Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

Dustin grinned, “This should be interesting.”

  “You are writing to the Valle?” the Chief Interrogator asked.

  “Yes, under their e-mail address,” she told him.

  The Chief Interrogator laughed, “Nice.”

  “Oh, here we go… Damn, they must know of our staging location. Will divert all into Wyoming.”

  “Staging location?” Dustin asked.

  “I picked a state at random… Wyoming, huh? I wonder if that’s where Zohn and Quinn are. You… dumb nuts,” Emily said, looking at the smallest of those on their knees. “What’s your name?”

  “Jackson, Ma’am,” he said, then glanced at Derrick.

  Emily’s fingers flew across the keyboard as she responded to the e-mail, “There we go.”

  “What do we do with them?” Derrick asked her.

  Emily gasped, “No! They have Chev.”

  “Damnit,” Dustin growled.

  “Derrick, when’s the last time you used the interrogation chamber?” Emily asked, still reading through deleted e-mails.

  Derrick grinned, “It’s been a while.”

  “Pick one… put the others in cells until I decide what to do with them.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and grabbed one of them by the neck, hauling him from the room. Four members of the palace guard came in and took the other three away.

  Emily hit the speakerphone and dialed.

  “Encala Council,” an angry voice said.

  “Is William there?” Emily asked.

  “Lady Emily? No, he’s not, he went with Chevalier.”

  “Are any of the Elders there?”

  “I’m here,” Reese said.

  “I just intercepted an e-mail. They have Chevalier, and I’m guessing William, too.”

  “Damnit,” Reese growled. “We’ll have to go get them.”

  “No, I have an idea,” Emily said. “Can you get me 50 of your best guards?”

  “I can’t allow you to go get them,” Reese said.

  “I’d like to see you stop me. You can either send 50, or I’ll go without them.”

  Reese sighed, “It’ll take them 3 hours to get there.”

  “Do it,” Emily said, and hung up.

  “We aren’t supposed to let you go after them,” Dustin said, standing up.

  Emily glared at him, “Right now, I outrank you and I’d like to see you try.”

  “You can’t turn anyone to ash,” the Chief of Defense said.

  “Wanna bet? Now I’m pissed. That changes everything,” Emily said, and stood up. “Get me 50 from Powan and 50 from Thukil, now.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Dustin said, dialing quickly.

  Emily turned to the Records Keeper, “Get me a maternity guard uniform and make damned sure it looks like everyone else’s.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and disappeared.

  “Cavalry, meet me in front of the palace,” Emily said, and walked out of the council chambers.

  “He’s going to kill us,” the Chief of Finances said, sighing.

  “Do we have a choice? She’s right, she does outrank us,” Dustin said, and then turned back to the phone.

  Emily went into her room and shut the door. She was shaking too badly and needed to calm down and clear her thoughts. She grabbed a sucker when she started to feel sick again and glanced around the room.

  “Mom?” Allen asked, coming into the room.

  Emily looked over at him.

  “I want to go with you.”

  “I need you to stay with Alexis… if your Dad and I…”

  Allen nodded, “Ok… what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t really know,” Emily said, sighing.

  “Can you turn a heku to ash?”

  “Not right now, but I have an idea.”

  “You’re feeling sick though, I can tell by your color.”

  “I have to go, Allen. They have Elders from all three factions.”

  “Dad would want you to stay.”

  Emily smiled slightly, “Yes, he would.”

  Allen walked quickly and wrapped his arms around her. She held him tightly and teared up. She couldn’t remember the last time her son hugged her.

  “Hurry back,” he said, pulling away from her.

  Emily just nodded and watched him leave. She glanced out the window and saw the Cavalry lined up on horseback in front of the palace, waiting for her. She took a deep breath, grabbed another sucker, and headed out of the room. The tailor caught her before she left the fifth-floor, and handed her a new uniform. She dressed quickly, wincing slightly at the maternity cut and how it made her look more pregnant than she really was. She was covered though, and official, so she went down to the Cavalry.

