Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (74 page)

“
How long does this take?”
Darren whispered, and sat down by Silas.

“
I’m not sure. Chevalier
usually takes her away,” Silas said, and watched Emily in her
protective ball.

“
Why did she put herself
through this? If she had warned us, we could have protected
ourselves.”

“
That’s just Emily… out to
save every heku.”

“
You know, we hear that,
but I guess it didn’t really sink in how much this one mortal cares
about our species,” Darren said softly, and looked at Emily with
respect.

Silas and Darren waited in silence and
watched over Emily as she sat perfectly still inside of her cape.
They turned when they heard someone approach, and both stood when
the Elder appeared with Kyle, Zohn, and the faction
doctor.

“
Where is she?” Chevalier
asked.

Silas pointed to the cape, “She’s
crouched down under there.”

“
How many?” the doctor
asked, frowning.

“
The final tally came in at
721 Encala, including their three Elders,” Darren told
him.

Chevalier frowned, “They sent all
three Elders to an attack?”

Darren shrugged, “I’m thinking they
thought it was a sure thing. 721 outnumber us after we lost some in
the Valle attack.”

Chevalier sighed, “Where does she
think she is?”

“
She’s trying to get to
Thukil to warn them,” Silas said.

“
Kyle, maybe you better
wait in Thukil Coven, just in case,” Chevalier said with a
half-grin. Kyle nodded and blurred away.

Chevalier walked forward slowly, being
as silent as he could. Zohn and the doctor walked behind
him.

When the three were within a few feet
of Emily, she sprang to her feet and pulled the .45 out of the
holster, then leveled it at them as her guard’s cape floated behind
her with the breeze.

“
Em,” Chevalier said,
holding his hands up. He quickly took in the guard uniform and
scanned her, but found no obvious injuries.

“
Do not come closer,” she
growled.

Chevalier took a step back, “Sorry, we
won’t come closer.”

Emily frowned and cocked her head to
the side slightly, “Chev?”

“
Yes, it’s me.”

Emily didn’t lower the .45, “I can’t
think.”

“
I know. Put the gun down
and we can go back to Alexis,” Chevalier said softly.

“
I have to warn Thukil,”
she said, unsure.

“
There’s nothing to warn
them about, you ashed all of them.”

“
We need to tell the
Cavalry.”

Chevalier nodded and glanced at the
rank pin on her collar, “You’re the Commander, and you need to go
tell them.”

Emily nodded, “I am.”

Darren stepped forward, “Come on,
let’s tell them together.”

Emily walked to Darren and kept the
gun at Chevalier, “Ok, let’s go.”

Darren glanced at Chevalier and then
placed his hand on Emily’s back and led her toward the
Ranch.

“
I’m… pretty sure that’s
not a regulation guard uniform,” Zohn said, amused.

“
Lock her eyes and put her
to sleep,” the doctor told Darren in a whisper, too low for Emily
to hear.

“
Commander?” Darren asked,
and when she glanced at him, he immediately locked her eyes with
his.

Emily stumbled and dropped the .45 to
the forest floor. Darren reached down and picked her up in a cradle
and then blurred toward the mansion with the others close behind.
He laid her down on the bed gently, and stood back while the doctor
stepped forward and began to check Emily over as she
slept.

“
I need to give a report to
the Lord and Lady,” Darren whispered, and bowed before
leaving.

Kyle chuckled, “They made her a
Commander?”

“
Seems so,” Zohn said,
watching the doctor.

“
Hey, Elder,” Kyle said
from the window.

Chevalier walked over and glanced out
Emily’s window. Seventy five mounted guards waited outside on the
grass below her window.

“
Same as last time, bloody
nose, blood pooled in her ears, extremely low blood pressure. I’d
wager she has a headache. Let her sleep it off and when she wakes
up, we see how she is,” the doctor said. “I wish there was
something I could do, but without tests, I have no way to
know.”

“
Leave us,” Chevalier said,
and pulled the curtains over the window. When everyone was out of
the room, Chevalier started to gently remove the uniform and
slipped her into a nightgown so she would be more
comfortable.

He took a warm rag and cleaned the
blood from her face and neck and then covered her with the soft
blankets. He dimmed the lights and stepped out into the hallway,
shutting her door softly.

“
How is she?” Darren asked.
He was surrounded by several of the top commanders in the
Cavalry.

“
We won’t know until she
wakes up,” Chevalier told him, and went down to meet with the Lord
and Lady Thukil.

Chevalier walked in as Lord Thukil was
talking with Zohn and Kyle.

Lord Thukil stood up and looked at
Chevalier, “How is she?”

“
Have we revived the
Elders?” Chevalier asked, ignoring the Lord of the
coven.

“
We were waiting for you,”
Kyle said, taking a seat in the small trial room.

Chevalier sat down beside him and
Zohn, “Proceed.”

Lord Thukil called for the Captain of
the Cavalry and then sat down. Darren took his place at the table
when he arrived.

Kyle stood, and with a drop of blood,
revived the first set of ashes.

Vaughn screamed as he re-formed and
then stood up, still bent slightly from the burning pain, “That
Bitch!”

“
I suggest you hold your
tongue,” Kyle growled at him, and Vaughn looked up, realizing he
was no longer in the clearing.

“
What is this?” Vaughn
hissed.

“
A war tribunal, I do
believe. You were leading an attack on Thukil Coven,” Chevalier
explained.

“
I was not! We were
conducting a training exercise when we were attacked by the
Equites’ puppet,” Vaughn said, smiling.

Chevalier looked at Zohn.

“
He’s lying,” Zohn said
coldly.

