Chevalier saw Damon and Sotomar clawing at each other, and he turned to the side. There was an Encala to his left, poised over an injured Equites. He jumped at him and quickly ripped his head off, growling loudly as the blood from the Encala saturated his clothing. Dodging an errant sword strike, he lunged at a Valle guard and tore a limb off, the first thing he could grab.
A loud trumpet sounded from the distance and Chevalier stood, panting, as he watched the Encala and Valle Armies fall back. The wounded were left beside the feet of the Equites.
“Why are they leaving?” Damon asked.
“I don’t know,” Chevalier answered.
Quinn appeared by their side, “They called a retreat. Does that mean they have her?”
Chevalier looked around for any sign of Exavior.
“Do we follow them?” Damon asked.
“We don’t have the forces to defeat them,” Chevalier said, turning back to the other council members.
“Then we let them go,” Damon scowled.
“Keep the line strong until we can determine why they retreated,” Chevalier ordered, and headed back for the palace.
Chevalier, Damon, and Quinn all appeared in the control room at the same time.
“Base to Equites 2,” Chevalier called over the radio.
“Base to Equites 2,” he repeated.
He growled, “Base to Equites 1.”
“Equites 1 here.”
“Can you contact Equites 2?” Chevalier asked.
“Equites 1 to Equites 2,” the pilot asked.
“Equites 2, do you read me?”
“Base, no answer from Equites 2,” the pilot replied.
“Return to base, Equites 1,” Damon said, when Chevalier didn’t answer.
“They have her,” Chevalier whispered, looking out over the palace roof.
***
Emily opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times at the bright light shining in her eyes. She tried to move, but felt a crushing force on her chest, holding her down. She tried to remember where she was. She could smell the strong scent of fuel, but there was no noise.
As the fog over her mind began to clear, she could feel pain start in her leg and arm, her back was aching, and her head throbbed. She shivered in the cold as the wind bit at her, painfully. She remembered being in the council chambers, and the look of guilt on Kyle’s face after he gave her an injection.
The more clear things became, the more she began to panic. Her eyes adjusted to the blinding light, and she looked around at the twisted metal and shattered wood. There was a piece of metal holding her to the ground, and she saw that her left arm was covered in blood. She pushed against the metal on top of her with her right hand, but it only moved an inch or so.
Emily jerked her head up when she heard a radio, “Base to Equites 2, answer me, damnit.”
It was Chevalier’s voice.
“Hello?” Emily yelled as loudly as she could. The metal was lying against her chest, and she found it hard to take a deep enough breath to scream.
Emily reached to her right and pushed a broken seat out of her way. Just beyond it was a mass of flesh and blood. She could feel her clothing become wet as the snow under her melted, but the cold wind swept harshly over her.
“Anybody?” she yelled again.
“Equites 2, are you out there?” she heard Chevalier call out angrily.
“Mark?” she yelled, looking around as best she could. With piles of warped metal in her way, she wasn’t able to see much around her.
“Frank?” she called out, but there was no answer and the injured heku off to her right didn’t seem to be healing. She wondered if the damage was too great for him to repair.
***
“No word yet?” Damon asked from the tower.
“Nothing,” Chevalier said, holding the microphone in his hand.
“Maleth called a conference, let’s go,” Damon said, taking the microphone from Chevalier and hanging it up.
Chevalier nodded and followed Damon into the Council’s conference room. He sat down quietly while the others watched him.
“Quinn filled us in about Frank,” Maleth said.
Chevalier’s hands balled into fists.
“Mark was there though. He’s one of our elite,” Quinn said to Chevalier.
Damon growled when he heard the request for an audience made by the Valle, “What do they want?”
“Let’s go find out,” Maleth said, standing. The Council walked into the council chambers, and sat in their seats. As requested, Kyle was also in the council chambers, but down in the trial area.
Sotomar, Exavior, and four Valle guards entered.
“What now?” Quinn asked bluntly.
