Encala (6 page)

“
Replace them with
something… something that looks the same,” Maleth thought out
loud.

Chevalier frowned, “I will not. I’m not
going to trick her into a baby.”

“
No, no, I didn’t really
mean that. All we can ask is for you to try.”

Once the preparations were made, the Council
adjourned for the night. Chevalier met Emily and Allen back up in
their room. There were already four guards posted by the door.

“
Sorry I’m late,” he said,
watching as Emily and Allen cuddled by the T.V.

Emily shushed him with her finger, and he
noticed that Allen was asleep in her arms.

Chevalier picked Allen up and laid him down
in his bed, kissing his forehead lightly. He came back out and shut
the door.

“
I see I got more guards,”
Emily said, sitting down on the bed.

“
Yes, the Council is
worried about the coming attacks,” he said, joining her.

“
Are you?”

“
Yes,” he said,
seriously.

“
Is that it? Four
guards?”

“
Four for you and two for
Allen.”

“
And?”

“
That’s it for now, though
they asked that you not horseback through the city anymore. The
Council would feel better if you would stay in the palace, but I’ve
told them that won’t happen.” He took her hand in his.

“
Do I get to keep training
the Cavalry?” She was worried about that.

“
Yes, it’s the safest place
for you, actually. You’ll be with at least thirteen
heku.”

“
I see, and I’m guessing
they will be touchy.”

He nodded, “We have to have them watching
carefully.”

“
I know what you’re going
to ask and yes… I will be good,” she said, smiling.

“
We understand it’s hard
for you to be under so much protection, but we can’t risk them
getting to you,” he said, and kissed her softly.

“
I’ll behave, I
promise.”

“
There’s one other thing,”
Chevalier said, hesitating.

Emily looked at him suspiciously, “What is
that?”

Chevalier rubbed the back of his neck with
his hand, “It’s something… rather personal. I told them no, but I
had to promise I’d ask.”

She frowned, “Just spill it.”

“
The Council wants us to
consider having another baby,” he said, grinning
sheepishly.

Emily laughed, “They didn’t.”

He nodded.

“
Why do they
care?”

“
The Winchester powers only
go through the female blood line.”

“
Oh I see, and when I die,
the ability to ash leaves with me,” she said,
understanding.

Chevalier nodded, surprised she was finding
this amusing.

“
So that’s what the Council
wants… what do you want?” she asked, crawling onto his lap and
facing him.

“
I want what you want,” he
said, and pressed his lips against hers.

She pulled back, “That’s a cop out. What do
you want?”

He sighed and brushed the hair off of her
shoulder, “I wouldn’t mind another.”

“
Wouldn’t mind?”

“
What do you want me to
say? Yes… I’d like to have another baby.” He grinned, knowing she’d
won that.

Emily smiled, “I’ve been thinking about it
anyway, Allen is 3 and he needs a sibling.”

Chevalier looked at her shocked, “So that’s
a yes?”

She nodded, “They do realize, though, it
could be a boy.”

“
I told them that. I can’t
believe you said yes.”

“
Why’s that?”

“
You were so adamant about
not having another.”

She shrugged, “Yeah well, things change.
Understand, though, that I wasn’t even supposed to have one baby.
It may not matter what we do, there may not be any more
Winchesters.”

“
I’m calling a day off,”
Emily said, as they gathered for cavalry training. She’d had her
cast off for a few weeks, and it was time to have some fun. They
all looked at her questioningly as she was in her black sports bra
and a pair of cut-off sweat pants that were rolled down at the top
to fit against her hips.

“
You are?” Kyle asked,
raising an eyebrow.

“
Yes, can I do
that?”

“
Sure”

“
Good… then line up,” she
said, and watched as the recruits lined up on the left and the
Cavalry lined up on the right. Kyle went and stood by
her.

“
Ok… you,” she said,
pointing to the first new recruit. “Take your shirt
off.”

