Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (73 page)

“
Can you… you know…” he
asked, and got another glare from the Captain.

“
Ash a heku?
Yes.”

“
You dim-wit, we already
told you she could,” one of the guards said. Emily recognized him
as one of the injured from the Island.

“
Yeah… well… maybe we
didn’t believe you,” he hissed back.

“
Can you show us?” another
guard asked, and Emily almost choked on her coke.

“
No!” she said, wide
eyed.

“
You offering, idiot?”
Darren asked, and smacked the heku upside the head.

“
Rumor has it you off’d
over 1800 Encala at once,” a heku in the back said.

“
Damnit, you are all being
rude,” Darren growled.

“
No, really, it’s ok.”
Emily smiled and patted the Captain’s hand, “Yes, I did, though not
at once, it took me a few minutes.”

Everyone fell silent, and when Emily
looked up, they were glancing nervously at each other.

She grinned, “I have control, it’s
ok.”

“
I want to see it,” someone
from the back said.

Emily chuckled, “Is that an
offer?”

“
Do it!” another
yelled.

Emily laughed and took another drink.
She watched the playful banter of the guards and with the sounds
and smells of the ranch, she felt a sense of belonging. None of
them seemed afraid of her or embarrassed that she was made a member
of their elite guard.

“
So what’s up for this
afternoon?” Emily asked.

Darren shrugged, “Boring patrols
through the city. I’ve set you up with a team you’ll
lead.”

“
Erm… lead?” she asked
nervously.

Darren laughed, “It’s ok, all you do
is patrol through the city and look for anything out of the
ordinary.”

“
You mean like a mortal
with a gun?”

Darren started to laugh again, “Yeah,
like that.”

“
Hey, why don’t we get a
gun?” one of the guards asked.

“
Because you’d shoot
yourself with it,” Darren said, and stood up. “Mount up, playtime
is over.”

After patrolling the city with her
team for a few hours, Emily followed them back to the stables.
Silas was waiting in front of them with Alexis.

“
Hiya, Baby,” Emily said,
smiling.

“
Hi to you, too,” Silas
replied, and laughed.

“
Gah, not you,” Emily
chuckled, and took Alexis when Silas handed her up. Emily kissed
her on the cheek.

“
Would you two like to go
on a tour?” Darren asked, riding up beside Emily. He smiled at
Alexis. It wasn’t often he saw a baby at the Ranch, “Oh, sorry, you
three.”

“
Think you can get on a
horse, Silas?” Emily asked, smiling.

“
I think I probably
could.”

“
Pick a horse, bridles are
on the wall by the saddles,” Darren said.

Silas nodded and grabbed a bridle,
disappearing into the stables. He came out after a few minutes,
bareback on an appaloosa.

Darren glanced at them both, “Hrm. Do
you all in Council City have problems with saddles?”

“
Well, you know, saddles
are for those who can’t hold on with their thighs,” Emily said, and
kicked her horse into a canter.

Darren glanced at Silas with his
eyebrows raised.

“
That’s Em,” Silas said,
and kicked his horse to catch up to her.

When Darren caught up to them, Silas
and Emily were laughing about something and Alexis was pointing
over at a cow.

“
We have over eight
thousand head of cattle here, and out west are all of our dry
farms,” Darren said, pointing out the agriculture sites as they
rode by.

“
Why do it? I mean… I know
why Em runs a ranch, but why would heku? You don’t need the food,
obviously, money’s never been a problem,” Silas asked.

“
It gives us a sense of
responsibility, a sense of purpose,” Darren explained.

“
It’s touching, how you all
care so much about something other than just heku,” Emily said, her
mind far away.

Emily rode beside Silas and Darren as
they talked about the Ranch, its protection, and its guard
strategy. They noticed quickly that she wasn’t paying attention and
got deeper into protocols and regulations of the
Cavalries.

When they had the horses put away for
the night, Darren and Silas visited with each other while Emily and
Alexis had dinner. Alexis was yawning by dessert, so Emily laid her
down after a quick story.

She walked out to where Darren and
Silas were visiting, “I’m going to go out for a run as soon as I
change.”

“
Wear that, if you can,”
Darren said, looking at her uniform. “It’ll let the coven know you
belong here.”

Emily nodded and glanced down, “Ok,
I’ll slip on my shoes though.”

“
Commander?” he
asked.

“
Yes?”

“
Are you… you know… going
out, now?”

Emily frowned, “I need to go for a
run.”

“
It’s ok, I’ll go with
her,” Silas said.

“
No you won’t. I need to be
alone, and you need to watch Alex.” She turned and ran out of the
mansion as soon as she’d put on better running shoes.

“
She has no sense of
danger,” Silas told Darren.

“
I’m sure she’ll be ok, but
what mortal goes running through a heku city in the dark?” Darren
asked, frowning.

“
Welcome to the world of
Emily,” Silas said with a sigh, and then headed back up to Alexis’s
room.

As Emily ran, her head swam with the
possibilities of an agricultural coven. When the Encala offered her
any coven of her choice, she hadn’t known such a thing existed. She
wondered if it would be possible for her to make an agricultural
coven work and thrive. If she had her own coven, and could do
anything she wanted with it, there would be no reason not to have
livestock and farms. No reason why her heku couldn’t learn the
ranching trade and eventually might even learn to like
it.

Her mind began to fill with things the
Encala had done to her, the runes on her thigh that marked her as a
slave and drove her to Exavior’s coven. The feel of Vaughn’s hands
on her as he savored her before the ceremony. Her father, the
Ancient, killed her mother and her brother. He killed her baby, and
would have killed her, too. She could feel the necklace pounding
against her chest as she ran, the necklace that contained the ashes
of the Ancient and his Encala Council.

