Proditor : Book 5 of the Heku Series (60 page)

Emily shook her head and whispered, “How
long are my joints going to hurt?”

“
It all depends. I’ve seen
the weakness last a few months.”

Emily frowned, “How do you know?”

“
The Crusades, mainly,”
Mark said, and smiled slightly.

“
How long will this last?”
Emily whispered, motioning to her stomach. The bruise was still
deep black and hurt to touch.

Mark sighed, “I’ve never seen that before,
so I don’t know.”

“
It hurt.”

“
Do you want to talk about
it?”

Emily shook her head.

“
I talked to the Elder
today. He thinks we may be able to come back tomorrow,” Mark told
her.

Emily nodded, “Good.”

He took her hand in his and looked into her
eyes, “Emily… did… he…”

“
No,” Emily
whispered.

“
What did you do all day
there?”

“
Walked around mostly. I
kept looking for a way out.”

“
Did he talk about turning
you?” Mark asked.

“
No, never,” Emily
whispered. “I honestly thought he would though.”

Kralen knocked and then walked in with a hot
pizza in his hand, “As requested.”

Emily smiled and whispered, “Thanks, pizza
sounds so good.”

She immediately grabbed a piece and started
to eat while Mark and Kralen cringed.

“
That smells awful,” Mark
said.

“
I bet it tastes awful,”
Kralen commented.

“
Eat a piece, I dare you,”
Emily whispered, and took another bite.

Mark chuckled, “No way.”

“
I pass too, sorry,” Kralen
said, and sat down against the wall.

Emily finished eating and then laid back in
bed. She watched out the window until she fell asleep. Mark and
Kralen watched her while she slept and spoke quietly about new ways
to strengthen the guards in Council City.

***

“
The house is empty,” Silas
said, irritated. “His scent is there, but fading.”

Chevalier sighed, “At least we know his
cameras are gone. Emily should be back in about two hours.”

“
Where did they go?” Quinn
asked.

“
Hall Coven,” Chevalier
said. “Lord Bradford was more than happy to let them stay. We
should repay them.”

Quinn nodded, “Agreed.”

Chevalier sat down in his chair in the
council chambers, “What would you think about calling Powan in to
help guard the palace for a while?”

“
They are more disciplined
than ours,” Quinn said, and sat down also. “I’ve been debating for
a while using Powan as a training center for palace guards. We send
them there for a few months and let General Skinner train
them.”

“
That’s not a bad idea,”
Dustin, the Chief Liaison Officer, told them, and sat
down.

“
Why don’t you and Zohn go
talk to General Skinner about it?” Chevalier asked.

Dustin nodded, “We’ll head out as soon as
Equites 2 arrives.”

Kyle came in through the trial room door and
the Elders looked up at him, “It’s done.”

“
Did you have to kill many
innocents?” Quinn asked him.

“
No,” Kyle said, sitting
down at his chair. “Once they found out I was only after the Lord
of the Coven, they all stayed away from me. From what I saw, they
wanted a new Lord anyway.”

“
We discovered that Exavior
had the palace under surveillance. Twelve cameras all linked to a
computer hidden in the kitchen,” Quinn explained.

“
Here in the palace?
That’s… that’s… how?” Kyle asked angrily.

“
We suspect Sam,” Dustin
said. “Allen found the computer, and we tracked the connection to a
home in the city. Exavior’s been there, but left before we
arrived.”

“
Where’s Emily?”

“
Coming back from Hall
Coven.”

Kyle sighed, “How is she?”

“
When she left she had
pneumonia and only lets certain heku with her,” Quinn said softly.
“Silas, for instance… can’t get near her, neither could
Sotomar.”

“
Is it just the black
hair?” Kyle asked.

Chevalier grinned, “I have black hair.”

“
Yes, but she knows you
better than the others.”

“
I wonder if that’s it
then, heku that resemble Exavior?” Chevalier asked, glancing at
Kyle.

“
That’s just a guess
though,” Kyle said.