“
Banish him,” Chevalier
said.

Kyle was at Vaughn’s back in an
instant, and with one drop of blood, he fell into a pile of
ash.

“
We have enough information
to take the other two Elders back to the Council. Can you banish
the rest of them? Give them each 1,000 years,” Chevalier said to
Lord Thukil.

Lord Thukil nodded, “We will do that
immediately.”

“
We will stay until Emily
feels better, if that is ok.”

“
Yes, yes, stay as long as
the Child needs, we owe her everything,” Lord Thukil said, his
voice full of respect.

Chevalier blurred up to Emily’s room
and stepped quietly inside. He crawled into bed beside her and
wrapped his arms around her while she slept. The gray swirls of
emotions that surround her when she slept didn’t form into dreams
but continued to swirl in erratic patterns as the dawn came and
brought the sounds from the animals.

The doctor came in and checked her
over, whispering softly to Chevalier before leaving.

“
Tell him to leave me
alone,” Emily whispered softly.

Chevalier grinned, “If you can tell me
where you are, I’ll agree to that.”

“
Ahh, my head,” she said,
and rolled over, curling up next to him.

Chevalier kissed her forehead, “You
aren’t helping convince me to keep the doctor away.”

Emily sighed, “I couldn’t let them
attack the Ranch.”

“
Your body can’t take this.
One of these times, you may not wake up.”

“
Council City is next, they
want those prisoners.”

Chevalier nodded, “We know, and we’re
prepared.”

Emily grinned, “Good, because I don’t
want to stay at the palace to protect all your butts.”

“
I’d give anything if you’d
just stick to protecting yourself,” Chevalier said, and couldn’t
help but laugh some.

“
Do you think they have any
ibuprofen?” Emily asked, and then looked up when the doctor walked
in. “If you come at me with a needle I’ll ash you.”

The doctor froze at the door, “It’s…
just... a pill.”

“
Ibuprofen?”

“
No, something a little
stronger,” the doctor said.

“
Please, just take it,”
Chevalier asked, stifling a grin.

Emily sighed, “Whatever.”

The doctor handed her the pills and
some orange juice and then left after she took them.

Emily sat up and pushed her palms into
her eyes.

Chevalier rubbed her shoulders, “Why
don’t you lie down until you feel better.”

“
I’m hungry,” she whispered
and stood up, swaying slightly. Chevalier appeared at her side and
steadied her.

“
Let me have something
brought up,” he suggested.

“
No, I’m ok.” She smiled,
and walked more steadily to the desk with her suitcase and she
pulled on a robe.

“
Are you sure you want to
go out there?”

“
Why?” Emily asked, turning
toward him as she tied the robe.

“
You were loved before… now
you’ve saved them.”

“
Great, if they kneel, I’m
running,” Emily said, and opened the door.

Chevalier chuckled, “I’m sure it won’t
come to that.”

Emily slowly made her way to the
dining room she’d been to earlier. Her head was pounding, and as
soon as she ate, she fully planned on going back to
sleep.

“
Child!” she heard from
behind her, and turned. Lord Thukil was there along with Darren and
the rest of the Commanders of the Thukil guard.

“
Yes?” she asked, uneasy at
how they looked at her.

Lord Thukil dropped to one knee and
lowered his head, “We owe you everything.”

The rest of the heku in the mansion
all dropped to one knee and lowered their heads with
respect.

Emily’s eyes grew wide and she turned
to run, but Chevalier held her with one arm, “I warned
you.”

Emily turned around to face the
Thukil’s, “Please, don’t do that, stand up.”

“
Tell us what we can do to
honor you, to repay you for the sacrifice,” Lord Thukil
said.

“
You can start by not doing
that, standup, please. I don’t deserve that,” Emily said, and felt
Chevalier chuckle.

“
You just made it worse,”
he whispered into her ear.

“
Don’t deserve it? You are
too humble. We are forever in your debt,” Lord Thukil said, and
stayed bowed before her.

“
Chev, make them stop,”
Emily begged.

Chevalier laughed and turned her
around, leading her into the dining room.

“
Mommy!” Alexis yelled, and
ran to her. Emily picked her up and kissed her.

“
Good morning… or
afternoon, I guess,” Silas said.

“
They’re bowing,” she told
Silas, and sighed.

Silas laughed, “I don’t doubt
that.”

Emily sat down and poured herself some
coffee. One of the servants brought in a plate of sausage and fried
potatoes, and bowed all the way out of the door.

“
I’m a Commander, can’t I
stop that?” Emily asked, and then started to eat.

“
They want to give you a
medal,” Silas said, grinning. He tried to stop when Chevalier
glared at him, but had to turn away instead.

“
I’m ready to go back to
the island,” Emily said to Chevalier.

He nodded, “I know. We need to go to
the palace first, and then we can go.”

“
Let’s go, after
breakfast.”

“
Em, they want to give you
a medal. It’s important to them,” Chevalier explained.

“
Now I’m going to be sick,”
Emily told him, and sat down the fork. “Actually, I do feel kind of
funny.”

“
Funny?” Silas
asked.

Emily giggled slightly, something she
rarely did, and picked up the fork again slowly.

“
Em? Are you feeling ok?”
Chevalier asked.

She leaned back in her chair and
relaxed.

“
Doctor?” Chevalier called,
grinning.

The doctor walked in and frowned at
Emily as she giggled at the ceiling, “Hrm, maybe I gave her too
much.”

“
So this is your doing?”
Chevalier asked, taking Emily’s hand.

“
Yes, it’s the medication.
Ma’am, how is your headache?” the doctor asked her.