Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Emily frowned, “Well don’t… it’s private.

  “What would cause that?” Kyle asked.

  The memory of Chevalier forcing Emily to drink his blood flooded his mind before he shrugged, “No idea.”

  “Gah,” Emily said, and sat up, scratching her shoulders. “It’s itchy.”

  Chevalier leaned her forward and ran his hand softly across her neck and shoulders, “Rash.”

  Emily grimaced and stood up, “Ok, go back to your party.”

  “We aren’t going to leave you,” Kyle told her.

  “Just go. I’m going to go find some tape and some baking soda, and then I’m going to take a bath and go to bed,” Emily said, and headed out the door.

  Chevalier shrugged at Kyle and then they both headed downstairs to the reception.

  Chapter 26 - Kidnapping

  The Council all gathered early the next morning to start the day’s trials. They had a full day ahead of them, and none of them were looking forward to it. Zohn was sitting in Maleth’s seat, and the Chief Interrogator’s chair sat empty.

  “How is Emily this morning?” Quinn asked, thumbing through the docket for the day.

  “Sore, but not too bad I would imagine. She left early this morning and refused her guards,” Chevalier said, and turned toward Quinn.

  “So are we going to go save her now or wait until we’ve gone through a few cases?” Zohn asked.

  “Zohn… please,” Quinn said after Chevalier glared at him.

  “Derrick, get this started,” Kyle called out, trying to keep the Elders from turning on each other.

  Derrick came in, obviously bored, “Today’s first case is a housing dispute.”

  “Seriously?” Quinn asked, and rolled his eyes.

  “Great, my first day as an Elder and we get housing issues,” Zohn sighed.

  “Bring them in,” Chevalier said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “I said you could have it over my dead body,” the woman screamed.

  The man came in and looked desperately at the Council, “She didn’t, and she said I could have it.”

  Derrick grinned and shut the doors behind him.

  “It’s all yours, Zohn,” Quinn said, and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

  Chevalier grabbed a staffing roster and started looking through it.

  Zohn settled four domestic disputes and three feeding disputes before noon. Derrick stepped in again and Zohn looked at him and sighed, “What now?”

  “There’s… a… small…” Derrick looked behind him nervously and then back to the Elders. “Sorry, a large… terrifying, kidnapping issue.”

  Quinn finally looked down from the ceiling, “Do what?”

  “Someone got kidnapped?” Zohn asked.

  “It’s pretty much in progress,” Derrick said, and gave a crooked grin.

  Chevalier looked from Quinn to Zohn and then to Derrick, “Who exactly is getting kidnapped?”

  Derrick jerked back away from something and then stepped away from the door. Mark appeared with his hands handcuffed behind his back and walked into the council chambers.

  “I tried to stop…” Mark was cut off with a smack to the back of his head.

  A tiny figure stepped out from behind him. She was in all black with a black ski mask pulled down over her face, and a cattle prod in her hand.

  Emily forced Mark to his knees and walked around him toward the Council, the cattle prod pointed toward them.

  “What’s going on?” Chevalier asked her.

  “Ssssh,” she said, and put her finger to the lips of the ski mask.

  “We’re very busy and don’t have time for your games,” Zohn said, and watched Emily walk up behind the Council. She didn’t say a word, but stepped behind Kyle and pulled him up to standing.

  “Am I getting kidnapped?” Kyle asked her, as she pulled his hands behind his back and handcuffed them.

  “Don’t waste your breath, she won’t talk,” Mark said, watching them.

  Emily pushed Kyle ahead of her and stopped at Chevalier. She pointed the cattle prod at him and motioned for him to stand. He grinned and stood up. She pulled his hands behind his back and handcuffed them.

  “This is stupid, nothing but child’s play,” Zohn said, and stood up to turn toward Emily.

  Emily touched the cattle prod to his arm, and he fell suddenly to the floor.

  Quinn turned away, hiding a grin, and Emily pushed Kyle and Chevalier forward. They went with her, not sure what she was trying to do. Mark stood up as they passed and she pushed him towards the rest.

