Eternity of Vengeance : Book 7 of the Heku Series (68 page)

“She’s not dead yet,” one
of the heku said after checking her neck for a pulse.

“No, she’s not,” Frederick
agreed. “I’m not done torturing Chevalier yet.”

“What do we do with the
mortal’s body?”

“Leave it… and leave her
too,” he said, tapping her with his foot. “She’s not going
anywhere.”

“If we leave her here, they will know
it’s us doing it.”

“They can’t catch me… it won’t
matter.”

The heku nodded and they all left the
ceremonial room.

***

Chevalier stepped through
the broken front doors of the Encala’s palace and he was
immediately aware of the smell of Winchester blood.

Mark was right behind him and he
crouched slightly and yelled, “Where is she!?”

The heku listened closely
and could hear no noise in the Encala palace. They were aware that
the city was also abandoned. Silas appeared at the bloody heku on
the floor by the main stairway and bent down.

“Sir, it’s Aaron.”

“She’s here somewhere,”
Chevalier growled, and the Cavalry disappeared to search the enemy
palace.

One of the Cavalry from
Powan was the first to find the ceremonial room. He quickly called
for the others and knelt down by Emily, then felt for a
pulse.

“She’s alive,” he said to Chevalier
when he arrived.

Chevalier gently picked
her up as Mark tore the metal restraints from her
wrists.

“He’s dead,” Kralen said after
checking on the mortal.

Mark looked her over, “Other than the
cuts from the restraints, I don’t think they hurt her.”

Silas appeared with twelve
members of the Cavalry, “The palace is empty.”

“Is her room intact?”
Chevalier asked him.

“Yes, just as we left it.”

“I don’t want to travel
with her unconscious, let’s take her there.”

Mark nodded and left orders for the
mortal to be buried before following Chevalier up the
stairs.

For two days, the twenty
four members of the Cavalry with Chevalier meticulously went
through the Encala Palace, destroying anything they could and
making sure to leave the Equites crest drawn on every
surface.

Toward nightfall on the
third day, Mark called Chevalier into Emily’s room when she started
to wake up. He appeared with a torn shirt and blood on his
arms.

Mark grinned slightly, “Go shower,
I’ll wait here.”

Chevalier looked down, “Oh right… I
found a Valle prisoner alive.”

“I figured,” Mark chuckled
as Chevalier left to find a shower.

When Emily’s eyes opened slowly, Mark
sat beside her on the bed and touched her shoulder,
“Em?”

She looked over at him and
then scanned the room, “Why did you change my room?”

“We’re in the Encala
palace,” he explained. “Does this not look familiar to
you?”

Emily shook her head, “Why are we
here?”

“Do you remember the turning
ritual?”

Emily gasped and then whispered,
“Yes.”

“It’s ok… we’re here with you now and
the Encala are gone.”

Chevalier walked in and sat down on
the bed, “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know,” she said, and again
scanned the room.

“Do you have a headache?”

“Just a little one.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied her
face, “Do you know where you are?”

“Yes,” she said, and then
looked at Mark. “What did you call it?”

“The Encala palace,” Mark
told her again.

“Oh, right, that’s where I
am.”

Chevalier helped her sit up and she
pulled the blankets over her shoulders, “It’s freezing in
here.”

“Now that you’re awake, we can go back
to Council City.”

She nodded and stood up
slowly. As she walked toward the door, the heku noticed her limp
had returned and she seemed unsteady on her feet. They followed her
down to the front entrance and out into the night.

Emily looked closely at
the dark parking lot, “Where’s my Jeep?”

Chevalier and Mark both
looked at the purple Aero parked right in front of where Emily was
standing.

After a brief conversation
in tones too low for Emily, Mark answered, “We had it taken back to
Council City. Why don’t you come in the helicopter with
us?”

She nodded, ignoring the
two members of the Cavalry that drove away in the nearby purple
car. After following the others to the helicopter, she crawled
inside and shivered when the helicopter took off. Kralen
immediately removed his cape and wrapped it around her
shoulders.

The flight was quiet, each
wondering how much damage the two turning rituals in four days had
caused. They were met on the roof of the palace by a line of palace
guards. Emily frowned at them slightly and clung tightly to
Chevalier’s arm when they moved into the palace.

Dr. Edwards smiled as he
neared their bedroom at the same time they did, “How are you,
Dear?”

Emily smiled, “Just tired.”

“Can I look over you a
bit?”

She looked up at Chevalier
and he nodded. Emily let go of Chevalier’s arm and went into the
bedroom with Dr. Edwards.

“How is she?” Zohn asked, coming up
the stairs.

“Dr. Edwards is in there
now… her memory seems kind of sketchy,” Chevalier
explained.

Kyle joined Chevalier and
Mark as they waited for Dr. Edwards to finish with Emily. It was
only an hour later when he came out and shut the door behind
her.

“You’re right about her
memory,” he explained. “I don’t see any physical injuries other
than cuts and bruises on her wrist. She’s definitely had another
stroke, and I’m concerned about her being alone.”

“How bad is her memory loss?” Kyle
asked.

“It’s hit or miss. Right
now, it looks like the bulk of her memory is good, but there are
some things missing. For instance… she doesn’t remember the name of
her dog, but knows he’s a Border collie.”

Chevalier glanced to the door, “So can
I take her away until Frederick is found?”

