Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  The mustang took the bridle and saddle well, and Emily handed him a treat, then turned around and saw that most of the Cavalry had come to watch. She blushed slightly, and then hoisted herself up onto his back. She waited while he settled down and then took a deep breath and kicked his sides.

  The mustang reared up once and tried to buck her off, but she held tightly and he soon calmed back down.

  “Why don’t you let me do that?” Mark asked, obviously nervous.

  “What fun is that?” Emily asked, and again kicked the mustang’s sides. He edged forward a few steps and then stopped.

  “I guess I lost the bet,” Silas said from the fence.

  “What bet is that?” Emily asked as she kicked again and led the mustang around the corral slowly.

  “I bet he’d kill you before you broke him.”

  “Gee thanks,” Emily said. “Open the gate please.”

  “I don’t know, Em,” Mark said, still unsure of how well the mustang was broken.

  “Just do it, please.”

  Mark sighed and opened the fence. Emily led the mustang out of the corral and pulled him to a stop, then took him in a few slow circles and smiled.

  “It’s now or never, eh?” she said, and then kicked the mustang hard. He jerked forward and took off at a fast gallop. Emily led him quickly through the city. She’d never been on a horse this fast, and it was exhilarating. She was soon up on the hills to the west of town and running toward the tree line. The mustang didn’t even slow down as he ran into the woods. He wove in and out of the trees, and Emily turned control over to him and just held on as she shut her eyes and felt the wind in her hair.

  Emily pulled him to a stop on the far west side when she saw the dead Durango still sitting out by the trees. She looked at it for a few minutes, and then headed back. She soon emerged out of the forest and kicked the stallion into a full gallop again, racing for the city. The Cavalry was still waiting for her when she got him back to the stables.

  “Oh good, we don’t have to come scrape you off of the ground,” Mark said, grinning.

  “Such faith! I think Damon’s going to be a good horse, but I’m guessing he’ll never be gentle enough for Allen,” Emily said, and slipped off of him.

  “You named him Damon?” Silas asked, shaking his head.

  “Sure, he’s a pain in the ass and as mean as they come,” she explained, and led him back into his stall.

  Mark followed her, “We could let Chatotay have him. His horse is pregnant.”

  “Yeah, he can use him until his mare foals,” Emily said, and scooped food into the stallion’s trough.

  “He’s not going to want to ride a horse named Damon though.”

  “He’ll live… now… how do I get through to your Cavalry to stop letting the mares into the corral with the stallions while they are in heat?” Emily asked, and shut Damon’s stall.

  Mark shrugged, “I told them… again.”

  “Do they need a birds and bees lesson? I could go over it with them… how exactly foals come about.”

  Mark leaned his head back and laughed, “That would be interesting.”

  Emily turned to Mark, “That mustang’s the fastest horse I’ve ever been on.”

  “Really?” Mark asked, shocked.

  “It’s amazing.”

  “Can I give him a try? Maybe tomorrow?”

  Emily nodded, “Sure, take him out.”

  “Sweet!” Mark said, and grinned.

  “I’m going out for a run. I’ll be back in a bit.”

  “Sure, I’ll go too,” Mark said, and headed in to change.

  “Solo, Mark. I won’t leave the city, promise,” Emily told him, and then grinned when he walked out of the stables, irritated.

  Within a few minutes, Emily was out running with her iPod clipped to her arm and her hair tied up high. She ran through the city, taking random streets and ignoring the way the heku watched from their windows as she passed.

  “Damnit,” she sighed as her iPod died. She stopped and pulled the earphones out of her ears to see if she could fix it, then looked around, not entirely sure where she was, and sat down against a small store so she could fix her music. She stopped working on the iPod when she heard whispers.

  “In three days,” a man whispered from the alleyway behind her.

  “We’re going to get caught. We can’t keep letting the Valle in here,” a woman replied.

  Emily’s heart pounded in her chest as she listened, unmoving.

  The man sighed, “We’ve been here for thirty four years. We can’t give up now. We’re both Generals, and they don’t suspect a thing.”

