Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (5 page)

“It’ll be ok.”

“You could have torn a rotator cuff,” he
said, and helped her stand up. Emily steadied herself against the
fence post and looked over at the stallion.

“I thought you said he was broken.”

“He is,” Darren said, and then slipped
through the fence and walked up to him. The stallion watched him
casually and nibbled at the grass when the heku began to pet his
neck.

Emily turned when Dr. Edwards began putting a
sling over her shoulder, “Do I really need that?”

“Yes, just until we know if you’ve injured
anything.”

“You have two days to find out. I’m going to
the Encala for a week.”

“You are?” Mark asked, growling slightly.

She nodded, “Yes, and Andrew and I are taking
the motorcycles.

“We’ll see,” Dr. Edwards said as he finished
fastening the sling.

Emily wouldn’t admit it, but her arm felt
considerably better in the sling. She turned back to the horse,
“I’ve seen horses act like that with heku, but not with me.”

“Maybe that’s the problem,” Darren said.

“Heku around?”

“No… he’s only been around heku. Maybe he
doesn’t like humans.”

“Great”

“He’ll warm up to you. He’s very gentle when
he’s not spooked.”

“I’ll have to try again when I get back.”

“Does that sling help?” Dr. Edwards asked
her.

She nodded and turned back toward the palace,
“Chev’s going to be mad.”

Mark smiled, “I think he’ll be ok once he
knows Dr. Edwards looked you over.”

“I’ll walk you in,” Dr. Edwards said. “Maybe
get you something for the pain.”

She nodded and followed him into the
palace.

“Damnit,” Darren hissed. “We brought her a
horse that hates her. That’s not going to fix relations.”

“She knows horses. I doubt she’ll blame you,”
Silas said.

“Why don’t we work with Alexis while Emily’s
gone and see if we can get him to warm up to humans?” Mark
asked.

Darren glanced at him, “That may work. I have
to get back though.”

“Can’t stay at all?”

“No, Lord Thukil is going to want to know how
Emily reacted to us.”

Mark sighed, “She’ll come around. Just don’t
push the issue.”

He nodded and got back into the truck.

***

Emily woke up the following morning, sore
from head to toe. She groaned slightly as she sat up in bed and
then rubbed her sore shoulder.

“That bad?” Chevalier asked from over by the
fire.

“Just sore I think.”

“We have a masseuse to work on it.”

“Breakfast first?”

He smiled, “Of course. I have pancakes on the
way up.”

Chevalier walked over and held out his hand,
holding two little white pills.

“What are they?” she asked, taking them with
a glass of water.

“I didn’t ask. Dr. Edwards just said it will
help with the pain.”

She nodded and leaned back in bed to wait for
breakfast.

“Do you want to talk about Thukil?” Chevalier
asked, sitting down beside her.

“What about them?”

“You haven’t really warmed up to them
since…”

“Since they thought I was going to stoop to
working for the pseudo-Council and wipe them out?”

He cringed, “Yes.”

“I don’t hate them.”

“You used to love going to Thukil.”

“That was before I realized how little faith
they have in me.”

“That’s pretty harsh, don’t you think?”

She sighed, “I don’t know if I’ll ever feel
comfortable with them again.”

“Give them a chance, ok? They are trying to
win back your friendship.”

“I know.”

Chevalier got up to retrieve the pancakes,
and he put them on the table beside her.

“The masseuse will be here in 20 minutes. Let
him work on your shoulder please.”

“I will,” she said, and started to eat. He
watched her for a few minutes and then headed down to the council
chambers.

Emily was just finishing breakfast when Dr.
Edwards and another strange heku came in. He was introduced as her
masseuse and was soon working on her shoulder. She felt the
medicine start to work and drifted off into peaceful sleep.

When she woke up, it was dark outside, and
she frowned and sat up. Chevalier was sitting by the fire watching
her.

“What time is it?” she asked, yawning into
her hand.

“Almost 5am.”

“5am?! What happened to yesterday?”

