Mark nodded and heard Silas and Kralen laughing behind him, “They put a stallion out with that mare that’s in heat.”
“Again…” Chevalier chuckled.
“From the looks on their faces, they would rather be banished than to face the lesson they are currently being taught,” Mark explained, and chuckled.
“I’d like to say it serves them right... but that’s brutal,” Zohn said, grinning. “To have a sex ed lesson with an Elder’s wife...”
“A pregnant Elder’s wife,” Quinn laughed. “Can you imagine?”
Emily led the stallion back into the stall and came out with a mare, “Ok, so… now that we know the anatomy of the male horse and how baby horses are made, we’ll go over the female.”
The three guards glanced at each other nervously, all still sitting on the bale of hay as Emily explained how horses breed. The attack came from behind them, the eight heku appearing from deep in the stables. Emily barely had time to scream before the Cavalry blurred into a fight with the purple clad heku. One appeared in front of Emily and backhanded her onto the straw in the stall. He pinned her to the ground and slammed his fist into her jaw when she tried to scream for help.
“The Ferus have attacked four times in the last week,” William explained. “We don’t know how they are infiltrating our city, but they seem to…”
Chevalier stood up suddenly, his body tense. The Council turned to him as he blurred from the room. Mark, Silas, and Kralen had heard it too, and followed him out, immediately joining in the fight. The stables filled suddenly with Cavalry and council members.
Once the heku on Emily was able to knock her unconscious for a few seconds, he picked her up and quickly headed around the fighting to the door. He backed up, watching to make sure no one was around him, and ran directly into Sotomar and William.
“Going somewhere, Son?” William asked angrily.
“Come here, Child,” Sotomar said, and took Emily from the Ferus. She leaned her head against his shoulder. She could taste blood in her mouth and her jaw was throbbing. William grabbed the heku and restrained him while the Equites took care of the rest of them.
When the fighting slowed down, Sotomar headed into the palace with Emily, calling for ice bags and ibuprofen. He laid her down on the bed and handed her an ice bag, which she put against her jaw.
“Ferus?” she asked.
“Yes, the Ferus,” he said, and turned when he heard Chevalier, William, and Mark come in the bedroom door. They were covered in blood and standing defensively.
“Why? I thought I’m an Elder. Shouldn’t they be nice to me?”
“To them you are an Elder who has been kidnapped, and they will do whatever it takes to get you back,” Chevalier explained. He sat down and lifted the ice bag and hissed.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“Just you, Dear,” William said. “We still have the one that assaulted you, so we can… discuss… matters with him.”
Emily sat up, “I’ll discuss it with him.”
“No,” Chevalier said, and gently pushed her back onto the bed. “No more ashing.”
Emily returned the ice pack to her cheek, “What made you think I was going to ash him?”
Sotomar chuckled, “I saw that one coming, too.”
Mark came up to the bed and handed her orange juice.
“Thanks, I hate the taste of blood,” Emily said, and took a drink.
William grinned, “Ahhh… what we would give…”
“Silas and Jaron are outside of your door,” Chevalier said, standing up. “We have some business in the council chambers.”
“Wait,” Emily said, and sat up. “I want to go.”
“You’re protected here,” Mark told her.
“I’m not afraid… I want to see what the little git has to say,” she told them, and sat up slowly. She took the ibuprofen off the table and downed them with the orange juice, then stood up slowly and started for the door.
“Did he hurt your back?” Sotomar asked, frowning.
“No, why?” Emily asked, and turned around to face him.
“You’re walking strangely.”
Emily started toward Sotomar, but Chevalier took her arm and led her toward the door, “He didn’t mean that.”
Sotomar turned slightly as Mark whispered an explanation about the baby dropping. The Valle Elder grinned and followed everyone down into the council chambers.
Chevalier stopped outside of the back entrance to the council chambers and turned to Emily, “No ashing, promise me.”
Emily sighed, “Ok, I promise… unless he…”
“No, none,” Quinn said sternly.
Emily grumbled as she walked in, “Don’t do this Emily… don’t do that Emily…”
Chevalier chuckled and walked in behind her. She took the seat beside Chevalier and looked out. The Cavalry was assembled, and one lone heku was knelt in the center of the trial area.
“What the hell was up with that?” Emily yelled, leaning forward so her elbows were on the desk.
Zohn smiled, fighting a laugh, “Please let us question him.”
Sotomar and William came into the trial area and stood behind the Ferus.
“Let’s start simple, how did you get into the city?” Quinn asked as the room fell silent.
“I’m not going to tell you anything,” the Ferus said.
“We have ways to make you talk.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
Emily frowned slightly, “Wait… I’m your Elder, am I not?”
The Ferus looked at her, “Yes, you are.”
“Fine then… answer his question, I order you.”
The Council all turned back to the Ferus to see if that would work.
The heku paused, unsure what to do, and then policy dictated he answer, “We come in through the tunnels at the farmhouse.”
“Those are guarded,” Quinn said.
“We have our ways,” the heku told him.
Emily sighed, “How?”
“Elder, we shouldn’t be telling these things,” the heku told her.
Emily leaned forward, “Tell me, now.”
