Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Emily got quickly to her feet when Patra stood up and the umbilical cord broke. She checked quickly for bleeding, but then sat back on the straw when everything seemed normal.

  “Hmm,” Chevalier said, frowning at Emily.

  “What?”

  “When I left you, you were in a gorgeous green number… now you’re in a guard’s shirt that’s about 8 times too big for you, and you’re covered in blood, straw, and goo,” he chuckled.

  “Teach you to leave me alone.” She laughed, and turned back to the colt.

  Within a few minutes, the colt managed to get unsteadily to his feet and began to nurse.

  “That was much faster,” Chevalier said. He remembered the length of time it took Patra’s first foal to nurse.

  Emily laid down on the straw and yawned into her hand. The Cavalry slowly began to return to their quarters, followed by the rest of the heku. Kyle stayed behind and watched the colt and mare together.

  Chevalier chuckled and picked up Emily’s wet and bloody t-shirt, “You really should stop stripping in front of the guards.”

  Emily kicked at him playfully, “She slimed me.”

  Allen appeared by Kyle and looked into the stall, unimpressed, “I see she finally popped it out.”

  Emily looked up at him. She was hopeful he would take the colt as his own, “Yes, a pretty colt.”

  Allen shrugged, “Yeah I guess. Kyle, you promised me a copy of War and Peace.”

  Kyle nodded, “Yeah sure, let’s go get it.”

  Kyle shrugged at Emily and walked off, following Allen.

  “It’s almost 3am, why don’t we just stay here for the night. By the time you got back to the island, it’d be time to get up,” Chevalier said.

  Emily sighed, though she desperately wanted to get back to the island, if they stayed at the palace, she could check on Patra and the colt first thing in the morning.

  “Yeah, ok.”

  Chevalier jumped up to his feet and put his hand out for Emily. She took it and let him pull her to her feet. She was exhausted. She ignored the gasps and stares she got when she walked into the palace covered in horse blood and straw. As soon as they got into the bedroom, she stripped and slowly crawled into the hot shower.

  “You asleep in there?” Chevalier asked during the long shower.

  “Shhhh, don’t wake me,” she said, and turned off the water. Chevalier wrapped a towel around her when she stepped out and kissed her softly.

  Emily pulled on an oversized t-shirt and crawled into bed, almost immediately falling to sleep. Chevalier smiled and pulled the heavy curtains in the room, so the morning sun wouldn’t shine in. He slipped off his clothes and slid into bed beside her, then wrapped his arms around her and watched the dreams that had already started.

  Chevalier relaxed as her dreams floated past his mind, swirls of horses and images of the ranch in Montana. The dream was about the dogs, horses, and cattle she cared so much about. Her emotions were soft and light. They were the emotions he felt from her when she was out riding.

  Just before Emily woke up, he ordered some breakfast and went in to get Alexis from her room. When he came out, Emily was pulling on jeans and a t-shirt quickly.

  “Eat some breakfast first,” Chevalier suggested.

  “I’ll grab something when I get back. I want to check on the colt, and then get back to the island,” Emily said, and ran out of the room.

  Chevalier sighed and sat down with Alexis so she could eat.

  “I thought maybe Mommy would want to stay after Patra delivered,” Chevalier said to Alexis.

  Alexis shook her head, “No, no.”

  “You too, eh? Do you want to stay?”

  “Si go,” she said, taking a bite of scrambled eggs.

  “No, Baby, Silas can’t go.”

  “Si go.” She frowned.

  “We’ll come back and check on Silas, ok?” he smiled softly at her.

  “I thought they were leaving last night,” Allen said, stepping into the room.

  “Your Mom wanted to check on the colt first. Watch the attitude, I’d much rather have them here,” Chevalier said angrily.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Allen shrugged and left for his classes.

  Emily let Patra and the colt out into the corral and then she stood against the fence and watched. The colt was bucking and kicking around while Patra grazed calmly on the grass.