“Dr. Edwards thinks he might have given you
too much medication, and you slept all day and through the night.”
Chevalier seemed amused by this.

“Nice,” she said, and then stood up shakily.
“I’m druggy.”

“Best clear your head if you’re going to
leave with Andrew.”

“Is he here?”

“Yes, he got here last night.”

She rotated her shoulder slightly and then
sat down with a cup of hot coffee.

“How is it?” he asked, studying her.

“A little stiff is all. It doesn’t feel too
bad.”

“You sure you want to motorcycle to Encala
City?”

“Yes, I need a good road trip.”

“I could buy you a new car to take. It’d only
be a few hours for our modifications.”

“What modifications?” Emily asked.

“Ones we’ve learned so they can sustain high
speeds for longer.”

She thought on that for a moment, “Do
what?”

“The cars we buy… they are rated at high
speeds but can only keep those speeds for a short time. With our
modifications, we can travel at those high speeds as long as we’d
like. How did you think your Aero made it here from the Encala
doing almost 200?”

“I thought all sports cars did that.”

“Not without our help.”

“Figures”

“We also modify them so the seats lay
back.”

She frowned, “All seats lay back in
front.”

“Not in expensive cars.”

“Why do you do that modification? You don’t
kick back to sleep.”

He smiled broadly, “Do you really want to
know?”

She studied him, “Yes.”

“Makes donors more comfortable.”

“Ew”

“Well, it’s true.”

“I don’t want to know about donors in your
car.”

“I don’t have donors in my car anymore.”

“Still…”

Chevalier looked over toward the door,
“Andrew is insisting he come in here.”

Emily stood up and pulled on a robe, and then
called out for Andrew to enter. When he came in, he looked mad and
glared at Chevalier before walking up to Emily.

“How were you hurt?” he asked, looking over
her.

She smiled, “Mean horse.”

“You sure?”

She frowned at him, “Of course. Are you
interrogating me?”

“No”

“Yes,” Chevalier countered. “We didn’t hurt
her. She just had a run-in with a horse.”

“If you’re going to distrust everything I say
and accuse the Equites of abusing me, then you can go back to your
city alone,” Emily said, irritated.

A smile crossed Andrew’s lips, “Fine. I’ll
give you that.”

“I can be ready in 20 minutes,” she said,
taking another bite.

Andrew nodded, “I bought you a new
helmet.”

“Why?”

“It has a microphone, so we can talk on the
road.”

“Oh nice,” she said before drinking her
juice. She stood up and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Watch your interrogation abilities around
her,” Chevalier whispered.

Andrew glared at him, “I’m not going to
interrogate her.”

“You do it without even knowing it.”

“I can control it. She’s my friend, and I
won’t hurt her.”

“Just remember that… friends.”

“Meaning?” Andrew hissed.

“I see how you look at her,” Chevalier told
him. “She’s mine.”

Andrew headed for the door, “Tell Emily I’ll
wait for her by the city gates.”

Chevalier watched as he walked out and heard
Mark give orders for eight of the Cavalry to make sure he made it
out of the city.

Emily came out a few minutes later in black
leather pants, knee-high leather boots, a white camisole, and a
black leather jacket. Her hair was braided and she was pulling on
some black leather gloves, “I think I’m ready to go.”

Chevalier sighed, “I hate when you dress like
that.”

“Leather is…”

“…
safer, I
know.”

She smiled and then reached over and kissed
him, “I’ll call when we get there.”

“Call me before you get there. I don’t like
this.”

She nodded and then started out the door.
Chevalier wanted to grab her and disappear with her to somewhere
safe. He wanted to take her to where no one could hurt her but knew
that if he tightened his grip, she might revert to her old ways of
doing everything on her own.

Emily looked over the new helmet before
sliding onto the seat of the Harley Night Rod Special and putting
it on. Her guards were standing behind her, all trying to figure
out what they could say to get her to stay. Before they had a
chance, she started up the engine and headed into Council City. She
didn’t even stop when she cleared the gates, and Andrew was soon
riding beside her as they entered the Interstate headed west.

