Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (2 page)

“We do not have your
Elder, but if we did, we would follow tradition and tell you. It’s
insulting that you assume we’re keeping him in secret,” Quinn told
him, noticeably irritated. “However, we do not want your Chief
Investigator hanging around our palace.”

“If we find out that you’ve broken
tradition…”

“We haven’t, so you may go,” Chevalier
growled.

William nodded, glanced at Emily, and
then turned and left with his faction.

“That was fun. I’m going
for breakfast,” Emily said, and left through the back
doors.

Kyle watched her go and then looked at
Chevalier, “Is she still having them?”

“Yes, odd ones, too,”
Chevalier told them. “Last night he was Chief Enforcer
again.”

“Is she worried because he was leading
the standoff?” Quinn asked.

“I suspect she’s more worried that
he’s disappeared without a trace.”

“Has she said anything about revenge
for Jaron?” Zohn asked.

“Yes, she’s still considering it,”
Chevalier said, and sighed.

“With Emily though, we
won’t know she’s made her decision until it’s either over or in
progress,” Kyle said. “For now, I suggest we leave the Cavalry as
her guards. She slips city guards a lot easier.”

“Agreed, and make sure one of them is
high-ranking,” Quinn said, and started going through a
notebook.

***

“It’s snowing again,”
Kralen told Emily when she went to the window. She sighed and
dropped the curtain.

“Is it ever going to
stop?”

“Yes, then it’ll be too
hot. What do you want to do today?”

She shrugged, “I don’t
know. What is the Cavalry doing today?”

“We’re all going out for some
training, want to come?”

“Doing what?” Emily asked, turning
toward him.

“We’re going over finding heku in the
trees,” the Captain explained.

“So I get city guards?”

“Yes, please don’t slip
them.”

She smiled, “I haven’t had city guards
in a while.”

“That’s because you slip
them… We really need the entire Cavalry today and I’m begging you
to stay with the guards.”

Emily sat down and grabbed a pot of
coffee, “What’s the Council doing today?”

“Not sure really,” he
said, and sat down with her at the table. Over the winter, Emily
had begun to want company when she ate breakfast, and Kralen took
it upon himself to fill that part. Things were quiet in Council
City in the three months since the attack, but tensions were still
high, and Kralen assumed Emily felt it. She was a lot clingier and
spent more time in the council chambers.

Kralen turned to the door and then
back to Emily, “Your guards are here, please… behave.”

She smiled, “I will, have
fun.”

Kralen bowed slightly and
disappeared from the room. Emily sat back and looked around the
dark room and listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the
ancient palace’s roof. Suddenly, she had an idea and grinned.
Jumping from the table, she went into her closet and came out with
a set of green camouflage fatigues.

She remembered the day
they brought them to her. Each of the Cavalry was issued a set, and
since that day, hers sat at the back of her closet. She quickly put
them on and tied her hair up, then slipped on the camouflage hat.
She dug around in her drawer and found the green and black paint
the Cavalry used to paint their faces, and quickly applied
it.

She went over and began to
spray a strong smelling scent onto her clothes, something Sotomar
gave her during their friendship to mask her scent when needed.
After grabbing a thick camouflage coat and black gloves, she headed
out to the council chambers.

The city guards fell in behind her,
confused as to why she was in all camouflage.

“Good… morning,” Derrick
said, frowning slightly. “Do I want to know what you’re
doing?”

Emily smiled, “I need to
talk to Chev.”

“Go on in,” Derrick said, and opened
the door for her.

The Council all became
quiet when they saw her, and watched as she walked up to the trial
area. She went over and stood closer to Chevalier, not wanting to
make this a Council decision.

“Do I want to know what you’re up to?”
Chevalier asked.

She frowned, “That’s what
Derrick just asked.”

Chevalier chuckled, “I’m sure he
did.”

“I want you to back off my
guards.”

“You can’t go without
guards.”

“Your smell is off,” Kyle said,
wrinkling his nose.

“
I’m not going without
guards. I’m about to be surrounded by over fifty of them,” she told
him, and winked at Kyle.

Quinn grinned, “What are
you going to do to our Cavalry?”

“
I’m going to ambush them…
actually…” Emily said, and grinned slightly.

“You’re going to ambush a heku army?”
Dustin asked, raising an eyebrow.

She glared at him and
turned back to Chevalier, “Please back them off. I’ll be alone for
all of 3 minutes, and then I’m going to be trying to shoot as many
of the Cavalry as I can with a paintball gun.”

“Does Mark know this?” Zohn
asked.

“It wouldn’t be an ambush
if he knew,” Emily told him.

Chevalier shook his head and then told
her guards to wait by the bedroom door.

She smiled, “Thank you.”

“You do realize there’s a blizzard out
there?”

“Yes, that’s how I’m going
to get away with it. I’ll be harder to find.”

“Don’t get hurt,” Chevalier told her,
and she grinned and walked out of the council chambers.

“There’s no way she’s
going to get off a single shot,” Dustin said
indignantly.

“Yes, she is,” Zohn told
him. “The Cavalry has no idea she’s out there, her scent is masked,
and they have no reason to suspect they’re going to be shot
at.”

“She’ll be disrupting
their training though. We shouldn’t allow it.”

Quinn smiled, “If the
Cavalry gets shot, it’s their fault and I, for one, think it’s a
good training idea. Get them while they’re least expecting
it.”

Emily quickly hooked up
her horse trailer to the truck and led her horse out. She didn’t
want to attack from the city, so she planned on coming in from the
other direction. It was slow driving with the trailer in the snow,
but within 10 minutes, she was on the other side of the
trees.

