Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (48 page)

“
I would imagine you
were.”

“
Are you mad?”

Chevalier smiled and touched her cheek
softly, “No, I’m not mad.”

“
Did I get them all?” she
asked, looking up at him.

“
You left one, but he’s
been dealt with.”

“
Damn, my head hurts,”
Emily said, sitting up slowly. The doctor handed her two pills and
some orange juice, and she took them without even asking what they
were.

As Emily’s eyes adjusted, she frowned
and looked around the bedroom at the flowers, balloons, teddy
bears, and gift baskets that lined one entire wall, “What’s
that?”

“
You have some supporters,”
Chevalier told her, and looked at the gifts again.

“
Supporters?” Emily asked,
and then laid back down.

“
The coven dignitaries that
would have died had it not been for you.”

“
Don’t
exaggerate.”

“
I’m not,
sadly.”

“
I’m pretty hungry,” Emily
said, and looked over at the doctor.

“
Yes, please eat.” He
smiled.

Emily sat up when the tray was
delivered and grabbed the cheeseburger first thing and started to
eat. She looked up self-consciously when she noticed the two heku
were watching her.

“
Can I help you with
something? Why are you watching me eat?”

“
Sorry, we’re overdoing it
again aren’t we?” Chevalier asked, and then stood up to talk to the
doctor at the door.

Emily woke up from a nap and looked
round the room. After three weeks, the gifts had stopped pouring in
and she finally had her bedroom back. The fire was roaring in the
fireplace, and a silver tray sat on the table next to a pot of hot
coffee. She glanced at the clock, it was already 9am.

Sighing, Emily crawled out of bed and
threw on some clothes. She grabbed a mug of coffee and sipped it as
she walked out of the room.

“
Hello,” a strange heku
said to her.

Emily turned to him and frowned, “Who
are you?”

“
I’m your guard today,” he
said, sounding annoyed.

“
Where’s the
Cavalry?”

“
I’m not sure that’s any of
your concern.”

“
Go away.”

“
No, Ma’am. I was told to
stay with you.”

Emily opened her phone quickly when it
rang, but continued to stare at the unhappy guard.

“
Yes?”

Emily’s eyes narrowed,
“When?”

“
Encala?” she
growled.

“
Damnit!” Emily slammed her
phone shut and ran down the stairs, taking two at a time. The guard
followed behind her, rolling his eyes.

“
Em, what’s up?” Kyle asked
as she ran past him and skidded to a halt.

“
Get him away from me.” She
pointed to the guard.

When Kyle nodded, Emily took off
again, shoeless, toward the garage.

“
Where are you going?” Kyle
called after her, but she disappeared around the corner.

The guard rocked on his heels and
watched the Captain as they waited to see if she would return.
Before long, they heard the Durango peel out of the garage and
speed off.

Kyle turned to him, “What did you
do?”

“
What makes you think I did
something?”

“
Just a hunch.”

“
Well I didn’t do anything.
She’s just a drama queen,” the guard said, rolling his eyes
again.

Kyle frowned, “Drama
queen?”

“
Yeah, yelled something
into her phone about the Encala then cursed and took off,” the
guard shrugged.

Kyle gasped, “What?”

The guard shook his head, “Don’t worry
about it. I’m sure it’s just too quiet round here, and she’s
looking to get everyone riled up.”

Kyle slapped him upside the head and
grabbed his shoulder, pushing him toward the council chambers. When
he shoved the guard into the trial area, the Council looked
up.

“
Problem, Kyle?” Quinn
asked.

“
Yeah, Genius here was
Emily’s guard today,” Kyle pushed him forward so he was directly in
front of Chevalier.

“
Yes, and?”

“
Why don’t you tell them
why you called her a drama queen,” Kyle urged.

Chevalier sighed, “What
now?”

“
Hey,” the guard said. “I’m
ok taking my turn with the mortal, but I’m not going to coddle her
and freak out just because she yells into the phone and takes off
running.”

Kyle growled, “Keep going,
Dipshit.”

“
Is this really important?
We were sort of busy,” Chevalier sighed.

“
Ok, so her phone rings and
she starts yelling about the Encala, and then takes off running.
It’s not my job to stop her, so I followed, but she…”

“
What?” Chevalier yelled,
standing up.

“
I’m sure it’s nothing,”
the guard said casually.

“
Kyle…” Quinn said,
gritting his teeth.

“
She was already gone in
the Durango before he told me why she took off,” Kyle said,
slapping the guard again.

Chevalier had his phone out, “Damnit,
it’s busy.”

Quinn stood up quickly, “Kyle, get
your Ferrari and head east, I’ll head west, Chevalier, head
south.”

The three heku took off as Maleth
looked at the guard and motioned him forward with the bend of a
finger. The guard walked up to the Elder pompously, and crossed his
arms, smiling, “Yes, Elder?”

“
Who assigned you as
Emily’s guard?” the Elder asked.

“
Captain Linch,
Sir.”

Maleth thought for a moment, “Why
haven’t I heard of him?”

“
He’s new, just moved in
from one of the English covens,” Zohn told him.

“
Fire him… and you,” Maleth
said, turning back to the guard, “Will report to the
kitchen.”

“
The kitchen, Elder?” he
asked, confused.

“
Yes, the kitchen, talk to
Ron about your position on the servant staff here at the
palace.”

The guard puffed out his chest, “I’m a
guard.”

“
No, you were a guard… now
you are a servant,” Maleth said, and stood up. “Zohn, let’s go talk
to Allen for a moment.”

