Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (3 page)

The three heku led Emily into a house in the
city. She looked around the sparsely decorated house as she was
pushed down onto a hard wooden chair.

“
What do we do with her?”
the male General asked.

Terry looked at Emily nervously, “I don’t
know. Not sure why she hasn’t ashed us yet.”

Emily cringed when she heard a deep
inhale.

“
Damn,” Terry
said.

Emily felt someone beside her as the
Commander ran his nose up her neck. He finally pulled away from her
and she could breathe again.

“
Stop it,” the male General
said, and pushed the Commander toward a window. “No feeding from
her until we decide what to do.”

Mark slipped off of his horse and reached
down to grab Emily’s iPod off of the ground. He inhaled and looked
around.

“
Her scent is a few hours
old,” Mark said to Kralen and Silas.

“
I knew I should have gone
running with her,” Silas said, and slipped off of his
horse.

Kralen looked around, “She promised to stay
in the city. We weren’t worried about it.”

Four more members of the Cavalry rode
up.

“
What’s up?” one of them
asked.

“
We found Emily’s broken
iPod. She went for a run a few hours ago,” Mark
explained.

“
This’ll make the Council
happy. Emily’s gone so soon after returning,” Silas said, and
grinned slightly.

Mark sighed, “Let me think.”

“
Why don’t we talk to Kyle
and see what he says,” Silas suggested.

“
Great idea, let’s do
that,” Mark said, and mounted his horse. The Cavalry ran through
the city streets, and while Kralen took Mark’s horse into the
stables, Mark went into the palace and knocked on Kyle’s office
door.

“
Enter,” Kyle said, and
looked up when Mark entered. “Yes?”

Mark sat down across from Kyle’s desk,
“While we were out on patrol, we found this on the street.”

Kyle took the broken iPod from Mark and
looked at him, “Emily’s, I take it?”

Mark nodded, “She went out for a run a few
hours ago. We didn’t go because she promised to stay in the
city.”

Kyle sighed, “Damn.”

“
Her scent is in the area,
but it’s a few hours old.”

“
See if you can find her.
Chevalier’s head may explode if she’s already missing,” Kyle said,
and looked at the iPod.

Mark nodded and left Kyle’s office.

“
Quinn, Zohn,” Kyle called
out, and then told both of them to enter when they came to his
door.

Zohn waited by the door while Quinn sat
down.

“
Where’s Chevalier?” Kyle
asked them.

“
He’s out. I think he ran
to Banks Coven for a few hours,” Quinn explained.

“
Emily’s missing,” Kyle
said, and grinned slightly.

Zohn’s shoulders fell, “Define…
missing.”

“
The Cavalry said she went
out for a run, but while on patrol, they found her iPod broken on
the streets.”

“
Great,” Quinn said. “Let’s
find her before he gets back.”

Kyle nodded, “The Cavalry is out right now
looking.”

***

Emily watched as the three heku fought over
what to do with her. One wanted to drain her and get it over with,
but he seemed to be the only one that wasn’t acclimating to her
scent. The woman wanted to take her to the Valle Council, but the
other man reminded her that their orders were that she was to be
left alone.

“
Damnit, this isn’t leaving
her alone! Now we’ve defied the Valle Council and kidnapped the
Winchester,” the male General said, frowning.

“
So let me just drain her.
No one will know who did it,” the Commander suggested.

The woman looked over at Emily, “Why doesn’t
she turn us to ash?”

They all three looked over at Emily.

“
I’m not ashing you because
I’m being good, and letting the Equites handle things,” Emily told
them.

“
They aren’t even looking
for you, though,” the General told her.

“
Then… maybe you’re stuck
with me,” Emily said, and smiled.

“
We can’t keep her here,
and we can’t take her to the Council. We weren’t supposed to touch
her,” the Commander said, and sat down.

“
Maybe you should have
thought about that before you took me… or maybe you should have
paid more attention to who was around while you three talked about
being traitors,” Emily said, and saw them cringe.

“
So that’s it. We have to
kill her,” the General said.

“
Yeah, like I’m going to
let you kill me.”

“
You won’t have a choice,
Child.”

“
Yes I will. It’s not that
I can’t ash you… it’s that until now, I’ve chosen not
to.”

“
I suspect you can’t, or
you would have,” the General said, and grinned at her.

“
Ok, you keep thinking
that.”

The General sighed, “Let’s take her to the
Valle Council. We don’t have a choice.”

“
Oh fun, I haven’t seen
Sotomar in a while,” Emily told them, and rolled her
eyes.

Emily’s hands were tied behind her back and
she was put into the trunk of a small car. She wasn’t afraid or
scared, but just laid back and napped during the long drive to the
Valle’s Palace City.

Emily squinted when the General opened the
trunk door and pulled her onto her feet. She saw the familiar Valle
Palace and walked in with her three captors. The door guard to the
council chambers gasped when he saw her, and immediately let them
into the council chambers.

Emily grinned when she saw the horrified
look on Sotomar’s face.

“
What have you done!?”
Sotomar yelled at them.

“
We had to, Sir. She heard
us talking,” the General said.

“
Nice to see you again,
Sotomar,” Emily said, and smiled.

“
Emily… we’re so sorry,”
one of the other Valle Elders said.

“
First, let my hands go,
please,” Emily said, and Exavior appeared at her back and untied
them.

When her hands were free, Exavior pulled her
into a strong hug, “I’ve missed you.”

She pulled away and smiled, “Have a seat,
Exavior. I’m not done.”

The Council watched her nervously as Exavior
moved up to his seat and sat down.

“
What… what can we do to
make this up to you?” Sotomar asked, his eyes showed the
terror.

“
Last time I was here, I
let all of your prisoners go,” Emily reminded them.

