Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (51 page)

Emily walked up without saying a word and
sat in the chair beside Chevalier.

“The Encala and Valle
Elders saw Emily riding and decided to pay her a visit,” Silas
explained. “The Cavalry was summoned by the guard with her, and
there was a bit of a standoff… they are now coming in here
though.”

Derrick came into the trial area, “They are
here.”

Quinn looked over at Emily, “This could get
heated.”

She nodded and turned to the door.

The three Encala Elders
came in first, followed by the three Valle Elders. Emily turned
around and took a glass of orange juice from a servant when he
called for her, and then faced the enemy Elders again.

“Let’s begin then…” Zohn
started, but Exavior held a hand up.

“First… the six of us are
not happy with how Emily looks, and we demand an
explanation.”

“Kiss my what?” Emily yelled.

“He’s not meaning to be
rude,” Sotomar told her. “You are thin and pale with dark circles
under your eyes, it’s disconcerting.”

“She has been ill,” Zohn told them.

“Are you better?” Exavior asked her.

“Like you care… get on
with this. I don’t want to sit here all day and babysit,” she said,
and sat back with her orange juice, propping her feet up on the
desk.

Zohn stood up, “Agreed, let’s get this over
with.”

“First, we agreed Elders
only, with the exception of Emily,” Encala Elder Reese reminded
them.

“Very well, we’ll move to
the conference room,” Chevalier said, and stood up. He put out a
hand to help Emily up, and she headed into the conference room with
him.

“Why are you limping?” Valle Elder Ryan
asked her.

“Because I’m accident
prone,” she told him, and sat down at the head of the long table.
The Elders came in and sat also.

“A limp and an illness…” Exavior said,
irritated. “Can the Equites not properly care for you?”

Emily glared at him, “Watch it.”

“Let’s start with information… how many
Valle covens have been attacked?” Quinn asked, quickly changing the
subject.

“Over the last 3 weeks,
seven of the smaller covens,” Exavior told them. “Four of those
were completely wiped out, 17 heku killed.”

“And the Encala?”

“Again, over the last 3
weeks when this all started, nine of our covens have been attacked.
We’ve lost 23 heku,” William said.

Quinn checked a paper in front of him,
“We’ve had 8 attacks and 19 dead.”

“Who?” Emily asked, surprised she hadn’t
heard any of this.

“The Ferus,” Exavior told her.

“Still liking the idea of
your own faction, Moron?”

Exavior stood up, and the
Equites and Encala Elders did the same.

“Sit down,” Sotomar growled at him as
Exavior glared at Emily. He finally sat back down, followed by the
others.

“Em… let us do this,
please,” Chevalier whispered, and she nodded.

“We know they are
launching attacks out of Texas, but as of yet we haven’t been able
to get an exact location,” Zohn explained.

“From what we can tell,”
William added. “They don’t have many scattered covens like we do.
They have two or three very large ones, each one well over 2,000
heku, but we foresee that changing to fit the norm.”

“Who is leading them?” Sotomar asked.

“We don’t really know, though Vaughn is
still considered a leader,” Quinn told them.

“Is he still imprisoned?”

“Yes”

“And Emily?”

“They want her banished as
a former Elder,” Zohn explained.

Emily frowned but stayed silent.

“They’ve petitioned the Encala four times to
be elected as a fourth faction,” William said.

“Us also,” Sotomar said,
and nodded.

Chevalier sighed, “When will they get it
that we aren’t going to approve a fourth?”

“When you find them, just let me go in and
take them out,” Emily suggested.

“No!” all nine Elders said in unison. She
raised her eyebrows and sat back.

“Yes,” Chevalier said out
of the blue. A servant came in and handed Dain over to Emily,
bowed, and then left quickly.

Dain immediately leaned
his head against her shoulder with his nose resting against her
neck while she cuddled him.

“That child is full heku!”
Aaron gasped.

Emily’s arms tightened around him.

