Sotomar nodded, “She has overcome a lot.”
“Are we sure she’s not been turned?” William asked. “I mean… I’ve seen the mortal smell last for a few days.”
Chevalier lifted the blanket discreetly and looked at the mark on her chest, “It didn’t puncture the rib cage… she couldn’t have turned.”
Kyle, too furious to sit still, leaned over and touched Mark on the shoulder, “Mark!”
The others looked at the General, but he didn’t move.
“So that’s what happens when you try to turn a Winchester,” Sotomar said softly. “She wipes out the entire coven… not dead… not ash… just… gone.”
“Don’t talk about her!” Kyle growled at him. “If you hadn’t brought him back, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“I didn’t know…” Sotomar whispered.
“You should have! You knew he was after her.”
The Valle Elder had nothing else to say, he knew Kyle was right, and felt the weight of what happened on his shoulders.
William’s phone rang and he answered it in whispers, “William here.”
There was a pause while he listened, “Yes, do it.”
He shut the phone and turned to Chevalier, “There were 1,193 Ferus in the caves, all have been disposed of. We are setting explosives to block the entrance and leaving them there to rot.”
Chevalier nodded and watched as the pilot gently set Equites 1 down on the palace roof.
Kyle was first out of the helicopter, “Clear out, general quarters!”
The guards blurred away immediately and the palace corridors emptied.
Chevalier jumped out with Emily in a cradle and quickly blurred into her room, where Dr. Cook was waiting.
The doctor hissed as he ran his eyes over her, taking in the cuts, the bites, and the bloody ankles and wrists. He pulled out his bag and dug through it, pulling out his stethoscope. He moved the blanket and gasped at the cut on her chest before listening to her heart.
“Her heart is strong,” he whispered.
Chevalier looked up when Quinn and Zohn came in.
“Kyle filled us in,” Quinn whispered.
“Where are her guards?”
“They are in the infirmary, still unconscious.”
“Breathing’s good,” the doctor said aloud. He took out a yellow salve and began gently applying it to all of her wounds.
The Elders watched as he carefully took care of her.
“She has thirteen bites and 43 cuts on her… Those cuts have had salt thrown into them,” he growled angrily as he wrapped gauze around one of her wrists. “We won’t know the damage to her back until she wakes up, though there’s odd bruising on it.”
“They had her on a log,” Chevalier whispered.
The doctor nodded and started to wrap gauze around her other wrist.
“Mommy?” Alexis asked timidly from behind them.
Chevalier turned quickly and ushered her out of the room, “What do you need, Alex?”
“I want to see her.”
Chevalier knelt down so he was closer to her height, “She’s hurt pretty bad right now. We’ll let you talk to her when she wakes up, ok?”
Alexis nodded, “She says she’s hurt a lot.”
“This one’s different,” he explained. “This one was done to her on purpose.”
“Who?” Alexis asked, frowning.
Chevalier sighed, “Exavior.”
She looked around the hallway, “Where is he?”
“He’s dead.”
“Will she be ok?” Alexis asked, her voice soft and concerned.
“I don’t know.”
She nodded and pulled away from him, “I better take Dain down for lunch.”
Chevalier nodded, and then returned to Emily’s side when Alexis headed down the stairs.
Dr. Cook stood up and looked down on Emily, “Leave her as she is, on top of the covers. I want those wounds covered in salve and untouched by even sheets, it may lessen the pain from them.”
Chevalier nodded and began to stoke the fires to warm the room.
“I’d like to stay in here,” Dr. Cook said.
“Yes, please,” Chevalier told him, and moved to the second fire.
“If you need us… just call,” Quinn said, and shut the door when he and Zohn left.
Over the next six days, the heku watched over her as she slept. The guards in the infirmary lay as motionless as she did, and no one was able to wake them. The Valle were cut off from all communication with the Equites, and only the Encala were able to get information updates on Emily’s recovery, which they then enjoyed keeping from the Valle.
