Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Go away, I’m watching a movie,” Emily said, and turned back to the TV.

  “I thought she was being punished? Lying in bed watching TV isn’t punishment,” Zohn said, looking over at the movie.

  Emily’s eyes narrowed, “You can leave now.”

  Zohn walked over and turned off the TV.

  “Hey,” Emily yelled.

  “No food or TV,” Zohn said. “This isn’t a game… you will learn obedience.”

  Emily glared at him.

  Chevalier went over to Emily’s table when her cell phone rang. He grinned and opened it when he saw the caller ID.

  “What do you want, Exavior?”

  “Hand the phone to my wife,” Exavior said angrily.

  “Your wife? No… she’s… well… tied up at the moment,” Chevalier told him.

  “Do it… now!”

  “No”

  “I will not allow you to torture my wife! Consider yourself warned,” Exavior said, and disconnected the line.

  Chevalier chuckled and set the phone down, “He warned us about torturing his wife.”

  Emily rolled her eyes.

  “Keeping it in the family, is he?” Sotomar said, and left Emily’s room, irritated.

  Chevalier stayed as the rest of them left.

  “Hey… turn my TV back on,” Emily said.

  “Discipline, that’s what you need,” Chevalier said, grinning.

  “Burning… that’s what you need,” Emily told him. “Turn on my TV.”

  Chevalier chuckled and flipped the TV back on before leaving. He went down quickly into the prison and stopped at Allen’s cell.

  Allen looked up at him and glared, “Go away.”

  “Strange, that’s what your Mom just told me,” Chevalier said, grinning. He knew Allen was in on the plan, but figured a few days in prison might be good for him, as long as Emily didn’t find out.

  “Just let us go,” Allen said angrily. The fierceness in his voice shocked Chevalier, and he had to remind himself that it was all an act.

  “See how you like starvation, Son,” Chevalier growled, and disappeared up the stairs.

  ***

  Emily opened her eyes slowly and pulled the covers up over her shoulder, then jerked when she realized she wasn’t restrained anymore, and quickly slipped her hands back into the soft leather wrist cuffs. She was anxious to get today over with. She was to slip out today and hopefully, by the end of the day, Exavior would no longer be a problem.

  She stayed in bed and watched the fire. The signal for her escape was when a servant came to put one of the fires out, and as soon as he left, she would have a small escape window. She sighed, hungry from not being able to eat the night before. Food was left under her bed, but her nerves were too strung to even try to eat.

  She waited, listening to the sounds of the palace, but it seemed eerily quiet. She wondered if the Elders were also feeling nervous and maybe the servants and guards picked that up and were on their best behavior.

  “M’Lady, I need to put out a fire, per the Elders,” a nervous heku said, coming into the room and glancing at her.

  “Whatever,” Emily sighed, but her insides jumped and she glanced out the window. The day was bright and sunny. She couldn’t see any clouds in the sky. The servant left a few minutes later and shut the door behind him. Emily caught sight of Silas and Kralen outside of her door just before the door latched.

  Emily shut her eyes and took a deep breath before slipping her hands out of the restraints and untying her legs. She quickly pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, but left her shoes off. She needed to be able to hold onto the rope with her toes.

  As planned, today was laundry day, and the hamper was full of sheets. She began tying them together quickly, leaving knots along the way, similar to the sheet she used to escape the castle on Island Coven. Once she had enough, she tied one end to the bed and pushed it against the window.

  Emily scooted out onto the edge, the one she used to climb over to the drainpipes with, and gripped it with her toes while she got a good grip on the sheet rope. She checked behind her. There were usually two or three groups of guards she could see from her window, but today they were absent.

  She hoisted herself onto the sheet and fell a few feet before she was able to wrap the sheet around her feet and get a tight hold. She caught her breath and rubbed her hands from the sheet burn, and then started down as quickly as she could, keeping a watch over her shoulder. She knew the Elders were waiting for her to escape. She’d heard them talking in the hallway about how she may try to leave by wiping memories or ashing along the way. She knew her method would catch them off guard, and that was part of the fun.

