Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series (91 page)

“We’ll deal with that
later,” Zohn said, and turned to the enemies. “What to do with
you.”

“Put them in prison for
now,” Chevalier ordered, and guards appeared to haul them
away.

The Records Keeper came in
and sat down, “I have the numbers.”

“Go,” Zohn said.

He thumbed through papers,
“First, attack numbers, there were 4,011 Valle against 3,323
Equites, including all help that came in through the entire fight,
then 999 Encala.”

“Deaths then?”

“Well… do we count those turned to ash?” he
asked.

Zohn glanced at Emily and then back to him,
“Do those separately.”

“So 398 Valle are dead, 26
Encala and 128 Equites.”

Zohn sighed, “Damnit… ash then?”

“One Encala was turned to
ash out in the trees, 5 at the sight of the Encala battle, 8
officers before the fight started, and then 124 injured Valle in
the city are now ash.”

“Any sign of Frederick yet?”

“No, Elder.”

Zohn nodded, “He probably
ran off after the Valle, and no one saw him.”

Emily shifted slightly in her chair.

“Banish those turned to
ash, give them 200 years,” Quinn said, and then turned on the
speakerphone when it rang. “Yes?”

“Return our Elder!” William growled.

Zohn frowned, “We don’t have Frederick.”

“Yes you do and we demand you return him
immediately!”

“Hey, William,” Emily
whispered, but knew he could hear her. The other end of the phone
fell quiet, “You’ll burn for this.”

“Emily…” he started to
say, but Quinn turned off the phone.

“Emily, you can’t seek
revenge for the lost Equites,” Zohn told her softly.

She got up and stumbled
out of the council chambers. She was feeling dizzy, and her
headache was coming on from the ashing. The Council let her go, and
four members of the Cavalry fell in behind her as she made her way
up to the bedroom.

“Mark, send out the
Cavalry, go through each body and see if you can locate Frederick,”
Chevalier said.

“Yes, Elder,” Mark
replied, and then left the council chambers.

Zohn shut his eyes for a moment and then
opened them, “She’s going after them, isn’t she?”

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, I think so.”

“Kralen mentioned they
were surprised to see her on the front lines. They were told she
was shipped out,” Quinn said, deep in thought.

“They assumed wrongly that
we sent her away, so she wouldn’t get involved… they were very
wrong and now we have to try to keep Emily from killing herself to
avenge our dead,” Zohn said.

“I’ll talk to her, but it won’t do any good
if her mind is made up,” Chevalier said. “I wish you would have
sent her away.”

“It wasn’t that easy,” Zohn explained. “Not
after what Wen told her.”

Chevalier frowned, “When has Wen talked to
Emily?”

“Kralen?” Zohn called out.
A few minutes later the Captain appeared.

“Yes, Elder?”

“Relay, word-for-word, what Wen said to Lady
Emily, starting with the first meeting,” Zohn said.

Kralen nodded and told Chevalier everything,
from the moment Emily called him into the room with the treadmill
until they left the training room for the last time.

“I want him in my office after this
meeting,” Chevalier growled.

Kralen faced him, “He’s one of our dead,
Sir.”

“Good, he overstepped.”

“So you see, it was hard
after that to tell her to leave,” Zohn explained. “We tried, but
she was set on staying.”

“Banish the ash, I’ll go
talk to Emily,” Chevalier said, and blurred from the room. The
guards told him Emily was already asleep, so he walked in quietly
and shut the door behind him. A new snowstorm was raging outside,
but her room was hot and both fires were roaring. She was asleep on
top of the covers in only a t-shirt, and didn’t stir when he lay
down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Her dream
immediately filled his head, so he shut his eyes and
watched.

Book 1 : Heku

Book 2 : Valle

Book 3 : Encala

Book 4 :
Equites

Book 5 :
Proditor

Book 7 : Eternity of
Vengeance