  “They are getting suspicious though, wondering how the Valle keep getting into the city,” the woman whispered.

  “Until we get Selhman and Ingram back, we have to just stay here and keep doing what we’re doing.”

  “Yeah, but that bloody mortal is back in the palace. That makes things more dangerous.”

  “She won’t matter once we take out the Council. Just have patience, Terry. We’ll be back in our coven soon enough,” the man whispered.

  Emily stood up suddenly when she heard the voices moving closer, but forgot that her iPod was sitting on her lap, and it crashed loudly to the cobblestone ground when she stood. Suddenly, the three heku blurred and surrounded her.

  “What have we here?” the male heku asked. Emily saw the rank tag on his guard uniform, he was a Commander.

  “An eavesdropper,” the female said.

  Emily suddenly found herself restrained by the male General. He had one arm around her upper chest and one around her waist.

  “What did you hear, Baby Girl?” he whispered into her ear.

  “Enough,” Emily scowled.

  The three heku led Emily into a house in the city. She looked around the sparsely decorated house as she was pushed down onto a hard wooden chair.

  “What do we do with her?” the male General asked.

  Terry looked at Emily nervously, “I don’t know. Not sure why she hasn’t ashed us yet.”

  Emily cringed when she heard a deep inhale.

  “Damn,” Terry said.

  Emily felt someone beside her as the Commander ran his nose up her neck. He finally pulled away from her and she could breathe again.

  “Stop it,” the male General said, and pushed the Commander toward a window. “No feeding from her until we decide what to do.”

  Chapter 2 - Traitors

  Mark slipped off of his horse and reached down to grab Emily’s iPod off of the ground. He inhaled and looked around.

  “Her scent is a few hours old,” Mark said to Kralen and Silas.

  “I knew I should have gone running with her,” Silas said, and slipped off of his horse.

  Kralen looked around, “She promised to stay in the city. We weren’t worried about it.”

  Four more members of the Cavalry rode up.

  “What’s up?” one of them asked.

  “We found Emily’s broken iPod. She went for a run a few hours ago,” Mark explained.

  “This’ll make the Council happy. Emily’s gone so soon after returning,” Silas said, and grinned slightly.

  Mark sighed, “Let me think.”

  “Why don’t we talk to Kyle and see what he says,” Silas suggested.

  “Great idea, let’s do that,” Mark said, and mounted his horse. The Cavalry ran through the city streets, and while Kralen took Mark’s horse into the stables, Mark went into the palace and knocked on Kyle’s office door.

  “Enter,” Kyle said, and looked up when Mark entered. “Yes?”

  Mark sat down across from Kyle’s desk, “While we were out on patrol, we found this on the street.”

  Kyle took the broken iPod from Mark and looked at him, “Emily’s, I take it?”

  Mark nodded, “She went out for a run a few hours ago. We didn’t go because she promised to stay in the city.”

  Kyle sighed, “Damn.”

  “Her scent is in the are
a, but it’s a few hours old.”

  “See if you can find her. Chevalier’s head may explode if she’s already missing,” Kyle said, and looked at the iPod.

  Mark nodded and left Kyle’s office.

  “Quinn, Zohn,” Kyle called out, and then told both of them to enter when they came to his door.

  Zohn waited by the door while Quinn sat down.

  “Where’s Chevalier?” Kyle asked them.

  “He’s out. I think he ran to Banks Coven for a few hours,” Quinn explained.

  “Emily’s missing,” Kyle said, and grinned slightly.

  Zohn’s shoulders fell, “Define… missing.”

  “The Cavalry said she went out for a run, but while on patrol, they found her iPod broken on the streets.”

  “Great,” Quinn said. “Let’s find her before he gets back.”

  Kyle nodded, “The Cavalry is out right now looking.”

  ***

  Emily watched as the three heku fought over what to do with her. One wanted to drain her and get it over with, but he seemed to be the only one that wasn’t acclimating to her scent. The woman wanted to take her to the Valle Council, but the other man reminded her that their orders were that she was to be left alone.

