Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (66 page)

“She looks good though,” Chevalier
said.

“She still believes she’s
dying.”

“How so?”

“She fully expects the
fainting spells to return and often thinks of her Dad’s demise and
how humiliating strokes can be.”

“Humiliating?” Zohn asked,
frowning.

“Yes, toward the end, Mom
did everything for him. She fed him, bathed him… He was completely
dependent on her and she often says he would have rather died than
lived like that.”

“She thinks that’s still happening to
her?” Chevalier asked.

“Yes”

“You’re right. She does
look back to normal,” Kyle said, sitting down.

“She said you wanted this,” Quinn
said, and handed Chevalier the restraining belt the Physical
Therapist had given her.

“You took this off of her?” Chevalier
asked him.

“No, it was sitting beside the pool…
why?”

“It’s helping her. She’s
not supposed to get it off.”

“Of course she’s not,” Quinn sighed,
and looked down at Dain.

“Where is she now?”

“Swimming laps.”

Chevalier stood up and took the belt,
“I’m going to see if I can get this back on her.”

Kyle chuckled, “I won’t make you wait
long before I revive you.”

“Much appreciated,” he
said, and left the council chambers, followed by Dain. He stopped
at the pool door to talk to Silas and Kralen, the only two guards
on her at the time.

“We didn’t take that off of her,”
Silas said when he saw the belt.

“Do you know who did?” Chevalier
asked.

“Someone in the prison is all we
know.”

“Once I get this on her,
keep her out of the prison, and alert the palace that no one’s to
take it off.”

Kralen grinned, “You’re going to get
it back on her?”

“I’m going… Why do I smell
blood?” Chevalier asked, and burst through the doors. He quickly
dove into the water when he saw Emily floating face down in the
pool as the water turned pink around her.

Kralen called for Mark and
jumped into the water after Silas. Chevalier flipped her over in
the water and held her while Silas checked to see if she was
breathing.

“Get her up on the
cement,” Kralen said. Chevalier lifted her onto the cement just as
Mark arrived with Dr. Edwards. A few rough hits on the back and
Emily began to breathe on her own.

“What happened?” Dr.
Edwards asked as he lifted her eyelids.

“She was just swimming and we smelled
blood,” Kralen explained.

Dr. Edwards watched her
for a moment and then picked her up, “I don’t think the water did
much damage. You must have caught it when she first went
unconscious.”

“It happened again then?” Chevalier
asked, watching Emily in the doctor’s arms.

“Looks like it… When did
you get back?”

“Just four hours ago… so
it is something in this palace causing it.”

“Not necessarily. There
aren’t a lot of environmental causes for strokes… in fact… I can’t
think of any. This could all be coincidence.”

Dr. Edwards started inside
with Emily while the others followed. By the time he got into the
Elder’s bedroom, most of the Council had gathered. He laid her down
and they all left so Chevalier could get her out of her wet
swimsuit.

“You can come in,” Chevalier said when
she was tucked in bed.

Dr. Edwards did a thorough
examination and then turned to Chevalier, “Elder… it’s the same
thing. She’s had a stroke, but her blood pressure is good. I don’t
understand why this is happening.”

“The closest turning we’ve
found is over 6 hours from here,” Mark explained. “They’ve turned 1
in the last four months.”

“Maybe I should take her away from
here, just in case,” Chevalier said, mostly to himself.

“Let’s wait this out and
see how she is when she wakes up,” Dr. Edwards
suggested.

“You should just let Mom and I join
the Valle,” Alexis said from the door.

Silas quickly ushered Alexis out of
the room when Chevalier turned to yell at her.

Chevalier sat down on the edge of the
bed and looked at Emily, “This is going to set her back again… back
to the slow movements and slurred speech.”

“Maybe… strokes affect
people differently,” Dr. Edwards said. “If it’s small enough, we
may not notice anything at all.”

Chevalier cocked his head slightly to
the side when he heard an emergency meeting of the
Council.

“Go, I’ll watch her,” Dr.
Edwards said, and watched as Chevalier left. He was the first to
the council chambers, but the others soon gathered.

“Why were we summoned?” Zohn asked,
but none of the Council knew.

“Let’s…” Quinn started,
but stopped speaking when the palace went into lock down. “Oh… well
I guess we’ll see soon enough.”

Kyle looked over at Chevalier, “So is
it true? It happened again?”

Chevalier nodded.

“Damnit”

“If we can’t stop them soon, I’m going
to take her away for a while.”

“Speaking of taking Emily
away,” Zohn said. “We have two turnings next week that we’ve put
off for too long.”

Chevalier nodded, “I was
planning on visiting the coven for those days. Emily wants to go
see Allen.”

“Just… no yachts,” Kyle said,
grinning.

“Not a chance.”

“Oh good, here comes Mark
with a report,” the Chief of Staff said. They all looked up when
Mark, Silas, and Kralen entered.

“What’s the problem?”
Chevalier asked. It was obvious that Mark was furious.

“We found Vic… he’s dead, and the
stench of Encala is all over that place,” Mark growled.

“What!?” Chevalier yelled,
and stood up. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, he was the Cavalry
member assigned to Section A3 in the trees, and when he didn’t come
in for shift-change… we went out and found him.”

Quinn’s eyes were enraged, “I say we
pay them a visit.”

Zohn stood also, “To hell
with tradition, I say the Elders go with the Cavalry and handle
this once and for all.”

Mark nodded and disappeared from the
room.