  “Good morning, Commander,” Jaron said when she appeared.

  Emily sighed, “I’ve called in Thukil, Powan, and some Encala. I’m leading a little attack of my own.”

  “You are?” Jaron asked, shocked.

  “Yes, it’s a little different, so I’ll explain when the others get here.”

  The Cavalry glanced nervously at one another. One of them came out of the stables with Emily’s horse and helped her up onto it. She worried about how weak she was still feeling, how her entire body just wanted to sleep, but she was all that was left to go and get the leaders.

  Within an hour, Powan arrived and lined up behind the Council City Cavalry.

  “Where’s General Skinner?” Emily asked, looking at them.

  “He was with Elder Quinn, Commander,” one of the Lieutenants told her.

  Emily nodded, “Ok, you’re the highest ranking?”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  They all looked over when Thukil arrived, 50 members of their Cavalry lined up behind Powan, and Captain Darren came over to her.

  “Commander?” he asked, surprised.

  “Just… stick with me on this,” she said to him.

  Darren nodded, “Ok, as you outrank me here, I don’t have a choice.”

  She smiled slightly, knowing he didn’t like the idea that she was about to lead an army.

  The Encala arrived by helicopter a couple of hours later. They looked out of place and unsure as they took up formation behind Thukil.

  “Ok,” Emily said from horseback. “I’ll get this out in the open… I’ve never led an army, I have no idea what I’m doing, and that could work to our advantage. I don’t know military traditions and strategies, so anything I come up with will be foreign to the Valle.”

  She blushed slightly when she saw all of them intently watching her.

  “It’s going to be simple, your job… your only job… is to get the heku out of the Valle’s Palace, and into the helicopters. They will land when you attack,” she told them.

  Darren turned to her, “What about Valle forces?”

  Emily sighed, “I’ll be taking care of those, as many as I can. Obviously, if you run across them, kill them. I don’t want to question anyone. I don’t want to torture anyone. I just want them dead, and I want our heku free.”

  “What of the original Valle Council?” one of the Encala asked.

  “Just let them free. They’ll go where they belong.”

  “Emily,” Darren said, and put his hand on hers. “There are thousands of Valle in that palace right now, they’re expecting you to attack.”

  Emily nodded, “I know, but I have to get them back.”

  “Rumor has it you can’t turn a heku to ash anymore.”

  “I couldn’t before, that’s true, but now I’m mad and that’s what I need to do it… anger.”

  Darren nodded and turned back to his troops, “I want the highest ranking from the Encala, Thukil, Powan, and Council City to come here.”

  Emily watched as four heku joined them at the front line.

  “You will each lead a group, mix the groups up. I want someone from each faction and/or coven in each group,” Darren told them.

  Emily started to panic. She wasn’t sure if she could lead 200 heku into the Va
lle and come out alive. She was afraid she was leading them to their deaths. She quickly slid off of her horse and disappeared into the palace while the Thukil Captain formed the groups, then she went into the council chambers and they all looked at her.

  “Richard?” she asked, turning to the Chief Interrogator.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m putting you in charge until either myself or an Elder gets back.”

  He nodded. His eyes were warm and caring and she saw in his face the same fears that she had, the fears that they wouldn’t return.

  “Lady Emily?” the Chief of Defense said softly.

  Emily looked over at him.

  “Please reconsider, let the Thukil Captain lead this raid.”

  “I can’t let them go without me. I’m the only one that has a chance of getting them all back.”

  “But the baby…”

  Emily looked down. Over the last month, the baby had grown a lot and she was now obviously pregnant and already starting to get off balance.

  “I have to go,” she whispered and left.

  Emily walked out and saw the groups were formed and all were standing at attention, watching her.

  “I’m taking my Harley,” Emily said. “I’m going in first to give myself over for punishment…”

  She paused when she heard a murmur through the crowd.