“Her wounds are really looking good. She’s healing well,” the doctor said on the morning of the 7th day.
Chevalier nodded, “I see that, though the bites look worse than the cuts.”
“As is…” Dr. Cook stopped talking when Emily sighed softly.
As previously decided, to ensure the safety of Council City, when Emily began to wake, her room was to be filled with the Cavalry and any sign of the concentration it took to turn a city to ash, she was to be immediately sedated. Any violence left-over from Yisolatara was to be dealt with directly by the Cavalry, and not any of the Council, including Chevalier.
“In,” Dr. Cook whispered, and the entire Cavalry filed into the room and stood back against the walls. A deathly silence filled the palace.
Emily’s hand twitched slightly and her eyes fluttered open. She blinked a few times and looked at the ceiling.
“Emily?” Jaron whispered softly, and touched her arm.
She met his eyes and jerked her hand away from him, gasping. He moved a step back when her cautious eyes bored into his.
The heku in the room were perfectly silent as they watched her for the telltale signs. Jaron was elected to be the main point of contact, until they could ascertain her memory and mental status.
Jaron cleared his throat, “Emily, do you understand me?”
She nodded and her dry, cracked lips moved some, but no noise could be heard.
“Do you know who I am?” he asked softly.
She moved slightly to shift away from him, and cried out when her back spasmed. Everyone in the room tensed and watched her breathlessly.
“Your back is injured. It’ll only hurt worse if you move,” Jaron explained when she relaxed some. “Do you know who I am?”
Emily looked around the room, meeting the eyes of each heku before turning back to Jaron.
He sighed, “Please… do you know me?”
She had no voice, but the word was easily readable on her lips, “No.”
“Do you know anyone in this room?”
She raised one arm and lightly touched the elongated scabs that covered her arm from the knife cuts, and softly whispered, “Why…”
“We didn’t do that,” Jaron told her.
Chevalier was glad she hadn’t yet noticed the bite marks on the soft side of her arm.
“Can… can I get you a drink? Some juice maybe?”
She swallowed dryly, “Are… you… heku?”
Jaron glanced at Chevalier and then nodded to Emily, “Yes.”
Emily’s eyes fell to Chevalier and he could see hatred in them. He took a step back as her hands tightened into fists. She lunged from the bed and reached for his throat, but was quickly restrained against the floor by four heku. She screamed and fought against them, ignoring the pain from her back.
Mark appeared in the doorway and gasped. He quickly went over to her, “Let her go!”
“We can’t, General,” one of the Cavalry said to him.
“Emily,” Mark whispered, and her entire face changed when she saw him, the anger and rage softened.
“Help me,” she whispered.
“Let her go, now!” Mark growled.
The guards looked up at Chevalier, and released her when he nodded at them. Emily threw her arms around Mark and he gently picked her up, being careful to keep her back as strai
ght as possible.
“Run,” she whispered. “The heku will kill us.”
“I won’t let them,” Mark told her, and turned to Chevalier.
Chevalier nodded at him.
“Everyone out, I order you,” Mark growled.
The heku, Elders and Council included, left the room with Mark’s orders. They hoped it would help Emily to feel safe around him if he could control the heku. He gently laid her down on the bed, and she cried out softly at the movement.
“It’s ok, they’re gone,” Mark told her. “You remember me?”
“You were hanging,” she whispered, and took his hand.
“Yes”
“Why?”
“Because I would have let you go.”
She nodded slightly.
“Do you remember my name?”
“No”
“I’m Mark.”
“Where are your friends?”
“Sleeping, they haven’t woken up yet.”
“You’re heku?”
Mark sighed, “Yes, but a good heku, not the kind that took you.”
She looked around the room, “I need to get out of this house.”
“Not until your back is better, ok? It’s pretty bad, and you need to stay down for it to heal.”
“They’ll kill me if I don’t leave.”
