Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  William nodded to Bachman, and he blurred away.

  “How’s your head, Em?” Chevalier asked, looking down at her.

  “It hurts,” Emily said, and sighed. “What’s going on?”

  “Your guards got into a fight. You somehow got in the middle of it and got knocked into a wall,” Chevalier told her. “You have a skull fracture and your memory’s been sketchy.”

  Emily looked around, “I don’t remember a fight.”

  “It may come back to you.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you are all here,” Emily said.

  “I came to deal with my guards,” Sotomar told her.

  “I came to take care of the Equites,” Kyle said.

  Chevalier smiled slightly, “You know why I came.”

  “When was this?” Emily asked.

  “Three nights ago, after the ball,” William said.

  “Did I go to the ball?”

  “Yes, you did.”

  “Hmm,” Emily turned and went back into the bedroom, followed by Chevalier. He shut the door behind her.

  “We’d like to take you back to the island. The doctor here wants you to take it easy for a few weeks,” Chevalier told her.

  “Is it rude to leave the Encala early?” Emily asked.

  “No, they will understand,” Chevalier said. “I also want to get the guards back to Mark.”

  “I don’t want anything bad to happen to them,” Emily said. “I don’t think they wanted to be here in the first place.”

  “It doesn’t matter. They drank while on duty and ended up in a fight that you were injured in.”

  “They were drinking?”

  “Yes, while you were up here asleep.”

  Emily pressed her palms into her eyes and Chevalier wrapped his arms around her. She turned toward him and buried her face in his chest.

  “Pretty bad?” he asked her softly.

  Emily nodded.

  “Let’s get you back to the island. You can relax there.”

  Emily nodded again and pulled away from him. She watched Chevalier pick up her bags and carry them out into the hallway.

  “We ready to go?” Chevalier asked.

  Kyle nodded, “I’ll have the guards in the helicopter in 5 minutes.”

  “As will I,” Sotomar said, and both of them blurred away.

  “I do hope you will consider coming again,” William said. “Had it not been for the misbehaving guards, we had a lot of things planned.”

  “We did?” Emily asked.

  William smiled, “Yes, and I’ll hold you to come back and do them with us.”

  “I’d love to come back, thank you,” Emily said, and Chevalier led her up to the helicopter. She crawled in and buckled the seat belt. While they waited for the guards to arrive, she leaned her head back against the seat and shut her eyes.

  Emily slept most of the way to the island, ignoring the glares and scowls from the Elders to their disobedient guards. The helicopter landed softly on the roof of the castle and Island Coven guards poured out of the doors and formed a line up to the helicopter. Emily got out first and winced when she saw Mark standing in the doorway with a furious look on his face. The other two Valle Elders were standing beside him and looked equally angry.

  Emily took Chevalier’s hand, and they walked past Mark and the Valle, and went into her room. She immediately laid down on the bed as Chevalier pulled the curtains closed and kissed her softly before leaving her room. He heard the Valle’s helicopter take off as he headed down the stairs to the courtroom, where the others waited for him.

  Chevalier walked into the small courtroom and sat down in his seat at the front. Quinn and Zohn were seated at Chevalier’s sides, while Mark and Kyle stood down with Russ and JV in the trial area.

  “This should be quick,” Chevalier said. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

  “Emily told us to go back to the party while she ate. Then William came and told us she’d gone to bed,” Russ said quickly.

  “So you made sure she was safe in bed before going to the party…”

  “Not really, she went to eat after a few dances,” JV said. “We got word from William that she had gone to bed and said we could stay at the party.”

  “Are you kidding me?!” Mark yelled at him. “Did it ever cross your minds that the Encala could have kidnapped her and fed you a line while you disobeyed Elder’s orders and left her unprotected?”

  JV looked down at the ground, “No, Sir.”

  “You were too busy breaking a direct ‘no drinking’ order while you were outnumbered thousands to 1 by the enemy faction,” Mark growled angrily.