Exavior stepped forward, “We are still demanding the mortal be turned over to us.”
“Why did you retreat?” Chevalier asked him.
“There was some confusion as to the location of Emily. We fell back to ascertain where she currently is,” he told them.
“Why would we tell you where she is?” Maleth asked them, frowning.
“To avoid a war,” Sotomar said, stepping forward.
“You aren’t getting it are you?” Chevalier asked angrily. “I’ll say it slower. We... are... not... turning... Emily over to you. You can burn this city to the ground, and you aren’t going to have her.”
“That was my other concern. Once you are all dead, where to find the mortal.”
“Thought Frank was going to tell you,” Quinn said.
“Yes, well, we’ve currently lost contact with him, and we suspect your guard discovered his identity,” Sotomar said.
“We aren’t going to tell you her location. You might as well attack,” Quinn replied.
***
Emily wedged her right arm under the metal against her chest and pushed hard. It rocked slightly to the side. As it rocked back, she pushed again, and kept rocking it until she got enough momentum to push it over and off of her. She sat up quickly and screamed. The pain in her leg and back was intense, and every movement made her arm hurt and her head swim.
She calmed her breathing and looked around. Her right leg was pinned under part of the helicopter’s propeller, and she could see the red stain of the snow beneath it. She touched a sting on her forehead and looked at the blood on her fingers, then shivered as the cold wind lashed at her wet clothing.
“Help me,” she heard someone gurgle off to her side. She looked over and saw Frank. He was lying in a heap on the snow. His arms and legs were badly mangled, and his head was almost entirely separated from his body.
“Frank… can you heal?” she asked him.
“Help me,” he said again, his eyes looked at her pleading.
“Frank, listen to me. Can you heal?” she asked again, sternly.
His eyes glazed over and he stopped talking. Emily sighed and watched the vapor from her breath dissipate into the frigid air.
She pulled at the jeans on her injured leg, and cried out when she felt the pain.
“Emily?” she heard from behind her. She tried to turn and look, but her back spasmed and she screamed in pain.
“Stay there, I’m almost to you.” This time she recognized Mark’s voice.
“Get Frank, he’s hurt,” she said, looking over at him.
“No, Frank is Valle,” Mark said, and she could hear the strain in his voice.
“Where’s the pilot?” she asked.
“Dead,” Mark told her, and Emily heard him groan in pain.
“How bad are you?” she asked, shivering.
“Pretty torn up,” he said, breathing hard. “We need to get you out of this cold, and then I can heal.”
“I’m trapped under the propeller,” she said, trying hard not to move her broken arm.
“I’ll get it. I’m almost there,” Mark said, gritting his teeth.
***
“Fall back to the palace,” Kyle yelled into the air as the sounds of battle continued all around him. The Equites were losing
forces quickly, and he had no report on how the enemy army was doing.
Kyle ran with his troops as they fell back to protect the palace. Bloody, headless corpses were strewn around the streets of Council City, and the smell of death was strong. Three large helicopters landed on the palace lawn, and new Equites troops jumped out and immediately moved into battle formations.
Chevalier met with the arriving General and filled him in on what they knew. An ambush by the Equites Cavalry had evened the numbers, though the enemy was still stronger. The arrival of new troops put hope into the Equites, and they readied themselves for one last stand. If they could hold the palace, then the Equites would call it a victory.
Quinn limped up to Chevalier, “Battalion three is gone.”
Chevalier nodded, “So is battalion six.”
“Get the Cavalry back on their horses. We need them to run around to the back and flank them,” Damon said, stumbling up to the Elders as he gripped his bloody side.
Chevalier turned and crouched defensively when the enemy army appeared before them on the lawn of the palace.
“Last chance to turn over the Winchester,” Sotomar yelled, his gray robes were bloody and torn.
“Come get her,” Damon scowled.
