“Stay calm, Sweetheart, taking you to the General,” she heard someone say to her.
Emily nodded. She thought that was perfect. They were going to take her to whomever was leading this attack. She was thrown over the shoulder of a large heku and felt the wind fly past her as she was blurred out of the castle. Just as the sounds of the ocean grew closer, she was set down and her mouth was uncovered.
“Damnit, Vick, you shouldn’t carry her like that! It can hurt the baby,” a gruff voice growled.
“Sorry, Sir… I didn’t realize that.” His voice sounded tense and panicked.
Emily sighed, irritated.
“Oh, he’ll be pleased we found her though,” a voice said.
“So glad to oblige,” Emily said, grinning.
“Did he hurt you, Child?”
“Nope.” Emily was trying to hide the excitement from her voice.
She swayed slightly when the ground moved out from under her as she felt the familiar rocking of a boat. The engines started up and the sounds of the waves breaking on the beach began to fade.
“Good, good. I’m very pleased,” someone said from behind Emily. His voice was soft, yet confident, and it sent a shiver up her spine.
“You might as well take the blindfold off,” Emily said calmly.
“And allow you to turn us to ash? I think not.”
Emily chuckled, “Like a blindfold’s ever kept me from it.”
The boat suddenly grew silent and Emily just stood quietly, waiting for the heku to say something. She could hear whispers, but wasn’t able to tell what they were saying.
“All the same, we leave the blindfold on,” she heard from a different voice beside her.
Emily shrugged, “Have it your way.”
“Have a seat, Child,” she heard, and someone took her arm and led her to a soft chair. As she sat down, she felt a handcuff tighten onto each wrist and discovered she’d been restrained to the chair.
“Are you comfortable?” someone asked her.
“Handcuffs aren’t really my thing, but sure,” she said, smiling.
“Do you require sustenance?”
“You mean am I hungry? No, I’m fine.”
“Good, we weren’t planning on having a mortal on board, not sure what we could scrounge up.”
There were whispers again, and the one Emily thought might be the leader finally spoke, “How far along are you?”
“You need to stop listening to Damon,” Emily told him.
“Why is that? Though, it’s hard to listen to him when he’s been banished.”
“Who are you?” Emily asked him.
“You don’t know me. I’m Chris, the Valle’s Chief Interrogator.”
“So you replaced Exavior?”
“Yes,” Chris said, and Emily heard him move a chair up to her.
“Well, Chief Interrogator… I’m not pregnant.”
“Until you cooperate, you can stay down in the hold,” he said, and the room grew quiet.
Emily sighed and tried to slip out of the restraints. She couldn’t ash the boat if she wasn’t able to get loose. Without being able to see, they felt like regular handcuffs, but they were tight enough she couldn’t even begin to slip her hand out.
Emily sat back and waited for someone to come down again. It seemed like hours passed before she heard someone sit in the chair in front of her.
“Are you ready to talk?” Chris asked.
“I am. I have a question first though.”
“What might that be?”
“Aren’t Chief Interrogators supposed to be able to detect when someone’s lying to them, or is it just Zohn that can do that?”
“We all can, it comes with experience.”
“Ahh, I see, and you’re new, so I guess you are just learning, maybe not very good at it yet,” Emily told him. She heard a hiss and the chair slammed back against a wall.
“How far along are you?” Chris asked angrily.
“I’m not pregnant. You should be able to smell that,” Emily said again, accentuating each word.
“You will tell me,” Chris yelled, and stormed out of the room.
Emily shrugged and then listened carefully when the engines to the boat turned off. She couldn’t hear the lapping of waves, and wondered if they were anchored out in the ocean.
“Hey geniuses… why don’t you walk your little selves into a grocery store and buy a pregnancy test? I pee on it, and you’ll see that you were all lied to,” Emily called out.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? Have us pull in to shore so your little Equites could come and rescue you?” Chris said from behind her.
“Yes because I have contact with them as we speak, and my implanted GPS system has given them our exact location.” Emily was going to say more, but stopped when Chris slapped her.
Chris hissed, “Respect, Child.”
“You hit like my grandmother.”
When Chris’s fist connected with her face, it threw the chair back and she landed hard against the floor.
“Respect,” he said again. Chris righted her chair and then left, slamming the door behind him.
Emily sighed, “Ok, so that one hurt,” she said to no one, and flexed her jaw.
“Are you ready to talk?” Chris asked when he came back.
“Yes,” Emily nodded.
“How far along are you?”
“Three months,” Emily said softly. She knew how to play this game.
“See, how hard was that?”
Emily jumped when she felt an ice pack pressed against the side of her face, “I don’t need that, thanks.”
“Very well,” Chris said, and she heard him sit down in the chair. “Is the Elder the father?”
“No,” Emily said. She figured why bother telling the truth at all now.
“Your essence ring is still on, do not lie to me.” He was getting angry.
“It wasn’t infidelity. It was Chevalier’s idea to let Damon have a go.”
“Damon is the father?” Chris asked.
“Yes”
“Interesting,” Chris said, obviously thinking it through.