The Elders explained what they had in mind
for guards and talked about options in case Emily decided to
fulfill the ultimatum and disappear. A couple of hours later, they
stood up when Equites 2 asked for permission to land.

“
Silas?” Chevalier called
out.

“
Yes, Elder?” Silas said,
appearing in the hallway when the Elders emerged from the council
chambers.

“
I hate to do this, but I’m
going to have to move you to front door guard,” Chevalier
said.

“
I understand, Sir. I’ve
seen the way she looks at me,” Silas said with an apologetic
grin.

The Elders and Kyle reached the fifth-floor
foyer as Mark carried Emily into the room, held her while Kralen
got her wheelchair out, and then sat her down in it gently. Mark
grabbed a few pillows and propped her arms up on them as she winced
and then did the same with her legs.

“
Thank you,” Chevalier
said, walking into the room.

Mark nodded and stood at his post by her
door while Kralen waited outside in the hallway with another member
of the Cavalry.

Emily turned the electric wheelchair around
to face them.

“
Allen came up with an idea
to track down Exavior using the cameras and a computer we found,”
Chevalier explained, sitting on the edge of the bed. “He was able
to find an IP Address and we found where he’s been staying, but he
wasn’t there.”

Emily smiled slightly and spoke, her voice
was just above a whisper, “So I’m in him somewhere.”

Chevalier smiled, “Yes, he didn’t get that
from me, bloody computers… I hate them.”

“
Where are the kids?” Emily
whispered.

“
Anna has them. She came to
take them while we searched for cameras.”

Emily wheeled over and looked out the
window, “I want to go out riding.”

“
Do you think you’re strong
enough?” Chevalier asked.

Emily shrugged. The hills outside of town
were inviting and the day had turned out sunny.

“
I could tandem ride with
her. We could take the entire Cavalry out,” Mark suggested from the
door.

Emily looked at Chevalier and nodded.

“
Very well, just be
careful,” he said. He didn’t want Emily out of the palace, but knew
she was going crazy sitting in bed all day.

“
Mount up,” Mark called
out, and there was a rush of movement through the
palace.

Emily pulled on another sweater, wincing at
the movement in her arms, and then turned to Mark when he came to
pick her up.

“
It’s not very cold out
there,” Kyle said, noticing the layers she was wearing.

Emily shrugged and held onto Mark as he
carried her out the door.

“
Is there a reason she has
five shirts on?” Kyle asked, turning to Chevalier.

“
I suspect,” Chevalier
said. “That she’s covering up.”

“
Oh, I bet you’re right,”
Kyle said, and turned to Zohn. “Want me to go to Powan with
you?”

Zohn nodded, “Yes, let’s go.”

Emily sat on top of the racing stallion and
took the reins in her hands. Her arms were stiff and sore, and she
wasn’t sure she would be able to handle him on her own. Mark deftly
slipped behind her and took the reins. He checked to make sure the
Cavalry was ready, and headed the stallion toward the city
gates.

Emily shut her eyes and felt the warm sun on
her face. The cool air felt good to breathe, and it was relaxing to
finally be outside. The slow rhythmic motion of the horse walking
seemed natural and soothing. She glanced around her, and there were
members of the Cavalry in every direction. She was surprised to see
that seven of the Cavalry with her were from Thukil. Their green
uniforms stood out against the stark white shirts of the Council
City Cavalry.

As they walked onto the hills to the west of
town, four of the Cavalry members took off at a full gallop, racing
for the trees. Emily smiled and watched them, wondering what Keith
would say about vampires on his best racing horses.

Mark looked down when he felt Emily tense
between his arms. She was looking off to the side with wide eyes
and she wrapped her arms around herself. Mark followed her gaze and
saw Silas sitting a few yards away, watching the others. He
whispered softly, and Silas nodded and backed his horse up out of
her sight.

