Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (44 page)

Silas nodded and followed Mark back to the
castle. The castle was called off of lockdown and Mark went to
Kyle’s office to call.

“
Chevalier here,” his voice
sounded over the speakerphone.

“
There’s been a factionless
attack on the island,” Mark said.

“
What!?” Chevalier
growled.

“
It’s ok. Emily evened up
the numbers, and the guards took out the rest of them,” Mark said.
“We have a few of their leaders in the prison for you.”

“
How many did she take
out?”

“
Looks like around 400,”
Mark told him.

“
Wait… she left some?”
Chevalier sounded confused.

“
We were surprised too. She
left over 1,100 of them, and said it would do the guards some good
to kill,” Mark said, amused.

“
That’s… interesting… how
is she?”

“
She’s asleep,” Mark said.
“She complained of a headache, that’s all.”

“
I’ll be there in three
hours.”

“
Yes, Sir,” Mark said, and
turned off the speakerphone.

Silas met Mark in the foyer, and they went
into the conference room to wait for Chevalier.

“
I want a report on the
attack,” Chevalier said as he sat down with Mark and Silas. Kyle
came in a few minutes later and joined them.

“
Factionless heku decided
to take over Island Coven for themselves, 1,558 of them. They knew
our numbers here, and thought they had the advantage,” Mark said.
“We were at a standoff when Emily arrived and provoked the leader a
bit before turning 400 of them to ash.”

Mark glanced at Silas and then back to the
Elder, “She told the leader that she was leaving enough of them for
the guards to kill.”

Silas chuckled, “She said she thought it
would be good for the guards to kill something.”

Kyle grinned, “It only took her 13 years to
figure that out?”

“
Keep going,” Chevalier
growled. He wasn’t finding this at all amusing.

“
The fight was pretty
short, only about twenty minutes. There are seven factionless left
down in the prison. We were able to keep their leaders alive,
except for the head heku, and Emily turned him to ash when he
started getting crude,” Mark said. “The guards disposed of the
bodies in a large fire.”

“
How are the guards
behaving?” Chevalier asked.

“
The first three days was…
interesting,” Silas said, stifling a grin.

“
Interesting?” Kyle
asked.

Mark nodded, “Emily was still mad at the
Elder, and took it out on his guards.”

Chevalier grinned slightly, “Better them
than… never mind…”

“
They were starting to act
up,” Mark said. “One specifically, but she let him burn for a bit
and he shaped right up. She had them doing 8 count bodybuilders for
almost an hour straight.”

Chevalier frowned, “Why? That won’t make
them tired.”

“
She knew that,” Mark said.
“She wanted to get lunch, and I think that was her way of keeping
them occupied.”

“
I take it when she got
back is when she offered to let them feed?”

“
She did what?” Kyle
growled.

Mark nodded, “Yes, and I was livid, but you
know? Once she ashed the two that took her up on her challenge,
they were terrified of her.”

“
Severely terrified of her.
They haven’t even breathed out of line in the five days since
then,” Silas told them.

Kyle sighed, “You know what? I don’t really
want to know.”

“
Any other problems?”
Chevalier asked, irritated.

“
Had the V.E.S. show up…
and Exavior,” Silas said.

“
Why was Exavior
here?”

“
He came to do a welfare
check on Em. He said the Valle heard the V.E.S. were out looking
for Madison and Cody, and he came to check on her,” Silas said. “So
she told him to leave and told the pier guards to kill him if he
stepped foot on the pier.”

“
Of course she did,”
Chevalier said, and grinned slightly.

“
She also said he knew that
you and she were fighting,” Silas said.

“
How the hell is he finding
all this stuff out? It’s been three years that he’s known
everything she says,” Kyle asked, frustrated.

“
We searched her room for
bugs, and didn’t find anything,” Mark told them.

“
Very well. I want to go
talk to the guards. Call them to the south lawn,” Chevalier said,
standing up. “I’ll be there after I check on Emily.

***

Emily rolled over and pulled the covers up
higher on her shoulders. She caught the scent of steak and opened
her eyes. Sitting up, she saw the steaming plate of steak, baked
potato, and corn on the table. She looked around the empty room and
crawled out of bed, frowning when she realized she was still in her
Thukil uniform. As she sat down at the table, she remembered the
attack.

She ate quickly and then got out of the
dirty uniform and slipped on clean jeans and t-shirt. She was just
pulling on her cowboy boots when she heard a knock on the door.

“
Come in,” she called out,
and tied her hair up.

“
How are you feeling?” Dr.
Cook asked, walking into the room.

“
Fine,” Emily said, and
walked past him into the hallway. She passed Silas silently and
heard him follow her down the stairs. Her stallion was waiting for
her outside the front door, and she jumped into the saddle and
started toward the lines of guards on the south lawn.

“
Welcome back,” Kyle said,
smiling.

“
Did you have to bring the
doctor?” Emily growled.

Kyle chuckled and turned back to the guards.
Chevalier was lecturing them on what he expected in his absence in
the future. He was also explaining how he was going to be putting
in a wrought iron gate across the entrance through the cement wall.
It could be closed by the pier guards, and they were now to patrol
in two’s along the outside of the cement wall instead of
singly.

“
Silas?” Emily
asked.

Silas turned to her.

“
Is it against any policy
to torture and interrogate a member of an opposing faction’s
Council?”

Silas grinned, “Depends.”

“
Good enough, come with
me,” she said, and rode off.

“
Do we want to know?” Kyle
asked him.

“
I don’t even want to
know,” Silas said, and blurred after her.

Emily slipped off of her horse and put her
arms around Silas’ neck. She whispered as softly as she could into
his ear and slipped some handcuffs into his pocket, “Time to act…
be mean.”

