Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (69 page)

“
And third… she gets stress
relief by shooting heku,” Mark added, laughing.

The Cavalry member chuckled and slipped off
his seat belt. Polin came and sat beside Emily while the rest got
ready.

“
Just hang onto my back,
ok?” Polin told her.

“
Sure, no problem,” Emily
said, and felt her stomach drop. The thought of jumping out of a
helicopter before it landed made her start to feel sick.

“
Go!” Mark yelled. Emily
looked out the window as the Council City Cavalry jumped from the
helicopter to the waiting army almost 20 feet below. She saw the
immediate fight begin and tried to see if she could catch who was
winning. The green capes of the Cavalry seemed gravely outnumbered
by the number of heku on the ground.

“
Let’s go,” Polin said when
the rest landed. Emily froze and looked at him with wide eyes. He
grinned and pulled her onto his back and then jumped before she had
time to scream. He landed softly on the grass below, and she
immediately let go and turned to the fight.

“
What the hell is this?”
Emily screamed, and as the heku turned toward her, they stopped
fighting and backed off from the Cavalry. The Cavalry immediately
fell back to stand behind her.

“
You brought the
Winchester?” General Bowman growled, stepping forward.

“
Yes they did, you have a
problem with that?” Emily asked. She tried to keep her voice tough
when her insides were twisted and nervous.

“
Just odd they’d bring a
little girl to do a man’s job,” Bowman said, grinning.

“
No, what’s odd is that
these fine heku would follow a dick brain like you,” Emily said,
crossing her arms.

Bowman’s eyes narrowed, “So that’s how the
Council’s going to fix this? Turn us all to ash.”

“
Nope,” Emily said, and
then pointed at him. “Just you.”

Mark glanced around. The entire clearing had
grown perfectly silent as Emily took charge. They watched her,
unsure if the rumors about her abilities were true.

“
The Council asked for
peaceful negotiations, and because you’re an idiot, I have to come
here and clean up the mess… Are we going to do it nicely or are you
going to make me mad?” Emily asked.

General Bowman chuckled, “I know what the
rumors are, Sweet Tits, but I think it’s a load of bullshit to
scare the covens into compliance.”

Emily grinned, “You don’t think I can turn
you to ash?”

“
No, I don’t,” Bowman said,
and took a step towards her. “Our Council is so weak that I can see
through their ruse… course, now that you’re here, I see why the
Elder keeps you around.”

“
Mark?” Emily asked, still
watching Bowman.

“
Yes,
Commander?”

“
Can I ash… just him?”
Emily asked.

“
Yes you can,” Mark said,
grinning.

“
Bring it on, Sweetheart,”
Bowman said. The Michaels Coven army stepped back and gasped as
their General fell to his knees, screaming in pain. Even outside,
the smell of burning flesh filled the area as he writhed on the
ground in agony.

“
Anyone else want to call
me names?” Emily asked, holding the General in pain. When no one
answered, she turned the General to ash before their eyes, and then
put her hands on her hips, “This is what I want… and I want it
right now… line up in perfect rows of 20… now!”

The army scrambled to comply, all avoiding
the small pile of ash on the ground in front of Emily. When they
were all in neat rows before her, she reached down and grabbed a
handful of the General’s ashes. She turned around and tossed them
high in the air and let the wind scatter them.

Mark cringed as the horrified army looked at
Emily. He put his hand out when some of the Cavalry went to tell
her that wasn’t proper behavior.

“
That’s how I handle
disobedience…” Emily said, glaring at them and brushing the ashes
from her hand. “Kralen?”

“
Yes, Commander?” he said,
moving up to her side.

Emily pointed at one of the Michaels
Captains, “Take him and bring me Lord Taylor.”

“
Right way,” Kralen said,
and he blurred away with the Captain.

Emily watched the motionless troops while
she waited for Lord Taylor to arrive. She kept an eye out for any
talking or any movement at all, and they seemed to know it.

“
Back row, third from the
left,” Silas said, and grinned when the heku looked at
him.

Emily turned him immediately to ash and the
Michaels heku stiffened more and their eyes grew.

“
Silas?” Emily
asked.

“
Yes, Commander,” he
answered, still laughing from how fast she’d turned the one heku to
ash.

“
Explain to me… if I ash
all of these guys at once… you need… what? Thirteen heku to start
cranking out a new coven?” Emily asked, proud of the way the
Michaels army shifted nervously.

“
Yes, Elder approval and 13
would do it,” Silas explained, amused.

“
How fast?” Emily asked,
and turned to him, actually curious this time.

“
To replace all 300 of
them? I’d say… 5 months, give or take.”

“
Hmm, ok,” Emily said, and
turned back to the army.

Everyone turned when Kralen came back
supporting Lord Taylor, who was weak and limping beside him. The
heku from Michaels blurred back into his spot in the front row
before Emily.

Emily frowned and went over to Lord Taylor,
“Are you ok?”

Lord Taylor nodded, still unable to even
stand by himself.

“
What did they do to you?”
Emily whispered and touched his face softly.

Lord Taylor opened his mouth to talk, but
nothing came out. Kralen was now fully supporting him as his legs
had given out. Emily reached out to the rags he wore and pulled
them up on his side slightly, revealing numerous bite marks that
were festered and swollen. She pulled the long sleeves up on his
arms and saw the same bite marks there.

“
Take him back to the house
to rest,” Emily said softly.

“
Yes, Ma’am,” Kralen said,
and lifted Lord Taylor before blurring away.

Emily was now furious. She turned toward the
army, “Who did that?”

When no one answered, the entire army began
to scream and clutch at their chests for almost a minute before
Emily released them and they slowly returned to their perfectly
straight rows.