Emily shut her eyes, trying to relax. She
knew Silas was a friend, but the sight of him sent her into a panic
and she couldn’t explain why. She opened her eyes slowly and
watched the sleek movement of the horses as they ran across the
field and she again started to relax. She felt some comfort from
the warmth of Mark behind her, and she leaned her head back against
his chest as she watched the Cavalry race.

She sat up when over half of the mounted
Cavalry suddenly kicked their horses into a gallop and headed north
toward the tree line. She felt Mark tense behind her and looked
over, but didn’t see anything.

“
What happened?” Emily
whispered, watching the Cavalry disappear into the
trees.

“
Someone called your name,”
Mark whispered.

Emily’s hand tightened on his arm, “Is
it…”

“
Yes,” Mark hissed, and
glanced to make sure he still had some of the Cavalry with
him.

“
Go,” Emily whispered,
terrified.

“
No, wait for them to
return,” Mark growled. “If he shows himself… then I will deal with
him.”

“
Please… go,” she
whispered, quieter.

“
Kralen,” Mark called.
“Take her, I want in there.”

Emily felt strong arms on her waist as the
heku lifted her over to his horse.

“
Take her back to the
palace with the rest of the Cavalry,” Mark said, and kicked hard.
His stallion jumped and immediately tore across the field toward
the trees.

Kralen clicked his tongue and ran his mare
back towards the city, surrounded by six members of the Cavalry. He
called for the Elder as he approached the palace and Chevalier and
Quinn were waiting when they arrived.

“
He called her from the
trees,” Kralen said, helping Emily slide down to the ground. “Mark
and the rest of the Cavalry went after him.”

“
Take her in,” Chevalier
said angrily. “I’m going.”

Quinn watched as Chevalier blurred toward
the city gates.

“
Your dinner is ready,”
Quinn said, taking Emily’s arm to steady her. Kralen slid off his
horse along with the other six members of the Cavalry. Two of them
took the horses, while the rest escorted the Elder and Emily into
the palace. She was moving slowly, but it felt good to walk, so she
opted to take Quinn’s arm for support instead of being
carried.

Emily sat down at the table beside Allen and
smiled at him, proud that he’d tracked Exavior down using an IP
address and technology. Anna brought in Alexis, who hugged Emily,
and then sat down to eat.

Chevalier and the rest of the Cavalry came
in just as they were finishing eating.

“
Couldn’t find him,”
Chevalier growled. “He’s a coward and won’t face me.”

Emily sighed when her phone rang and
answered it with the heku all watching. She didn’t speak, but put
it to her ear.

“
Meus decorus uxor,”
Exavior whispered. “Adeo mihi.”

Emily frowned.

“
Come to me, my beautiful
wife,” Exavior chuckled.

“
No,” Emily
whispered.

“
I have a new torture room
all ready for Chevalier… if you don’t come to me, he will,” Exavior
told her, amused.

Emily froze, and Chevalier tore the phone
from her hand.

“
I’m willing, come get me,”
Chevalier hissed, but Exavior hung up.

Emily couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The
image of Chevalier in the clutches of Exavior terrified her and her
dreams began to run through her head.

Chevalier knelt down beside her and took her
hand, “No, Em, no. He can’t hurt me.”

Emily nodded and whispered, “He can.”

“
Listen to me. He’s a
coward. He’s just trying to scare you into going to him,” Chevalier
said softly. “Promise me you’ll stay here… promise me.”

Emily nodded and sat back in her chair.

“
Damnit, Em…” Chevalier
growled.

She looked at him and frowned.

“
I know that look… he can
hurt you a hell of a lot worse than he can hurt me… and I want him
to get me,” Chevalier explained.

Emily whispered, “I can ash him now.”

Chevalier grinned menacingly, “I don’t want
you to. I want him.”

“
First rule, no one touches
the Elder’s wife,” Mark said, walking in front of the ten new
Cavalry recruits. “If you want to be banished, that’s the first
way. Never stand behind your horse. If your horse acts up… let
Emily take care of it. If your horse is fighting, don’t let Emily
take reins.”