“We banking on Equites followers?” Andrew
asked, testing out the helmet communication.

Emily laughed, “They won’t. They trust
me.”

“You, yes. They hate me.”

“You hate them too, so don’t act like a
martyr.”

“Act like a martyr?” he asked, laughing.

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

“We should get to the palace by tomorrow
night. I figure we can stay the night in Billings.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

“Why are you favoring your hand?”

“Damn, is there anything you don’t
notice?”

He simply chuckled.

“I hurt my right shoulder. It’s just a little
stiff is all.”

“Are you going to explain why your scent is
gone?” Andrew asked, glancing over at her.

She smiled, “Sometimes it’s easier when out
in public if I mask it.”

“When are you going to let me replace that
old Night Rod?”

“It’s not old!”

“Yes, and not in a classic way either.”

“I like it. It has sentimental value.”

“Your motorcycle has sentimental value?”

“Yes”

“Damn, must be a car wreck up ahead,” Andrew
said a few hours later as they both slowed and finally stopped
behind a white cargo van.

They sat back as cars stopped behind
them.

“It’s too hot to sit out here,” Emily said,
slipping off the leather jacket.

“I like the leather.”

“It’s best in case I…” Andrew looked over
when her sentence cut off suddenly and then roared as electrodes
embedded into his back and his body filled with electricity. He was
not in control of his body but was aware that he and Emily were
being dragged into the back of the cargo van.

Electricity continued to incapacitate him as
he was restrained with heavy chains, and the van turned and headed
back away from the traffic. He tried to scream out and break the
restraints, but his senses were dulled by the fierce burning of the
current.

***

“Em, wake up,” Andrew called out.

Emily sighed and finally managed to open her
eyes. She was lying on a hard cot in a dark cell. When she felt the
sting on her back, she remembered being hit with a Taser while
sitting in a traffic jam on the Interstate.

She finally sat up and looked across to the
other cell where Andrew was, “Where are we?”

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah”

“I don’t know where we are. I’m not catching
a faction scent, for some reason. If I had to guess, the
Valle.”

She nodded and looked around, “How long have
we been here?”

“Just a couple of hours.”

“Did they say why?”

“They’re claiming I interrogated a coven
member and drove him insane.”

Emily frowned, “Did you?”

“Drove a heku insane?”

She just watched him.

Andrew sighed, “Probably.”

“You’re that mean?”

“If I need information…”

“Exavior drove heku insane.”

“Yes, I know.”

Emily looked around the small cell, “Just
great.”

Andrew smiled, “You should be an old pro at
this.”

“Oh I am. Before you know it, you’ll be
restrained with chains that, if pulled, close a circuit.”

“You are a pro.”

“Have you told them who I am?”

“No, they think you’re my mortal wife. I’m
almost afraid to see what would happen if they found out who you
really are,” Andrew explained. “For now, we’ll wait to see if I get
a chance to get free.”

“Or I can ash the lot of them.”

“I’m hoping it doesn’t come down to
that.”

Emily pulled on the bars briefly and then sat
down on the hard cot, “Well… I guess things could be worse.”

“Really? How?”

“Trust me, it can be worse.”

He grinned, “How many times have you been
kidnapped.”

“I lost count.”

“Well this time it’s my fault, and I
apologize.”

“This isn’t your fault. I knew going out on
motorcycles with you that we would be a target.”

“Yes, well, I thought I could handle
attacks.”

“Not Taser ones.”

“True”

Emily looked around the jail for a moment,
“Is anyone else in prison here?”

“Nope, just us.”

“It must be a little coven.”

“That’d be my guess. Most large covens have
at least one long-term prisoner.”

“So, why the Encala?” she asked, sitting back
against the wall.

Andrew smiled, somewhat amused at the break
in etiquette, “You really want to know this?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Fine, but it was a long time ago, and you
can’t hold it against me.”

She leaned forward, “Start talking.”

“I told you I was turned unfactioned.”

“Right”

“About 300 years after I was turned, we were
attacked…”