Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (57 page)

Chevalier grinned, “Sometimes it’s the only
way to keep you safe.”

“It’s not funny. It’s an
assault,” she said, and finished her coffee.

“Understood, sometimes we
forget,” Kyle told her, and then took the empty cup.

“Don’t be mad at Liam,”
she said, and looked over at Chevalier.

“We aren’t. He told us
everything and has been given a vacation.”

“Encala City is in ruins.”

“We know,” Kyle told her. “What concerns us
is that you went there… there could still have been fighting.”

“I could have saved some of them.”

“You could have died in the process.”

Her eyes became pained, “They left some of
them to suffer.”

Chevalier simply nodded.

“1800 dead… not turned to ash… dead.”

“Em, we know,” Kyle said softly.

Her eyes filled with tears and she wrapped
her arms around her knees and sunk her head between her arms, “How
can the Valle do that?”

“The Encala and the Valle
both want land in Europe. It’s critical land that could be used as
a central staging point for attacks and defense in Europe,” Kyle
told her.

“So they kill one another
over it?”

“Yes, just like humans
have done in the past. Land can be very important.”

“I threatened the Valle,”
she said, and looked up at them.

Chevalier smiled slightly, “We heard.”

“While we’re talking, do you want to let us
know who’s after you?” Kyle asked.

Emily shook her head.

“So someone is after you.”

“I don’t know.”

“What makes you think someone may be?”

She shrugged.

“Mark said they could use
your help today,” Chevalier told her, and touched her
arm.

“Let me take a shower and I’ll go.”

Kyle and Chevalier left
and went back to the council chambers. They were both shocked to
hear that the Valle Elders would be arriving that morning to speak
to Emily.

Emily quickly showered and
braided her hair before pulling on a light sun dress. It was warm
out and she didn’t feel like riding anyway. She’d rather stay on
the ground in the shade. She smiled at the door guards, and then
checked the lawn before heading out to the stables. Everyone knew
by now that she’d made an impromptu trip to Encala City immediately
following a Valle attack, and were furious.

She walked up to stand by
Silas and Kralen, though they didn’t talk to her at all. She
watched as Mark leveled a rifle at a nearby tree and shot. One of
the horses reared angrily, sending its rider flying over his head
and onto the ground. Emily quickly moved forward and took his
reins, and was able to calm him down.

As the rider approached
the horse, the stallion’s ears laid back against his head and he
whinnied angrily and stomped at the heku.

“Hey!” Emily yelled, and
pulled the horse to look at her. “Stop it.”

The stallion lowered his
head to her, but kept a close eye on the heku. She rubbed his nose
softly and leaned her head against his muzzle.

“Fascinating to watch her
with animals,” Exavior said from behind them. Suddenly, the entire
Cavalry was off their horses and surrounding the Valle
Elders.

Sotomar smiled, “We’re not here to cause
trouble.”

Emily looked over at them
and decided to let Mark have at them. She wanted to calm the
horse.

Mark crouched slightly,
“If you have a meeting with the Council then get inside, if you
don’t, then I suggest you leave Council City
immediately.”

“It’s actually Emily we wish to talk to,”
Exavior told him calmly.

Mark stood up and listened
to something, “You’re to meet with the Council first. We’ll bring
Emily in when they are ready.”

“Very well,” Sotomar said.
The three Valle Elders followed four members of the Cavalry
inside.

“Walk up here slowly,”
Emily said as she rubbed the horse’s neck.

The heku inched forward
with his hands out, but the stallion began to shift nervously.
Emily held it still, and within a few minutes, the heku was able to
touch the horse’s nose and rub it softly.

“Ok, hold his reins,” she
told him, and hoisted herself into the saddle. “Hand me a
gun.”

“You sure that’s a good
idea?” Mark asked as he handed it to her.

“No, I’m not,” she told
him. She leveled the rifle at a nearby tree and then felt the
familiar sensation of being watched. She turned suddenly in the
saddle, and carefully looked at the woods behind them.

