Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (38 page)

Silas grinned, “She had them scared to
death.”

Mark cleared his throat
and then continued, “Kralen and I interviewed a few trusted
townsfolk and found the six leaders… there were eight, but
obviously we couldn’t talk to the main leader. Emily brought them
out here, stripped them for some reason, and then made them kneel
out in the sun. While they were out here, for two entire days… they
knelt in the blazing sun and recited Zohn Coven’s policy manual
verbatim, over and over.”

“And at night?” Zohn asked.

“Same thing… they knelt
and recited. It just wasn’t as bad as doing it during the day in
the sun.”

Zohn nodded and turned to
the guards, “Interview everyone, if they are suspected of being
part of that mutiny, I want to talk to them.”

“Yes, Sir,” they said in
unison, and broke into groups.

Zohn turned to Chevalier, “I owe her… 54
deaths was nothing compared to what 3 more days would have
brought.”

Chevalier nodded.

“You also,” Zohn said to
the members of Cavalry. “I owe you more than you could
imagine.”

“It’s our duty, Sir,” Mark
said, and bowed slightly.

“Did she fall asleep then?” Zohn turned to
Chevalier.

“Yes, after eating… I borrowed a t-shirt for
her to sleep in.”

“Why was she in my black shirt?”

Mark chuckled, “She got covered in blood
when one of the townsfolk tried to grab her… the black shirt was
what one of your guards brought her to wear.”

“I’m ok here, why don’t you go back,” Zohn
suggested.

“Mark, take the Cavalry
back… I’ll take Winchester 1 with Em when she wakes up,” Chevalier
said to him.

Mark nodded and the
Cavalry all headed to the helicopters.

Chevalier returned to Zohn’s room and
watched Emily sleep for over 12 hours before she started to stir.
She finally rolled over and looked at him and then sat up and
looked around.

“Forgot where I was for a
second,” she said, and crawled out of bed.

“There’s no food anywhere
on the compound, but I have the pilot grabbing something for the
trip back,” he said, and pulled her into an embrace.

“So we can go back now?”

“Sure, I just wanted you to get some
sleep.”

Within the hour, they were
flying over Alabama and headed north toward Council City. Emily
fell asleep again after eating breakfast and didn’t wake up until
the pilot announced their arrival.

Chevalier looked up when there was a knock
at his door, “Enter.”

Kyle came in and shut the door behind him,
“Do you have a moment?”

“Sure, sit down.”

“Miri, Allen’s girlfriend, has asked to
become a member of and move to Island Coven.”

Chevalier sighed, “How long were they
together?”

“Six months… and he’s been
on the island for a bit.”

“Emily would be livid.”

“Probably, he’s 15 though.
In my day, you were married and running a farm.”

Chevalier chuckled, “Don’t
even ask about 15 in my day… she sees him as a child.”

“When did she start dating Keith?”

“She was 17, met him at
14, and it took 3 years for Keith to talk Allen into letting them
date.”

“So tell Allen he has to
wait 2 more years,” Kyle suggested.

“Tell Miri she may move to
Island Coven, probationary for the first 75 years…”

“75?”

“Yes, I’m adding 25 years
to the normal. I’ll talk to Allen and the house staff. She’s never
to be in the castle for any reason, and he’s not to be in her
house… put her in Nicholas’ old house for now.”

Kyle nodded, “And Em?”

“I’ll have to think on
that one. Luckily, she’s not been back to the island since the
V.E.S. raid, so we have some time. I haven’t even told her about
the awakening.”

“It’ll be interesting. He
retired after the Winchester killings and at the height of trying
to find a descendant.”

“That’s why he retired. He
spent his last 100 years trying to get his hands on a Winchester,
and came up with nothing but a distance male cousin. Don’t think
I’ve not been thinking about that.”

“Well, Em can hold her own,” Kyle said,
starting to get irritated at the thought of an awakening that might
bring Emily danger.

“I’m busy here. Why don’t
you go tell her,” Chevalier said, and grinned.

