Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (70 page)

“How many do I need to clear out?”

“400 should do it.”

Emily nodded, “Ok… leave
so I can get some sleep.”

“Shall we take
Dain?”

“No, it’s… hold on,” she
said, and grabbed her phone. “Hello?”

She grinned, “Hi,
Chev.”

William grinned.

“No, I’m ok, just a headache.”

Frederick heard a noise downstairs and left
the bedroom.

“Yes, lots of rest, I promise.”

She nodded, “I promise, ok, love you.”

Emily hung up the phone and put it on the
bedside table.

“If you need anything,
just call,” William told her, and left her alone to get some
rest.

***

“Good morning,” Chevalier
said, and kissed the tip of her nose.

She wrapped her arms around him, “Good
morning to you, too.”

“We need some help in the
council chambers.”

“Is that a ruse to get me
to come talk to the Council?” she asked, and sat up.

Chevalier chuckled, “No, the Valle and the
Encala are here to talk about attacks on the Ferus.”

“Tell them I’ll come down when I’m more
awake.”

“Are you feeling ok?”

“Yes, why?”

He studied her, “Just
lately there’ve been days when you don’t get out of
bed.”

“I’m getting old, what can
I say?” Emily told him, and started to get out of bed. “I’ll be
right there. See if someone can scrounge me up some
coffee.”

“Ok,” Chevalier said, and
watched her disappear into the bathroom. He blurred back down to
the council chambers and sat down. A servant delivered coffee just
before Emily arrived and sat at her chair with the
Council.

“Thank you, Emily. We were
worried this could turn nasty,” Zohn said.

Emily nodded and put her feet up on the
desk, leaned back, and sipped her coffee.

“I don’t see why we
brought in Emily. She’s threatened to turn this Council to ash,”
Dustin growled.

“We aren’t going to bury
Silas or Kralen today, so I think we’re safe,” Quinn said, and
grinned slightly.

“It’s ok, Scooby. If I do
it, I’ll ash you first so you won’t worry about the others,” Emily
said, and took another sip.

“How dare you!” Dustin
yelled, and stood up.

“Sit down, she was kidding,” Chevalier
sighed.

Dustin sat back down angrily and yelled for
Derrick, “Let them in.”

The three Encala and the three Valle Elders
all came in and stood with their factions in front of the Equites
Council.

“Good to see you, Emily,”
Sotomar said, and smiled.

Emily ignored him and
studied her coffee. She was afraid to look at the Encala. Any wrong
glance could let the other Elders know that she’d spent a lot of
time with them over the last few months.

“Why were we summoned?” William asked.

“It was actually because
of the curiosity of this Council and the Valle Council,” Chevalier
told him.

“Ok… curiosity about what?”

“About how you’re able to
take out so many Ferus over the last four months, when we are all
aware you have very low numbers.”

“There’s no law about
taking out the Ferus. I don’t see as though this should be an
issue,” Frederick said, starting to get irritated.

“No, we’re not at all mad
about their slow extermination. We are more concerned about how you
are doing it,” Sotomar told him.

Encala Elder Aaron grinned, “We have our
ways and it’s nothing illegal.”

“How then? Enlighten us.”

“No, it’s not any of your
business how we have grown a strategic advantage.”

“Strategic advantage?” Quinn asked.

“Of sorts, yes,” William answered.

“How many Ferus strongholds have you
destroyed in the last 4 months?” Valle Elder Ryan asked.

William smiled, “We’ve completely wiped out
twelve of them.”

“As Valle, we’ve managed
four, and we are stronger. How are you doing it?”

“Again, we don’t wish to
give away our secrets… We may need to use it on you someday,”
William said, and grinned.

“Is that a threat?”
Sotomar growled.

“Calm down, that didn’t sound like a threat
to me,” Emily told him.

Sotomar glanced at Emily and then back to
William, his voice now calm, “It just seems to the Valle and the
Equites that you may have some type of weapon that could be beyond
what is allowed by this species.”