Silas nodded and then followed her into the
palace.

“
I need to talk to you in
private,” Emily said, and glanced nervously around the
room.

“
What’s up?” Silas
asked.

“
Not here,” Emily
whispered, and pointed up to the bedroom. She ran up the stairs,
and Silas followed her, a little nervous about what she was
doing.

Emily went into her room and shut the door,
then turned to Silas, “Remember when I told you that if I ever left
Chevalier, that I would tell you first?”

Silas frowned, “Yes, I do… is it time?”

Emily nodded, “Yes, and I don’t really know
where to go. The Encala once offered me my own coven, so I’m
thinking about taking them up on their offer.”

“
I’m not sure I’m all that
happy about you going to the Encala,” Silas said, starting to sound
angry.

“
I think I’d be a good
Coven Leader. I just hope their offer still stands. I can’t stand
to be around Chevalier one second longer.”

“
I can’t allow you to go
live with the Encala. You belong to the Equites,” Silas said,
taking a step towards her.

Emily frowned, “I don’t belong to
anyone.”

“
Yes you do. You just don’t
accept the fact that we own you, like cattle,” Silas told her, and
grinned evilly.

Emily glared at him, “Excuse me?”

“
You’re our property. We
allow you to run free because there are… you know… fringe benefits
in it for the Elder, but in all honesty, I’m ok to lock you
up.”

“
You can’t lock me up. I’d
ash all of you before I’d let you do that.”

“
You can’t though, Kyle
already told you… we found out how to make ourselves immune to your
little trick,” Silas said, and pulled the handcuffs out of his
pocket.

Emily backed away from him and grabbed her
cell phone, but Silas took it away from her.

“
Give me that,” she
demanded.

“
No, I’m not going to let
you call the Encala or your little boyfriend over in Valle to come
and save you,” Silas said. “I’m tired of your whiney assed
attitude, and obnoxious disobedience. It’ll do you some good to sit
in prison and rot while the other prisoners savor you and hiss for
your blood.”

Emily screamed and fought against Silas when
he restrained her and managed to get the handcuffs on her.

“
There’s no use fighting.
You’re just a weak… insignificant… little mortal. Once you pop out
more babies, then we might as well just get rid of you anyway,”
Silas said.

Emily cringed, “You can’t get away with
this! Chevalier will let me out.”

“
No he won’t. He’s had it
with you, too. All you do is fight… and bitch… and moan,” Silas
said, forcing her out the door.

Emily fought against him and he had a hard
time holding onto her. She bruised so easily it was hard to hold
tightly without leaving marks. The guards in the castle watched
nervously as a member of the Council City Cavalry roughly pulled
the Elder’s mortal wife into the prison.

“
Let her go!” David yelled
angrily.

“
I told you this would
happen,” Sam said as they passed his cell.

Emily got a good kick off and displaced
Silas’ kneecap. He managed to hold on, and one of the guards opened
a cell in an empty row and Silas pushed Emily inside.

“
You can’t keep me in
here,” Emily screamed.

“
Watch me,” Silas said as
his knee healed.

Emily sat down on the bed, glaring at
him.

“
Don’t let her out,” Silas
told the guards, and headed up out of the prison. He ordered the
entire castle to stay quiet about her being in prison, and then
headed out to the south lawn.

“
What was that all about?”
Kyle asked.

Silas glanced around the area and then
whispered, “Emily, put her in a cell.”

“
Why?” Kyle asked,
confused.

“
She was threatening to go
to live with the Encala, and I couldn’t let that happen. She
belongs to the Equites.”

Kyle nodded as he realized what Emily meant
when she asked if they could interrogate a member of an opposing
faction’s Council, “Good, it’s about time she’s put away for a
while.”

Chevalier released the guards after a few
hours and turned to Silas, “Where’s Em?”

Silas grinned slightly, “I put her in
prison.”

“
What? Why?”

“
She threatened to go live
with the Encala. I’m tired of her being a pain in the ass, so I put
her in lockup,” Silas said.

Kyle nodded, “She is property of the Equites
and needs to learn that.”

“
Obedience, that’s what she
needs to learn,” Mark said. He’d also heard Emily’s comment about
interrogating council members.

“
Have you all lost your
minds?” Chevalier growled.

“
She acted like someone
from one of the other factions would come and get her,” Silas said,
watching Chevalier closely. “She’s wrong though, they know she
belongs to us.”

Chevalier nodded, partially understanding,
“Just keep her in there until she learns submission.”

“
I think I’ll run down and
make fun of her,” Kyle said, heading into the castle.

“
Me too.” Mark grinned, and
followed him inside.

Chevalier stood toe-to-toe with Silas while
he explained what was going on. As soon as he was done, Silas and
Chevalier blurred down into the prison with Mark and Kyle.

“
It’s about time they put
you where you belong,” Kyle said, looking in at Emily.

Emily glared at him, “I’ll get out, just
wait.”

“
Emily, I love you!” David
yelled, his voice filling the prison.

Emily rolled her eyes and sat down on the
hard bed, still in handcuffs.

“
She’s too weak to get out
of here,” Mark told the guards, and then turned to Emily. “Back up
to the bars and I’ll take the cuffs off you.”

Emily did as she was told, and rubbed her
wrists after he broke the handcuffs off of her. Chevalier handed a
blanket through the bars, “Can’t have you freezing to death in
here.”

Emily wrapped it around her.

“
I would take care of you!
I love you,” David yelled.

Kyle backed away from Emily’s cell and
disappeared deeper into the prison. There was a sound of a cell
door opening and then the screams began.

“
If you agree to stay loyal
to the Equites, and stop acting like a spoiled brat, we may let you
out in a week or so,” Mark told her.