  Emily turned and looked into the stables when she heard the meow of a cat. She frowned and walked into the stables, checking behind her to make sure she was alone.

  “Sam?” she whispered.

  “Come up here,” Sam whispered from the loft.

  Emily crawled up into the loft, again checking to make sure she was alone. She stood a ways from the familiar and eyed him suspiciously.

  “Where have you been?” Emily asked.

  “I’ve been with the Encala,” Sam said. “They want to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “They have an offer that I really think you should take.”

  “I can’t trust that!” Emily frowned.

  “I’m not lying to you. They are just outside of the city waiting for you,” Sam told her.

  Emily sighed, “So what? I got out there and get kidnapped… again.”

  “No,” Sam said. “There are only 3 of them, enough you can handle if they decide to do something stupid, but I assure you, their intentions are genuine.”

  “I suppose Vaughn is one of them?”

  Sam nodded, “Yes, but he has relinquished any claim he had on you.”

  “He never had a claim on me,” Emily hissed.

  “Emily?” Silas called from the stables.

  Emily’s eyes grew wide, “I’m cleaning up here, Silas. What do you need?”

  “Can we let some other horses out into the corral with the new horse?” he called up to the loft.

  “Yes, they’ll be fine,” Emily said, and watched Sam hide under the straw in his cat form. “Leave me one though. I’m going out for a bit.”

  “Ok, can I go with you?”

  Emily cringed, “No, I need to think.”

  She could hear Silas grumble as he started to walk horses out to the corral. Emily crawled back down and dug in the storage room until she found a large leather satchel. She grabbed the Smith & Wesson .357 that she kept loaded in the shed, and slipped it into the back of her jeans. Emily then returned to the loft and put Sam inside of the bag along with his clothes.

  “What’s that smell?” Silas asked, wrinkling his nose.

  “Not a clue,” Emily said, and led Kyle’s mare out into the stable. She slipped a bridle on the horse and jumped onto it bareback.

  “Are you sure I can’t go? I haven’t ridden in a while other than patrols,” Silas asked. He was looking at her suspiciously and sniffed at the air again.

  “No really, I just need to think for a while. I’m ok.” Emily smiled and then kicked the mare into a canter. As soon as she cleared the city gates, she laid the bag on the ground and Sam crawled out, and returned to his human form and got dressed.

  “Where to?” Emily asked, looking around the area.

  “South to the trees. They are in there a bit,” Sam said, and started to walk toward the trees.

  “I swear, if you’re lying to me…” Emily threatened.

  Sam smiled, “I’m not. You may like this offer.”

  Emily took the mare to the trees and slid off of her, and then tied her to a tree.

  She pulled the .357 out of her jeans and followed Sam into the dense forest. She kept a close eye out around her. Up ahead, she saw a large blanket laid out on the forest floor and three men sat on it. They all wore red capes and the center heku was Vaughn.

  Emily stopped as soon as she saw them, and held the gun tightly in her hand.

  “Please, come and sit with us,” the man on the left said to her, and smiled.

  “I’m fine here… why did you come?” Emily asked skeptically.

  “We are the Eld
ers for the Encala, and we have come with a peace offering, of sorts.” He smiled again at her.

  “We are alone,” the Elder on the right told her. “Please have a seat. If we misbehave, you may turn us to ash.”

  Emily inched closer and sat on the edge of the blanket. Her hand rested in her lap with the gun gripped tightly, “What kind of offer?”

  “You know Vaughn already. I am William and this is Koly.”

  Emily nodded, “Ok.”

  “You are unhappy here, are you not?” Koly asked her.

  Emily thought for a moment, “I guess it’s no secret that you are correct.”

  “You are restricted here, watched, guarded… maybe even controlled?”

  Emily nodded.

  “You have a free spirit, one that must be unrestrained and left to soar. That is the opinion of the Encala Council,” William told her.

  “Ok,” Emily said, watching them closely. She felt comforted by the weight of the gun in her hand, even though it would only slow them down.

  “We want to offer you that freedom.”