  “I’m not really, but I have to get into the palace. You’ll follow. I need about a 15-minute head start, and then storm the palace, get our leaders out. Take the buses and come in from a distance.”

  “Ma’am?” she heard from behind her. Emily turned to see the Valle that the Equites were housing.

  “You want to go?”

  “Yes, we can get word to a few groups of Imperial Guards that are in the area, waiting for a break to take the Council back.”

  “Do that, get in touch with Darren for a rendezvous point.”

  The Valle nodded and all of them joined Darren’s group. Emily took a deep breath and disappeared into the garage to get the motorcycle. Just as she slipped her helmet on, she heard the helicopters landing outside of the palace and buses parking beside them.

  Emily didn’t look back. She took off from the palace garage and headed out of Council City. The sun was rising over the horizon at her back as she made her way to the Valle. She stopped outside of the main city at a convenience store and grabbed several energy drinks, hoping they would wake her body up long enough to do what needed done.

  It was dark when she arrived. She wiped the memory of the front gate guards to the Valle’s main city, and pulled the Harley up to the front of the palace. The guards there watched her curiously until she took off her helmet, and then they lunged at her and pulled her from the motorcycle.

  The Valle guards forcibly hauled her into the palace and into the Valle’s council chambers. She’d been there many times before, but this time was different. She didn’t know any of the Council, and they were watching her angrily.

  “You have come to turn yourself in, I see,” one of them said.

  “Yes, you can stop kidnapping council members from the other factions now,” she told them. She concentrated on the situation. She knew the Encala and Equites council members were in the palace also, and she drew from the anger and fear she was feeling and let it build.

  “On your knees, mortal,” one of the guards said, and pushed her down onto her knees.

  “We weren’t aware you are with child,” one of the temporary council members said.

  “Yeah, well… I am,” she said, irritated.

  “That changes nothing. You will still be tried and punished for the death of our mortal.”

  “I would expect nothing less.”

  “We expect no trouble from you. If you try to turn any of us to ash, we’ll remove your head before you can do it,” he warned.

  Emily saw a heku appear at her side with a sword in his hand, he was grinning down at her.

  ***

  Waves of heku in black blurred through the city silently, and quickly made their way to the palace. Darren held up his hand as he approached the front door. There were no guards, just piles of ash. He gave the signal for the first group to enter the palace, while the second group headed toward the back entrance. The first group reported finding no heku in the building, and quickly headed for the prison, led by the Valle’s true Imperial Guards.

  The offensive groups quickly spread through the Valle’s palace, finding no one and hearing nothing. The silence of the building and the city behind them was eerie. They quickly killed the electricity to all of the prison cells and spread out, looking for any of the missing faction members.

  “Down the stairs, there’s more down there,” one of the Imperial Guards said when they found the upper prison section to hold nothing but regular prisoners.

  The deathly silence of the palace was broken as the Blackhawk helicopters landed to take away the injured and leaders as the forces swarmed deeper into the Valle Palace’s prison block. One of the Encala cut the power to the restraints, and the black clad forces descended into the dark and began releasing the faction’s Leaders.

  “Get them to the helicopters!” Darren yelled, angrily following the orders Emily gave them. The Faction Leaders were in too much pain, and healing too slowly for them to override what she told the army to do, so they were required to follow the orders they were given.

  The Imperial Guards stayed with the Valle Council while they healed. Sotomar was the first to sit up on his own. He looked around at the members of the other factions as they were helped out of the palace by the guards.

  “What happened?” Sotomar asked weakly.

  “Lady Emily, she… led the army to get to you,” an Imperial Guard explained, looking around.

  Sotomar frowned and glanced over as Chevalier was let down from high shackles, “She’s here?”

  “Yes, she came in first. I haven’t seen her, but it looks like the city and the palace have been turned to ash.”

  Sotomar struggled to his feet and leaned against the wall, “Change the orders for the Valle… find her.”

