Emily was glad that the mustang was now used to the heku. It made her life easier because she never seemed to make it out to the corral alone. She wasn’t sure if they were hoping to catch her when she got bucked off, or if they hoped to catch sight of her falling. Ford sat beside them, watching with interest.
Emily saw Mark cringe when she put her foot in the saddle and swiftly pulled herself up onto the mustang. Before she’d set her other foot in the stirrups, he began to buck wildly and she held tightly to the saddle horn. It was only a few seconds before Emily lost her handhold and flew off of the horse. She landed hard against the ground and rolled under the fence, out of the way of the angry horse’s hooves.
Emily lay on the ground looking up at the blue sky. She saw Mark’s face appear above her and she felt Ford’s warm, sticky tongue run up her face.
“That was your back, not your ass,” Mark said, and grinned, then put a hand out to help her up. “Ever think that he could be a lost cause?”
“I like lost causes, haven’t you noticed?” Emily said, and crawled back through the fence. She was able to walk back up to the mustang and she rubbed his neck for a bit. Just before trying again, Emily heard laughter from the fence and looked over as Silas joined Mark.
Taking a deep breath, she put her foot in the stirrup again, and hoisted herself up onto his back. She froze when the horse didn’t move, and she was afraid to even breathe. The mustang let out a loud whine and began to kick and twist. Emily’s death grip on the horn was stronger, and she held on until he began to slowly calm down. She patted his neck softly when he finally stopped bucking.
Emily pressed her feet slowly into his side and suddenly flew out of the saddle and landed hard up against the fence. She looked over and the mustang was staring at her from across the corral.
“See… that was your ass,” Mark said from behind her, laughing.
“Do you just bleed easy or do all mortals do that?” Silas asked, amused.
Emily took a large piece of horse droppings in her gloved hand and turned, keeping it away from the heku. She threw her arm back and then sent it flying toward Mark and Silas. Because of her bad aim, they both accidentally ducked right into it, and it splattered across their green cloaks.
Emily grabbed another hand full and scrambled through the fence, taking off running for the palace doors. She heard the heku as they blurred past her just before she rounded the corner for the doors, and they stopped and turned to face her.
Emily stopped and watched them. She held her hand up, ready to throw. Ford was weaving in and out between them.
“Traitor,” she said to the Border collie.
“That… was disgusting,” Mark said, grinning evilly.
“That… was deserved,” she replied, smiling.
“What are we going to do about it?” Mark asked.
“I’m thinking…” Silas answered, grinning. He took a step toward her.
“I’m warning you, get back,” Emily said.
“Water?” Mark asked.
“Water,” Silas said, nodding.
“No!” Emily screamed, and let her hand fly, pelting them with the horse droppings. She turned to run, but didn’t make it even a step before her feet left the ground as she was thrown over Mark’s shoulder. Ford began to jump and nip at her feet.
The heku laughed as they headed for the small stream on the other side of the palace lawn, but froze suddenly as they rounded the corner by the doors. Mark gently put Emily down on the grass, and she spun quickly to see what had stopped them. As she turned, she took in the sight of over thirty heku staring at them, and she stepped quickly behind Mark.
Emily cringed when she heard Chevalier laugh, “Might as well come out, Em, they’ve seen you.”
Emily emerged from behind Mark, overly aware that she was covered in dirt, and had blood dripping down her right shoulder from one of her falls.
“Ah, so this is the elusive Emily,” one of the Coven Leaders said, smiling.
Emily nodded and pulled closer to Mark.
“I take it the breaking-in didn’t go well?” Chevalier asked, amused.
Emily shrugged.
“Why don’t you two go get changed, you smell awful,” the Elder told Silas and Mark. They nodded and laughed as they blurred away, leaving Emily standing out by herself. She blushed as she felt all of them watching her.
“Are you bleeding, Child?” one of the Coven Heads asked her, concerned.
She nodded and cleared her throat, “If you… will… please excuse me.”