“He wasn’t interesting at all, he had a little dick,” Emily said, and grinned some.
“Do you always speak what’s on your mind?”
“Yes, pretty much.”
“Do you find that often gets you into trouble?”
“Yes”
Chris sighed, “Slow learner then aren’t you?”
“Me? Haven’t the Valle learned anything from trying to take me in the past?”
“Such as?”
“Such as… it never works, and when I retaliate, heku tend to turn to ash,” she explained.
“Yes, we are aware of that and have taken precautions.”
“Your little handcuffs are hurting me,” Emily said truthfully.
“I bet they are, but we can’t risk taking them off.”
“Loosen them at least before I lose a hand.”
Chris chuckled, “No… however, I will move you to the bed for the night.”
Emily tensed. The last time she’d been restrained to a bed by the Valle, the pain had been excruciating. She felt her hands come loose from the chair, and Chris helped her to her feet and led her to a bed. She laid down and her hands were both fastened above her to the headboard. She relaxed some when she realized the position wouldn’t cause the muscle spasms.
“Good night, Child,” Chris said, and Emily was alone again.
She slipped in and out of sleep all night. She wasn’t tortured by muscle pain, but staying flat on her back all night wasn’t very comfortable. What Emily assumed was the next morning, she heard the door open.
“We have more questions for you,” Chris said, and released the handcuffs from the bed. He moved Emily back into the chair and refastened them.
“Can I have one hand?” she asked him, and after he laughed, he let her right hand go.
Emily smiled slightly.
“Do you know
where the political prisoners are kept?” Chris asked.
“No, I know where the regular prison is,” she said.
Chris sighed, “Don’t lie to me, Child. I want to know where Selhman and Ingram are.”
“How am I supposed to know that?”
“We know all about you. You spend a lot of time down in the prisons, and we need to know where they are.”
“Yeah… well… I don’t stop and ask everyone’s name.”
“Where are they?” Chris yelled, slamming his fists onto Emily’s chair.
“I don’t know!” Emily yelled back.
She heard Chris sit back down and when he spoke, his voice was calm, “I find it hard to believe that you, of all people, don’t know where these prisoners are.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You’re nosey. You go where you don’t belong, you ask what you shouldn’t, and you know more than any mortal should,” Chris told her.
Emily frowned, “Nice.”
“Tell me what I want to know and we’ll let you free.”
“You would not… I may not be 9,000 years old, but I wasn’t born yesterday.” Emily could feel her temper rising, something she reveled in. She would need that anger to retaliate.
“I’m sure the Equites would gladly trade two small prisoners for the Winchester, especially the pregnant Winchester,” Chris said, and he sounded pleased with himself.
Emily felt the familiar pull as she was able to draw from the emotions and ready herself for the attack, “I don’t need to see.”
“What do you mean?” Chris asked, and she heard him stand up quickly.
“You made the same mistake the Encala did… assuming I have to be able to see to attack.” Emily grinned.
She heard a frantic commotion moments before letting go and sending out waves of anger. The boat fell silent and Emily slipped off her blindfold. She shielded her eyes against the bright light until they adjusted, and then looked around.
The boat was about as big as the one Chevalier had. Emily was in a red stateroom that was lavishly decorated with vases and delicate statues. One handcuff dangled from her right wrist, and she was able to kick at the arm of the chair to free the other hand. Moving quickly up the stairs, she looked out over the ocean. There was no land in sight. The deck was covered in ash, and she wiped a trickle of blood from her nose.
Emily moved swiftly through the boat to make sure no heku was left alive, and ended her search on the bridge. Brushing the ashes from the Captain’s chair to the floor, she sat down and looked at the controls. They were the same as the ones David taught her to use, but she had no idea which way to go to get back to the island.
She heard quiet voices over the radio, so she reached over and turned it up.
“Council City is clear, heading back to base,” she heard a man say.
“Copy that, Island Coven is clear, team ten heading back to base,” a woman said a few seconds later.
There was static and a soft voice said, “Base, Team 4 leaving Thukil.”
Emily frowned. She wasn’t sure if the Valle had wiped out the city and the island, or if they were just clearing their forces.
“Navis did you copy? All heading back to base,” a female said.
There was a long pause.
“Navis do you read?” she asked again.
“Team ten to Navis,” a man said.
Emily picked up the microphone, “Is Navis the boat?”
There was silence for a few moments.
“Who is speaking?” the woman asked.
“Angela, I’m out with Chris, but he’s busy with the Winchester,” Emily said, and grinned.
“Yes, Angela, the boat is Navis. Tell Chris to return to base with her,” the woman said, irritated.
“Roger that,” Emily said, and started flipping through the channels on the radio until she heard idle chatter.
“No, the damn fish were not biting up there,” she heard a man say, irritated.
“Yes they were. You’re just not using the right bait,” someone answered him.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I could use some help,” Emily said into the microphone.
“Well hello, Ma’am, how can we help?” another stranger said.
“If I give you my coordinates, can you tell me which direction to head to get back to northern Maine?” She knew that sounded childish and uncertain, but that’s all she could think of.
