Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (78 page)

“Damnit, Valle don’t fight fair,” Silas
groaned.

“There’s a fair way to fight?” Emily
asked.

“Yeah, in casual fighting
like that, we don’t normally bite.”

“Fucker got me good,” Kralen panted.

Emily sighed, “You two are more trouble than
I am, I swear.”

“You don’t have to yell at
us, Mark’ll have our heads for this,” Silas told her.

The rest of the drive was
silent. Emily killed the headlights and music when she got into the
city, and then stopped in front of the Cavalry’s
barracks.

“Mark won’t know if you
two go to bed and heal before he sees you,” she told them, and
jumped out of the truck. She opened the back first and helped
Kralen out. He was still slouched over, grasping vicious bites on
his side and his shirt was covered in blood.

Hidden by the blizzard,
Emily helped Kralen into the barracks. As soon as she opened the
door, the Cavalry inside grew quiet and then ran to her when they
saw their Captain.

“What happened?” Jaron asked, taking Kralen
from Emily.

“Nothing happened,” Emily
said, and went back after Silas. Another of the Cavalry came and
helped him to his bed.

“We’ll need to report this as an attack,”
Jaron said to her.

“We weren’t attacked.”

His eyes narrowed, “Then how did they get
hurt?”

Emily went over to Silas
and slipped off his cape and shoes, and then covered him with a
blanket, “They aren’t hurt.”

“What are you playing at?”

“Nothing, ok? They aren’t hurt,” she said
again.

“And this?” Jaron asked, pointing to her
bruised and scratched arm.

Emily looked down and noticed it was in the
exact shape of a hand, “That’s… I did that to myself.”

“It’s impossible to turn
your own hand in that direction.”

“Drop it, Jaron, please.”

The Commander sighed,
“Fine.”

“You aren’t going to get
very far into the palace. You’re covered in heku blood,” one of the
Cavalry said to her.

She looked at her shirt,
“Damnit… I can get in though. No one’ll see me.”

“They’ll smell you.”

“One second,” one of the
Cavalry said, and he blurred from the room. He returned a few
minutes later with clean clothes. “Go shower and
change.”

“Thank you,” Emily said,
and went into the shower.

Jaron shook his head at Kralen, “You’re
going to be lucky if Mark doesn’t find out.”

“I know,” Kralen said, and
smiled slightly.

“We cannot allow Lady
Emily to lie and cover for one of us,” a newer member of the
Cavalry said, one obviously from Powan.

Jaron turned on him, “It’s
her choice. If we break and tell the General, she’ll get mad, and
that only causes trouble for us.”

The guard, obviously irritated, returned to
his bed and began to read.

Jaron walked over to stand
by the shower door, ensuring no one went in while Emily cleaned up.
She came out a few minutes later, no longer smelling of heku
blood.

“Who are my guards?” she
asked, heading for the door. Four members of the Cavalry fell in
behind her, “Get in the truck, let’s go back.”

They nodded and walked out
to her truck while she checked one more time on Silas and Kralen.
Silas was already sitting up, almost completely healed, but Kralen
had one bite that was still hurting. Once she was sure they were
ok, she met up with her guards and returned to the
palace.

***

Emily jumped slightly and
sat up in bed when someone knocked on the door. She told whomever
it was to enter, and then yawned and glanced at the
clock.

“Sorry to wake you,”
Derrick whispered. “The Council wants to see you.”

“Right now?”

“Yes”

She sighed and slipped out
of bed. She was still groggy from sleeping, and walked out the door
in her nightgown. Derrick grimaced and followed her out, along with
her four guards. They all looked anywhere but at her. They knew she
was too tired to realize she was walking through the palace in a
short pink silk nightgown.

“Sorry about this late
hour,” the Chief Interrogator said, and shifted nervously at how
she was dressed.

“Ok,” she mumbled, still trying to wake
up.

“We need to know what happened tonight that
caused you to turn two Valle to ash in the parking lot of one of
our donor bars in the city.”

This immediately woke
Emily up, “That wasn’t at a donor bar. That was at a Chinese
restaurant.”

“Oh, we’ll make sure and mention that so
they don’t think we took you to a donor bar,” Dustin said.

“Of course no one would take me to a donor
bar.”

“True”

“Good night then,” she
said, and turned to leave.

“Wait, we’re not done,” Dustin called after
her.

She sighed and turned back
to the Council, “What then?”

“Why did you turn them to ash?”

“Where’s Quinn and Zohn?”

“Out for a few days… you
didn’t answer my question. Why did you turn them to
ash?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your
concern.”

“It is,” the Chief of
Staff told her. “The Valle Elders want a reason, so they know if
they need to punish them.”

“Nope, I already handled
it,” she told them, and again turned to leave.

“We’re not done with you,” Dustin told
her.

She glanced up at the ceiling and then
walked over to the trial area, “What?”

“What happened?”

“Nothing important.”

“Tell us, please.”

“No”

Dustin frowned, “I’m not accustomed to being
told no.”

“I don’t feel that it’s
any of the Council’s business what I was doing or what
happened.”

“It is our business when one of the Equites
is attacked by a Valle.”

“Who said I was attacked?”

“Your arm speaks for itself,” the Court
Reporter told her.

Emily looked down at the deep purple bruise
and dark red scratches, “I did that to myself.”

“It’s physically impossible for your hand to
be at that angle,” Dustin told her.

“Don’t try to dig up trouble where there is
none,” Emily said to them. “Nothing happened, no one was attacked,
and those Valle should be sent on their way with no further
punishment.”

“If you refuse to tell us,
then we will have to confine you to quarters until Chevalier
returns,” the Chief of Staff told her.

Emily’s eyes narrowed and
she crossed her arms, “I’m not telling him either, so that won’t do
any good.”

