Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Alexis, no!” Quinn shouted, and picked her up quickly when she began to focus on Chevalier.

  Chevalier turned back towards the toddler and then moved a step away from Allen, “Sit down.”

  Quinn flipped open his cell phone and frowned, “The Encala Council didn’t call.”

  “What do you mean?” Chevalier asked.

  “She said the Encala Elders called my number… they didn’t, and I don’t show that she called them either,” Quinn explained. “Why would she lie about that?”

  “I don’t know,” Chevalier said, and pulled her cell phone out of his pocket. “She didn’t use her phone either.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  Quinn unfolded the paper Emily said was William’s cell phone, and dialed the number while Chevalier watched.

  Quinn hung the phone up, “That number has been disconnected.”

  Chevalier sighed, “I don’t understand.”

  Allen sat back down against the wall, and Quinn settled down in a soft couch with Alexis, while Chevalier paced. They waited through the night with no word from the doctors. Just after dawn, Silas came to take Alexis back to the palace, but Allen refused to go.

  Dr. Hayden came in just after his rounds and looked around the waiting room. He walked over to Quinn and Chevalier, “Where did Kyle go?”

  “He had to step out, can I see her?” Chevalier asked.

  The doctor thought and then nodded, “Ok, but if you upset her, I’m stopping all guests for the rest of the day.”

  “Maybe I should go,” Quinn said, too softly for the doctor to hear.

  “It’ll be ok,” Chevalier told him, and followed the doctor into the room. He was surprised to see an x-ray machine in the room, but couldn’t help but grin when the doctor froze.

  “Emily, why did you take your I.V. out?” he asked, and turned off the drip. “We talked about this.”

  Emily shrugged and watched Chevalier.

  The doctor wrote something in her chart and then left after a warning to Chevalier to keep it calm.

  Chevalier pulled a chair up to her, and she watched him as she sat cross-legged on the bed.

  “Can I get you anything?” he asked her.

  “No,” Emily said, and pulled a blanket up over her.

  Chevalier sighed, “I’m sorry. I admit it wasn’t right of us to…”

  “Gang up on me?”

  “Right… gang up on you. Until you brought it up, I really thought it would help if we were all there.”

  Emily shrugged, “I guess I can see that.”

  “I like Dr. Hayden,” Chevalier said, and reached out to take her hand. When she didn’t pull it back, he laced his fingers through hers.

  “I do too,” Emily said, and watched their hands.

  “I promise to drop it, if you promise not to let it cause a rift between us,” Chevalier suggested.

  “I can’t get it out of my head,” Emily said, frowning. “I’m trying hard… to understand… how to make it not quite so disgusting or repulsive... but then Storm comes and I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

  “So, is Storm involved?”

  “Pretty sure, how can she not be?”

  Chevalier grinned slightly, “I don’t know what it is, so I can’t answer that.”

  “I will…” Emily looked up at him, “Try to fix it. Both William and Exavior said I should… you know... but I just can’t.”

  “No, I don’t know, actually.”

  “I don’t know how you can, either,” Emily said softly. “I guess I just don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”

  Chevalier shrugged slightly, “I don’t know what it is I could keep from you for 11 years, and I don’t understand why you can’t just tell me what it is.”

  “Because… it’s… humiliating,” Emily whispered.

  “I would never do anything to humiliate you.”

  “Not if you didn’t think it’s humiliating. Not if it’s just part of your nature… your everyday life.”

  Chevalier looked at her and fought to calm his temper, “What’s the x-ray machine for?”

  Emily looked up at it, “They x-rayed my arm, and it’s healing correctly without surgery.”

  “Oh, good, four more weeks in a cast is all?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Emily told him.

  “So… bed rest now?”

  “Not entirely.”

  The nurse walked in and took down the I.V. equipment and checked Emily’s blood pressure. She wrote in a chart and then left.

  “So… how long ago were you and Storm together?” Emily asked him.