  Zohn was scowling as she led them out of the council chambers and shut the door.

  “What was that?” the Chief Investigator asked Quinn.

  “I do believe, they are taking the day off,” he said, and laughed.

  “This is absurd! This isn’t some game she can come and disrupt,” Zohn said angrily.

  “Get over it, Zohn, we’re free for the day,” Quinn said, and left.

  Emily pushed the three heku out past the door guards, threatening them with the cattle prod when they asked any questions. They did what she asked, and she walked them out to the stables, where four horses were waiting, saddled and ready.

  Emily pulled off the black ski mask, laughing, “Now you have the day off.”

  The heku broke the handcuffs off and walked over to their horses.

  “Unorthodox, but ok,” Mark said, and mounted.

  Chevalier saw Emily struggle to get on Patra and lifted her up. She gripped her side and settled into the saddle.

  “Zohn’s pissed,” Kyle said, and mounted his horse.

  “He’ll live,” Chevalier said. “It was so boring in there today!”

  “Do try to keep up,” Emily said, and kicked Patra into a gallop through the city.

  She heard the hoof beats from behind her, but kept her lead as they ran through the streets of Council City. Cavalry waved as they passed and watched them fly out of the city. Emily led the way and was soon out to the east on the hills and heading for the trees. She didn’t slow down but disappeared into the dense trees, weaving Patra in and out of the woods.

  The three heku fought to keep up with her and tried to keep from knocking themselves out on low tree branches. Still at a gallop, Emily emerged from the trees and ran Patra across the rocky slope down toward the small stream. The others followed her as quickly as their horses would go, and enjoyed the feeling of ditching work.

  Emily lowered her head, still clutching her painful side, and pulled Patra into a jump over the water. The mare landed smoothly and she crossed the field toward the broken fence. The others followed suit and jumped the stream, finally catching up to Emily when she stopped Patra alongside two black Suburbans and the three red sports that were abandoned on the road.

  Kyle slid off of his mare and ran his hand along one of the cars, “Do you know what these are? Lamborghini Reventons. Only 20 of these are out there.”

  Mark followed him and peered inside, “They have 640 horsepower v12 engines that can go from 0 to 60 in 3.3 seconds and can get up to 211 miles per hour.”

  “Some reason why we’re here?” Chevalier asked, admiring the three cars.

  He looked back at Emily and she was holding three keys in her hand. Kyle and Mark turned to her also, and their jaws dropped.

  “What? Where did you get these?” Chevalier asked suspiciously.

  “They belong to the Valle,” Emily explained. “This is what they were chasing me in. Now the owners are dead.”

  Mark grinned, “Where’d you get the keys?”

  “I went through the Valle goo this morning and found them.” Emily dangled the keys again.

  “Can we have these?” Kyle asked the Elder.

  Chevalier shrugged, “The owners are dead?”

  Mark nodded, “If they are owned by the Valle chasing Emily, then yes, they are dead.”

  “Do we still have a document forger?” Kyle asked, opening the door on one of t
he cars and looking inside.

  “Yes, we do.” Chevalier grinned and slid off of his stallion. He reached up and took the keys from Emily’s hand and tossed a key to each of them.

  Emily laughed at the look on their faces, like seemed like little boys looking at the holy grail of cars. She watched as they each found the car that went with their key and adjusted the seats to fit them comfortably.

  Chevalier was the first to peel out and take off at a dangerous speed down the narrow winding road. Kyle soon followed, and then Mark after grinning broadly at Emily.

  Emily gathered the reins and headed back through the trees, leading the three extra horses behind her. It was easier to keep the right course during the day, and there was enough damage done to the trees and brush from the twenty Valle running after her that she had a trail to follow. She steered clear of the carnage that still cluttered part of the forest floor. She had already spent a considerable part of the morning going through bloody clothing looking for the keys.

  When Emily cleared the trees, she saw three heku blurring towards her and she stopped and waited for them.

  Chevalier, Mark, and Kyle stopped at her and they were still laughing about something.

  “I figured you’d all drive to Denver and back before I’d see you again,” Emily said, and handed them the reins.

