Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “Why does she need a doctor?”

  “You understand we didn’t hurt her?” Iuna asked.

  Chevalier nodded, “Yes, the Elders and Kyle will go see her.”

  William stood up, “Ok, I’ll take you.”

  A strange heku met them at the door.

  “How is she?” William asked.

  The heku looked at Chevalier, “We ok to talk here?”

  “Yes, he’s fine,” William told him.

  “I don’t know how she is. I’ve never seen a mortal that badly beaten.”

  “What!?” Chevalier growled.

  “We asked her if the Council or Covens did it,” William explained. “She just nodded.”

  “She’s not speaking?”

  “She spoke some to Lt. Andrew, and a little to us.”

  Chevalier stepped forward and opened her door. He immediately saw her cuddled up against a pillow as she gripped it tightly in her arms. The covers were pulled up to her shoulders, but he was able to see numerous bruises and cuts across her face.

  He knelt down and studied her face, “Her scent is gone.”

  “She told us she’s masking,” William said. “Go ahead, Doctor. Let them know.”

  The Encala Doctor pulled the blanket down to the foot of the bed, but she didn’t stir, “You can see her face, there are many levels of bruises.”

  Kyle hissed as Chevalier looked her over.

  “What I’ve not seen before are the bruises behind her knees,” the doctor said. Quinn and Kyle looked closely at the deep purple and blue bruises, “I’ve also not seen what happened to her hands.”

  Chevalier pulled one of her hands away from its grip on the pillow and frowned, “What in the hell happened?”

  “I don’t know. There are scars, scabs, and fresh lacerations and bruises. It travels up her arms a bit,” he explained. “The word Proditor is etched into her back along with the initials B.C., and she has a shoe print bruise on her back and another on her hip.”

  “Etched?” Kyle whispered. The doctor lifted her t-shirt a bit to expose the word, “Damnit, did the V.E.S. get her again?”

  “They wouldn’t know what Proditor means,” Quinn said, slowly getting angrier.

  The doctor sighed, “Ok… so… there’s something else.”

  “What?” Chevalier asked softly. He was too busy studying her injuries.

  William nodded at the doctor and then gently tugged the pillow that Emily was grasping. When he removed the pillow, her pregnancy became obviously.

  “Oh my God,” Chevalier whispered.

  “Did you know?”

  He shook his head.

  The Doctor swallowed hard, “There’s a large bruise across… her stomach.”

  Chevalier didn’t care any longer who saw as he lifted her t-shirt slightly, revealing her bulging middle and a deep black bruise.

  “I want to see if the baby’s ok,” the doctor said.

  Chevalier nodded and took Emily’s battered hand in his. He studied it carefully while the enemy doctor listened to her stomach carefully.

  “I can hear the heartbeat, so whoever hit her didn’t kill the baby,” the doctor said. “There’s no telling if they did damage though, not until the birth.”

  Chevalier kissed her hand softly and then pulled the covers over her after looking at the bruises behind her knees, “Get ice on her eye.”

  The doctor nodded and disappeared.

  “Who is still supporting the former Council?” Quinn asked William.

  “No one that we know. You were scattered, remember?”

  “Thukil will back us,” Kyle said.

  “As will Banks and Samuels,” the Chief of Staff said.

  “We may get Powan to revolt against their new leader.”

  “True”

  “Never, in the history of our species, has a banished Council reclaimed their position,” the Records Keeper said.

  “There’s a first time for everything,” Chevalier said.

  “We’ll back you,” William told him.

  “We can’t ask that,” Zohn said. “You’ve done enough and we’re thankful that you broke the laws and brought us back.”

  He smiled, “I didn’t do it for you.”

  Chevalier sat on the side of the bed, “I want stay with her until she wakes up. Let’s contact every Level 3 coven and above and send out feelers. Don’t tell them we’re back, just have them meet us at our secondary hangar.”

  Kyle nodded, “I’ll start the calls with Thukil.”