  Emily’s feet hit the ground and she peeked around the corner of the palace. There were guards a hundred yards away, but they were looking out toward the trees. Crouching slightly, Emily ran to the stables and grabbed the snake rattle before taking a bridle into her stallion’s stall. She knew he was faster than anything the Thukils had, and she needed to be able to outrun them if they chased her. She slipped the bridle on and hoisted herself up bareback onto the dark brown stallion.

  Creeping out slowly, Emily emerged from the stables and saw the heku guards heading for her, yelling. She kicked the stallion and he jumped into a gallop out of the city. She heard hoof beats behind her, but they were slowly fading by the time she passed the gates. The gate guards yelled and jumped toward her, but missed, and she was soon heading full-speed toward the trees.

  Emily’s heart was racing when she hit the tree line, only a short distance to go before she came into the clearing the guards used for parties. She gripped the snake’s rattle in her hand and emerged into the clearing, but slipped her hand out of her pocket when she saw the line of heku blocking her from going further. She pulled the horse to back-up and scanned them. They wore dark purple capes and none looked familiar.

  The stallion reared back, but Emily stayed on, no longer sure she wanted to fake a fall or an injury with them all surrounding her. She turned and saw them move towards her from all sides, and she started to panic.

  “This is the girl you desire?” a heku asked, stepping forward. He had a malicious smile and gray hair that Emily had only seen before on ancients.

  “Yes,” Exavior said, moving into the clearing. “She is my wife.”

  “She smells…” another heku said, inhaling. He also had gray hair and worn eyes, “Extraordinary. Not bad to look at either.”

  “Yes, I know,” Exavior said, smiling. “She doesn’t age either, another plus.”

  Emily stopped her horse. The panic was backing off, and she remembered she needed to get off the horse somehow. The horse already had his ears cocked back angrily, and she knew if any of the heku came at her, it would buck.

  “I’m leaving, Exavior, and that includes you,” Emily said scathingly.

  “I’m not going to let you disappear,” Exavior replied, moving forward slightly. The two ancients headed around her, and she started to feel them close in on her.

  Emily bumped her pocket slightly, and knew the horse heard the rattle as soon as he whinnied loudly and bucked hard, throwing Emily forward. She slammed into the ground as the skittish horse backed away.

  Emily gasped, not having to fake because the fall knocked the wind out of her. She had enough control to realize she needed to be injured and she fell against the ground, groaning. Exavior blurred to her and knelt down.

  “What’s wrong, my love?” he asked as she tried to push him away.

  “I hope we didn’t break your mortal. It would be a shame to lose such a succulent girl,” one of the ancients said.

  “She’s ok. She’s tougher than she looks,” Exavior said, picking her up. She cried out and winced with the movement.

  “Look at me, Child,” the taller Ancient said. Emily looked up at him and he began to talk to her quickly. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from his, and his words flowed through her, relaxing her and calming her nerves. As he spoke, all she wa
nted to do was pull closer to him, to lay her hands against his strong face, and have his soft breath blow across her skin.

  Exavior grinned and handed her over to the Ancient, who continued to speak softly to her and concentrate on her eyes as he spoke.

  Exavior growled and spun as the trees came alive and an army advanced on them in the clearing. He crouched slightly at the same time as the other ancient did, and hissed at the incoming heku. Hundreds advanced on foot while the Thukil Cavalry brought up a circle behind them. The red, gray, and green capes were intermingled as they focused on Exavior and the Ancient, and moved into the clearing. Exavior’s army circled their leader and crouched, facing the onslaught of angry heku.

  “It’s over,” Sotomar said, stepping out from the army. “Save the bloodshed and surrender.”

  “Put her down!” Chevalier growled at his maker. The Ancient didn’t break his gaze on Emily’s, and continued to speak in flowing Latin.

  “Not happy to see your old Master, Chevalier?” Exavior asked, grinning.

  Chevalier glared at him, “How dare you let him close to her! You know what he’s doing.”

