Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series (39 page)

Emily stood up and the world began to spin. The next thing she knew, she was being laid down gently onto the ground.

She looked up at the seven guards, “I’m ok.”

She tried to sit up, but she felt hands holding her down, “Seriously, let me up before Kyle gets here.”

“It’s not safe, we should have someone take a look at you,” one of them said.

“Ugh, if you treat me like this every time I get hurt, you’ll spend most of your time on the ground. Now let me up,” she said, sitting up with help. She shook her head and then stood up slower.

“See, all good,” she said, smiling at them.

The heku guards watched her nervously and looked like they were about to whisk her to an emergency room.

“Let’s get them ready for the night. Get the saddles off, and get them brushed, fed, and watered.” She walked slowly over to Patra and rubbed her chest where the horse pushed her. She could just hear Chevalier berating her for this, too.

She got Patra ready for the night, and when she turned to check on the guards, they were already done.

“Oh, good job,” she said, smiling.

“We think we should walk you in. The Captain was called away on an emergency,” one of them said.

“I think I can make my own way into the palace, go home, you’re off duty,” she said, starting for the palace. She stopped when she heard footsteps behind her and turned to face them.

“We’re walking you in,” the front one told her.

“Ok, one of you can walk me in,” she said, heading inside. She wasn’t sure how they decided, but one of them blurred to her side.

“What’s going on here?” Chevalier growled when he saw Emily with a strange heku guard.

Emily grinned, “Being overprotective, I do believe. Must be something in the species.”

Chevalier nodded to him, “Thank you, Mark, for bringing her home.”

He stepped forward, “Sir…” He looked at Emily and her eyes narrowed.

“Yes?”

He looked from Emily to the Elder, “Umm… watch her, she got hit pretty hard and passed out.”

Emily glared at him, “Hey! What’s up with that?”

“Friends with you, but he’s my Elder,” the heku said, and walked off.

Emily sighed and walked into the room, “Where’s Allen?”

Chevalier shut the door behind her, “Sam has him down in the game room. To give us some alone time.”

She smiled and turned toward him, “Alone time, eh?”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist then kissed her softly. She got on her tip toes so she could put her hands on his face and kissed him passionately. Chevalier slipped off her shirt and began to kiss her neck softly, but then pulled back and frowned.

“What?” she asked.

“That’s some bruise, Em,” he said, touching just above the bruise softly.

Emily began to unbutton his shirt and soon her bruise was forgotten.

***

“Alright, today we start the tactical training from horseback,” Emily said to the seven mounted heku.

They nodded and looked at each other excitedly.

“The Captain is going to help with this as… well I have no idea how to tackle a heku from horseback,” she said, laughing.

The heku grinned and watched as Kyle rode up and stopped by Emily.

“First it’s going to be... well just what Emily said… how to get off of a horse quickly for a tackle,” Kyle said. “Horses are moody, as you’ve seen, and they aren’t going to like a lot of these moves, so we need to do them often and get them used to it.”

Kyle moved his horse forward, “Nathan, get down off the horse and I want you to run from me.”

Nathan slid off of his horse, looked at his Captain, and then blurred across the lawn. Kyle was on him quickly and in one smooth movement, managed to kick off from his buckskin mare and land squarely on Nathan, pinning him to the ground.

Emily flew past them on Patra and soon caught up with the mare. The heku watched, amazed, as she brought a lasso up off of her hip, twirled it in the air a few times, and then threw it easily over the mare’s head. She wrapped the end quickly around the horn on her saddle, and pulled Patra to a stop, which in turn brought the mare to a sudden halt.

She returned to the group with the mare in tow.

“When do we learn how to do that?” one of the heku asked, grinning at Emily.

“Oh, you’ll never be that good.” She laughed and winked at him.

Kyle smiled as he watched her fun banter with the guards. He always liked to watch her on horseback. She was graceful and beautiful as she did what she loved and the blissful expression she had only when on a horse gave her an attractive glow.

“Ok, who wants to try that?” Kyle asked from the ground. One of the heku raised his hand. Emily watched as Kyle blurred and the heku kicked his horse into a fast gallop. When he approached Kyle, he pushed off from the horse, got his foot tangled in the stirrups, and then was dragged alongside as the horse ran in a panic.

