Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (69 page)

“They aren’t hurting anyone sleeping in the
infirmary.”

“They wouldn’t want to stay in there.”

“No,” she said sternly,
and frowned.

Chevalier sighed, “The
Council is talking about it.”

Emily slowly stood up and headed for the
door.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to the
Council.”

“Em…” Chevalier said, and
followed her as she slowly made her way down to the
fourth-floor.

“I need to see the
Council,” Emily told Derrick. He glanced at Chevalier and then
opened the door.

“Go on in.”

Emily walked into the
trial area and stood before the Council while Chevalier took his
seat.

“Good to see you,” Quinn
said, and smiled.

“I just have a message for
the Council.”

“Go ahead,” Zohn told her.

“If Silas and Kralen are
put into retirement, I’ll ash the entire Council.”

Dustin gasped, “What!?”

“Emily!” Chevalier growled.

“That’s a promise,” she
told them, and turned to leave.

“Wait… you can’t just
threaten the Council and leave,” Zohn told her, still shocked at
what she said to them.

Emily sighed and then turned to face them,
“What else is there to say?”

“Retirement is our way of
protecting them.”

“Retirement is your way of sweeping them
under the rug.”

“That’s not true,” Quinn said.

“I’m not going to let you bury them.”

Mark came into the trial area after being
called by the Dustin.

Emily glanced at him, “He’s not going to
change my mind.”

Dustin stood up, “He’s not
here to change your mind. He’s here to protect the
Council.”

Emily smiled, “Mark is going to keep me from
turning you all to ash?”

“What?” Mark growled, and
turned to Emily. “Why would you do that?”

“Simple… if they bury
Silas and Kralen, I will ash the Council.”

“So now you can consider yourself in
custody,” Dustin growled.

“No… she’s not,” Chevalier
and Quinn both said.

“She threatened the
Council, that’s grounds for death,” the Chief of Staff reminded
them.

Emily crossed her arms and looked at him,
“You going to kill me?”

“No, I was merely saying that being in
custody is calm compared to what normally happens.”

“I suggest she return to
the island and be kept there under house arrest,” Dustin said, and
sat back down.

“Try it, Toto,” Emily
yelled.

“Stop it!” Quinn growled,
and then his face calmed and he faced Emily. “Before you decide to
do away with the Equites Council, why don’t you just let us explain
why this is best for them?”

“No, burying someone alive
is never the best… if it were up to me, we’d go dig all of the
retirees up immediately.”

Quinn smiled, “That would
make a lot of heku very mad.”

“Custody or not… do it and
burn,” Emily said angrily, and then walked out, followed by Mark.
Three other guards fell in behind her, no longer guarding her, but
set to protect the Council.

***

Emily rode through the
dark trees, heading toward the Durango. It was harder at night. She
hoped if she got lost, that the Encala would find her. It wasn’t
hard to slip out of the palace. They thought they were keeping a
closer eye on her since she threatened the Council, but putting
city guards on her was a big mistake.

After a few minutes of wandering in what she
thought might be the wrong direction, she finally gave up and
called out, “William, I’m lost.”

“Starting to wonder,”
Frederick said from just behind her.

“Sorry, I’ve never done
this in the dark,” she explained, and pulled her horse around to
follow him. She was further from the Durango than she thought. When
Frederick joined William and Aaron by the Durango, Emily slid off
her horse and tied it to the fender.

“We appreciate you coming,” William said,
motioning for her to sit in the Durango. When she sat down, Aaron
handed her a warm blanket.

“No problem, your offer is intriguing.”

“I’ll tell you what we
propose, and you can add what you’d like. First off, we want to hit
covens away from Council City at first. We don’t mind the factions
knowing the Encala are going on a killing spree, but we’d rather
not let anyone know that you’re involved.”

Emily nodded, “That would
be my preference also.”

“Because the Ferus covens
are so large, and we’ll be limited by transportation… we’ll need
the numbers evened up a bit before we can go in without risking any
Encala lives.”

“So I ash a few and then you all take
over?”

“Yes, we know that you’re limit is about 400
before you require more than a full night to recover.”

Emily grinned slightly,
“Nothing’s secret, eh?”

“No, not really,” William
chuckled. “So after we wipe out a Ferus coven, we’ll return you to
a home… we’ll purchase one if we need to. We don’t want to overdo
it and risk hurting you, so we’ll space things out, making sure
you’re completely recovered before going after another. In this
manner, we hope to be done in just over a year.”

“When do we start?” Emily asked.

“Do you have anything to add?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“What is done to aid in your recovery after
a mass slaying?”

“Sleep, they just let me sleep.”

Aaron nodded, “We’ll contact you with a
location where we can start.”

“Any Ferus factions by Savannah, Georgia?”
Emily asked.

“Yes, there are three,”
William told her. “Why?”

“I have a home there, a
plantation. No one would think twice if I was to go visit for a few
weeks, and Chev has promised me no Equites guards when I’m
there.”

“That’s perfect. We can do
a trial run and make sure you recover easily.”

“I’m on house arrest right
now,” Emily said. “So I’ll be ready to leave in the
morning.”

“Why are you on house arrest?”

“I threatened to turn the
entire Council to ash if they put two of my friends into forced
retirement.”

“The two sleeping guards?” Frederick
asked.

“Yes”

William grinned, “Did you really threaten
them?”

“Yes, I did. So I’m not
allowed to leave… no better time to head to Georgia.”

“We’ll be ready… when you
get to Savannah, let us know, and we’ll arrange the troops. We have
two large covens near there we can elicit for help,” William told
her.

“You better get inside before you catch
pneumonia,” Aaron told her.

