Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (31 page)

“She’s eating your belt.”

“Again… she’s already finished one.”

“I see,” he said, sitting back.

“Can I go?” Emily asked as she unsuccessfully
tried to divert the jenny’s attention to a spot on the floor.

“What are you going to do with it?” Chevalier
asked.

She shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“You will keep it in the stables then?”

“Of course.”

“Just making sure.”

Kyle was watching the donkey, “Were you going
to make mules?”

“That’s pretty hard to do with a female
donkey. Horses don’t really like them. If I wanted to, I’d get a
male donkey. Apparently they aren’t as picky as a male horse.”

“Apparently… is that your plan?”

“Nope, just the one is good.”

“What’s in her mouth?” the Chief Interrogator
asked as the donkey began to gag slightly.

Emily looked at her, “Part of Mark’s shirt,
probably.”

“She bit Mark?”

“No, she was in his room eating his
shirts.”

“That explains a lot,” Kyle said.

Emily sighed and looked at the Council, “So
why am I in here again?”

“Oh, right,” Chevalier said. “The Encala
Council has requested permission to video conference you
tonight.”

“Did they say why?” She frowned slightly and
tensed.

“They refused. I would imagine it’s to just
make sure you’re ok.”

“Was it Andrew?”

“It was he and William who contacted us.”

“Then tell them no.”

Chevalier nodded and watched Emily walk out
of the council chambers, followed by the donkey, who seemed
uninterested in anything but Emily’s belt.

Chapter 10

Emily walked toward the stables, followed by
three Coven Lords and most of the Council.

“Emily helps with the horse care part of
Cavalry training,” Zohn explained. “She also does the more in depth
horse care, such as shoeing and vaccinations.”

“So you keep a horse also?” the closest one
asked her.

She nodded, “Yes, but my stallion is
different. No one touches him, and no one rides him.”

“Why is that?”

“He’s mine.”

The Coven Lord smiled. The three Coven Lords
were interested in starting a mounted unit, and Emily had agreed,
reluctantly, to show them around as long as she wasn’t alone with
them at any time. Zohn was asked to stay with them for the two days
they were in Council City, but he was beginning to wonder if they
were there to meet Emily and not to learn about horses.

“Beautiful stables,” one of them said,
looking around.

Emily nodded, “Thanks. It currently houses
128 horses…”

“What kind?”

“We have a mixture. I go find the largest
ones I can.”

“Then you assign them?”

“Yes, based on height. Our tallest member of
the Cavalry, Hadley, has the biggest horse.”

“Interesting. Who takes care of your horse
when you aren’t around then?”

“I’m always around. As I said, no one touches
him…” Emily opened the stall door to her stallion, and then gasped
when the donkey’s loud bray sounded.

“That’s a stallion?” the Coven Lord asked,
looking in at the donkey.

A slow smile formed, “Oooh, the Cavalry’s in
so much trouble.”

Zohn looked into the stall and chuckled,
“Paybacks, I’m imagining.”

Emily turned to one of the Palace Guards, who
had followed them out, “Please, use your fast speed thing and find
my horse. He has to be in here somewhere.”

After getting an approving nod from Zohn, the
Palace Guards disappeared. Only a minute later, they met back
up.

“Elder, we didn’t find the stallion,” the
highest ranking said, bowing slightly.

Zohn turned to Emily, “You’re going to have
to ask the Cavalry yourself.”

She turned to the nearest Palace Guard, “Go
tell the Cavalry that the Council is requesting my horse.”

“No,” Zohn said, smiling. “This is your
fight, dear.”

“Might we go for a ride?” one of them asked
her.

Emily thought for a moment and then nodded,
“Sure, we’ll drop by the barracks and yell at the Cavalry.”

Zohn smiled and then helped her get the
horses ready. Once they were all mounted, they headed off for the
Cavalry’s barracks. Tied up outside, was Emily’s stallion, which
looked up at her and then went back to a pile of apples at his
feet.

She tied up the horse she was riding and then
banged on the barrack's door, “Open up!”

The heku on horses watched her but heard
nothing inside.

“Mark!” Emily said, knocking harder.

“I don’t hear them in there,” Zohn told
her.

