“New leadership?” Chevalier asked angrily. “Who’s going to replace us? You?”
“I would be better than any of you.”
The Chief of Defense blurred into the room and shouted, “Clear out the Elders! Get the Council out of here.”
“What’s going on?” Zohn asked, standing slowly.
Lord Farlane grinned, “I told you. It’s time for new leadership.”
Two of the Cavalry took Lord Farlane into custody, but a loud explosion was heard from just outside of the palace. Chevalier was the first to disappear from the council chambers, so Zohn and Quinn quickly blurred to the waiting helicopters.
Kralen jumped into the pilot seat and then turned with wide eyes, “Get into Equites 2, this one’s not starting up.”
When it was discovered that Equites 2 had also been compromised, plans were made to take the fastest Equites cars to get the Council out of the city. When the Council entered the garage, they were met with over 600 heku waiting for them.
Zohn growled, “Do not do this!”
“It’s too late,” the closest said. “It’s way past time for new leadership and as we’re one of the closest covens, it’s our duty to do that.”
***
Captain Darren blurred into the Thukil’s conference room, “They banished General Skinner and have taken over Powan.”
“Damnit,” Lord Thukil growled. “That means we’re next.”
“Not if we show support to the new Council,” one of the Thukil Captains said.
Darren sat down, “We also need to consider Emily. She doesn’t know that Chevalier has been banished.”
Lord Thukil nodded, “I wonder if the new Council knows she’s here.”
“No one’s notified us,” Lord Thukil’s secretary said. “So do I call them to show our support?”
Darren sighed, “If we show our support, they are less likely to attack and find Lady Emily here.”
Lord Thukil shut his eyes and nodded, “Do it.”
“We have to protect her at all costs,” Lady Thukil said through tearless sobs. “From what I’ve heard, she’s going to try to get to Chevalier.”
“Agreed,” Darren said. “But we have to tell her. It’s the only way to explain why she can’t go back to Council City.”
“That poor child is going to be lost,” Lady Thukil said with a cracked voice.
“She’s closest to you,” Lord Thukil said to Darren. “Talk to her and let her know why we’ve pledged our support to the new Council.”
He nodded, “I’ll try. She’s been here for 3 days and hasn’t spoken.”
“Do what you can.”
Darren nodded and then stood slowly and walked out of the conference room. Tensions in the main house were high and it was obvious that a dark pal was over the entire coven. He knocked lightly on Emily’s door and then stepped in.
Emily looked up at him and smiled.
Darren shut the door and sat down beside her in a chair, “I really need you to listen to me and trust me on this, ok?”
She watched him silently.
“Can you at least nod or something? Let me know you understand? It’s important.”
Emily smiled.
Darren sighed, “There’s been… there’s been a hostile takeover of the Council…”
Emily tensed and stood up.
Darren quickly stood to block her from the door, “Lady Emily, it’s more important than ever that you listen to me.”
She looked up at him and he could see the panic in her eyes.
“A new Council is now in place, and they’ve taken over Powan.” Darren took her hand when she tried to get around him, “Please, listen to me. You can’t go running back to Council City. We suspect that they will be looking for you.”
Emily tried to pull her hand out of Darren’s grasp.
“Thukil has pledged our support to the new Council…”
She gasped and glared at him.
“Hear me out… we did it to protect you. If we don’t show our support, then we will be taken over too. By sending our blessings to the new Council, it will keep them out of Thukil. We can’t have you falling into the new Council’s hands.”
Emily reached into her pocket and pulled out all of the rank pins. Darren studied them, “The Elders and Chief Enforcer have been banished. The members of the Cavalry are imprisoned, except for Mark, he’s been banished also.”
She slowly sunk down onto the floor.
Darren knelt down beside her, “You are safe here as long as we keep it a secret. This has happened before, the entire Council was replaced around 540 BC, all except Chevalier that is. Things will calm down and return to normal. Chevalier will be un-banished in 600 years.”
Emily looked up at him with pained eyes.
“I know that sounds like a long time… but we’ll keep you safe, I swear.”
She shook her head and stood up.
“Lady Emily, no,” he said, blocking her way. “Please, trust me. You need to stay here. Nothing can bring them back now.”
She tried to step around him, but he blocked her.
“You’re not giving me a choice. I’m going to have to put guards on you.”
Emily glared at him.
“It’s complicated. Only the new Chief Enforcer can un-banish them now…”
“The Valle will,” Emily whispered harshly.
Darren sighed, “I doubt the Valle will want to even get involved in this. They would tell you to wait it out here and not get involved.”
She turned suddenly and sat down to face the fire.
“The new Council is made up of heku that are well known as being mortal haters. You need to swear to me you’ll stay here where we can protect you.”
When she didn’t answer, he nodded, “You’re safe here.”
Darren hesitated and then turned and left. By the time he got back to the conference room, there were 4 members of the Thukil Cavalry at Emily’s door and 2 more outside of her window.
“How did she take it?” Lord Thukil asked.
