her horse to face the woods on the other side of Council City. “In those woods is a broken down Durango. Under the passenger seat’s floor mat is a compartment with a diary in it. I want it.”
Before she’d even fully finished, the new Cavalry members took off across the field toward the opposite side of the city.
“And the others?” Mark asked, looking at the seasoned members of the Cavalry.
She turned around, “Beat me through the trees… and I’ll go back to bed and tell Chev that you’re the one that talked me into it.”
There was a gasp seconds before Emily kicked her racing stallion and disappeared through the trees.
“Screw it, I want that,” Mark said, kicking his horse into a gallop after her. He could hear the others close behind him as he slowly lost sight of Emily. He growled when Kralen passed him on foot, and suddenly ditched his horse and blurred toward them.
Emily had a big grin as she flew through the trees, easily guiding the racing stallion through her chosen path. She gasped though when a blur passed her and she realized the heku were cheating. While the racing stallion could easily beat them out in the open, he was severely compromised by the twists and turns of the dense forest.
When she came out of the trees, she came face-to-face with over half of the seasoned Cavalry, “You cheated!”
Mark smiled, “Nope, we didn’t.”
“Yes you did. You were supposed to race me on horseback.”
“You didn’t say that,” Horace told her. “You said we had to beat you through the trees.”
“No!” Emily yelled. “You still cheated. You know what I meant.”
“I won,” Silas said, smiling.
“You didn’t win anything,” she said, turning her horse back for the trees.
He suddenly appeared on the horse behind her, “I’ll walk you back.”
“Hey!” she yelled when he took the reins from her hands.
“Don’t forget, the Elder knows I did it.”
“Yeah… the Elder will know you cheat.”
By the time they got back to the hills outside of town, the newer Cavalry had returned and one rode up to her and handed her the old diary.
“You are?” she asked, thumbing through it.
“I’m Jeremy.”
“Did you read it?”
“No, Ma’am.”
“Ok,” she said, and then tucked the book into her saddle bag.
“Let’s head back,” Silas said, kicking her horse.
“Wait,” Mark called out, and then he turned toward the city. “The previous Council is causing problems.”
Emily glared, “I’ll take care of them.”
“No,” Kralen told her. “You stay out of the way and let our Council handle this.”
“I owe them.”
“No,” Mark said.
“Silas, take team 8 through the cemetery,” Kralen said. “We’ll go meet up with the Council.”
“Wait, no!” Emily yelled when Silas headed for the cemetery. She angrily crossed her arms when he kept heading for the cemetery’s entrance.
Everyone fell silent when they entered the cemetery. There was always a hushed reverence in the ancient burial ground, and only the sound of hoof beats could be heard.
“Wait,” Emily whispered, and started to slide off of the horse.
“What?” Silas asked.
“I want to see my grave.”
He frowned, but let her down and watched as she walked over and pulled off
the black cover.
“Not sure this is proper,” Silas grumbled.
Emily knelt down and ran her fingers over the etched stone. Next, she examined runes that were carved into the marble, “What are these for?”
“That’d be a question for the Elders,” Silas said.
Emily stood up quickly and looked toward the back of the cemetery that was gated off. It was dark and gloomy in that area, and she’d never bothered to go there because it was restricted, “Did you hear that?”
Silas looked over, “No.”
“Voices… like a whisper.”
“That’s abandoned.”
“What’s over there?” she asked, taking a step closer.
One of the members of the Cavalry looked over at the unkempt area, “Those are the dead. No retirees over there, no banished, just those that were killed without honor.”
“So, like a criminal graveyard?” she asked, trying to see over the fence.
“Sort of,” Silas said. “No one worth anything is buried over there, and it’s restricted.”
Emily got on her tiptoes on one of the metal bars and looked over the railing, “I still hear whispers.”
Silas appeared beside her, though he didn’t have to stand on the railing to see over the fence, “I don’t hear anything.”
She studied the broken down cemetery with its crumbled headstones and dead grass, “This place is creepy.”
“All the more reason to get you inside.”
“No, I hear voices.”
“So now what?”
Emily looked down the fence and saw the gate, “Do you know the code?”
“No, I’m not authorized to be in there.”
“Who is?”
“The Elders,” Silas said. He grabbed her ankle when she began to crawl over the fence, “Oh no ya don’t.”
“Let go, I want to go see.”
“No! If I’m not authorized to be in there, neither are you.”
“I’m a member of the Council.”
He sighed and let her go, “Chevalier’s going to kill me.”
Emily jumped over the metal spikes and landed on the dead grass, “The voice is louder in here.”
“Just one?”
“Yeah, thought it was more, but from in here I can hear just the one.”
Emily knelt down and put her ear to the ground.
“Hear anything?” Silas asked.
“No”
“So let’s go.”
“Hello?” Emily called out, but the vast cemetery remained silent.
“Come on, Em,” Silas said.
“Wait,” she whispered, and cocked her head to the side.
He watched her closely.
“What’s Ego sum promptus?” she asked, turning to Silas.
He frowned, “It’s… well… pretty much ‘I’m ready’.”
“What are you ready for?” Emily yelled toward the back of the cemetery.
“Seriously, come out or I’ll have to call for the Elder.”
She sighed, “I guess… though I want to know who is talking.”
“Maybe Chevalier will know. He’s the only one that comes in here.”
“Why?”
“Something about being an Old One.”
Emily crossed her arms, “That doesn’t make sense.”
“Well that’s all I know.”