“Kyle, you’re with us,”
Zohn said, heading out of the council chambers. Kyle nodded and
blurred from the room.

“What about Emily?” Dustin
asked.

“Dr. Edwards is there, he
knows what to do,” Chevalier said, seconds before disappearing.
Within the hour, helicopters left the front lawn carrying the
Elders and the Cavalry.

The Chief of Staff sighed, “This makes
me nervous.”

“It does seem a bit
dangerous to have all three Elders go to the enemy,” Dustin agreed.
“However, it is their decision to make and I’m certain their
presence will more strongly affect the Encala if they are all
together.”

“I suspect they better back off or
soon there will only be two factions left,” the Chief of Finance
said.

“Maybe that’s not all a bad thing,”
Dustin added.

“We have no idea what
you’re talking about, and I won’t sit here and be insulted!” Encala
Elder Aaron yelled.

“Don’t play stupid,”
Chevalier said, his voice controlled and even. “Your stench was all
around him.”

“We have no guards… we
don’t have the resources to attack the Equites,” William said as
calmly as he could. “We would be stupid to attack you with our
numbers.”

“Well… the Encala have never been
known to be all that bright,” Kyle said, and grinned when the
Encala Council looked at him.

“Where is Frederick?” Quinn asked,
scanning the Council.

“Out,” Aaron said.

“Out causing problems, no
doubt.”

“No, he’s visiting his
coven.”

Zohn’s eyes narrowed, “Stop lying to
us.”

“Fine!” William growled.
“We have no idea where he is. He’s been unreachable for almost two
weeks.”

Chevalier grinned, “Did he abandon
ship? You should check with the Valle.”

“No use… they were too busy taking
care of your responsibility to take on Frederick.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning… you’re losing
your touch. Emily is weakening under your control and we’re well
aware that when she stayed with the Valle, she began to recover,”
William said.

“What do you know about Emily’s
illness?” Kyle asked, taking a step forward.

“Nothing, I assure you.”

“Then you won’t mind if we
look around,” Mark said, and nodded for twelve of his Cavalry to
move off and search the Encala’s palace.

“You have no right to do that!” their
Chief Interrogator screamed.

“You going to stop us?” Chevalier
asked calmly.

Aaron glared at him, “You know we
can’t stop you.”

Zohn grinned, “That’s right… you’d be
lucky to steal a box of Girl Scout cookies right now.”

“Get out of our palace!” the Chief of
Finance yelled.

Chevalier crossed his arms,
“No.”

Mark walked along the
Council’s platform and looked at the wooden skeleton of the desk
that was being rebuilt. He grinned and pulled out one supporting
beam and the entire structure fell to the ground with a loud
crash.

“Oh… oops,” Mark said,
chuckling as he walked back to the Elders.

“Is that how it’s going to
be from now on?” William asked. “We will be forced to endure
torment and humiliation at the hands of the Equites?”

“I wouldn’t say from now
on… I would say for a while though,” Chevalier told him. “I also
wouldn’t say it was unprovoked, so my suggestion is you put up with
it until we no longer find it amusing.”

William met Chevalier’s eyes, “Emily
wouldn’t want this… she still considers us friends.”

“You’re right, she does…
but lately, she’s letting us do what we feel needs
done.”

“Is she ok?”

“She’s of no concern of
yours,” Chevalier told him. “We’ll be out of your destroyed palace
as soon as we ascertain if Frederick is here or not.”

“Look all you want, he’s
not.”

“While we wait, care to
explain why you have killed two members of the Cavalry while they
were doing nothing more than watching an area around the
city?”

“I don’t know anything about
that.”

“Sure you don’t,” Quinn
mumbled.

Silas walked back into the Encala’s
council chamber with Kralen, “Sir, there’s no sign of
Frederick.”

Chevalier looked over at William, “If
we find him first, he’s ours.”

“By what authority?”

“For suspicions of
unwarranted attacks on the Council City Cavalry.”

“You cannot prove that it
was Frederick who killed your guards,” Elder Aaron said.

“The Encala stench was all
over the area. If it’s not Frederick, then maybe we should punish
the entire Council for it,” Zohn said, leaning up against one of
the damaged walls of the council chambers.

“We will investigate and
punish those that were there then,” William said. “If there’s
nothing else, then I politely ask you to get lost.”

Chevalier grinned when William stormed
out of the council chambers.

“Our guards will show you out,” Aaron
said, and followed William from the room.

“I do believe our business
here is done,” Zohn said. Mark nodded and called for the Cavalry to
return to the helicopters. It took a few minutes for the Cavalry to
gather, and when they did, some had small trophies to take back
from the Encala palace.

The Elders left together
and Quinn stopped at a large hole in the stone walls of the Encala
Palace. He stepped through and then returned to the hallway, “Is
there anything in here you didn’t destroy?”

Chevalier grinned, “Nope.”

“Let’s get back, I’m
thirsty,” Zohn told them. He was the first to step into the
helicopter with the others.

***

“What do you mean she’s gone?”
Chevalier growled, his hands balling into fists.

“Just listen,” Dustin
said. “We weren’t negligent…”

“Then how did she get out of your
care?” Zohn yelled.

“Well…”

“Where is Dr. Edwards?”
Quinn asked calmly.

“She… Emily told him to
leave.”

“And you let him?”

“Well… yes…”

“Who was guarding her then?” Chevalier
asked, taking a step closer to the Council.

“It was… well there was a small mix-up
between who exactly was supposed to watch her.”