The Ferus sighed, “The night guards, Phillip and Scott, they are Ferus.”
Zohn nodded to Mark, and he disappeared from the room.
“How do you get into the Valle and Encala cities?” Emily asked, leaning back. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath.
“Em?” Chevalier asked, touching her arm.
“Suckers,” she whispered, and within a few seconds, had a bag of candy on the table in front of her. Chevalier opened one and handed it to her.
“She asked you a question, Boy,” William said, smacking the Ferus on the back of the head.
He knelt silently and watched Emily as she popped the sucker into her mouth and began to relax. She opened her eyes after a few minutes.
“Answer me,” Emily said.
“All of the night guards in the Valle city are Ferus,” he said, downtrodden. “The gate guards for the Encala are Ferus, all shifts.”
“You’re kind of like cockroaches aren’t you? Reproduce like crazy and hard to get rid of.”
“If you take your place as our Elder, we can be strong,” he said, looking at Emily.
“Kyle?” Emily asked, leaning forward.
“Yes?”
“If Silas over there beat the crap out of Zohn, what would the punishment be?”
“What? Wait…” Silas said, but Zohn held his hand up for him to be quiet.
“Instant death,” Kyle said. “No question.”
“Sotomar, same question for the Valle.”
Sotomar nodded, “That would be death.”
“William?”
“I’m sure we’d interrogate and then kill,” William told her.
“So… what makes you think you should live after assaulting an Elder?” Emily asked the Ferus as he glanced around the room, starting to panic.
“I was trying to save you,” he told her softly.
“From…”
“The Equites.”
“How does assaulting the Elder save her from us?” Kyle asked.
“She needs to get away from you, to her rightful place as Elder, and we will do anything to achieve that.”
“That’s stupid,” Emily said, frowning.
“You are too young to know what’s good for you. You need to trust those of us that care about you and take your place on our Council.”
“Emily!” Quinn yelled when he saw her concentrating on the Ferus.
She looked at him, “I wasn’t going to completely turn him to ash.”
“Let us punish him,” Quinn told her.
“How is it that the Ferus are so easily infiltrating the guard staff of the three factions?” Emily asked, confused.
“There are four factions,” the heku hissed.
“Hey! Watch it, Moron, I’m your Elder,” Emily yelled, and the heku sat back on his feet. “Now answer me.”
“The Valle were easy, Elder Exavior already had supporters and followers.”
Sotomar was visibly upset at that information.
“And the Encala?”
“They were the hardest out of all 3 factions,” the Ferus explained. “They soon realized that we would become a superpower in the heku, and chose to join us with little coercion.”
It was obvious to the Equites Council that William was ready to tear the Ferus to shreds.
“The Equites then, they were easy?” Emily asked him.
“Yes, almost as easy as the Valle.”
“How so?” Quinn asked.
“Part of the Elder’s place with the Ferus was a discipline program. Through punishment and humiliation, she would learn to respect the heku and would become stronger and more able to lead us.”
Emily’s eyes grew wide, “Do what?”
“Punishment and humiliation? What exactly did you have planned?” Zohn asked, shocked.
“What did we have planned? The plan isn’t over… it’s still waiting for her,” he explained. He ignored the others and watched her eyes.
“Stop it!” Emily shouted, and stood up. “Stop trying to control my mind, it doesn’t work on me.”
William slammed his knee into the side of the Ferus’ face, crushing in his skull. He fell to the ground, slowly recovering as blood poured out of his mouth.
Emily turned to leave, pulling her hand out of Chevalier’s when he tried to take it. She slammed the door behind her, and headed up the stairs as four members of the Cavalry fell in behind her.
Quinn looked down as the heku healed, “I hesitate to banish or kill you. You have too much fun information for us.”
“Next I’d like some numbers… how many Ferus are there, for instance,” Zohn asked.
The Ferus healed and slowly got to his knees, “My Elder is no longer here to order me around, you’ll get nothing.”
“I don’t need Emily to get information,” Chevalier said as he stood up and hurdled the desk, landing in front of the Ferus.
“The Ferus won’t stand for this!” he yelled. Chevalier grabbed him by the neck and blurred toward the interrogation room.
“We’ll see what he can get out of the Ferus… I just hope he gets information before he kills him,” Zohn said.
Emily appeared in the trial area door as she pulled on her riding gloves, “Cavalry mount up. Kyle, wanna ride?”
“Sure,” he said, and appeared at her side.
“Ever been on a horse?” Emily asked William and Sotomar.
“No, but I’ll go,” William said, and followed some of the Cavalry out.
“I think I will wait here for word from Chevalier,” Sotomar told her.
When Emily got out to the stables, her stallion was already saddled and waiting for her by the post. She pulled her hair up into her black cowboy hat and turned.
“Silas?” she called out.
Silas came out and grinned. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up onto the tall stallion. She took the reins and waited for the others. Once the others were ready, she led them out of the city and onto the hills, keeping a close eye on William.
“Not going to fall off, right?” Emily asked the Elder.
William grinned, “Don’t think so.”
She dug around in her pocket for another sucker and then watched as the Cavalry raced across the field.
