Encala (16 page)

“
So you are in on it. Who
do you report to?” Damon asked, and purposely bumped his limp
arm.

“
Stop, stop, I’ll tell you
everything.” Tim said, groaning.

“
Start talking, Boy,”
Maleth hissed.

“
They have a mind
controller… but they needed to know who she was closest too. I was
to tell them when she left, so then they could pick her up,” Tim
said, watching the floor and speaking through sobs.

“
Did you do it? Did you
tell them when she left?” Damon asked.

Tim nodded, “I had to, or they would kill
me.”

“
Who did you
tell?”

“
The Encala
Elders.”

Damon blurred behind Tim and wrenched his
neck to the side, easily killing him. Tim’s body fell to the floor
of the conference room.

“
Call the Encala Elders
here, tonight,” Chevalier said, slamming his chair against the wall
as he stood. “Kyle, call Alec, see if Emily is there.”

“
She won’t go back there.
She knows we would check,” Kyle said, deep in thought.

“
Then where else can she
be?” he asked.

“
You gave her the money to
buy a ranch, maybe she has it already,” Kyle suggested.

“
No, I put more money in
there last week and the full amount was there. It takes time to buy
a ranch.” Chevalier narrowed his eyes, “Let me see how much is in
there now.”

“
You promised her…” Kyle
said, and then stopped.

Chevalier dialed a number and after a few
minutes hung up, “The full amount is there, so she’s not at a hotel
unless she has money elsewhere.”

***

“
Sam,” Emily called from
the bathroom floor.

“
Yes, Emily?” he asked,
opening it slowly.

“
Here’s your damn test,”
she told him, throwing the blue plastic stick to him. He caught it
and looked at it for a few seconds.

“
I’m sorry,” he said, and
tossed it into the trash.

“
I don’t need this right
now. I don’t need to be pregnant while I try to set up a new life,”
she told him, slipping down the wall onto the floor.

“
I know,” he whispered, and
watched her. He sighed when the phone in his pocket rang. For the
past few weeks they had been in Kyle’s house, it had gone off
several times a day

“
Let me have it,” Emily
said, reaching her hand out. She hadn’t spoken to anyone from the
palace since Chevalier’s first call, so she thought she’d give Sam
a break. He handed the phone to her.

“
What?”

“
Emily?” Chevalier asked,
surprised.

“
Who were you
expecting?”

“
You sound like something’s
wrong, tell me,” he said, concerned.

“
Why did you
call?”

“
You have to listen to me,
Em. We were being controlled by the Encala. We didn’t hurt you, I
swear. Kyle is out of jail too, that wasn’t him,” he spoke as fast
as he could, before she could hang up.

“
Nice try, don’t you get
it? I’m tired of it… the attacks, the bites, being watched, and
chastised like a child when I need to get away,” she
explained.

“
I know, but we can work it
out.”

“
It’s too late. Do you know
how many times I’ve been hit since I left? None… and how many times
someone’s bitten me since I left? None.”

“
Please, Emily, I love
you.”

She squeezed her eyes together, “I know,”
she said, her voice cracking, “But it’s over. I can’t do it
anymore.”

“
We can change,” he said,
desperately. She clicked the phone shut and leaned her head back.
Sam left quietly and went out to the living room to play with
Allen.

Emily came out a short time later with
crackers. She handed one to Allen, and then sat down on the couch
to eat the other one.

“
We could get rid of it,”
Sam said, watching her.

“
What?” she asked, looking
at him.

“
The baby.”

She sighed, “I can’t do that.”

“
I figured.” He then turned
into a cat and pawed at Allen playfully.

***

“
We don’t know what you’re
talking about and are offended by the idea of it,” the Encala Elder
said. They sent only one Elder and three of his guards.

“
We already know you did
it. Your weak mortal pawn told us that. What we need to know is
how,” Damon said, looking down at him.

“
I won’t stand here and be
insulted.” The Encala Elder turned for the door.

“
You do realize you aren’t
leaving here until we get what we want,” Damon said, as the room
filled with the Cavalry.

He spun toward the Council, “You can’t hold
me here.”

“
We can. You broke all
rules when you controlled us to gain access to the Winchester,”
Maleth told him angrily.

“
Oh? Is she gone then?” the
Encala Elder smiled.

“
No, we stopped her, but we
know what your plans were,” Damon told him.

“
She’s not here.” He
grinned, “We are watching her closely.”

“
That’s a lie,” Chevalier
said. “If you know where she is, you would have her already. You
wouldn’t stand by and watch her.”

“
Believe what you want,” he
said. The Encala turned to leave, but was stopped by the strong
hands of the Cavalry.

“
Let us know when you are
ready to talk,” Damon said, and nodded. The Cavalry roughly forced
the Encala out of the room and into prison cells.

“
After the interrogation
room, flood light into their cell. I don’t want them seeing
darkness,” Chevalier ordered, and then stood up and left the room.
He hadn’t been back to their bedroom yet, and he hesitated outside
of the door.

As he walked in, he noticed how quiet and
cold the room seemed. Emily’s things were scattered around the
room, her suitcase, half packed, was still sitting on the bed. He
picked up her sweater and held it in his hands, feeling the
softness of it and he could pick up a trace of her scent.

Sitting on the bed, Chevalier reached out
for her and again felt nothing. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t tell
how she felt, but the silence was foreign to him and he
growled.

***

“
Emily, I brought you some
breakfast,” Sam said, walking into the dark room.

“
I’m not hungry,” she said
from under the covers.

“
You haven’t gotten out of
bed in four days. You can’t hide.”

“
Just leave,” she said, and
sighed when the phone rang again.

