Encala (11 page)

“
Was it her?” Kyle asked,
and she heard him walk to the edge of the outcropping.

“
It was Allen, very faint,
but as I said… now it’s gone.”

“
Bring the others here. I
want this area searched. Make sure every rock is turned and every
tree is checked. She has to be here somewhere,” Kyle
snapped.

“
Yes, Sir. Will you tell
him or shall I?”

Emily frowned and looked up.

“
I’ll tell him, he’ll want
to try to call for her,” Kyle responded, and both of the heku took
off.

Emily wondered who they were going to tell.
She tried not to think that it might be Chevalier. She didn’t want
to get her hopes up that it might all be over soon.

She lifted her hand off of Allen’s mouth and
warned him not to talk. He whispered softly to her that he needed
to go to the bathroom. Emily cringed, she’d been able to cover
their bathroom visits with the flowers, but the heku were too
close, she couldn’t risk them catching Allen’s scent.

“
Can you hold it?” she
whispered into his ear.

He shook his head.

“
Please, try Baby,” she
whispered to him, and he nodded. She knew he couldn’t hold it for
long, and she could still hear far away voices and the crack of
twigs as someone walked over them.

Emily gasped when she felt the wetness on
Allen’s shorts. She immediately heard the voices in the distance
stop, and the footsteps came closer. She grabbed Allen tightly and
began to run away from them. She knew she couldn’t outrun a heku,
but had to try. They were getting closer to her. She knew that now
they could hear her as she ran through the brush. The sharp twigs
cut into her legs and the smell of blood made tracking her even
easier.

“
Emily stop,” she heard
Kyle say from right behind her. She put Allen on the ground and
turned around, blocking him from view.

“
Get away from me,” she
said sharply.

Kyle didn’t move any further, “I’m sorry,
there’s no excuse for what I did, but we’re rescued. We can get off
this island.”

“
Nice try,” she said,
watching him closely.

“
Just wait a few minutes…
Chevalier is on his way.”

“
I don’t believe you,” she
said, before picking Allen up and walking backwards.

“
Please, I’m asking for two
minutes,” Kyle glanced behind him.

“
No,” she said, as she
continuing to back away.

“
I can hear him, he’s close
now. You don’t have to worry about me, as soon as he finds out,
he’ll have me killed,” Kyle said to her sadly.

“
He doesn’t know?” she
asked, and frowned.

“
No, not yet.”

“
Then he’s not here,” Emily
said, and finally turned her back to him and ran through the trees,
clutching Allen against her chest.

She felt an arm against her shoulder and
spun quickly to face Mark, “Don’t touch me.”

He pulled his hand back, “Just wait Emily,
the Elder is coming.”

“
You too? Are you all in on
it now? I can’t feed all of you,” she said, angrily.

Mark frowned, “We know what Kyle did, but
the rest of us aren’t going to hurt you.”

She studied his eyes, “If Chevalier is
really here, then how does he not know?”

“
We’re a unit, a team, and
we stick together. None of us are proud of what the Captain did,
but we don’t want him dead,” Mark explained.

“
I’m leaving now. If you
follow me, I won’t have a choice but to turn you to ash,” she said,
and turned around, quickly breaking into a run. Her arms ached from
carrying Allen, but she couldn’t stop, they were on her trail and
it was going to take a miracle to elude them again.

“
Emily,” she heard it and
froze, it was Chevalier’s voice. She was afraid to turn around,
afraid this was just another dream.

“
It’s ok,” she heard him
say softly. She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t want this dream
to end.

“
Daddy!” Allen yelled, and
squirmed to get free of Emily’s grasp. She couldn’t let go of him
yet, couldn’t believe this was almost over.

Emily took a deep breath and slowly turned
around. Her knees gave out when she saw him, standing in the trees
looking at her. She let go of Allen, and he ran to Chevalier as her
knees hit the soft moss. Chevalier took Allen in his arms and
hugged him, wincing slightly at the smell of nectar that covered
him.