He frowned slightly and then did as he was
told.

“
Ok, Mark,” she said,
turning to the second cavalry member, “Shirt off.”

Kyle looked at her, oddly, not sure what she
was up to.

Emily went through the two lines and every
other heku removed their shirt.

“
Kyle, your turn.” She
grinned.

He shook his head and took his shirt off,
“Now what?”

Emily disappeared into the tack room and
came back with a football, “Time to play.”

The gathered heku all grinned and divided up
automatically, shirts against skins.

“
I’ll be quarterback for
the shirts… obviously.” She couldn’t help but blush some, “Kyle
will be quarterback for the skins. When we aren’t playing offense,
we’ll help with defense. The end zones are already marked with my
shoes.”

The heku looked at both ends of the lawn and
saw shoes on each side. Emily pulled out a quarter and turned to
the skins team, “Call it.”

She tossed the quarter into the air as they
called heads. She caught it in her hand and looked, skins were
going first.

“
There’s just one tiny
problem,” Kyle said as they lined up.

“
What’s that?” Emily
asked.

“
We can’t tackle the
quarterback… that’s kind of cheating.” He grinned.

“
Oh right, well…” She tried
to come up with a solution, “Then tackle me, I’m tougher than I
look.”

Kyle shook his head, “The Elder would kill
us for that.”

She frowned, “He won’t even know.”

“
Ok then… don’t hit her
full force, though,” Kyle said, turning to his team, and they all
agreed.

Emily lined up behind one of her teammates
and put her hands out to him. He hiked the ball and she backed up,
looking for someone who was free. Her linemen were doing a good job
keeping the opposing team off of her, and she finally saw a guard
off to the side with his hands up. She threw the ball as hard as
she could and he caught it nimbly, then blurred to the end
zone.

“
Touchdown!” Emily shouted,
doing a victory dance.

They re-lined up on what was somewhere near
the center of the field and this time, Emily was one of the
lineman. She grinned at the shirtless guard across from her. Emily
glanced to the sidelines when she saw movement and laughed, there
was a crowd gathering.

From up on the third floor, Chevalier paced
his office, thinking. He stopped for a quick glance out the window,
and looked down to see what was going on below. He smiled and shook
his head as he saw the Cavalry and the new recruits gathered
playing football. Chevalier laughed when he saw Emily lined up
defensively against one of the larger recruits. She looked
miniscule in comparison to him.

As the ball was hiked, Emily lunged at the
new recruit and he turned just as she jumped. She slammed into his
back and wrapped her arms and legs around him. He took off down the
field as Emily struggled to make him fall. She finally hooked her
elbow around his neck and threw herself backwards. The heku fell
back and landed to the side of her.

Chevalier decided he’d worked enough for one
day, and headed down to join the growing crowd that was watching.
He arrived just as the skins team made a touchdown. The scoring
heku was high-fiving his teammate.

“
Move to the front, Elder,”
one of the heku in the crowd offered.

“
No, I’ll stay back out of
sight.” He was afraid their game would end if they knew he was
watching. They were seriously breaking the ‘no touching’ rule, but
he knew that the entire idea had to be Emily’s, and he was enjoying
watching her have fun.

Emily lined up again behind a heku and put
her hands out. As soon as the ball was hiked, one of the skins
broke away and tackled Emily. She felt herself being hit and then
somehow gently set against the ground. Chevalier started to jump
toward them, but saw that the heku who tackled her was being
extremely careful.

She stood up and got back in position.
Chevalier looked around, there had to be at least two hundred heku
gathered to watch.

“
What’s going on?” Maleth
asked, standing by Chevalier.

“
Emily has the Cavalry
playing football,” he explained.

“
Interesting.” Maleth
turned back to the game.

