Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (72 page)

“Mark!” Quinn yelled.

Mark appeared almost instantly, “Yes,
Elder?”

“Get the Cavalry ready for
an attack mission, call in Powan, Thukil and Samuel
Covens.”

Mark nodded, “Right away.”

When Mark disappeared, Zohn turned to
William, “Tell us what you know.”

Chevalier growled and blurred from the
room.

William sighed, “Our
sources listed 3,000 heku in this city, and we suspect the leader
was there. Our troops dropped in from above and were immediately
ambushed, Emily was shot with a dart and fell first.”

Kyle slammed his fists on the table, “You
put her in danger… if she’s dead...”

“They won’t kill her… Her
uncle is the Ferus leader,” William whispered.

“You knew that!?” Quinn screamed. “This
entire time you knew that Alec was leading?”

William nodded,
“Yes.”

Zohn slammed the speakerphone on and
dialed.

“Valle Council,” a strange man said.

“This is Zohn. I need to
speak to your Elders.”

“We’re here,” Sotomar told him.

“The Encala have been using Emily to wipe
out the Ferus compounds,” Zohn hissed, his voice evil and
malicious.

“What!?” Sotomar yelled. “For how long?”

William spoke, “The entire time, she was not
forced.”

“Now they have her,” Quinn said, obviously
irate.

Sotomar growled, “Tell us where…”

“We’re sending in troops,
but would like the Valle to assist as there may be a lot of Encala
prisoners we’ll need to deal with.”

“Where?”

William proceeded to tell
the Valle and the Equites where the Ferus’ main city was, and
anything he knew from their many encounters with the Ferus
recently.

“We’ll send 1,000 Valle to meet you in 24
hours,” Valle Elder Ryan assured them.

“We’ll be there,” Quinn
said, and shut off the speakerphone.

“I’m sure we’re not quite
done with you,” Zohn said to William. “Chevalier will be back in a
few minutes.”

William nodded. He knew
this was coming, but couldn’t leave Emily in the Ferus compound.
Mark returned a few minutes later, surprising all of the Council
with Kralen.

“Good to see you awake,” Zohn said to
him.

Kralen grinned slightly,
“Sorry about that. I didn’t realize when I woke up how long it’d
been.”

“You’re just in time… Emily is being held
captive by the Ferus again.”

“What!?” Mark growled.

William grimaced and took a step away from
the large heku.

“Emily’s disappearances…”
Quinn told him. “She’s been helping the Encala take out Ferus
covens, and the last one got a bit out of hand, we’re going in
after them.”

Kralen frowned, “What if they try to turn
her again?”

“Then I suspect they will all fall asleep,
similar to what happened to you.”

***

“Then why did you go to
Island Coven?” Frederick asked. He and Emily had nothing to do but
visit.

“What was I supposed to
do? Chev’d just killed my husband, Ulrich was after me, and I was
injured… it just kind of happened,” Emily explained.

“You weren’t upset that he killed
Keith?”

“Not at all, sort of relieved actually.”

“Hmm, interesting.”

“What is?”

“Just, not the story we heard.”

“Oh, do tell…” Emily said,
and smiled slightly.

“We were told that after
he killed your husband, you stayed on the ranch and late that
night, were kidnapped by the Equites… pretty much
brainwashed.”

“No way!”

“Yes, that’s what we were told.”

Emily grinned, “That’s kinda funny.”

She tried to see when the
door opened but couldn’t turn around enough.

“What do you want?”
Frederick asked angrily.

“Just to talk to Emily.”
She was shocked to hear Alec’s voice.

“Alec?” Emily asked, making sure she’d heard
right.

Alec walked around so she could see him,
“Good to see you, Emi.”

“What are you doing with the Ferus?”

“Leading them…”

“Damnit, Alec.”

Alec smiled, “Surely it
doesn’t surprise you that I took over when Exavior was maliciously
murdered.”

“Maliciously murdered? He
tried the Yisolatara ritual on me!” She felt Frederick tense at her
use of the forbidden word.