  Chevalier frowned, “What makes you think Storm and I were together?”

  “Weren’t you?”

  “No, we never have been.”

  Emily looked up when a nurse brought her breakfast tray.

  “The doctor said he wants you to eat it all,” the nurse said, and smiled as she left the room.

  Emily looked over at the tray and picked up the cup of coffee and took a sip.

  Chevalier looked over at the bacon and eggs on the tray, “Tasty.”

  Emily laughed slightly, “You eat it then.”

  “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of hospital food.”

  Emily set the small cup of coffee down and poked the eggs with her finger, then looked toward the door and slid out of bed.

  “Now what are you up to?” Chevalier asked when she took the plate into the bathroom. He sighed and shook his head when she flushed the breakfast, and then sat the empty plate back on the tray.

  “Are you going to tell?” Emily asked him suspiciously.

  Chevalier chuckled, “No, I’m not going to tell.”

  Emily used the controller to lean the bed back and then rolled onto her side facing Chevalier, and pulled the covers up.

  “Do you want to nap?” he asked, watching her.

  Emily nodded, and he kissed her forehead before leaving the room. Chevalier went back to the waiting room and saw Kyle.

  “So?” he asked Kyle.

  “Nothing yet, but… I found a bug in Emily’s Jeep and another in your room,” Kyle said. “I don’t know if they are new, or if the guards missed them before.”

  “Damnit, they just can’t leave her alone,” Chevalier growled.

  “What about you? Find anything out?” Kyle asked, and leaned up against the wall by the window.

  “Not a thing… nothing more than somehow Storm is now involved, and it’s humiliating.”

  “Humiliating for us or her?” Quinn asked.

  “For her.”

  “That doesn’t help,” Quinn said, frowning. “What about the lack of phone calls?”

  “I didn’t bring that up yet. I don’t want to upset her.”

  Dr. Hayden came back in, “Oh, good, you’re back… if she’s not going to leave the I.V. in or the oxygen on, we might as well send her home.”

  Kyle smiled slightly, “Sounds about right.”

  “I want to see her in 2 weeks. Keep her off her feet as much as possible, but don’t risk making her mad to do it. Get her to eat, too. She’s lost two pounds since checking in.”

  Within the hour, they were all headed back to the palace with Kralen driving the Humvee, while Emily sat behind him and blushed, unable to talk.

  “So… Kralen… notice how Emily can’t even look at you?” Kyle asked, and Emily glared at him.

  “Yes, Sir, I have,” Kralen said, not taking his eyes off the road.

  “Do you know why that is?”

  “No, Sir.”

  Kralen pulled up in front of the castle and Emily started inside, pulling her blanket tightly around her. Chevalier tried to pick her up, but she refused and walked up the stairs and sat down on the bed. Both fires were roaring and the room was stiflingly hot, so she dropped the blanket and sat back against the headboard.

  “Can we get you anything?” Kyle asked.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “Food then, what do you want?” C
hevalier asked her.

  “Just some orange juice.”

  “That’s not food.”

  “I’m aware of that, orange juice,” Emily said, and pulled a book from her table.

  “Ok, I’ll have it delivered, we have a meeting,” Chevalier told her, and headed for the door.

  “In the council chambers?” Emily asked him.

  “No”

  “In your office?”

  Chevalier grinned, “No, if you need me, your guards can find me.”

  “Are you going, too?” Emily asked Kyle.

  “Yes, I need to be there,” he told her.

  Emily nodded and watched as they left the room. She gave them enough time to get to their meeting before leaving her room. She dismissed the guards, much to their dismay, and then headed down into the prison for a few minutes before going into the game room. She got lucky, and it was empty again, so she quickly spun into the bar.

  Emily rebuilt her tower and climbed up, avoiding using her injured arm. It was still stiff and hurt to move too much with the cast off. She was just glad Greg was still insane. He readily removed her cast for the promise to feed.