“What?” Emily asked, turning suddenly back toward the cemetery.
“What?”
“What’s Quidnam es vos?”
“Get out!” Silas roared, and jumped the fence just as Emily took a step forward and disappeared into the ground with a scream.
Emily stopped screaming and fought to grab onto something. She was quickly sliding down a metal tube, deeper into the earth, and she couldn’t find any way to stop her momentum. It was too dark to see, but when the metal disappeared from beneath her she screamed again and landed hard against the cold ground, slightly twisting her ankle in the process.
She got to her knees and looked around, but her eyes wouldn’t adjust.
“Did you hurt yourself?” a soft voice said from the dark.
Emily screamed and crawled away from the voice frantically.
***
“Get out of there!” Chevalier yelled.
Silas turned with wide eyes, “Emily… she… fell…”
Chevalier appeared by his side, “In here?”
He nodded, “I was trying to get her out. She kept hearing voices… and then she just fell.”
Silas watched as Chevalier cleared out the exact spot Emily fell and looked down a tiny hole, “Are you sure she fell down here?”
“Yes, Elder. Right where you are.”
“Damnit, Emily’d be the only one that would fit down there too.”
“What’s there?” Mark asked, appearing beside them.
Zohn and Quinn appeared and Quinn was outwardly angry, “No one is supposed to be over here!”
Silas straightened up and saluted, “Sir… I was trying to get Emily to return.”
“Emily came over here?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Then where is she?”
“She fell down the portal,” Chevalier said, looking up at him.
Zohn gasped, “She did? That’s so tiny.”
Quinn sighed, “So is Emily.”
“Has he said anything?” Zohn asked Chevalier.
“No, nothing yet.”
“Clear out!” Quinn ordered. The members of the Cavalry immediately disappeared from the restricted cemetery.
“Emily?” Chevalier called down the metal lined hole.
***
Emily wasn’t sure where she was, but she knew it was cold, “Who are you?”
She turned quickly when she heard someone behind her, “It’s been thousands of years since I saw another,” the voice said softly.
Emily covered her neck instinctively and whispered, “Who are you?”
“You ask my name?”
“Are you heku?”
“I am… yes, I am a heku,” he said, sounding unsure.
“Well bite me and I’ll ash you,” she said, spinning around when she heard a sound behind her.
“You will do what?”
“Turn you to ash.”
“Fascinating”
Emily backed into a wall and then used it to stand up, “Is there a light down here?”
“A light?” he asked. His voice was soft and comforting, but she fought against its sincereness and kept on guard.
“Yes, I can’t see.”
“You are interesting,” he said, and she could tell he was closer by the sound of his voice.
“Oh?”
She heard him inhale and braced herself for an attack, but it didn’t come, “You are not mortal… yet you are not heku.”
“I’m… well… about half and half.”
“Half and half would be a mortal though.”
“So it’s more like 51 / 49 I guess,” she explained, and then moved along the wall until she came to a corner. Then she turned and put her back to the cold stone walls.
“It’s more,” he said, sounding concerned. “Are you an Old One?”
“No”
“You carry the scent of an Ancient.”
She sighed, “My father… was an Ancient.”
“Interesting”
Emily jumped when a light shone suddenly and she saw a dark form light an old lantern. When he turned, he was withered and gray, his face full of deep wrinkles, and his eyes shone silver in the light.
***
Chevalier stood up and looked around the cemetery.
Zohn broke the silence, “Even as Elders we are told very little about this place.”
“It’s for Old Ones only,” Chevalier whispered.
“Where did she fall to then?”
“The vaults,” Chevalier said, looking over at them.
Quinn gasped, “The Equites vaults?”
“Yes”
“Guarded by an A
ncient?”
Chevalier nodded, “Yes, one which can communicate only with Old Ones and other Ancients that are above ground. That’s why he was put down there.”
“Emily’s with another Ancient?” Zohn whispered.
“Yes”
“But Silas said she heard a voice.”
“Somehow, she heard him. It’s about time for a delivery and he calls out to me when it’s time,” Chevalier said.
“How can she hear if only Old Ones and Ancients can hear him this far up?” Quinn asked.
“I don’t know.”
“So we dig,” Zohn said.
***
“Did you injure yourself in the fall?” he asked, studying her carefully.
“No”
“Which is an untruth,” he whispered, and then smiled. “Might I have a look?”
“What is this place?” Emily asked as her eyes began to adjust and she saw the tall rows of books.
He cocked his head slightly to the side, “That is confidential.”
“Is there a way out?”
“No”
Emily limped over to a chair and sat down, then looked at him, “How long have you been down here?”
“I have always been down here.”
“You’re an Ancient?”
“Yes”
“Then why weren’t you banished with the rest?”
He frowned, “Were the Ancients banished?”
“Just some of them,” she said. She wasn’t quite sure what to say to him, and was still waiting for an attack.
As he walked, he limped slightly, and it looked like it pained him to move, “I haven’t seen another in thousands of years.”
“Why are you down here then?”
“To protect what is ours.”
She looked over at the books again, and got the feeling that the underground expanse of books was massive.
“You are with child?”
Emily looked at him, but didn’t answer.
“I am sorry, that is intrusive,” he said, and then sat down carefully.
“Are you hurt?” she asked him.
He thought and then looked up at her, “I am not.”
Emily jerked when a loud thud sounded. The Ancient stood slowly and hobbled over to a small container. He opened it and then unrolled a parchment.
“You are Emily, are you not?” he asked, re-rolling the paper.
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 14