Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series Read online

  “There’s one going on next week on the Island, too. Remember that Englishman?” Kyle reminded him.

  “Damn, I forgot about that.”

  “I could take her to my place in France,” Kyle suggested.

  “I hate to have her that far away. I have to be here for this one… can you sail?” Chevalier asked.

  Kyle looked at him sideways, “Yes.”

  “Then I say you take Emily and Allen out on the yacht. Take the Cavalry with you if you need to. It can hold seventy five comfortably.”

  Kyle nodded, “Think she’ll go for that?”

  “I’m sure she will, as soon as she knows the reason.”

  “I’m going to go feed while she’s at the party then, want to come?” Kyle asked, standing up.

  “No, I’m good.” He watched Kyle leave.

  Chevalier waited patiently for Emily to return from the Cavalry party. He watched as the hours ticked by slowly. He started to get nervous around 3am, but then heard her footsteps coming toward the door. She stepped in and smiled at him.

  “Hi,” she said, walking in to face him. She wasn’t sure if he was going to be ok with her out so late.

  “Have fun?”

  “Sure did,” Emily told him, and headed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. After the football and the party, she was exhausted.

  Chevalier went into the bathroom with her and watched through the glass door, smiling. His eyes took in every curve and muscle in her body. Stripping quickly, he joined her in the hot shower.

  ***

  Emily curled up against him in bed.

  “I need a favor,” he said, kissing her lightly.

  “Oh?”

  “Next week we’re doing the ceremony to turn a mortal into a heku.”

  She propped up on her elbow, “Ok.”

  “There’s one on the island, too. Kyle offered to take you and Allen out on the yacht for the week.” He watched her closely for a reaction.

  Emily hid any worry she had, “You can’t go?”

  “No, I have to be here for it. Kyle will take the Cavalry with you.”

  “Sure, sounds like fun,” she said, smiling.

  She began to worry. Kyle had shown a strong attraction to her, and she wasn’t sure how the yacht might affect him. Of course, with the entire cavalry there, he couldn’t do much or it would get back to Chevalier.

  “I’ll have everything ready for you to leave tomorrow,” he said, and pulled her closer to him.

  She nodded and shut her eyes.

  Emily yawned and stretched, then opened her eyes, it was only 6am. She looked around and saw that Chevalier was already gone. She got up and dressed, then went in to wake Allen up. He played on the floor while she packed a bag for him.

  “Ee going?” he asked.

  “We’re going on a boat,” she said, packing the last of his things.

  “Boat?”

  “Yeah, fun eh?”

  He nodded and went back to playing. She loaded some toys into a basket and then went out to pack her own things. Allen followed her out and she put in a movie for him. As she packed a range of clothes for both warm and cold weather, she heard a sound from her bathroom.

  “Chev?” she asked, going in to see what he was doing.

  A strange heku was crouched in the corner and hissed at her when she came in. Emily froze and crouched slightly.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  He crouched lower and inhaled deeply. That was all Emily needed, he lunged at her just as she felt her concentration lock, and ash scattered across the bathroom floor. Emily ran out of the bathroom and opened the door.

  “I need Chev,” she said quickly.

  The four guards turned to her and saw the terror in her eyes. One ran to get the Elder, and the other three came into her room.

  “When did you get here?” she asked them.

  “Just about an hour ago. We came when the Elder left,” Mark told her, looking at her suspiciously.

  Chevalier blurred into the bedroom, “What’s wrong?”

  She took his hand and led him into the bathroom. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking for, and then his eyes fell on the ash strewn across the floor.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked, turning to her.

  She shook her head and tears filled her eyes.

  “Did he bite you?” he asked, looking at her neck.

  “No, he jumped at me but I… I ashed him. I’m so sorry,” she said, shaking.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m proud of you,” he said, taking her into his arms. He led her out into the bedroom.

  “There was a strange heku in here. What time did you get here?” he asked the guards.

  “We arrived just a few minutes after you left, Sir.”

  “Damnit, I should have stayed until you got here,” he growled.

  “Get a servant to collect that ash. I want to know who that was and what he wanted,” Chevalier ordered, still holding Emily at his chest. She was still trembling.

  He led her to the bed and sat her down, then knelt in front of her, “Calm down, ok? Everything’s fine.”

  One of Emily’s guards came up to them carrying Allen, “He said he’s hungry. Can the two of us take him down to eat?”

  Emily nodded and they left, so now only four guards remained with her.

  Kyle blurred into her room, “What happened?”

  “There were a few minutes when the door wasn’t guarded, and in that time, a heku got in here,” Chevalier explained.

  “Is she ok?” he asked, looking at her. She was still shaking and looked pale and afraid.

  “She’s ok. She turned him to ash,” he said, proudly.