Emily lifted the rifle,
and used the scope to better see the distant trees, looking for any
sign of someone in them.

“Go,” Mark whispered, and
four of the full Cavalry members took off on foot toward the trees
she was looking at.

She turned back to Mark, “They don’t need to
go search the woods.”

“Then what were you looking for?”

Emily sighed, “Nothing.”

“Then they look,” he told her,
irritated.

“Ok, hold on,” she said,
and again leveled the rifle at the tree. She shot a single bullet
and then held on while the horse began to step backwards away from
the heku. She patted the stallion’s neck, “Shhhh.”

Once he calmed down, she
again shot a single bullet and this time the horse’s ears laid back
briefly, but he didn’t move. Another shot rang out and the horse
stayed steady. Emily slipped off of him and motioned for the heku
to take her place. He easily jumped onto the horse, and Emily shot
off the final round.

“There,” she said, and
handed the rifle back to Mark.

“The Elders would like you
in the council chambers,” Derrick said from behind her.

“Tell them no,” she told
him, and headed into the stable.

Derrick grinned and shook
his head, while the new recruits gasped and looked at one another
nervously.

Mark sighed, “Tell them we’ll work on
it.”

“Will do,” Derrick said,
and blurred away.

“Start shooting while on
horseback. I’ll be out in a bit to check on you,” Mark told the
recruits, and then headed into the stables with Silas and
Kralen.

Derrick stepped into the
council chambers and everyone turned toward him, “The Lady Emily
said no… however, the General is going to see what he can
do.”

Chevalier grinned, “I’ll never get used to
that.”

“Yes, well it’s
unacceptable behavior,” Dustin growled.

“It’s Emily,” Exavior told him.

“Kyle…” Chevalier said,
and Kyle disappeared.

The Chief Enforcer walked
into the stables and headed for where he heard Mark
talking.

“Don’t you at least want to hear what they
have to say?” Mark asked. He was looking down at her while Emily
cleaned out the horse shoes on Chevalier’s Arabian.

“No,” she said, and
glanced up when Kyle came in.

“They want to apologize,” Kyle told her.

“They need to apologize to the Encala, not
to me.”

Kyle smiled, “You know that’s not going to
happen. They don’t want to apologize for attacking the Encala.”

“Then what do they want to apologize
for?”

“For upsetting you.”

“No,” she said again, and
brushed the dirt off of her skirt. She stood up and grabbed the
little foot stool, and carried it over to her horse.

“Em… just come with me, please,” Kyle said,
following her.

“Why? Do I get to ash them?”

“We’d prefer if you didn’t.”

Emily looked down at the ground and softened
her voice, “I don’t want to see them… what they did was… it was
inexcusable.”

“It’s what heku do to solve disputes,” Silas
said softly.

“That’s what humans do to solve disputes,”
Mark added.

Kyle put his hand out, “Come on.”

Emily stood up and brushed
the straw off of her dress and then slipped her shoes off, and
carried them in one hand as she took Kyle’s in the
other.

They stepped out of the
stables and Emily stopped. She looked hard at the tree
line.

“What did you see?” Kyle asked, carefully
scanning the trees.

Emily didn’t answer, but
once she was sure no one was watching, she took off running across
the lawn. Kyle easily kept up and watched around in case she’d seen
something dangerous. Once they got into the palace, she slowed to a
walk.

“What was that?”

“What?” she asked.

“Are you being followed or threatened?” Kyle
asked, frowning slightly.

“No”

Derrick smiled and opened
the door for him. When Emily saw the Valle Elders, she gripped
tightly to Kyle’s arm and stepped inside. She walked with him up to
the council members and let go to sit down beside Chevalier, her
eyes never leaving the enemy.

“Thank you for coming,”
Sotomar said, and bowed slightly.

“Why are you here?” she asked, taking
Chevalier’s hand under the desk.

