Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (32 page)

“Go on,” Quinn told him.

“It was a fairly short fight, as soon as
Mark pinned Exavior against the ground, ready to remove his head…
Emily screamed at him to stop.”

“Begged Mark to stop, more
like,” Kralen said. “I reminded Mark that Exavior’s now an Elder,
and after a few moments, Mark broke his neck and we left him in the
parking lot and returned here.”

“Mark, go calm down. We
have more business tonight and we need your head here,” Zohn told
him, and he blurred from the room.

“I’m confused about
something,” the Chief Interrogator said after a few minutes of
silence. “I thought you filed for divorce about 2 years
ago.”

“I did,” she said softly.
“He was un-banished and is contesting it… his lawyers and my lawyer
are still in negotiations.”

“They’ve assured us it won’t be long,”
Chevalier told him.

Mark came back into the
trial area a few minutes later and grinned slightly, “Sorry about
that.”

“We understand,” Zohn
said. “Now the four of you need to stay for this next
investigation.”

“Wait? What?” Emily asked, frowning.

“Any time a concern is
brought to the Council, we take it seriously, and will get to the
bottom of the complaint.”

“Someone complained about us?”

“The heku, more like, but
you are involved so you will need to stay.”

“I suspect it’s Laythan,” Mark said. “Let’s
get on with it, it’s almost 2am.”

“Oh, right… we forgot that Emily needs to
sleep. Shall we just do this tomorrow?” Quinn asked the others.

“No, I can’t sleep if I think I’m in
trouble,” she said. “Get on with it.”

“Very well… reports came
from one of the members of the Cavalry, accusing the General and
the two Captains of misconduct in regards to Lady Emily, along with
a dangerous conflict of interest in respect to her safety,” the
Court Report said.

“Misconduct?” Silas asked, frowning.

“Says who?” Emily said
angrily.

“Em… calm down,” Chevalier
said, looking into her angry eyes. “We don’t believe it, but it’s
our duty to follow up.”

“Do I get to face my accuser?” Mark
asked.

“No, we feel that’s not necessary though you
were correct, it’s Laythan.”

Kralen growled, “This
coming from a heku we had to reprimand for rude comments, and for
trying to get a better view of Emily’s tattoo!”

“What!?” Emily gasped, wide eyed. “What did
he say?”

“We know this is a touchy
subject, but everyone just calm down!” Dustin yelled, and the room
fell quiet.

“What exactly did Laythan say?” Chevalier
asked.

“It was while Emily was
helping Skye today…” Silas said, and sighed. “She was tandem with
Skye, trying to help him get the feel of being on a horse, and
Laythan mentioned wanting to fall off his horse a bit to get the
same treatment.”

“And the tattoo?” Zohn asked.

“What’s wrong with my tattoo?” Emily asked,
irritated.

“How did he even see it?” Dustin asked.

“Nothing’s wrong with your tattoo,” Zohn
told her.

Emily sighed, “It was hot and I’d just been
swimming. I wanted to get some sun…”

“So you weren’t dressed,
is what you’re saying?” Dustin asked.

Emily glared at him, “I was too! You sound
like I went all Lady Godiva on them.”

“She was covered… he just saw the edge of
her tattoo from the top of her shorts and tried to get a better
look,” Kralen said. “I hit him upside the head and he straightened
up.”

“He watches her too, a
lot. I’ve had to correct him several times this week,” Silas
added.

“Is he being reprimanded?” Quinn asked.

Mark nodded, “Yes, he’s
reporting to my office at 8am. I am relieving him of Cavalry duty
and putting him back in the city.”

“He confronted the three of us tonight about
going out dancing. We changed to fit in better with the mortals and
decided that only 3 of us were needed,” Silas explained.

“I understand that,”
Chevalier told them. “I often back off 2… or even all of her guards
when I’m with her… I can see how the three of them together can do
as much as 4 regular guards.”

“It was obvious he wanted
to be the 4
^th
guard, and this all
stemmed from when I told him no,” Mark said. “As for the other
accusations, I don’t feel there’s been any inappropriate
conduct.”

“Not with these 3,” Emily
said, and glanced at them.