He nodded, and Emily turned and ran to the service entrance at the side of the palace by the stables. She didn’t stop until she was safely in her room with the door locked. She stripped off her gloves and shirt, and turned to look at her shoulder in the mirror. It wasn’t cut badly, and only had a small amount of dried blood that had trickled out.
She turned when she heard a knock at the door.
“Yes?”
“It’s me,” Chevalier said, his voice still amused.
Emily walked over to the door and unlocked it, stepping back out of the way so no one in the hallway would see her.
Chevalier shut the door and turned to her, “That was… well… interesting.”
Emily sighed, “Sorry.”
He laughed, “Don’t be sorry. It’s not often coven dignitaries get to see the palace guards covered in horse feces or the fabled Winchester looking so guilty.”
“Why are they even here? Last year they tried to kill you all,” Emily said, slipping on a clean shirt.
“Not these ones. These are the covens that stood behind us.”
“Ahh”
“So now that you’ve met them, there’s no reason you can’t go to the coronation.”
“Where’s Alex?”
“Damon has her. He’s introducing her around, and she’s having a ball. She… isn’t shy,” Chevalier said, and sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m not shy,” Emily said, and sat by the empty fireplace.
“No, just elusive.”
“I don’t want to go.”
Chevalier nodded, “I know, and I won’t ask you again. I would like for Allen and Alex to go though, it’s important for us to be open with them.”
Emily nodded, “That’s fine. By the way, don’t get mad at Mark and Silas for being… stinky.”
Chevalier laughed again, “I won’t. It was obvious what happened.”
Emily sat down with a book to eat dinner alone in her room. The coronation was under way, and she could hear the sounds of hundreds of the elite Equites gathered below her in the grand room. She glanced again to make sure her door was locked, and then started to eat. It had been a while since she’d eaten dinner alone, but preferred it over three hundred heku watching her every move.
Emily sighed and looked around after dinner. She was tired of reading, and nothing was on TV. She decided to take a bath and then go to bed early. She wanted to have another go at the mustang in the morning, and it would help her sore muscles relax. She sat in the tub for almost an hour as she read more of her book. Once she was entirely pruned, she got out and threw on one of the pink satin nightgowns, and then climbed into bed. She rolled over and looked at the ceiling, not quite ready for sleep.
Emily sat up suddenly when she noticed the entire palace was quiet. She frowned, wondering what would cause that many heku to fall completely silence. She knew that by now, they would be in the reception hall.
Unlocking the door, Emily peered out into the hallway and listened. She heard mad voices coming from the reception hall, and she stepped out to the floor’s foyer to listen better.
Emily’s heart missed a beat when a mad voice yelled, “Where is she?”
“We’ll kill one of the Council very ten minutes until the Winchester is brought to us,” another voice said.
Emily cringed and ran down the stairs, her bare feet padded softly on the tile. Having explored the palace numerous times before, she knew a back way that would take he
r behind the curtained stage of the reception hall. She stepped silently onto the stage and peeked through a tiny opening in the curtain.
Emily watched carefully, taking in what was going on in the reception hall. The council members were being restrained at the far end of the room, though she couldn’t see Chevalier or Damon. The guests were all sitting along the walls while angry heku in gray cloaks watched over them. She felt her anger rising when she saw a Valle holding Alexis, while another restrained Allen as he struggled to get away.
Emily didn’t care how mad her actions would make Chevalier, she had to do something. They were holding her children. Stepping through the curtain onto the stage, Emily balled her hands into fists and yelled toward the Valle that was speaking.
“Looking for me?”
The Valle turned toward her and hissed, his teeth showing menacingly, “Get her.”
“I don’t suggest that,” Emily said, narrowing her eyes at the few heku who headed toward her. They stopped and turned to look at their Commanding Officer.
“She can’t kill us all, now get her,” he ordered.
“Last warning,” Emily said, and they stopped again nervously.