The Council watched her carefully.

“
What Equites do you have
here right now?”

Sotomar sighed, “Exavior, take her
down.”

Exavior walked down and took Emily’s hand,
“Let me show you.”

“
Keep these three here, I’m
not done with them,” Emily told Sotomar as she left with
Exavior.

Emily followed Exavior down into the prison
cells. He led her past a few empty cells, and then opened a door,
revealing seven members of the Thukil Cavalry.

“
Commander?” Darren
asked.

“
Come on,” Emily told them,
and they fell in behind her. Exavior opened another cell and Emily
looked inside.

“
Zohn?”

Zohn looked up at her, shocked, “Emily? What
are you doing here?”

“
Getting you out, come on,”
Emily said, and Zohn joined the Thukil guards behind
her.

“
That’s it for the
Equites,” Exavior said.

Emily glanced back at Zohn, “Who came with
you?”

“
They let the guards go and
just kept me,” Zohn told her.

“
Ok, back to the council
chambers,” Emily said. She rolled her eyes when Exavior tried to
take her hand again, and she pulled her hand away from him, then
cringed when he dropped down to his knees.

“
Marry me, Emily,” Exavior
said, and took her hand.

“
Seriously… Exavior…” Emily
started, but he stood suddenly and pressed his lips to hers. She
pulled away from him as she heard growls and hisses from the
Equites behind her.

“
Marry me,” Exavior said
again.

“
Take us back to Sotomar,”
Emily told him, and took Zohn’s hand, pulling close to his side.
Exavior glared at Zohn and led them back to the council
chambers.

The Valle Council was in a discussion when
they returned. Exavior headed back for Emily, but she pulled closer
to Zohn and heard him growl. Exavior sighed and returned to his
chair.

Emily stepped forward, “What are we going to
do about this? I warned you…”

Sotomar stood, “Please, don’t disappear. We
are still under the month long protection.”

“
Yes, but this isn’t a
stray heku attack. This is bigger,” Emily said.

“
Sit down!” Sotomar yelled
at Exavior when he stood up to walk down to Emily.

“
So… this is what I
suggest. You let my Cavalry members go, and I take Zohn with me.
The three of these Equites guards come with me, too,” Emily said,
and crossed her arms.

“
What!?” Sotomar yelled.
“We can’t give you eleven prisoners.”

“
Yes you can, or you can
face the wrath of the Encala and the Equites when I disappear,”
Emily said, and smiled sweetly.

“
Damnit, we want to punish
these three for what they’ve done,” Sotomar said, motioning to the
three Equites guards.

“
Nope, I take them too,”
Emily said.

Sotomar growled, and then slammed his fist
on the table, “Take them and go.”

“
We’ll need a ride,” Emily
said, and glanced at Darren. “A helicopter back to Council City,
please.”

Sotomar nodded.

Emily turned to the Thukil Cavalry, “Take
those three into custody.”

They followed their Commander’s orders
immediately, and took the two Generals and the City Commander,
restraining them.

“
Emily, why are some of the
top Commanding Officers for Council City under arrest?” Zohn asked,
sounding irritated.

“
Oh, there’s a good story.
Let’s go and I’ll fill in the Council,” Emily told him, and
followed the Valle guards up to the waiting helicopter.

They all crawled into the Valle helicopter,
and Emily grabbed the radio as they approached the city, “Base from
Emily.”

There was a pause, “Emily? This is
base.”

“
We’re coming in in a Valle
helicopter, can we land?”

“
One moment,” the voice
said, and the Valle pilot hovered over the city, waiting for
permission to land.

“
Emily from base,” Kyle
said.

“
Go ahead Kyle,” Emily
said.

“
Permission to land, take
it to the roof between Equites 1 and Equites 2.”

“
Got it.”

The Valle pilot glanced back at her, “If I
land this thing, am I going to be able to leave?”

Emily nodded, “You have my word. As soon as
we’re off the helicopter, you can go.”

He nodded and landed the helicopter between
the two Equites’ Blackhawks. Guards quickly surrounded the enemy
helicopter and crouched low as the pilot cut the engines and the
door opened.

“
Emily?” Mark asked,
helping her out of the helicopter.

“
Take them into custody.
The Council will want to see them,” Emily told Mark, and he nodded
and ordered the three Commanding Officers into custody. They were
escorted into the palace by both the Thukil and the Council City
guards.

Emily nodded to the pilot, and he quickly
started the helicopter and took off. Emily, Darren, and Zohn headed
inside and walked into the council chambers. Zohn moved up to his
seat after he shrugged at the other Elders.

Emily noticed that Chevalier was more
relaxed and wasn’t glaring at her anymore.

“
Ok, so, Emily… care to
explain?” Quinn asked, leaning forward.

“
Sure,” she said, and
stepped forward a bit. “I was out running and overheard the three
stooges here talking about how they’ve been letting the Valle into
the city, and that there is a Valle attack coming in three
days.”

“
What!?” Zohn yelled,
looking at the two Generals.

“
She’s lying!” the male
General said.

“
Oh, shut up,” Emily said,
and then turned back. “Geniuses freaked out after they kidnapped
me, and decided to take me to the Valle’s palace.”

“
I’m imagining their orders
were to leave you alone,” Quinn said.

Emily nodded, “Yes, so Sotomar was pretty
mad. So I agreed not to disappear in return for the captured Thukil
Cavalry and Zohn. See, simple enough.”

Quinn rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Ok, so
these three are traitors, the Thukils are all free, and you
returned Zohn.”

“
Yes, seems so.”

“
Escort them to the
prison,” Zohn said. “Everyone out, except Emily.”

Emily cringed and smiled at Darren when he
left.

“
Step up here,” Zohn
said.

Emily stepped forward, “What’d I do
now?”