The heku playing center hiked the ball to
Emily and she fell back, looking for an open guard member. Her eyes
fell on a hole, and she tucked the ball under her arm and ran as
fast as she could. She heard her team surround her and knock out
the opposing team as they tried to get to her. Emily suddenly felt
her feet leave the ground as strong arms grabbed her around the
waist, and blurred her to the end zone.

The Cavalry member set her down and she
spiked the ball and did a victory dance. She high-fived the guard
that had carried her into the end zone, just as Kyle held up a
hand.

“
I don’t think that’s
legal,” he said, returning to the front line.

“
What’s not?” Emily asked,
and walked back to her position.

“
Nowhere in the rule books
does it say someone can carry the quarterback into the end zone,”
he said, laughing.

“
Nowhere in the rule books
does it say they can’t,” she said, and pushed him
playfully.

Emily lined up facing one of her guards
again, and looked him in the eyes. The skins team hiked the ball
and Emily dodged around her guard and ran for Kyle as he looked
around for someone to throw to. She dove and landed hard against
his legs, wrapping her arms around both of his ankles. He swayed
slightly and then passed the ball to a member of his team, who then
blurred into the end zone.

The shirts team had the ball again, and
Emily lined up for the hike. Once she grabbed the ball, she ran
back a few steps and then turned when she saw Kyle break free from
his opposing guard and run at her. She screamed and ran back toward
the wrong end zone and suddenly found herself flat on her stomach.
Kyle pinned her, but was holding most of his weight. He took the
ball and stood up, then helped Emily up.

The next goal was for the shirts. As Emily
handed off to a guard, he broke through numerous tackles and
blurred again into the end zone. She began to think the game wasn’t
fair, anyone who got the ball, scored.

Emily lined up again and crouched down with
one hand on the grass as she met Kyle’s eye. He winked and yelled
for the hike. Her guard broke off and tackled the heku by her,
again giving her a straight line for Kyle. This time she tucked her
head and rammed into his stomach with her shoulder. The shoulder
butt caught him off guard, and he fell backwards and she fell with
him, landing squarely on top of him.

“
Are you ok?” he asked, a
little panicked, but then she laughed and crawled off of
him.

“
Quarterback sack by the
mortal!” Emily yelled, doing her own small victory dance. The crowd
whistled and applauded and she blushed profusely.

“
I’m honestly surprised
you’re allowing this,” Leonid said. Chevalier was so engrossed in
the game, that he hadn’t noticed the Elder standing beside
him.

Chevalier just shook his head and shrugged,
“I promised her I’d give her some freedom and so far, I don’t see
anything wrong with it.” He turned back to the game.

Emily crouched down again and put her hands
out. When the ball was hiked, she backed up and looked for someone
to throw to. An opposing heku got free of his guard and ran at her.
She tried to dodge him, but she felt his hands on her waist as he
picked her up and ran her toward his end zone.

“
No!” she screamed,
laughing as he set her down.

“
Safety!” he yelled, and
ran to his cheering teammates.

“
I am pretty sure that’s
against the rules,” she said with her hands on her hips.

Kyle grinned at her, “I’m pretty sure it
isn’t. Now we’re two points ahead. One more play and back to
work.”

“
Huddle!” Emily called, and
her teammates came and put their arms around one another’s
shoulders, forming a circle with Emily in the middle.

“
They’re cheating,” she
said to them.

“
I say let’s form a V with
Emily in the middle… we’ll knock them away from you… just run as
fast as you can,” one of the recruits said.

Emily nodded, “Deal. If we get this
touchdown, we win.”

The shirts team lined up for the hike. Emily
glanced to her left, and then to her right. When everyone was on
the line, she yelled for the hike.

She dropped back a little and saw the V form
ahead of her. She ran as fast as she could, and heard her team
knocking the opposing team away from her. She pushed herself to
keep up. She knew they were holding back, but she was falling
behind. Emily jumped when she saw the end zone and slid into it.
About half of the crowd began to cheer and clap, and one of her
teammates picked her up and spun her around.