Encala (31 page)

“
What? Me? Eat that?” he
asked, narrowing his eyes.

“
Take one bite… if you can
keep it down… hmmm… I’ll announce to the Cavalry your awesomeness,”
Emily laughed.

“
And if I can’t keep it
down?”

“
I could use a pedicure,”
she said, wiggling her toes.

Kyle took one step closer to her and smelled
the spaghetti.

“
If I were you, I would
just walk away now…” Chevalier laughed.

Maleth and Leonid watched him,
curiously.

Kyle quickly took the entire bite of
spaghetti and stood up. As he chewed, his stomach turned and he
fought the urge to spit it out. He shut his eyes. The soft mushy
texture in his mouth was excruciatingly disgusting.

Chevalier watched him, amused.

“
Good right?” Emily asked,
grinning.

Kyle just thought about control as he
swallowed the mass of gooey spaghetti. It became too much, and he
ran for the bathroom.

“
Pedicure!” Emily yelled
and laughed.

“
Shall we get back to
business?” Damon asked from the bedroom door.

“
Party pooper,” Emily said
to him.

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

Kyle came back out, embarrassed, “You win,
that’s… way past disgusting.”

“
Now that the fun is over…
shall we try to get Emily back into the Encala palace?” Damon
asked, stepping into the room.

Emily walked over until she was toe-to-toe
with Damon. Chevalier stood up, ready to pull her off of him again.
She motioned for Damon to bend down to her level. He frowned and
bent down so he was looking into her eyes.

“
Yes?”

Emily looked into his eyes, and opened hers
wide, “Go jump off a cliff.”

Damon stood up and frowned, “What was
that?”

Chevalier shut his eyes and shook his
head.

“
I’m going to get that
down,” Emily said, leaving the room and heading into her own room
to change.

Damon turned to Chevalier, “What was
that?”

“
She’s trying to use the
heku mind control on you,” Chevalier said, and grinned.

“
On me? How absurd,” Damon
sounded offended.

“
You really could stop
fighting with her, you know,” Kyle said to him, sternly.

“
She needs to learn some
respect,” Damon hissed, irritated.

“
You’ll lose.”

“
A fight against her? I
doubt it.”

“
Would you two stop it?
You’re worse than Emily, Kyle,” Maleth said, annoyed.

“
When will she try again?”
Damon asked.

Chevalier watched behind Damon as Emily
stepped out of her bedroom, pulling on her riding gloves. She blew
Chevalier a kiss and headed down the stairs.

“
I’m guessing… later,”
Chevalier said.

“
Why not now?” Damon
said.

“
She has other plans,”
Chevalier said.

“
I worry about this
Council. You all let that mortal walk around like she owns the
place,” he growled.

Maleth raised an eyebrow, “Most of us don’t
have a problem with her. If you could see clearly, you would see
that she is necessary.”

“
Necessary, I understand.
She needs to be taught control and respect through punishment,” he
said, bluntly.

Chevalier stood up angrily, and Kyle held
him back as he started to jump at Damon, “You will not speak about
my wife like that!”

Damon nodded, he wasn’t in the position to
take on an Elder.

“
You will find… Chief
Enforcer… that almost every heku that has met her will fight you
over comments like that,” Leonid said, coldly.

“
I say we get her back and
try again while the ability is fresh in her mind,” Damon suggested,
changing the subject.

“
I say we let her be. She’s
out riding and will be much more pleasant if we leave her alone for
now,” Chevalier said.

Sam ran into the room quickly with Allen in
his arms, he looked terrified.

“
What’s wrong, Sam?”
Chevalier asked, taking Allen from him.

“
Tell him Allen… exactly
what you told me,” Sam said.

Chevalier looked at Allen and smiled,
“Firemen talking again?”

“
No, the bad man was
talking,” Allen said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Kyle frowned, “Bad man?”

Allen nodded.

“
What is he saying?”
Chevalier asked the toddler.

“
I don’t want to say, he’s
mad,” Allen was crying onto Chevalier’s shoulder.

“
Tell them, Child,” Sam
said, patting Allen’s back.

Allen looked up, “My daughter…” he said,
still sobbing. “You will pay for his death. A life for a life.”

“
Who is the Ancient’s
daughter?” Maleth asked, confused.

Chevalier handed Allen back to Sam and
blurred down the stairs, with Kyle close behind him. Damon shrugged
and followed them, along with Maleth and Leonid. They appeared in
the stables as Chevalier looked around. Patra was in her stall, but
the smell of blood was strong in the area.

Kyle moved stall to stall and disappeared
into one of them, gasping. Chevalier appeared at the door and
looked down at Emily. She was sitting on blood covered straw,
doubled over, and clutching her stomach. Chevalier scooped her up
and yelled for the doctor as he blurred into the castle.

***

“
I’m so sorry,” the doctor
said as he stepped out of her room. “She lost the baby.”

Chevalier sat in the hallway with his head
in his hands, “How is she?”

“
She lost a lot of blood,
but... I have her sedated. She wasn’t very far along. This could
have been worse,” the doctor said sadly, and then walked down the
stairs.

Chevalier stood up and walked slowly down
the stairs. Heku guards moved quickly out of his way as he walked
toward the prison.

Kyle sighed and went in to sit by Emily on
the bed. He took her hand and pulled another blanket over her. She
was pale and cold. The smell of medicine on her masked the
weakening pregnancy scent.

Kyle sat with her as he listened to the
sounds from the prison. Guards asked Leonid and Maleth if Chevalier
should be stopped, but they were told to leave him be. Screams
echoed off of the walls as Encala prisoners were cruelly tortured
and torn to shreds. The worst was the Encala Elder. Kyle tried to
ignore the agonizing screams as he was tortured for hours before
Chevalier finally lost control and tore him apart.