  “Damnit, this isn’t leaving her alone! Now we’ve defied the Valle Council and kidnapped the Winchester,” the male General said, frowning.

  “So let me just drain her. No one will know who did it,” the Commander suggested.

  The woman looked over at Emily, “Why doesn’t she turn us to ash?”

  They all three looked over at Emily.

  “I’m not ashing you because I’m being good, and letting the Equites handle things,” Emily told them.

  “They aren’t even looking for you, though,” the General told her.

  “Then… maybe you’re stuck with me,” Emily said, and smiled.

  “We can’t keep her here, and we can’t take her to the Council. We weren’t supposed to touch her,” the Commander said, and sat down.

  “Maybe you should have thought about that before you took me… or maybe you should have paid more attention to who was around while you three talked about being traitors,” Emily said, and saw them cringe.

  “So that’s it. We have to kill her,” the General said.

  “Yeah, like I’m going to let you kill me.”

  “You won’t have a choice, Child.”

  “Yes I will. It’s not that I can’t ash you… it’s that until now, I’ve chosen not to.”

  “I suspect you can’t, or you would have,” the General said, and grinned at her.

  “Ok, you keep thinking that.”

  The General sighed, “Let’s take her to the Valle Council. We don’t have a choice.”

  “Oh fun, I haven’t seen Sotomar in a while,” Emily told them, and rolled her eyes.

  Emily’s hands were tied behind her back and she was put into the trunk of a small car. She wasn’t afraid or scared, but just laid back and napped during the long drive to the Valle’s Palace City.

  Emily squinted when the General opened the trunk door and pulled her onto her feet. She saw the familiar Valle Palace and walked in with her three captors. The door guard to the council chambers gasped when he saw her, and immediately let them into the council chambers.

  Emily grinned when she saw the horrified look on Sotomar’s face.

  “What have you done!?” Sotomar yelled at them.

  “We had to, Sir. She heard us talking,” the General said.

  “Nice to see you again, Sotomar,” Emily said, and smiled.

  “Emily… we’re so sorry,” one of the other Valle Elders said.

  “First, let my hands go, please,” Emily said, and Exavior appeared at her back and untied them.

  When her hands were free, Exavior pulled her into a strong hug, “I’ve missed you.”

  She pulled away and smiled, “Have a seat, Exavior. I’m not done.”

  The Council watched her nervously as Exavior moved up to his seat and sat down.

  “What… what can we do to make this up to you?” Sotomar asked, his eyes showed the terror.

  “Last time I was here, I let all of your prisoners go,” Emily reminded them.

  The Council watched her carefully.

  “What Equites do you have here right now?”

  Sotomar sighed, “Exavior, take her down.”

  Exavior walked down and took Emily’s hand, “Let me show you.”

  “Keep these three here, I’m not done with them,” Emily told Sotomar as she left with Exavior.

  Emily followed Exavior down into the prison cells. He led her past a few empty cells, and then opened a door, revealing seven members of the Thukil Cavalry.

  “Commander?” Darren asked.

  “Come on,” Emily told them, and they fell in behind her. Exavior opened another cell and Emily looked inside.

  “Zohn?”

  Zohn looked up at her, shocked, “Emily? What are you doing here?”

  “Getting you out, come on,” Emily said, and Zohn joined the Thukil guards behind her.

  “That’s it for the Equites,” Exavior said.

  Emily glanced back at Zohn, “Who came with you?”

  “They let the guards go and just kept me,” Zohn told her.

  “Ok, back to the council chambers,” Emily said. She rolled her eyes when Exavior tried to take her hand again, and she pulled her hand away from him, then cringed when he dropped down to his knees.

  “Marry me, Emily,” Exavior said, and took her hand.

  “Seriously… Exavior…” Emily started, but he stood suddenly and pressed his lips to hers. She pulled away from him as she heard growls and hisses from the Equites behind her.

  “Marry me,” Exavior said again.

  “Take us back to Sotomar,” Emily told him, and took Zohn’s hand, pulling close to his side. Exavior glared at Zohn and led them back to the council chambers.

