Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (49 page)

“
Get the cattle settled,”
Kirk said. Todd and Peter nodded and took off toward the fearful
cows.

“
The horses,” Emily
whispered.

“
There’s nothing you could
have done. Do you know who did this?” he asked her
softly.

Emily nodded.

“
The Sheriff will want to
know, but for now, you need to get in out of the snow.” He stood up
and tried to pull her to her feet, but she stayed on her
knees.

“
I’ll get them,” she
whispered, watching where the barn was.

“
Let the police deal with
it,” he said, and helped her to her feet. She staggered forward
toward the barn and he walked with her.

Emily stepped past a few pieces of
scorched wood and pushed ash aside, revealing the bones underneath.
She buried her face in her hands as her heart ached at the loss.
Todd and Peter returned, and they were able to get Emily into the
old Pontiac. Soon, they were at Kirk’s house on the
reservation.

Emily sat on the couch and watched the
fire. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and she had a heavy
blanket across her shoulders.

“
I’m going to go back to
the bunkhouse. I hate to leave the place unattended,” Peter said,
and pulled on a heavy coat before heading into the snow.

As Peter pulled into the somber ranch,
he saw men walking around and a black suburban was parked in front
of the burned out house. He grabbed a rifle from the backseat, and
stepped out as they turned to him.

“
Who are you?” he asked,
leveling the rifle at one of the men.

Chevalier turned to Peter, “I’m
Emily’s husband.”

“
I don’t know if I believe
you. You look a lot like the blokes that burned this place down,”
Peter said, looking as the other men gathered.

Chevalier sighed, “Where’s
Emily?”

“
She’s back at the
reservation.”

“
And Sam?”

“
We haven’t seen him,”
Peter told them.

“
Please, bring Emily back
here,” Chevalier asked.

Peter nodded and picked up his cell
phone. He turned his back and whispered the conversation, though
all of the heku could hear them perfectly.

“
There are men here. One
says he’s Em’s husband,” Peter whispered.

“
I thought he was overseas,
or dead, or something,” Todd said.

“
Can you bring her here? If
this isn’t her husband, we’ll just have to deal.”

“
Yeah, ok, if I can get her
to move.”

Peter turned back to them, “She’s
coming, but if you are lying to me, I’m not going to be
happy.”

Chevalier nodded and turned back to
the remains of the ranch, “What happened?”

Peter rubbed the back of his neck, “We
just heard a loud noise, and when we came out, there were people
everywhere with torches. They were burning anything they could see
and yelling for Emily.”

“
The Encala,” Chevalier
said, mostly to himself.

“
Yeah, that’s what Sam
called them,” Peter told him, and watched the men until he heard a
car coming.

When the car stopped, Emily got out
and wandered toward the barn in a daze. Chevalier moved to her side
and said something to her that the twins couldn’t hear. She turned
and buried her face in his chest as he wrapped his arms around
her.

Kyle walked up to the twins and pulled
them aside, “Emily’s done here. We’d like to offer you the property
and the livestock that’s left. The insurance money should cover a
new house and barn.”

Peter’s eyes grew wide, “Are you sure?
This is one of the largest ranches in these parts.”

Kyle nodded, “Yes, we’re
sure.”

Todd was looking around, “It’s
ours?”

“
We’ll have our lawyers
draw up the papers and send them over,” Kyle told them, and then
turned back to Emily and Chevalier.

“
She keeps saying she’ll
get them,” Todd said. “We told her to let the police handle it, but
she keeps saying it.”

Kyle nodded, “We’ll handle
it.”

Chevalier was leading Emily back to
the suburban as all but two of the heku got inside. The other two
got into the Durango and sped off into the night. Kyle nodded to
the twins and crawled into the driver’s seat. He took off slowly,
watching as the headlights lit up the remains of the barn. Once
they hit blacktop, it was only a few minutes to where Equites 1 was
waiting for them.

Emily didn’t talk. She sat and looked
out the window as the helicopter rose over the Crow reservation and
headed back to the palace. She watched as the pilot circled, and
then softly landed on the palace roof.

“
No,” Emily whispered when
Chevalier tried to pick her up.

Emily walked into the palace in a
daze, and kept going past the fifth floor bedrooms. Chevalier
followed her quietly as she went out into the stables and pressed
her forehead into Patra’s soft muzzle.

She slipped a bridle on the mare and
slid easily onto her bare back. She ignored Chevalier, and kicked
her into a gallop, heading out of the city as he
watched.

Chevalier turned and went back inside,
deciding to let her have some time alone. He was anxious to talk to
the Council about the attack and Sam’s disappearance. He took his
seat at the Council and the others turned to him.

“
Do you have anything to
report?” Maleth asked him.

“
The Encala burned Emily’s
ranch to the ground, the house, the barn, and the livestock
inside,” Chevalier said. His mind was far away on the hillside as
he felt the sorrow and anguish flood from Emily.

Maleth sighed, “How is
she?”

“
She’s going to go after
them,” Chevalier said, and turned when Kyle entered.

“
The twins told me that she
kept saying she would get them,” Kyle told the Council.

Damon looked over at the Elder, “They
can’t leave her alone can they? Seems just when she takes care of
the Valle, the Encala do something stupid.”

Chevalier nodded.

“
Where is she?” Zohn
asked.

“
She took Patra
out.”

“
Alone?”

“
Yes, she needs to be
alone. What have we decided on the position of Court Reporter?”
Chevalier asked, trying to turn the attention away from Emily, and
onto the open council position.

“
So far, we only have one
strong candidate, he’s young though, only 808 years old,” Quinn
told him.

