Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (4 page)

“It was… I don’t know.”

“Was it within an hour of the rest of them
heading inland?”

He nodded, “Maybe a little longer.”

“After you initially went below deck, did you
come back up to check on things?”

“No, Ma’am. I didn’t hear anything that would
indicate the boat was being boarded.”

Storm leaned forward, “However, when they did
board the boat and a mortal walked down the stairs, you didn’t hear
them?”

“No, Ma’am. They must have been
sneaking.”

Storm turned to Emily, “Were you attempting
to be quiet?”

“I’m mortal. We don’t know how to be quiet,”
Emily said, and then blushed when a laugh spread through the
gathered heku.

Storm shook her head and grinned before
turning back to Niccolo, “What were you doing when Lady Emily
arrived below deck?”

“Reading, Ma’am.”

“Where?”

Niccolo frowned, “I was… well… I kind
of…”

“Where were you sitting? This isn’t a hard
question.”

“On… on the bed, Ma’am.”

“So you were sitting on Lady Emily’s bed,
reading her book?”

Niccolo simply nodded.

“Yet you didn’t hear her coming down the
stairs?”

“No, Ma’am.”

Storm glared at him, “You were so engrossed
in a romance novel that you wouldn’t have heard if the entire Valle
population had boarded?”

“I think I would have heard that,” Niccolo
whispered. Kralen had had enough, so he reached down and smacked
him upside the head. Niccolo winced and then looked up at
Storm.

She shook her head, “At what point did you
find it necessary to search Lady Emily’s possessions?”

He gasped, “I didn’t!”

“Where was the book you were reading?”

“On the night stand.”

“So you didn’t go through her bags?”

“I wouldn’t!”

Storm turned to Emily, “Are you sure your
things were disheveled?”

Emily shrugged, “Well, I don’t have the
heku’s photographic memory…, but things seemed a bit out of
order.”

“Her bags had his scent. He had gone through
them,” Chevalier told her.

Storm nodded and wrote in the file, “Lying
won’t get you anywhere in this court.”

“I’m not! I may… well they fell… the bags. So
I put the stuff back into them,” Niccolo said.

“And you just remembered that?”

“I… yes.”

“Why did you go through her things?” Storm
asked him again.

“I didn’t!”

Kralen hissed, “Do not make me interrogate
you, boy.”

Niccolo gasped and his eyes grew wide, “Ok…
ok… so maybe I looked at just the stuff on top. I didn’t hurt
anything.”

Emily’s nose wrinkled, “Why?”

Storm glanced at Emily and then turned to
Niccolo, waiting for an answer.

He sighed, “It’s just… I don’t know.”

“So you felt it prudent to inspect Lady
Emily’s personal belongings?” Storm asked him.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“What was it like?”

“I just… I don’t know. I just wanted to see I
guess.”

“You are vying for a spot on the Council City
Cavalry, are you not?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Is being nosey a trait that the heku seek in
a good guard?”

“No, Ma’am.” Emily could tell that Niccolo
was defeated. His eyes were glued to the dirt floor at his knees,
and his voice held no more emotion.

Storm wrote for a few minutes and then turned
to the Elders, “Do you need anything else?”

“I think that’s enough,” Chevalier said,
glaring down at Niccolo.

“The Elders will now vote,” Storm said.

Emily felt panic rising and started to stand,
but Kyle put his hands on her shoulders and held her to the chair.
She hadn’t realized he was behind her and knew he was there to keep
her from running.

“It’s ok,” Kyle whispered.

She looked over at Chevalier when he spoke,
“Guilty.”

“Guilty,” Zohn said.

Quinn nodded, “I concur. He's guilty of
whatever it is he was doing.”

The panic grew. Emily knew she had to get out
of the court room before the heku was torn to pieces in front of
her. She pushed harder to get up, but Kyle’s hands didn’t
relent.

“Em, calm down,” Chevalier said softly as he
turned his chair toward her.

“What’s wrong?” Zohn asked, frowning.

Emily looked at Niccolo and was finding it
hard to breathe. She could easily imagine Kralen reaching down and
instantly tearing him apart. She looked up and met Kralen’s eye and
knew that he would do it if given the order.