Kyle chuckled, “No way, I
can’t be turned to ash. Who’d revive me?”

Kyle stood up and opened the door when
someone knocked frantically.

“Sir, there’s a problem by
the stables,” a servant said, and glanced at Chevalier
nervously.

“What kind of problem?” Kyle asked, crossing
his arms.

“I don’t really know… something about a
horse being shot.”

Kyle sighed, “Laythan…”

Chevalier and Kyle both
blurred out to the stables and joined the six members of the
Cavalry gathered around a dead horse. Emily was on her knees and
was resting her head against the body, obviously crying. She had
bleeding scrapes along the back of her arms and blood seeping
through to the back of her shirt. There was a single arrow sticking
out of the horse’s chest.

Chevalier started forward,
but Mark stopped him and he looked down, wide eyed at the
full-sized Malamute. The dog had grown into a 150lb hulking mass.
His hackles were up, and he was low to the ground and growling at
any heku that stepped near her.

“We can’t get near her,”
Mark whispered. “There are 21 members of the Cavalry out after
Laythan. He was on top of the out-building and aiming at Emily, but
Skye’s horse got in the way.”

Chevalier nodded and
watched Silas come up with a lasso. He swiftly slid it onto the
Malamute’s head and with considerable strength, was able to pull
the dog away from his master as the angry canine snarled and pulled
against the heku.

Kralen blurred to Silas when he heard the
angry growls and guttural roar of a fighting dog.

Chevalier knelt down
beside Emily and touched her shoulder, “Em…”

She looked up at him and
he felt the fury rising at the pained look in her tear-filled green
eyes. Without a word, she stood up and disappeared into the
stables. The heku listened for the sound of a stall door opening,
but didn’t hear it. She came back out a few minutes later. Her eyes
were fixed on the trees, and she carried a double-barrel 12 gauge
shotgun in her hand.

“Oooh no you don’t,”
Chevalier said, and blocked her way. “First off… he’s out there
trying to kill you, you can’t go into the trees. Second off… the
shotgun won’t do anything.”

“Wanna bet?” she scowled,
and tried to step around him. “I’m banking with these 2 slugs I can
remove his head.”

“Let the Cavalry handle
it.”

“I have… and now it’s my turn… Mark!” Emily
yelled when Mark blurred to her and took her shotgun.

“He’ll kill you,” Mark
told her, and tossed the gun to a member of the Cavalry who took it
back into the stables.

Emily tried to rush around
Chevalier, but he caught her arm easily and Jaron took her other.
She froze in place and stared into the trees.

“Em, we can’t let you go
in there,” Chevalier said softly. They watched her and wondered at
how still she stood and the concentration building in her
face.

“Wait!” Mark yelled. “I
have Cavalry in there!”

“Em, stop it,” Chevalier
said, and shook her arm slightly to break her
concentration.

“You have 30 seconds to get them out of
there,” she whispered, still staring at the trees.

Chevalier let go of her arm and stood in
front of her, “No…”

Jaron was ready, and when
Emily spun suddenly and tried to slam her palm into his nose, he
easily caught her wrist, turned her, and soon had her restrained
with her arms crossed over her chest and her hands pinned at her
sides.

“Stop,” Chevalier said
sternly, and used his hand to bring her face up toward
his.

“He killed a horse,” Emily yelled.

“He tried to kill you.”

“He killed a horse…”

Chevalier sighed, “I know
you value those horses more than yourself, but the rest of us
prefer if you’d stay alive.”

Silas and Kralen both came
up, and Silas had blood on his shirt.

Emily looked over at Silas and glared, “What
did you do to my dog?”

“What did I do!?” he
asked, aggravated. “That damned dog tried to tear my throat out!
This blood is mine.”

“Let go of me!”

Jaron glanced at Chevalier and when he
nodded, let her go.

Emily turned and screamed
at Jaron and then stormed off to the palace after whistling for the
dogs. The others turned toward the trees when the Cavalry headed
out of them.

