Ancients and Old Ones : Book 8 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  When she stepped out into the bedroom, Sotomar was gone and she was alone. Boredom set in quickly, so she set out into the palace to find something to do. The four Imperial Guards fell in behind her as she walked up the stairs to the roof.

  Once there, she sat on a high turret and looked out over the Valle’s city. The colors were drab and brown, and the first snow was only a few days away. The wind nipped at her skin as she studied the city and tried to figure out why none of it seemed real.

  “Are you ok?” Hillock asked as he sat down beside her.

  She nodded.

  “I’m worried about you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You just seem quiet lately.” Sotomar had asked Hillock to try to see if their re-memory was wearing off. In the three months Emily had been with the Valle, she’d grown closer to Hillock than any other heku. Sotomar secretly wondered if it was because of how much Hillock resembled Chevalier.

  She shrugged, “I’d think you all would appreciate that.”

  “Well… it has been nice.” He watched her to see if his comment brought out any of her famous playfulness.

  Emily turned back to the city as her feet dangled far above the ground.

  “Are you still upset about the Equites?”

  “They are so irritating!” she groaned. “I can’t imagine the nerve of Chevalier acting like he didn’t know what I was talking about.”

  “I’m sure he hasn’t forgotten about them,” Hillock said as he studied her. “I would think he’s just trying to frustrate you.”

  “Well it worked.”

  “Elder Sotomar told me that you are considering wiping out Council City.”

  “I could do it.”

  “Of that we have no doubt. We’d much rather you not though.”

  “I don’t even think it would be hard.”

  He sighed and then looked out over the city, “It’s just that when you did it before, when you wiped out the Equites City and 3400 of its heku, you almost died.”

  “A few months of sleep would be worth it to be done with them.”

  Hillock checked behind him to make sure they were out of sight of her guards, and then tenderly took her hand and kissed it, “Promise me you won’t.”

  Emily moved closer to him and put her head against his shoulder, “I can’t promise that.”

  He moved her chin with his hand so she was looking at him, “Promise me.”

  “Hill, I can’t…”

  Her words were cut off with his lips, and she instinctively pressed closer to him. After a few seconds, he pulled away from her and then smiled and brushed a stray hair off of her face.

  Emily checked behind them for her guards and then whispered, “It’s not fair that I can’t be with you.”

  “Sotomar would have me killed if he knew.”

  “I know… but I don’t love him.”

  “I wish the Council knew that your bonding was a facade.”

  “Let’s run away together,” she suggested, and then curled up against his chest.

  “They would find us.” He wrapped his arms around her.

  “They’re going to find us anyway.”

  “True… but hopefully I can find a way for us to be together before then.”

  She sighed and shut her eyes to listen to his heart.

  Without warning, Hillock pushed Emily away from him and then cleared his throat, “The Valle will take care of them without you risking your life.”

  She shrugged and then turned around when she heard footsteps. She wasn’t at all surprised to see Sotomar coming up behind them.

  “It’s getting cold out here,” he said, and handed Emily a jacket.

  She slipped it on and then turned back around and watched the heku in the city get ready for what was supposed to be a massive snow storm.

  ***

  “You’re off of your mission,” Quinn said to the Valle Imperial Guard standing before them. “We want a full report on Emily.”

  He nodded, “None of us know what happened… but a few weeks after the Valle kidnapped her, she’s completely changed. It looks like, in her mind, Sotomar has replaced Elder Chevalier… then Elder Chevalier has replaced Exavior, and Salazar, and any other heku that’s wronged her.”

  “She has no idea any of the true past?”

  “Not that I saw as her guard.”

  “Anything else?”

  “She’s change, Elder. Keep in mind I didn’t know Lady Emily well, but from what I saw she was pretty happy and spirited. She’s now rather angry all the time, I would say maybe depressed. I know she wears only black and walks silently around the halls of the Valle palace with her four Imperial Guards behind her.”

  “No games? No teasing or joking?” Kyle asked.

  “No, Chief Enforcer. I don’t believe I’ve even seen her smile.”

  Quinn nodded, “It stands to reason that by changing everything that’s happened over the last 30 or so years… they changed her personality. Our personalities are formed out of experiences and encounters. As far as we know, it’s all changed.”

  “She gives no indication at all that things have changed?” Chevalier asked.

  “None, Sir,” the heku replied.

  “Return to your coven after giving Mark a full report,” Zohn told him.

  The heku bowed and then blurred out of the council chambers.

  “Her personality change could be permanent,” the Coven Liaison Officer said.

  Chevalier nodded, “I know… I just hope we can undo what the Valle did and it will return.”

  “First we have to figure out how,” Zohn said.

  “There was an incident… It was in 820 BC and one of the Valle Elders reworked the entire history of an old mortal man, just to see if it could be done.”

  “What happened?”

  “It drove him mad,” Chevalier said, looking over at them. “He kept saying he didn’t belong, and that nothing was real. After that the practice was banned.”

  “Until now, it seems.”