Emily stopped when her mind was clear
again and her thoughts turned entirely back to the Equites. She
caught her breath and looked around. While her mind was
preoccupied, she had run out of Thukil Coven and into the woods
surrounding it. She looked around at the dark trees and
sighed.

“
Damn, where am I?” she
asked no one.

She turned off her iPod and looked
around the trees, then heard a noise, soft whispers, and she walked
quietly toward it. The wind was blowing through the trees, and she
felt somewhat comforted that she was downwind of whomever it was
making the noise. She moved tree to tree when she saw shadows in
the streams of moonlight through the branches. She peeked out from
behind a large tree, and her eyes grew wide.

Heku were gathered, hundreds of them,
and they were standing around a clearing. In the dark, Emily wasn’t
able to tell the color of their capes, but she was pretty sure they
weren’t Equites.

“
All of you quiet down!”
she heard someone yell. The voice was familiar, but she wasn’t able
to place it.

Her breathing seemed noisy in the
quiet night as the heku moved to form straight rows in the dark
clearing. Watching their backs, she was able to see the E on their
capes. They were the Encala, and Emily suddenly recognized the
voice, it was Encala Elder Koly.

“
The Valle attacks weakened
them, and they won’t be expecting an attack this soon. It’s rumored
that
Selhman and Ingram are either here or
in Council City. Now that Island Coven has the Winchester, we will
attack just the two, each in turn, not separating our forces.
Prepare your teams. We leave in two hours,” Vaughn said.

Emily felt the anger
beginning, the familiar call to destroy those that threatened her
and the ones she loved. This group was going to attack her new
friends. The heku bent solely on raising cattle and taking care of
them. The Cavalry that had taken her in and made her one of their
own was now in danger, and they didn’t know.

Emily sighed, knowing the
fight this was going to cause her later. Chevalier was always
telling her to stop protecting the heku, and this was a prime
example of what she wasn’t supposed to do.

She walked around the clearing until
she was directly behind the three Elders, then stepped out, feeling
the anger growing.

“
You offered me peace,”
Emily said, and the Elders spun, their eyes wide.

A murmur ran through the army as an
Equites Commander stepped into the clearing, unafraid.

“
You’re… you’re here,”
Vaughn said.

“
You’re messing with my
friends… again,” Emily said, glaring at him.

A panic swept through the army and the
Elders looked at each other nervously.

***

“
She’s been gone a long
time,” Silas said to Darren.

“
How long is she usually
gone when she runs?”

“
An hour, maybe 90
minutes.”

“
Let's you and I get on the
horses and see if we can track her,” Darren suggested, and Silas
looked over at Alexis.

“
I can’t leave her
alone.”

“
I’ll send Hannah in to
watch her.”

Silas nodded and ran out to the
stables. In a few minutes, he had a bridle on one of the horses and
had caught Emily’s scent. Darren rode out behind him, also catching
the scent.

“
Sir, what’s up?” one of
the patrolling Cavalry asked when they passed.

Darren sighed, “Emily went out for a
run three hours ago. She didn’t come back.”

The three Cavalry guards glanced at
each other, and the front one spoke, “We’ll gather the forces.
There’s a lot of forest out there.”

Darren nodded and soon he and Silas
were surrounded by the entire Cavalry. They turned their horses and
followed Emily’s scent. Almost a mile into the forest, Silas jumped
off of his horse and ran to Emily as she stumbled through the
trees. The smell of blood was strong.

“
Em?” Silas asked as he
approached her.

Emily turned on him and glared,
putting her hand out, “I won’t let you get them.”

Silas froze. His eyes fixed on the
trail of blood from her ears and nose, and the scarlet color of her
eyes.

“
What’s wrong with her?”
Darren asked, concerned.

“
Emily, listen to me, it’s
Silas,” he said, putting his hand out to her.

“
Get back! I’ll ash you if
you attack Thukil Coven,” she scowled.

“
Damnit,” Silas whispered.
“When Emily ashes too many… hundreds… she gets confused and bleeds
from her nose and ears… like she is now. I’d wager that somewhere
in these woods, are hundreds of piles of ashes.”

Darren frowned and called out to the
Cavalry, “Find them.”

“
Look at me… who did you
find out here?” Silas asked her. “I need you to concentrate, think
hard.”

“
I need to get to Thukil,”
she mumbled, and stumbled off away from them.

Darren whispered into the wind for
Thukil to notify Council City of the attack and Emily’s condition,
and then walked off after Silas and Emily.

Darren caught up with Silas easily,
“Council City is sending backup, a doctor and the Elder are with
them. They are coming in by jet and should arrive in the next two
hours. Elder Chevalier warned us to keep our distance while Emily
is confused.”

Silas nodded, “We’ll just stay with
her. If we get too close, she could turn us to ash in her
confusion.”

“
Captain!” a member of the
Cavalry rode up quickly. “A clearing about a quarter of a mile from
here, it’s full of ashes and the clothing from an Encala
Army.”

Darren hissed, “How many?”

“
Just over seven hundred,”
the guard said, swallowing hard.

Silas looked at Emily as she staggered
around the woods.

“
Gather the ashes, all that
you can, and the clothing. Return it all to the Ranch,” Darren
ordered. “Tell the Lord and Lady… that Emily has saved us from an
attack.”

The guard nodded and rode off toward
the city.

Silas sat down to wait for Chevalier
when Emily hunkered down by a tree with her knees at her chest and
her arms wrapped around them. She pulled her cape around her and
disappeared under it.