Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (3 page)

“
Why did you retreat?”
Chevalier asked him.

“
There was some confusion
as to the location of Emily. We fell back to ascertain where she
currently is,” he told them.

“
Why would we tell you
where she is?” Maleth asked them, frowning.

“
To avoid a war,” Sotomar
said, stepping forward.

“
You aren’t getting it are
you?” Chevalier asked angrily. “I’ll say it slower. We... are...
not... turning... Emily over to you. You can burn this city to the
ground, and you aren’t going to have her.”

“
That was my other concern.
Once you are all dead, where to find the mortal.”

“
Thought Frank was going to
tell you,” Quinn said.

“
Yes, well, we’ve currently
lost contact with him, and we suspect your guard discovered his
identity,” Sotomar said.

“
We aren’t going to tell
you her location. You might as well attack,” Quinn
replied.

***

Emily wedged her right arm under the
metal against her chest and pushed hard. It rocked slightly to the
side. As it rocked back, she pushed again, and kept rocking it
until she got enough momentum to push it over and off of her. She
sat up quickly and screamed. The pain in her leg and back was
intense, and every movement made her arm hurt and her head
swim.

She calmed her breathing and looked
around. Her right leg was pinned under part of the helicopter’s
propeller, and she could see the red stain of the snow beneath it.
She touched a sting on her forehead and looked at the blood on her
fingers, then shivered as the cold wind lashed at her wet
clothing.

“
Help me,” she heard
someone gurgle off to her side. She looked over and saw Frank. He
was lying in a heap on the snow. His arms and legs were badly
mangled, and his head was almost entirely separated from his
body.

“
Frank… can you heal?” she
asked him.

“
Help me,” he said again,
his eyes looked at her pleading.

“
Frank, listen to me. Can
you heal?” she asked again, sternly.

His eyes glazed over and he stopped
talking. Emily sighed and watched the vapor from her breath
dissipate into the frigid air.

She pulled at the jeans on her injured
leg, and cried out when she felt the pain.

“
Emily?” she heard from
behind her. She tried to turn and look, but her back spasmed and
she screamed in pain.

“
Stay there, I’m almost to
you.” This time she recognized Mark’s voice.

“
Get Frank, he’s hurt,” she
said, looking over at him.

“
No, Frank is Valle,” Mark
said, and she could hear the strain in his voice.

“
Where’s the pilot?” she
asked.

“
Dead,” Mark told her, and
Emily heard him groan in pain.

“
How bad are you?” she
asked, shivering.

“
Pretty torn up,” he said,
breathing hard. “We need to get you out of this cold, and then I
can heal.”

“
I’m trapped under the
propeller,” she said, trying hard not to move her broken
arm.

“
I’ll get it. I’m almost
there,” Mark said, gritting his teeth.

***

“
Fall back to the palace,”
Kyle yelled into the air as the sounds of battle continued all
around him. The Equites were losing forces quickly, and he had no
report on how the enemy army was doing.

Kyle ran with his troops as they fell
back to protect the palace. Bloody, headless corpses were strewn
around the streets of Council City, and the smell of death was
strong. Three large helicopters landed on the palace lawn, and new
Equites troops jumped out and immediately moved into battle
formations.

Chevalier met with the arriving
General and filled him in on what they knew. An ambush by the
Equites Cavalry had evened the numbers, though the enemy was still
stronger. The arrival of new troops put hope into the Equites, and
they readied themselves for one last stand. If they could hold the
palace, then the Equites would call it a victory.

Quinn limped up to Chevalier,
“Battalion three is gone.”

Chevalier nodded, “So is battalion
six.”

“
Get the Cavalry back on
their horses. We need them to run around to the back and flank
them,” Damon said, stumbling up to the Elders as he gripped his
bloody side.

Chevalier turned and crouched
defensively when the enemy army appeared before them on the lawn of
the palace.

“
Last chance to turn over
the Winchester,” Sotomar yelled, his gray robes were bloody and
torn.

“
Come get her,” Damon
scowled.

As the Encala and Valle Army moved
toward the palace, the new Equites that just arrived took the
front, fresh and ready for battle. Chevalier pulled the sword from
Damon’s hand, and advanced on Sotomar with hunger in his
eyes.

“
You’ll never get her,”
Chevalier said as Sotomar watched him and crouched
defensively.

“
You can’t fight us off. We
have too many,” Sotomar said, grinning as blood dripped from his
chin.

Sotomar looked up as four more
helicopters landed and green caped heku jumped out. Chevalier
looked up, proudly. They had bought enough time for more
reinforcements to arrive.

“
You still thinking that?”
Chevalier asked, grinning.

Sotomar lunged at Chevalier’s throat,
but he was able to dodge him, jumping to the side. Chevalier
brought his sword around and swiftly removed Sotomar’s right hand.
The newly arrived heku troops descended in a wave down on the tired
and haggard enemy troops. Sotomar jumped again, and managed to lock
his teeth on Chevalier’s shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh away,
and spitting it on the ground. Chevalier growled angrily and swung
his sword at Sotomar, who rolled away from it.

Chevalier felt an arm on his shoulder
as he prepared to send the blade through Sotomar’s heart, “It’s
over.”

He looked over and all he could see
were waves of green capes. Chevalier looked down at Sotomar, and
lowered his sword, “Do you surrender?”

Sotomar looked out over his troops.
All were either badly injured, captured, or dead. He nodded and
looked down at the ground.

***

Mark was finally able to crawl to
Emily. She could see that his lower body was crushed, and one of
his arms dangled loosely at his side.