Kyle bent down and whispered into her ear,
“We’re not going to punish him in front of you.”

Emily wanted to fight for his life, to demand
the Elders let him go. It was such a small crime, and she didn’t
feel it warranted any type of punishment. She had long since
decided to let the Council do their job though, and the thoughts of
standing up for this heku were soon tucked into the back of her
mind.

Chevalier studied her for a moment, “Kyle,
take her upstairs please.”

Kyle nodded and helped Emily to her feet. She
walked as fast as she could and was soon up in her bedroom.

“You ok?” Kyle asked her.

“Are they going to tear him apart?”

“Probably not for that small of a crime.”

“Banishment?”

“If I had to guess, just a prison
sentence.”

Emily nodded and looked over at her bag,
“What do you think he did with my things?”

“There’s no telling.”

“I bet he just looked, right?”

“Probably”

She reached over and unzipped the bag, and
then pulled out the top item, a simple green t-shirt, “Not much to
look at, really.”

Under the t-shirt was an extra bikini. Kyle
frowned and reached over to pick up the top. He brought it to his
nose and frowned, “His scent is still on this.”

“On my swim suit?” she asked, frowning.

“Pretty strong too. I wonder if he tried it
on.”

Emily wasn’t sure if Kyle was joking or not,
but she took it away from him and tossed it into the trash.

Kyle chuckled, “That was just a guess
though.”

“It’s disgusting!”

“I’ll have Margaret make you a new one.”

“No!” she said, a little too fast. She
grinned sheepishly up at Kyle, “I’d rather the palace tailor make
me one.”

Kyle grinned, “I like Margaret’s better.”

“Yes, I bet you do.”

They both turned when the Elders walked
in.

“Did you kill him?” Emily asked them.

Chevalier shook his head, “Not for something
that small. He’s going to be in the prison for a while though.”

Emily breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t
often the Elders gave someone such a small sentence. Kralen walked
in a few seconds later, and it was obvious he was still mad.

“We’re headed to Council City,” Kralen told
them.

Chevalier nodded, “We’ll be back in a few
hours.”

Chapter 2

Derrick smiled when he saw Emily coming
toward him, “Good afternoon, Lady Emily. Do you need to see the
Council?”

She sighed and looked at the door, “Are they
busy?”

“They have a prisoner but are waiting for
Richard to get back.”

“They won’t kill him in front of me,
right?”

Derrick couldn’t help but grin, “No. They try
not to do that anymore.”

“Ok, let me in please.”

He turned to the door for a few seconds
before opening it, “Go on in.”

Emily walked in and stood at the door for a
second to let her eyes adjust. Most of the time, the Council had
the lights turned on, but once in a while, like now, they didn’t.
She knew they could see fine without the lights, but it made it
hard for her to get around.

Once she could see enough to walk, she
skirted around the prisoner on his knees and went up to kneel by
Chevalier.

He turned his chair, “You ok?”

“Yes… can I talk to you for a sec?”

“Sure”

Emily stood up and then looked over at him
when he didn’t stand up, “Alone.”

“Oh! Right,” he said, and then followed her
out through the back door.

Once in the hallway behind the council
chambers, Emily turned to him and wrung her hands slightly.

Chevalier smiled, “You’re nervous.”

“Well”

“What’s up?”

“Andrew invited me to come pay a visit,” she
said, and then cringed when he sighed.

“You want to go visit the Encala?”

“Yes, just for a week.”

Chevalier pinched the bridge of his nose
between his thumb and finger, “Is there a reason?”

“Not really anything special.”

“For a week?” He was trying to be open-minded
about the continuing friendship Emily had with not only Andrew but
the entire Encala faction.

Since Andrew was made the Encala’s Chief
Interrogator, even when they spoke it made Chevalier nervous. He
was pleased that she had asked though. Five years ago, Emily
wouldn’t have asked and Chevalier wouldn’t have known she was even
invited until she was already in Encala City.

Emily watched him and began to get nervous
that he was going to tell her she couldn’t go. She’d sworn to
herself that she was going to involve him in decisions though and
knew that if he said no, it might cause a fight.

“It’s been so quiet,” Emily said. “I think a
road trip would be fun.”