“Well?” Mark asked one of
the Commanders.

“Nothing, we tracked him to the river and
then lost him.”

“Get that horse taken care
of,” Chevalier said, and started for the palace. “I still have to
tell Em about the awakening.”

“How many Cavalry did you
want at the reception?” Mark asked, following him in.

“Oh, well… I guess as many
as you can find clothing for. Last I heard, the tailors were pretty
busy trying to get ready.”

Mark chuckled, “You’re going to get Emily to
the reception?”

“I’m going to try.”

“You better hurry. The
Thukils are arriving in an hour.”

“I know,” Chevalier said,
and stopped at Emily’s office door. He knocked a few times,
“Em?”

“I’m busy,” she said, irritated.

Chevalier grinned, “Em… I need to talk to
you about something that’s going on tonight.”

“Are you retiring?”

He frowned slightly,
“No.”

“Then I don’t care.”

“It’s important, and the
Council has to be there.”

“No”

“A former Elder is coming
out of retirement.”

Chevalier stepped back when he heard Emily’s
chair and then her door open, “What?”

“Come into the bedroom,”
he said, and they walked up to their room. Emily looked down the
stairs and saw that heku were beginning to haul boxes into the
reception hall.

Chevalier shut the door
behind them, and Emily sat on the edge of the bed, “I’m not in the
mood for a reception.”

“Ok…” Chevalier said, and
pulled a chair up to face her. He sat down and explained, “When a
former member of the Council comes out of retirement, there are a
lot of things that have to be done. For instance, he’s never seen a
phone… or a car… computers… that type of thing.”

“Ok”

“So we start off with an
induction back into the Equites. The Council, in robes, lines up
and welcomes them back.”

“Fine, I can do that.”

“Then… the reception is done in period
clothing to help usher them into the new world, as a means of
respect for when they retired.”

Emily frowned, “It’s a costume party?”

“Sort of… then after the
reception, he’ll be assigned a mentor to help him understand the
new world he’s waking into.”

“So… you’re waking up a
heku that’s been dead for 500 years and bringing him back into the
Equites followed by a dance?” she asked, sounding
confused.

“He only retired for 200 years.”

“So he’s starving and
you’re going to lead him into the grand room to face the Council…
he’ll eat me.”

Chevalier chuckled, “He’ll be fed
first.”

“But you told Larsen he was no longer an
Equites.”

“Larsen was banished… Camber retired with
honors.”

“Camber?”

“Yes, he retired in 1810.”

“This doesn’t really sound like my
thing…”

“I know, but it’s important for me if you’re
there.”

Emily looked into his eyes and saw he was
being serious, “He’s going to try to eat me.”

“You’ll be with the
Council, and we’ve elected to have some of the Cavalry on the stage
with us.”

Emily sighed, “It’s important to you?”

Chevalier smiled, “Very…
Camber was my Elder for over 1200 years.”

“Ok, I’ll do it… I don’t have any clothes
from 1800 though.”

“I’ve already had them made.”

“Of course you have… 1800… so he knows about
the Winchesters.”

“Yes, in fact… he retired because of the
Winchesters.”

“Why?” Emily asked, confused.

“He lived in Europe during
the Winchester’s rein, and then made it his life work to find the
descendants… he was determined to… well… own a Winchester for the
Equites. When he didn’t get one, he retired.”

“Oh my God, and you want
me to meet him??”

Chevalier took her hand, “It’ll be ok.”

She stood up and headed
into the bathroom, “If I show up at the reception and I’m the only
one in a hoop skirt, I’ll ash the entire faction.”

He grinned, “You won’t be, I promise.”

She shut the bathroom door
and went in for a shower. Chevalier grinned and headed down to let
the others know she was going to attend.

***

Emily entered through the
back entrance. She had the hot green robe on with the hood down.
The rest of the Council was already standing in line and the great
hall was almost full to capacity. She heard the irritating murmur
begin when she appeared on stage.