Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (13 page)

“
He’ll calm down,” Emily
assured him, watching the horse.

“
You do realize he’s going
to try to kill you.”

“
Yes I do.” Emily smiled.
The other members of the Cavalry looked nervously at
Mark.

“
Watch it, here comes the
Elder,” one of the Cavalry said, and the rest of them turned and
stood at attention.

Emily turned as Kyle, Damon, and
Chevalier walked toward them. Without a word, Chevalier picked
Emily up and kissed her. She felt a rush of wind and the bed at her
back before she even realized they’d moved.

***

“
Welcome back,” Chevalier
said, and kissed Emily’s shoulder.

Emily looked at him and grinned, “I
guess so. What did you do while I was gone?”

“
Heku stuff,” he said as
Emily looked into his eyes. She noticed they were spirited and
invigorated.

Emily laughed, “You were doing
something you don’t want me to know about.”

“
What makes you say
that?”

“
Because you had way too
much fun while I was gone, and it had to have been something you
can only do when I’m not here, or you’d do it more often… I’ll
figure it out,” Emily told him, and rolled out of bed.

“
Hey, get back here,”
Chevalier said, reaching for her.

“
Believe it or not, when I
was kidnapped from the corral, I was doing something,” Emily said,
laughing as she quickly got dressed.

“
Hmm, I hadn’t
noticed.”

“
Yes, I would imagine
not.”

Emily headed back to the corral. She
was getting extremely frustrated with the cast, even though she
didn’t need the crutches anymore, the cast slowed her down enough
it was irritating her. When she finally got within sight of the
corral, she frowned. The pen was entirely surrounded by
heku.

“
What’s going on?” Emily
asked Kyle, and squeezed her way in between him and the Cavalry
member beside him.

“
Mark and Damon are trying
to bridle that mustang,” Kyle said, amused.

Emily was watching them and she felt
the fury rising. Mark had a bridle, and Damon was trying to walk up
to the stallion with his hands out. The mustang’s ears were back
flat against his head, and his tail was swishing
angrily.

“
Damnit,” Emily
scowled.

Emily slipped quickly through the
fence and Ford followed after her. A murmur ran through the
watching crowd as Emily appeared in the corral with the agitated
mustang. They had seen it kick and step on the heku a lot in the
last hour, and now the fragile Elder’s wife was with it.

“
Damon, back up slowly,”
Emily told him.

“
You… get out of here,”
Damon said, not even looking at her.

“
Mark, get back,” she said,
ignoring Damon. She saw Mark back up to the fence.

“
Emily, maybe we should…”
Mark started, but Emily cut him off.

“
Damon, don’t be an idiot,
back out of here, now,” Emily said, standing beside him. The horse
was hunched back, ready to rear. Ford tucked his tail and ran for
the fence, glancing at Emily nervously.

“
Your dog is smarter than
you are. Now get out before he kicks again,” Damon told
her.

“
He’s fighting because
you’re a moron,” Emily said. She pushed Damon hard and he stumbled
out of the way just as the mustang’s powerful hoof slammed into
where his head had just been. Emily crouched low under his fighting
hooves and rolled out from under him.

The mustang pulled back and watched,
his ears pressed against his head. Emily took a treat and inched
toward him, locking his gaze. His ears twitched forward as she
approached.

“
That’s right, listen to
me,” Emily said soothingly.

“
Emily…” Damon
growled.

“
Ford, get the heku,” Emily
said, and grinned when she heard the Border collie’s low growl. She
could almost see the low crouch of the dog, just as she’d taught
him.

“
What’s going on?” Emily
heard Chevalier ask from behind her.

“
Get your demon dog off of
me before I snap his neck,” Damon growled.

Emily reached out her hand flat, with
the treat perched on top. The mustang snorted and took the treat
out of her hand. She reached out and gently rubbed the velvet on
his nose.

“
Emily inherited a mean
mustang,” Kyle told Chevalier.

“
Mean? That sonofabitch is
more than mean,” Damon said, watching the dog. Ford’s hackles were
still up as he growled at the heku.

Chevalier watched as Emily laid her
forehead against the muzzle of the pure black stallion, “He doesn’t
look very malicious, unlike the dog.”

Mark slowly hobbled over to the
others, holding his side, “That mustang needs to be put
down.”

“
Is he really that bad?”
Chevalier asked, eyeing Emily.

“
Worse than bad, Elder,”
Kyle told him.

Emily let go of the horse and backed
away slowly to the fence. He again lowered his ears, and began to
feverishly flick his tail back and forth. When her back hit the
fence, she turned to Ford, “That’ll do boy.”

Ford stood up, tail wagging, and ran
to Emily.

“
Sic your dog on me again
and I’ll kill him,” Damon said angrily.

Emily spun on him, glaring, “Touch my
dog and I’ll let him eat your ashes.”

Kyle’s hand quickly sprang out and
grabbed Damon as he started to step forward, “Calm
down.”

“
Me? She’s the one that
taught her dog to attack heku,” Damon said, turning to the
Captain.

“
Emily, did you teach Ford
to attack?” Chevalier asked, frowning.

“
Yes, I did,” she said,
patting the Border collie’s head. “If Damon would have done as I
asked, I wouldn’t have had Ford attack.”

“
I should’ve let that
damned horse kill you,” Damon said, gritting his teeth.

“
There is nothing wrong
with that mustang.”

“
Nothing wrong? You better
open your eyes before he kills you,” Damon said, surprised. “That
mustang is pure evil.”

“
Says the
vampire.”

“
Spoiled brat.”

“
Ford, get the heku,” Emily
said, and smiled sweetly when her Border collie ran at Damon, then
crouched low, growling.

“
Emily…” Chevalier began,
but stopped when he heard the loud angry whinny from the
mustang.