“I won’t let them. Now… you need to drink something.”
“No”
“It won’t be orange juice and it won’t be salty, I promise.”
“No,” she yelled.
“Ok, I’ll just put some ice water by the bed in case you change your mind,” he told her, and ordered it. Kyle retrieved the water from the servant at the door and put it on her bedside table.
“Don’t go!” she said when Mark stood up.
“I’ll just be outside of your door… I need to give orders to those heku that were in here,” he told her, and smiled reassuringly before stepping out into the hallway. He shut the door behind him.
“You have impeccable timing,” Zohn told him.
“How are you?” Quinn asked.
“Where’s Exavior?” Mark asked angrily.
“He’s dead,” Chevalier told him. “Sotomar killed him before he even woke up.”
“Mark… how are you feeling?” Quinn asked again.
“Fine, rested actually,” Mark told him. “I saw Silas and Kralen though, and they are still… well… sleeping I guess.”
“Thank you,” Chevalier told him. “It’s good that she has someone to trust now.”
Mark began to explain everything that happened, from the first moment they noticed the car was being followed, up until the end.
“He was so pleased when the runes began to glow, I couldn’t believe it. I honestly thought her abilities would have kicked in by then. He had the staff high above her, and suddenly, he lowered it quickly. I waited for her to scream… they always scream when it enters their heart, but there was no scream and then… I was here,” Mark finished.
“We’d like to go back in,” Quinn said.
Mark nodded and moved to the door. He opened it and turned to the others, announcing loudly, “I will allow you four to come in.”
Emily watched as Mark returned with Kyle and the three Elders. She was sitting up in bed and held an empty glass in her hand, and they were pleased to see that almost half of the pitcher of ice water was gone.
Mark sat down beside her on the bed, “I’ve allowed them to come back in for a while. If they bother you, we can have them leave. Why don’t you lie back down?”
She nodded and slowly laid back on the bed, keeping a close eye on the others.
“We’d like to ask you some questions, if that’s ok,” Quinn said softly.
She glanced at Mark.
“Go ahead, it’s ok,” he assured her.
“Ok,” she told Quinn.
“Do you know who kidnapped you?”
“Heku”
“Do you remember when?”
“No”
“What about where you live. Do you know where?”
“No”
Everyone turned when the doctor came in uninvited. He had an I.V. bag in one hand, and a needle in the other, “Sorry to interrupt…”
His words were cut short when he fell to a pile of ash on the floor.
Emily tried to roll out of bed, but Mark held her arm, “Don’t go… it’s ok, that was stupid of him.”
Chevalier whispered, too low for her to hear, “Revive him in my office later. I want an explanation, and it better be a damned good one.”
Kyle nodded and scooped the doctor into a small leather bag.
Emily lifted her hand when she felt a tickle under her nose, and saw blood on her fingers. Mark handed her a tissue, “It’s ok. We’re accustomed to it.”
“Why did you do that to him?” Emily asked, trying to stop her bloody nose.
Mark glanced toward where the doctor was, “He was uninvited. That’s unacceptable.”
Emily let go of the tissue and pressed her palms against her eyes.
Kyle dug through the doctor’s bag and handed two pills to Mark.
“Will you take these? It’ll help your headache and your back,” he asked her, and showed her the pills.
Surprising all of them, Emily nodded and he got her fresh water and helped her take them. She leaned back and took his hand in hers, and he held her hand for comfort until she drifted off.
“Who the hell told the doctor he could come in here?” Quinn whispered when she was deep asleep.
“No one, I’ll deal with him later,” Chevalier growled. “He had no right, and it was stupid to come in here with that stuff.”
“I’ve never seen her get a nosebleed after just 1 incident,” Zohn mentioned, and moved to look out the window.
“I haven’t either. I suspect it’s because it’s too soon after the turning ritual,” Chevalier told him, and sat down on the edge of the bed. He touched her cheek lightly and was suddenly thrown into her dream.