Emily handed the blanket back and smiled,
“Thanks… this’ll be fun… maybe we’ll do the Valle next.”

William chuckled as she
got onto her horse and disappeared into the night. She rode into
the stables, fully aware that someone was in there as she’d turned
the lights off when she left, and they were back on.

“Do you want to explain
where you’ve been?” Chevalier asked angrily. The entire Cavalry was
gathered. They were headed out to find her.

“No, I don’t,” she said,
and slid off her horse. One of the members of the Cavalry took the
stallion to put him away for the night.

“What would possess you to
go out in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures?” Mark
yelled.

“None of your business,”
she told him, and headed for the door. Chevalier grabbed her arm
and flung her around to face him.

“Where were you?”

“Out riding,” she told
him. “I needed to think.”

“Alone? At night?”

“Yes, some of us actually
think at night, too.”

Chevalier began to drag her into the
palace.

“Stop it!” she yelled at him.

“No, I’m going to personally make sure you
get in bed and stay there.”

“No, I have other plans.”

He didn’t speak until they got into the room
and he threw a nightgown at her, “Get ready for bed.”

“No,” she yelled, and
threw the nightgown onto the dresser. “I told you, I have other
plans.”

“Get in bed,” he growled.

“No”

“Stop telling me no… now get in bed.”

Emily sighed and pulled out her suitcase and
began packing.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to Savannah,
and it damned well better be heku free and remain heku free for my
stay,” she told him, and zipped up the suitcase.

“Don’t leave, not now,” he said, calming
some.

She picked up her bag and
slung it over her shoulder, “I’m taking Dain, and we’ll be back in
a week or so. The threat still stands, so I suggest you keep Silas
and Kralen above ground.”

“Em, it’d help the Council
a lot if you’d abide by the house arrest.”

Emily reached up and kissed him softly,
“I’ll be back in a while.”

“Don’t go, please, the
Council needs to talk to you about the threat.”

“Stop making me talk to
the Council… You’re my damned husband, and I’m talking to you only…
no more Emily vs. the Council,” she yelled. “Alexis! Bring me
Dain.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Get away from heku and
get some rest… no Council, no Physical Therapists, no guards,
nothing.”

“Just take Mark.”

“No,” Emily told him, and
took Dain’s hand.

“Then wait an hour and I can go.”

“No, it’ll be good,
everyone can stand down and relax,” she said, and
smiled.

“Yeah because we’re all relaxed when you’re
alone,” he growled.

***

Emily, dressed in
head-to-toe black, peered around the cement wall. Frederick and the
Encala’s Chief Enforcer were with her along with a coven of 800
Encala heku.

Frederick whispered, “Just 350 if you can…
we’ll get you back and William’s waiting at your house with
Dain.”

Emily nodded and replied, “Clear the gate
and get me inside so I can see better.”

Frederick motioned for the coven army and
they descended on the front gate guards and quickly took them
out.

“Go,” Frederick whispered.

Emily stood up out of her
crouch and took off running for the Ferus compound. As soon as she
stepped inside, with the Encala behind her, the city alarm sounded
and Ferus flooded out of their homes. She concentrated and easily
took out 350 of the enemy, then stumbled back slightly and felt a
strong hand supporting her.

The Encala moved, en mass,
into the Ferus coven and Emily could hear the sounds of heku
fighting as someone picked her up. She fell asleep as she was
blurred back.

“How did it go?” William asked, taking Emily
from one of the guards.

“Easy enough. I’m
imagining they’re done by now,” the guard said, bowed, and then
left.

William laid Emily down
and covered her with a blanket. He gently washed the blood from her
nose with a warm rag and then waited for the others to return.
Before dawn, he shut the heavy curtains and sat down on a chair to
wait for her to wake up. Dain stayed on the floor playing with the
two dogs.

He looked up when there was a knock on the
door and Frederick came in, smiling, “Simple.”

“The entire coven, then?”

“Yes, all gone. Emily turned 350 to ash and
put us on a more even playing field. They’re all dead now.”

“So next we can try one a little
bigger.”

Frederick nodded, “I’d say
so. There’s one nearby that’s 1200. If she can take out 400, then
we’ll be good.”

William nodded and watched her sleep.

“Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“What is?” William asked.

“Sleep”

“Yes, it is… she doesn’t
sleep peacefully though. She’s quite restless.”

“Have you considered damage control, for if
the Equites find out?”

“I don’t think it’ll be us
that needs saved,” William explained. “I think it’ll be her that’s
in trouble, and if she needs a safe haven, we offer it.”

“You’ve fallen for her.”

William frowned, “I have not.”

They both fell quiet and watched for 26
hours until she woke up. She opened her eyes and looked around the
room until her eyes fell on them, “What time is it?”

“4am,” William whispered. “Can we get you
anything?”

“Juice and ibuprofen,” she
said, and sat up. She pulled Dain off of the bed next to her and
cradled him in her arms. “How did it go?”

Frederick went to get what
she asked for, so William could give her an update, “It went well.
You took out enough that we didn’t lose anyone.”

“Good, so we go again tonight?”

“I’d like to wait a few days, until you’re
feeling all the way normal.”

She grinned, “It’s just a headache.”

“If we go tonight, it’ll
get worse, and then we’ll be no better than the Valle.”

Frederick came back in and handed her two
pills and juice, “Anything else?”

Emily smiled briefly before taking the
pills.

“What?” William asked.

“I was just thinking how livid Chev would be
if he knew I was housing a few hundred Encala.”

“That he would be.”

“Let’s just hope he doesn’t find out.”

Frederick changed the
subject quickly, “The next Ferus outpost by here is about 1200
heku.”