“Shhh, it’s us,” Emily heard Mark say from behind her. She felt two heku move to her sides, but didn’t take her eyes off of the Commander.
The Valle laughed, “Two guards, you think that will help you? Get them all, now.”
Without taking her eyes from the Commander, the four heku that were headed for her fell to ash on the floor.
“You’ll pay for that,” he hissed at her. “I suggest you don’t do that again, or you’ll be punished for each of them.”
“Who’ll do the punishing? You?” Emily asked, and narrowed her eyes as he dropped to his knees, screaming in agony. The Valle around him stepped nervously away from him and looked up at Emily.
Emily released him and he stood up furiously, “You need to learn obedience!”
“Where’s Chevalier?”
“Oh, your precious Elder… I do believe he was the first to turn to ash. He didn’t like us playing with the wee ones,” he said, and smiled at the heku holding their children.
“I don’t see Damon,” Silas whispered.
Emily scanned the gathered heku and finally found the Valle’s Chief Enforcer, “I suggest you bring him back.”
“Who’s going to make me?” he asked haughtily.
“I will, and the next time I take your little knife, you’ll never see it again,” Emily told him, ignoring the gasps from Valle and Equites heku.
“If you touch the dagger again, I’ll drain you before you have time to so much as yell,” he hissed at her.
“Where’s Damon?”
“Yes, where is he?” the Valle asked Quinn.
Quinn shrugged and watched Emily. He no longer fought against the heku restraining him, there were too many.
“Seems he decided not to join this little party. I do hope he’s not dead,” the Chief Enforcer said, laughing.
Quinn and Maleth both turned around suddenly when they felt the restraining hands release. They glanced at the ground and then to Emily.
“Stop it! You have no idea who you’re messing with,” the Valle said angrily, when he saw the ash at the feet of the Equites Elders.
Emily felt a hand press against her lower back, supporting her. She wiped away the trickle of blood running down her lips and ignored the way her head began to pound.
“Emily, Stop,” she heard Damon whisper from behind her. “We can get them another way.”
“I know exactly who I’m messing with. I’m messing with a coward, one who desires something he’ll never get. A coward who attacks without provocation and one who doesn’t have the balls to come after a mortal woman by himself,” Emily said, clenching her jaw.
The Valle’s growl echoed through the silent reception hall, “How dare you speak to me like that.”
A brief scream stopped as suddenly as it had started and the rest of the Council found themselves no longer restrained.
“Sixty-five down,” Emily said to him.
“Emily, that’s enough,” Damon said, worried. “Let us take it from here.”
“I swear to you, you will pay for that,” he snapped at her.
“Will I pay for…” ten more Valle heku fell, “Those?”
“Yes, you will,” he growled.
“Maleth, take the baby,” she said, watching the Commander.
“Don’t give her up,” the Valle officer yelled. He watched in horror as the heku holding Alexis turned to ash just as Maleth reached out to take the baby. He caught her quickly and held her tightly to him, returning to where the Council stood.
“Seventy-six,” Emily whispered.
“We still outnumber you… and you, my Dear, are slowing down,” the Valle officer said, smiling.
“I don’t have to ash you all... just you…” Emily said, pointing at the Chief Enforcer, “And you…” She then pointed at the Commanding Officer.
“Rules of war etiquette, Child. The Commanding Officer and the Chief Enforcer aren’t to be harmed,” he said, still smiling.
“Those are the rules?” Emily asked Quinn.
Quinn nodded nervously.
“We mortals have a better rule… All’s fair in love and war,” Emily said as the Chief Enforcer for the Valle turned to ash.
“Such atrocities… we should have expected no more from a weak mortal. I’m amazed how you swear your allegiance to, and are willing to die for a faction that uses you like a purebred bitch.” The Commander smiled when he saw that he’d struck a nerve.
“Why are you here tonight?” she asked him, her eyes were glued to his.
“To bring you back to the Valle.”