  “It took months to redo his memory. The Valle started by walking him through his earliest memories from childhood… When he said, say, that he went to tend the sheep, the Valle would change it to tending cows.”

  “Months?” Kyle asked.

  “Yes… every bit of information had to be reworked. With Emily, they only had to do 50 years,” Chevalier told him.

  “Or just 30,” Quinn said. “Just from when you first met.”

  He nodded, “I’m positive that’s what was done. I just find it hard to believe that Sotomar allowed it. He saw what it did to the man.”

  “He was there?”

  “Yes… he actually did it. I do believe it was his idea, and then it was his order that banned the Valle. As soon as we heard, we banned it from the Equites, and shortly thereafter, the Encala banned it also.”

  ***

  “God, I want you,” Hillock said before kissing Emily passionately. She sat on his lap, facing him, and her hands were wound through his black hair.

  The dark room, long abandoned, was safe from onlookers. Hillock would hear anyone approaching, and the medical supplies were an easy excuse to be in there. Everyone knew that Emily had fallen off of a ladder earlier, and it would be common for her to be in the infirmary with a guard.

  She lightly kissed down his neck and began to unbutton his shirt, “No one’s stopping you.”

  He lifted her face and then pressed his lips hard against hers as his hands trailed up her back softly. When she released the last button on his shirt, she slipped it off and ran her hands along his chiseled chest.

  He whispered softly as he ran his fingers along her spine, “I told you… we can’t.”

  “Why not?” She leaned forward and lightly ran her tongue along the vein in his neck, and then bit softly.

  He shivered and then slipped her t-shirt over her head and tossed it onto the medical bed they were sitting on. His strong hands pulled her close against him and his mouth met hers ag
ain.

  Emily’s body ached to be closer to him and she pressed hard against him as her hands felt along his broad shoulders. Not able to wait any longer, she quickly pulled away from him slightly and began to unfasten his belt.

  Hillock took her hands in his and looked into her eyes, “We can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Heku can tell,” he said, and then tried to kiss her again, but she pulled away from him.

  “How?”

  “They can smell the hormones… they would smell me on you.”

  “What if I don’t care?”

  “The Council would kill us both,” Hillock explained. “Adultery is serious… but adultery with an Elder’s wife is worse.”

  “I’m tired of being alone,” she whispered, and then leaned forward and put her forehead on his chest. “I’ve been alone for 30 years.”

  “I love you, Emily,” Hillock said, and then wrapped his strong arms around her.

  “Then give me this,” she said, and kissed him softly.

  He pulled away from her, “I won’t risk them killing you.”

  “Maybe death is better.”

  Hillock grabbed her shirt and handed it to her, “Sotomar is asking where you are.”

  She sighed and then slipped it back on, “I hate him.”

  “I know… but you can’t divorce an Elder.”

  “Has it ever been done?”

  “No, death comes first,” he explained.

  “So I get to be alone forever…”

  “… I’m thinking of a way.”

  “I love you,” she whispered, and then kissed him again before standing up. “Figure out how we can be together.”

  “I will.”

  She gasped, and grabbed her essence ring when it fell off of her finger. With wide eyes she looked up at him.

  “No,” he whispered, too afraid to speak.

  “I… I’ll hide it… he won’t know,” she said, barely making a noise.

  “He’ll know. Heku can feel the bond break.”

  “We’re dead then.”

  Hillock looked up at the door, “I wonder why he hasn’t blurred in here and killed me yet.”

  She turned to the door, “What are the chances that he doesn’t know?”

  “He has to. The heku can feel the bond, and can feel when it breaks.”

  “Run then. Let’s get away.”

  “They’ll find us,” Hillock said as his body tensed.

  “How did it break? We didn’t…”

  “Admitting you love me was a betrayal.”

  “Damnit”

  “He’s in the council chambers. I can hear them and he acts like nothing’s happened.”

  Emily frowned, “Then we’re safe. I just hide my hand and he won’t notice.”

  “I don’t think we have much of a choice.”

  ***

  “It’s broken,” Chevalier said, and then looked over at the Council.

  “What is?” Zohn asked, unconcerned.

  “The bond.”

  Kyle gasped, “Is she dead?”

  “I don’t know,” Chevalier told him. “We better contact the Valle and see.”

  “Or not,” Quinn said, turning to Chevalier. “If she’s alive, then she’s either agreed to join the Valle, or has found someone else. Either way, there’s nothing we can do and it could worsen things if we push the issue.”

  “I have to know.”

  “We’ll find out. I’ll see if Jelith knows,” the Court Reporter said before disappearing from the room.

  “What if she did find someone else?”

  “She thinks she’s bonded to Sotomar,” the Chief of Staff said. “Maybe she fell in love with him.”

  Chevalier disappeared from the room.

  ***

  “Are you sure you’re ok?” Sotomar asked Emily. She was sitting in a recliner in the bedroom with a blanket over her.

  “Yes”

  “You’ve seemed distant recently.”