  “In exchange for what?” Emily asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “Peace,” Koly said, smiling.

  “How exactly do you figure on getting that?”

  “Our idea,” Vaughn said, “Is to give you your own coven, anywhere you want. You would be the sole leader of the coven… meaning you would set the rules, and punish those who didn’t follow. You would be your own master, and the heku in the coven would follow your every word.”

  “I don’t know how to lead a coven,” Emily reminded them.

  William smiled, “Oh but you do. With your own coven, you would never be told what to do. You would have complete autonomy in how you ran things.”

  Silas walked up to where Kyle, Zohn, and Chevalier were talking. They turned to him when he arrived, “Yeah, she was in the stables but she’s gone out for a ride.”

  “That’s good, that means she’s thinking about something,” Chevalier said, nodding.

  “Damn though, I can’t get that cat smell out of my nose. I hate those things. Why would we have a cat in the barn?” Silas asked.

  Kyle and Chevalier looked at each other quickly.

  “Damnit,” Chevalier growled, and blurred out of the palace and into the stables, followed by the others. He stopped in the stables and inhaled, smelling around the stable, “It’s him. How long ago did she leave?”

  “Thirty minutes ago, maybe a little longer,” Silas said, frowning. “What’s the panic?”

  “Sam in familiar form is a cat,” Kyle told him. “I can smell him in here.”

  “So she left with Sam?” Silas growled.

  “Her scent is stronger out here, won’t be hard to follow,” Zohn said, and blurred into the city.

  “How did you get the Valle to agree not to attack this coven of mine?” Emily asked them.

  Vaughn smiled, “They agree that it would be best for the Equites to lose the hold they have on you. It would humble them some. Both the Valle and the Encala factions believe that peace will come when you are out of Equites control.”

  “The Valle?” Emily frowned. “They tried to kill me last week… again.”

  “That was to protect themselves. They weren’t after you. They were destroying the boat,” William explained.

  “Yeah, with me on it.”

  “They are sorry, I assure you.”

  Emily looked down at the gun, giving herself time to think. Their offer had some appeal. Her own coven would mean freedom to do what she wanted. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be in control of that many heku though. However, if she had complete power over them, it would give her the ability to do whatever she wanted. She thought of raising Alexis in a place where no one tried to kill her or kidnap her, where no one would give her guards, or watch her every move.

  “Think about it, Emily,” Sam said. “I really think this is a good offer. I hate how the Equites treat you like a piece of property.”

  “Complete freedom,” Emily whispered, still thinking. Images ran through her mind of how her coven would act, how they would respect her, and do as she asked. Then the image of her ranch flew into her mind, the sounds of the fire raging, the images of the dead horses.

  “Child?” Koly asked when a tear slipped down her cheek.

  “You burned my ranch and killed fifteen of my horses… that was my life,” Emily said, getting angry.

  “That was not sanctioned by the Elders. That was a coven attack. I know you wouldn’t know this, but your ranch was within two miles of a large Encala coven, and they were nervous having you that close,” William explained.

  “Those horses had to have suffered,” Emily glared at them.

  “The coven is no longer there. They have been punished severely for that attack,” Koly said, and Emily saw true sadness in his eyes.

  “I’ll need to think about your offer. I don’t want to make a rash decision,” Emily said to them.

  “What offer might that be?” Kyle asked from behind her.

  Emily sighed and didn’t even turn around. The Encala Elders stood up and crouched slightly.

  “Go away, Kyle. This is a private meeting,” Emily said, and patted the blanket for the Encala to sit down.

  “A private meeting with the three Encala Elders? This should be interesting,” Zohn said.

  Emily finally turned to see who all was behind her, and then turned back to the Encala, “Sorry for the interruption.”

  Sam was still crouched slightly. He placed himself between Emily and the Equites. The Encala slowly sat down, but kept their eyes on the Equites.

  “I am assuming this is a limited time offer,” Emily said to them.

  Vaughn nodded, “Yes, we’ll need a decision within the month.”

