Banishment : Book 9 of the Heku Series (2 page)

Once deep enough, she fully submerged and
then surfaced and looked over, “No one’s coming in?”

Kralen turned to the heku, “Anyone want to
swim?”

They all responded with a solid no.

“What’s up with heku and swimming?” she asked
as she began to tread water.

“We swim if we have to,” Kralen
explained.

Emily turned and began to swim out further
away from the shore. An hour later they were all back in the small
cave room.

“Ready to head back?” Kralen asked her.

“Sure,” she said, gathering her things. She
wasn’t ready and wished they could stay, but the others seemed more
on edge on the island, and she wanted them to be able to relax.

Kralen led the way back through the dense
foliage, and then stopped when he got to the beach.

Emily moved beside him and frowned, “Where’s
the boat?”

“That’s what I want to know,” he said,
irritated.

“Maybe this is the wrong beach.”

“No, our raft is here.”

“Would Niccolo play a joke on us?”

Kralen hissed softly and walked out toward
the water, carefully scanning the horizon.

“No, he wouldn’t,” one of the Cavalry
whispered. “His orders were clear, and he’s either broken them, or
he’s in trouble.”

“Do you see the boat?”

He shook his head, “No, Ma’am. I don’t.”

Emily checked her watch, “It’s going to be
dark soon.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Kralen growled as he
walked back.

“I hope he’s not in trouble.”

“Being in trouble is all that’s going to keep
him alive.”

Emily smiled and put her hand on Kralen’s
arm, “It’s ok. We’ll stay in the cave tonight, and maybe he’ll come
back.”

“You two,” Kralen snapped, pointing to two
heku. “You stay here and watch for Niccolo. If he comes back,
secure the yacht and then one of you come and get me. Don’t leave
him alone.”

“Yes, Captain,” they both said, and then
turned to look out at the water.

“How much food did you bring?” Kralen asked
Emily.

She looked down at the picnic basket, “Just
enough for lunch. I’m not going to starve to death though.”

“Go get bananas and coconuts,” Kralen said to
another heku, who immediately headed out.

Emily started back for the cave. It was now
easy to find the way because the heku had broken a huge path
through the trees. They arrived just as it started to get dark, and
Emily pulled out the blanket and laid it on one of the wooden beds.
She sat down and watched one of the Powans start a fire using old
guard shirts as kindling.

An hour later, the food gathering heku
returned with eight bundles of bananas and four coconuts. He handed
a banana to Emily and put the rest by the other bed, so they would
be out of the way.

“What else do you require?” one of them asked
her.

Emily shrugged, “I think I’m set.”

She watched Kralen and one of the heku in the
corner. She couldn’t hear anything or see their mouths move, but it
was obvious that they were having a discussion. When they finished
talking, it was apparent that both were livid.

Emily moved over and sat by the fire, and
then pulled out her book to read. The heku were all too angry to
speak, so she wanted to get some reading in and go to bed. She
hoped they would be calmer when she woke up and that they could all
go exploring.

No one said anything when Emily put her book
down and then laid down and rolled onto her side away from them.
When she shivered in the cold night air, four guard cloaks were
laid over her, and she was soon asleep.

The first light woke her up, and she sat up
and stretched, “Boring night?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” one of the Powans said
officially.

“Where’s Kralen?” she asked when she saw that
some of the heku were gone.

“He’s gone to see if there’s been contact
with the boat.”

Emily grabbed a banana and started to eat.
She was a little sore from sleeping on a twig bed, but other than
that, things were fine, and she wasn’t worried. She did think
Chevalier was probably not going to find it amusing that they were
again stranded on the same deserted island though.

When she had her fill of bananas, she stood
up, “Can we go look around.”

“For what, Ma’am?” one of the heku asked.

“I don’t know. Just look around the
island.”

“I’ll ask the Captain,” he said before
disappearing. A few minutes later, he returned, “Yes, we may,
Ma’am. We’re to have six with you though.”