“I’m not one to judge… but I am here to
offer you a more pleasant environment.”

“I’m fine, Freddy and I are just
visiting.”

“Obstinate to the end,” he
said, and leaned against the wall.

“Me? Obstinate? Why? Because I’m not willing
to turn traitor to my friends and family like you are?”

“I did not turn traitor. I
owe my new life to Lord Exavior. I wish you could see the wonderful
thing he’s created with the Ferus, and take your place at my
side.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “I much prefer
sitting on cement at Frederick’s back.”

Alec knelt down in front
of her, “They want to banish you if you do not take your place with
the Ferus.”

“I can’t be banished…”

“Yes, you can… burned at the stake and
buried for eternity.”

Emily gasped

“Don’t touch her!” Frederick growled. “She
doesn’t want to be with you.”

“Your father had such high
hopes for your future,” Alec told her, and sighed before standing
up.

“Funny, my father had the
wrong impression of you too. He had no idea how low you could
stoop.”

Emily fell to the side when one of the
Ferus’ slammed their knee into the side of her face, “Do not talk
to him like that!”

With Frederick’s help, she
was able to sit back up, but felt her cheek swelling, “He doesn’t
deserve to be spoken to in any other manor.”

The same guard kicked out
and connected with her ribs. The sound of breaking bone filled the
small cell and she groaned and leaned back against the Encala
Elder.

“Stop it, Emily, don’t make it worse,”
Frederick told her.

“When you are done with
the Encala, call me and we’ll talk,” Alec told her, and left. The
heku guard slammed the door shut after them.

“Are you ok?” Frederick asked.

She nodded. The familiar
stabs of broken ribs made it hard to talk. She leaned against
Frederick and rested her head against his back. He fell silent
while she drifted off to sleep. After a few hours, Fredrick woke
her up.

“Em?” he whispered.

Emily groaned slightly, “What?”

“There’s fighting around us.”

“Who is it?”

“The Valle and the Equites.”

Emily sighed, “What if I don’t want
rescued?”

Frederick chuckled, “Whatever Chevalier has
in store, can’t be worse than this.”

“Wanna bet?”

After an hour, Emily was
able to hear the sounds of fighting also, and soon, there were heku
outside of their cell door. The door flew open and Emily’s head
sunk.

“In here!” Mark yelled. “Cut off the
electricity.”

When he was sure the current was cut,
Frederick tore open the restraints and flew to his feet, grinning,
“Good to see you all.”

Emily stayed on the ground
and brought her knees up. Laying her elbows on her knees, she put
her head between her arms.

“Are you coming, Emily?” Frederick
asked.

“No,” she whispered.

“Come on,” Mark said, and
put his hand out for her.

“He’s going to kill me.”

“Probably”

“Why don’t you save him the time and just
drain me here.”

Kralen appeared in the door, “Not a chance,
Em, come on.”

She smiled slightly, “You woke up.”

“Yup, and then spent my
first day back saving your ass, let’s go.” She noticed a hint of
irritation in his voice.

Her smile faded as she
took Mark’s hand and stood up slowly, ignoring the rib pain because
she didn’t want them to know.

“Watch her, Equites. She
has broken ribs,” Frederick said, and followed some of the Valle
out.

Emily sighed, “I don’t either.”

Mark’s eyes narrowed,
“Just the bruise on your cheek?”

“I don’t have a bruise on
my cheek,” she grumbled, and walked out, following Silas and
Kralen. She heard Mark fall in behind her.

They all walked out, and
she noticed the fighting was over. Valle and Equites were scattered
across the compound. She walked up to William when she finally saw
him.

“Where’s Alec?”

William looked over the compound, “I think
the Equites have him.”

“We do,” Mark told her. “Get in the
helicopter.”

“I’ll give you $500,000 to drain me now,”
Emily said to William.

William smiled reassuringly, “He’ll calm
down.”

