“Holy geesh,” Emily said, watching the new group of guards report for Cavalry training. They were enormous. The seven came toward her, and she couldn't help but take a step back some. They looked like tall bodybuilders hulking forward.
The seven current Cavalry members were with her. They were to watch her and help train the new guards. They formed a V, with Emily at the front and they watched the new recruits carefully.
Emily heard a familiar sound as they drew closer, the chink-chink of spurs. She looked down and saw that the largest of the new recruits was wearing spurs on his black cowboy boots. She wasn't sure why, but for some reason, this new group made her uneasy.
“Thank you for coming, my name is Emily and I'll be helping you with the horses,” she said, not stepping forward as usual. She watched them carefully. Six of them watched her as she spoke, but the largest, the one with spurs, wouldn't look at her. She frowned slightly and continued.
“First off, will you remove your spurs please?” she asked, looking at the one she nicknamed Tank in her head.
“No,” he said, watching above her head.
She frowned and then walked up to him. As she looked up to meet his eyes, she realized exactly how tall he was. Emily normally didn't let her height hinder her, but as she looked into the eyes a good two feet above her, she felt her resolve fading. She knew better than to show any kind of weakness around the heku, so she squared her shoulders and put her hands on her hips.
“Excuse me?” she snapped at him.
“I said, no.” He looked down at her and his broad shoulders shook slightly as he laughed.
“Take them off, now,” she ordered.
Too fast for her to even react, the large heku put a finger against her forehead and pushed hard, sending her to the ground as he muttered another, “No.”
In less than a second, the heku, Tank, was pinned to the ground by four of the Cavalry. His neck was wrenched roughly to the side, one fraction of an inch more and his neck would break.
“Touch me again and I'll have your hands removed,” she said, standing up and brushing herself off. She reached down and untied his spurs, then slipped them off of his boots and tossed them into the trash.
“Are we going to have more trouble with you, Boy?” one of her guards asked him.
“No, Sir,” Tank snapped.
The guards let the large heku up and he stood up slowly and glared at Emily. She ignored him as her guards returned to her back.
“Fine, does anyone else have a problem with me?” she asked, irritated.
When no one spoke, she pointed to the first recruit, “Let's go find you a horse.”
Emily took each of the recruits through the stables, picking out a good horse for them. She didn't have many choices. The heku were so large, that she had to pick the tallest she could find. Each was handed a brush and told to brush down their horse. She was nervous when it was time to take Tank around, and he walked behind her, obviously not wanting to be with her at all.
Once they were out of sight of the others, Emily turned to him, “What's your problem?”
“You are,” he said, looking down at her.
“Well get over it or get out of my stables,” she hissed, crossing her arms.
“I can't get out, this was an order,” he snarled at her.
“Then get over it,” she said, turning around.
“You know you have no right being here… a mortal in the palace, it's embarrassing,” he said, following her.
Emily ignored his remark and took him to the stall of the largest horse she had. She opened the stall and turned, “This one's yours.”
He stepped inside and took the horse roughly by the mane, “Stupid animal.”
The horse pulled against his strong hands and Emily jumped at him, stepping between him and the horse, “Let go.”
Tank let go of the horse and stood inches from Emily, looking down at her. He was so close she could feel the anger radiating from him.
“You telling me what to do, Tiny?”
“Yes I am, and if I ever see you touch another horse with anything but soft respect, you'll have to deal with me,” she said, seething.
Emily felt her feet leave the ground as the heku picked her up by her arms and lifted her above his head.
“I don't take orders from a mortal,” he told her, and roughly shook her.
“Let go of me,” she said, gritting her teeth.
He dropped Emily and was immediately thrown to the back of the barn by her guards. She felt the crack in her ankle as she landed hard on the ground, then she rolled onto her side and grabbed her leg, screaming slightly at the pain. The sound of the heku being torn apart by her guards could be heard throughout the stables, and the other new guards came to see what happened.
They were immediately able to see the large heku being taken apart and Emily lying on the ground in pain, her foot at an abnormal angle to her leg. One of them knelt down by her, being careful not to touch her.
“Lady Emily, are you injured, other than your ankle?” he asked, watching her.
Emily shook her head and groaned. The pain in her leg was intense.
“What's going on here?” she heard Kyle snap. The seven Cavalry members stood up, covered in blood. Body parts of a heku were tossed into a pile in the corner.
He didn't see Emily when he first walked up. The six new recruits were crouched around her. As they parted, he gasped and knelt beside her. She was gripping her leg and he saw the break in her ankle.
Kyle picked her up quickly and cringed when she moaned in pain.
He turned to the Cavalry, “Mark, Bill, Pat… come with me… you other three get the horses put away and get this cleaned up.”
Kyle blurred into the palace, followed by the three Cavalry members. He set her down on the bed and looked at her ankle. He could see a bone protruding against