  “I do,” Exavior said. “I’m very much aware of it.”

  “If you will not surrender,” William said angrily. “Then we’ll end it now.”

  The tri-faction army advanced on Exavior’s heku and a battle erupted around them. Chevalier fought to get to Emily, to stop the Ancient, but he was blocked by heku that would move only when killed. Blood began to saturate the field and parts of heku were thrown around in jumbled piles.

  Emily gazed into the Ancient’s eyes. She brought her hand up and gently placed it on the side of his face as she studied his kind expression and felt contentment in his arms. The sounds of battle around her were far away compared to his soft voice that enveloped her in safety and compassion.

  She wanted to talk to the Ancient, to tell him how much she cared about him. She reached up and brushed her lips against his, stopping the soft chant of Latin, and his arms tightened around her. He responded and pressed his lips forcefully against hers. Emily wound her fingers through his hair, ignoring the screams coming from around them.

  When the Ancient began to kiss toward her neck, Emily leaned her head back to give him clear access to a vein. As his teeth sunk into the soft flesh of her neck, she gasped softly and relaxed in his arms. He pulled away from her, inhaling, and then pressed his lips to hers again.

  “No!” Emily screamed when she was torn away from the Ancient. She struggled against the strong arms holding her and tried to return to him. He disappeared in a swarm of heku as she was blurred away and the trees flew past her.

  “Stop fighting me,” Sotomar growled as he gripped her tighter.

  Emily screamed angrily as he continued to carry her away from the Ancient.

  Sotomar ignored her screams and appeared in the Council City prison. He let her go once she was in a tiny cell, and quickly shut the door. Emily slammed into the bars, reaching for Sotomar as she screamed. The guards looked at her with wide eyes. She growled, and screamed, clawing against the bars, no longer reasoning or understanding.

  “Do not let her out,” Sotomar ordered the guards, and headed up the stairs as an inhuman shriek echoed through the prison. He quickly made his way back out to the battle just as the last of Exavior’s followers were falling at the hands of the factioned army. Exavior and the Ancients were sitting in the center, surrounded by guards as the other Elders stood around them.

  “Get the wounded back to Council City, leave the dead here,” Sotomar shouted, and guards from all factions began to follow his orders.

  Chevalier’s entire body was tense. He was panting from the fighting and his hands were balled into tight fists as he watched his maker.

  “Ephraim, how dare you…” Chevalier growled angrily.

  “You will thank me later, my dear Boy,” the Ancient said, grinning.

  Chevalier turned to Sotomar, “How far did he get?”

  Sotomar sighed, “He completed, I think. It’s too early to tell.”

  Ephraim grinned, “You do remember that, don’t you? You were my prized possession, to have turned the great Equitis… leader, warrior… pity how you hated me for it.”

  Kyle looked down at the Ancient. Chevalier would never talk about the one who turned him, and he wasn’t sure what the Ancient had done to Emily.

  “Pity I didn’t kill you for it,” Chevalier said. “Now though, I will have my chance.”

  “You owe me!” Ephraim growled. “Look at the life I gave you! You owe me and I demand the respect you never showed me.”

  William grabbed Chevalier’s arm when he tried to advance on the Ancient, “Stop, we need him if we are to find out how to reverse what he did.”

  Chevalier’s eyes darkened, “Put him in the prison.”

  Silas, Mark, Kralen, and two of Thukil’s Lieutenants stepped forward and pulled the Ancient from the circle, forcing him toward the palace.

  “This Ancient,” Sotomar said, and turned to the other, “I don’t know…”

  “There has to be a reason that Exavior wanted you,” William said, circling him.

  “What you did to us was disgraceful. You owe your very existence to us, yet you threw us into the ground to suffer for eternity,” the Ancient yelled. “You should be bowing down before me.”

  Chevalier turned to Exavior, who sat in silence, and watched the interaction with his ancients, “You’re being very quiet.”

  “What is your talent?” Zohn asked the Ancient, coming up from behind them. He was covered in blood and just recently recovered from the fight.

