Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (30 page)

Dustin cleared his throat.

“Ok, bring Allen in,” Chevalier said.

Zohn grinned, “I changed
my mind. I don’t wish to find a mate.”

Allen was brought in by a
single prison guard and pushed to the front of the trial room.
Chevalier couldn’t help but notice that even though Allen knew he
was in trouble, he stood tall and met the Council
eye-to-eye.

“Is she ok?” Allen asked.

“Yes, she’s fine,”
Chevalier said. “Alexis told us it was her idea to go out, and then
explained why it was you and Emily finally relented.”

“Ok”

“But what concerns me now is the standoff
with the other Elders and then myself.”

“Mom was afraid. She asked
me to take her away.”

“These Elders outrank your
Mom, and you are never to defy them.”

Allen looked at his Dad, “No one outranks my
mother.”

“We know you’re protective
of her,” Zohn said. “But so are we, and we were only looking out
for her best interest. Keeping her from us made it
worse.”

“Do whatever punishment
you want, but if my Mom is afraid and asks me for help, she’ll get
it.”

“I’m not sure she was
afraid… by that time, the pain was too intense and I suspect she
forgot where she was,” Quinn said.

“I see that now,” Allen
told him.

“How do we make you
realize that you are not your Mom’s protector?” Chevalier asked.
“First and foremost I am, followed closely by the Council and this
entire palace.”

“That’s handy when you’re
around,” Allen said snidely. “She asked me for help, not you, not
the Council… me. I can’t turn down my own Mom.”

“Keep the attitude down,
Boy,” Kyle growled.

“I’m moving you back out to the barracks,”
Chevalier said. “You will begin training as a city guard.”

“Wait… that means I don’t have permission to
enter the palace,” Allen said, shocked.

“That’s right. You will
need permission to enter, until we feel you are ready to freely
walk these halls.”

“Mom won’t stand for that.”

“I’ll deal with her. Now
report to Mark immediately,” Chevalier ordered.

Allen turned and blurred from the room.

Chevalier stood up, “I’ll go talk to
Emily.”

“Are you sure?” Quinn asked, frowning.

“Yes, and I need to be
there alone,” he told them, and disappeared.

“Well… he doesn’t seem
mad,” Zohn said, and turned back to Dustin. “Update on Loki
Coven.”

Chevalier walked into
their room and shut the door softly behind him. He could smell the
medicine on her blood and smiled slightly at how soundly she was
sleeping. He sat down beside her and took her face gently in his
hands.

“Em?” he whispered.

Her eyes fluttered and
finally opened. He was immediately able to lock her gaze, aided by
the injury and the medication. He held her gaze long enough to
ensure it was strong, and finally spoke, using the soft, flowing
voice he needed to control her.

“Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her green eyes locked
on his.

“Do you want to move back to the mortal
world?”

“No”

“Where do you want to live?”

“In the palace.”

“Are you happy there?”

“Yes”

“Why did you tell Alexis that you didn’t
want to leave the palace?”

Emily’s breathing picked
up, and she came close to breaking the gaze, but he was able to
hold it.

“Why are you afraid to leave the
palace?”

“Exavior,” she whispered.

“Did he hurt you when the Valle kidnapped
you?”

“No”

“Did he talk to you?”

“Yes”

“Did he threaten you?”

“Yes”

“Emily… the ceremonial room behind the
waterfall is gone, there are no more bodies, no more mice or rats…
no one is going to drain you and no one is going to throw you down
there.”

“The bodies,” she whispered.

“They are gone.”

“Ask Emily in here please,” Quinn said when
they heard her bare feet padding down the stairs.

When she walked in, the
Council shifted nervously and glanced at the Elders. She was
wearing only a bikini and sarong and had a towel in her
hand.

“Must you run around the palace like that?”
Dustin asked, irritated.

“Must you always be a dick?” she asked,
glaring at him.

