Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (4 page)

“
Do you want to explain the
relationship between you and Exavior?” Zohn asked.

Emily frowned, “You mean the marriage
proposals and the kiss?”

Chevalier frowned and she heard a low
growl.

“
Yes, that,” Zohn
said.

“
What do you want me to
say? I’m not going to apologize because he has a crush,” Emily
said, and scanned the Council.

“
How far has he gone with
you?” Chevalier hissed.

Emily glared at him, “What do you care?”

“
You two can fight later,”
Zohn said. “I want to know what you are going to do about the… what
did you call it? Crush… by the Valle’s Chief
Interrogator.”

“
I’m not going to do
anything,” Emily told him. She was watching Zohn carefully,
avoiding the fierce look in Chevalier’s eyes.

“
Very well, you may go,”
Zohn said, and turned to Quinn.

Emily left, mumbling, “Thanks Em, for
returning all of the Equites and exposing the conspiracy.”

Quinn grinned when the door shut, “We could
make our Faction Liaison Officer the new Coven Liaison Officer, and
give her the Faction Liaison position.”

“
Do what?” Chevalier asked,
still angry.

“
They can’t kidnap her. She
could handle all relations with the Valle and Encala.”

“
No”

“
He has a good point,” Zohn
said. “She just got every Equites released from the Valle
prison.”

“
No,” Chevalier said
again.

“
It might give her a reason
to stay,” Kyle said.

“
No”

Quinn sighed, “Who wants to interrogate the
traitors?”

“
I do,” Chevalier said, and
disappeared from the room.

“
I do, too,” Zohn said, and
followed him.

Kyle followed the Elders and the three Valle
into the interrogation chamber, and made sure the door was shut
before he took one of the prisoners and pushed him toward the Iron
Maiden.

Chevalier clasped his fists together and
slammed them into the side of the General’s head, sending him back
into the fireplace. He pulled the heku out of the ashes and tied
him to the rack.

Zohn was tying the female heku to the
electrified table and watching Chevalier closely, “The Faction
Liaison Officer idea was good.”

“
No,” Chevalier said, and
stretched the heku slightly on the rack.

Kyle pushed the Iron Maiden shut, ignoring
the screams from inside, “She’s going to leave if you don’t
stop.”

“
I don’t want to talk about
it,” Chevalier said, and sat down by his heku. “Want to tell us
what’s going on in three days?”

“
No,” the Valle said,
gritting his teeth against the pain.

“
I will!” a voice sounded
from the Iron Maiden and Kyle laughed.

“
I always get the
squealers,” Kyle said, and opened the tin coffin. “Start
talking.”

“
Please, let me out,”
Kyle’s prisoner said. “I’ll tell you if you let me out.”

Kyle shrugged and shut the door to the Iron
Maiden, “I still want to talk about Em.”

“
I think she and this
Exavior guy have a thing,” Zohn said, and touched the button on the
electrical current. He waited until the screaming turned to deathly
gurgles before letting up on it.

“
They do not,” Chevalier
growled, and cranked harder on the rack.

***

“
What did you find?” Quinn
asked.

“
The Valle are coming after
Ingram and Selhman in three days, arriving at night. The
illustrious three musketeers were going to make sure they had a
clear shot into the city,” Zohn said, picking something fleshy off
of his shirt.

“
Or… they were,” Chevalier
said. “I’m thinking now that Sotomar knows we have these three, we
don’t have to worry about them.”

“
We need to decide, once
and for all, what to do about those two,” Quinn said, deep in
thought.

“
We just have to fill the
last spot. We can’t try them with a missing member of the Council,”
Zohn reminded them.

Quinn growled, “We can’t fill his spot
though. No one is fit to do it.”

“
You do realize that we
have one more member of the Council,” Kyle said, and nodded when
everyone looked at him.

“
We do?” Zohn
asked.

“
Yes, we made spouses of
the Council full members after Damon.”

“
Bring Emily into this
trial?” Quinn asked, confused.

