Banishment
Book 9 of the Heku Series
(The Final Chapter)
By T.M. Nielsen
Published by T.M. Nielsen at Smashwords
Find us at
http://www.hekuseries.com/
Copyright © 2012 by T.M. Nielsen
This book is available in print at http://www.amazon.com
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Many many thanks again go out to my fans! It’s because of them that this 9th book was published. I thank you all for reading and hope the typos don’t deter from the story that I’ve told.
Emily and Chevalier will always be in my heart, and I truly hope they will be in yours, too.
Chapter 1
Emily ran through the dark streets. Her black cloak was wet from dragging over the rain drenched pavement. There was no fear, no worry, but she kept a steady pace to keep her distance. The heku behind her was being careful not to expose himself too early and risk getting caught. He blurred from shadow to shadow, slowly gaining on her.
She could see her breath in the frigid night air, and her fingers were numb from being in the cold. Her focus was the tiny park outside of the human city where her Jeep was parked.
As she rounded the corner and ran into the park, she smiled, and then stopped and turned to wait for the heku that was following her. He was faster now that they were out of the city, and he soon appeared and slammed into her full-force, knocking her down onto the wet grass. Before she had time to even scream, he was pulled off of her and pinned to the ground by Kyle.
“You ok?” Kyle asked her as his hand tightened around the heku’s throat.
Emily nodded and stood up, “Yes… idiot. He didn’t even stop to threaten me or anything. Just… bam… food.”
Kyle looked down at the heku, “What made you think you were going to get away with this on Equites turf?”
All the heku could do was croak and pull at Kyle’s fingers in a last-ditch effort to breathe.
Emily knelt down beside Kyle and looked at the heku, “He’s not very big.”
Kyle instantly broke the heku’s neck and then stood up and looked down with disgust, “No, he’s not big… but he’s been on the loose killing mortals for almost five years.”
“Really?” she asked, standing also. “What took you so long to catch him?”
Kyle looked at her and frowned, “He’s an Encala. I was just told last week that he’d moved into my territory.”
Emily smiled, “Don’t get offended… it was an honest question.”
“I catch the heku I go after.”
“Yes you do… with my help.”
Kyle shook his head and pulled out the Chief Enforcer’s dagger.
“Wait, what about a trial?” Emily asked.
“He doesn’t get one. I’m banishing him for 600 years.”
“Oh, well ok.”
He smiled, “Do you object?”
Kyle was just toying with her. He knew how badly Emily hated the whole idea of banishment and thought it should be banned. Her thoughts on banishment had grown stronger in the three years since Sotomar’s punishment. She’d gone to the Valle four times begging for his release but so far had made no progress.
“I won’t watch it,” she said, and turned and walked back to her Jeep. She got in and started up the heater, then began to fiddle with her phone to keep from watching the heku turned to ash. Only a few minutes later, Kyle climbed in and looked over at her.
“Did you get hurt?”
“No”
“I smell blood.”
Emily pulled out onto the abandoned street and started for Council City, “I scraped my elbow when he tackled me. No surgery needed.”
“Damn, the Elder’s going to kill me.”
“Over a scraped elbow? He won’t.”
“He will! I realize he’s let you help me a few times, but I don’t think he likes it,” Kyle explained.
Emily grinned broadly, “He hates it! I think it’s funny.”
“Yeah well, don’t push him too far. I know you two have a sort of… understanding…”
“Understanding?”
“Yes, he’s backed off of being so protective, and you’ve stopped doing everything on your own. That doesn’t mean he’s ok with an injury though.”
“I’ll talk to him about it. It’s really just a scraped elbow.”
“Sure,” Kyle said, and then nodded when the Gate Guards motioned for them to pass. The city was alive with heku doing their nightly shopping and visiting friends. It was very much unlike the dead streets Emily encountered when she went out for a nice morning run in the sun.
Chevalier and Mark were waiting in the garage when Emily pulled up. She smiled and cut the engine before stepping out.
“Did you get him?” Mark asked Kyle.
“Yes, we did. It’s easy once they catch Em’s scent,” he explained. “It kind of takes the fun out of it though, no fight.”
Chevalier’s eyes narrowed, “I smell blood.”
Emily reached out her right hand and pulled up the sleeves of her sweater, exposing a fresh abrasion, “I scraped my elbow.”
He bent down slightly to get a better look, “That’s it?”
“Yes”
“Nothing else?”
“Nope, just the scratch.”
He nodded and stood up, “I’ll walk you up to bed, and then I have something I need to do.”
Emily nodded and called out for hot cocoa before taking Chevalier’s hand and walking up to the fifth floor. Once in the bedroom, she sat down on the bear-skin rug in front of the fireplace and took the hot cocoa into her hands to warm them.
