Valle : Book 2 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Thank you and I will see you tomorrow,” she said, shaking each of their hands as they bowed slightly to her and walked away.

  Kyle walked Emily back into the palace and smiled at the change in her. She was walking proudly, and smiled sweetly at heku she walked by, and was talking to him again about horses and how well it went that day. When they reached the bedroom, she turned to him.

  “Thank you. I know that was hard for you,” she said.

  He nodded, “I’ll get used to it. Want me to tell Chevalier about the bruise?”

  “Think he’ll notice?” she asked.

  Kyle nodded, “Most definitely.”

  “What will I notice?” Chevalier asked, walking up to them.

  “Don’t panic, ok?” she asked, and put her hands against his chest. She felt his body tense, “Calm down, Chev, I just got kicked by a horse.”

  “Yes… after she pushed one of the guards out of the way,” Kyle added.

  She glared at him, “I wasn’t going to mention that.”

  Chevalier sighed, “You pushed a heku out of the way so he wouldn’t get kicked by a horse, and then you took the kick?”

  She nodded, “Well… when you say it like that it doesn’t sound very smart.”

  “How bad is it?” he asked.

  “Just a bruise.” She smiled and headed into the bedroom, “You coming in?”

  “I’ll be in in a second,” Chevalier said, and watched as she shut the door.

  “How did it go, other than the kick?” he asked Kyle.

  Kyle shook his head, “She amazes me, you know? Those guards did not want to be there. They wouldn’t even look at her.”

  Chevalier growled.

  “But by the time they left,” Kyle said quickly. “They were eating out of the palm of her hand, helping her lift, helping her feed and water. I can’t figure out how she charmed them so quickly.”

  Chevalier smiled, “She did it because she’s Emily.”

  Kyle nodded, “I’m off, apparently I need to go order a few dozen pairs of black cowboy boots.”

  Chevalier laughed and walked into the room. He sat down by Allen and Emily as they started to eat. He was glad to see she was eating again, it was better after he’d talked to the chef about her favorite foods. Emily was talking to Allen and Chevalier about her day, and he listened intently. His plan was working better than expected, and he was able to relax, she now had a reason to stay.

  Emily took Allen to the entertainment corner and held him while they watched a movie together. Chevalier sat beside them and held her hand, things were finally back to normal.

  After they put Allen down to bed, Emily crawled into bed and curled up next to Chevalier.

  “Can I ask you something?” he asked her.

  “Sure,” she said, pulling closer to him.

  “Do you remember your dreams lately?”

  She frowned, “Not really. Why?”

  “You’re still walking at night.”

  “Oh”

  “Tonight, would you let me hold you? When I touch you, I can see your dreams. I’d like to know what’s causing it.”

  She thought a moment and then nodded, “Sure.”

  He kissed her softly and then ran his hands around her, but she flinched when his hand brushed the bruise.

  “Let me see,” he said, sitting up.

  “It’s just a bruise,” she told him, not moving.

  “We can argue, or you can just relent now and let me see it,” he said, grinning.

  She sighed and sat up before pulling her nightgown up in back. She heard him inhale sharply.

  “That looks pretty bad,” he said, pulling her nightgown back down.

  “I’ve had worse,” she reminded him as she laid down.

  He smiled, “Good night, Em.”

  She started to wish him good night too, but his lips pressed against hers and cut her off.

  Chevalier held her all night and let his mind wander into her dreams. Her dreams were odd and cryptic, first a horse and then a pond, nothing abnormal. He began to think she wouldn’t walk tonight when he heard someone calling.

  “Come to me, Child,” the voice said.

  Chevalier opened his eyes and stood up, looking around the room. Just as he ascertained that no one was in there, Emily stood up and began to walk out of the room. He carried her back to bed and laid down next to her, taking her hand.

  Her dreams hadn’t stopped. Images flashed through her mind, images of places she’d been and people she knew. Then the voice sounded again.

  “Hurry, Child, come now,” he heard the soft voice say just before Emily pulled her hand away from him as she stood up. He blocked her way and she laid back in bed. As soon as she settled in, he walked out into the hallway and called for Kyle.

  “Yes, Elder?” Kyle asked, stepping out of his room.

  “Someone is calling her,” he said.

  “Calling her?”

  “Yes, I can hear it in her dreams… someone calls her, and then she gets out of bed,” Chevalier explained.

  Kyle frowned.

  “Go down into the prison. I wonder if one of the prisoners knows there’s a mortal, maybe they can smell her. See if anyone there would be able to call her in her sleep.”

  Kyle nodded and blurred down the stairs. Chevalier walked into the room just in time to put Emily back to bed. This time he wrapped his arms around her and held her in bed so she couldn’t get up.

  Emily stretched and got out of bed just after the sun came up. Chevalier watched her as she walked toward the bathroom and then he jumped out of bed when she gasped as a strange heku stepped out of the shadows and took a step toward her.