“We can try, what’s your location, Darlin?”
“Please don’t think I’m stupid, but I don’t really know how to read this… I’ll give you the numbers.”
“Ok, are you out here alone, Ma’am? You sound like you’re in trouble,” one of them asked.
“I’ll be ok if I can just get back to Jonesport, Maine. So… 42 degrees, 58’35 point 39 north and 67 degrees, 29’31 point 84 west.”
“If you head northwest, you should come close.”
Emily nodded and started up the engines.
“I’m only about an hour from you, Ma’am. Why don’t I come help?” he asked.
“No, no, I can find my way, thank you,” Emily said, and turned the radio back to the Valle channel.
Emily tapped the compass. She knew it always pointed north, or was supposed to, but she’d always been irritated how it fluctuated though, and if you tapped it, it could point the complete opposite direction. Emily searched around and found a clock, it was 11am.
Pointing the boat away from the sun, Emily kicked up the engines and headed off toward the northwest. While the boat slowly made its way back to Maine, Emily found a broom and started sweeping ashes into the Atlantic Ocean. She guessed everyone would be upset about that, but she didn’t care.
Once the ashes were swept into the water, she started nosing around. The boat was mostly empty. There were no personal belongings, or any sign that anyone was staying there. She did find one door marked ‘office,’ but it was locked. It took a lot of kicking and then one strategically placed hit with a hammer before the door opened.
Emily sat down at the desk and started looking through papers. Not much of it made sense. Most were papers about disciplinary action against members of the Valle or crew rosters. She flipped open a large book and thumbed through the pages. It was an atlas with little names handwritten on some of the pages. She paused on the map of Rhode Island when she saw the name “Exavior” written in long-hand above one of the cities.
“Hrm… idiots,” Emily said, and shut the book. The other book on the desk looked like a journal, but when she opened it, it was more like a chronological outline of the Winchester family. Emily turned to the back of the book where she saw herself listed with Allen, Alexis, and then Baby3. She laughed when she saw that Chevalier was listed as the father of the first two, and Damon of the unnamed baby.
Emily started searching the office for anything else of importance, but all she could find was an empty briefcase. She put the map book and the Winchester book into the brief case, along with all of the papers from the desk, then she shut it and took it with her up onto the deck.
Emily ran for the bridge when she heard the radio.
“Navis, why are you not returning to base?” the woman asked again, aggravated.
Emily picked up the microphone, “What makes you think I’m not heading to base?”
“We show you heading west of the staging area. Head back to base this instant. The Elders want to talk to the Winchester immediately,” the woman demanded.
Emily cringed. She hadn’t considered they had GPS on the boat. She scanned the area for any boats and sighed.
“Fine, I was going to leave this as a little surprise… but… this is actually Emily. I ashed your entire crew,” she said, and heard only silence for a few minutes. “Hello?”
“This is no time for jokes, Angela,” an angry man said.
“If I see one boat approach me, they’ll be ash before you can read the name of this boat. Is that understood?” she asked sternly.
The channel f
ell silent and Emily kicked the boat up faster. She ignored the whine in the engines. She was in a race for Maine, and had to get to the island before the Valle caught up with her.
Emily turned the radio over to scan and sat back to watch. From the Captain’s chair, she had a 360 degree view of the ocean. She searched for binoculars but didn’t find any. She supposed with the eyes of a heku, they wouldn’t need them.
Hours passed as Emily watched the compass and the location of the sun, and tried to keep a heading going directly northwest. Just before dark, she saw land approaching and turned the boat north, hoping to run into something familiar. She’d been on the ferry enough at Jonesport, that she hoped she could find the town from the water, but she knew it would be hard in the dark.
Emily stopped the engines and slipped on the large coat that was on the back of the Captain’s chair when it got cold. She also put on the Captain’s hat and tucked her hair up into it.
She sat back and watched waves pass as she waited for the sun to rise so she could see better. Just as the sun was coming up, she saw a helicopter off in the distance, heading away from the land.
Emily grabbed for the microphone when she heard Kyle’s voice, “Equites 1, you are clear for the north lawn.”
“Kyle?” she asked into the microphone.
“Copy, Island,” someone responded.
“Kyle?” Emily asked again, and then listened.
“Equites 1, can you hear me?” she asked when no one answered.
“Equites 2 from Island,” Emily heard Kyle say.
“Equites 2 here.”
“ETA?”
“Thirty minutes, Island.”
“Copy, you’re clear for the roof,” Kyle said.
“Kyle!” Emily screamed into the microphone.
“Thukil 1 arriving at Island in ten minutes,” she heard a voice say.
“Copy, clear for East lawn,” Kyle said.
Emily looked up as she saw another large helicopter fly overhead. She turned the boat to follow it, and pushed it into full speed.
“Island, you have a boat approaching,” she heard a man say, and felt relieved.
“I.D., Thukil?” Kyle asked.
“Colors suggest Valle, though I see no one on board,” the pilot said.
“Equites 1 and Equites 2, join Thukil. Powan, are you near us?” Kyle asked.
Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series Page 43