Sam whisked Allen by the bed quickly when he
went to lay Allen down for the night. Kyle watched them, silently,
still holding her cold hand. As the night passed into morning,
Emily began to stir and mumble in her sleep. Kyle whispered a
message to Chevalier that she was waking up.

Chevalier appeared in the doorway. His
clothes torn, and covered in blood. He hissed when he saw Kyle
holding her hand.

“
Don’t let her see you like
that,” Kyle whispered, ignoring the threat.

Chevalier disappeared and returned twenty
minutes later, showered and clean. Kyle stood up and blurred from
the room, shutting the door behind him. He yelled at the guards as
one of them headed into the room.

“
My orders were that she’s
not to be alone with a single heku,” the guard said to
Kyle.

“
I’m giving you new orders,
leave them alone,” Kyle snapped at him.

“
The order came from the
Elders, step down,” the guard said.

“
You’ll have to kill me to
get in that room,” Kyle said, angrily.

Emily opened her eyes when she heard the
shouting and then looked at Chevalier. He sat down beside her and
took her hand.

“
I’m sorry,” she
whispered.

Chevalier shook his head, “It wasn’t your
fault. We’ll get him, I promise you.”

Emily sat up, grasping her stomach and
winced. Chevalier put an arm around her to help her up. She took
the orange juice from beside the bed and drank some. When she tried
to stand up, he stopped her.

“
I just need a shower,” she
said, and he let her up, “alone.”

He nodded and left the room so she could
have some privacy. The shower served a dual purpose, not only did
she still smell like blood, but she was testing to see if she was
strong enough. She had a plan that was already set in motion.

Emily slipped on a t-shirt and jeans,
ignoring the pain the movement caused. Her shoes were the hardest,
but she bit her lip and emerged from the room fully dressed. The
fifteen gathered heku looked at her when she stepped out.

“
Are you going somewhere?”
one of them asked her, and she nodded.

“
Emily, you can’t leave,”
Chevalier said, taking her hand and trying to lead her back into
the room.

“
I can… I need to go to the
store,” she said, and slipped her purse over her
shoulder.

“
Anything you need we can
get you,” he said, frustrated when he saw her set her
jaw.

“
I’m going,” she
said.

“
Doctor?” Chevalier called,
and he blurred to them.

The doctor looked shocked when he saw Emily
about to leave, “You can’t go, you aren’t well.”

“
I am too,” she said,
irritated, and started down the stairs.

“
I’ll go with you then,”
Chevalier told her.

Emily turned to him, “Stay here, make plans
for an Encala attack,” she said to him with an icy chill. He looked
closely at her. Her words seemed to have an underlying meaning, but
he couldn’t quite place it.

“
You… and you…” she said,
pointing to two strange heku guards, “You’re coming with
me.”

The two guards got an approving nod from
Chevalier, and followed her out to the Durango in the garage. Emily
climbed in, again ignoring the pain and drove out of the city.

“
Give me your cell phones,”
she said, holding her hand out. The guards frowned, but handed her
the two phones. She rolled down the window and threw them out when
they crossed a bridge. The guards eyes grew wide as they saw them
splash into the water.

Emily got onto I-80 and passed the city.

“
Where exactly are we going
shopping?” one of them asked when the last exit passed by
them.

“
How fast can you run?” she
asked, ignoring his question.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Is that a hard question?
How fast can you run?” she snapped.

“
I don’t know… thirty miles
an hour or so. A lot faster for short distances,” one of them said,
looking at her nervously.

Emily stepped harder on the gas and sped
toward the west. She ignored all of the questions the guards threw
at her. She drove through the day, pulling over to the side of the
road just as the sun set over the horizon.

“
Give me your wallets,” she
said, holding out her hand.

“
Why?” one of them
asked.

“
Do it,” she snapped, and
they both handed over the only money they had.

“
Now get out,” she said,
watching them.

“
No,” they both told
her.

Emily turned to the one closest to the door
and let go one small piece of her abilities. He screamed and
grabbed his chest, and then scrambled to get out of the Durango.
The other followed him. When Emily spun out back onto the
Interstate, the door shut hard with the momentum.

“
He’s going to kill us,”
one of the guards said, watching her go.

“
Yes he is,” the other
agreed, and began the long run back to Council City.

Emily drove through the night and then left
the Interstate and pulled onto a dirt road and stopped. She slipped
out of the Durango and walked a ways off into the desert.

“
I’m here, come and get
me,” she hissed into the wind. Only a few minutes passed before
someone placed a blindfold over her eyes and secured her hands
behind her back. She was put into a vehicle and could feel as it
sped off.

“
You swear the blindfold
will keep us safe?” one of the Encala asked.

“
Yes, the Elder told us
that if she can’t see you… she can’t turn you to ash,” a weak voice
said to him.

They drove in silence. Emily wasn’t sure for
how long, because of the blindfold, but she was relieved to be out
of the car when they finally stopped. A rough hand took her arm and
led her into a building. She heard hisses and hushed whispering as
she passed.

“
Where does he want her?” a
cold voice said.

“
Put her in a cell until we
are ready. Keep her eyes and hands bound,” someone
hissed.

Emily was thrown into a cold cell, and she
felt around with her foot until she found a bed, then sat down to
wait.

***

“
I’m sure she’s fine. She
has two guards with her. She probably needs to be alone,” Chevalier
said, as the night drew on with no word from Emily.

Kyle nodded but continued to pace, “I hope
so.”

Sam brought Allen in for bed.

“
Good night” Chevalier
said, picking him up in a hug.

“
No, it’s not,” Allen
mumbled, his bottom lip pushed out.

Chevalier smiled, “What’s wrong?”