“We want to apologize for upsetting you with
the attack on the Encala,” Valle Elder Ryan told her.

“You need to apologize to them, not me.”

“We aren’t sorry for what we did, it was
necessary… but we are sorry for causing you unnecessary stress and
grief.”

Emily frowned, “You left
some of them alive to suffer.”

Exavior nodded, “Yes, we did.”

“You don’t find that at all
uncivilized?”

“No”

“So it’s ok if I just sit and torture you
for fun?”

“No… what we did was
necessary. You’re just being illogical and emotional,” Exavior told
her.

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “Shut up, Exavior…
nothing else from you.”

“But…”

Sotomar held his hand up,
“She warned you.”

Exavior sighed and stepped
back.

“We wish you wouldn’t have
seen what you did. We didn’t expect you to rush into Encala City,”
Sotomar explained.

“Neither did we,” Zohn explained.

“So that’s how it’s going
to work? How long before you attack us?” Emily asked.

“We have no plans on
attacking the Equites. They are too strong,” Ryan
explained.

“For now… but in 100 years
when you’re bigger, you’ll do the same to us… What stops me from
taking pre-emptive measures and doing away with the Valle Elders
right now?” she asked.

Sotomar smiled slightly, “We’ve done nothing
to the Equites to warrant that.”

“Besides… if you did that,
you’d feel guilty, and no one needs that kind of regret right now,”
Exavior said haughtily.

Emily turned him to ash in an instant and
sat back in her chair, “Nope… not feeling guilty or regretful.”

Quinn chuckled, “She did warn him.”

Sotomar nodded, “That she did.”

“What are you doing to help the Encala now?
Their city is in ruins,” Emily said to the Valle.

Ryan frowned, “Nothing… we
made our point, and we will allow them to rebuild.”

“Since when, in the
history of your species, have you stayed around to help clean up
after a mess?” Dustin asked, laughing slightly.

Emily glared at him, “One more word and I’ll
mix you up with Exavior.”

Dustin stood up, “You
cannot speak to me like that!”

Emily stood also, “Wanna watch me?”

“Sit down!” Quinn yelled,
and both sat suddenly at the furiousness of his voice.

Emily sighed and turned to Sotomar, “Now
tell me the real reason you came here.”

“We told you…”

“No you didn’t. You don’t
need to apologize to me, and I suspect you are here because you’re
afraid I’m going to seek revenge for the Encala deaths.”

“Well… that too…”

“You did say we would pay,” Ryan reminded
her.

Emily smiled slightly, “You’re afraid of
me?”

“Yes, of course we are,” Sotomar said.

“Yet you were brave enough to bring idiot
back.”

“That wasn’t really bravery, that was
strategic.”

“Emily, Yisolatara…”
someone whispered softly from behind her. Emily turned suddenly in
her chair, but no one was behind her. She ran and opened the
ante-chamber door, but it was empty also.

“Em?” Chevalier asked, and
when she turned, she saw the entire Council looking at
her.

“Just… never mind.” She
walked back over and sat down.

“So are we ok to return to our city and know
you won’t personally be launching an attack on us?” Ryan asked.

“Is your ceremonial room ceiling painted or
etched?” Emily asked Sotomar.

He was taken aback, but
then answered, “It is etched.”

“Have you ever seen one
that’s painted red?”

“No, I have not,” Sotomar
answered, unsure of why he was being asked.

“And what’s
Yisolatara?”

“What!?” Sotomar screamed, his eyes
wide.

“Where did you hear that?”
Chevalier yelled, and stood up.

Emily stood up and took a step away from him
as the entire room erupted in angry shouts.

“Tell me!” Chevalier
growled, and took her arm. “Where did you hear that?”

“Answer him,” Kyle yelled,
and stepped toward her.

“Stop it!” Emily screamed,
and Chevalier turned to ash as the rest of them looked at her with
piercing and accusing eyes. She turned and took off running, not
sure exactly where to go, but she knew she had to get away from the
heku in the council chambers.