Darren sat down, “As well as can be expected. She’s going to try to get to them.”
“You explained how dangerous that is?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“She’s not known for her patience though. I see how we’re going to have a hard time containing her.”
“I don’t think she’ll turn the coven to ash. However, if the rumors are true and she can wipe the memory of a heku, then she can escape without us knowing until it’s too late.”
“Those are just rumors though,” Lady Thukil said.
“Well, just in case… We have to make her understand how dangerous it will be for the Equites if the new Council gets a hold of her,” Lord Thukil said.
“I tried,” Darren explained. “I don’t think she sees anything but Chevalier’s banishment.”
One of the Thukil Generals broke a few minutes of silence, “I don’t think they’ll kill her if they get her. However, I do think she would be forced to do their bidding.”
“The Elder told me she won’t turn anyone to ash,” Darren said. “He explained that a fear was implanted that if she’s to pass out, she would be buried again.”
“Then I would assume she would be taught obedience and discipline.”
Darren nodded, “I don’t know how much she can take. She’s still pretty fragile from the capture. I don’t know even a fraction of what happened to her, but what I do know… let’s just say she shouldn’t be sane at all.”
“Our number one priority will be to prove our loyalty to the new Council to keep them out of Thukil,” Lord Thukil said. “We need a backup plan to get Emily to safety if we are attacked.”
“I have a home in Berlin,” the General said. “If we can get her out of the city, I can get her to Berlin and we can wait it out there. No one knows where that home is.”
Lord Thukil thought for a moment and then nodded, “Fine… you have permission to use the underground exits.”
The
General nodded.
“Sir?” one of the servants said after being told to enter.
Lord Thukil looked up at him, not sure he could take any more bad news.
“Lord Samuels has been banished and Samuels Coven is now under the control of the Council.”
Lord Thukil nodded and then whispered, “Thank you.”
“We’ve shown our support. That’s all we can do, but I suggest we reinforce just in case,” Darren said.
“Make it so.”
***
“Get in,” Darren said from inside of his car. Emily lowered her thumb and looked in at him. “Get in, please.”
Her shoulders fell and she got into the car. Darren drove back to Thukil in silence. He understood her drive to get to Chevalier, but was frustrated that he couldn’t make her see how dangerous her mission was.
Before passing into Thukil, Darren finally spoke, “I understand, I truly do… but I need you to understand how dangerous it is if you go back. I know you think you can get to the banished, but you aren’t going to make it into the palace without being accosted.”
He waited for her to speak, something she hadn’t done but once in her two weeks with Thukil, “Once the new Council has you, there’s no telling the horrors they would put you through. You know as well as I do that you aren’t the most loved Equites. This Council doesn’t like mortals and aren’t going to allow you to stay in the palace. I’m imagining you would be kept in the prison until they need someone wiped out.”
Darren pulled into the Thukil garage and stopped the car, “Is it that bad, thinking you will spend a few hundred years here with Thukil?”
When Emily spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper, “I can’t leave Chevalier to suffer.”
“He would want you to stay here where you’ll be safe.”
Darren escorted Emily back into her room, where she sat on the bear-skin rug in front of the fire.
“Do you need anything?” he asked finally.
Emily turned and looked at the door, and then back to the fire.
Darren nodded and then sighed, “Very well. I’ll leave you alone.”
When he was gone, Darren headed down to talk to Lord Thukil.
“You found her?” Lord Thukil asked.
“Yes, Sir. But… there’s something strange.”
“Like what?”
“Her scent is off.”
“Maybe the child is getting sick,” Lady Thukil suggested.
Darren thought for a moment, “I don’t know of a single mortal doctor in Thukil.”
“Try Woody.”
“Well, I guess a vet is better than nothing,” Darren said before heading off to find the old Veterinarian. Less than an hour later, Darren and the Veterinarian, Woody, stopped at Emily’s door.
“Rumor has it she doesn’t like doctors,” Darren warned him.
He smiled, “I’m not a doctor.”
“True”
One of the Cavalry guarding Emily’s door knocked and then waited a few seconds before opening the door.
Darren walked in and smiled, “Lady Emily?”
She turned and looked over at him from a chair by the window.
The Captain shifted nervously, “This is Woody. He’s… well… a vet.”
Emily didn’t say anything, but turned to look out the window.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d let him take a quick peak at you.”
This time, she looked at him and frowned.
“I couldn’t help but notice your… your scent is off some. I thought maybe you might be getting sick.”
Emily’s eyes grew wide and she watched him.
Woody tipped his old cowboy hat, “Nice to meet you. You’re quite famous around here.”
“She’s not talking much,” Darren explained when she didn’t say anything.
“I don’t mind looking at you a bit,” Woody said with a smile. “I don’t know your normal scent, but it’s… quite interesting.”
“A lot of that is Winchester, but there’s something faintly different.”
Emily slowly shook her head and kept a close eye on them.
Woody smiled, “I guess it’s ok if I don’t. I wouldn’t know if you were sick anyway.”
Darren thought, “Any pain?”