  The Valle Lieutenant called out for his forces to find Emily.

  “Who is giving orders?” Zohn asked, steadying himself against the wall.

  “Lady Emily is the highest ranking. She’s leading this,” one of the Cavalry said.

  Zohn sighed and glanced at Chevalier, who was being led out of the palace, “What were the orders?”

  “We were to get the kidnapped out to the helicopters and leave,” he explained.

  “Where is she?” Zohn asked, looking around.

  “She came in first,” he explained. “We were to come 15 minutes later and get everyone out. We haven’t seen her. There’s nothing but ash throughout the entire city.”

  “Belay those orders,” Zohn said, wincing as he healed. “Stop everything. Take the wounded to the lawn, load the dead onto the helicopters, and find her.”

  “Right away, Elder,” the member of the Cavalry said, calling out the new orders.

  Jaron helped Zohn up the stairs. He was clutching his chest and fighting to breathe as they came up to the main floor of the Valle Palace.

  Sotomar came up behind them, able to walk on his own with a slight limp, “If you find any of the invading covens, put them in cells for now, I’ll deal with them later.”

  “There’s no one, Elder, they are all ash,” one of the Imperial Guards explained.

  Chevalier came up to them, leaning against the wall, “Have they found her?”

  “Not yet, we’re searching the palace,” the Imperial Guard said.

  “One of the Lieutenant’s from Powan explained what happened,” Quinn said, slowly walking up to them. “They’re getting a count of the wounded and dead.”

  A voice rang through the palace that Emily was in the council chambers. Chevalier, Sotomar, Quinn, and Zohn made their way to the council chambers, assisted by the Valle’s Imperial Guards. One of them met the Elders at the door.

>   “We didn’t touch her… I didn’t know how to help,” he said softly, and opened the door.

  The Elders walked in and saw Emily on her side on the floor, surrounded by worried looking guards. She was unconscious, lying in a pool of blood as the heku guards watched helplessly. Chevalier knelt down beside her and moved her face toward his.

  “Em?” he asked, and took her hand.

  She didn’t respond, but the blood from her nose and ears stopped flowing. Chevalier lifted her eyelid and saw that her eyes were blood red.

  “We need to get her to a hospital,” he said, and stood up with some difficulty. One of the Imperial Guards reached down and gently picked her up.

  “Let’s go, we’ll take the Valle helicopter,” he said, and headed out the door, followed by the Elders.

  “I’ll go,” Sotomar said. “Ryan can take care of the recovery.”

  “I’m going too,” William said. He seemed to be the least injured out of all of them, and was able to help others as they healed.

  Chevalier nodded, “We’ll leave Zohn here also.”

  Quinn struggled some, but finally got into the helicopter, followed by Sotomar, William, and Chevalier. The Imperial Guard cradled Emily and buckled in as the pilot lifted off and headed for the hospital outside of Council City.

  “I want a report,” Sotomar growled. “Everything that’s happened.”

  One of the Imperial Guards began to go over everything from the takeover of the palace to Emily’s army. No one knew what happened when she arrived, but he was able to let them know what occurred when the army flooded into the palace.

  “Numbers?” William asked.

  “There were 1,917 heku in the palace. Most were from the attacking covens, and a few were traitors from the guard staff,” he explained, avoiding the angry glare of Sotomar. “The city had 1,517 people left. The rest fled into other covens to wait out the coup.”

  “Damnit, she ashed 3,434?” Chevalier asked.

  “Yes, as far as we can tell. We’ve not found anyone alive.”

  “Elder, we have permission to land at the hospital’s helipad. They are waiting for our arrival in 10 minutes,” the pilot called back.

  Sotomar nodded, “Alliance numbers then?”

  “Lady Emily only left those in the prison. We found 12 dead heku, 6 from the Valle, 4 from Equites and 2 Encala. There are over 354 injured, and we’re still ascertaining how many of those won’t make it.”