Zohn nodded and followed the Elder to
the make-shift classroom where Allen was being tutored. His
6-year-old body didn’t match his mind, which had advanced well past
elementary school and into the world of astrophysics and
multivariable calculus.

Allen looked up when the Elder and
Chief Interrogator walked into his classroom.

“
Can I help you?” the tutor
asked.

“
Yes, we need Allen for a
moment,” Maleth told him.

“
Alone,” Zohn
added.

The tutor huffed and then walked out
of the classroom.

Allen looked up from his studies,
“Yes, Elder?”

“
Allen, this is very
important,” Maleth said, taking a seat by the boy.

“
Ok”

“
Where is your mother’s
ranch?”

Allen sighed, “I’m not going to tell
you that.”

“
We need to know. She’s
taken off after a phone call about the Encala, and I’m afraid there
may be some problems,” Maleth explained.

Allen looked at them calmly, “It’s not
my place. If she ran off without protection, then I can only assume
that she can handle it herself.”

“
Please, Allen, tell us so
we can make sure she’s ok,” Zohn said.

Allen shook his head, “I’ll not betray
my mother’s trust by giving away her secret.”

Maleth sighed and nodded, “Very well.
Can you at least call the ranch and see if everything is
ok?”

“
Yes, that I can do,” Allen
said, and pulled out his cell phone.

Maleth and Zohn watched him as he
waited and then hung up the phone.

“
There’s no
answer.”

Maleth tried to smile reassuringly,
“I’m sure everything’s fine.”

***

Emily drove through the night at
speeds over 100 mph. The Durango’s engine whined when she went
faster, so she had to settle for that dauntingly slow speed. Her
mind whirled at what she would find when she got to there. No one
was answering at the ranch, and Sam’s phone was suddenly out of the
area. She called it over and over as she drove toward
Montana.

Emily pulled onto the small dirt road
just after sunrise, and her heart sunk as she saw the plume of
smoke rising from the direction of the ranch. She stopped the
Durango beside one of the many fire trucks, and ran toward the barn
where the firemen were focusing. She saw the barn burning out of
control and her heart sank. There were 15 horses in
there.

Emily didn’t hesitate, she ran toward
the barn, ignoring how the heat from the fire burned her face.
Strong arms pulled her back as she fought to get to the
horses.

“
Let me go!” she screamed,
pulling against the arms.

“
Emily, it’s too late,” she
heard Peter say.

“
No, let me go.” She pried
his hands loose and lunged for the fiery barn.

Todd stepped in front of her and
wrapped his arms around her, carrying her away from the fire, “Em,
it’s too late.”

Emily buried her face into his chest.
The thought of those fifteen horses made it hard to breathe. They
were her responsibility, and they had been killed while she was
away. She fell to her knees as the firemen stood back and watched
the out-of-control fire turn the beautiful barn into a heap of
smoldering ash.

“
They’ve been here for
almost 12 hours. They couldn’t save the horses,” Todd told
her.

Emily glanced behind her and saw the
house was already gone. All that was left was part of the structure
and the tall stone fireplace. She turned back to the barn and
watched with tear filled eyes as the firemen packed up their
gear.

Peter and Todd knelt on each side of
her and watched with her as the thick smoke began to thin out when
the flames burned out into glowing embers.

Long after the fire trucks left, Emily
and the twins knelt before the barn. The brothers weren’t sure what
to do. She wasn’t moving, and didn’t respond when they spoke to
her. One of them called a chief elder to ask advice, and he was on
the way to the ranch, but they worried that the rain would soon
turn to snow.

“
What happened?” Emily
whispered, watching the rain as it turned the ash into
mud.

Todd shook his head, “Arson, there
were… maybe fifty of them, and they had torches. They were catching
things on fire and screaming for you.”

A tear streamed down Emily’s
face.

“
Do you believe in
vampires?” she asked softly.

Todd frowned at Peter, who
shrugged.

“
No, we don’t. The vampire
stories came from Europe. No Native American tribe believes in
them,” Peter explained.

“
Where is Sam?”

“
He’s… well,” Peter said,
looking around. “I’m not sure exactly.”

Todd turned when Emily’s cell phone
rang from inside the Durango. He looked at her and then glanced at
his brother. When she made no move to answer it, Todd went to the
truck and opened the cell phone.

“
Emily’s phone,” he
said.

“
Who is this?” the gruff
voice asked.

“
Todd, I’m one of Emily’s
field hands… or, at least, I was.”

“
Where is
Emily?”

Todd sighed, “She’s not talking right
now.”

Todd hung up the phone after talking
for a few minutes, and went back to Emily and Peter, who were still
kneeling on the ground. He looked up at the rain as it began to
thicken into snow.

“
Who was it?” Peter
asked.

“
Emily’s accountant. He
needed to verify her address for some mail,” Todd said. He turned
around when he heard a car approaching, “Here’s Kirk.”

An old blue Pontiac pulled up and Kirk
stepped out. Emily didn’t look over at him when he stepped up to
the twins. The man was one of the eldest Crows in the tribe. His
long gray hair was pulled into two braids that hung down to his
waist, and he had a bone and bead breastplate hanging against this
chest. His wrinkled face was warm and caring, and he had a soft
understanding in his eyes when he scanned the
destruction.

“
She won’t move,” Todd said
softly.

Kirk nodded and knelt down in front of
her, “Emily?”

Emily’s weary eyes looked into
his.

He took her hands in his and studied
her face as she turned her eyes back to the barn. The cattle had
moved off to the other end of the pasture to get away from the
fire. They were skittish and nervous as they pushed against the
back fence.