“
You’re really here,” she
whispered, watching him from the ground.

Chevalier put Allen down and took a step
toward her, “Let’s go, Em.”

He put his hand out to her, but she didn’t
move. She just looked at him and frowned, “Is this a dream?”

He smiled, “No, this isn’t a dream.”

Chevalier watched her as she knelt on the
moss and he quickly checked her over. She had dark circles under
her eyes from not sleeping, and he could smell the fresh blood from
the cuts on her legs. She wore one of the Cavalry issued shirts
with the sleeves rolled up. Her hair and skin were caked in the
awful smelling nectar, which also turned her skin a yellowish hue.
He couldn’t help but notice she’d gotten thinner. The bones in her
wrists and her collar bone stuck out from tight skin.

“
I need you to calm down,
ok? You need to trust me,” he said, taking a step towards her. He’d
seen her this afraid before, and it turned out badly, she’d ashed a
heku.

Mark appeared in the clearing behind
Chevalier, followed shortly by Kralen. Kralen took Allen in his
arms and hugged him tightly. Mark moved up by the Elder.

“
What did you do to her?”
Chevalier hissed at him.

“
I didn’t do anything,” he
said, and looked at Emily. She was glaring at him.

Emily finally found the strength to get to
her feet, and she quickly ran to Chevalier. He wrapped his arms
around her tightly, and she buried her face in his chest.

“
You smell awful,” he said,
amused.

“
I know.”

“
It was good thinking, if
you were hiding from someone,” he said, and turned to
Mark.

“
Can we just go?” she
asked, pulling away from him and taking his hand.

“
Sure, we can talk on the
way.” He led her south through the trees.

Here with Chevalier, things didn’t seem as
bleak as they had for the last few days. What Kyle did seemed less
important, and she wondered if it warranted a death. She hadn’t
been able to kill him for it, but she knew Chevalier wouldn’t
hesitate.

“
Tell me what happened,” he
said, watching Kralen carry Allen.

Emily looked up at Mark and then back to
Chevalier, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He sighed, “Someone is going to tell me,
that’s a promise.”

Emily held tightly to Chevalier’s arm as
they walked. The heku joined them along the way and by nightfall,
everyone was with them except Kyle.

“
If I carry you, this will
be faster,” he said, looking at her. He normally didn’t ask to pick
her up, but he got the sense from her that she didn’t want to be
touched.

She nodded and he cradled her in his arms,
then blurred toward the south beach where the boat was waiting.

Chevalier carried her onto the boat where
Kyle was waiting, “Any reason we can’t leave right away?”

“
None at all,” Kyle said,
eyeing Emily carefully.

He set her down and motioned for the captain
to set off.

“
I need a shower,” she
said, looking around.

“
Yes you do,” Chevalier
chuckled, and led her down the stairs to a room with a
bathroom.

Emily stepped into the bathroom and got the
water as hot as she could. She stripped off the dirty and torn
white shirt and stepped into the shower. She spent extra time
making sure none of the nectar was on her, and then stepped out and
wrapped in a towel. She peeked out into the bedroom and saw
Chevalier.

“
I don’t have any clothes,”
she said, embarrassed.

“
Oh right,” he replied,
then took off his shirt and threw it to her.

Emily came out a short time later. Her hair
had taken a while to brush the knots out of, but it was finally
smoothed into a long braid. Chevalier’s shirt fit down to her knees
and she rolled the sleeves up to her wrists.

“
Feel better?” he
asked.

Emily nodded, “Allen’s turn.”

“
He’s clean already. The
smell was stinking up the ship, so Kralen bathed him.” He watched
her carefully.

Emily sat down on the bed and pulled the
covers up. She was still cold.

“
What happened?” Chevalier
asked, and moved closer to her.

“
I can’t… I can’t talk
about it.” She was avoiding his eyes.