“We don’t, rest assured,
we are breaking no laws,” Frederick told him.

“To gain a tactical advantage then, why not
tell us so we can assist in exterminating the Ferus?” Zohn
asked.

“No, we do not wish to divulge our
methods.”

“Have there been Ferus attacks on the
Encala?” Chevalier asked.

“No, they are leaving us alone,” William
replied.

“Then why are you doing it?”

“I saw what was done to
Emily, and consider her a friend. We won’t stand for a Valle
mistake to cause her harm.”

Emily smiled slightly and set her coffee cup
on the desk.

Sotomar’s eyes flared, “They are trying to
butter up the Equites to form an alliance!”

“As have you, so calm down,” Emily told
him.

“No I will not calm down…
if the Encala think for one second that they can align themselves
with the Equites to fight the Valle, they are gravely
mistaken.”

“No one’s said anything
about forming an alliance with the Encala,” Zohn told him. “But
Emily is right. You’ve both tried to turn her to your
side.”

“It’s preposterous if the Encala think they
can befriend her and win an alliance,” Valle Elder Ryan
snapped.

“Excuse me?” Emily said, irritated. “I don’t
want in on this little…”

She stopped when the trial door suddenly
flew open and Silas came in, enraged, “Where is Exavior?”

“Silas!” Emily yelled, and
stood up.

“Where is he?” Silas
growled, and stepped toward the Valle.

“Silas…” Chevalier said
softly.

Emily ran down to the trial area and threw
her arms around him, “You woke up!”

His body was tense and he ignored Emily as
he focused in on Sotomar.

“He is dead. I killed him
in the Ferus’ ceremonial room when we released Emily,” Sotomar
explained.

Silas pulled away from
Emily and used his hand to gently lift her face to look at him,
“Are you ok?”

She nodded, “I’m fine… that was months
ago.”

Silas frowned and looked
at the Council, “Months?”

Mark stepped into the
trial area when the Council called him, “Yes, Eld…
Silas!”

“General,” Silas said, and
bowed slightly.

“He’s a little behind,”
Chevalier said, and smiled. “Please see if you can
help.”

Mark nodded, “Come, we have a lot to talk
about.”

Emily hugged Silas again and then started
out with the guards.

“Emily? We’re not done,” Quinn told her.

“Oh, ok,” she said, and
hesitated before returning to the Council stand. She glanced
briefly at William before sitting down.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Zohn told
them.

“Are they all awake now?” Sotomar asked.

“No, we still have one… sleeping, for lack
of another word.”

“I think that until we deem the Encala’s
methods safe, they should refrain from taking out any more Ferus
covens.”

“No, you don’t have the
authority to order us to stop,” William told him
angrily.

“As worried as I am about how they are
achieving this, we cannot ask them to stop and expect them to
comply,” Chevalier said.

“We can if we threaten to wipe them out,”
Valle Elder Randall suggested.

“I won’t allow that,”
Emily said, and glared at him.

Randall’s eyes grew wide and he took a step
back.

“Calm down,” Chevalier
said calmly. “They are doing better than we are at eliminating the
rogue covens and I see no reason why they should stop.”

“I concur,” Zohn said, and
looked at Quinn.

Quinn nodded, “Let them
wipe them out. It’s for the greater good of the
species.”

William smiled, “And Emily’s safety.”

“So because the Equites
say it’s ok, then it is?” Sotomar yelled. “Just because you have
the last remaining Winchester, doesn’t make you the supreme ruling
body of this species!”

“I didn’t say it did.
However, to eliminate the Encala entirely, you would need the
Equites assistance and we will not give that,” Chevalier told him.
“As for Emily, she would take it personally if you did harm the
Encala again, and we do not control her or her actions.”

Sotomar’s eyes narrowed, “This feels like
the Equites and the Encala have already joined.”

“We have not,” Quinn assured him.

“In your attacks, have you yet found out who
is leading the Ferus?” Chevalier asked.

