Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (98 page)

“
It is necessary,” the heku
said, and led her to the van.

“
Hey! Now you know better
than that,” Emily said, when someone put a blindfold on
her.

“
That’s not for your
abilities, Child,” another heku said.

“
What faction is this?”
Emily asked, and then groaned when a gag was placed over her
mouth.

She sat in the back of the
van for a few hours and listened to the heku talk about a
basketball game. After transferring to a helicopter, she started to
drift off and didn’t wake up until the helicopter landed. She was
shoved into another van for a few more hours.

Emily was dragged from the
van, and a heku grabbed each of her elbows and led her down a long
corridor. She heard the sounds of electricity from all around her
as she walked. The heku stopped her and she heard a door open just
as she was forcibly pushed inside. She felt hands catch her before
she hit the ground and a door slammed behind her.

“
Damnit, Em,” Chevalier
growled.

“
I told you she’d come,”
Kyle said as he untied her.

“
Yeah, well, for some
reason I thought she might use common sense and stay
put.”

“
Sooo, what’s up?” Emily
asked, when Kyle untied her gag. She began to massage her wrists
where the cuffs were.

“
Just couldn’t let us deal
with this on our own could you? Had to come save the heku again.”
Chevalier was obviously irritated.

Emily looked around the
small room. There were no windows, and the one door was
electrified. There were no beds or chairs, just a hard cement floor
and shackles that hung from high on the wall.

She grinned, “Fancy meeting you all
here.”

“
This isn’t funny! Why the
hell didn’t you ash them and get away?” Chevalier
hissed.

She laughed, “You know me
better than that… besides… it’s about time I’m kidnapped with
friends.”

“
Seriously, you should have
just let us handle this. Why do you always have to come save the
heku? We’re supposed to protect you,” Kyle frowned.

“
I came because I’m more
able to destroy the lot of them, and there’s no reason why you two
need to be tortured, or whatever they were doing, just to get me,”
she said, and sat down on the hard floor. “They could have thrown a
chair in here though.”

“
You make it so easy for
them, it’s irritating,” Chevalier said, and turned away from
her.

“
Cheer up or I’ll ask for
my own room,” Emily said, irritated. “We’re more likely to get out
of this with the 3 of us.”

“
Ask for your own room?”
Kyle yelled. “This isn’t the Hilton.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed and
she went up to knock on the door, but Kyle held her back, “Don’t
touch it, it’s electrified.”

“
Hey! I need to talk to
someone!” Emily yelled at the door.

“
Just sit down and be
quite,” Chevalier growled.

Emily turned to him and glared,
“What?”

“
Em, sit,” Kyle said, and
pointed to a corner.

“
Oh, I see, this is how
it’s going to be? Fine!” Emily said, and sat down facing the
corner.

The sounds of electricity
stopped and when the door opened, a strange heku came into the
small, cement cell.

“
You called?” he asked
Emily, and frowned when he saw her facing the corner.

“
You’ll have to ask my
wardens if I’m allowed to talk,” Emily said, still facing the
corner.

“
Ask… who?” the heku asked
her, confused.

“
Just go,” Kyle said to
him, and he shrugged and left. The sound of electricity
returned.

Emily stared at the blank
stone wall and rubbed her arms. She was starting to get cold, and
the light halter top wasn’t enough to keep her warm. She heard no
noise or even movement from behind her, but had the feeling that
Kyle and Chevalier were whispering to each other.

The electricity was shut
off to the door again and four heku entered. One stood by Kyle, and
one by Chevalier, while the other two picked Emily up off of the
floor and led her out of the room, one on each arm. She didn’t
fight them, but followed silently, still fuming at what happened in
the cell.

Emily was led through a
door and she recognized the familiar setup as the council chambers.
She looked up and saw Sotomar among twelve other heku.

Emily sighed,
“Nice.”

“
Welcome, Lady Emily,”
Sotomar said, and stood up. “You are on trial by the Valle Council
for the wanton killing of twenty of our members 7 months
ago.”

Emily raised her eyebrows, “I
am?”

“
Yes, how do you
plead?”

“
Erm… not guilty,” she
said, and rocked slightly on her heels.

“
Not guilty? They were
following you when they were killed, and you do have a history of
turning the masses into ash,” Sotomar said.

“
Yes, but if you remember
correctly, you had pretty much nullified that ability, so I just
ran from them and they ran into some of the Equites guards,” Emily
explained. “So nope, didn’t kill a soul.”

“
The Council finds you
guilty and you are sentenced to fifty years in our prison,” he
said, and sat down.

“
Oh great, well, that
sounds like fun,” Emily said, frowning.

One of the heku threw her a
gray hooded robe, “Put that on.”

“
No thanks, I’m fine,” she
said, and tossed it back.

“
That was an order,”
Sotomar growled.

“
Fine,” she said, and
slipped on the robe. The robe was several sizes too big. The
sleeves hung almost a foot longer than her arms and the hem
gathered on the ground beneath her.

“
Remove your clothing
underneath,” Sotomar said.

Emily slipped her arms
inside and undressed discreetly, then tossed her jeans and shirt to
a heku beside her, “There.”

“
Return to your cell,”
Sotomar said, and the two heku took her arms and led her back down
the hallway.

They stopped in front of the cell and
turned off the electricity to the door before pushing her inside.
She ignored Kyle and Chevalier and returned to her corner to sit
down.

“
Nice to know you’ll be
here for the next fifty years, Sweetheart,” the Valle said, and
laughed as he shut the door.

