Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (68 page)

Sotomar gasped, “Emily… please…”

“No,” she whispered,
sadly. “I’ve said what I wanted.”

“Please,” Ryan said, but
she turned slowly and used the wall as support to leave.

“Emily,” Sotomar called
out, and started toward her. Derrick jumped for him and slammed
into the Valle, pinning him to the ground.

“The Lady spoke her peace,” Derrick
growled.

“Let him up so they can
leave,” Quinn said as he walked down to the trial area.

Derrick stood up and straightened his
uniform.

Ryan blurred out into the hallway and looked
up at Emily as she struggled up the stairs, “I thought we were
friends.”

Before Mark could reach
him, the three Valle Elders fell to ash where they stood, and Emily
sunk slowly and sat down on the stairs, her head in her hands.
Chevalier appeared out in the hallway and walked up the few stairs
to her. He sat down beside her and she leaned against him as he
wrapped an arm around her.

“Are you ok?” he
whispered, and kissed the top of her head.

“No,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t
want them here.”

“I know.”

“I want to go lay down,
but my head…”

Chevalier picked her up
gently and carried her to their room. She laid her head against his
shoulder and relaxed onto the bed as he pulled the curtains and
turned off the lights.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know
they were in there… I just wanted to let you know I remembered,”
she whispered.

Chevalier smiled, “It’s a
good thing. I would hate to have to woo you again. You weren’t an
easy catch.”

She smiled slightly, “You make me sound like
prey.”

He disappeared for not
even a second, before returning with a cold rag and laid it across
her forehead.

“How’s your back?”

“It hurts… they put a log
under it.”

“I know, I took it out.”

She reached her arm up and touched one of
the long thin scabs with her hand, “Why did they do this?”

“It’s part of the ceremony.”

She looked over at him, “Can I know now what
Exavior was hoping to accomplish?”

Chevalier nodded, and over
the next hour, explained the history of Yisolatara and how it was
performed and then banned by the ancients. He also explained that
only the few ‘old ones’ left knew how to do it, and that Exavior
must have learned the ritual from Ulrich.

“How could he ensure that
I wouldn’t have killed his coven when I was freed?” she asked,
still surprised that Exavior was willing to make her a killing
monster.

“He couldn’t have. I think
he figured they could control you… but that’s the problem with
Yisolatara, they can’t be controlled.”

“You would have had to kill me?”

Chevalier sighed, “Yes.”

“Where are Silas and Kralen?”

“They haven’t woken up.”

“Will they?”

“I don’t know… Mark did,
and he said he’s refreshed, like he had a long deep sleep,”
Chevalier explained.

Emily touched his arm, “Are you sure he’s
dead?”

“Yes”

“That ancient can reattach
heads though. You said he could bring back a heku.”

“That ancient is buried
far beneath this palace.”

“If Exavior comes back …”

“He won’t.”

“What happened to the Ferus in that
coven?”

“William sent an Encala
Coven in. They beheaded all of the Ferus and then set explosives
inside the cave.”

“I’m hungry,” she said, looking around.

Chevalier smiled, “Name it.”

She looked up at him, “I drank blood… a lot
of it.”

“I know.”

“It was so good though… I
was… thirsty.”

“That’s normal for the ritual… and now?”

“I’m thirsty, but I’d much
prefer a Coke,” she said, and grinned slightly.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I want a triple cheeseburger with chili
cheese fries and cheese cake.”

Chevalier chuckled, “You shouldn’t have said
that.”

“Wait, I was kidding.”

“Too late… it’s ok… they are enjoying
cooking.”

“I’m sorry I turned the
doctor to ash. I didn’t know who he was and he had a
needle.”

“Oh, I know exactly why
you did it, and we’re making him wait a bit to revive him… so he
knows he did something wrong.”

“He’ll be mad.”

Chevalier looked over at the door and stood
up, crouching slightly.

“What?” Emily whispered.

“The Valle are revived and
trying to get up here,” he hissed, and then stood up with an odd
expression on his face.

“Not anymore.”

He sat down, “Would you stop?”

“I would say I’m sorry…”

“But you’re not, I know…
I’m not worried about the Valle. I’m worried about you,” he told
her.

“I know. I’ll stop for
today.”

“Kyle’s going to go revive them at the front
gates.”

“Chev?”

“Yes,” he said, and took
her hand.

She sighed, “I hurt really bad… do you
think… well… did the doctor…”

“Did he leave you anything?”

“Yes”

“Let’s see,” Chevalier
said, and picked up the doctor’s bag. He dug through it and produce
a bottle, “I’ve seen him give you these before… 2 of
them.”

She nodded and he helped
her sit up and take them. After going to the door, Chevalier came
back with Emily’s order and she grinned at the size of
it.

“One more lap and we’ll
call it good,” the heku said from beside the pool. Emily’s arms
shook as she struggled to make it another lap across the pool.
She’d been working with a Physical Therapist that Chevalier drummed
up out of Canada. In the three weeks since her rescue from the
Ferus, she’d spent two of those in the company of the stern
heku.

Mark, Jaron, and two other
members of the Cavalry stood inside the pool room and scrutinized
everything the therapist did. For no good reason at all, they
didn’t trust him, and any time Emily was in pain, they would hover
over the therapist until he nervously changed what she was
doing.

Emily stopped at the edge
of the deep end and rested against the side of the pool, panting.
Her back wasn’t hurting as much lately, but the laps in the pool
made it ache for a few hours.

“Good job today!” the heku
said, and stood up. “Want to get into the hot tub?”

“No,” she panted. She’d
refused to get into the hot tub since she got back, and no one
pushed it.

Mark reached down and
helped Emily up out of the pool, steadying her with his hand when
she swayed slightly. After swimming that many laps, her legs were
shaky.