“We know it was Exavior
for certain. Right now we know his second in command has stepped
up, but we don’t yet know who he is or where he is located,”
Frederick explained.

Sotomar shifted nervously at the mention
that a Valle Elder was doubling as the leader of the Ferus.

“So now what?” Ryan asked. “We stand by and
let them continue?”

“I see no reason why not,” Chevalier said.
“Destroying the Ferus is for the benefit of us all.”

William smiled and risked a glance at
Emily.

“This isn’t the end of
this!” Sotomar said, and stormed out, followed by the other two
Valle Elders.

When they slammed the
door, William looked at the Council, “Will that be all?”

“Now that the Valle are gone, will you tell
us how you are doing it?” Zohn asked.

“No, we will not.”

Zohn sighed, “Very well, that is all.”

Derrick appeared at the
door to escort the Encala Elders out. When they were gone, Emily
stood up and started to leave.

“Em?” Chevalier asked.

She turned around and saw
the Council looking at her, “What’d I do now?”

“The Council is curious
about what you do at night alone.”

Her eyes narrowed, “None of their
business.”

“It’s just odd,” Quinn
said softly, “And disconcerting, how you sneak out every couple of
weeks and even hordes of Equites can’t find you… then you return
and sleep for days.”

She shrugged, “I get tired.”

“By doing what?” Zohn asked.

“I wasn’t aware that my
nightly activities were of any concern of the Council.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s of council concern
exactly.”

“If it’s a marital
concern… then I will remind you all again that I did not marry this
Council… it was forced on me later, and I do not report to you,”
she said, and left angrily.

Emily ran down the stairs
and headed out to the stables, hoping to find Silas. She smiled
when she saw Mark, Silas, and Jaron talking.

She ran up and threw her arms around him
again, “I’m so sorry.”

Silas chuckled, “It’s ok,
I feel fine. Just worried.”

Emily pulled away from him and frowned,
“About what?”

“You, sneaking out all night.”

She grinned, “It’s nothing
dangerous and I won’t stop.”

“What do you do?”

“I can’t say,” she told
him, and leaned up against one of the stall doors.

“How’s your back?”

“It’s ok, I just can’t lift a lot is
all.”

“And the other… cuts and such?”

“Almost gone,” she told him.

“Em?” Chevalier said from the door.

“Come on in,” she said,
but didn’t move.

“Actually, I need to talk to you in
private.”

Emily watched as Mark,
Silas, and Jaron disappeared, “Ok, we’re alone.”

Chevalier walked in and
sat on a bale of hay by her, “Not for the Council then… but for me.
Why are you sneaking out?”

“I need to do something alone.”

“What?”

She walked over and sat
down beside him, “I can’t say… but it’s not dangerous. It’s just
something I need to do.”

“You aren’t working again are you?”

“No”

“I don’t like secrets.”

“Neither do I, so you know
this has to be important.”

Chevalier nodded, “Important enough to keep
from me.”

“I don’t like when you say it that way.”

“That’s the way it
is.”

“It’s not bad though. I’m
not having an affair. I’m not killing small children… I just need
to be alone sometimes and it would be easier if the guards would
let me go… I have to get more creative to slip them,” she told
him.

Chevalier grinned, “We
could just put Mark, Silas, and Jaron on your tail.”

“I’d still get away.”

“Is this a game to you?”

“No, it’s very serious.”

His eyes narrowed, “Now I’m nervous.”

Emily smiled, “Don’t be.”

He reached over and kissed her softly,
“Promise me it’s not dangerous.”

“It’s not.”

Chevalier stood up, “I’ll
be upstairs in a bit. I have one more trial for today to sit
through.”

“Ok, will see you later.”

Emily watched as he left
the stables and grinned when she realized she was alone. Tonight
would be the easiest night yet to get away. She quickly threw a
bridle on her horse and slid onto his back, then checked the lawn,
and kicked him into a gallop out of the city. The way to the
Durango at night was becoming familiar and she saw the Encala
waiting for her.