Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Ok,” she whispered.

  “We will not punish Allen because he is a member of the Island Coven Guard staff,” Kyle said to Chevalier. “We leave his punishment up to you.”

  Chevalier nodded.

  “Megara is too young for us to hold her accountable,” Zohn said. “But, young lady, we will be watching you.”

  Megara simply nodded.

  “Dr. Edwards is waiting for you three while we speak to Niccolo,” Quinn told them.

  Chevalier stood still and addressed the Council, “I’ve dropped all charges against Niccolo, and he’s been reinstated back to the Island Coven Guard staff.”

  “He has?” Kyle asked.

  “Yes”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t often admit to making a mistake…, but we did. He’s reinstated immediately.”

  “We still have charges against him,” Zohn reminded him.

  “Go ahead then… but leave his punishment to me.”

  Quinn and Zohn spoke quickly and then turned back to Niccolo. Zohn stood up, “The Council unanimously voted guilty to all charges against you. We were going to extend your sentence 100 years, but agree to let Chevalier sentence you himself.”

  “Do you realize what you did wrong?” Kyle asked him.

  Niccolo glanced once at Alexis, and then faced the Chief Enforcer, “No. I did nothing wrong.”

  “How do you call breaking out of prison, stealing an airplane, taking the Elder’s kids across the border without authorization, and burying a heku for punishment, not doing anything wrong?” the Chief of Defense asked.

  “I did it to protect the Equites.”

  “Without permission.”

  “I didn’t have time to ask permission.”

  “That’s not a valid excuse. No matter what punishment the Elder doles out to you… we will be watching you closely.”

  “Understood, Sir.”

  Kyle looked at Chevalier, “Do you want me to go with you when you tell her?”

  He sighed, “No. There’s no way to lessen this, and I have to do it alone.”

  “You three go get looked at by the doctor then,” Zohn said. “We’ll adjourn the Council for the day.”

  Chevalier set Alexis down by Dr. Edwards in the infirmary and headed to talk to Emily. He backed her guards off for more privacy and then walked in.

  “I’m sitting!” Emily said, smiling at him. She was out of the body cast and now able to move some with help.

  He nodded, “Looks good. How bad is the pain?”

  “Not too bad. It just feels good to stop looking at the ceiling.” Emily looked closely at him and then frowned, “What’s wrong?”

  Chevalier sat down beside the chair, “Are you ok sitting for a bit? This is important.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  He took her hand, “It’s about Dain.”

  She watched him, almost afraid to listen to what he said next.

  “He’s… well… he’s been banished.”

  Chapter 13

  “What do you think?” Mark asked, riding up to Emily. She was on her stallion with Asher in front of her on the saddle.

  “I think she’s good to go back to work,” she told him, watching the mare carefully as she ran across the field.

  Emily absentmindedly ran her fingers through Asher’s thick black hair.

  Mark studied her for a second, “Are you ok?”

  “It's been a year exactly,” she whispered, still watching the horse.

  “I know.”

  “So he’s suffering now.”

  “Probably”

  Silas and Kralen heard the conversation and rode over to join them.

  “G’ma, go fast!” Asher yelled, and pointed at the running horses.

  “Not right now.”

  Asher tried to kick the horse, but his tiny feet only banged against the fender.

  “I could take him out running,” Garrett said from beside her.

  She didn’t even look at him, but turned to Mark, “I want to go to the Valle to petition to get Dain back.”

  “I figured,” he said, motioning for Garrett to back off. Although still a member of the Cavalry, he was slowly losing favor with his leaders as Emily continued to give her former son-in-law the cold shoulder.

  “Chev doesn’t think it’ll do any good.”

  “It won’t.”

  “Alexis is ready to head out,” Silas said after glancing back at the city.

  “Alexis can wait,” Emily said coldly.

  “You have to forgive her,” Kralen said. “It’s been a year, and she was only trying to help.”

  Emily looked at him, “She turned her brother to ash, and then handed him over to the Valle.”

  “It’s been a year.”

  “Not for him! If I can’t get him back, he’ll suffer for 800 years.”

  “G’ma kisses,” Asher said, and then stood up on the saddle and kissed her cheek.

  Emily hugged him tightly and fought back the tears. He looked so much like Dain that it hurt to see him, but she couldn’t seem to let go of the toddler.

  She finally forced a smile and looked into his sweet face, “You don’t want to go, right? You want to stay with Grandma?”

  He nodded and grinned, “I stay, ok?”

  “Sure, you can stay.”

  “Chev go. I stay.”

  “Exactly… we’ll send Chev,” Emily said, laughing.

  “How do you rank Grandma and the Elder is Chev?” Silas asked her.

  “Not sure how that happened.”

  “Chev his name,” Asher said, matter-of-factly.

  Silas nodded, “That’s true.”

  “Go, G’ma.”

  “Go where?” Emily asked when he sat down in the saddle.

  “I see low low.”

  “What’s a low low?”

  “Low low, go.”

  She shrugged and turned her horse back toward the town, “I think I’ve lost my bid to keep him in Council City for the week.”

  Mark caught up with her, “I’m thinking so.”