  Emily nodded, “Ok, I’ll let you know. Give me a phone number, and I will call you when I decide.”

  Koly handed a card over to Emily, and she heard Chevalier growl when the Encala got near her. Koly sat back down by the other Encala Elders and Emily looked at the card.

  The Encala stood up and looked down at Emily, “We look forward to hearing from you.”

  Emily nodded, and watched as they blurred away. She turned to Sam, “Stand down.”

  Sam nodded and stood out of his crouch.

  “What was that all about?” Zohn asked her.

  “None of your business,” she said, and stood up from the blanket.

  “It is the Council’s business. Your little meeting could be construed as treason,” Zohn said calmly.

  Emily glared at him as Chevalier spoke, “No it’s not. She’s not held to the heku laws, and you know it.”

  “The Council will want to interrogate Sam though,” Kyle said.

  Emily gasped, “Not in that room!”

  Kyle shook his head, “No, just in the council chambers is all.”

  Emily nodded, “Sam, go back with them, answer them truthfully, but not a word about this offer.”

  Sam sighed, “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “You too, the Council will want to talk to you,” Zohn said.

  Chevalier glared at him, “I said, no.”

  “I’m going riding. I need to think,” Emily said, and walked past the Equites.

  Mark headed after her, but Chevalier stopped him, “Whatever offer they gave her, if we follow her or she feels threatened, she’ll run into it.”

  Mark sighed, “I guess you’re right.”

  Emily mounted the horse and kicked her into a gallop toward the hills. Zohn, Kyle, Mark, and Chevalier escorted Sam to the palace and called an emergency meeting of the Council. When they arrived, the Council was already in their chairs and looked at Sam, shocked. The three took their places, while Mark stood at Sam’s side, holding his shoulder.

  “Interesting, you have returned,” Quinn said, raising an eyebrow.

  “I have,” Sam said.

  “Where have you been?”

  “I have been with the Encala.”

  Quinn glanced at
Chevalier, “I see, and have you given them information about the Equites, like the palace layout, or coven locations?”

  “No, I have not,” Sam said.

  “What exactly have you talked about for this long?”

  “Emily”

  Maleth gasped, “You have been talking to the Encala about Emily? What about exactly?”

  Sam looked at the Elder, “Her likes and dislikes. Things I’ve seen here that she doesn’t agree with. Things that I’ve seen that would make her happy.”

  Chevalier frowned, “So you gave them the ammunition to make her an offer to come to their side?”

  Sam stood quietly.

  “She banned him from talking about the offer,” Zohn told the rest of the Council.

  “Offer?” Maleth asked Zohn.

  “Yes, Emily was in a meeting out in the forest with the Encala Elders. Now she’s off riding so she can consider it,” Zohn explained.

  Maleth looked at Chevalier, concerned, “She is actually considering it?”

  Chevalier nodded, “I believe so.”

  “We should bring her back here immediately,” Quinn said, frowning.

  “No, we shouldn’t. If we interrupt the process in any way, she’ll run to them. I can assure you of that. Emily is lost and desperately wants a place to call home,” Chevalier said, and looked down at his hands.

  “She’s not homeless. She has the palace,” Quinn said.

  Kyle spoke softly, “She doesn’t feel that she belongs anywhere. If the Encala offered her a place where she can fit in, it’s a better offer than we have given her.”

  “It concerns me that she met with the Encala Elders without our approval,” the Chief Investigator said. Chevalier frowned. He was one of the silent council members that Emily felt hated her because of his lack of communication.

  “Emily has never needed our approval to go between factions. She is free to do what she wants,” Maleth said. “If we limit that freedom in any way, we might as well throw her to the wolves.”

  Chevalier nodded, “I agree.”

  The Council all looked up when the trial doors swung open violently. Emily stepped in and her face was furious. She stormed over to Sam and before Mark could react, she balled her hand into a fist and punched Sam in the nose. He fell to his knees and yelled as blood poured out of his nose.