Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (46 page)

“Stop it, Exavior,” Emily
told him, and pushed his hands away.

“No, let me help you. You
can’t get to him in time.”

“Stop him,” Maleth begged.

“Go away, Exavior!” Emily
yelled.

“Let me get a backhoe,” Frederick said from
behind Exavior.

“No! You’ll kill him with it.”

“Oh trust me… it can only hurt a
little.”

“Stop it!” she
screamed,
and sat up in bed, breathing
rapidly.

“It’s ok,” Chevalier
whispered. “Lay down, it was only a dream.”

“Can’t we just dig him up and check on
him?”

“Lay down,” Chevalier said again.

Emily laid down and looked up at the
ceiling, “Just to see if he’s ok… even just a few feet, so we can
hear if he’s screaming.”

“No, we can’t dig him up…
you haven’t seen Maleth in four weeks. It was part of the
concussion, including what he said.”

“It can’t hurt to dig a little.”

“Talk to Camber. He’ll be
here this afternoon.”

“Why?”

“He just came out of
retirement. He can tell you what it was like.”

“What if something got messed up with Leonid
then? What if he really is buried alive while we all think he’s
sleeping?”

Chevalier sighed, “I’m
going to try not to take offense to that. I’m the one that put him
to sleep.”

“Just let me check on him.”

“No, that’s final,” he
said, and crawled out of bed.

Emily got out of bed too
and headed for the bathroom. All that was left of her injuries was
a limp that infuriated Chevalier when he saw it.

“Em… no more digging,
promise me,” Chevalier asked, and turned around.

She disappeared into the bathroom and shut
the door.

When she didn’t answer, he walked out and
turned to her guards, “Who are you?”

“City guards, Sir. The
Cavalry is on a mission,” the closest guard said.

“She’s going to try to get
away from you and dig up Leonid… I’m warning you once… do not let
that happen.”

“Yes, Elder,” he said, and
they all bowed slightly.

Chevalier quickly made his
way down to the council chambers and sat down, turning his chair to
Camber, who was in the trial area.

“Any better?” Quinn
asked.

“No, she’s still begging to dig him up,”
Chevalier said. “Plus, she has new guards.”

“She’ll be digging again within the hour,”
Kyle sighed.

Chevalier turned to Camber, “Before I allow
you to speak to my wife again, I want to know what your intentions
are.”

“I merely want to study
her behavior and personality, her temper, and everything that might
be inherent.”

“To what means?”

“To learn, of course. I’ve
been filled in on her immortality, which makes her even more
amazing to me. If we can learn everything about her, we might be
able to harness that power.”

Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “She won’t
turn.”

“I have heard that… I won’t turn her without
her approval.”

“You have to be around Kyle at all
times.”

“I understand that.”

“Don’t so much as breathe around her without
his permission.”

Camber nodded, “I am sorry
about the horse incident. I didn’t realize she was working with a
problem horse.”

“We’ve postponed Cavalry
training until tomorrow, so you should be able to speak with her
today, maybe follow her a bit as long as she doesn’t get annoyed,”
Quinn said. “We’re still dealing with after effects of the
concussion, and she doesn’t need any more stressors.”

“Understood”

“I have a few banishments
to do, and then I’ll take you to her… if we can find her by then,”
Kyle said, and blurred from the room.

“We’ll simply ask her guards where she is,”
Camber suggested.

“These aren’t her regular
guards. She’ll slip them out of annoyance,” Quinn
explained.

“She can slip past heku guards?”

Zohn chuckled, “Amazingly easy.”

“It’s harder for her to
slip past her Cavalry, and nearly impossible if they are high
ranking… as for city guards, they don’t know her ways,” Chevalier
explained.

Derrick stepped in, “Elder Chevalier,
Cornell needs to speak to you about the baby.”

“Bring him in,” Chevalier
said, and Camber stepped aside.

One of the Powan guards came in and bowed,
“I need the child for 4 hours, Sir.”