  “Good job, Em!” Kyle said, and looked around the room. “I’m going to look around and make sure it’s clear.”

  Chevalier nodded and touched Emily lightly on the cheek, “You did nothing wrong.”

  She nodded.

  He smiled at her, “You have no idea how proud I am of you. You did it!”

  Again she only nodded.

  “Do you want to go get something to eat with Allen?”

  “No”

  “Have some coffee brought up,” Chevalier said, and one of her guards disappeared from the room.

  “You’re going to bring him back?”

  “Yes”

  “What if he is a servant, maybe he was just cleaning.”

  “Doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t have been in here,” he said, taking her hand.

  “Won’t the other Elders be mad if I ashed an Equites?”

  Chevalier smiled, “Not at all. They would have probably killed him for being in here without permission anyway.”

  Emily took a cup of coffee from the guard and sipped it slowly.

  “Maybe the yacht is a good idea, get away for a while,” she said, looking at her half-packed suitcase.

  Chevalier nodded, “Yes, it will be. There’s no chance of you getting attacked there. Did you finish packing?”

  “No,” Emily said, and stood up. She finished her coffee with shaking hands, and then started packing.

  “You’re taking your bikini?” Chevalier asked.

  “I wanted some sun, am I not allowed?”

  “No, that will be fine,” he said, fighting to control his jealous urge to ban her from wearing it.

  Emily sat in the helicopter and watched Chevalier disappear as they took off for the Island. Allen was strapped in and laughing. He loved being in the helicopter. Kyle and two of her guards were with her. The others would arrive by Suburban the following day, and then they would set out onto the Atlantic.

  Allen fell asleep shortly after takeoff and Emily followed. She woke up just as the pilot brought the helicopter down onto the castle’s helipad. Kyle carried Allen into the castle and laid him down on Emily’s bed, and she walked in after them.

  “I’ll have Gordon bring up some lunch,” Kyle said, and left quickly.

  Emily curled up by Allen on the bed and watched him sleep. She w
as ready to get onto the yacht, away from attacks, away from the Valle and the Encala. Gordon showed up a short time later, smiling brightly. He sat the trays down on the table and left.

  Chapter 4 - Lost

  Kyle cut the engines to the yacht when they were far away from any land. He sat in the captain’s chair and watched Emily. She was lying on the chaise in her bikini, soaking up the sun. Allen played nearby with one of the guards. He kept pulling at his life vest, something Emily insisted he wore at all times.

  Kyle turned his chair. From up by the helm, he could see the entire boat. The guards were situated throughout the yacht. No one was getting on board without one of the guards seeing them. The ocean was quiet and a light breeze was blowing. He turned back to Emily. With the sunglasses covering his eyes, he could secretly watch her. She was relaxed, not quite asleep, but still enjoying being out on the water.

  It was only an hour later that she sat up and pulled off her sunglasses. She looked over at Allen, who was playing and smiled.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked, getting out of the chaise.

  “Peanut butter,” he said, and ran toward Emily.

  “Ok, one peanut butter and jelly coming up.” She took his hand and walked down into the main living quarters.

  Kyle blurred into the room a few minutes later and sat by Allen.

  “Is there anything you need?” he asked, looking at Emily.

  “No, I think we’re fine,” she told him, and walked over to Allen with a sandwich and chips. Emily sat down with a sandwich of her own and started to eat.

  “Are you all going to be ok without eating this week?” she asked him, stealing one of Allen’s chips.

  “Yes, we all fed well before leaving. We’ll be good for a few weeks.”

  “What about boredom?”

  He chuckled slightly, “We’re good with that, too.”

  “Sir?” one of the guards called down.

  “Is it ok if he comes down?” Kyle asked Emily, and she nodded.

  “Come,” he called up the stairs.

  One of the new recruits came down the stairs, “Sir, there’s a weather alert coming over the radio.”

  “What kind of alert?” he asked, sighing.

  “Just a storm warning… high swells, wind, and rain.”

  “Ok,” Kyle thought for a moment. “We can’t go back to the island, and it’s too dangerous to go to the mainland. We’ll just have to ride it out.”

  “Is that safe?” Emily asked, frowning.

  “Hopefully, we don’t really have a choice,” Kyle said, and headed up the stairs.

  “Take it off,” Allen yelled, pulling at his life jacket.

  “I said, no. Keep it on,” Emily told him, before finishing her sandwich and starting on the dishes.

  Emily jumped slightly when the thunder cracked. She glanced out the port window and saw the black clouds moving in quickly. Lightning lit up the sky and she turned back to Allen nervously.

  “Want to watch a movie?” she asked, cleaning off his face.

  “Pooh!” he yelled and ran for the bean bag.

