Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (72 page)

“
Oh that? No, the hand
wasn’t during that… I’m just accident prone.”

“
Good to know, we’ll pad
your room.” Darren laughed from behind her.

“
Actually I punched someone
and broke my hand.” She blushed.

Darren chuckled, “First course of
action… we teach our new Commander how to hit.”

One of the guards nodded, “Good
call.”

Emily was surprised when she saw a lot
of the heku guards with a glass of champagne in their hand. The
bottles seemed to be flowing, and Emily sipped on hers and watched
the guards interact with one another. Late into the night she
danced, and drank, and ate. It seemed everyone wanted to talk to
her, and by 3am, she was dead on her feet.

“
I think I’ll turn in,” she
said, swaying slightly. She had lost count of how many glasses of
champagne she drank, but it was more than usual, and she was
feeling tipsy.

“
Hannah, come!” Darren
called out, and a young blond heku came up to Emily.

“
Come, I’ll show you to
your room,” Hannah said.

Emily nodded and followed her out of
the large room. Hannah led her through the halls until the heku
opened a door and stepped aside.

“
Thank you,” Emily said,
and walked into the room.

Hannah turned on the lights, “I will
be outside of your door if you need anything.”

Emily nodded and shut the door. The
room was fairly large, with a soft feather bed in the center and a
fire in the fireplace. Emily’s bags sat on a desk off to the side
of the bed. She saw three doors in the room. The first went to a
bathroom, the second to a closet with only one garment bag hanging,
and the other looked directly into where Alexis was sleeping. Silas
watched her sleep and rocked in the chair. He smiled at Emily when
she peeked in.

Emily pulled her nightgown out of the
bag and was soon asleep under the fluffy down comforter.

She woke up and almost laughed when
she heard a rooster crowing. She inhaled and savored the smells she
associated with home, the fresh cut hay, the freshly cut logs by
the fire, even the cow pasture.

Emily sat up and looked around the
room. The fire was still going and it was warm and cozy. She
crawled out of bed and walked into the room with Alexis. Alexis was
sitting on the floor playing with a wooden horse on
wheels.

“
Mommy!” she yelled, and
jumped into Emily’s arms

Emily kissed her cheek, “You’re up
early.”

Silas nodded, “Roosters.”

“
I love it!” Emily grinned
and kissed Alexis again, “Can you believe I’m a member of their
Cavalry?”

Silas grinned, “Quite an honor, their
Cavalry is legendary.”

“
Guess I better see how bad
the uniform is. I hope all they got from my tailors was the size.”
Emily laughed and headed into her room. She pulled the garment bag
down from the closet and zipped it open. She was happy to see that
for the most part, the uniform was the same, with a few feminine
touches that she was positive were suggested by
Margaret.

Emily stripped and slipped on the
jeans first, regular blue jeans, but there were heart cut-outs down
both of her legs and they fit low on her hips, but were
comfortable. The shirt was Equites green and was embroidered with
an intricate golden pattern. It had a collared neck with a diamond
cut out on her chest and a small emerald dangled from the top of
the diamond shape. The sleeves were long, but there was a small
gather at the top that added a slight pouf. The one part of the
shirt that worried her was the length. It didn’t reach all the way
to the waist of her jeans, so there would always be a band of skin
showing and the shirt was fitted and hugged every curve.

Emily looked into the bag and pulled
out a pair of new black cowboy boots. She slipped them on and then
looked at the cape. She had seen this exact cape on every guard
she’d ever come across in the Equites faction. She slung it around
her neck and fastened it with the Equites crest. Last, she pulled
the Cavalry Commander pin from her t-shirt and hooked it to her
left collar.

Emily turned and looked into the
mirror, and she couldn’t help but laugh. They had turned her into a
miniature feminine guard.

Emily stepped into Alexis’ room, and
Silas stood up, his mouth wide, “Wow.”

Emily blushed, “What do you
think?”

“
I like it… very… let’s
just leave it at I like it,” Silas chuckled. “Except…”

“
What?” Emily looked down
at herself.

Silas walked over and flipped the left
side of her cape over her shoulder, and straightened her
commander’s pin, “There, perfect.”

“
I’m going to have to guess
that the regular guards don’t have these?” she asked, and pointed
to the hearts that were cut out down the sides of her
jeans.

Silas laughed, “I’m thinking
not.”

“
You’ll be ok here?” Emily
asked, and started for her room.

“
Yes, we’re good,” Silas
said, and sat down on the floor by Alexis.

Emily quickly pulled her hair back
into a French braid and grabbed the green cowboy hat and leather
riding gloves that were on the desk. She stepped out into the
hallway and Hannah greeted her.

“
Good morning, Commander,”
Hannah said with a bow.

Emily laughed, “Not sure I’ll get used
to that.”

Hannah grinned and started down the
stairs, “Better get used to it. In this coven, that’s what you
are.”

Emily followed her as Hannah took her
to a small dining room. There was a pot of coffee and a pile of
biscuits with steaming sawmill gravy, “Can I get anything else for
you?”

“
No, thank you,” Emily
said, and sat down to eat.

“
The Cavalry is already
convened. The Captain said he will meet you out in the stables when
you are done.”

“
Ok, thanks,” Emily said,
and poured herself some coffee.

Hannah bowed and left. Emily looked
around and couldn’t help but smile. She already loved this coven
with its rustic look and pleasant attitudes. She thought back to
the hundreds of heku and not one angry or loathsome expression,
they all seemed genuinely glad to have her there. She also couldn’t
wait until Chevalier saw her in a guard’s uniform as an actual
Commander, either.