  When the other heku left, Chevalier lowered the blankets again and looked over Emily’s injuries himself. He lightly touched her stomach and felt a soft kick against his hand.

  He curled up next to her and pulled the blankets up, then shut his eyes and pulled her close. He smiled when he caught a brief glimpse of emotions from her dream, but it didn’t escape him that there was a strong fear surrounding her still, stronger than he’d felt before and somewhat masked by a deeper level of aloneness.

  Just after noon the following day, he felt her begin to stir and he lightly kissed the top of her head. Emily’s eyes flew open and she jumped out of his grasp, got tangled in the blankets, and fell to the floor.

  “It’s me, Em,” he whispered, and looked over the edge of the bed at her.

  Emily’s eyes grew wide and she lunged into his arms and buried her face into his chest, “You’re back.”

  He nodded and held her tighter, “Thanks to you.”

  Chevalier held her while she cried against his chest. The horrors of the past several months finally came to a close and she felt safe again in his arms.

  She began a frantic rambling against his chest, “You were… they ashed all… you were…”

  “I know, it’s ok.”

  “But then no one helped… then William said no… then I’m here and ashes everywhere…”

  “Shhh,” he whispered, and kissed the top of her head again. “It’s ok, I’m back.”

  Finally, she looked up at him with her one good eye and he took her hand again and kissed it softly.

  “Who did this to you?” he asked, brushing the hair away from her face.

  She hugged him again, but didn’t answer.

  “There’s going to be a big fight,” he told her. “We want our positions back.”

  Emily nodded.

  “I don’t want you near the fight, ok?”

  He was surprised when she nodded again.

  Chevalier smiled softly, “No one has ever stolen the banished ashes of a former Council.”

  Her green eyes pierced into his soul as she watched him.

  “Course… never has anyone ever taken the ashes from a Council to an enemy for revival.”

  She frowned.

  “It’s ok, no one’s mad… well… ok so maybe the new Council.”

  His eyes narrowed when she stiffened, “What did they do?”

  When she looked down at her hands, he took one in his and flipped it over to see the bruises along her forearms, “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through for the past 3 months.”

  There was a soft knock at the door and Emily gripped tightly to Chevalier’s arm.

  “Enter,” he called out. The former Equites Council all came in. Kyle pushed past them and pulled her into a tight embrace.

  She wrapped her arms around him.

  “Way to go, kid,” he said, smiling.

  Emily started to turn back to Chevalier, but ended up being hugged by each of the revived members.

  “Leave it to you,” Quinn said, hugging her a little too tightly.

  “Enough… enough…,” Chevalier chuckled. Emily walked over and sat down on the bed beside him.

  “Are we going to have to separate you two?” Zohn asked, looking at Emily.

  She glanced down at her expanding middle and shrugged as a blush rose to her cheeks.

  “I’m starting to think that birth control may not work against a heku,” Quinn said as he sat down
on a chair in the room.

  “Now you tell us,” Chevalier sighed, but then grinned.

  Zohn sat down and took one of Emily’s hands gently in his, “We need to know everything about the Council that you know. I realize it’s hard for you to talk, but we have to know what we’re up against.”

  Emily nodded.

  Kyle sat beside her on the bed, “The Encala don’t know much, so this is all going to rely on how much you can tell us.”

  “Let’s start with who the acting Elders are,” Zohn said.

  Emily swallowed hard and then spoke in hushed tones, “Kirt and Neal.”

  “No third?”

  “Yes, he sits by Neal, but I don’t know his name.”

  “What does he look like?”

  She smiled crookedly, “He’s tall and muscular, brown hair, beard and mustache.”

  Quinn chuckled, “She just described 2/3 of the heku.”

  “Wait,” Emily said, and she shut her eyes to concentrate. “He has a tattoo… or maybe it’s a scar… on his nose that runs under his left eye.”

  Kyle nodded, “That’s Lenol from Nova Coven.”

  “Do you know any of the other Council members?” Quinn asked as he leaned forward on his elbows.

  “Not really.”