She eyed the door, “No one?”

“No”

“Be right back.” Emily quickly disappeared
inside.

One of the Coven Lords frowned, “Should she
be in there?”

“She is a Commander,” Zohn reminded him.

“Oh, right.”

Several minutes later, Emily came out with a
large green bag stuffed full of something. She tied it to the
saddle pack on her horse, and then mounted him and took the reins
of the horse she’d ridden up on.

“Let’s go,” she said, and kicked her stallion
into a walk.

“What’s in there?” Zohn asked, catching up
with her.

“Do you honestly want to know?”

“Actually, no. I guess I don’t.”

“Good call.”

She looked back when she heard a loud thud,
and then she smiled when she saw a Coven Lord scramble to his feet
after falling off of his horse, “You ok?”

“Yes,” he said, rather embarrassed.

“It’s ok. Seems about 1% of heku can’t stay
on a horse.”

He simply cleared his throat and climbed back
on. Emily looked across the grassy hillside when they arrived, and
then took a deep breath of the fresh air. It had rained the night
before, and the smell was refreshing.

“Why is your Cavalry down by the road?” one
of the Coven Lords asked.

Emily and Zohn both looked down toward the
road and saw the entire Cavalry standing around a lone vehicle
while their horses waited nearby.

“Let’s go find out,” Zohn said, and kicked
his horse into a gallop. Emily quickly overtook him and arrived
well ahead of the heku.

She tied her horse to a thick tree branch and
then walked up toward the front, “What’s up?”

“Em, stay out of this,” Kralen said, taking
her arm. He gently led her out of the crowd.

“What’s wrong?” Zohn asked, walking up to
them.

Kralen bowed slightly but kept a firm grip on
Emily’s arm, “Encala, Sir.”

“Is it Andrew?” Emily asked him.

“No,” he said, and then turned to Zohn. “We
stopped the first vehicle, but six more took off when they saw
us.”

Zohn’s eyes narrowed, “An attack team?”

“Not sure, Elder.”

“How many are here now?”

“Eight, Sir.”

“Get them into the council chambers.”

“Yes, Elder.” Kralen waited until Gifford
took Emily’s arm, and then he walked back into the middle of the
Cavalry.

Emily frowned, “I don’t need restrained.”

Gifford looked nervously at the Elder. He was
trying his hardest to get back on Emily’s good side, and he knew
that restraining her wasn’t the way to do that. The Council was
helping him, as it was easier when Emily and Thukil were on
friendly terms. They hadn’t been close since Thukil thought Emily
was going to wipe them out.

“Brandon, Michael, take her back to the
palace,” Zohn said. Two of the Cavalry broke out of the fray and
came toward them.

“Hey,” Emily said, glaring at Zohn. “I don’t
need restrained, and I most certainly don’t need babysitters.”

“They’re just going to escort you back.”

She ripped her arm away from Gifford and
walked to her horse, “I can find my own way back.”

The two members of the Cavalry also mounted
up, and then followed her when she kicked her horse into a gallop.
She figured the only way to find out what was going on, was to be
in the council chambers when they questioned the Encala. She was
irritated that she had Cavalry escorts but ignored them and raced
into the city.

She quickly put her horse away and left the
extra horse for the Cavalry to take care of. Her main goal was to
get into the council chambers, and she could already hear the
Cavalry coming in with the Encala. She ran up the stairs, but
Derrick stepped in front of her.

“They are busy,” he said, looking down at
her.

“Then I’ll go around back.”

Derrick turned to the door, and Emily watched
him. She hated when they spoke where she couldn’t hear them.

“They ask that you wait in your room.”
Derrick turned back to her and smiled slightly.

Emily had an internal fight. She wanted to
know what the Encala were doing, especially if they were attacking,
but she’d agreed with herself to do as the Council asked. Sending
her to her room felt more like something you’d do to a child
though, and she studied Derrick as she debated going in anyway.

Derrick seemed to sense her conflict, and his
face softened, “I’m sure they just want to make sure you’re safe
while they figure out what’s going on.”