“We, as a Council, have
seen no misconduct around Lady Emily either,” Zohn told him.
“Though he claims there are more of the Cavalry that agree with his
statement.”

“I dare him to find one other,” Silas
said.

“Did he give examples of misconduct?” Emily
asked, confused.

“One example he told us,
was that apparently Silas entered your room uninvited while you
were sleeping and touched you to interrupt a nightmare,” Quinn
explained.

Chevalier frowned, “Had it
been anyone but these 3, then I would tear them apart… however, if
Silas wants to stop her nightmare, then so be it.”

“I don’t remember that,” Emily told
them.

Silas smiled slightly, “I actually do that a
lot when the Elder is gone… I don’t wake you.”

“It only takes a touch to stop the
screaming,” Chevalier explained.

“Well hell, you make it sound like I scream
all the time in my sleep,” she said, frustrated.

Chevalier grinned, “You’d be amazed.”

“Well anyway… I don’t care
if any of these 3 come in while I’m sleeping. I trust
them.”

“Again… as do I,”
Chevalier said, and turned to the Council. “Any other examples of
misconduct?”

“Yes, quite a few,” the
Court Reporter said as he thumbed through the notes Laythan gave
them. “Last Tuesday, Kralen picked Emily up off the ground when the
Malamute knocked her down, and then lifted the back of her shirt
slightly to look at the road rash…”

“Wait… he’s been keeping notes on this?”
Mark asked.

“Yes, he has,” the Court
Reporter told him, and then continued. “Two weeks ago on Sunday,
Mark pushed Emily into the pool. Last Friday, Silas embraced her
while they were alone…”

“Hold on!” Silas yelled. “That was not an
embrace…”

“Stop doing that, anyway,”
Emily said to him.

“Then stop trying to run off when we call a
doctor.”

“I did push her into the pool,” Mark said,
smiling slightly.

“We all realize that was deserved,” Quinn
told him.

Emily frowned, “I don’t
want to hear any more of this. It’s ludicrous! There is nothing
inappropriate going on and even the thought of it just infuriates
me.”

“I agree,” Chevalier said
to the Council. “Laythan is apparently either jealous of the
friendship they have, or trying to get them into trouble for some
reason.”

“I second that,” Zohn
said. “Destroy those papers and bring the entire Cavalry in
here.”

The Court Reporter nodded
and disappeared to shred the notes from Laythan. Derrick called for
the Cavalry, and they blurred into the trial area. Mark, Silas,
Kralen, and Emily moved off to the side as the Cavalry faced the
Council. Silas put his hand on Emily’s shoulder when she headed
after Laythan.

Zohn stood up, “We’ve
brought you all here to get to the bottom of allegations that there
is inappropriate conduct going on between Lady Emily, your General,
and the two Captains. No one’s leaving until we get some
answers.”

“Laythan, step forward,”
Chevalier said, and watched the heku proudly step to the
front.

“Let’s start simple,”
Quinn said, and stood when Zohn sat down. “If you have witnessed
any misconduct or inappropriate and/or unjustified touching, step
forward.”

Quinn sat down, and the
Cavalry shifted nervously, but no one stepped forward.

“How can you not see it?”
Laythan said. “He’s doing it now… in front of the
Council.”

All eyes fell to Emily and
Silas’ hand on her shoulder. He didn’t move it, but looked Laythan
in the eye, “If I let her go, you will be assaulted.”

“Likely excuse.”

“Emily!” Mark yelled when she started to
concentrate on Laythan.

The heku turned to look at her with wide
eyes.

“Em, please try to refrain from torturing
the guard before we’ve finished,” Chevalier chuckled.

Emily nodded, and Silas
let her go.

“I don’t see that as
unjustified touching,” Quinn told him. “Emily has… well… a temper,
and at times it’s prudent to restrain her to keep her
safe.”

“Anyone else? Laythan made it clear that
others feel as he does and we need to find out who and what you’ve
seen,” Chevalier told them.

“They won’t step forward
with the General and his temperamental girlfriend watching,”
Laythan spat.

“Kiss my what?” Emily
yelled, and lunged toward him.