  “Do you know if anyone is unhappy with the new Council?”

  “Yes, lots are.”

  Quinn sighed, “Do you know who has been banished?”

  Her chin quivered slightly, “Mark…”

  Kyle smiled, “We’ll get him back.”

  She nodded and then thought, “General Skinner has been, Lord Dexter, and the Ozark Lord, Sand or Sandy something, and then another that starts with an L. ”

  “Litation maybe?”

  “Yes, that’s it. They have all been banished. Dr. Edwards too because he…” Emily turned pained eyes to Chevalier, “He was trying to protect me.”

  Chevalier nodded, “It’s ok, we’ll get him back.”

  “We’re a little confused as to why the entire heku population thinks we were scattered,” the Chief of Staff said.

  Emily sighed, “The Council warned that if I ever tried to get the banished former Council out of Council City, they would be forced to scatter the ashes. So I went in and switched you all with prisoners I knew, that way when I was caught and they were scattered, they wouldn’t suspect that I would still try to free you.”

  Kyle smiled, “That’s brilliant.”

  “Who did they scatter then?” Zohn asked.

  “Well, Ingram and Selhman, Damon, David, Vaughn, Samuel, Dustin, and a few others that I have heard you talk about,” she said. “Am I in trouble for them being scattered?”

  “No, it’s ok,” Quinn said. “What did they do to your hands?”

  Emily looked down at the massive cuts on her hands and then simply shrugged.

  “What about the back of your knees?” Kyle asked softly.

  She didn’t look up, but whispered, “I can’t…”

  “It’s ok,” Chevalier told her. “We’ll work all of that out later.”

  “We’ll wait for you down stairs, Chevalier,” Quinn said as the Council left.

  Chevalier nodded and then turned back to Emily, “I want you to do me a favor.”

  She looked up at him.

  “Promise me to stay here with the Encala until I come for you, ok?”

  Emily nodded.

  “This fight is going to be nasty and I don’t want you involved in any way.”

  “I know.”

  He smiled, “You’ll be ok here. The Valle have no idea where you are and neither do the current Council.”

  She kissed him softly and he touched her cheek lightly before leaving her alone and heading down to the others.

  “So far we have Banks, Island, Thukil, Powan, Yearings, Miller, and Pilot Covens coming. They believe that they are coming to protect Council City from a Valle attack,” Kyle explained.

  “How did you get by Powan?” Quinn asked.

  “I spoke to General Skinner’s next in command and told him if they can get away from their current Lord, we may hand the General back to them.”

  Zohn nodded, “We won’t know if the people from the city will help the current Council or not. They are going to be too confused at first.”

  William, who sat silently until now, stepped forward, “They will back you. The current Council is vindictive, demanding, and selfish. From what we’ve heard, the city wants nothing to do with them and is just biding their time until someone replaces them.”

  “The Equites covens are also very angry at Emily,” Elder Iuna added.

  Chevalier frowned, “Why is that?”

  “She had you scattered, and it was rumored that she was doing the punishments for the new Council.”

  “She must not have been if they labeled her a traitor,” Kyle told him.

  Iuna shrugged.

  “It is rumored that your entire Cavalry has been imprisoned,” William said. “It might behoove you to let them free.”

  “Let’s head out,” Quinn said. “The Encala have lent us a vehicle and we should be at the staging location by tomorrow morning.”

  Chapter 5

  “They didn’t say anything but to wait here,” Thukil’s Captain Darren said to the hundreds of gathered heku.

  The highest ranking from Island Coven sighed, “Great.”

  Tensions were high. None wanted to be there to support the new Council, but it was their duty as Equites to serve whoever was leading.

  Lord Banks turned toward the road, “I hear them coming. It’s odd that they ask to meet us here.”

  “Yeah it is,” Darren said. “Line up!”

  The heku formed perfect rows of 50 and were standing full at attention when Chevalier appeared before them.

  “Oh my God!” Lord Banks gasped.