“What for?” Chevalier
asked. It was highly unusual for guards to do anything with the
children.

He sighed, “Poker, Sir, I am to watch him
for 4 hours.”

Zohn grinned, “You played poker and lost
babysitting hours?”

“Yes, Sir, I did.”

Chevalier frowned, “Whose idea was
that?”

“The Commander’s, Sir. She
ordered us to break post and play Poker. I’m sure Captain Kralen
can verify.”

“No, no, I believe you. He’s in the game
room with Alexis.”

The guard bowed and left the room.

“Well…” Zohn said, confused.

“I don’t want to know. I
just hope he doesn’t get hurt.”

“You’d let a guard handle your baby if
there’s a possibility of him being injured?” Camber asked,
shocked.

“I’m worried about the guard, not my son,”
Chevalier told him. “He’s in a… biting… phase.”

“Oh yes, I remember. While
we are waiting, I’m very interested in this Cavalry of yours.
Mounted guards sound intriguing and I’m considering starting up a
unit.”

“We are doing an
inspection this morning. You may go if you’d like. You will learn a
lot about our Cavalry on the way, though most of them are out right
now on a mission.”

Camber nodded, “That would be great, thank
you.”

“Kyle can meet us,” Zohn
said, and stood up. “Let’s get this over with so we can get on to
the Lokesh Coven trial.”

Quinn stood up, “Sounds good to me.”

Soon, the three Elders and
Camber were out in the stables checking on the new horses. Emily
wasn’t able to get around well, so Mark, Kyle, and Kralen had
picked them up at a ranch in Colorado.

“Each member of the
Cavalry is assigned their own horse, and is responsible for their
care… though I do believe Emily inspects them often and does
anything past their regular daily care, such as shoeing, and
immunizations,” Zohn said, walking into the stables.

Camber wrinkled his nose,
“Why does it smell like a cat in here?”

Quinn chuckled, “We’ve
never been able to get rid of that smell. We suspect he marked his
territory in here somewhere that we haven’t found.”

“It’s atrocious.”

Zohn blurred to the end of the stable and
then returned with a squirming mouse in his hand, “Best get rid of
this.”

Chevalier took it, killed it quickly, and
disposed of it in the trash bin.

“These horses on the end don’t have name
plates,” Camber mentioned.

“One is mine, the Arabian.
I’ve never been able to think of a name. The other is Emily’s, and
I’m not sure why she hasn’t named hers yet. He’s the fastest out of
all of them, and was once a prized racing stallion,” Chevalier
explained.

“I see… and these eight
over here?”

“For the new recruits.
Emily will match them up with a heku.”

“You trust her for that?”

Chevalier frowned, “Implicitly.”

Quinn decided to change
the subject with a large chart on the wall, “This is the duty
rosters, broken up by day and shift. Our regular city guards do
most of the patrols, but our Cavalry also posts in the city and
they handle smaller things that the Council used to do… small
domestic type issues.”

“I see,” Camber said, and
looked at the chart. “Emily then, is assigned 4 members of your
elite Cavalry, except for 8 hours during the day.”

“That’s when she’s in
Cavalry training, surrounded by them.”

Camber smiled,
“Interesting how much protection you give her, when she’s able to
instantly turn a heku to ash.”

Chevalier started to get
irritated, “She’s almost killed herself doing that too… not only is
she hunted by the V.E.S., but we also protect her from things
before she even sees it coming. If it were up to me, she would
never ash again.”

“Never? Then why have her?” Camber asked,
confused.

Chevalier growled
slightly, so Zohn spoke up, “We were heading to the barracks next,
to check on the accommodations for our new arrivals.”

Camber nodded, “Ok then, I’ll follow.”

As they walked toward the
barracks, Quinn broke the silence, “We’ve started sending any guard
prospects to Powan for training. It’s amazing what General Skinner
can do, and the strict guards he’s sent us from there.”

“We were having a problem
with security once the alliance with the other two factions ended,”
Zohn explained. “Years and years of not fighting, turned some of
our guards useless, and we had to replace them all.”