  The Ancient glared at Zohn, “Omnipotence… bow to me.”

  “I don’t think I will,” Zohn said, and turned to Exavior. “We have a special place for you.”

  Exavior smiled, “Where you put me won’t matter. Emily will come to me.”

  “In your dreams,” Quinn grinned. “Take him to the prison. We’ll put him away later.”

  Angry Valle guards swarmed forward and pulled Exavior to his feet as they shoved him toward the city. They seemed angrier than the rest because it was their faction member, a member of their Council that had started the war and betrayed them by building an army against them.

  “What to do with you,” Zohn said, staring down at the Ancient.

  “I’d like to know his talent,” Sotomar said, glaring at him. “Something to do with Emily, we know that. Otherwise, Exavior wouldn’t have revived him.”

  The Ancient grinned, “That pretty little mortal? Delectable child, I see why minions go to war for her.”

  “We didn’t go to war for the mortal,” Sotomar said, crossing his arms. “We went to war to stop the outrageous formation of a fourth faction.”

  “Sure you did. You’re all smitten with her,” the Ancient said. “Does she pleasure all of you, then? What else would bring the factions together?”

  “Don’t talk about her like that,” Chevalier hissed. “She is my wife, and this war was not over her. It was to stop Exavior.”

  “I can read it in their faces. They are all infatuated with her. Better watch or they will take her from you.”

  “Emily goes with and does whatever she…” Chevalier’s voice trailed off and his heart sunk.

  The Ancient smiled, “Yes, it’s too late for her now.”

  “Get him into the prison,” William growled.

  Chevalier turned to Sotomar while the Encala guards hauled the Ancient way, “Is she…”

  “Feral? Yes,” Sotomar said softly. “We’ll figure something out… there must be a way to get her back.”

  “He’s your maker?” William asked. The gathered Equites turn to Chevalier. No one had ever had the nerve to ask him about his maker. The Elder’s hatred for him was well known.

  “Yes,” Chevalier hissed, and started back for the palace.

  “Why does he do it? Turn a mortal wild?” William asked as he followed.

  “It’s easier to turn a mort
al if their humanity is gone… I would never have turned, but once I lost myself, it was easy for him,” Chevalier said, his voice hostile.

  “He was going to try to turn her again?” Kyle asked angrily.

  “That is my guess,” Sotomar said. “We still don’t know if she would even survive, but I suspect that Exavior doesn’t care if she died.”

  “Has anyone… ever… recovered?” Mark asked, catching up with them.

  “No, he turns them,” Chevalier told them.

  “There was an ancient… one that was an original Elder in the Encala,” William said, deep in thought. “His name was Sterling, at least, when I heard about him. He was able to turn a mortal into a heku without even a bite.”

  Chevalier stopped and turned to William, “I’ve heard of him… he used to be able to turn a mortal in minutes, by himself.”

  “If that’s him… then the plan was to weaken Emily and then try to turn her without the ritual,” William suggested. “Without the ritual, there’s a chance her abilities might not interfere.”

  “Find out if that’s him,” Chevalier told Kyle and Mark, and they blurred into the palace.

  “I don’t think you should see her,” Sotomar whispered.

  Chevalier stopped outside of the palace, “I have to see if I can get through to her.”

  “He fed,” Sotomar said.

  Chevalier growled, and stormed into the palace, heading directly for the prison cells. The guards looked at him nervously, unsure if they should have allowed a Valle to put Emily in prison.

  Chevalier rounded the corner and looked into her cell. She was crouched in the corner and looked at him with angry, uncomprehending eyes. The flowing green in her eyes had turned black and she hissed up at him.

  Chevalier crouched down to her level, “Em…”

  Kyle walked over and stood beside the Elder. His heart ached as he saw the wild look on her face and the predatory posture of her small body.

  “Emily?” Chevalier said softly. He jerked back away from her when she slammed into the bars, grabbing for his neck and screaming inhumanly.

  “Damn,” Kyle said, stepping away as she tried to claw his legs.