She smiled and then started out of the cave,
heading north. The last time she took this route she was so frantic
and afraid, that she hadn’t taken time to look around the island.
The colors of the flowers were vibrant against the dark greens of
the trees. It was completely silent as she zig zagged through the
trees, often stopping to smell a flower or to look at an odd
bug.

“What is that?” the closest heku asked as he
covered his nose.

Emily immediately spotted the pungent yellow
flower. She went over and smiled, “Smells terrible, doesn’t
it?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Maybe we should take one back for Chev.”

He cringed, “You want to torture the Elder
with that?”

“Yeah… so maybe not,” she said, and then
lightly touched the strong smelling yellow nectar before wiping her
hand on a tree and heading off again.

Emily looked over when one of the heku
trailed off a bit and began pulling vines away from something.

“What did you find?” she asked, heading for
him.

“I’m not sure. There’s an old crate over
here.”

She stopped and watched him uncover it, “We
didn’t have any crates when we were here.”

“It’s too old to be yours.”

The heku knelt down and ran his hand over a
red, gold, and white coat of arms, “This is the standard for
Castile.”

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It was a Kingdom that later turned into
Spain.”

“What’s in it?”

He reached up and started to raise the lid,
but it crumbled in his hand, revealing clay pots. He picked one up
and looked inside, “It’s just spices.”

“Why would it be here?” Emily asked as she
picked up a jar and smelled the contents.

“My guess is they got stranded here with some
cargo.”

“Is it worth anything?”

“Nope,” he said, standing up and brushing
himself off.

“Can I take some?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Emily reached down and grabbed the two jars
that seemed to be in the best shape, and then headed back for the
cave. Kralen was there waiting and still looked extremely
unhappy.

“Still no sign, Sir?” one of the Cavalry
asked him.

“Not a one.”

Emily sat down in front of Kralen and set the
clay jars out, “Look what we found.”

He looked at them and frowned, “What is
it?”

The crate’s finder turned to him, “Sir, we
found a crate from Castile. It was full of spices.”

“Interesting find.”

She finally stood up and smiled at Kralen,
“We’re ok.”

“For now.”

“No, we will be ok here until someone comes
for us.”

“If I get my hands on Niccolo…”

“I’m sure he has a good excuse. He’s too
anxious to join the Cavalry to take off on his own.”

Kralen simply growled softly.

“Well, we’re good here. I have food and
water. You all can feed off of each other…”

“What?” Kralen asked, frowning.

A broad grin crossed her face, “I wondered if
you were listening.”

“That’s disgusting,” he said, finally
smiling. “You’re not afraid?”

“Not at all.”

“We’re on a deserted island, and no one knows
we’re here.”

“I trust you all to keep me safe. I’m
good.”

He nodded, surprised at her answer, “Good to
know.”

“I haven’t called for him,” she said, looking
up at Kralen.

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to worry him. I get the feeling
that Niccolo will be back.”

“You might as well call for the Elder. We
could be here for a while if we don’t. No one will even know we’re
missing for 3 more days.”

“You sure?”

Kralen nodded, “Yes, I’m sure. Let him
know.”

Emily hesitated, and then silently called for
Chevalier’s help. After eating more bananas, she sat back with her
book and enjoyed the quiet island. The heku found various things to
do but kept completely silent.

The second night was similar to the first,
except for a rain started and thunder cracked above them. The
lightning lit up the trees and Emily started to get spooked, though
she wouldn’t admit it to the heku. They didn’t seem to be afraid of
anything, and she didn’t want to appear weak.

One deafening crack of thunder made her jump
though, and all she heard was Kralen’s chuckle from behind her
before another guard cloak was laid over her gently.

When Emily got up the next morning, it was
still raining and all of the heku except two were sitting around
the walls of the cave.

Seeing she was awake, one of the heku reached
out a cup to her, “That might help.”

She looked at it and saw it was a hollowed
out half of a coconut, “You made this?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She smiled, “Thank you. I really like it.
It’ll be nice to have something to drink out of instead of my
hands.”