  “Why is Garrett still on the Cavalry?”

  “Chevalier was outvoted by the other Elders. He’s done nothing to warrant a demotion back into the city.”

  “Still…”

  “Just because he divorced the Elder’s daughter, doesn’t mean he deserves to lose rank.”

  “I think he does.”

  “You’re confusing. Do you know that?” Mark said, shaking his head.

  “Why’s that?”

  “You haven’t spoken to Alexis any more than necessary in a year… but the heku who is mad at her also, you’re ready to behead.”

  “I have a right to be mad at her. She banished my son.”

  “And betrayed her husband.”

  “No, she didn’t. He’s just being overly sensitive.”

  They finished the ride in silence and found Alexis waiting out in front of the palace beside her car.

  “Have a nice ride?” she asked, smiling.

  “Low low,” Asher said, reaching down for her.

  “What’s a low low?” Mark asked her.

  Alexis blushed some, “Nothing… you ready to go to the island?”

  Asher smiled and nodded.

  “Mom, you could go with us,” Alexis said. “Allen and Miri mentioned they’d love to have you on the island for a week.”

  “I have things to do here,” Emily said coldly, and then kicked off for the stables.

  “She’ll come around,” Mark told her.

  Alexis watched her, “I’m not so sure anymore.”

  “It’s worse right now because it’s been a year,” Kralen said. “She doesn’t remember what happened in Denmark, and the Elder is keeping a lot of it from her, so she doesn’t fully understand how far Dain fell.”

  “Does she know that he wanted to turn Megara?”

  “He did?!” Mark gasped.

  Alexis cringed, “Never mind. I’m going to the island.”

  �
�Say hi to Low Low,” Kralen said, smiling broadly.

  She just turned and walked off with Asher.

  “You know who Low Low is?” Silas asked him.

  “Sure do,” Kralen said, and then kicked his horse back toward the hills.

  They followed him and entered the stables just as Chevalier was helping Emily off of her horse. Even after a year, she had lingering stiffness and pain from the fall. She found it hard, especially after riding for long periods, to hide it, so Chevalier insisted on helping her down.

  “So who is Low Low?” Silas asked Kralen after shutting the door to his horse’s stall.

  Kralen shrugged, “She may not want anyone to know.”

  “Who?” Chevalier asked.

  “Alexis,” Kralen answered.

  “Then how do you know?” Silas asked.

  “Figured it out.”

  Emily started brushing down to her horse and tried to ignore the conversation. Mark went to the Elder and went over their brief conversation and the mention of Low Low.

  Chevalier chuckled, “Just drop it.”

  “Do you know?” Mark asked him.

  “I just figured it out, and I say to leave it alone.”

  He sighed slightly, “Yes, Elder.”

  Chevalier walked over to the stall Emily was in, “The truck is packed.”

  “I don’t want to go,” Emily said, stepping out. “I hate that house.”

  “It’s not haunted. I told you…”

  “I know what you said, but it’s not true. Exavior is haunting that house.”

  “There’s no such thing as ghosts.”

  “I’ll stay in the room if you’d like,” Kralen said. “It’s only two nights.”

  “I don’t have a choice, now do I?”

  “Not really.”

  “I thought it was nice to find out that being in your house doesn’t affect a turning in Council City,” Chevalier said. “No more shipping you off to the Island.”

  “I just won’t sleep is all,” Emily said.

  “We removed the spices you all found on the deserted island. That’ll stop the ghosts.”

  “It wasn’t the spices. I cook with that stuff, and it’s never caused hallucinations.”

  “Breathing in those spices all night caused it. We just didn’t realize there was a crack in the clay pot, and it had leaked out above your head.”

  “That’s stupid,” Emily said, brushing herself off.

  “It’s been two weeks since a cleaning crew found that stuff and cleaned it up. No more ghosts,” Chevalier assured her.

  “It’s not the spices.”

  “It is.”

  “It was discovered to have hallucinogenic properties in 1829,” Silas told her.

  “It’s not the spices. That house is haunted by Exavior.”

  Chevalier hid a grin and kissed her on the top of the head, “If you see him, call for Kralen, ok? Try to sleep.”

  “I guess. Then next week I’m going to the Valle,” Emily said.

  “You are? Why?”

  “To ask for Dain back, of course.”

  “They don’t know where Dain is.”

  “You won’t tell me who does, so I have to at least ask them.”

  “It’s not the Valle.”

  “Then who is it?” she asked, looking over at him.

  “Ask Asher. He seems to know,” Chevalier said.

  She frowned, “How would Asher know?”

  “Nothing… just rambling.”

  “Heku don’t ramble.”

  “Take a heku free weekend and have fun.”

  Emily sighed and then started for the garage, “Sure.”

  She drove into the city with Silas and Kralen but knew the house would already be surrounded by guards. She felt some comfort in them, because she didn’t want to be under house arrest with the Encala again. Chevalier hadn’t found out about that, and she hoped he never did. She wasn’t sure what he’d do in retaliation for the confinement, but she had already forgiven them, though she and Andrew weren’t completely back on friendly terms yet.