She mounted quickly, glad
for the warmth of the horse, then led him slowly into the trees,
hoping she could remember the training clearing so she didn’t run
right into them. As she got closer, she got off of the horse and
went towards the north, away from where they normally did
exercises.

Finding the tree she was
looking for, she slung the paintball gun over her shoulder and
climbed it as quietly as she could. When she was in the top
branches, she could see Mark talking to the Cavalry while Kralen
and Silas stood at his sides. She was off to their side, high up in
the concealment of the thick branches.

“The next time I see it,
you’ll be put on suspension. Is that understood?” Mark growled, and
the Cavalry all agreed in unison.

“Great, so now we’re going
to…” Silas stopped and touched his shoulder. He looked at his hand
and saw green paint on his fingers.

“Were you just shot?” Kralen asked,
looking around the trees.

Silas grinned and yelled,
“Emily!”

The Cavalry began to scan
the trees, and Emily moved back behind one of the larger
branches.

Mark’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the
trees, “Team 4, go.”

Six of the Cavalry took
off toward where Silas’ back had been facing. They moved stealthily
through the trees, trying to catch the Winchester scent or any
sounds.

“Team 2, flank her,”
Kralen whispered, and another six heku took off to the
east.

Emily saw the first group
pass under the tree she was in and keep going. She turned around
again, holding her breath, and looked toward the
Cavalry.

“I swear… I told her not to slip her
guards,” Kralen growled.

“She hasn’t slipped them
in a while, maybe she got perm… damnit!” Mark said, laughing when
he saw the splotch of red paint on his shirt.

“Team 1… She’s mortal for
hell’s sake! Go find her,” Silas said, shaking his head. He watched
as Team 1 followed the line-of sight from Mark’s paint
stain.

“I’m a little embarrassed,
actually,” Mark said, frowning. “We should have known she was by
us.”

“I know. I’m sure she’s
playing a game, but we’re predators. She shouldn’t have gotten
close enough… snow or no snow,” Kralen agreed. He gasped when he
felt the sting of the paintball explode on his back.

Silas grinned and
whispered, “All teams out. The team to bring her to us gets a
week-long vacation.”

“That’ll do it,” Kralen
chuckled.

“I could find her,” Silas said,
scanning the trees.

“Yes, but they need the
practice,” Mark told him. “How are we going to get her back for
this?”

Team four returned to
their leaders looking irritated.

“What?” Silas asked.

They turned around and all six had
paint marks on their back, “I think we lost.”

Mark sighed, “She’s
mortal!”

“I know, I know,” the team four leader
said, and they all moved to stand before the officers.

Emily took aim at another
group and set her gun to auto-fire. She held her finger down and
pegged each of them as she grinned.

“Gotcha,” she heard from
behind her, and turned just as someone grabbed her and jumped out
of the tree. She was thrown over a heku’s shoulder and blurred
through the trees.

“Put me down!” she said,
laughing.

“Seems team seven gets a week off,”
Kralen said, amused.

“Get her gun,” Mark ordered, and a
heku took her gun, even though she tried to hold on.

“Kneel her,” Silas said, sounding
angry.

Emily was dropped to the
cold ground and forced onto her knees. She looked up at Mark and
grinned.

“Did you slip your guards?” Kralen
asked.

“No, I had the Council
back them off. This is all legal.”

“Legal, yes, but fair?”

“All’s fair in love and war,” Emily
said, looking up at them and smiling.

“Now what to do with you,” Mark
chuckled, and walked around her.

“Hot cocoa sounds good.
It’s freezing out here,” she suggested.

“Hot cocoa… no… We need
something to prove a point.”

Her eyes grew wide, “Like
what?”

“Interesting use of the
Cavalry issued fatigues,” Silas said, looking down at
her.

Emily started to get up, but was
pushed back to her knees, “Hey.”

Mark grinned, “You’re our
prisoner.”

“I am?” she asked, her eyes
wide.

“You got caught so… yes,” Silas told
her.

“You two go find her horse
and take it into the stables,” Mark said, pointing to two of the
Cavalry.

“Get my truck!” Emily yelled after
them, and tried to stand up again, but was pushed back to her
knees.

She saw a member of the
Cavalry hand Mark a pair of handcuffs, and she tried to run, but
didn’t even make it a step before they were placed on her wrists,
restraining them at her back.

“Start walking…” Silas told her, and
pointed toward the palace.

Emily walked with the
entire Cavalry behind her. She kept wondering what they were going
to do, and even grew more nervous when the gate guards chuckled as
they passed. She stepped into the palace and was led up to the
council chambers.

Derrick grinned and opened
the door. Emily walked in after Mark, Silas, and Kralen.

“Got caught, did you?” Dustin asked,
amused.

“I took out a fair share first…
including these three,” she told him.

“She shot you?” Dustin asked
Mark.

Mark nodded, “Yes, but it won’t happen
again.”

“So what do you plan on doing to her?”
Quinn asked, pretending to be mad.

“She’s our prisoner, but we haven’t
yet decided,” Kralen told him.

“I could use a nice swim,”
Emily told them. Using what the Encala taught her, she very quietly
slipped her hands out of the handcuffs. The guards were standing a
bit ahead of her, so they didn’t notice when she slipped them into
her back pocket.

“Swimming?” Mark grinned.
“That’s too…”

He grew quiet and looked
at Silas and Kralen. Emily stood up straight and brushed off her
pants.