“You’re the first one to
complain when a guard propositions you, yet you…”

“You’re just grouchy because you haven’t
been neutered yet.”

“Stop it, both of you,”
Quinn growled. Emily looked at him and smiled slightly as Dustin
sat back in his chair.

“It’s amazing how your bullet scars are
gone,” Zohn said. He was more comfortable looking at Emily because
Chevalier was out on a mission with Kyle.

“Yeah, only took 6 months,
but they’re gone… one plus of the odd immortality
thing.”

“I asked you here because Skye fell off of
his horse again,” Quinn told her.

Emily sighed, “I thought
heku were supposed to have excellent balance?”

“Most of us do… can you work with him?”

“What was he doing when he fell?”

“Chasing Mark, I do believe.”

“Yeah, I’ll see what I can
do… but no guarantees.”

“Thank you, that’s all we can ask.”

Zohn looked up, “The
Cavalry is using the pool right now.”

“Damn,” Emily said, and
thought. “I guess I’ll just sit in the hot tub until they’re
done.”

“Why don’t you throw on a
robe before you arouse the entire Cavalry?” Dustin growled when she
turned to leave.

Emily reached down,
dropped her bikini bottom, and then pulled it back up, “What? No
howling at the moon, wolf boy?”

“That’s it!” Dustin
yelled, and stood up.

Emily walked out of the
council chambers, ignoring the growling from behind her.

“Sit down,” Quinn said,
and then laughed.

“Let’s just keep that
little bit of rebellion to ourselves, shall we?” Zohn said, and
turned to Dustin. “Take it from someone who’s been there… your life
will be easier if you stop antagonizing her.”

“It’s aggravating how she
complains about being hit on by the guards, yet she parades around
barely dressed!” he said, exasperated.

“She’s merely going
swimming, and isn’t wearing anything less than you would see at a
beach. Now stop provoking her.”

Emily was still grinning
when she got out to the pool. Zohn was right, and the Cavalry was
doing water rescue training. They glanced at her when she walked
in, but Mark immediately called them back to attention. She sat
down in a hot tub to wait, while Kralen and Silas walked over to
her.

“What are you up to? You
have that mischievous look on your face,” Silas asked, and knelt
down beside the hot tub.

“I just mooned the
Council.”

“You did not!” Kralen said, shocked.

“I did… it was kinda funny.”

“Just have to push it don’t you?”

“Why yes, Captain… What
are you doing in here?”

“Water rescue… Cooper
there in the water plays scared and helpless, and we have to rescue
him,” Silas said, and they all watched as Jaron dove into the pool,
fully dressed, and took the heku’s arm and drug him to
shore.

“You have to do something,
Cooper,” Mark said. “If you’re out in the water and need rescued,
you aren’t going to casually float along with the rescuer. I’ve
rescued four heku from water, and they damned near drowned me in
the process.”

“Is this all because of me?” Emily asked,
suddenly interested.

“Nope,” Kralen answered,
and watched the next rescue.

“Cooper!” Mark yelled when
he was again pulled to the side of the pool. “Are you listening to
me?”

“Yes, General… I just…”

“Move over, Cooper,” Emily
said, and got out of the hot tub. He looked over at her, shocked,
and then scrambled up onto the cement when she dove in.

“Oh this should be good,” Kralen
chuckled.

Mark shook his head, “Can you at least make
it hard for them?”

Emily frowned, “Do you even know me?”

“Alright… Jaron, show them how it’s
done.”

Emily took a deep breath
and fell into a dead man’s float. She heard Silas tell Kralen that
even fake, it bothered him. She looked up when she heard Jaron
speaking.

“Um… Sir… Elder’s orders, we can’t touch
Lady Emily,” Jaron reminded Mark.

“Well hell. She’s the only
one that can pull this off… Silas, Kralen, go see if the other 2
Elders will override that order for this.”

They both nodded and blurred away.

“We need to speak to the Elders for a
moment,” Kralen told Derrick.