“
Who bit Lord Taylor?”
Emily asked again, her voice now angry.

Emily watched at the nervous way they
shifted and how their eyes darted uneasily to the heku in front of
them.

“
Tell me!” Emily
yelled.

After a few seconds, the entire army again
fell, writhing in pain as the burning intensified in their chests.
Emily felt a strong hand against her back as she swayed slightly,
but held them in the grips of agony while she thought of how to
handle the situation. Just as her headache started, she released
them and waited while they got to their feet. Mark’s supporting
hand stayed on her back.

“
Last chance… tell me…”
Emily whispered, knowing that they could all still hear
her.

“
It was the ranking
officers,” a timid voice said from toward the back.

“
Get him,” Emily said, and
two members of the Cavalry ran to him and brought him forward,
forcing him to kneel before her. “Who was it?”

“
The ranking officers,
Ma’am,” he said, and looked down at the ground.

Emily looked up, “Which ones are ranking
officers?”

“
The first row,” Silas
explained. “Normal formation puts them up front.”

“
All 20 of you?” she asked,
and one heku on the end shook his head vehemently. Emily rolled her
eyes, “If you’re not a ranking officer… go start a new row in
back.”

Nine of the heku quickly scrambled to the
back of the rows and formed a new one, leaving eleven angry looking
heku at the front of the ranks.

Emily walked up to the heku with the most
stripes on his collar and stopped in front of him, “How high up are
you?”

“
General,” he said,
snarling.

“
You think the current
Council is weak?” she asked him.

“
Yes”

“
Because they keep me
around?”

“
Partially”

“
Then why else?”

“
They have formed an
alliance of sorts with the enemy,” he said snarling.

“
I see… yet you allowed
yourself to be beat up by a girl, interesting,” Emily said, and
walked back to the Cavalry.

“
How many prison cells are
there?” Emily asked.

“
Fifteen,” the heku on his
knees told her.

“
Put them in prison. I want
to get these guys here under control first,” Emily said, and stood
her ground while the Cavalry escorted the ranking officers into the
prison.

“
They are all in prison,
Commander,” Kralen reported, and returned back to the
Cavalry.

Emily turned to Mark, “Are there any records
on these guys?”

“
What were you looking
for?”

“
Years of service,
problems, medals, that type of thing.”

“
I’m sure there are in the
main house.”

Emily turned back to the guards, “Ok… hand
over all medals, rank insignia, everything except your panties,
shoes, and socks.”

Mark chuckled, “What’re you doing?”

Emily shrugged, “No idea.”

They watched as everyone pulled the guard
insignias off of their collars along with anything they had other
than the things she’d mentioned, though most left on their green
capes.

“
Capes too, come on…” Emily
told them. More grumbles came through the heku as they removed
their capes. One thing she knew would set them apart from non-guard
heku.

“
Get them,” Emily said, and
Silas moved forward and began to collect the items. When he
returned, she faced the guards, “From now on… you’re no longer
guards, you’re just plain ol’Michaels Coven members.”

“
Can she do that?” Silas
whispered to Mark.

Mark chuckled, “Nope.”

Emily crossed her arms, “If you want back as
a guard, you’re going to have to earn it by proving to me you
deserve it. If you don’t, then you can stay a plain old coven
member and leave the guarding up to the real heku.”

Emily waited until the commotion died down,
“I’m friends with Encala Elder William and Valle Elder Sotomar… if
you want to join the Encala move to the left… if you want to join
the Valle, move to the right.”

“
Em…” Mark whispered, and
then stepped back when she didn’t respond. His orders were to let
her do whatever she wanted, even if he felt she was
overstepping.

When no one moved, Emily smiled, “Good, then
Equites it is. By staying Equites, you agree to obey anything you
are told by any of us from Council City. Is that understood?”

“
Yes, Ma’am,” the heku said
in unison.

“
You,” Emily said to the
heku that was still on his knees up front. “Report for house
servant duty. I don’t want snitches in this army.”

The heku stood up, frowning, and silently
walked off.

“
Return to the barracks and
wait for further orders. You will not speak to one another. If I
hear of it, then I’ll ash you. You’ve put me in a bad mood,” Emily
said, and turned to Mark. “Post six members of the Cavalry in the
barracks to keep the peace. The rest can go hang out in the main
house.”

Mark nodded, and six members of his Cavalry
ran off to join the heku in the barracks. Emily followed the rest
into the main house, and sat down on a soft couch in the
library.

“
Now what?” Mark
asked.

“
I have no idea. I told
them I shouldn’t be doing this,” Emily said, and rubbed her
temples.

“
Silas?” Mark
called.

“
Yes, Sir,” Silas asked,
coming into the room.

“
Find a car. Go get some
ibuprofen and some food,” Mark said, and sat down by Emily as Silas
blurred away.

“
I don’t want to be here,”
Emily said softly.

“
I know, but you’re doing
great,” Mark said, and put a hand on her shoulder.

Emily looked up at him, “If this works,
he’ll keep sending me on these bloody missions.”

“
Probably,” Mark said. “It
beats Kyle wiping them out.”

“
I’ll just have to put my
foot down, refuse to do any more. I hate it.”

“
Let’s just see what we can
find in the records, and after Silas gets back, you can turn in for
the night.”

Emily nodded, “That sounds like a plan.”

For the next few hours, Mark and Emily
poured through files on the guards, tossing ones with nothing in
them into a pile, while discipline problems went into another, and
medaled heku went into another.

“
Sorry it took so long,”
Silas said, coming in with a pizza. “There’s no kitchen in this
place, so I bought a little fridge and sandwich stuff.”

Emily took a slice of pizza, “Thanks, sounds
perfect.”

“
What have we
found?”