“It doesn’t matter if you
do or not. This would take the decision of all three Elders for a
punishment.”

“You can’t keep me in my
room, I’ll get away… and I’d like to see this Council toss me into
prison while the Elders are away.”

“Guards, take her to prison,” Dustin said,
smiling.

“What!?” Emily yelled as
one of the palace guards restrained her hands behind her
back.

“If you decide to talk,
you may request a meeting with the Council. Until then… you are
confined.”

The guards walked Emily
out and as she passed the four members of the Cavalry, they gasped
and started to follow her, but were called into the
Council.

“Yes, Sir?” the highest
ranking of the Cavalry asked.

“You are relieved of guard
duty for now. Tell the Cavalry that they are hereby banned from the
prison until further notice,” Dustin told him. “Make sure and
advise the General.”

“Yes, Sir,” he said, and
they walked out of the council chambers, confused.

Emily was taken to a cell
across from Vaughn, and as the cell door was slammed shut and
locked, he looked over at her and laughed.

“See they finally found a way to restrain
you.”

“Shut up, Vaughn. I can
still turn you to ash,” she grumbled, and sat down on the cold,
hard bed.

“Is that what you sleep
in?” Vaughn asked, smiling at the small amount of fabric covering
her. “No wonder the Elder stays jealous.”

Emily sighed and looked
around the cell. There were no blankets or pillows, nothing she
could use to cover up with.

***

“What!?” Mark yelled.

“They took her to prison
and have banned us from going down there,” the Cavalry member told
him.

“Why did they put her in prison?”

“She turned some Valle to ash and won’t say
why.”

“Damnit,” Mark growled. “I can get her to
tell them.”

“Not if we can’t get into the prison.”

“When is Chevalier supposed to return?”

“In 6 days. The other two
Elders will be gone about that long also.”

Mark sat down, obviously furious, “They
can’t keep her in prison, it’s freezing down there.”

“And they didn’t allow her to get
dressed.”

“What’s she wearing?”

“Some little pink thing.
She was asleep or I would imagine would have grabbed a
robe.”

“Great,” Mark growled,
deep in thought. “Get Tobin, now.”

“Yes, General,” he said,
and blurred away to get one of the palace’s prison guards that was
applying for a position on the Cavalry. It was only a few minutes
later that the heku guard came into the Cavalry barracks where Mark
was waiting.

“You called for me?”

“Emily’s been put in prison…”

“Yes, she has.”

“She’s not sufficiently
dressed to keep warm in there. She’ll need a robe and
blankets.”

“Sorry, Sir,” Tobin said.
“We’ve been banned from taking anything to her, food and blankets
included.”

“Why?” Mark yelled.

“I don’t know. It just
came down from the Council.”

Mark sighed, “The Elders aren’t going to
like this.”

“I fully expect them to
punish us for this,” the prison guard explained. “However, right
now Dustin has been put over the Council.”

“Go away,” Mark growled.

***

“Emily! I still love you,”
David yelled across the dark prison. Emily shivered on the cold
bed. Her arms were wrapped around herself and she was curled up on
the cot. As procedure dictated, all lights in the prison were
turned off.

Vaughn chuckled from across the hallway,
“You have quite the following.”

“You Bitch!” Larry yelled.
The former leader of the V.E.S. was still serving time in the
Equites prison, “It’s about time they threw you in here to rot with
us.”

“I hope you die down here,” Cody yelled.

“Leave her alone!” David screamed.

“Ask your precious guards
to let you in my cell. I’ll warm you up,” Vaughn said, still
amused.

Emily sighed, “Just shut up.”

***

“We can’t leave her down
there,” the Chief Interrogator said, turning to the
Council.

“Yes, we can. She needs to
answer my question,” Dustin told him.

“The Elders will be back
in four days. If they find out we kept her down in the cold prison
without food or warmth, they’ll banish us all,” the Chief
Investigator told him.

“I’m tired of this! I’ve
been listening to you all complain about this for two days and I
won’t have it,” Dustin said. “Either deal with it quietly, or visit
your covens.”

The Chief Investigator,
Chief Interrogator, Records Keeper, Faction Liaison Officer, Chief
of Staff, and Chief of Defense all got up as one and left the
council chambers.

“Anyone else want to complain?” Dustin
growled.

“No, Sir,” the rest
replied, and turned back toward the trial area.

At the front doors to the palace, the Chief
Investigator turned to the others, “We can’t let this happen.”

“He is starving her, she
has to be freezing, and I can hear the prisoners yelling at her
from here,” the Chief of Staff said, obviously upset.

“If we defy him, then we
essentially defy the Elders, as they’ve left him in charge,” the
Chef of Defense reminded him.

“I know, let’s all just go.”

The others nodded and left for their
individual covens.

***

“Sir, here they are,”
Derrick said. His tone was respectful, but it was obvious he wasn’t
happy about what was going on.

Mark, Silas, Kralen, and
Jaron walked in leading the rest of the Cavalry, all surrounded by
city and palace guards.

“I’m highly disappointed
in you,” Dustin said to them angrily. “My orders are law right now,
and I forbade you from going into the prison or helping Emily.
Right now she’s a traitor to the Equites, yet you chose to defy the
Council and help her.”

Mark glared at him, “She’s cold, hungry, and
scared down there.”

“I can tell you what happened,” Silas said.
“Kralen and I were there too.”

“No, she should answer my
question, and I will let her go,” Dustin told him. “As for the
Cavalry, you’re all relieved of duty… return without honors to your
covens.”

“Don’t you realize what’s going to happen
when the Elders return?” Silas growled. “You could be banished for
this.”

“Do not speak to me like
that!” Dustin said. “I am in charge, and if she won’t answer my
question, then she can stay in there.”