  “It was only a few drinks,” Russ said, watching the Elders.

  Mark appeared at his back and had his head turned dangerously far to the side in an instant.

  “Stop,” Chevalier said to Mark, who slowly let the guard go.

  “We aren’t done with him. This’ll be more painful of a punishment than that,” Quinn said angrily. Quinn was even tempered, and his rage was more terrifying to the guards than that of the other Elders because of the rarity of it.

  Chevalier took a deep breath, “So once you decided to return to your post… you opted to start a fight instead of going back inside to make sure Emily was ok?”

  “We could hear her breathing… and we didn’t start the fight,” Russ said.

  Chevalier slammed his fists onto the desk, “I don’t care if you started it or not. If you hadn’t been drinking, the fight wouldn’t have started. If you had been in the room protecting Emily, she wouldn’t have gotten into a fight and ended up with a skull fracture.”

  “The Valle hit her,” Russ said. He was thrown to the ground by a hard backhand from Mark. He looked up from the floor as blood dripped from his fast healing mouth.

  “It doesn’t matter what the Encala or the Valle were doing, if you had been in her room protecting her, she wouldn’t have gotten into the fight,” Mark growled.

  Russ finally got his feet, “Yes, Sir.”

  “I expect each of our guards to be able to protect any member of the Council that we ask them to,” Zohn said. “It’s disturbing how easily you neglected your duties and broke several of the Equites rules.”

  “Kyle?” Chevalier hissed.

  “Yes, Sir?” Kyle asked, staring at the guards.

  “Get them out of my sight and make it hurt.”

  “Yes, Sir,” Kyle said, and grinned. He and Mark hauled the guards out of the courtroom.

  “How is she?” Quinn asked.

  “Her head hurts pretty badly because of the skull fracture,” Chevalier told him.

  “Is her memory back then?”

  “Not all the way, but at least she remembers me,” Chevalier said, and grinned. “She told me I had strange teeth and if they were longer I could be a vampire for Halloween.”

  Zohn chuckled, “Had to be interesting.”

  “The odd thing was she hooked onto Sotomar, wouldn’t let anyone else near her.”

  “Sotomar?” Quinn asked, surprised.

  “Are we losing our edge?” Chevalier asked angrily. “Our guards keep breaking the rules.”

  “I know, but I don’t think it’s too late to change it,” Zohn said. “Without the Valle and Encala attacks all the time, I think they are slacking.”

  Quinn nodded, “I agree, they are lax because nothing ever happens. How do we change that?”

  “Harsher punishments and more responsibility,” Chevalier said. “Drills… surprise inspections…”

  “That’s all good. It will keep them on their toes,” Quinn said.

  Chapter 14 - Interrogation

  Emily floated on top of the warm water, letting it block out any noise from the castle and relax her. Time alone was what she needed. Alexis was falling into Allen’s old pattern of wanting nothing to do with her family. She preferred to spend all of her time with Allen, and worshiped everything he did. Since coming back from the Encala Palace a month ago, Emily’
s headaches hadn’t gotten any better, and Dr. Cook was following her all over the castle trying to get her to go to a hospital.

  She took a deep breath and stood up in the pool to check her fingers. They were severely pruned and it was time to get out, so she swam to the ladder and then glanced back at the pool. She wanted to go back and float, but promised Chevalier they would go out together for a walk later. He’d spent the last month on the island with her, and she knew that he expected her to fall over dead at any moment from the head injury.

  Emily crawled out of the water and wrapped in a towel. She shut her eyes tightly against the headache, and then headed for the door. Silas opened the door before she got to it.

  “I was about to come in to see if you drowned,” Silas chuckled.

  “I’m ok,” Emily said softly. The castle staff noticed a drastic change in Emily since her trip to the Encala. She was quiet and calm, and liked to spend time walking through the castle or out on the castle grounds. She didn’t get mad at mistakes, and didn’t joke with the guards. Her personality change, though considered normal by the doctor, was disturbing.