Emily spun and saw a strange heku
approach the mustang with a bridle. The mustang reared back and
Emily broke into a run toward the feral horse. Just as the stallion
kicked violently at the heku, knocking him into a bloody heap on
the ground, Emily felt arms wrap around her waist and stop her
forward movement.

“
Let me go,” Emily said,
kicking.

“
No,” she heard Chevalier’s
angry voice and stopped fighting. “Call Ford off of
Damon.”

“
That’ll do, Ford,” Emily
said, and sighed. The dog ran over to her proudly.

“
Damon, Mark, Emily… to the
stables. The rest of you find something more productive to do,”
Chevalier ordered.

The heku immediately blurred away and
the stallion’s ears cocked forward. Chevalier followed Damon and
Mark into the stables, while Emily slowly hobbled in, followed by
Ford.

“
What was that?” Chevalier
asked, looking from Damon to Emily.

“
He wouldn’t listen to me
when I told him to back off of my mustang,” Emily said, putting her
hands on her waist.

“
Because I didn’t want her
around that devil horse,” Damon said, glaring at Emily. “Then she
had her damn dog attack me.”

Chevalier turned to Mark, “What are
your impressions of the mustang?”

Mark looked at Emily apologetically,
“Emily got him for free because the previous owner couldn’t break
him. From what I’ve seen, he’s just plain nasty, and I’d wager…
untrainable.”

“
That’s not true!” Emily
yelled at him.

“
Mark, you can go,”
Chevalier said, and he looked out at the mustang in the
corral.

“
No horse is untrainable,”
Emily said when she started to feel she was going to lose this
battle.

“
I’m going to watch him
closely,” Chevalier said. “If I think he’s dangerous, we’ll have to
put him down.”

“
Over my dead body,” Emily
snapped.

“
Is that an offer?” Damon
said, infuriated.

“
I swear, you two. I’m
going to have to move you both to opposite ends of the continent if
you don’t stop bickering,” Chevalier said, sighing.

“
Just tell him to stay away
from my horse,” Emily asked.

“
You can have him, but I’m
not cleaning up the blood when he kills you,” Damon told
her.

“
Fine, that’s settled. I’m
going to watch the mustang…” Chevalier told them both.

“
He’s mine,” Emily
scowled.

“
I’m going to watch the
mustang,” Chevalier said again. “Damon will leave him alone, and
Emily, just stay away from Damon.”

“
My pleasure,” she
said.

“
Now… did you teach Ford to
attack heku?” Chevalier asked.

“
Ford… get the heku,” Emily
said, grinning, and he turned on the two heku and growled, his
teeth glaringly vicious.

Chevalier rubbed the bridge of his
nose with his fingers, “Why would you do that?”

“
I’m actually being nice… I
could have said…” Emily turned to the Border collie. “Ford, get the
Encala.”

Damon jerked away just as the sleek
dog launched at his throat. Ford caught Damon’s arm and began to
tear at it while he dangled above the ground.

“
Emily!” Chevalier yelled,
shocked.

“
That’ll do, Ford,” Emily
said, and patted the dog’s head when he came to her.

Damon crouched, his eyes were furious
and his hands were curved into claws. Emily had seen that look
before and took a step back from him.

Chevalier appeared in front of Emily,
facing Damon, “Stop it.”

Damon took a deep breath and stood up
straight.

“
Damon, take the night
off,” Chevalier ordered, and Damon blurred from the
stables.

“
One of these days, you’re
going to push him too far,” Chevalier said, turning to
Emily.

“
If he would just stop
being so irritating,” Emily said, defending herself.

“
I suggest you two just
avoid each other.”

“
I will if he’ll stay away
from my horses.”

“
I’ll talk to him about
it,” Chevalier said, and looked down at Ford. “Do you want to
explain why you taught the dog his new tricks?”

Emily smirked, “Thought it could come
in handy, and it did.”

“
Does he know any other fun
little things?” Chevalier said sarcastically.

Emily nodded.

Chevalier sat down on a bale of hay,
“Ok… let’s see it.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, “What’s with
the attitude?”

“
No attitude, I just want
to see.”

“
You are acting weird. What
did you do while I was gone?” She crossed her arms and watched him.
Somehow, he seemed haughty and overconfident.

“
I didn’t do anything you
would be concerned about.”

“
Ford, get my cattle prod,”
Emily said, and Ford ran off.

Chevalier disappeared and reappeared
with the prod in his hand, “Very funny.”

“
I’m going to find out what
you did while I was gone,” Emily said, and headed out of the
stable.

Chevalier felt a pang of panic creep
into him. He knew if Emily set her mind to it, that she’d find the
interrogation chamber. He set out to talk to Kyle about locking the
room down further.

“
Hey, Damon!” Emily yelled
when she saw him up ahead of her.

He turned and looked at her
suspiciously, then waited for her to catch up.

“
Sorry about the dog,
ok?”

“
Yeah, ok,” Damon replied,
and then turned to walk away.

Emily walked with him, “So… how’s it
going?”

He looked at her and narrowed his
eyes, “Ok.”

“
Have fun last
night?”

“
Yes”

“
Were you with Chevalier?”
she asked, struggling to keep up with him.

“
Yes”

“
What’d you do?” Emily
asked.

Damon turned and looked at her, “Why
do you care?”

“
Because I want to
know.”

Damon shook his head, “Interrogate
someone else.”

Emily sighed and hobbled back into the
palace.

The second she had the heku take off
her cast, she regretted it. It was harder to walk without it. Her
leg still ached and the muscles were weak. Emily dug around in the
storage room where first aid supplies were kept and found the ace
bandages. She wrapped one around her lower leg, and another around
her ankle, and it helped some. She was now limited to just a
painful limp.