He nodded and sat back against the wall.
Emily scooped up some water and took a long drink before walking
over to sit beside Kralen.

“What’s going to happen to Niccolo if he’s
not dead?” Emily asked.

All of the heku looked over to listen when
Kralen answered, “It all depends. If I find him first…”

“You’ll beat him.”

“Probably”

“What will the Council do?”

“More than likely he’ll be put into prison
for a while, unless someone gets hurt out here, and then he could
be banished.”

She nodded and looked at the forlorn faces of
the guards, “We could play a game or something.”

“Someone’s coming,” one of the heku said as
they all stood up quickly.

Emily peeked around Kralen’s legs and then
smiled when Chevalier appeared, looking angry, “Chev!”

He crossed his arms and looked at Kralen,
“Explain.”

“Elder,” Kralen said, stepping back. “Emily
wanted to see this island again. I left Niccolo in charge of the
boat, and he’s disappeared in it. We’ve not seen him.”

“Are you hurt?” Chevalier asked, looking down
at Emily.

“No”

“No sign of him?”

Kralen shook his head, “No, Elder.”

Mark walked up behind them and scanned the
cave before turning to Kralen.

“There’s not a lot to report. We got Em food
and water, and we’ve just been waiting,” Kralen said.

Emily watched as Mark and Kralen spoke to
each other too low for her to hear. She began gathering her things
and was soon ready to go. Chevalier looked over her closely, but
when he saw no injuries, he relaxed some.

“We’ll use the radar in the boat to see if we
can find him,” Chevalier told them as they walked toward the
beach.

Things were tense between Mark and Kralen,
and Emily hoped she hadn’t gotten Kralen into trouble by asking to
come here. She grabbed the coconut cup and the two clay jars and
ran to catch up with Chevalier.

Emily stopped suddenly when the Coast Guard
Cutter came into view, “You called the Coast Guard?!”

Chevalier looked over at the ship, “In a
way.”

Her eyes narrowed, “You have heku in the
Coast Guard, don’t you?”

He simply smiled and helped her onto the raft
that had brought him to the beach. Two Coast Guard sailors had
already tied the yacht’s raft to the side of the pristinely white
vessel. It didn’t take long for the heku to row out to the
Cutter.

As the raft was lifted up the side of the
Cutter, Kralen turned to Emily, “Only the Captain and Commander are
heku.”

She nodded, mentally noting not to say
anything heku-ish around the sailors.

Emily followed Chevalier onto the bridge of
the Cutter, where the Captain and Commander were waiting. They all
walked into a side room, and Kralen shut the door behind them.

“Oh good, you found them,” the Captain said,
pleased.

Chevalier looked down at a large radar panel,
“We’re missing my yacht though.”

“Got away from you did it?” the Commander
asked Kralen, smirking.

Kralen’s eyes narrowed, “There’s a heku on
board.”

The Commander’s eyes grew, and he looked down
at the radar.

“Do you see it?” Chevalier asked him.

“There are four smaller vessels within 32
clicks from here.”

Emily moved forward and looked down at the
screen. Green circles were the focal point, along with odd squiggly
lines and tiny blips.

“Where?” Chevalier asked, looking down at the
screen.

The Commander reached out and pointed to four
points on the radar, neither of which was blinking, as Emily
thought they would.

“How long would it take to get to each of
them?”

“Not long. We could hit all four by
nightfall, unless they start heading away from us.”

Chevalier studied the radar and then looked
up at the Commander, “One of these isn’t moving at all.”

“Right”

“Head to that one first.”

The Captain stepped out for a few seconds and
then returned. Emily grabbed ahold of one of the tables when the
boat shifted as it began to move.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Lady Emily,” the
Captain said, smiling down at her.

She smiled and then fell back into Kralen
when the boat shifted again. He laughed and righted her.

“Yeah, no sea legs,” she said, blushing.

Chevalier turned to Emily, “Before we get to
the yacht, why the island?”

She sighed, “I’m sorry. I thought it’d be fun
to have a picnic and a swim. I don’t think I broke any rules.”