“Go on in,” the door guard
said, and opened the door.

Dustin sighed when the two
Cavalry Captains entered, “What’d she do already?”

Silas frowned, “Nothing but offered to help
us do some training.”

“Oh, that’ll be good for
her,” Zohn said, and looked up at them.

“Problem is… it requires rescuing her from
the water.”

“Ahh, completely breaking the no touching
rule.”

Kralen grinned, “The General hoped you two
might veto that order for this specific training.”

Zohn shrugged, “I’m ok with that.”

“If she gets hurt, you get
to tell him,” Quinn said, and glanced down at a book.

Kralen and Silas returned
to Mark with the new orders and Emily again fell into a dead man’s
float. She heard the splash and felt hands on her arm, trying to
pull her to safety.

Emily looked up from the
water, “You do realize I’m mortal, and I can drown while you drag
me to safety.”

“Oh, right,” Jaron said,
and tried to pick her up. She went into fake panic mode and began
to claw at him, and tried to crawl onto his shoulders. He fought to
stay surfaced as she scrambled to keep him under.

After a few minutes of
struggling and fighting, Jaron finally picked her up onto the
cement, and rested his head against the side of the pool,
completely out of breath.

“Now that’s what I call
realistic,” Mark said, and helped Emily to her feet.

Emily grinned and pushed one of the strange
heku into the water and jumped in after him.

“Hey, what was that?” he asked,
surfacing.

“Let’s see how they do a
dual rescue,” Emily said, and swam to the center of the
pool.

Mark studied the Cavalry,
“Levi, you’re up.”

“I can’t fight both of them off, I’ll
drown,” the heku told Mark.

“We’ll even play
unconscious for you,” Emily said, and fell into a dead man’s float,
as the heku victim did the same.

“You wanna know how I’d handle this?” Levi
asked.

“Yes, I do,” Mark said.

Levi shrugged and dove
into the water. He flipped Emily over so her face was above water,
and easily moved her back to the cement and lifted her
up.

She sat up, “You forgot
the other victim.”

Levi got out of the water,
“Are you kidding? The Elder’s wife is unconscious in the water, to
hell with the heku. I get her to safety first.”

Mark started to laugh, “That’s so true.”

“Gee thanks,” the heku
victim said, and crawled out of the water.

“Back in, Em, you’re best
at this,” Mark said, and pushed her into the water. The newer
Cavalry looked at him, shocked.

Emily splashed Mark before
swimming over to the end of the pool and falling into the float.
She was exhausted by the time the last member of the Cavalry gave
it a try. She was successfully able to keep four of them from
rescuing her, but the others all got her to the cement.

“You’re on your own now,
Em… change and mount up,” Mark said to the others.

Emily swam over to the edge beside him,
“What are you going to do?”

“We’re just going out for
a bit.”

“Can I go? I want to see how Skye keeps
falling off of his horse.”

“Sure, meet us at the
stables,” Mark said, and blurred away.

Emily ran up the stairs
and opted to just quickly toss on a pair of shorts. It was almost
100 degrees outside and she thought the sun would feel nice. She
tossed her hair into a braid, and then ran back down to the
stables. Her horse already had a bridle and saddle and was waiting
at the hitching post for her. The others were already mounted and
waiting.

“Damn, you’re fast,” she
said, and mounted.

Kralen reached over and
slapped one of the members of the Cavalry upside the head when he
caught the heku looking at her lower back, where her tattoo peeked
out from under her shorts. He immediately straightened up and
looked at Mark.

They kicked their horses
into a canter and moved as one unit through the city. Mark and
Emily fell to the back and she studied Skye. He looked
uncoordinated and wobbly on top of the horse, when most of them
naturally took to riding.

When they reached the
hills outside of the city, they took off toward the north tree line
in pairs. Emily watched as Skye struggled to stay on his horse and
almost fell off when he banked left and returned to the
others.