“Why don’t you race?” William asked.
Emily looked over at him and smiled, “That a challenge?”
“Doesn’t seem fair, I’m not good on a horse.”
“Then race me… my horse against your feet.”
“Don’t do it,” Kralen told the enemy Elder. “She has the fastest horse.”
“It’s on… what do I get if I win?” William asked, climbing down off of his horse.
“I’ll wear a red cape for a week,” Emily said. “If I win, you have to wear a green cape for a week.”
“You’re on, Tiny,” William said, and grinned.
Silas shook his head. He couldn’t believe they’d made a bet.
“Count it down, Kralen,” Emily said. “First to hit the trees wins.”
“In 3… 2… 1!” Kralen yelled.
Emily kicked her stallion and he lurched into a smooth gallop. William quickly took the lead, but she soon caught up. She could hear the Cavalry cheering her on, and she leaned forward and grinned as she passed him. She kept her eye on the trees and felt the stallion push harder, his racing instincts kicking in. Just after she passed the first tree, she turned quickly, and saw William catch up to her.
“Damn, that’s a fast animal,” William laughed.
“Silas… your cape please,” Emily said, and he slipped it off and handed it to William.
“This is going to be fun to explain,” he said, and slipped the green cape over his red one.
Emily turned away from their playful bantering when the pain hit. She held steady to the reins and breathed through it, not wanting them to know.
“Are you ok, Em?” Silas asked.
“Yes,” she said, and turned back to them with a smile. She felt the pain back off and relaxed her grip on the reins.
William climbed back up onto his horse, “I’ll need a rematch.”
“Any time,” Emily said, and started back for the city.
“We’re done?” Silas asked.
“No, I’m just out of suckers… you can keep going.”
Emily rode back into town and was just nearing the stables when another pain hit. She breathed threw it and then slid off of the stallion and tied him to the hitching post, then went in the back doors, through the kitchen, and up the servant stairs to her room. She quickly realized that no one was aware she had no guards, and she sat on the edge of the bed, trying to decide what to do.
She fought to control the panic. She knew Chevalier would pick up on that instantly and she would no longer be alone. She scanned the room, looking for anything useful.
Emily gasped and turned around when the door opened. Allen came in and flipped on the lights, “Why are you in here in the dark?”
He stopped when he saw the terrified look on her face, “Allen, shut the door.”
He shut the door quietly and took a step in, “What’s wrong?”
“I need to get out of here,” Emily said, and stood up. “Don’t tell your Dad.”
Allen watched with wide eyes as Emily leaned over and groaned slightly, resting her hands on her knees. She took one last deep breath and stood up.
“Mom, I can take you to the hospital if you don’t want Dad.”
“No, I want to go to the farmhouse where no one will know.”
“I won’t take you there. You need to get help… I remember when Alexis was born,” Allen said, steadying her with his arm.
Emily concentrated on Allen and he looked at her, confused, “What just happened?”
“You said you were going to go get me some ice cream… remember?” Emily said, smiling. She watched as Allen left for th
e kitchen. When he was out of sight, she quickly went down into the game room and spun into the bar, using the top of a chair to wedge the door shut. She looked over at the windows and saw they were boarded up, per the Elder’s orders when they began to bury the banished in the ancient’s room.
Allen walked into the kitchen, still unsure of how he’d gotten into the bedroom.
“You look lost, kid,” Zohn said, patting him on the back.
“I… I just kind of… appeared in Mom’s room,” Allen told him. “It was weird, I was in the library, and then I was in her room.”
“So she wiped your memory,” Zohn explained, leaning back against the stove.
“From what though?” Allen asked, and put down the ice cream scoop and headed into the prison, followed by Zohn. Zohn opened the heavy interrogation room door and stepped in after Allen.
Chevalier looked up from the rack, “Joining in?”
“Mom erased my memory,” Allen said, frustrated.
“Do you remember why yet?”
“No, not yet,” Allen said, and sat down on one of the tables.
“Which means she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing,” Zohn said. “I’m sure her guards are there.”
“I didn’t see any guards at her door,” Allen told him.
Chevalier sighed, “Great… well have the guards put him into a cell, I’ve heard all I can from him.”
“He sung huh?” Zohn asked, looking down at the heku.
“Yes, very easily.”
“Dad!” Allen said, his eyes wide. “She’s in labor.”
“Damnit, Em,” Chevalier said, and blurred up the stairs and into her room.
Allen came in behind him, “She was trying to get me to hide her out in the farmhouse.”
“She hides in the bar. Let’s try there,” Chevalier said, and answered his phone when it rang. “Yes?”
He stopped on the stairs and sighed, “Yes, I know. I’m trying to find her now.”
Quinn and Zohn came up the stairs and stopped at Allen and Chevalier.
“Yes, we’ll get her there as soon as we can,” Chevalier said, and hung up. “She called Dr. Hayden and told him she decided not to have the baby.”
“Well, at least she’s being rational,” Zohn said, frowning.
“So now we hunt for her?” Quinn asked.
“She usually hides in the bar, let’s try there before we call for help,” Chevalier said, and ran into the game room.
Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series Page 82