As the Encala and Valle Army moved toward the palace, the new Equites that just arrived took the front, fresh and ready for battle. Chevalier pulled the sword from Damon’s hand, and advanced on Sotomar with hunger in his eyes.
“You’ll never get her,” Chevalier said as Sotomar watched him and crouched defensively.
“You can’t fight us off. We have too many,” Sotomar said, grinning as blood dripped from his chin.
Sotomar looked up as four more helicopters landed and green caped heku jumped out. Chevalier looked up, proudly. They had bought enough time for more reinforcements to arrive.
“You still thinking that?” Chevalier asked, grinning.
Sotomar lunged at Chevalier’s throat, but he was able to dodge him, jumping to the side. Chevalier brought his sword around and swiftly removed Sotomar’s right hand. The newly arrived heku troops descended in a wave down on the tired and haggard enemy troops. Sotomar jumped again, and managed to lock his teeth on Chevalier’s shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh away, and spitting it on the ground. Chevalier growled angrily and swung his sword at Sotomar, who rolled away from it.
Chevalier felt an arm on his shoulder as he prepared to send the blade through Sotomar’s heart, “It’s over.”
He looked over and all he could see were waves of green capes. Chevalier looked down at Sotomar, and lowered his sword, “Do you surrender?”
Sotomar looked out over his troops. All were either badly injured, captured, or dead. He nodded and looked down at the ground.
***
Mark was finally able to crawl to Emily. She could see that his lower body was crushed, and one of his arms dangled loosely at his side.
“I’m going to try to move that propeller,” Mark said, scooting over to the twisted piece of metal. He pushed hard against the twisted metal. It flew off of her and smashed against the mountainside. Emily screamed as the movement shook her injured leg. She fell back against the snow and felt the grinding of the bones in her back.
“Lie still, I need to stop the bleeding,” Mark said, and she looked toward him as he slipped his belt off. He wrapped it around her leg and tightened it.
“There’s a small cave back here. Can you get into it by yourself?” he asked her, helplessly.
Emily nodded, and then cried out as she flipped onto her stomach. She laid her forehead down onto the snow and breathed hard, the pain in her body increasing. She gritted her teeth, and pulled herself forward with her good arm, pushing against the snow with her foot.
“Good girl, a little further,” she heard Mark saying from behind her.
“The radio,” she said between gasping breaths.
“The battery died,” he said softly. “Keep going.”
Emily nodded and dug her hand into the snow again. She could no longer feel her fingers, but was able to push off with her foot and inch forward toward the small recess in the rock wall. After an hour of painful scooting, she was in the recess, and the wind stopped howling around her. She laid against the rock floor and tried to catch her breath.
“Emily, I’ll be right back. I need to start a fire,” Mark said. She nodded and laid her head against a rock.
Emily drifted in and out of consciousness as the frigid day faded into a bitterly cold night. She opened her eyes when she saw light and felt the warmth from a fire. Mark was sitting up by some kindling and was fanning it lightly. Her eyes felt heavy, so she shut them and let the blackness take over.
“Emily?” She heard Mark’s voice, and finally her eyes open. He was sitting up straighter now, but his lower body still lay at odd angles. She frowned when she saw his bare arms and legs. He had taken his clothes off.
“What?” she finally managed to say.
“You need to put my clothes on. Yours are wet,” he said. “It’s going to hurt, but you can’t stay in wet clothes.”
Emily nodded. She felt his hands tear her shirt off of her, and then gently pull it around her broken arm. He slipped his shirt over her broken arm as carefully as he could, but she screamed with the movement. Once his shirt was over her injured arm, she pushed her other arm through it. He buttoned it up and let her rest for a moment.
“Ok, pants too,” he said, and tore her jeans off in the same manner. His pants were easier to slip on because of their size, and she felt a lot warmer. He wrapped a piece of wire around her to hold them in place.
Mark threw her clothes onto the fire, and it raged for a few minutes, sending warmth through her. She felt her eyes closing and let them.