“We’re not here to talk
about my son…” Chevalier hissed. “Now get on with the Ferus. We
can’t have them around any longer… even if it means collaborating
on a mass extermination.”

“We as Encala feel that the Valle should
handle it, it’s their mess,” Encala Elder Aaron said.

“It isn’t just our mess,”
Sotomar growled.

“It is so. Exavior started
it, and we don’t feel like we should have to clean it
up.”

“There are as many Encala in that faction as
there are Valle!”

Aaron stood up, “I doubt
that… Exavior had more Valle supporters, and we didn’t have a lot
of banished revived either.”

“Sit down!” Emily hissed,
and Aaron glanced at her before returning to his chair.

“As long as they attack
all three factions, then it’s the responsibility of all three
factions to help,” Quinn told them calmly.

As the arguments drew on,
Emily felt her eyes getting heavier. Dain was comfortably resting
against her chest and she soon drifted off. The heku lowered their
voices when they noticed she’d fallen asleep. It was two hours
before they came to their first agreement.

“900 are not enough,”
Exavior snapped at William. “If each compound holds 2,000 or more
heku, then we’ll need twice that to ensure our safety.”

William grinned, “I’m
sorry if each Valle warrior can only kill half of an enemy, but the
Encala could wipe out the 2,000 with only 800.”

Exavior hissed.

“No biting,” Dain said,
and pointed at Exavior.

Exavior frowned slightly and then turned
back to William, “I’m not saying it takes 2 Valle to kill a single
Ferus…”

“That’s what you said.”

“Stop it,” Chevalier growled. “Bickering is
getting us nowhere.”

“You have the largest
coven in Texas. Send them out to find one of the strongholds,”
Sotomar suggested.

“They are already out
looking… Do you know how big Texas is?”

“Well tell them to look
harder… Send out the wolves if you have to.”

“What exactly are you doing to find them?”
Quinn asked.

“We’re doing plenty,” Sotomar said,
irritated.

“Still your fault. I hate
having to waste Encala time to clear up the Valle’s mistakes,”
Aaron growled.

“Vaughn is still in the middle of this…and
he is yours,” Exavior told them.

“He’s imprisoned here and no longer
involved.”

“So you say… I was able to get orders out of
this prison easily enough.”

Zohn hissed softly.

Reese gasped and looked at Emily with wide
eyes. Chevalier looked over at her and saw Dain readied to sink his
tiny teeth into her neck. He quickly took the toddler from her and
sat him on his lap.

“Does the child feed from her?” Reese asked,
shocked.

“No… he does not,”
Chevalier said glaringly, and ordered something for Dain to drink.
After the servant left, Chevalier handed the toddler a sippy cup
and he settled down in his Dad’s arms.

“To have a heku child…” Sotomar said,
watching Dain with amazement.

William growled, “Have you interrogated
Vaughn to find a location?”

“Yes, and he doesn’t know
anymore. His information is greatly out of date,” Quinn
explained.

“This meeting is getting
us nowhere,” Reese sighed. “Until we have a location of one of the
Ferus strongholds, we can’t do much else. Let’s make arrangements
for when we do find them, and disperse.”

“Agreed,” Exavior said, watching Emily
sleep.

“Equal numbers… no prisoners… we kill them
all,” William suggested.

“If we keep high-ranking
Ferus, they can tell us more information,” Sotomar said, and hit
Exavior’s leg under the table to get his attention away from
Emily.

“We need at least 2
high-ranking officials, or we’ll be on the hunt all over again,”
Quinn said. “We suggest we match their numbers, 2,000, in case our
sources are wrong. That would be roughly 700 heku from each
faction.”

“Fine, we agree,” William said after the
Encala discussed it.

“So our staging point will be your Thukil?”
Exavior asked.

“No, we won’t use a coven
as a staging location. It’s too dangerous,” Chevalier
said.

Sotomar grinned, “You don’t trust us near
your coven?”

“No, actually, I don’t.”

“Interesting”

“No!” Emily yelled, and
sat up suddenly. She blushed and sat back in her chair when the
heku all looked to her.