After she ate, she walked out of the
front doors and immediately saw the stables. She’d never seen such
a large stable and guessed it had room for close to two hundred
horses. Darren was waiting out in front of them and grinned when he
saw her.

“
Good morning,” he said,
and put his hand out for her.

“
Good morning to you, too.”
She smiled and took his hand. He led her inside the colossal
stables and Emily looked around, shocked. Everything was pristinely
clean. All of the saddles and bridles were set out in matching
pairs, and there was a conveyor that brought fresh food to the
horses throughout the day.

“
We need to get you a
horse. You have your pick,” Darren said, and grabbed a bridle off
of the wall.

Emily walked through the stables and
looked into all of the stalls. She couldn’t imagine a wider variety
of horses. A gray thoroughbred stallion caught her eye, and when
she walked up to him, he lowered his head to her immediately. She
took his head in her hands and laid her forehead against his
velvety muzzle.

“
Oh, you’ve met Thunder,”
Darren said, and leaned against the stable wall.

“
He’s gorgeous.”

“
He’s yours
then.”

Emily smiled and reached out for the
bridle.

Darren hesitated, “Do you know how to
put that on?”

“
I’m sure I can figure it
out.”

Darren watched as she quickly bridled
the horse and led him out into the corridor.

“
Oh dang, I forgot,” he
said, and blurred way. He returned less than a minute later and
handed Emily a belt, holster, and an FNP-45.

“
I get a gun?” Emily asked,
slipping the holster onto the belt and then fastening it around her
hips.

“
We thought it might help
if you had a weapon.” He smiled and handed her a lasso as soon as
she holstered the gun, “This is a lasso, just for show mainly. It’s
part of the uniform.”

Emily nodded and watched as Darren
went to get her a saddle. She grinned and slipped onto the
thoroughbred bareback, and walked the stallion behind the
Captain.

Darren turned, his eyes wide, and then
laughed, “Well aren’t you full of surprises.”

“
I’ve been around a horse
or two in my day,” she told him, and clicked her tongue to follow
the Captain out into the training grounds.

“
Cavalry!” he shouted, and
seventy five mounted guards came toward them and then lined their
horses up in rows.

“
Meet your new Commander,”
Darren said, and turned to her.

Emily blushed and nodded at them,
“Hello.”

“
They were just doing a
training course, you may watch if you’d like,” Darren
said.

“
Ok, sounds like fun.”
Emily followed the Cavalry as they returned to a large
field.

One member brought his horse to a
gate, and when the whistle sounded, he kicked his horse into a
gallop. Emily watched intently as he wove his mare through eight
barrels, jumped over two fences, lassoed a loose horse, and then
dove off of the mare and tackled a running heku. He blurred over
and caught his horse and then returned to the starting
gate.

Emily clapped with the rest of them
when he rode up, “That was great!”

The heku tipped the brim of his hat,
“Thank you, Ma’am.”

Each of the Cavalry had to qualify on
this course, so Emily watched each of them maneuver the course and
then come back for their score. It took over 90 points to qualify,
and no one had yet to drop below 98. They were almost done just
before lunch and the guards had grown rowdy. They were now cheering
loudly, and hitting one another on the back.

Emily saw one of the Cavalry’s horses
take off when the heku jumped. It bucked once and ran across the
pasture. She kicked her stallion hard and he jerked into a fast
gallop. She leaned forward and took the lasso in her hand as her
hat flew off behind her. She tested the strength of her hand and
then began to twirl the lasso above her head as she neared the
spooked horse.

The Cavalry all watched her, stunned
at the smooth elegance she exhibited on the horse. They were
motionless as they watched her race toward the rogue horse and
expertly throw the lasso over its head. She then wrapped the rope
around her good arm and slowly stopped her horse. The scared horse
slowed with her and then walked back to her.

Emily patted the horses head and then
kicked her stallion into a canter, blushing when she saw the entire
Cavalry was watching her with amazed expressions.

“
Been around a few horses,
eh?” Darren asked she rode up.

“
Yes, a few,” Emily said,
and smiled.

Darren was shaking his head, “Anything
else we should know?”

Emily thought, “I play a mean game of
football.”

Darren laughed and rode off toward the
stables. Emily grinned and followed him.

The Cavalry were all off of their
horses and sitting around on the ground, relaxing in the shade. She
put her horse in the corral with the others, and took a small bag
from one of the servants. She sat down on the straw and pulled a
sandwich out and started to eat.

“
So how’d you learn to do
that?” one of the guards asked, sitting beside her.

“
I was raised on a ranch up
in Montana, rodeod a bit, and then I trained the Council City
Cavalry how to handle a horse,” she said, and leaned back against a
bale of hay. It was nice to be able to visit casually with him,
without Kyle watching to make sure no one touched her.

“
Nice,” he said, and smiled
at Darren when he walked up and sat down by them.

“
That’s where the confusion
came in. We thought you just sort of helped with the Cavalry. I
guess I didn’t realize you trained them,” Darren said.

“
Only the horse stuff, the
rest I left up to their Captain.”

“
So you ride, rope, nurse,
punch, and play football… is that about it?” another guard asked.
They were starting to migrate toward where she sat.

“
I get in a lot of trouble,
does that count?” she asked, finishing her sandwich.

“
Doing what?” one of them
asked. “I can’t imagine the wife of an Elder getting in trouble for
anything.”

“
Oh you’d be surprised what
I get myself into trouble for.”

“
Is it true then? What they
say about your heritage?” one of the guards asked, but he quieted
down immediately when Darren glared at him.

“
That’s rude,” Darren
growled.

“
No, it’s ok. Yes, I’m a
Winchester,” she said.