Mark wrapped an arm around
her waist and lifted her so her feet were off the floor. He headed
for the door, “Come on, Killer. We’ll wait out here.”

“Silas, Kralen, wait with them,” Zohn said.
They both nodded and left the trial area, shutting the door behind
them.

“Yet again… there was no
need to lovingly wrap his arm around her,” Laythan said, turning to
the Council.

“Lovingly?” Chevalier
asked. “Looks to me like he was justified… again.”

“Justified? Will you find it justified when
his tongue is down her throat?”

Chevalier growled and Zohn stood up, “That’s
enough of that kind of talk.”

“Laythan, tell us who
among these guards agree with your opinion,” Kyle said,
irritated.

“They all do.”

“Jaron, step forward,”
Chevalier said. The Commander stepped up to stand by Laythan.
“You’ve witnessed inappropriate or unwarranted conduct?”

“No, Sir, I have not.”

“He’s telling the truth,”
the Chief Interrogator told the Council.

“She’s more comfortable
with the three of them,” Jaron said. “It stands to reason that they
have certain lenience when it comes to the rules set forth by the
Council.”

“Yes, they do… step back,”
Zohn told him. “It’s important that anyone who has any misgivings
about the actions of Mark, Silas, or Kralen, step forward now. It
is your duty, first and foremost, to protect the city and Lady
Emily… any misconduct is a grave mistake and should be reported
immediately.”

“Sir?” one of the
Cavalry’s Commanders said, and stepped forward.

“Go ahead, Kain.”

“There is no misconduct…
there is no inappropriate touching going on. Those three heku are
well respected by all of us… well, excluding one obviously and I
swear to you… if I thought for one moment that anything were
happening to the Lady, I would handle it myself. There’s nothing
improper going on.”

“We know that,” Chevalier told him. “But
thank you.”

The door burst open and Emily came inside,
furious, “You said what about Mark’s tongue?”

Laythan’s eyes grew wide
as Emily ran up to him. He put his hands out to stop her, but she
knocked them away, kneed him in the groin, and then slammed her
palm up into his nose, shattering bones into his brain. He fell to
the ground, unconscious.

“I’m your Commander,
Damnit,” she yelled at him, and kicked him in the side as Jaron
took her arm and pulled her away from him.

“Sorry, Sir,” Mark said,
grinning. “We aren’t supposed to touch her.”

Chevalier chuckled, “Em…”

“What?” she asked, pulling against Jaron’s
grasp.

“Calm down,” he told her,
and then sighed when the Cavalry began to cover their noses against
the smell of burning flesh. Laythan couldn’t scream, couldn’t fight
back against the burning, as he was only barely starting to come
out of unconsciousness.

“That’s enough, Emily,”
Quinn said sternly, and the burning stopped.

Jaron let go of her and
returned to the rest of the Cavalry.

“Now, I want one thing
made clear,” Chevalier said to them. “This questioning was a
legality. In no way did the Council ever consider the General or
the Captains to be breaking any laws, or to be acting in any way
unbefitting of one of our elite.”

Laythan slowly got to his feet, out of
breath slightly as the burning lingered in his chest, “You’ll see
that I’m right.”

“You won’t, you’re hereby
relieved of duty. You may return to your coven,” Zohn told
him.

“What!?” Laythan yelled. “I look out for the
best interest of my charge and I’m punished for it?”

“I’m not sure what exactly you’re up to,”
Quinn said. “But I doubt it has anything to do with Emily’s
safety.”

“Fine, I’ll return to my
coven… with honor,” he said, and disappeared.

“Damn, guess we get to clean out his stuff,”
Mark sighed.

“I’ll help. I’m too mad to
sleep,” Emily said, and followed him out the door.

“You may go,” Zohn told the rest of
them.

“You’re taking this well,” Quinn said,
turning to Chevalier.

“If it were any of them but those three, I
wouldn’t be.”

“Are they too close to her though?”

Chevalier shrugged, “Maybe, but I don’t see
how it’s affecting their ability to protect her. Proven by
tonight’s encounter with Exavior. Yes, she got bruises, but sounds
to me like she caused them by once again trying to get into the
middle of a heku fight.”