Chevalier frowned, “Why would we
consider one so young?”

“
That’s my one concern
too,” Maleth added.

“
You can’t go in there,”
Derrick said from the hallway as the door opened.

Emily stepped in. Her shoulders were
low and her eyes were red and full of pain. Chevalier wanted to go
to her, but he had a hard time reading what she wanted, and didn’t
want to overstep.

“
They won,” Emily said,
looking up from the trial area.

“
What was that, Dear?”
Maleth asked.

“
The Encala and the Valle…
they won.”

The Council looked at one another
nervously.

Chevalier frowned slightly, “How did
they win, Em?”

“
I’m not going to fight
back any more. It’s been going back and forth for eight years, and
I’m stopping it. They won, I quit.”

“
Em…” Chevalier
started.

“
No, I’m not going to
retaliate. I agree to personal guards. I agree to not leave the
palace alone. I agree to abide by the Council’s decision on my
safety, and I agree that they won, and I’m done playing,” Emily
finished, and turned for the door.

“
Em,” Chevalier said again,
and she turned.

“
We’ll get them back,”
Damon promised her.

“
That’ll egg them on.
They’ll come back, and each time it’ll get worse. How long before
all three factions kill one another off simultaneously? What do
they take next? My kids?” Emily’s voice was desperate and
pleading.

“
We won’t let that happen,”
Maleth said.

Emily shook her head, “No one lets it
happen. No one let the Valle take me from the pier, no one let the
Encala’s ancient try to control me, no one let the Valle into the
reception… enough already. Maybe I refuse to do it
anymore.”

“
What is it you want us to
do, exactly?” Quinn asked.

“
Call the Valle and the
Encala and yell Uncle,” Emily said, and walked out the
door.

As the door shut behind her, Quinn
turned to Chevalier, “Why would we yell Uncle?”

“
I’m not exactly sure,”
Chevalier said, raising an eyebrow.

Kyle stepped out of the shadows.
They’d forgotten he was even in the room, “It means to wave the
white flag.”

“
Surrender?” Damon
growled.

“
No, more like calling a
truce,” Kyle corrected.

“
We obviously aren’t going
to do that, but for now, do as she said and reassign her guards
while she lets us,” Quinn ordered. Kyle nodded, and then left the
room.

“
Back to the Court
Reporter,” Maleth said, and turned back to the book.

Chevalier watched as the rest of the
Council debated. He was more worried about the emotions coming from
Emily. He had never felt her so downtrodden and
defeated.

After the second week of Emily
wandering around the palace silently, Chevalier suddenly had an
idea, something that might help her get some frustrations
out.

As soon as his meeting was over,
Chevalier asked Kyle and Damon to meet him in the guard training
room beside the barracks, and to make sure no others were there.
They nodded and blurred from the room as he headed
upstairs.

Emily was curled up with Alexis in
front of the fire. The baby was holding her teddy bear while Emily
watched the flames.

Chevalier stepped in and shut the
door, “Em?”

“
Yes?” she said softly,
still watching the fire.

“
Silas is going to take
Alexis for a bit, you need to get ready.”

“
For what?” Emily was
running her fingers through Alexis’ black curls.

“
Jogging… come on,” he
said, and put his hand out to help her up.

Emily didn’t fight him, but grabbed
her sports bra and cut-off shorts, and disappeared into the
bathroom. Silas came and took Alexis down to the game
room.

When Emily came out, Chevalier took
her hand and they walked out of the palace. She didn’t ask where
they were going, but just took his lead. They stepped into the
guard training room and Emily looked around. The room had padded
floors and mirrors lined walls. There were punching bags and
stuffed dummies in every corner.

Emily held Chevalier’s hand as they
walked up to Damon and Kyle. Mark poked his head in and Kyle
motioned him over.

“
So… what’s up?” Damon
asked, confused.

“
Self-defense,” Chevalier
said, and smiled at Kyle.

“
Nice,” Kyle said,
excited.

Emily sighed, “I don’t need
self-defense anymore.”

“
Yes, you do. This’ll be
fun, you get to beat up Damon,” Chevalier reminded her. He smiled
when he saw a small twinkle in her eye.

“
Ha! She couldn’t beat me
up if she tried,” Damon grumbled.

“
Just keep in mind, you’re
supposed to be mortal,” Kyle said, still grinning.

“
I want to stay for this,
that ok, Elder?” Mark asked.

Chevalier nodded, “How we did this
before was to put Emily and her attacker in common positions, and
then we’d analyze and find a way out of it.”

Damon grinned.

Emily shrugged, “Ok.”

“
So where do you want to
start?” Damon asked.

Chevalier turned to Emily, “Em, do you
want to start with Jeff?”

Emily looked at Chevalier, “Do
what?”

“
Jeff’s attack, we can show
you how to get out of it.”

“
It’s… no.”

“
Yes,” Chevalier said, and
nodded to Damon.

Emily sighed, “Fine, but it’s the
exact same position that Kyle used on the island, might as well do
both mortal and immortal.”

Kyle cringed, “I...
damnit.”

“
Then… let’s go,” Chevalier
said, and watched Emily lay down on the padded mat.

When she saw Damon kneel beside her,
Emily sat up, “Can’t Mark do this?”

“
Oh lay down, Sweets,”
Damon said, and pushed her down onto the mat.

Emily looked to the side, embarrassed,
and crossed her wrists above her head. Damon took the hint and
grabbed her wrists in one hand, unsure what to do with the other.
His body was at weird angles to the side of hers.