Emily was on the horse in a few seconds and quickly had the lasso around his neck and pulled him to a stop. Once the horse stopped, she jumped off of Patra and pulled the heku’s foot out of the stirrups before kneeling down beside him. There was blood all over him, and his eyes were shut.

“Mark?” she asked, touching his face lightly.

He looked up at her and gasped for breath.

She looked into his eyes and took his hand, “It’s ok, I’ll stay with you while you heal.”

The heku was in pain and Emily stayed with him. She could hear the others surround them, and she gently touched his cheek as he groaned in pain. Within a few minutes, his breathing slowed and the bleeding stopped. He pulled his hand out of hers and sat up.

“Shake it off, Mark,” Kyle told him, and helped him up.

“I’m ok,” he said, stretching.

Emily stood up and brushed the dirt off of her jeans, “I have an idea.”

Kyle looked over at her, “You do?”

“Yes, there’s a way you have to turn your foot if you’re going to jump off of a horse in motion,” she said.

“And you jumped off of a moving horse because…?” Kyle asked, amused.

She looked at him and grinned, “I was in a rodeo. I had to jump off the horse and tie down a cow.”

Kyle raised his eye, impressed, “Ok then… what are we doing wrong?”

Emily hoisted herself up on Patra and adjusted her feet, “Before you jump, you need to turn your foot like this… otherwise, as we saw, you can get your foot caught.”

“Looks easy enough,” Kyle said.

“Go,” Emily said.

Kyle looked up at her, “Do what?”

“Run,” she said.

“Emily…”

“I can show them how to do it properly. I can’t tackle correctly, but I can show them how to jump from a moving horse,” she explained.

Kyle sighed and then blurred across the field.

The seven heku watched, grinning, as Emily took off after him and pulled her horse quickly to his side. They watched her feet carefully as she positioned herself, shifted her foot, and flew off of the horse and landed squarely on Kyle’s back. Emily slammed into him, but didn’t even knock him forward as he wrapped his arms back around her and steadied her.

The other heku blurred to them as Kyle turned around, Emily on his back.

“You know… you could at least do me a favor and pretend I knocked you down,” she said, crawling off of his back.

“Oh sorry, Em,” he said, and laughed.

She turned to the other heku and ignored their laughing, “Did you see how I did that?”

They nodded.

“Fine… let me get Patra and we’ll try again.” She whistled loudly and Patra came running back to her. She put her foot in the stirrup then took a deep breath. She was sore from her flying pseudo-tackle onto Kyle. Before she could push off, she felt strong hands lift her onto the horse.

Emily pointed Patra back to the starting point.

“You know we’re all jealous now, Captain,” one of the heku whispered, so softly that Emily could barely hear him.

She was glad she was facing the other way when she felt the blush rising to her cheeks.

“Ok... ready,” she called to them as Kyle took off across the lawn.

They repeated this pattern over and over until Patra was panting and covered with sweat. Emily was sore from all of the lassoing and also from tackling Kyle, so she called it a day.

“Good job,” she said to them and slid off of Patra stiffly.

“Em, let me put Patra up tonight,” Kyle said, taking the reins from her. She agreed and sat down on a bale of hay, then watched the heku all put away their horses as she rubbed her sore arm. It’d been a while since her rodeo days, and she wasn’t used to that kind of thing yet.

When the horses were all down for the night, she stood up stiffly and stretched her legs. Kyle smiled when he walked up to her, “That was pretty interesting.”

“What was?” she asked, heading into the palace.

“Your attempt at a tackle. I thought Travis and I taught you how to take down a heku.”

She sighed, “Not from horseback.”

Emily felt his hand on her lower back and they walked in silence. She wasn’t sure how far he was willing to take his attraction to her, but she knew at some point she would have to deal with it. Kyle was her friend and trusted guard. She wouldn’t have him beheaded, and she knew that’s exactly what Chevalier would do if he knew that Kyle had kissed her.

“What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?” she asked finally.