“Oh my God,” Sotomar said. His eyes were terrified as he stood along with the rest of the Valle Council.
“I’m tired of it,” Emily told them, and took a menacing step forward.
“Please… it was an accident,” Exavior told her, his voice shaky.
“You can go to your graves knowing that as soon as I turn you all to ash, I’ll scatter it across half of the state.”
“Emily, don’t… please… you can’t wipe out the entire Council, it’s not done,” Sotomar plead.
“Watch me, as you fall to your death… so will your city,” she said, and the three Encala Elders moved to stand behind her.
“The Equites have aligned with the Encala?” Valle Elder Ryan asked, shocked.
“The Equites aren’t involved in this,” Emily told them. “You just have to deal with us.”
“Don’t do this…” Sotomar said, and fell to ash.
Emily smiled, “Any last words?”
Suddenly her dreams filled with screams.
Chevalier let go of her and frowned, “She’s dreaming about turning the Valle Council to ash… Exavior is there, and the Encala were with her to wipe out the city.”
“Interesting,” Mark said, still holding her hand. “So she doesn’t know you, but she knows the Valle?”
“Maybe in her subconscious it’s all still there,” Kyle said. “Which is hopeful that she’ll remember us eventually.”
“Does that mean she plans on getting revenge then?” Quinn asked.
Chevalier shrugged, “I don’t know… maybe.”
“The scary thing is, if she went to the Encala with an offer to help them take out the Valle’s main city, they would do it, regardless of the impact on her,” Zohn told them.
“Yes, they would.”
“Speaking of the Valle… guess they decided to pay us a visit,” Quinn said, and turned to the door. “They are requesting a meeting with us and Emily.”
“She’s out for a while, shall
I go also?” Mark asked.
“Yes, you can be our witness if we need one,” Chevalier said, and he gently kissed Emily’s forehead before following the others down to the council chambers.
They all took their seats and Mark stood alongside the back wall with Derrick, as requested by the Council. The three Valle Elders, Sotomar, Ryan, and Elder Randall, new in for Exavior, stood before the Council in the trial area.
“Ok, we’re here… what do you want?” Chevalier asked.
“We requested Emily be present,” Sotomar reminded him.
“Yes you did, and you have us… so why are you here? We made it clear we didn’t want you to come.”
Sotomar glanced at Valle Elder Ryan before continuing, “We are afraid that this situation may cloud the work we’ve done on forming an alliance with the Equites.”
Chevalier smiled, “Yes, I can see how you would be afraid of that.”
“We feel it’s imperative that we take out the Encala while they are still weak, even with some of the bad decisions made by the Valle.”
“Bad decisions? You mean stealing the ashes of, and then reviving a heku that tortured the last remaining Winchester, allowing him to do it again?” Zohn asked angrily.
“We had no idea he was still that infatuated with her.”
“Of course he was!” Chevalier yelled. “He never once denied his feelings for her.”
Sotomar sighed, “Nevertheless, the Encala need dealt with.”
“They have done nothing to us to warrant an aggressive relationship,” Quinn said. “In fact, in the kidnapping of Emily, they were nothing but helpful.”
“It’s a façade for their true nature, you know that!” Ryan said, his voice rising.
“We do not know that, and if you raise your voice again, you will be forcibly removed.”
“How can the Equites not see that getting rid of the Encala would force the heku into thousands of years of peace?” Sotomar asked calmly.
“You’re afraid of Emily… make friends with her and you’re safe… this is nothing more than an attempt to get the Equites to sign an alliance with the Valle, in hopes you can regain the friendship that you so easily threw away,” Kyle said smugly.
“That’s not true,” Ryan told him.
“We’re not forming an alliance,” Zohn said. “If there’s nothing else you want, then you may go.”
“How is she?” Sotomar asked, looking at Chevalier.
Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series Page 49