  “Those are some amazing cars,” Mark said, beaming.

  “Did you see the look on Zohn’s face? That’s his dream car,” Kyle laughed.

  Emily cringed, one more thing he would hate her for.

  “So now that we’ve been kidnapped for the day, what do you say we go have a look at the Durango?” Chevalier asked, and mounted his pesky Arabian.

  Mark and Kyle both slid onto their horses easily, and Emily nodded, “Sure, but it’s not going to be pretty.”

  They headed back into the woods, slower this time.

  “Zohn said that Quinn canceled the rest of today for the entire Council,” Kyle told Chevalier.

  “I figured, I’ve never seen such a boring lineup. When did we become the civil police?” Chevalier sighed.

  “Why don’t you let the Cavalry handle those issues, leave the important things for the Council? That would give the Council more time off, and they could focus on the big things and not the little city stuff,” Emily said. She turned around when the other three stopped, “What?”

  Chevalier looked at Mark, “Could your Cavalry do that?”

  Mark nodded, “Yes, I know about the house dispute between Gerty and Sid. Stuff like that would be easy to handle on the spot.”

  Kyle shrugged, “It’s a good idea, but tradition would need to be changed.”

  Chevalier clicked his tongue, and the Arabian headed off again, “I’m going to bring it up.”

  “It would be so nice to give you all a day off once in a while,” Emily said. She headed around the bloody gore again, but the other three stopped at the edge of the massacre and looked over it.

  “Impressive,” Chevalier said, and smiled.

  “It was quite fun,” Mark said. “They’ve asked me if Emily can bring Valle to each of our parties.”

  “Oh ha-ha,” Emily said, and headed around the bodies.

  “I wish I would have been there. It would have been way more interesting than the reception,” Kyle said, and followed her.

  “I haven’t had a good fight in a while, I wish I could have been there too,” Chevalier said, and shrugged when Emily turned around. “When do we get to christen the new car?”

  “Chev!” Emily yelled, and looked at him with wide eyes.

  “Christen a car?” Kyle asked.

  Emily shook her head and turned to face forward again.

  She came out of the trees a few yards south of the Durango and stopped Patra when she got to it. Emily tied Patra up to the Durango’s trailer hitch and opened the door. She turned the key, and it didn’t even try to turn over.

  Chevalier popped the hood while Kyle climbed underneath it.

  “Damn, what did you do to this?” Kyle asked, and there was a loud grinding sound from under the front end.

  Mark walked up with a twisted piece of metal, “Here’s the muffler. It was about a hundred yards back.”

  Chevalier sighed and shut the hood, “Honey, I think it’s gone.”

  Emily frowned, “Can’t we tow it in to get fixed?”

  “Not with this kind of damage, the entire underside is torn up,” Kyle said, and brushed himself off when he stood up. “There’s a bent controller arm and subframe, the suspension is blown out, you lost a tire a few yards back and the rims are damaged. The shocks and motor mounts are trashed and there’s a crack in the engine block.”

  “Oh, is that all?” Emily asked, and leaned her head against the steering wheel.

  “Why don’t you take one of the Reventons?” Mark asked.

  Emily sighed and ran her hand along the dash board, “Those aren’t cars… this… is a car.”

  She ignored the shocked look on their faces and pulled the keys out of the ignition.

  “We’ll get you anything you want, but this Durango, is gone,” Chevalier said, and touched her arm softly.

  Emily sighed, “She saved me when I needed her to.”

  Kyle hit Mark when he started to laugh.

  “Come on, Em. Let’s go find you a new car,” Chevalier said, and handed Patra’s bridle to her.

  Emily nodded, “Yeah, I guess. Though the Valle are going to pay for this.”

  Chevalier lifted Emily up onto the horse, “So they can beat you up, and attack the guards, but if they hurt your car… you are going to get revenge?”

  Emily sighed, “I liked that car.”

  Chevalier chuckled, “Let’s go car shopping.”

  “I get to drive!” Kyle yelled, and jumped onto his horse.