“
Sam here,” he said,
answering.

“
Emily,” He turned to her,
“It’s Kyle.”

A hand shot out from under the covers and he
handed her the phone, “When will you stop calling us?”

“
Emily, are you
ok?”

“
Yes”

“
You sound
sick.”

“
Thanks”

Kyle paused, “Chevalier is telling the
truth. Remember when I told you in the prison that I couldn’t
remember the island? It also happened to him and Maleth.”

“
Even if I believed you, it
wouldn’t matter. I can’t live with the heku anymore. I can’t be
trapped, and watched, and monitored.”

“
We’ve talked about that,
and it will be different, I promise.”

“
You say that now, but the
next time I’m attacked, it will all come back. Don’t you realize
how much easier life at the palace will be without me?”

“
I know how boring it will
be.”

“
Good-bye, Kyle,” she said,
and hung up the phone. She felt guilty. She was in his house, using
his money, and couldn’t even tell him where she was.

“
Emily, I’m going into town
for some supplies. Do you need anything?” Sam asked.

“
Yes, I need some shoes. I
still don’t have any… and some clothes. I can’t keep wearing Kyle’s
shirts around,” she said, sitting up, “We need to start looking for
a ranch.”

Sam smiled, he was glad to see her out of
bed, “I’ll take Allen. He’s getting cabin fever.”

She nodded and headed in to take a long, hot
shower. When she got out of the bathroom, she saw new jeans and
t-shirts on the bed. She slipped into them and went downstairs,
where Sam was looking through the paper.

“
Find anything?” she asked,
sitting down with a glass of 7-up.

“
There’s some ranch
property in Montana,” he said, looking up.

She shook her head, “I don’t want memories,
no Montana, no Maine, and no Colorado.”

Sam frowned, “Morning sickness still
bad?”

“
Yeah, I guess, same as
last time. What about Texas?”

He thumbed through the newspaper, “Wow,
there’s a lot of property for sale in Texas. What’s our price
range?”

“
I don’t really know. I can
call and find out,” she said, grabbing the envelope from the table
and pulling out a bank card. She called the number, entered more
numbers, and gasped. She hung up the phone and disappeared into the
bedroom.

“
Mommy’s crying,” Allen
said, looking at Sam.

“
Come on, let’s go look
through those toys we got.” Sam took Allen’s hand.

***

Chevalier stood outside the strange ranch
house and looked around. The house was quiet, and there was a black
Dodge pick-up outside by the garage. He heard hoof beats as someone
rode toward him. He turned and watched the boy on the horse. He was
a teenager with black hair and green eyes.

“
Who’re you?” he asked,
stopping his horse at Chevalier.

“
Are you
Allen?”

“
Yeah.” The boy looked at
him curiously.

“
I’m looking for your
mother,” he said, studying the teenage features of his son. It had
been 12 years since he’d seen him. For twelve years he held his
promise and stayed away from them.

“
She’s up in south pasture
with Aaron.”

“
Who is Aaron?” Chevalier
felt a pang of jealousy. He worried that she had found someone else
and just hoped that he was good to her.

“
My little brother,” the
boy said, looking over his shoulder. “Here comes Mom.”

Chevalier looked at the horses coming closer
and his heart pounded in his chest. Emily hadn’t changed at all.
Her red hair spilled out from the cowboy hat and she was smiling at
the boy next to her on the painted stallion. He was talking to her
and smiling. Black hair peeked out from under his Stetson.

Emily stopped her horse as soon as she saw
Chevalier.

“
Get inside,” she told the
boys.

Aaron and Allen both slipped off of their
horses and tied them to a post, and then went inside, keeping a
close eye on the strange man.

“
What do you want?” she
asked Chevalier, sliding off of her horse.

“
Is Aaron mine?” he asked.
Her piercing green eyes bored deep into his soul.

“
Nothing on this ranch is
yours,” she said.

Both turned to the house as Allen came out
with a shotgun. He handed it to Emily, and then stood by her with
his arms crossed. Chevalier was amazed how much he looked like her,
how he stood like her, and the way he held his jaw.

“
It’s nice to see you are
taking care of your Mom,” Chevalier said, smiling.

Allen’s eyes narrowed, “Want me to call the
Sheriff?”

“
No, go back inside,” she
said, and cocked the shotgun when Allen obeyed.

“
Are you going to shoot
me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“
I don’t have to kill you.
I just have to slow you down enough that I can get away,” she
quoted something Kyle said to her long ago.

Chevalier nodded, “I just wanted to see that
you’re ok.”

“
We’re fine.”

She slipped off her leather gloves and laid
them down on the horse’s saddle. Chevalier caught a glimpse of the
essence ring as she pushed her hands into her pockets. He knew
Aaron had to be his. She hadn’t found anyone else.

“
Elder?” he heard someone
calling him, and it broke him out of his trance. He frowned. He
never slept or dreamed, but imagined that was what a dream would be
like and wondered if the dream was Emily’s.

“
Yes?” he asked
Mark.

“
The Encala Elder is
requesting a conference with you.”

“
Very well, I’ll go to his
cell,” Chevalier said, standing up. The dream had shaken him. He
couldn’t imagine going twelve years without seeing Emily or Allen.
He pulled himself out of the thought and squared his shoulders
toward the Encala Elder.

“
You called for me?” he
asked, leaning back against the wall.

“
This is torture! I demand
you destroy that interrogation chamber immediately,” the Elder
scowled at him.

“
No”

“
The Encala won’t stand for
this.”

“
Emily keeps them at bay.
They are afraid to come and get you,” he said, coldly.

“
They know she’s gone, I
told you that. They will come.”