“So you can turn me?”
“Perhaps. We have the infant now. You are no longer necessary as a mortal,” he said, and looked at Alexis.
Emily let her temper flare and over a hundred of the Valle fell to ash, their empty clothes scattered across the floor. She fell back a step, but a supporting hand held her up.
“What good would turning me be?” Emily asked, ignoring the fierce look in his eyes.
“Has no one told you?” he asked, grinning.
Another hundred of the Valle turned to ash before him. Now that the Equites outnumbered the Valle, the remaining Valle were restrained. The Commander, however, was still locked in conversation with Emily.
“Tell me.”
“Emily, come on,” Mark said, and he tried to pull her back away from the curtains, but she stood firm.
“Rumors… all speculation about what it would mean to have a heku Winchester,” he said, watching her loathingly. “Some say she would be the most powerful heku ever, with the ability to not only destroy but to revive at will. Some speculate that those who turn her would be granted her abilities. Others… believe it would end the bloodline.”
Emily frowned. She hadn’t heard most of this.
“Give the Equites time. Now that they have their child heku, and an infant Winchester heir, next they will find out which, if any of those are true,” the Commander said.
Hundreds of screams rose from the Valle as they burned slowly from the inside. The smell of burning flesh filled the air before they fell as ash against the floor.
“You’re growing tired. You can’t keep this up,” he said to her.
“I am so tired of the Valle and the Encala. Why don’t you just leave me alone?” she screamed. She felt not only the supporting hand on her back, but strong hands on her shoulders.
“We will never stop until we get what we want.”
“You’d rather every one of your faction turned to ash before you’ll grant me the peace that I deserve?”
He nodded.
“Fine… then so be it,” Emily said, and she lowered her head slightly as the hundreds of remaining Valle began to scream and clutch at their chests. The stench of burning flesh was sickening as a smoke filled the air. Emily concentrated harder. Her head w
as pounding, and she could feel blood trickle from her ears as she let her hatred for them flow until they fell to ash as a wave swept through the now silent hall.
“You watch, one day, you will pay for this,” the Valle Commander said, his voice was tense and fearful. He was the last Valle standing in a room full of Equites.
Emily sunk to her knees, still watching him. She tried to turn him to ash, but couldn’t muster up the fear or anger anymore. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her palms against her eyes, trying to stop the pain. She felt strong hands lay her against the wooden stage.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed, not caring who it was.
Emily managed to pull herself to her feet, using the wall as support. She heard loud noises behind her, the murmur of the Equites, and the screaming of the lone Valle as he was taken into custody by the elite guards. Her mind swam. The things around her looked familiar, but far away, as if they didn’t belong.
“Em,” she heard Chevalier say from behind her, but she jerked away from him when he touched her.
Emily saw a heku holding the baby and she stumbled over to them.
“Don’t touch her,” Emily said, and took Alexis from Quinn. He looked at Chevalier, but Chevalier’s attention was on Emily.
“Come on,” she said to Allen, and he followed her, too afraid to do anything else.
Emily finally made it to the garage, very much aware of the hundreds of heku gathered in the hallway to watch her. Their eyes were filled with concern and confusion, yet still amazed at what they had witnessed. They could smell fresh blood coming toward them, and most turned away or stepped outside to get away from it. Those who watched her saw the whites of her eyes turning blood-red.
“Where are you going?” Chevalier asked as Emily climbed into the Durango and sat the baby in the passenger seat. She reached out to start the car, but the keys were gone.
“Montana,” she whispered, and then looked around the floor for the keys, confused.
Taking Alexis, Emily stepped out of the Durango and almost fell as she moved into Quinn’s Zonda C12 F. Allen crawled into the passenger seat and held Alexis when she handed the baby to him. Again she couldn’t find the keys.
“Emily, no car in here has keys,” Chevalier said as he saw the last of the heku guards moving away from the garage with the keys in their hands.
Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series Page 31