  “I’d love to, but I have training tonight,” Mark said, and mounted his horse. “Besides, I doubt you’ll get three of you into the Lamborghini, let alone the four of us.”

  Chevalier handed the bridle to the Arabian up to Mark and then slid onto Patra behind Emily. He nibbled on her neck and shoulders most of the way back to the palace as Emily gently ran her fingernails along his forearms, which were wrapped around her. Mark and Kyle stayed back respectfully and talked about their new cars.

  Once at the palace, Mark headed for the barracks while Kyle, Emily, and Chevalier put the horses away and talked about what type of vehicle to get her. Kyle got into the driver’s seat of his Lamborghini and Chevalier slid into the passenger’s seat.

  Emily looked in the car and frowned, “There’s no backseat?”

  Chevalier pulled her onto his lap, “No, most $1.6 million cars don’t have a backseat.”

  He shut the door, and Kyle spun the tires as he sped out of the garage with the heku guards watching enviously.

  Kyle suggested a dealer of rare imports, and when they pulled in, the salesmen swarmed around the rare car.

  “We should have brought the Humvee,” Emily said, and crawled out of the car.

  “Hello, Ma’am,” one of the salesmen said, and came to shake her hand. He looked up with wide eyes when the two tall men stepped out of the car. He glanced at the cut and black bruise on Emily’s cheek and swallowed dryly before speaking, “What can we show you today?”

  “Trucks,” Emily said, and the salesman glanced at Chevalier and Kyle quickly before smiling at Emily.

  “Sure thing, trucks… I have just what you need,” he said, and touched the small of Emily’s back to lead her to the truck.

  Kyle grabbed Chevalier when he clenched his fist, as the mortal touched Emily.

  The salesman walked up to a truck that stood taller than any Emily had ever seen. It was hulking and looked more like a tank than a truck.

  “What is that?” Emily asked, walking around the truck.

  “It’s the Dartz Monaco Red Diamond Edition. Best truck out there. It has bullet and grenade proof windows, bulletproof tires, Tungsten Exhaust, and white gold gaug
es with diamonds and rubies,” he said, running his hand along the shiny red paint.

  “Erm… what’s the engine?” Emily asked as she climbed up to look into the back end.

  “Check out the white gold diamond and ruby encrusted grill, side and dashboard. It also has a mobile phone with alert button and… quite unique… whale penis leather interior,” the salesman smiled.

  Emily dropped down and looked at him, “It has what kind of interior?”

  “Come feel the leather, the whale penis leather is the softest in the world,” he said, and opened the door for her.

  Emily cringed as Kyle and Chevalier laughed beside the large truck.

  “No, thanks,” she said, and walked over to the heku.

  “Come on, it’s amazingly soft,” the man said, and ran his hand along the seat.

  “Ermmm… no thanks… I wouldn’t… want to… cheat on my husband… can we go?” Emily asked, and headed back for the car.

  The salesman quickly ran to Emily and grabbed her arm, “Just come take a look.”

  Chevalier put his hand on the salesman’s shoulder, “Get your hand off or you’ll lose it.”

  Kyle hurried Emily and Chevalier back into the car and sped off.

  “Nice car dealership, Kyle,” Emily said, and shook her head.

  Chevalier sat quietly as he calmed his temper.

  “Jeep!” Emily yelled, and pointed to a dealership.

  Kyle pulled in and they stepped out again amidst the gathering of salesmen. The first one to shake Emily’s hand and talk to her stayed, smiling, but the others grumbled and walked off.

  “Do you have a 2-door Rubicon?” Emily asked.

  “Sure do, Ma’am. Come this way,” he said, and started to walk down aisles of Wranglers.

  Chevalier stepped up behind her and put his hand on her back while Kyle followed along behind them. The salesman stopped in front of four Jeep Rubicons, and Emily pulled away from Chevalier and ran her hand along the dark green Jeep.

  “It’s a nice, solid vehicle for off-roading. It has rock rails and off road bumpers. This green one here has the hard top. The top and the doors are all removable. They all have the anti-lock brakes and, of course, 4-wheel drive,” the salesman said.