“I still find it hard to believe that all
three factions aligned for a Winchester… I’m sorry, for Emily,”
Camber said.

“Again, you just don’t know her.”

“It sounds like someone’s
cleaning. We’ll just be brief,” Quinn said, and opened the door to
the barracks.

“Each member of the
Cavalry must be a Lieutenant, they are each assigned…” Zohn’s
explanation broke off when the shower door opened, and they saw
Emily crawl backwards out of the door, scrubbing as she went. Her
hair was tied up high and she had a bandana around her head. She
was sweating and soaked from the sponge in her hand.

Chevalier frowned, “Em?”

She froze and dropped her
head, and then put the sponge in the bucket before turning around
and sitting on the ground. They were shocked how filthy her
clothing was, and how she had a dirt smudge on her nose.

“I guess I should explain?” she asked,
wiping the sweat from her brow.

“I… well… yes,” Chevalier finally managed to
say.

“Why, Dear, are you
cleaning the barracks?” Quinn asked, and stepped
forward.

Emily grinned “I lost
guard hours in a poker game, and I can’t patrol the city, so mine
are cleaning hours.”

“Still… you’re the wife of
an Elder,” Zohn said, and put a hand out for her. She stood up and
brushed her shirt down.

“Wife of an Elder or no… I
lost at poker,” she said, and leaned back against the
wall.

Zohn sighed, “Does Mark now about this?”

“No,” Emily said, and
shrugged. “That’s why I’m doing it now, so he won’t find
out.”

“I don’t care about the
poker game. We can’t have you cleaning the barracks. It’s not
right,” Zohn told her.

She frowned, “I lost a poker game… I won’t
back out on the stakes.”

“What the hell?” Kyle asked, stepping into
the barracks. “Are you cleaning?”

“Believe it or not, I’ve cleaned a room or
two in my day and I’m not going to back out on this,” Emily said,
irritated. “So I suggest you get on with your tour and let me
finish, I have an hour left.”

“Still…”

“If I can make Exavior
clean a kitchen…then I sure as hell can clean some barracks,” she
said, and crossed her arms.

“The Valle’s Exavior?” Camber asked.

Emily glared at him and
then continued, “So if you’ll excuse me, I was in the middle of the
shower floor.”

“Fascinatingly
strong-willed,” Camber whispered. “Winchester women were shy and
timid in my day, elusive to the public eye, and obedient to their
husbands.”

Chevalier chuckled, “Sounds boring.”

“I wouldn’t knock it if I
were you,” Camber said, and watched as Emily limped back into the
bathroom and the sound of scrubbing continued.

“Wait,” Kyle said, and
looked around. “Where are her guards?”

Chevalier looked around, “I hadn’t thought
of that.”

Zohn whispered and then smiled when he was
told by her guards that she was in her room sleeping.

“I have an idea. Let’s put
a cage in the council chambers, and we’ll just keep her in there
all day,” Kyle suggested, irritated.

Zohn chuckled and called
for her guards to watch the door to the barracks. They weren’t
authorized to enter the Cavalry living quarters, so they took up
post outside.

Camber watched the shower
door for a few extra seconds, and then blurred to catch up with the
Elders when they went back to the council chambers. They all sat in
their chairs with the Council, and Camber returned to the trial
area, being quiet and uncharacteristically still.

“So?” Zohn asked, turning to Dustin.

“They have agreed to random inspections and
understand that one more incident will result in a disbanding of
their coven and each member will be assigned to different
covens.”

Zohn nodded, “Very well, you and Kyle can
handle those inspections.”

“Yes, Elder,” Dustin said.

The Court Reporter started handing out large
binders full of papers, “Here is the information for the trial that
starts tomorrow.”

Each member of the Council
opened the binder and began looking through the papers,
photographs, and documentation, while Camber stood silently in the
shadows, all but forgotten.

“Elder?” Derrick said, stepping in and
breaking the two hour-long silence.