There was a sudden scream
from the hallway.

“
There, give me 50 more for
that!” Emily yelled to the door.

“
Are you ok?” Kyle asked
her.

She didn’t respond, but
pulled her arms into the robe and leaned against the cement
wall.

“
Emily, are you ok?”
Chevalier asked her, his voice finally calm.

The cell fell quiet and
Emily slowly drifted off to a restless sleep, shifting often as her
arms and legs fell asleep.

Emily slowly slid down to
the cement floor while she slept, but sat up and looked at the door
when the flow of electricity was cut off. Kyle and Chevalier stood
slowly while Emily stayed on the floor, too sore from the cement
floor to stand.

Sotomar stepped in angrily, “You have
earned yourself another 10 years for the little stunt you pulled
yesterday.”

The two guards by Sotomar both fell to
ash, “10 more for those, too?”

“
Emily, stop it,” Chevalier
whispered.

“
This is not a game. You
would be wise to listen to your mate,” Sotomar said as two more
guards came up behind him. They pushed in a dirty silver tray and
shut the door quickly.

“
Please, stop antagonizing
them. We don’t need any more trouble,” Chevalier told
her.

Kyle picked up the tray and smelled it
before handing it to Emily, “It’s good to eat.”

Emily took the tray and
threw it against the door. When the metal tray hit the electrical
current, it exploded in a bright flash and the electrical current
to the door stopped. The sound was followed by several dozen
footsteps from the hallway. The door flew open and four heku each
grabbed Chevalier and Kyle and moved them out of the room while two
grabbed Emily and pulled her out. They were escorted down the hall
by dozens of angry Valle.

They were thrown into an
identical cell, and the door was locked and electrified behind
them. Emily sat down in the same corner she had been in, while Kyle
and Chevalier looked at her.

Chevalier sighed and knelt
down by her, “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I really hoped they
wouldn’t get you this time.”

Kyle sat down in the corner across
from them.

Emily shrugged, “I didn’t
need that shit from either of you, and I’m still not happy about
being treated like an imbecile.”

“
We didn’t mean it like
that. We just hoped that you would send in the Equites Army or
something, and wouldn’t try to come yourself.”

“
Sit down and be
quiet?”

“
I’m sorry, ok, I... am…
sorry.”

Emily glared at Kyle and Chevalier
glanced at him.

Kyle smiled, “I’m sorry,
too.”

“
Are you hurt?” Chevalier
asked, and sat down by her.

“
No”

“
Still mad
though?”

“
Yes”

“
For now, stop ashing, ok?
Let’s wait and see what the Equites come up with for our release,”
Chevalier asked.

Emily grinned slightly, “I
got 50 years for killing those Valle that the guards killed, and
more for the 4 or 5 I’ve ashed since last night.”

“
For now, stop, please,” he
asked calmly.

Emily nodded.

“
How did they get you?”
Kyle asked.

“
One was hiding in the back
of the Jeep,” she said, and looked around the cell
again.

“
Damn, they seem to get
into the palace easy,” Kyle growled.

“
There’s one… small… well…
minor… problem,” Emily said, and looked down at the
floor.

Chevalier rolled his eyes, “What
now?”

“
Never mind then, be that
way,” Emily said, and turned away from him.

“
I’m sorry, ok. I just
can’t imagine what could be more of a problem that the three of us
in here,” Chevalier said.

Emily frowned, “I can think of a lot
worse things.”

“
Just tell us,” Kyle said,
irritated.

Emily brought her knees up to her
chest and slipped her arms into the body of the robe and wrapped
them around her legs. She leaned against the cold cement wall and
shut her eyes.

Chevalier moved over by Kyle and Emily
could hear the faintest sound as they whispered.

Chevalier and Kyle stood up
when the sound of electricity stopped and a key rattled in the
door. They both crouched and moved between the door and Emily when
Exavior entered.

“
What do you want?”
Chevalier hissed.

Exavior smiled, “You know what I came
for.”

“
Leave her alone,” Kyle
growled, and his hands curled into claws.

“
Emily?” Exavior called to
her, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Emily stood up and frowned,
“Exavior?”

“
Come, Child,” he said, and
put a hand out for her.

“
Take me instead,”
Chevalier growled, and batted Exavior’s arm away.

“
Oh, you’re not nearly as
attractive as she is, and I desire company for a few minutes,”
Exavior said, and guards piled into the room and pinned the Equites
against the wall.

“
Let them go.” Emily glared
at Exavior.

“
They will be when you come
with me,” Exavior said, and Emily glanced at Chevalier and then
took Exavior’s hand. They walked out of the room and Emily looked
behind her as they walked down the hallway, and saw the Valle
guards move out of the room and re-electrified the door.

“
What’s going on?” Emily
asked him.

“
I had a talk with Elder
Sotomar about your living conditions, and I feel they are
unacceptable. I’m taking you now to sit somewhere comfortably and
get something to eat,” he said, and smiled at her.

“
You tried to turn me,”
Emily said angrily, and let go of his hand.

“
I still feel that is what
is needed in your case, but I have decided not to push the
issue.”

“
Why don’t you just let us
go?”

“
I can’t do
that.”

“
How did you even get out?
Last I heard you were in Kyle’s ash collection.”

Exavior laughed slightly,
“I was released last year by the Equites Council in return for one
of the political prisoners we held. Did they not tell
you?”

“
No, they didn’t,” she
said, irritated.

“
Part of the agreement was
that I would not contact you, but when you are here, that is null
and void.”