  Chevalier was between them immediately, “Who do you think you are?”

  “I… I’m just bringing food for the mortals,” the little heku said weakly.

  “Report immediately to the Captain for punishment. You’re lucky I don’t kill you right now,” he said angrily.

  The strange heku looked at Emily and then nodded and walked out of the room, followed by Chevalier. Emily took a deep breath, and walked into the bathroom. She hated that he was about to get punished, but she also didn’t like the thought that he was in their room without permission. She showered quickly and threw on jeans and a t-shirt. When she got out, Kyle was waiting for her at the table while Allen ate.

  “Chevalier’s gone to work already,” Kyle told her.

  “There was a heku in the room this morning,” she said as she sat down and picked up a slice of bacon.

  “Yes, I know, unacceptable,” he said, obviously mad.

  She nodded and drank some orange juice. Once she was done eating, she kissed Allen good-bye and then walked out toward the stables with Kyle.

  The seven guards were already in the stables brushing their horses.

  “Good morning, Ma’am,” one of them said, and smiled at her when she arrived.

  “Good morning all, did you have a nice night?” She went over and slipped a bridle on Patra and let her out to the front of the stables as they all answered her about their evenings.

  “Ok, put the bridles on and bring them out here. I want to see you put the saddles on them… just be gentle, please,” she said, and stood back to watch them.

  Emily watched carefully as the seven led their horses out and put on their saddles. She helped each one to make sure they didn’t injure the horse and then climbed up on Patra when they were all saddled.

  “Ok, mount up,” she said, and watched as they easily slid onto their horses.

  “Good job.” She smiled.

  “Ma’am?” one of them asked.

  “Yes?”

  “How is your back?” he asked softly, unsure if he had the right to ask.

  She smiled, “I’m fine, really. It’s not the first time I’ve been kicked.”

  He nodded and smiled at her.

  “Ok, now, we’re going to start out in a walk… easy enough. You click your tongue like this,” she said, clicking. “The
n lightly… very lightly… kick your horse.”

  She demonstrated, and Patra started off in a slow walk.

  Before long, everyone joined her and she turned around to make sure they were all with her. She thought for sure they would have balance issues, but then remembered who she was working with and smiled at their stable forms on the horses. They all caught up to her and formed a line to each side of her.

  “Ready for some fun?” she asked them, and they looked at her confused.

  “Ok, Patra, let’s show the heku who’s faster,” she said, kicking her horse hard and Patra broke into a gallop.

  She laughed as she looked behind her and saw a few running along with her, some falling behind in more of a trot, and one heku even had his horse going backwards, not an easy feat. She urged Patra on, and soon all seven of the guards were racing her across the city as heku jumped to get out of their way.

  She turned Patra onto a side street and shut her eyes as she felt the wind through her hair. The fast sound of hoof beats behind her was comforting and she led the guards back toward the stables. She hit the stables first and pulled Patra back to stop her, then turned around and watched the guards come, one at a time, into the stable yards and stop their horses. She was glad to see most of them were laughing.

  “That… is a gallop,” she told them when they had all joined her.

  “That… was cheating,” one said, laughing.

  Emily looked around and didn’t see Kyle, so she turned to the guards, “No, my dear, I don’t cheat, I just… well… yeah, ok, so I cheated.”

  She smiled and ordered them all off of their horses, then slid off Patra and gasped as one of the horses began to shy and buck. She ran forward and took the reins, but was pushed back by the horse’s strong hoof. One of the guards moved between her and the horse and took the reins just as the heku on his back was bucked off and landed hard against a thick tree.

  She crawled quickly over to him and put her hands on his chest when he started to get up, “Are you hurt?”

  He coughed some, “Ok,” he managed to say, but she didn’t believe him.

  She put her hands on his neck and felt down his spine. His eyes were wide as she touched him gently. She gasped, “I think he broke your back.”

  “It’ll be fine in a second, I promise,” he said, watching her concerned expression.

  “Just lay still,” she told him, and grabbed a horse blanket from the stack nearby and covered him.

  “Honestly, Ma’am, I’m ok.” He started to get up, but she held him down. She realized he wasn’t trying very hard to get up. There was no way she could have held him down if he’d really wanted to get up.

  Another guard knelt down by her, “You got kicked, how are you?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, ignoring the stinging in her chest. She could only imagine how mad Chevalier was going to be over this one.

  “What happened, did anyone see?” she asked them all, still holding the one heku down.

  “Bee,” one of them said.

  Emily nodded, “That’ll do it every time. Did anyone get stung?”

  “No, I killed it,” a heku guard said, and she raised her eyebrows impressed.

  “Can I get up now?” the heku that was lying down asked.

  “Not yet,” she said, and again ran her fingers down his back. The bones seemed to have healed.

  “Ok, you can get up,” she told him, and pulled her hands off of his chest.

  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.