  “Your dinner is waiting,” Silas said, falling back into his official guard roll. He was afraid to stray into friendship for long. The Elders had been on a quest to straighten up the guard staff in Council City, and that started with the Cavalry.

  Emily nodded and went into the dining room and sat down at the head of the table. She picked, uninterested, at the cheeseburger and fries and listened to the kids talking around her. Her head was hurting, and it felt like every argument sent her closer to the edge of passing out.

  Silas alerted Chevalier that she wasn’t eating again, and he appeared beside her.

  “Come on, Em,” Chevalier said, and held his hand out.

  Emily took a drink of Coke and then took his hand and let him lead her out into the cool night air. They started across the back pasture, and she leaned against his arm.

  “I’m worried about you,” he said, squeezing her hand slightly.

  “I’m ok,” she told him.

  “You keep saying that, but you aren’t. I want you to go see a doctor.”

  “I don’t need a doctor.”

  “How’re the headaches?”

  “I’m ok, Chev, really,” she said softly.

  Chevalier sighed, “No you aren’t or you’d be yelling at me by now.”

  “I just have a headache, it will go away.”

  “Go see a doctor, Em.”

  “I don’t need a doctor, being here on the island is what I need.”

  “Then why aren’t you getting better?” Chevalier stopped and looked down at her in the moonlight.

  Emily shrugged and pulled closer to him, “I’m just tired.”

  “Then why don’t you take something tonight? You aren’t sleeping well.”

  “Will you stop worrying if I do?”

  “For one day, yes.”

  Emily nodded, “Ok.”

  Chevalier swept Emily off her feet and cradled her, smiling, “Off to bed then.”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. He expected her to complain, and again it worried him that she didn’t. He blurred her back into her bedroom where the doctor was waiting with two little pills and a glass of orange juice.

  Emily went into the bathroom to slip on a nightgown and then went out and took the two pills.

  Dr. Cook nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Emily crawled into bed and slipped between the cool sheets. Chevalier laid down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. He held her closely and felt her body relax as she slipped off to sleep.

  Chevalier stood up slowly, and then quietly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Quinn and Zohn were in the conference room, waiting for an update on the guard staff.

  He sat down and pulled a roster sheet from the table to look at, “Are these numbers accurate?”

  “Yes, things have been going really well,” Zohn said.

  Through the night, the three Elders went over every policy and procedure for Council City, revising where necessary, and deleting any outdated rules. At noon the next day, Chevalier’s phone rang and he answered it on speakerphone.

  “Chevalier here,” he said, erasing a note he’d made on the manual.

  “It’s Sotomar, we have a problem.”

  Chevalier sighed, “What kind of problem?”

  “We can’t find Exavior.”

  “What do you mean you can’t find him? Wasn’t he in prison?” Zohn asked angrily.

  “No, he was sent back to his coven to handle some problems there. Now we can’t find him.”

  “Why tell us?” Quinn asked.

  “Because, we think he may be coming after Emily.”

  “Damnit, is he still talking about her?” Chevalier growled.

  “Non-stop. We sent four palace guards with him and he killed them before escaping,” Sotomar explained.

  “We’ll watch for him… if we find him…” Quinn growled.

  “If he’s come for Emily, you may have him.”

  Chevalier slammed his fist down on the phone, shattering it, “Mark?”

  Mark appeared in the doorway, “Yes, Elder?”

  “Double Emily’s guards… Exavior is missing,” Chevalier said angrily.

  “Yes, Sir,” Mark said, and blurred away.

  “Dr. Cook said even the smallest head injury could kill her,” Chevalier told them. “If Exavior gets a hold of her…”

  “We’ll keep an eye out. She’s safe here,” Quinn said, and smiled.

  “I wish she would go back to the palace. There are more guards there,” Zohn said.

  “She’s safer here. I have more control over the smaller number… she hasn’t been attacked in a month and I think she feels safer here too,” Chevalier said.

  “Sir!” Silas yelled, running in.