“Your best bet right now
is to keep her in familiar places and around familiar heku. Don’t
let her go out alone or she could wander off and get really
lost.”

“Easy enough,” Mark
whispered.

“Try to reduce any
stressors from the memory problems too. So if it’s not hurting
anything, let her believe whatever it is she believes.”

Chevalier turned to Mark, “Get the
word out.”

Mark nodded.

“She’s also… well…
somewhat changed,” Dr. Edwards continued.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning… she seems more
quiet and reserved and more open to medical testing and such. She
didn’t fight me at all when I wanted to look in her eyes or take a
blood pressure.”

“Will she return to normal
then?”

“Yes, as she heals things
should clear up. Right now we’re dealing with what’s called a TIA,
sort of a mini stroke. They mimic the full stroke, but the symptoms
usually go away, even on a full human.”

“Good, so we protect the area from
Frederick and keep her calm,” Kyle said, eyeing the area around the
door.

Dr. Edwards turned to
Mark, “Make sure her guards watch for signs that the stroke
symptoms are getting worse. Strokes can repeat, though I’m hoping
if we stop the turning rituals, hers will stop all
together.”

Mark nodded again and
disappeared.

The heku turned when Emily
walked out. She smiled softly and took Chevalier’s arm, “I need to
talk to you.”

He nodded and led her back inside,
“What’s up?”

Emily sat down in the chair by the
roaring fire, “I want to talk about the Encala.”

“Ok,” he said, and sat down beside
her.

“William and Aaron are my friends,”
she said, watching the fire.

He started to tell her that Aaron was
dead, but changed his mind, “I know.”

“I don’t want them punished because of
what Frederick did.”

“They’ve made poor
decisions as a faction, and I’m getting tired of their
games.”

“From what I can tell, it’s
Frederick.”

Chevalier reached out and took her
hand, “If you want us to back off, then we will.”

She looked over at him, “I
do.”

“Then come talk to the
Council. Tell everyone what happened to you.”

Emily laced her fingers with his, “I
don’t want to go before the Council.”

“I won’t make you.”

“You can tell them what
happened.”

“You tell me first.”

She shrugged, “I talked to Aaron for a
bit and then Frederick threw me over his shoulder and took me… you
know.”

“Yes. Did they ask you to
come?”

“No, they were surprised.”

Chevalier chuckled, “I would imagine
they were afraid of what the Equites would do.”

“Chev?”

“Yes?” He was somewhat
relieved that she’d returned to his nickname. She hadn’t used it
since his doppelganger threw her out of the palace.

“Don’t go to work today…
Can you stay here?”

He smiled, “Sure, I can
stay here. What do you want to do?”

“Order a pizza and stay in for a
movie?”

“That sounds perfect,” he
said. He turned to the fire when he heard an announcement that the
Encala Council was requesting an audience. He quietly told the
others he wouldn’t be down, and then ordered Emily’s favorite
pizza.

Kyle heard Chevalier and turned to
Derrick, “Let them in.”

Derrick nodded and left the room,
returning a few minutes later with William and six members of the
Encala Council.

“What can we do for you?” Zohn
asked.

William was furious, “Why did you kill
Aaron?”

“We didn’t,” Kyle told
him. “We found Aaron’s body when we went to retrieve Emily from
your ceremonial room.”

William frowned slightly and turned to
his Chief Interrogator.

The Encala’s Chief Interrogator nodded
at his Elder and William turned back to the Equites Council, “Do
you know who?”

“It was Frederick.”

William sighed, “I didn’t realize he’d
gone rogue.”

“He has, and he better
hope no Equites finds him.”

“How is she?” he asked, looking across
the Council.

“She survived,” Kyle said, not willing
to give out more information.

William looked down at the ground, “We
will take care of Frederick and bring back proof if it can help
mend the relations between our factions.”

Quinn stood furiously, “The only
reason I don’t tear you apart right now is that we’ve promised
Emily to leave you alone.”

“It wasn’t us!”

“Frederick is a member of your
Council.”

“One that will be banished the next
time we see him.”

“We haven’t forgotten that it was you
who brought the doppelgangers back…”

“That was…”

“Frederick, we know.”

“Again, you cannot blame
the entire Encala faction for the actions of one out of control
Elder!”

Zohn’s eyes narrowed, “We agreed what,
exactly?”

“Elder Chevalier promised Emily that
we wouldn’t punish the Encala,” the Court Reporter told
him.

“Prison then,” Quinn said.

“What!?” William roared.

“You can’t imprison us!
We’re still the ruling body of the Encala,” the Encala’s Chief of
Finance yelled.

“You can rule from our
prison,” Zohn said, and watched the Cavalry take the Encala
away.

Kyle grinned,
“Technicality.”

“Let’s just ban her from the prison
again,” Dustin suggested.

“Agreed, alert the guards,” Zohn told
Kyle.

Kyle nodded and began whispering
instructions to the prison guards.

“Will the Elder be coming
down for the next trial?” the Chief Investigator asked.

“No, he’s listening though and can
give us a verdict when we need one,” Quinn said.

“You’re letting them go
with you?” Mark asked Emily when she emerged in her jogging
clothing. She’d only been back from the Encala palace for two
weeks, but her limp was already improving and there had been no
further strokes.

“Yes”

“All four of them?”

She smiled, “Yes, the guards can go
jogging with me if they’d like.”