“I haven’t decided yet, maybe shooting.”

She frowned, “Guns? I thought guns couldn’t kill a heku.”

“They can’t,” he said, grinning, “But they can slow us down enough and give the guards time to... well… do more.”

She nodded, “That’s right up my alley.”

Kyle laughed, “Yes it is. Oh, I’m supposed to meet with the Elder about our progress. I have another guard coming, he’s almost here.”

She nodded, “Who?”

“No one you know.” He smiled and walked away as the strange heku came to her door.

Emily shook her head, then stepped into her room and shut the door. Allen immediately ran into her arms and she picked him up, despite the ache in her arm. Sam nodded and left. He had been staying in the stables to watch over the horses at night.

She kissed Allen’s peanut butter covered face, “Did you have a good day?”

Allen smiled up at her and nodded. Emily took him into the bathroom to wash his face off. When she got into the better light, she saw it was more than his face that was covered, so she ran a bath for him and sat on the edge of the tub to watch him play.

She heard someone out in the bedroom, “Sam?”

No one answered.

“Chev?” she called out.

When still no one answered, Emily picked Allen up out of the water and wrapped him in a towel, then carried him into the next room.

Emily looked around the large bedroom and didn’t see anyone. She sat Allen down on the floor when she got the feeling she was being watched. Allen quickly ditched his towel and began to play with a toy truck on the floor.

A sound behind her made Emily jump, and she turned to face a strange heku. He wore dark red robes and bore the signature tattoo of the Encala. Emily narrowed her eyes and dropped into a defensive crouch.

The Encala grinned and took a step towards her.

“Who are you?” she asked, her hands balled into fists.

“A friend. I came to see why the Equites have allowed a mortal in their palace,” he said, and took a step to the side. He was now between her and the door.

“Get out,” she ordered.

The Encala inhaled deeply and looked back at her with the look of a predator, “Seems to me, they just needed a donor close.”

She glared at him, “Get out, now.”

He took a step toward her and ran his tongue across his lips, then crouched down, ready to spring.

“Allen, run!” Emily screamed just as the Encala jumped at her, pinning her to the ground with his teeth at her neck.

Emily’s training flooded back to her, and she saw Allen open the door and run out as the Encala sunk his teeth into her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fight for long, so she positioned her hands on his head and cranked his head to the side. The grotesque sound of crunching bones sounded through the room.

The Encala screamed. A scream that echoed through the hallway and she heard the rush of feet coming toward her. She tried to move the heku off of her, but he weighed too much and was quickly healing and his hands still pinned her to the ground.

The heavy weight on her chest was lifted suddenly as the Encala was thrown across the room and smashed into the stone walls. Emily quickly got to her feet and covered her neck as the blood seeped through her fingers. She swayed a bit before stumbling into the bathroom and locked the door. She could hear the sounds of a heku being torn apart in her bedroom and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to imagine it.

Emily grabbed a towel from the warming rack and pushed it tightly against her neck to stop the bleeding. When she wrenched the heku’s head to the side, he took a small chunk of her with him.

As the sounds in the bedroom stopped, she heard a light knock on the bathroom door.

“Lady Emily?” she heard a strange voice call to her. She wasn’t about to open the door to another strange heku.

“Get Chevalier,” she said, sinking to the ground.

Emily heard footsteps as the heku ran off, but the voices in her room let her know she still wasn’t alone. Grabbing the counter for support, she stood up, still shaky, and opened the door to her room, then stepped out and looked around, astonished. There was blood everywhere and pieces of heku strewn around.

Emily tried to take a few steps, still clutching the towel to her neck, but she stumbled and felt strong arms lift her. She looked into the eyes of a strange heku as the world began to spin, then she saw his dark green cape and Equites crest pin, and laid her head against his shoulder.

She heard Chevalier growl as he entered the bedroom and she looked up to see a horde of guards follow him in, one of them carrying naked Allen.

“Clean this up,” he ordered, and took Emily from the guard.

“I can walk,” she said, and he put her down, but kept an arm on her shoulder. She followed him out of the room and into Kyle’s room across the hallway where she sat down on his bed.