  Once she was on the ledge, she peeked through the clean glass. The room was empty again. She studied the runes, and looked closer around the room, but didn’t see anything interesting. She moved away from the window before anyone could see her, and headed back down the tower.

  When her feet hit the second table, the tower began to teeter and crashed to the floor, throwing Emily into a chair as it splintered to the ground.

  “Freak!” Emily yelled, and sat up. She could feel the blood dripping down her neck, but nothing else hurt. She felt around and found a pretty good cut on the side of her head. She went to the mirror and grabbed the dress that had been hanging since the day Damon was banished. She pressed the white cotton dress against the side of her head, and sat down to think of how to get out of this.

  Unsure what else to do, Emily spun back to the game room and headed out of it, pressing the dress hard against the gash in her head. The guards looked at her, concerned, but didn’t attack, so she went up to her room.

  Emily shut the door softly and locked it, but froze when she heard the voice.

  “No reason to lock it, we’re already in here,” Chevalier said.

  Emily turned slowly and looked at the Elders, all sitting by the fire and watching at her.

  “So many question…” Chevalier said, frowning.

  “To start with, who removed your cast? There was a direct order not to,” Zohn said angrily.

  “I don’t need it anymore,” Emily told him.

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “I’m not telling you,” she said, and walked over to sit on the bed. She sat down, cross-legged, still holding the dress to the side of her head.

  Quinn stood up and sat behind her on the bed. He pulled the dress out of her hand, and she rolled her eyes.

  Quinn sighed, “You have a 3 inch cut, though it looks like the bleeding has stopped, so probably no stitches will be required.”

  “Were you attacked?” Zohn asked, still irritated with her.

  “No, I did this to myself,” Emily told him, and watched as Quinn joined the other Elders by the fire.

  “So how, exactly, did you do it?” Chevalier asked finally. He had been fighting to control his temper.

  “I’d actually rather not say,” Emily told them, and cringed.

  She could tell the Elders were talking quietly among themselves, but couldn’t hear what they were saying, so she opted to go and take a shower to wash the blood away. When she got out, she threw on a clean nightgown and went into the bedroom. They were still deep in conversation, so she slipped under the covers after taking her vitamin and fell asleep quickly.

  Chapter 7 - Resolution

  Kyle walked into the game room and up to the group of guards gathered, “What’s up?”

  “We smell blood, Sir,” Kralen said, and winced.

  Kyle frowned and looked around, “That’s Emily’s blood.”

  Kralen nodded, “I figured.”

  Kyle followed the scent to the spinning door, “Everyone out.”

  He watched as the guards disappeared from the room and took the door around to the bar. He had to fight against the burning in his throat as the smell of blood assaulted him. He shut his eyes, concentrating on regaining control. Once he stopped salivating with thirst, he looked around the room.

  Kyle walked up to the broken chair and saw a small pool of blood beside it. He scanned the room and took in the table by the wall and the table on its side beside it. He looked around the room, and back to the odd angles of the tables. His eye caught the stream of light coming from the one clean window, and he got an idea. Getting a small run at it, he jumped up and hoisted himself onto the ledge by the window, then looked around the bar once before turning to look through the clean glass.

  He jumped down from the ledge, “Chevalier… bar.”

  Kyle waited, pacing, until Chevalier, Zohn, and Quinn came through the spinning door.

  “Why are we here?” Chevalier asked, and then frowned when he caught the strong smell of Emily’s blood. He watched Zohn and Quinn as they acclimated to the scent, and then they straightened up and looked at Kyle.

  “Does Emily have any reason to be up by those windows?” Kyle asked.

  Chevalier nodded, “Just once… when you all locked us in here. She thought she could get out that way, why?”

  “Go have a look,” Kyle said, and moved out of the way.

  Chevalier quickly climbed up to the ledge. He glanced through the glass, “Hmmm.”

  “What?” Zohn asked, and was soon also on the ledge. He peeked through the glass and got down so Quinn could see.