Emily forced her eyes open when she heard the howl of wolves. She saw Mark sitting by her side, watching out into the night. Just as she drifted back off to sleep, she heard the sound of a wolf crying in pain.
“Emily?” she heard again, and just wanted to sleep longer. She was no longer in pain. The cold had numbed her injuries.
“Come on, Em, open your eyes,” she heard Mark say to her. She opened them slowly and looked over at him. He was wearing the pilot’s clothes now.
“Are you ok?” she asked, her voice cracking. She wasn’t sure, but his body seemed unnaturally distorted.
He smiled, “It’s ok. I didn’t heal correctly, too much damage.”
She nodded, “I’m so tired.”
“I need you to stay with me,” he said, and she willed her eyes to stay open.
“We have to get out of here. I can’t carry you. I’ve been thinking, and I think we can support each other and make it faster,” Mark said, frowning.
Emily nodded.
“I saw a town, probably about five miles away. If we can get you there, we can get you to a hospital,” he told her.
“You too,” she said. Emily was trying to focus her mind, but there was a dense fog around her thoughts.
Mark smiled, “If that’ll help, then… yes.”
Emily nodded and watched as Mark got awkwardly to his feet. He held a hand out to her, “Push off with your left leg, and pull with your right arm.”
Emily tried to do as she was told, but the pain was excruciating and she knew Mark had to pull her up to her feet. She leaned against him, wrapping her right arm around his back as the world moved under her feet. She waited and finally felt steady.
“Ok,” she groaned.
“We’ll take it slow,” Mark said. He was able to move himself forward, and Emily used him as a crutch to slowly inch her way toward the town.
By nightfall, they could see the glow from the town and Mark urged her forward. He kept her supported as she slowly moved toward the light.
“Emily a road!” he said, when his feet touched blacktop.
She nodded, too exhausted, and in too much pain to answer.
“I’m going to lay you by the road. I’ll wait by you until a car comes, ok?
” Mark asked her, not sure she understood.
Emily nodded.
“You fell while hiking. You were alone,” he said, and watched her.
Emily’s eyes were closed and she was swaying.
“Emily, I need you to stay with me for a little longer… you were hiking alone, and fell,” Mark said to her.
Emily finally nodded, and felt Mark slowly drop her to the road. Before long, she heard a car approaching, and felt Mark’s comforting presence disappear. The sound of a car’s breaks was the last thing she heard before darkness came.
***
“Sir!” Kyle yelled, as he ran into the council chambers. “Emily’s in Calumet, Wisconsin. She’s being flown to St. Paul by air ambulance.”
“Fill me in on the way,” Chevalier said, running for the palace roof. He climbed into the helicopter, followed by Kyle and Quinn.
The pilot took off quickly, and Chevalier turned to Kyle.
“They said she was found on a road outside of Calumet, and that she’d been in a hiking accident.”
Chevalier frowned, “Hiking accident? Do we have any covens in northern Wisconsin?”
“No,” Kyle said. “She’s alone though, no one was with her.”
“How bad is she?” Chevalier asked.
“The nurse said she has nothing life threatening, but that she’s pretty badly banged up, broken leg, broken arm, and they weren’t sure what else. She’ll arrive in St. Paul in about an hour, so by the time we get there, we should have more news.”
“Equites 1 to base,” Chevalier called over the radio.
“Base here.”
“Find the closest coven to Calumet, Wisconsin. I want that area searched. Tell them to look for the helicopter and the others. If they find Frank alive, I want him,” Chevalier ordered.
“Base copied, out.”
The helicopter landed in a small airport outside of St. Paul, where a taxi met them and took them to the hospital. The three heku ran into the hospital, and Chevalier stopped at the information desk.
“My wife was just flown in, Emily Russo,” he said.
The elderly woman looked through the computer, and smiled at them, “Yes, she’s in the operating room.”
“For what?” Chevalier frowned.
Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series Page 2