“
Why not? All she has to do
is fill the thirteenth spot so the Council is full,” Kyle said,
sitting back in his chair.

“
No,” Chevalier said
sternly.

“
That’s one no… I vote
yes,” Quinn said. “I’d like to get these two taken care
of.”

All eyes turned to Zohn, “Gah, I’m thinking.
I would be nice to have them out of the way, but she’s so emotional
and illogical.”

“
Elders get the deciding
vote,” Kyle said. “All she has to do is sit here and represent the
13
^th
.”

Zohn sighed, “Yes.”

“
Damnit, no,” Chevalier
yelled, slamming his fists on the table.

“
Your dislike of Emily does
not mean that she can’t hold a valid position with this faction,”
Quinn said, obviously angry. “You need to get over your feelings
for her, and let us carry on with business.”

“
No one said I dislike
Emily,” Chevalier hissed.

“
You sure as hell act like
it,” Quinn snapped at him. “Two votes have it, and she’ll be on
this trial, so we can finally be rid of these two.”

Chevalier glared toward the trial door.

***

Emily sat up suddenly in bed when she heard
a loud thud from the stables, then slipped on a light jacket and
moved out by the stalls. She saw Kralen’s mare lying up against the
wall of her stall. She walked in and knelt down by the mare.

“
Damnit,” Emily whispered
when she felt the horse’s high temperature. “Mark!”

Mark appeared, “What’s wrong?”

“
Get the Cavalry. I need
all of the horses out of the stables immediately,” Emily said, and
ran for the storage room.

Within seconds, the stalls were full of heku
and the horses were being led out to the corral. Mark came in just
as Emily was giving a shot to the horse. He couldn’t help but smile
slightly, how Emily fought when she needed a shot, but had no
problem giving one.

“
Sit with her,” Emily said,
and stood up. She left the stables and went out into the corral.
The Cavalry was surrounding the corral and watching the
horses.

Emily went horse to horse as the Cavalry
watched, still not sure what was going on. She walked up to Patra
slowly and the mare nipped at her and whinnied. The Cavalry was
shocked. Patra was the calmest and most gentle horse in the
stables.

“
Take her inside,” Emily
said, and one of the Cavalry wrestled Patra back into the
stables.

“
This one too,” Emily said
again, and the appaloosa stallion was forced into the
stables.

Emily went back inside and shut the stall
doors as Patra reared back and tried to slam into her.

“
What’s going on?” Mark
asked.

“
I think they have a
mosquito transmitted illness. Call Thukil, see if Darren can come,”
Emily said, and started to fill another syringe.

Mark ran off and Silas came into the stall,
“What can I do?”

“
Watch the horses. If they
are irritated, nervous, or listless, they need to come in here. The
rest need to stay far away,” Emily said.

“
Em, the Council needs
you,” Kyle said, strolling casually into the stables. He frowned
when he saw the look on Emily’s face, “What’s going on?”

“
Encephalomyelitis,” Emily
said, and gave Patra an injection. Patra tried to kick her, and she
dodged out of the way, barely missing the angry hoof, “The
Council’s going to have to wait until this is over.”

“
Did… did Patra just try to
kick you?” Kyle asked, wide eyed.

“
Yes,” Emily told him, and
then gave the stallion a shot.

Kyle blurred from the stables and appeared
back in the council chambers.

“
Is she coming?” Zohn
asked.

“
No, there’s a problem with
some of the horses. Mark said she’s called the Thukil Captain in to
help,” Kyle said, and sat down in his chair.

“
She said no to the Council
because a horse has the sniffles?” Zohn asked, frowning.

“
Not the sniffles, this is
usually fatal,” Kyle said. “Plus, Patra has it.”

Chevalier frowned, “Are you sure?”

Kyle nodded, “So far three of them have come
down with symptoms.”