  She shrugged. It was by luck alone that he hadn’t seen the missing ring, and Emily still wondered how it was he didn’t know the bond was broken. After 5 weeks, she considered herself safe from him finding out. The main problem was that the more she fell in love with Hillock, the more she hated her husband.

  Sotomar squatted down by the chair and looked at her, “You’d tell me if something was wrong?”

  “Yes”

  “Then what’s going on? It’s been almost a month since I’ve even really seen you.”

  Getting up the nerve, she looked at him and tried to hide her hatred from him, “Do you feel our bond?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Always, or does it come and go?”

  “I always feel it. It lets me know you’re safe,” he said, and then smiled and brushed her hair off of her shoulder.

  She forced herself to smiled, “I’m ok. Go down to the trials.”

  He studied her face and then kissed her softly before leaving. Emily wrinkled her nose and wiped her mouth on her sleeve, and then looked around the room. She was trying to figure out how Sotomar didn’t know the bond was broken.

  “Come in,” she said when someone knocked, then smiled when Hillock came in.

  He looked around the room and then walked over, “Elder Sotomar wants me to stay with you today.”

  “How convenient.”

  He grinned, “Yes, well, he’s worried about you.”

  “He still doesn’t know,” she said, finally pulling her hands out of the blanket.

  “He probably just hasn’t noticed,” he said as he sat down beside her and took her hand.

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Emily shrugged, “I just feel like something’s not right. I keep getting these flashes… images… of places I don’t recognize, things I’ve never done. When I look at him I see something underlying his image.”

  Hillock frowned, “Maybe we should have the doctor look at you.”

  “No way! He’ll think I’m crazy. I just feel like maybe Sotomar isn’t what he seems.”

  Hillock watched her as she looked out the window. He wasn’t sure how to report this new information to the Council without admitting that the bond was broken, which would put both of their lives at risk. He was afraid though, if she found the truth, he would lose her and he wasn’t sure his heart could take it.

  “There’s a lot of tension right now with the Council. Both the Encala and the Equites are causing problems. I would imagine those problems are masking the bond breaking.”

  She shook her head, “I just don’t think so. I need to get to the bottom of it though.”

  “The images you see are probably from a traumatic experience. Maybe images from Chevalier’s Alaskan mansion or even inside the Equites palace.”

  “I guess.”

  He smiled and then leaned over and kissed her. She instantly responded to his touch and leaned into him.

  When he pulled back, she could see the longing in his eyes, “It’s so hard to be away from you.”

  “We have to be together,” she told him. “There’s a huge hole in my heart that’s only filled when I’m in your arms. It’s painful, and I can’t take it. I’ve been alone for too long.”

  Hillock started to feel guilty. As hard as he was falling for her, he knew that it was Chevalier her heart ached for, and not him. Without a word, he stood up and blurred out of the room. Being that near to her made it hard to fight back the deep desire he had. He put both of their lives at risk by allowing himself to love her.

  Emily sighed when he left and then looked outside, trying to figure out how to stop the feeling that things weren’t right. The empty fireplace caught her eye and she turned toward it when it flashed into two fireplaces, both roaring with fire, and then returned to the dark remains of the burnt out fire.

  She focused on the fireplace, willing it to change again. When it did, the image was clearer and even the smells in the room changed.
It seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it. The image disappeared suddenly and with it left the warmth and contentment she felt when it was covering the dark room. As she looked around her bedroom, her heart again sunk and the pain of loneliness returned.

  “Enter,” she said when someone knocked.

  One of her Imperial Guards opened the door, “The Council is asking for you to come mediate a meeting with the Equites and the Encala.”

  She nodded and then stood up once he left. She pulled on a long-sleeved black sweater and pulled it down to cover her hands before wrapping her arms around herself and walking out.

  The Council turned to her when she walked in, but immediately returned to face forward when it was obvious that she wasn’t in a pleasant mood. She sat down beside Sotomar and pulled her hand away when he tried to take it.

  “Let them in,” Elder Ryan called out after glancing at her quickly.

  Encala Elder William and Andrew, their new Chief Interrogator, came in, followed by Zohn and Richard, the Equites Chief Interrogator. They stood before the Valle Council after scanning all of them carefully. They were all relieved to see that Emily really was alive, though it was obvious she was angry and she had a menacing aura.

  “Why have you come uninvited?” Sotomar asked them.

  What the Valle didn’t know, was that the Encala and Equites had spoken ahead of time so as not to say anything that would go against things the Valle had Emily believing.

  William addressed him, “We came to ensure the Winchester is being taken care of.”

  Ryan looked at Emily, “Seems she’s fine.”

  “When are you going to get it through your heads that my welfare is none of your business?” Emily snapped.

  Richard studied her while Zohn spoke, “It’s well known that the well-being of the last Winchester is the responsibility of all factions.”

  Emily frowned slightly. As Zohn spoke, Sotomar’s image replaced his briefly.

  “Are you ok?” Richard asked her.

  She cleared her head and then glared at him, “Your only reason for driving all the way over here is to check on me?”