She just watched him.
“Cough? Sore throat? What else… headache?”
Emily turned to look out the window, but the heku heard her heart race.
He sighed, “I guess you’ll tell us if you think you’re getting sick.”
As soon as they left, Emily looked around the room quickly, trying to decide what to do. She understood the dangers of going back to Council City, but she couldn’t imagine leaving Chevalier and Kyle to suffer. She put her odd scent to the back of her mind. It didn’t surprise her, though she’d hoped it was just a coincidence.
Knowing she didn’t have a choice, Emily dug through her bag and took out her wallet. She had only a little bit of money with her, there was no real need for cash on a vacation to Thukil.
Emily went to the window and looked down at the two Cavalry members stationed there. She could see the trees just past the Thukil gates and knew she had a better chance of escaping once she got there.
Breathing one quick sigh, she opened the window and looked down the 10 feet to the horses below.
“Lady Emily?” one of them asked, seconds before gripping his chest in agony. Once they were unconscious, Emily dropped carefully to the grass below and ran for the trees. Anyone she encountered, she knocked unconscious or erased their memory, and was soon in the trees.
The interstate was busy as she wrote the location of the city outside of Council City on a paper and then held her thumb up. It wasn’t long before a semi-truck driver pulled up. She handed the address to him and he smiled.
“I can’t take you the entire way, baby. Get in and I’ll go as far as Akron,” he said, opening the door.
Emily hesitated and then crawled into the truck. Once buckled in, the driver took off. He spoke about his wife and kids for most of the drive, but when Emily fell asleep, he grew quiet and drove slowly closer to Council City.
On the outskirts of Akron, the driver used his CB and arranged for another truck to take Emily further north. The new truck driver was a lot quieter and she was thankful for the time to think. She realized her first task would be to get into the city unseen and make sure that Alexis and Dain were safe. She’d been to Alexis’ house in the city numerous times, and she knew she could get to it easily.
Emily smiled as she crawled out of the truck and the driver looked up the dark road, “You sure you’re ok here?”
She nodded and then shut the door. Once the semi was out of sight, she turned and headed up the unlit road that led a few miles up to Council City. When she could see the gates, she noticed unfamiliar guards and thought before walking up toward them.
“Stop there!” the closest shouted before turning to ash. Emily ran past the two piles and into the city. She quickly made her way to Alexis’ house and knocked softly on the door.
Garrett gasped when he saw who was at the door, and quickly ushered her inside.
“Mom!” Alexis whispered.
Dain stood up and looked, shocked, at his Mom.
“Lady Emily, you have to get out of here… The entire faction is looking for you,” Garrett told her.
She swallowed hard and then forced herself to speak, “Listen to me… get Alex and Dain to Palau.”
“I’m not leaving you, Mom. Come with,” Alexis said.
Emily glared at Garrett, “I’m still a member of the Council, and I’m ordering you to take these two out of here. Don’t come back until myself or Chevalier get you.”
“Mom… Dad’s been…” Dain started.
Emily nodded, “I know, but I’m going to get them out.”
Garrett immediately began packing a bag, “Do you know how to get to where we’re going?”
Alexis looked at him tearfully and nodded, “Yes.”
“Do not come back,” Emily stressed.
“Mom, come with us, please,” Dain said. “We aren’t sure what the Council wants with you, but they’ve put all resources into finding you.”
“I can’t let your Dad suffer. I have less than a year to revive him.”
Alexis quickly hugged her Mom, “They may hurt you.”
“I can take it.”
“But…”
“Go, now,” Emily said to Garrett. Without another word, he opened the door and the three blurred away, keeping slower pace with Alexis.
Emily sat down on a chair to think out a plan.
Chapter 2
“Tell the former Captain if he doesn’t stop demanding to see us, he’ll be banished along with the rest of the former Council,” the acting Elder said to Derrick.
Derrick nodded and stepped back out to his post. He shut the door and then his eyes grew wide when he saw Emily standing before him.
She looked at the door and Derrick moved closer and whispered, “Get out of here… run.”
Emily shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder, then smiled at him.
“You don’t understand. They are mean and they want you.”
She nodded and then walked to the door.
Derrick sighed before opening the door, “Lady Emily wishes to see you.”
There was a rumble of talking between members of the Equites Council, and then a stern voice sounded, “Show her in.”
Derrick stepped aside and let Emily in. She walked in and scanned the new Council carefully. It was obvious they were afraid of her and shifted nervously in their chairs.
“You, my Dear, are in quite a bit of trouble,” one of the new Elders said.
Emily put her hands on her hips and watched him.
“We’ve had the entire faction looking for you. Where were you?”
When she didn’t answer, he yelled for Derrick.
“Yes, Elder?” Derrick asked, though Emily could hear the hint of sarcasm.
“Make her speak.”
“She hasn’t spoken to anyone since her captivity with Salazar,” he explained.
“Well she’ll talk to me when I tell her to.”
Derrick glanced at Emily and then returned to his post.
Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series Page 2