  “It… how?” the Island Coven General whispered, shocked.

  Chevalier put his hands up, “Listen to me before you decide to attack us.”

  Kyle joined him, followed shortly by the other 11 members of the former Council.

  “We were told you had been banished and scattered,” Lord Banks said, still in shock.

  “You were told what the Council thought,” Kyle said. “Emily risked her life to get us out of Council City and now… we want our places back.”

  “She did?” Lord Banks whispered.

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed at the nervous way Lord Banks spoke, “Yes, she did. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be here and you’d be stuck with those idiots running things.”

  Captain Darren smiled, “Let’s go then.”

  “We need to know what the city has for defenses,” Chevalier said. “Does anyone know?”

  “They imprisoned your Cavalry,” one of the Powans said. “They were replaced by the entire coven from Orion Coven.”

  “Orion… little experience, but a lot of them,” the Records Keeper said.

  Chevalier nodded, “This is not going to be a good fight. It’s not often that we have to do battle with our own.”

  “Those aren’t us…” one of the Powans hissed. “Let’s take care of them and return General Skinner.”

  “Why don’t we bring Lady Emily in to wipe out the entire palace?” a Thukil Lieutenant suggested.

  Chevalier sighed, “Not only is she very pregnant, but she’s been severely abused and beaten. Right now I want her to stay safely away from the fight.”

  Lord Banks took a step back and watched the ground.

  “We need one team to focus on getting the Cavalry out of the prison,” Kyle called out. “I want Banks team 4 to do that.”

  “Yes, Elder,” one of Banks’ Captain’s called out.

  “We can’t banish the current Council until their Chief Enforcer has fallen,” Kyle reminded them. “As much as I hate to say this… kill them.”

  Moods lightened and an excitement replaced the earlier tension.

  “Do we have any covens completely against us?” Z
ohn asked them.

  “Farlane, of course. Nova is also,” Darren reported. “I heard that Ontario and Glenwood Covens have already been accepted into the Valle, but I suspect they will return when you do.”

  Chevalier nodded, “We’ll deal with that later. We’re going to re-work the laws on a lot of this.”

  Darren smiled, “Sounds like Lady Emily already did.”

  Chevalier chuckled and then turned to Zohn.

  “Alright, who has a level Omega recognizance team?” Quinn asked.

  A Powan Commander stepped forward, “We do, Elder. They are all here.”

  “Then you go in first.”

  The Commander nodded.

  Chevalier looked over the hundreds of anxious faces and then nodded, “Let’s go.”

  ***

  Chevalier bent low and looked over at the gates to Council City, “I don’t know them.”

  Zohn shook his head, “I don’t either. I’m guessing they are from Farlane.”

  “Kill them,” Kyle ordered. Within seconds, Powan had quickly disposed of the four Gate Guards and then immediately fallen back into the protection of the trees.

  “We don’t know what’s going to happen when we get into the city,” Zohn reminded them. “Listen for orders and kill as few members of the city as you can.”

  Chevalier held up one hand and as he slowly lowered it into a fist, the entire army with the former Council began to move en masse into Council City.

  The city alarm sounded shortly after they began blurring through the streets. They met little resistance, and weren’t shocked to find that very few of the city members even acknowledged they were there. What guards they came across, were young and inexperienced, and easily dispatched.

  When the hundreds came to the palace lawn, they were met with an ominous looking army of angry looking heku.

  Elder Kirt stepped forward, obviously furious, “How have you returned!?”

  “You were outsmarted by a mortal,” Zohn said with a grin. “Now it’s time to hand us back our places.”

  “We will not! You have been banished and are therefore no longer Equites!”

  “Wanna bet?” Kyle asked, and rushed at him. The second Kyle and Kirt began to fight, the rest of the heku blurred into a cloud of furious fighting.

  Growls and snarls filled the night and as heku began to fall in bloody heaps, no one was sure who was winning. The noises caught the attention of the city and from what the former Council could tell, most of them had joined their side and were fighting the current Equites leadership.