Chevalier sat in the chair beside her and smiled.
She looked up at him, “What?”
“Did you fall?”
“No! He tackled me.”
“Wait… where was Kyle?”
“He was right there. This is the first heku that didn’t stop to threaten me or sniff me out… he just attacked.”
Chevalier grimaced, “Glad we got him then.”
“I hate that savoring crap, but it does give me a head start on ashing.”
“It’s not in our nature to attack without some kind of interaction. We like to prolong the experience and enjoy the moment.”
“Ew”
He smiled, “You could take Alexis up on her suggestion…”
“… no.”
“Just once?”
“No! I’ve been fed off of enough in my lifetime to know it’s not pleasant.”
“You’ve never let me do it right though.”
“No”
He chuckled and stood up, “Get some sleep. The Cavalry wants to head out by 10am.”
Emily took a sip of her hot cocoa and nodded, “I’ll be ready. Is Megs going?”
“No, she says she doesn’t like water.”
“That’s weird. Is Dain going?”
“He said he’s not going on vacation.”
“Peachy”
Chevalier kissed her lightly on the top of the head and then disappeared from the room. After warming up, Emily got up from the fire and packed a bag for the week. She and some of the Cavalry were going out on the yacht because both Council City and the Island were doing turnings.
Once packed, she got into a nightgown and slipped into bed, quickly falling asleep.
***
Emily climbed up onto the bridge of the yacht and sat down next to Kralen, “So, how’s it going?”
“Going great.”
“No Encala?”
“No”
“No dead mortals?”
He chuckled, “No, not even a storm in sight. Are you bored already?”
“No, just came to visit. None of the heku down there will visit.”
“Yeah, the Cavalry on this trip are all native Powans,” Kralen explained. “They’re pretty staunch and believe you’re high ranking enough that they can’t visit socially.”
“That’s stupid,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“That’s old-school heku.”
“What about the nervous looking heku that’s not on the Cavalry? What’s up with him?”
“Niccolo? He’s vying to be on the Cavalry, and Mark thought it would be a good experience to have him out here with you.”
“So the Cavalry are all watching how he interacts with me?” Emily asked.
Kralen nodded, “Pretty much.”
“Is he passing?”
“I don’t have reports yet.”
“Well he looks like I’m going to die at any moment. He’s so nervous, that when I dropped my book, he dove for it and caught it when it was only an inch from the ground.”
Kralen laughed, “That’s great.”
“It’s sad is what it is.”
“We haven’t had any new openings for the Cavalry, and rumor has it one’s coming. He jumped on the chance to take this mission.”
“Rumors? Don’t you know one way or the other?”
“Yes, and we have no plans… not sure who started the rumor.”
Emily leaned forward and looked down over the bow of the ship.
“I get the feeling you want something,” Kralen said after a few minutes of silence.
“Is the Island tracking us this trip?”
“Nope”
“So let’s go visit our deserted island.”
Kralen shrugged, “Why would we want to do that?”
“Because it’ll be fun. It’s a gorgeous island, and we didn’t really get to explore it.”
“I don’t know if the Council would appreciate that.”
“Why wouldn’t they? The only reason the last trip was bad was because I was so burned, and Kyle was possessed.”
“I guess it’d be ok. It’ll take a few hours to get there,” Kralen told her.
Emily smiled, “Great! I’ll pack a picnic. It'll be fun.”
Kralen watched her disappear down into the living area as he started up the engines and turned for the island they had once been stranded on. Five hours later, Kralen stopped the yacht and looked over the island, seeing if he could catch anything suspicious.
After putting on some sunglasses, he climbed down to the lower deck and turned to Niccolo, “Drop the anchor.”
“Yes, Sir!” he said a little too loudly, and then moved quickly to the back of the boat.
Kralen shook his head and then looked over when Emily appeared carrying a bag and picnic basket, “You ready?”
“Sure am,” she said, and then stopped and looked over at the island. “We can’t get any closer?”
“Nope, we can take the raft in though.”
She nodded and put her things into the raft before being helped in by one of the Cavalry. They all waited for Niccolo to return.
Niccolo began to climb into the raft, but Kralen stopped him, “You’re not going. You’re going to watch the boat and wait for our return.”
“I am?” he asked, frowning.
“Yes”
“Yes, Sir,” the heku said before stepping back.
Kralen smiled at his obvious unease, and then slowly lowered the raft into the boat. Once in the water, two heku began rowing toward the beach.
“That wasn’t nice,” Emily said to Kralen.
“What?”
“Making the new guy babysit the boat.”
He smiled, “That’s what boots are for.”
“Boots?”
“The new guy.”
“You call him a boot?”
Kralen simply grinned.
She just smiled and then sat back. When they reached the beach, Emily got out and waited for them to haul the raft safely out of the water.