Emily shrugged and then walked hesitantly up
the stairs, followed by two members of the Cavalry. She began to
doubt that she’d ever be a true member of the Council, as her title
indicated, and had to fight the urge to spend some time alone.

Once in her room, she thought a call to Dain
might make her feel better. She sat down in the bay window and
watched the Cavalry escort red clad heku into the palace.

“Hi, Mom,” Dain said.

“Hi, how’s it going?”

“Ok, kind of boring.”

“I miss you.”

Dain paused, and his voice turned concerned,
“What’s wrong?”

She shrugged and recognized that she was kind
of feeling sorry for herself.

“Did he hurt you?” Dain growled. Emily
realized that he never called Chevalier by anything other than
‘he’.

“No”

“Then what’s wrong?”

She sighed, “Nothing bad.”

“Then what?”

“The Cavalry stopped a bunch of Encala from
coming into the city.”

“Are they attacking?”

“I don’t know.”

“So the Council is keeping you away again,
that’s it?”

She just shrugged.

“Want me to talk to him?”

“Not about this, no.”

Dain’s voice lightened, and she could tell he
was smiling, “I’m not going to arrange to turn myself over to
him.”

“I know,” she said, looking out the
window.

“This sounds like something that could turn
into a big thing though, Mom.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“I’m going to call you every day at 3pm. If I
can’t get a hold of you, I’ll assume you are being restrained, and
I’ll call and handle him.”

“Don’t, Dain. You don’t need to go yelling at
your Dad.”

“I like yelling at him.”

She finally smiled, “I know.”

“Deal stands. I’m not going to sit here while
the Equites restrain you. It’s done way too often and
unnecessarily.”

“I’m ok. Are you?”

“Me? I’m fine. I met a girl last week.”

Emily frowned, “Dain…”

“No! Mom! I quit doing that. I did ask her
out though, and we have a date tonight.”

“Mortal?”

“Of course. I’m staying away from heku,
remember?”

She sighed.

“I’m more careful than I was.”

“Call and tell me how it goes, ok?”

“Sure. I better go get ready though.”

Emily nodded and then hung up. She couldn’t
help but smile. Dain appeared to finally be growing up. It just
seemed it was about a year too late.

She sat in the window and looked out. Nothing
irritated her more than to be left in the dark, especially when it
started to sound like the Equites were about to be attacked. She
knew why they left her out of it, but it still irritated her and
the more she thought about it, the madder she became.

When she’d agreed to do as the Council asked
and to stop doing things on her own, it was understood, at least by
her, that that meant they would stop holding things from her.

When she felt like this, her first instinct
was always to have a drink. She wasn’t sure if that’d ever go away.
One tiny drink would at least calm her down, and she wouldn’t be so
mad. Chevalier thought he’d rid the entire palace of alcohol, but
she had a stash.

Finally deciding she was tired of sitting in
her room, she quickly left, wiping the memory of the Cavalry at her
door. Once at the back stairs, she ran down them and headed out to
the cemetery. It wasn’t hard to get over the fence to the
restricted section, and then she watched the ground carefully,
trying to find the hole.

Once she found the portal hole, she laid down
and put her face in it, “Hello?”

There was silence, and she began to think she
couldn’t really hear him, but then he replied, “Who is this?”

“My name is Emily. Do you remember me?” It
felt weird lying in the cemetery with her face in a hole, but she
felt bad that he was down there alone.

“Are you an Old One?”

“Yes”

“Do you have a delivery?”

“No, I just wanted to talk.”

“How very strange.” Emily thought it was odd
how clearly she could hear his voice, even though it seemed soft
and distant. She couldn’t hear him moving around or even the sound
of his breath, but somehow, his words moved up the cold ground to
her.

“Are you ok?” she asked.

“Why would I not be?” He started to sound
confused.

Emily smiled, “Can you tell me about where
the Equites lived in Europe?”

“You do not know?”

“Sure I do, but I want you to tell me.”

“Such an odd request. Are you an
Ancient?”

“Yes,” she said, laughing to herself.

“So you want to know about the specus?”

Emily quickly typed the word into her phone’s
Latin to English translator that she installed just so she knew
what the heku were talking about when they started talking in their
Native, and it came up with the word ‘cave’.