“
I’m going to try to move
that propeller,” Mark said, scooting over to the twisted piece of
metal. He pushed hard against the twisted metal. It flew off of her
and smashed against the mountainside. Emily screamed as the
movement shook her injured leg. She fell back against the snow and
felt the grinding of the bones in her back.

“
Lie still, I need to stop
the bleeding,” Mark said, and she looked toward him as he slipped
his belt off. He wrapped it around her leg and tightened
it.

“
There’s a small cave back
here. Can you get into it by yourself?” he asked her,
helplessly.

Emily nodded, and then cried out as
she flipped onto her stomach. She laid her forehead down onto the
snow and breathed hard, the pain in her body increasing. She
gritted her teeth, and pulled herself forward with her good arm,
pushing against the snow with her foot.

“
Good girl, a little
further,” she heard Mark saying from behind her.

“
The radio,” she said
between gasping breaths.

“
The battery died,” he said
softly. “Keep going.”

Emily nodded and dug her hand into the
snow again. She could no longer feel her fingers, but was able to
push off with her foot and inch forward toward the small recess in
the rock wall. After an hour of painful scooting, she was in the
recess, and the wind stopped howling around her. She laid against
the rock floor and tried to catch her breath.

“
Emily, I’ll be right back.
I need to start a fire,” Mark said. She nodded and laid her head
against a rock.

Emily drifted in and out of
consciousness as the frigid day faded into a bitterly cold night.
She opened her eyes when she saw light and felt the warmth from a
fire. Mark was sitting up by some kindling and was fanning it
lightly. Her eyes felt heavy, so she shut them and let the
blackness take over.

“
Emily?” She heard Mark’s
voice, and finally her eyes open. He was sitting up straighter now,
but his lower body still lay at odd angles. She frowned when she
saw his bare arms and legs. He had taken his clothes
off.

“
What?” she finally managed
to say.

“
You need to put my clothes
on. Yours are wet,” he said. “It’s going to hurt, but you can’t
stay in wet clothes.”

Emily nodded. She felt his hands tear
her shirt off of her, and then gently pull it around her broken
arm. He slipped his shirt over her broken arm as carefully as he
could, but she screamed with the movement. Once his shirt was over
her injured arm, she pushed her other arm through it. He buttoned
it up and let her rest for a moment.

“
Ok, pants too,” he said,
and tore her jeans off in the same manner. His pants were easier to
slip on because of their size, and she felt a lot warmer. He
wrapped a piece of wire around her to hold them in
place.

Mark threw her clothes onto the fire,
and it raged for a few minutes, sending warmth through her. She
felt her eyes closing and let them.

Emily forced her eyes open when she
heard the howl of wolves. She saw Mark sitting by her side,
watching out into the night. Just as she drifted back off to sleep,
she heard the sound of a wolf crying in pain.

“
Emily?” she heard again,
and just wanted to sleep longer. She was no longer in pain. The
cold had numbed her injuries.

“
Come on, Em, open your
eyes,” she heard Mark say to her. She opened them slowly and looked
over at him. He was wearing the pilot’s clothes now.

“
Are you ok?” she asked,
her voice cracking. She wasn’t sure, but his body seemed
unnaturally distorted.

He smiled, “It’s ok. I didn’t heal
correctly, too much damage.”

She nodded, “I’m so tired.”

“
I need you to stay with
me,” he said, and she willed her eyes to stay open.

“
We have to get out of
here. I can’t carry you. I’ve been thinking, and I think we can
support each other and make it faster,” Mark said,
frowning.

Emily nodded.

“
I saw a town, probably
about five miles away. If we can get you there, we can get you to a
hospital,” he told her.

“
You too,” she said. Emily
was trying to focus her mind, but there was a dense fog around her
thoughts.

Mark smiled, “If that’ll help, then…
yes.”

Emily nodded and watched as Mark got
awkwardly to his feet. He held a hand out to her, “Push off with
your left leg, and pull with your right arm.”

Emily tried to do as she was told, but
the pain was excruciating and she knew Mark had to pull her up to
her feet. She leaned against him, wrapping her right arm around his
back as the world moved under her feet. She waited and finally felt
steady.

“
Ok,” she
groaned.

“
We’ll take it slow,” Mark
said. He was able to move himself forward, and Emily used him as a
crutch to slowly inch her way toward the town.

By nightfall, they could see the glow
from the town and Mark urged her forward. He kept her supported as
she slowly moved toward the light.

“
Emily a road!” he said,
when his feet touched blacktop.

She nodded, too exhausted, and in too
much pain to answer.

“
I’m going to lay you by
the road. I’ll wait by you until a car comes, ok?” Mark asked her,
not sure she understood.

Emily nodded.

“
You fell while hiking. You
were alone,” he said, and watched her.

Emily’s eyes were closed and she was
swaying.

“
Emily, I need you to stay
with me for a little longer… you were hiking alone, and fell,” Mark
said to her.

Emily finally nodded, and felt Mark
slowly drop her to the road. Before long, she heard a car
approaching, and felt Mark’s comforting presence disappear. The
sound of a car’s breaks was the last thing she heard before
darkness came.

***

“
Sir!” Kyle yelled, as he
ran into the council chambers. “Emily’s in Calumet, Wisconsin.
She’s being flown to St. Paul by air ambulance.”

“
Fill me in on the way,”
Chevalier said, running for the palace roof. He climbed into the
helicopter, followed by Kyle and Quinn.

The pilot took off quickly, and
Chevalier turned to Kyle.

“
They said she was found on
a road outside of Calumet, and that she’d been in a hiking
accident.”

Chevalier frowned, “Hiking accident?
Do we have any covens in northern Wisconsin?”