“After he kills me,” she
said, and let Kralen help her into Equites 1. Mark, Silas, Kralen,
and Jaron were the only heku that accompanied her back to Council
City. Silas kept Kralen company in the cockpit while he flew, as
Mark and Jaron took turns yelling at Emily in the back. She kept
quiet and took it, knowing that was nothing compared to what
Chevalier was going to do.

“Landing in 5 minutes,”
Kralen called back after many tense hours. When they landed softly
on the roof, Mark threw open the door and Emily looked up to see
the line of guards, but they were absent. The Council was in their
place and the look on Chevalier’s face was pure anger.

When she got out of the
helicopter, she noticed that Quinn had a hand on Chevalier’s
shoulder and she could only surmise that he was holding him
back.

“Council chambers,” Zohn
said, and turned abruptly. The Council all headed down the stairs
with Emily following them, and her guards behind her.

Derrick opened the door
without a word, and Emily walked into the council chambers and
moved up before the Council, her eyes still on the floor. She could
feel Mark, Silas, Jaron, and Kralen behind her.

“I’m not even sure how to start this,” Quinn
said. The sharp anger in his voice made Emily wince.

“Let’s start with what you have to say about
it,” Zohn snapped.

“I have nothing to say.
Let me have it,” Emily whispered, still watching the dirt
floor.

“Before we get to
business. What are your injuries?”

“Nothing to worry about.”

“Frederick said she has
broken ribs,” Mark informed them.

“Frederick is a moron,”
she said timidly.

“How could you, Emily? Go behind our backs…
join up with the Encala…” Quinn asked her.

“I didn’t join the Encala.”

“Sure as hell looks like it!”

She ignored the influx in
his voice and stayed calm, “I wanted to help exterminate the Ferus
after what they did to me. I knew it was wrong… I knew it was
underhanded, and I’m prepared for whatever the Council
decides.”

“Anything?” Zohn asked
skeptically.

“Yes”

Zohn turned toward Chevalier, “What do you
want to do with her?”

“Expulsion from the Equites,” he growled,
glaring at her.

“You want to send her back to Island
Coven?”

“No, I want nothing to do
with her,” Chevalier growled. “Let her join the mortal world… the
Encala… hell even the Ferus. I don’t really care.”

Emily wiped away a tear
that betrayed her and trailed down her cheek.

Zohn sighed, “I don’t want to do anything
hasty.”

Kyle glared at her while
he spoke, “The Elder is right, nothing we do is appreciated,
nothing we do to protect her is followed… She does what she wants,
when she wants, and that makes her a liability to this
faction.”

“I agree,” Dustin said, leaning forward onto
the desk. “We would be better off if she would find another place
to live and stay away from the Equites.”

“Well I don’t agree,” Zohn
said. “I don’t know what to do with her, but I don’t think sending
her out on her own is our answer.”

“I concur, Elder votes are
two to one to keep her here,” Quinn said.

Emily reached down to her hand when she felt
the ring slip off of her finger. She bent down and picked it up off
of the dirt floor and held it tightly in her hand.

“As both an Elder and her
husband, I’m done with her,” Chevalier yelled, and blurred suddenly
from the room.

“I’ll speak for Island
Coven. She’s not welcome there,” Kyle said, still watching
her.

“For now, house arrest,
and we’ll let tempers calm before we decide,” Quinn said, and
nodded to Mark.

“She’ll just slip out,” Jaron said
angrily.

“I won’t,” Emily whispered.

Mark grabbed her arm a
little too roughly, and dragged her to an empty room on the
fifth-floor. She stepped inside and heard the door shut and lock
from the outside, then sat on the bed and finally allowed herself
to cry. After almost an hour, Dain was let into the room, but the
door was shut and locked behind him.

Emily stayed quietly in
the strange room for four days. No one talked to her, and the only
company she had was visits from Alexis and Dain. Meals were dropped
off and she dutifully ate them. The palace seemed quiet to her.
Even the guards outside of her door rarely spoke loud enough for
her to hear. She watched out the only window, but it overlooked the
out-building and all she could see was its dark roof. She took out
her ring often and looked at it, several times she slipped it on,
but it never stayed.