Chevalier chuckled and
turned back to the others, “Staging will be a neutral location. We
each will send 700... As soon as we find them, that is.”

Emily reached over and took Dain from his
Dad when he reached out for her. He sat in her lap and took another
sippy cup.

“Agreed,” William said after a long
pause.

Exavior nodded, “We agree also.”

“He is 2, correct?” Valle Elder Ryan
asked.

Emily nodded, “Yes, he
will be three next month.”

“Two,” Dain said, and held
up his two fingers.

“Have the Ferus attempted to take Emily
recently?” Sotomar asked.

“Not recently, no,” Chevalier told him.

“They’d be pretty hard pressed to get me
without my entourage,” Emily said, somewhat irritated.

“We didn’t have a problem finding you with
only one guard,” Exavior reminded her.

“The guards are to appease
the Council. I can take care of myself.”

“Against the V.E.S. too?”

“Shut up, Exavior,” she growled.

“Was just making a point that guards are
necessary.”

“Save your breath. We’ve
tried that,” Zohn said.

“The plan is laid then.
We’ll be in touch,” Quinn said, and was the first to stand up. The
others stood up, followed by Emily.

“I can help you with your injured leg,”
Sotomar told her.

“I’m fine.”

“If you change your mind, you know where to
find me.”

“Yes, I do.”

The enemy Elders left the
conference room and Emily turned to the Equites Elders, “I want a
meeting of my own.”

Zohn glanced at Chevalier and they all sat
down.

“I want Allen back in the palace,” she told
them.

“He cannot return. His
offense was too great,” Quinn reminded her.

“I don’t care what he did.
He needs to be with his family.”

“Last I heard, he’s
enjoying his time on the island,” Chevalier told her.

“I miss him,” she whispered and looked at
Chevalier.

“He cannot come back.”

“He’s your son too. Don’t
you want him back?”

“Not if he’s a risk to you.”

“Why aren’t your kids as important as I am?”
Emily asked, frustrated.

“They are, but he’s not a
child. He’s a fully grown heku.”

“Next month is Dain’s 3rd
birthday… Allen should be here.”

Chevalier sighed, “Emily… no.”

“What do I have to do to get him back
then?”

“Nothing, it was settled
by the Council,” Zohn told her.

“Go to the island. You can
visit him,” Chevalier suggested.

“I don’t want to visit my
son. I want to live with him. He’s only 15…”

“He’s an adult, and made a
decision that he now has to pay for,” Quinn said.

“Go to the island… that’s
your only solution?” she asked, irritated.

“Yes, that is, you may visit him whenever
you wish.”

“So nice to have visiting rights to my
son.”

“He assaulted you, Em,” Chevalier reminded
her. “He could kill you and you know it.”

“You’ve assaulted me too,
but I don’t see you staying away.”

Chevalier sighed, “That was a long time
ago.”

“You’re all in agreement over this?”

Zohn nodded, “Yes, we are.”

“Fine… then I’m going to
the island,” she said, and stormed out, still carrying
Dain.

“Wow, I didn’t think she’d
go back to the island this soon,” Zohn said.

Chevalier frowned slightly, “I didn’t
either, which makes me nervous.”

The Elders were just
joining the Council in the council chambers when they heard
Winchester 1 take off for the island.

“Who is with her?” Zohn called out.

Silas’ voice ran through
the palace, “Alex and Dain. She left without guards.”

He sighed, “Of course she did.”

“Mom, I’m missing class,”
Alexis grumbled, and crossed her arms.

“I don’t really care.
We’re going on vacation,” Emily told her, and put Dain on the floor
to play. She reached into the cooler and got a cold orange juice
and then offered one to Alexis, who just rolled her eyes and
declined.

“What fun is the island? It’s boring,” she
complained.

“We’re not staying on the
island, and watch the attitude.”

“Where are we going?”

“My house. A heku-less
place where we can celebrate Dain’s birthday.”