“Go get something to eat
and I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and left Emily alone
with her guards.

“Go get something to eat,”
Emily said, mimicking the heku.

Mark grinned, “It’s not just you, none of us
like him.”

“He’s a pain in the ass.
Why won’t Chev send him home?”

“Because the Elder thinks he’s doing some
good.”

“Yeah, well let Chev do
ninety minutes of hard laps,” she said, and reached for her phone
when it rang. “Hello?”

“Emily, it’s William… are you alone?”

“No,” she said, and
glanced up at Mark.

“Please call me when you
are,” he said, and hung up.

“Who was that? Didn’t say much,” Mark
mentioned.

“Wrong number… let’s go,”
Emily said, and slipped on a robe.

“They aren’t awake yet.”

“I don’t care,” she told
him, and slowly limped out of the out-building. Mark and Jaron
walked alongside her as the other two guards fell in behind. All of
the heku were suspecting that Silas and Kralen weren’t going to
wake up. They weren’t dead though, and talks were set in motion for
their retirement, to see if a few hundred years of rest would help
them wake up.

She took the stairs
slowly, using Mark’s arm as leverage. The heku were all trying to
decide how to hint that they carry her up the numerous flights of
stairs, but they knew she would refuse. When they got to the floor
with the infirmary, she stopped in the foyer and waited until she
could catch her breath.

“Ok, wait here,” she told
them, and went into the infirmary and shut the door while guards
waited in the foyer.

Emily walked over and
slowly sat down on the chair beside Silas. She could see the rise
and fall of his chest as he breathed, and was somewhat comforted by
that, “Silas?”

He didn’t respond or move
at all. She took his hand in hers, “Silas, please wake up. I’m
sorry I did this to you.”

She studied his face and kissed his forehead
lightly before standing up and sitting down on the side of the bed
Kralen was lying on.

“Kralen, please wake up.
I’m sorry,” she said, and took his hand. She watched him sleep for
a few minutes and then moved to a chair where she watched them
sleep for almost an hour.

She looked up when there
was a knock on the door. Mark poked his head in, “Dinner’s ready,
you still want to eat in the dining room? We’re a lot closer to
your room.”

“No, the dining room is
fine,” she said, and checked Silas and Kralen again before leaving.
She suffered through the pain it took to walk back down the stairs,
but smiled when she saw Alexis and Dain already seated.

“Do I have to, Mom?” Alexis asked, looking
down at a plate of lasagna.

“Yes, you do,” Emily
replied, and sat carefully.

“Owie?” Dain asked.

She smiled, “Sort of… drink up.”

Alexis gagged down her
spaghetti while Dain took one of his sippy cups, and they all began
to eat together.

“Mom, I miss Allen,” Alexis said between
bites.

“I do too,” she said, and
felt the familiar hole in her heart, made by her missing
son.

“Can’t we go see him?”

“Soon, I promise.”

Alexis nodded and finished her small bowl of
spaghetti, then reached over to help Dain. Afterwards, Alexis and
Dain went to watch a movie while Emily headed up to her room,
telling her guards she wanted to lie down. Once she was alone, she
moved to the back of her room and returned the phone call.

“William here.”

“It’s Emily,” she
whispered.

“Are you alone?”

“Yes”

“This is private, and we’d
appreciate if you didn’t share any of what we’re about to tell
you.”

“Ok,” she said, not sure she wanted to
hear.

“The Encala have obtained a list of every
known Ferus coven location.”

She gasped, “You did?”

“Yes, the other factions
know we have it, but the alliance was terminated before we gave out
copies.”

“So why tell me?”

“We want to exterminate
them… the Encala do, with you.”

Emily glanced toward her
door, “The Equites wouldn’t like that. I’m not supposed to ash
anymore.”

William chuckled, “So is that a no?”

“No, it’s not… what are your plans?”

“Can you still slip out of the palace
unnoticed?”

“Yes”

“Out of the city?” William asked.

“Yes”

“Good, next Friday night, meet us at your
old Durango at 1am… can you do that?”

Emily thought, “Yes, I think I can.”

“Please, don’t mention this to anyone.”

“Oh, I won’t. If I do,
they’ll stop me.”

“We’ll see you then,”
William said, and hung up.

Emily sat on her bed and
laid back, deep in thought. She felt the need to get revenge on the
Ferus, not just for the Yisolatara, but everything they’ve done.
The Equites made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t to turn anyone
to ash, except for emergencies, and asked that they be allowed to
handle the Ferus situation on their own.

The Encala’s offer sounded
intriguing. If they could go coven to coven and wipe out the Ferus
without the Equites knowing, then she could handle it without
angering the Council. Her back was still touchy, any wrong turn
would send painful stabs down into her legs and render her
incapacitated for days. If the Encala were there with her though,
she could merely wipe out some of them, and let the Encala handle
the rest.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Chevalier
whispered from the doorway.

Emily jumped slightly at the sudden voice
and smiled at him, “It’s probably not worth a penny.”

He shut the door and
walked over to the bed, “Had to have been, you were quite deep in
thought. You didn’t even hear me come in.”

“That’s because you sneak.”

“I don’t sneak.”

She raised an eyebrow, “You all sneak.”

“Maybe… so what were you thinking
about?”

“Silas and Kralen,” she
lied, and looked over at him.

“We’re going to have to put them into
retirement soon.”

Emily propped herself up on one elbow,
“No!”

“We don’t have a choice… they aren’t waking
up and we hope that a few hundred years of sleep will revive
them.”

“No! I did this to them.
I’m not going to let you put them in the ground.”

“They wouldn’t blame you.”

“I don’t care, you aren’t burying them
alive.”

“What do you want us to do with them?”