  Once all of the Elders were on the floor, they sat down in the chairs and looked at each other.

  “It’s just the abandoned ancient’s room. Why would she crawl up there to look at it?” Quinn asked.

  “I have no idea,” Chevalier said. “When she was up there last time though, she blushed.”

  “I wonder if someone was in there the first time,” Kyle suggested.

  Chevalier shrugged, “Why would anyone be in there?”

  “Maybe it has nothing to do with Emily’s heku nature thing,” Zohn said. “It’s just an empty room… isn’t it sealed?”

  “I don’t think so, no reason to seal it, it’s useless,” Chevalier said. “I do have an idea though.”

  Kyle’s eyes narrowed, “What?”

  “I’m going to take Em in there and see what happens,” Chevalier said, grinning.

  “Ok, can I go? This could be interesting,” Kyle asked.

  “Sure, let’s go.”

  “Oh, I’m all over this,” Zohn said, and followed them out of the bar.

  Quinn caught up with them, “What exactly are you hoping to accomplish?”

  “Just going to see if she has some harebrained idea about that room,” Chevalier said, and opened the door to make sure Emily was awake.

  The heku all walked in while Emily read in bed. She was leaned back against the headboard and looked up at them suspiciously.

  “What?” she asked, putting the book down.

  “Field trip,” Chevalier said, and handed her a robe.

  “No”

  Chevalier chuckled, “Come on, it’s nothing bad.”

  “Then why the backup?”

  “It’s a fun field trip, everyone wants to go.” Chevalier handed her the robe again.

  Emily hesitated, and then got up and put on the robe. She watched the heku closely. They all seemed amused and curious about something.

  Emily followed them down the stairs and around to an old door. She stopped and watched Chevalier open the door and motion for her to follow the others inside. She looked into the room and saw the Elders and Kyle standing to the side of the door.

  Emily walked in and looked at the familiar runes on the walls and the windows high up by the ceilin
g on one side. Her eyes grew wide, and she spun and headed for the door. Zohn and Chevalier blocked her way and Quinn took her arm gently.

  “Em…” Chevalier said, just as he, Quinn, and Zohn turned to ash.

  “Emily!” Kyle yelled as she ran out of the room.

  Emily headed straight for the garage and jumped into the Jeep. She went to turn it on, but the keys were gone, so she got out quickly and checked her truck. The keys were gone from it too. A quick glance into the McLaren and Humvee and she realized all of the keys had been stripped from the garage.

  Unsure where else to go, Emily ran out of the garage and glanced toward the stables. She hesitated before going into them, and within minutes, was bareback on one of Keith’s racing horses. She kicked the stallion hard and ran through the city.

  Her phone rang as soon as she passed into the trees, and she pulled the phone from her pocket and answered it.

  “Good morning, Emily,” William said.

  “Help me,” Emily whispered, looking around the trees.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked quickly. Emily heard the static as he put her on speakerphone.

  “I think I’m in trouble… I just ashed the Elders,” she said, going further into the trees.

  “You turned the Equites Elders into ash?” a strange voice asked.

  Emily frowned, “Who is this?”

  “Elder Diego, Child.”

  “William! Get me off speakerphone,” she whispered angrily.

  “It’s just the Elders, not the Council,” William assured her. “What did the Elders do?”

  “They took me into that room,” Emily said furiously.

  Emily frowned when she heard someone chuckle.

  “Why is that so funny?” she asked.

  “You,” William said. “You turned the Equites Elders into ash because they took you into the room we spoke of?”

  “Yes, I still don’t see why that is funny,” Emily said, and turned when she thought she heard something behind her.

  “Shall we come and get you?” Elder Diego asked.

  “No, this horse can outrun a heku.”

  “But where will you run to?”

  “Someone’s coming,” Emily whispered, and shut the phone, then grabbed tighter to the stallion’s mane. She hadn’t had time to put a bridle on him.