  Chevalier looked up at him.

  “She’s gone,” Silas said, frowning.

  “What do you mean gone?” Zohn asked.

  Silas sighed, “She slipped me… sometime early this morning she crawled out of her balcony using a sheet.”

  “The pier guards said she took off in the yacht,” Mark said, coming into the room. “Around 6am.”

  Chevalier shook his head, “That doesn’t make sense. She’s walked around here, lifeless, for a month. Why would she leave?”

  “Take the helicopter, see if you can find that boat,” Quinn said.

  Mark and Silas nodded and blurred from the room.

  “Call Sotomar back. Tell him Emily’s taken off… just in case he finds Exavior,” Chevalier said, and disappeared from the room.

  ***

  “How many do you have?” Chevalier asked Lord Thukil.

  “We have 75 of our Cavalry out looking for her,” Lord Thukil said. “If she’s close, we’ll find her.”

  “And you?” Chevalier turned to General Skinner from Powan.

  “We have 75 also,” the General said.

  “It’s been two weeks. How can she still be missing?” Zohn growled.

  “Maybe it wasn’t because of Exavior,” William said. “Maybe she’s fulfilled her threat in the ultimatum?”

  “I don’t think so,” Chevalier said. “It seems too coincidental that Exavior is missing also.”

  “We’re checking all of his houses, but he may have hidden ones,” Sotomar said. “If he has her, we’ll find them.”

  “Sir?” Storm said from the door.

  “What?” he asked, irritated.

  “Dr. Edwards is on the phone for Emily.”

  Chevalier looked at her, shocked, “He’s calling Emily?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “When’s the last time he saw her?”

  “It’s been since before you left for the palace,” Storm told him.

  Chevalier reached out for the phone, “Dr. Edwards, this is Chevalier.”

  “Hello,” Dr. Edwards said excitedly. “It’s good to hea
r from you again.”

  “You were looking for Emily?”

  “Yes, she had a follow up this morning that she didn’t come to. I have her CT scan results,” the doctor said.

  “Wait… when did she have a CT?” Chevalier asked, confused.

  “Two weeks ago. She came here early one morning for a checkup, and I saw signs of a serious head injury and sent her in for a CT,” Dr. Edwards said. “She made another appointment before leaving the office, but didn’t show up.”

  “She’s missing,” Chevalier said softly.

  “Missing? She didn’t make it back there?”

  “No, she didn’t. Do you know if she left with anyone?”

  “No, she said she’d taken the boat in and was heading back. I gave her some medicine for her headaches, and she was going to go home and take them,” Dr. Edwards explained.

  “If you hear from her, please, call me.”

  “I will, please do the same… it’s urgent that I talk to her.”

  “Was there a problem with the x-ray?” Chevalier asked.

  Dr. Edwards sighed, “I’m only supposed to tell the patient, but… I know things are different there so… yes, the skull fracture is worse than I imagined. She has to get on medicine to stop the swelling and pain. She has to slow down and rest for a few weeks. One little head bump could kill her.”

  Chevalier winced, “Could… could she have lost her memory and wandered off?”

  “I don’t think so. If she had amnesia, it would have been immediately.”

  “But she did, could it have come back?”

  Dr. Edwards thought for a moment, “No, I’ve never seen it work that way.”

  “Call me if you see her. If we find her, we’ll bring her in,” Chevalier said, and hung up. He turned to the other Elders, “Now we know why she left, she snuck off to see a doctor.”

  “Why would she sneak?” William asked.

  “It’s hard to explain, but she’s snuck off before to see a doctor,” Chevalier said. “Now we just need to find out where she went afterwards. The doctor said she was coming home with a headache… her skull fracture is worse than he thought, and he confirmed… one small bump on the head and she could die.”

  ***

  “Exavior?” Emily called out from the large bed. There were guards blocking her door, and she had been ordered to stay in bed. Her headaches weren’t getting better, even though Exavior was forcing her to take the medication.