“It really is gorgeous here,” she said, looking in toward the trees.
“Yeah, unless you’re feverishly trying to find a missing charge.”
“I’ll try to behave,” she said, and then started inland.
Half of the Cavalry moved in front of her and began tearing a wide path through the trees. It wasn’t long before the dark shadows of the cave appeared. The make-shift beds were still mostly intact except that the palm leaves were now bare twigs, and the few guard shirts left behind here ragged and falling apart.
Emily knelt down and took a drink from the cool stream, and then dug through her bag and pulled out a blanket to sit on.
“So now what?” one of the Cavalry asked.
Kralen shrugged and looked at Emily, “What exactly did you want to do here?”
“Let’s have a picnic and then go for a swim.”
Emily ate slowly as she watched the heku patrol the area around the cave, looking for anything dangerous. When she was done, she tied her hair up and then followed Kralen out to the secluded pond. The heku turned while she stripped down to just a bikini, and then watched as she began to wade into the water.
Once deep enough, she fully submerged and then surfaced and looked over, “No one’s coming in?”
Kralen turned to the heku, “Anyone want to swim?”
They all responded with a solid no.
“What’s up with heku and swimming?” she asked as she began to tread water.
“We swim if we have to,” Kralen explained.
Emily turned and began to swim out further away from the shore. An hour later they were all back in the small cave room.
“Ready to head back?” Kralen asked her.
“Sure,” she said, gathering her things. She wasn’t ready and wished they could stay, but the others seemed more on edge on the island, and she wanted them to be able to relax.
Kralen led the way back through the dense foliage, and then stopped when he got to the beach.
Emily moved beside him and frowned, “Where’s the boat?”
“That’s what I want to know,” he said, irritated.
“Maybe this is the wrong beach.”
“No, our raft is here.”
“Would Niccolo play a joke on us?”
Kralen hissed softly and walked out toward the water, carefully scanning the horizon.
“No, he wouldn’t,” one of the Cavalry whispered. “His orders were clear, and he’s either broken them, or he’s in trouble.”
“Do you see the boat?”
He shook his head, “No, Ma’am. I don’t.”
Emily checked her watch, “It’s going to be dark soon.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Kralen growled as he walked back.
“I hope he’s not in trouble.”
“Being in trouble is all that’s going to keep him alive.”
Emily smiled and put her hand on Kralen’s arm, “It’s ok. We’ll stay in the cave tonight, and maybe he’ll come back.”
“You two,” Kralen snapped, pointing to two heku. “You stay here and watch for Niccolo. If he comes back, secure the yacht and then one of you come and get me. Don’t leave him alone.”
“Yes, Captain,” they both said, and then turned to look out at the water.
“How much food did you bring?” Kralen asked Emily.
She looked down at the picnic basket, “Just enough for lunch. I’m not going to starve to death though.”
“Go get bananas and coconuts,” Kralen said to another heku, who immediately headed out.
Emily started bac
k for the cave. It was now easy to find the way because the heku had broken a huge path through the trees. They arrived just as it started to get dark, and Emily pulled out the blanket and laid it on one of the wooden beds. She sat down and watched one of the Powans start a fire using old guard shirts as kindling.
An hour later, the food gathering heku returned with eight bundles of bananas and four coconuts. He handed a banana to Emily and put the rest by the other bed, so they would be out of the way.
“What else do you require?” one of them asked her.
Emily shrugged, “I think I’m set.”
She watched Kralen and one of the heku in the corner. She couldn’t hear anything or see their mouths move, but it was obvious that they were having a discussion. When they finished talking, it was apparent that both were livid.
Emily moved over and sat by the fire, and then pulled out her book to read. The heku were all too angry to speak, so she wanted to get some reading in and go to bed. She hoped they would be calmer when she woke up and that they could all go exploring.
No one said anything when Emily put her book down and then laid down and rolled onto her side away from them. When she shivered in the cold night air, four guard cloaks were laid over her, and she was soon asleep.
The first light woke her up, and she sat up and stretched, “Boring night?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” one of the Powans said officially.
“Where’s Kralen?” she asked when she saw that some of the heku were gone.
“He’s gone to see if there’s been contact with the boat.”
Emily grabbed a banana and started to eat. She was a little sore from sleeping on a twig bed, but other than that, things were fine, and she wasn’t worried. She did think Chevalier was probably not going to find it amusing that they were again stranded on the same deserted island though.
When she had her fill of bananas, she stood up, “Can we go look around.”
“For what, Ma’am?” one of the heku asked.
“I don’t know. Just look around the island.”
“I’ll ask the Captain,” he said before disappearing. A few minutes later, he returned, “Yes, we may, Ma’am. We’re to have six with you though.”
Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series Page 1