  The Valle Council was in a discussion when they returned. Exavior headed back for Emily, but she pulled closer to Zohn and heard him growl. Exavior sighed and returned to his chair.

  Emily stepped forward, “What are we going to do about this? I warned you…”

  Sotomar stood, “Please, don’t disappear. We are still under the month long protection.”

  “Yes, but this isn’t a stray heku attack. This is bigger,” Emily said.

  “Sit down!” Sotomar yelled at Exavior when he stood up to walk down to Emily.

  “So… this is what I suggest. You let my Cavalry members go, and I take Zohn with me. The three of these Equites guards come with me, too,” Emily said, and crossed her arms.

  “What!?” Sotomar yelled. “We can’t give you eleven prisoners.”

  “Yes you can, or you can face the wrath of the Encala and the Equites when I disappear,” Emily said, and smiled sweetly.

  “Damnit, we want to punish these three for what they’ve done,” Sotomar said, motioning to the three Equites guards.

  “Nope, I take them too,” Emily said.

  Sotomar growled, and then slammed his fist on the table, “Take them and go.”

  “We’ll need a ride,” Emily said, and glanced at Darren. “A helicopter back to Council City, please.”

  Sotomar nodded.

  Emily turned to the Thukil Cavalry, “Take those three into custody.”

  They followed their Commander’s orders immediately, and took the two Generals and the City Commander, restraining them.

  “Emily, why are some of the top Commanding Officers for Council City under arrest?” Zohn asked, sounding irritated.

  “Oh, there’s a good story. Let’s go and I’ll fill in the Council,” Emily told him, and followed the Valle guards up to the waiting helicopter.

  They all crawled into the Valle helicopter, and Emily grabbed the radio as they approached the city, “Base from Emily.”

  There was a pause, “Emily? This is base.”

  “We’re coming in in a Valle he
licopter, can we land?”

  “One moment,” the voice said, and the Valle pilot hovered over the city, waiting for permission to land.

  “Emily from base,” Kyle said.

  “Go ahead Kyle,” Emily said.

  “Permission to land, take it to the roof between Equites 1 and Equites 2.”

  “Got it.”

  The Valle pilot glanced back at her, “If I land this thing, am I going to be able to leave?”

  Emily nodded, “You have my word. As soon as we’re off the helicopter, you can go.”

  He nodded and landed the helicopter between the two Equites’ Blackhawks. Guards quickly surrounded the enemy helicopter and crouched low as the pilot cut the engines and the door opened.

  “Emily?” Mark asked, helping her out of the helicopter.

  “Take them into custody. The Council will want to see them,” Emily told Mark, and he nodded and ordered the three Commanding Officers into custody. They were escorted into the palace by both the Thukil and the Council City guards.

  Emily nodded to the pilot, and he quickly started the helicopter and took off. Emily, Darren, and Zohn headed inside and walked into the council chambers. Zohn moved up to his seat after he shrugged at the other Elders.

  Emily noticed that Chevalier was more relaxed and wasn’t glaring at her anymore.

  “Ok, so, Emily… care to explain?” Quinn asked, leaning forward.

  “Sure,” she said, and stepped forward a bit. “I was out running and overheard the three stooges here talking about how they’ve been letting the Valle into the city, and that there is a Valle attack coming in three days.”

  “What!?” Zohn yelled, looking at the two Generals.

  “She’s lying!” the male General said.

  “Oh, shut up,” Emily said, and then turned back. “Geniuses freaked out after they kidnapped me, and decided to take me to the Valle’s palace.”

  “I’m imagining their orders were to leave you alone,” Quinn said.

  Emily nodded, “Yes, so Sotomar was pretty mad. So I agreed not to disappear in return for the captured Thukil Cavalry and Zohn. See, simple enough.”

  Quinn rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Ok, so these three are traitors, the Thukils are all free, and you returned Zohn.”

  “Yes, seems so.”

  “Escort them to the prison,” Zohn said. “Everyone out, except Emily.”