  The house seemed extra cold and empty when she pulled up. Megara had chosen to stay in school, and Emily hated being in that big of a house alone, especially with Exavior’s ghost walking around.

  Kralen was out of the truck first and went to open the door. As late as it was, Emily decided just to eat quickly and then head to bed. Kralen and Silas took up posts outside of her door, in case she yelled for them.

  It was almost three hours later when Emily finally sat up in bed and looked around the dark, empty room. She hadn’t felt well since finding out Dain was banished. After screaming at Allen, Alexis, and Megara for months about his whereabouts, she had turned a cold shoulder to them, and her life had felt empty.

  Not sure what else to do, Emily opened up the safe in her room and pulled out items to look through. A small wooden box contained the rank pins she’d taken while recovering from Salazar’s torture. She held them in her hand and smiled. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d been in recovery from Salazar, and it always amazed her, the care and compassion the heku showed to her during that time.

  Allen’s rank pin was in there also, and she studied its tiny inlaid gems and the dangling ‘I’ that indicated he was an Island Coven Guard. She couldn’t imagine him banishing his brother, and just the thought made her heart sink further.

  An odd copper coin was set off to the side of the chest, and Emily reached out and took it in her fingers, feeling the heavy weight of it. In her quest to find something to give Emily of Dain’s, Alexis had wrestled his rare half cent coin away from him to give to her. Dain had scavenged it from a hidden location and was holding it to cash in when Alexis took it.

  Emily couldn’t help but smile some at the image. At the time, Dain was still afraid of Alexis, and she was sure the fight had to have been rather brief. All of that over a simple coin, yet that coin was something Emily now cherished even more than when it was originally given to her.

  How had it all turned out so badly? She’d recovered from the horrors in Salazar’s coven, yet now she felt alone again and out of control. Her son was suffering in the ground. She hadn’t really spoken to Allen or Alexis in a year, and she felt a rift between her and Megara.

  Everything seemed chaotic, and she felt a whirlwind of panic at the thought of Dain suffering. Her sketchy memories of recovery from Denmark didn’t help. She wished she could remember what happened there that caused Dain to be banished for 800 years. Even Chevalier admitted he thought that 800 years was a bit drastic, but yet he still refused to go to the Valle to get the number changed.

  As she studied the coin, tears welled up in her eyes. Whatever happened in South America had driven a wedge between her and her children. She missed her late-night conversations with Alexis. She missed Allen and Miri dropping in unexpectedly just to see her. They always livened up the palace and interrupted what was usually going to be a rather dull day.

  Emily replaced the items and re-locked the safe before heading in for a hot bath. The house seemed colder than usual and quieter. She knew she had heku guards outside of her door, but she couldn’t hear anything but the wind that had picked up during the night.

  Sinking into the hot water seemed to help, and she leaned back and put a warm wash cloth over her eyes. Once she kicked on the jets, the quietness of the house was drowned out, and she was able to relax.

  Just as she began to drift off to sleep, she heard a voice beside her.

  “Just until Dad dies. Then I’ll stop.”

  “What makes you think he’s going to die?”

  “I fully plan on killing him.”

  “Why?”

  “No one else will rid this world of him. It's my job.”

  “Dain…”

  “No, I hate him! He needs killed.”

  She sat up in the tub and pulled the wash cloth off of her eyes to look into the room. It was her and Dain that were speaking, but it sounded like it was happening right in t
he room. She frowned slightly as she thought of what Dain had said. She wondered who it was that he was planning on killing and when that conversation had taken place.

  Emily was just sitting back in the tub when the voices sounded again.

  “So now you want to be an Ancient?”

  “I already am. You made me as great as one, and once I figure out how to revive them, I’ll join them, and we’ll do away with the heku.”

  This time she saw an image with the voices, and the Equites caves began to form in her mind. Dain was furious, and she could tell, even now, that he was out of control.

  “You’re not a lot more powerful than the weak mortals I’ve killed.”

  “Mortals? Plural?”

  She couldn’t breathe as his words rang through the bathroom and the sheer anger in them emanated from around her. She felt almost afraid of him, even knowing he wasn’t near her.

  “I’m not confused, Mom. The only thing I feel is power.”

  Emily stood slowly and slipped a towel around her. Her knees were shaky, and she felt sick to her stomach as some of the memories returned. The feel of falling was making her head spin, and she realized it was Dain who pushed her. She wasn’t as sure as Chevalier that it was an accident though, and she felt better when she was back in her bedroom, and no one was around.

  She sat on the edge of her bed and looked around the room. There was still some lingering fear, and she couldn’t quite shake it. She felt that her life and the life of her family was in jeopardy, but she knew that that fear was unfounded. Dain had threatened to kill Chevalier and had tried to kill both Miri and Alexis. He was now banished, and even though her heart constricted at the thought, she found some comfort that he was unable to hurt anyone.

  Emily glanced at her phone and hesitated before picking it up and dialing.

  “Mom? What’s wrong?” Alexis asked, panicked.

  “He…,” Emily started, but then she squeezed her eyes shut to fight back the tears.

  “Mom?”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “For what? What’s wrong?”