Chevalier was torn. He wanted to go comfort
Emily, to help her with her beloved horses, but he realized how
badly he’d behaved and wasn’t sure she would take any help from
him. He’d watched her sleep the night before, hiding in the corner
shadows of the small bedroom, and it was obvious from her soft
talking that she thought he no longer loved her.

“
Go and help her, keep us
posted,” Chevalier said, and Kyle disappeared from the
room.

“
Let’s wait until the
horses are well then. We will start the trial as soon as Emily is
ready,” Quinn said, and looked around. “Until then, let’s
adjourn.”

Four hours later, the sound of a helicopter
coming in brought the Elders out of their discussion about
replacing James on the Council. They went out to meet with the
Thukil’s Captain.

“
Thank you for coming,
Darren,” Quinn said.

Darren was in a hurry to get to the stables,
“Have you kept Emily away from them?”

Quinn stopped Darren with a hand on his arm,
“No, why?”

Darren frowned, “If it really is
Encephalomyelitis, then it can be passed on to humans.”

“
What?” Chevalier growled,
and blurred down into the stables. He found Emily leaned over
Patra, who was lying motionless in her stall.

Emily looked up at him with tear filled
eyes, “She’s paralyzed.”

Darren walked around the corner and knelt
down by the painted mare. He quickly looked her over, “What have
you done for them so far?”

“
They’ve had an
antibiotics, acyclovir, vitamins, and ribavirin,” Emily said, and
leaned her head on the mare.

“
That’s all we can do right
now. We just have to watch them, but, Emily,” Darren said, and
touched her hand. “This can pass to you by mosquitoes.”

“
I don’t care,” Emily said,
and rubbed Patra’s nose.

“
Lady Emily?” A member of
the Cavalry walked in with another horse, whose head hung low and
his ears drooped, “This one is listless.”

Darren stood up and took the stallion into
an adjacent stall, “Where are the medications?”

“
They’re out here on the
bale of hay by Chevalier,” Emily said, and stood up slowly. She
walked over to check on Kralen’s pregnant mare, which was also
paralyzed in the stall next to Patra.

“
Darren’s here now. Why
don’t you let him handle it?” Chevalier asked softly.

“
I can’t leave them. If I’m
going to catch it… I’m already infected,” Emily said, and returned
to Patra.

Darren came in with a long tube and needles,
“We need to intubate.”

Emily nodded and took the tubing, quickly
putting an I.V. into the mare as Darren intubated her so her airway
stayed clear.

“
Do we have Dilantin?”
Darren asked.

“
No, there’s Diazepam and a
corticosteroid in the storage room though,” Emily told
him.

Chevalier sat helplessly, and watched as the
two of them worked through the night to make sure all four horses
were medicated and intubated. Only one of the horses stayed on his
feet, but swayed slightly in his stall.

Emily was checking on Patra’s I.V. when
Chevalier handed her a cup of coffee. She glanced at him briefly,
and then took it, sipping it while she adjusted the horses
I.V.’s.

“
Emily?” Darren said from
the pregnant mare’s stall.

Emily looked up at him, exhausted.

“
She’s gone.”

“
No!” Emily yelled, and ran
into the stall. She knelt down beside the mare and ran her hand
along her long body. The Thukil Captain stepped out of the stall
and went to help the stallion, leaving Emily alone to mourn in
peace.

Chevalier watched her in silence. The
anguish on her face was painful for him, and her sobs tore at his
heart. After a few minutes, Emily stood up and pulled herself out
of the stall. She briefly looked at Chevalier, and then turned into
the other stallion’s stall. After adjusting his I.V., she returned
to Patra’s side.

The city’s Cavalry ran errands for Emily and
Darren throughout the day as they feverishly fought to save the
three sick horses. The Elders gathered toward dusk to check on the
progress.

“
She needs to rest,” Quinn
whispered to Chevalier.

Chevalier just nodded and watched her give
one of the sick stallions a shot.

“
Hypocritical, isn’t it?”
Zohn said, and then shut his mouth quickly when both Chevalier and
Quinn glared at him.