“
I will find out,” he said,
and she nodded. “Who tore your shirt?”

Emily shrugged, she wasn’t sure how he found
out about that. Chevalier pulled her bikini top from his pocket and
held it out to her. She took it and put it on the bedside
table.

“
It would help if you told
me,” he said, touching her cheek softly.

“
I can’t,” she
whispered.

“
I’m starting to form a
picture in my head,” he told her, and lightly ran his thumb along
the healing wounds on her neck.

She jerked away from him, and pulled the
collar of her shirt up to cover her neck.

“
Who was it?” he asked,
softly.

“
I can’t,” she repeated in
a whisper.

Mark knocked on the door and then stepped in
with a plate, “I tried my hand at peanut butter and jelly.”

“
Give it to Allen,” she
told him.

“
He already has one… this
is yours.”

Emily took the plate from him and began to
eat quickly. The simple sandwich was perfect and she finished
it.

Mark took the plate, “Do you want another
one?”

“
No, thank you.”

Mark went to leave, but Chevalier shut the
door before he could.

“
Have a seat, Mark,”
Chevalier said, pointing to a chair.

Mark sat down nervously, “Yes, Sir?”

“
Spill it,” Chevalier said,
sitting in a chair across from Mark.

“
What is it you want to
know?”

“
What happened to Emily.
Why her clothes were torn. Why there are bite marks on her
neck.”

“
I don’t know for sure,
Sir,” Mark said, and looked at Emily.

“
Then tell me what you do
know.”

Mark sighed, “Sir, it’s not my place…”

Chevalier hissed at him, “I’m ordering you
to tell me what you do know.”

Mark looked at Emily nervously.

“
Don’t, Chev,” she said,
hoping he would let Mark off the hook.

He hissed, “Tell me.”

“
I don’t want him to tell
you,” she said, slipping out of bed to stand by Mark.

“
Then you tell me.” He
looked up at her.

She shook her head, “Please don’t, not
now.”

“
If the Lady doesn’t want
me to say anything, then I won’t. You can kill me if you wish,”
Mark said, softly.

“
Get out,” Chevalier
ordered, angrily.

Mark blurred out of the room, and the door
slammed behind him.

Emily climbed back into bed. The food and
the hot shower made it hard to stay awake. She curled up on her
side, ignoring the way Chevalier was sulking in the chair. Soon,
she was fast asleep.

The heku were after her. She held onto Allen
tightly and ran through the forest. She could hear them getting
closer. Allen kept sliding further and further out of her arms
until he was gone. She stopped running and searched through the
tall grass for him.

She stopped when she saw Kyle waiting for
her. He was sitting on a blanket, motioning for her to come to
him.

“
No, Kyle,” she said, and
turned, still looking for Allen. She finally found him in the hands
of Kralen. The heku’s teeth were sunk into Allen’s soft
flesh.

She ran as Kyle tried to grab her. She knew
he didn’t just want to quench his thirst, and her legs felt like
molasses as she ran toward the beach.

“
Emily,” she heard the soft
voice and jerked awake. She sat up quickly and looked around the
strange room.

“
You were having a
nightmare,” Chevalier said, holding her against him.

She laid her head against his chest and held
onto his arms. Her body tensed when someone knocked softly on the
door.

“
Who is it?” Chevalier
asked.

“
It’s Kyle.”

Emily wanted to ask Chevalier not to let him
into the room. She wanted him far away from her.

“
Come in,” he said, and
watched Kyle enter.

Kyle looked at Emily and then back to his
Elder, “I came to confess. You don’t have to threaten the
guards.”

“
You came to confess?”
Chevalier asked, curiously.

“
Yes,” Kyle stood in the
corner of the room with his hands grasped in front of
him.

“
I’m not going to let you
cover up for someone else’s mistakes,” Chevalier told
him.

Emily looked at the bedspread, “He’s
not.”