“Road trip?” Chevalier asked.

“Yeah, he wants to take our motorcycles.”

“There are still unfactioned out there.”

“I know, but I’ll be with Andrew…, and I can
take care of myself too. Please, Chev. I haven’t visited the Encala
in years.”

He finally sighed, “I guess you can go.”

Emily squealed slightly and wrapped her arms
around him, “Thank you!”

“When are you leaving?”

“He said it’ll take him two days to get here,
and then we’ll leave.”

“You’ll be careful?”

“I promise.”

He studied her for a bit before nodding, “For
now though, Thukil has just arrived.”

“Great!” Emily said, and
immediately headed down to the stables. In front of the stables was
a large horse trailer bearing the name “
Thukil Equestrian Ranch”
emblazoned
across it. Captain Darren was just climbing out of the driver’s
seat.

“Brought you some presents,” he said,
smiling.

Emily nodded and went around to the back of
the horse trailer where Mark and Silas were waiting. She unhooked
the security latch and opened the back, revealing two beautiful,
black horses; a stallion and a mare.

“Oh, they’re beautiful,” she said, looking
over the majestic horses. “Are they fast?”

“That stallion’s actually faster than his
Mom, but the mare can hold her own,” one of the Thukil Cavalry
Commanders said.

“Are they broken?” Mark asked.

Captain Darren nodded, “Yes, Sir.”

Emily frowned and turned around, “I thought I
was going to break them.”

“Elder’s…”

“…
never mind.” She turned
and watched Silas walk the stallion out of the trailer, “He’s
huge!”

“Why, thank you,” Silas chuckled.

“Not you! The horse. Geesh.”

“Seventeen hands that one,” Darren said as he
took the reins on the mare and walked her out.

“Let’s put them in the corral for now. Let
them get used to Council City,” Emily suggested. She opened the
gate to the corral, and they led the horses into it and let them
go. The stallion didn’t take long to start grazing on what was left
of the fall grass.

When the gate was shut, Emily leaned up
against the fence and watched them, “Absolutely gorgeous.”

“Who gets them though?” Silas asked, watching
them graze.

“I’m thinking Mark will choose that.”

“You aren’t snagging one?”

“Nope, I have a horse.”

Captain Darren lowered his voice so Emily
couldn’t hear him, “She still doesn’t trust us, does she?”

Mark looked over at him, “It’s hard to say.
She won’t talk a lot about her time with the former Council.”

“What can I do? We still consider her a
friend and a Commander.”

“Just keep working with her. You didn’t
assault her, so there’s hope.”

“No, but we still turned on her.”

“Want to race them?” Silas asked, looking
over at Emily.

She smiled, “I get the stallion.”

Silas disappeared and reappeared with two
saddles. Emily smiled and headed into the corral.

She was just getting to the stallion when
Darren yelled, “Watch it!”

Emily froze and took a step back when the
stallion turned to her and lowered his ears flat against his head.
Without warning, he reared back and slammed into her, sending her
flying into the wooden fence.

She rolled onto her hands and knees, gasping
for breath as Silas and the Thukil Commander forcibly pulled the
stallion into the second corral.

“Are you ok?” Mark asked, kneeling down
beside her.

She nodded and then lowered her head, trying
to relieve lingering pain from crashing into the fence post.

“What happened?” Dr. Edwards asked, blurring
up.

She cringed but let Mark explain, “The horse
attacked her. She hit the fence pretty hard, and it knocked the
wind out of her.”

Emily finally made it to sitting and was
immediately pushed down onto the ground by Mark and Darren.

“What hurts?” Dr. Edwards asked, looking her
over.

Instincts told her to send him away, but a
promise to Chevalier rang through her head, and she swallowed hard
before answering, “Shoulder.”

“How bad?”

“Just hurts a little.”

“Can I look?”

She nodded and pulled off her leather gloves
before Mark helped her sit up. She slipped off her over-shirt,
leaving just a camisole, and leaned forward while Dr. Edwards
checked over her back, shoulder, and neck.

“Banged up pretty badly,” he said. He pressed
softly against her shoulder, and she cried out slightly and jerked
away from him, “Sorry… sorry… we’re going to have to keep an eye on
that.”