  “Pooh… sure… only 5 times this week,” she replied, pressing ‘play’ on the DVD. She went over and sat on the bean bag by Allen and mussed his black hair playfully. The rain began to pelt the boat and Emily had to turn up the volume to drown out the sound. With every rock of the boat, she cringed and held Allen a little tighter.

  A violent crash sounded as Emily and Allen were thrown against the side of the living area. She could feel blood dripping down her forehead, but looked Allen over and he was unhurt. They were lying against the side of the boat, which meant the boat was listing dangerously. Cold water began to flood down the stairs and into the living area.

  Four guards appeared and swam to them. One pulled Allen away from Emily’s grasp, and the others took Emily’s arms and hauled her through the cold water. They had to use extreme strength to fight against the current as the water surged into the boat. Kyle was watching them from inside a life raft and pulled Allen on board, and then turned to Emily. He helped her hoist into the life raft as it shook with the large waves.

  Mark was in a second life raft full of guards. He threw a rope to Kyle, and they tethered the rafts together so they wouldn’t get separated. Emily laid down on the bottom of the raft and held Allen with one hand, while she clung to the raft with the other. The wind pounded the small rafts and water sloshed over the sides. Kyle and the guards frantically dipped buckets full of water out of the raft to keep it afloat.

  Hours passed as the storm raged. Emily and Allen were both soaked and shivering in the cold. The wind and rain assaulted the small rafts and several times almost capsized them. As the storm subsided, Emily curled up with Allen and both fell asleep, exhausted from the night’s storm.

  The sun finally broke through the clouds and Emily sat up, looking around them. There was nothing but ocean as far as she could see. Allen was still asleep in his life vest. Shivering, Emily crawled onto one of the hard bench seats.

  “Let me see your head,” Kyle said, pulling her hair back. She had smacked her head against a windowsill as the boat was thrown onto its side.

  “Ouch,” she cried out when he touched the cut.

  “Sorry, it’s not too deep.” He pulled off his shirt and handed it to Emily. She slipped it on and looked over at the guards in the other boat. One of the guards took his shirt off, too, and tossed it to Emily, so she laid it on top of Allen.

  “What happened?” she asked, finally.

  “Squall, we didn’t have time to turn into it,” he said, looking out over the ocean.

  “Are there any supplies on the rafts?”

  Kyle shook his head, “If I remember correctly though, there was a small island just north of where we sank. The waves have been taking us slowly toward it.”

  “Was anyone hurt?” She looked over the guards.

  “Just you,” he said with a half-smile.

  As afternoon approached, the sun began to beat down on them. Emily set up a cover for Allen using shirts from the guards to shade him from the sun. She could feel her skin burning but preferred to have Allen covered.

  “Mommy, when’s lunch?” Allen asked.

  “We don’t have anything to eat right now, Baby,” she said, taking his hand.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “I know. As soon as we’re rescued, we’ll get to eat.” She smiled down at him.

  “Water?” he asked, pointing out to the ocean.

  “We can’t drink that water, it’s yucky.” She was trying to sound upbeat, but she was worried. She was already getting thirsty, and knew dehydration would set in quickly in the afternoon heat.

  Emily dipped her hand into the cool water and rubbed it on her skin to calm the burning. She was getting a headache from the head wound and the sun glaring off of the water was making it worse.

  The sun set over the horizon and they were thrown into darkness. Emily lay down with Allen, and looked up at the stars. They were so bright out on the ocean. There was a brisk breeze blowing across the rafts and both of them were soon asleep.

  Darkness fell on the rafts for the second night. This time, Allen wouldn’t sleep. He was crying tearlessly and his lips were dry and cracked. Emily held him and rocked. Her arms were blistering with the sunburn, and her thirst was almost unbearable. The guards watched helplessly, frustrated to be surrounded by water that they couldn’t drink.

  Late into the night, Allen finally cried himself to sleep and Emily handed him over to Kyle to hold. She curled up on the hard bench seat and watched the moon shine off of the water.

  “How are you holding up?” one of the guards asked her from the other raft.

  “Ok,” she said, though her voice cracked.

  “Is there nothing we can do?” he asked Kyle.

  “Nothing,” Kyle said, irritated.

  Emily didn’t say it, but she knew that Allen only had a day or so left before dehydration would kill him. She watched him sleep in Kyl
e’s arms and felt utterly helpless. She wasn’t a religious woman, but she prayed that the island would appear soon or that they would be rescued. Surely Chevalier heard her calling for him and had sent help.

  Another day approached and as the sun came up, Emily saw something that made her heart jump. The dark silhouette of an island had appeared off in the distance. The guards had already pulled the oars out of the rafts and were rowing toward it. Emily was worried that Allen hadn’t woken up yet. His skin was pale and dry and his lips were bleeding. She held him in her arms as the island drew closer.