Encala (23 page)

“
You are relieved. There
are two of us in here now,” he said, just as someone blurred out of
the room.

“
I’ve always wondered what
that tastes like. It smells bad,” Kyle said, looking over at her
glass.

“
Have at it. I’m sure she
won’t mind,” Chevalier chuckled.

“
No thanks, I’m
full.”

“
I had to feed three times
before I got that taste out of my mouth.”

Kyle just grinned and nodded, “I bet.”

Emily slept through the night. She began to
wake up as the medicine wore off and then sat up and looked around
the room.

“
Good morning,” Kyle said,
smiling at her, with his hand still tightly grasp around her
I.V.

“
Where’s Allen?” she asked,
her head still slightly foggy.

“
Sam has him at breakfast.”
Chevalier took her hand.

Emily jerked her hand away as her eyes fell
on the I.V. and she pulled at Kyle’s fingers, “Let go.”

“
Not this time, doctor’s
orders,” Kyle said, watching her.

“
Em, how’s your headache?”
Chevalier asked, trying to distract her.

“
Let go or I’ll ash you,”
she said angrily.

“
Emily!” Chevalier yelled,
surprised.

Kyle just grinned, “Ash me if you want, but
I’m not letting go.”

Chevalier put his hand under Emily’s chin,
and moved her face toward him, “Calm down.”

“
Get it out,” her eyes were
furious.

“
It’s an I.V., that’s all.
You need fluid.”

“
Now”

“
No”

Emily laid back down against the bed and
stared at the ceiling.

Kyle looked at Chevalier, and he
shrugged.

She sat up suddenly, and swung her legs out
of bed, then stood up on shaky legs.

“
Emily, lay down,” Kyle
said, still holding her arm.

“
Bathroom,” she said, and
began to walk quickly toward the bathroom. Kyle grabbed the I.V.
bag and went with her. Halfway there, Emily paused and collapsed.
Kyle caught her just as she was about to hit the floor. Chevalier
was at their side in an instant.

Emily reached both hands to her chest, then
swiftly pulled out her I.V. and looked up with a glare, “There, now
I can go alone.”

Kyle sighed and set her down, then she
disappeared into the bathroom and shut the door.

“
I can’t believe she did
that,” Kyle said, wide eyed.

Chevalier chuckled, “I can.”

“
What’s with her and
needles?” Kyle asked, sitting on the chair by the
fireplace.

Chevalier shrugged, “I don’t know.”

Emily emerged a short time later, fully
dressed. Her hair was pulled back into a long French braid that
fell down her back.

“
Going somewhere?” Kyle
asked her.

“
I keep telling you, I’m
leaving.” She sat down to slip on her shoes, but paused to press
her palms to her eyes and then stood up.

“
Headaches again?”
Chevalier asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.

She nodded and leaned her head against his
chest.

“
Do you have to go right
now?”

“
I’ll be right back, ok? I
need to clear my head,” she said, pulling away and grabbing a
cracker.

“
Where are you going then?”
Kyle asked.

Emily turned to him, “To express my new
freedom.”

Kyle looked at Chevalier, and he nodded,
“We’ll wait here for you.”

She grabbed her riding gloves and walked out
of the room.

“
We can’t let her go
alone,” Kyle reminded him.

“
We have to if we want her
to stay,” Chevalier said, obviously scared about her
outing.

Emily saw the curious looks as she walked
through the castle alone. Everyone she saw was wearing the hospital
mask, and the entire castle smelled like menthol. She went into the
dining room and smiled at Allen.

“
Want to go for a ride?”
she asked him, and he nodded, hurrying to finish his
breakfast.

“
I’ll go with you,” Sam
said, standing up.

“
No, you’ll go wait in the
bedroom with the other mother hens,” she said, smiling. She always
enjoyed being able to boss him around. It was some consolation
after what he did to her.

Sam nodded and reluctantly went up to the
bedroom to wait.

“
You too, huh?” Kyle asked
when Sam walked into the room.

“
She called us mother
hens,” Sam said, sitting down with the heku to wait.

Chevalier chuckled.

Emily took Allen’s hand and walked out to
the stables. She looked around, and things looked the same. Someone
had kept up with the horses, and for that she was grateful. After
slipping a bridle on Patra, Emily led her out and hoisted herself
up, bareback. She then reached one arm down and pulled Allen up,
putting him in front of her.

“
Emily?” she heard from
behind her and turned.

“
Hi, Mark,” she said,
smiling. He didn’t have a mask on because it wasn’t needed
outside.

“
Shall I go with you?” he
asked.

“
No, wait for me in my
bedroom,” she ordered, and he sulked off as she watched
him.

Mark walked into her bedroom and frowned at
the others gathered, then heard Chevalier laugh.

Kyle sighed, “I guess you join us.”

Mark sat down hesitantly, “What’s up?”

“
She’s expressing her
freedom,” Chevalier said, still laughing.

“
By the time she’s done,
you’ll need a bigger room,” Sam mumbled, and watched the
fire.

Emily kicked Patra into a trot, and breathed
deeply of the fresh air. There was something exhilarating about
being out by herself in a city surrounded with danger, and she
smiled as she kicked the mare into a gallop through the city
streets. She soon found herself up on the green hills outside of
the city again. She stopped Patra on the ridge and looked over the
quiet city.

“
Run!” Allen said, kicking
Patra with his little feet. The mare snorted and stood
still.

“
In a sec, Allen,” Emily
said, shutting her eyes and taking in the sounds around
her.

“
Emily,” she heard the
whisper behind her, and she turned and saw a heku in the signature
red robes of the Encala.

Emily turned Patra around quickly to face
him. He had his hands up toward her in a gesture of peace.

“
One more step and I’ll ash
you,” she warned.

“
I haven’t come to hurt
you. I’ve come with an offer,” he said, lowering his
hands.

She looked at him carefully, “What
offer?”

He smiled, warmly, “I come to offer you your
dreams.”

“
I’m listening,” she said,
pulling Allen closer to her.

“
We’ve been watching you,
and we know what you want, Emily. Join the Encala, and we will give
it all to you.”

“
What exactly do I
want?”

“
Freedom of course,” he
said, still smiling.

“
Seems to me like I have
freedom.”

“
For now, but they will
take it away, will they not?”

She shrugged.

“
I have many things to
offer you. All you have to do is come with me, and live in the
Encala palace… of course… we could give you your own home, perhaps
a small farm outside of Paris? Or maybe Rome?”

Her eyes narrowed as he spoke.

“
We offer you permanent
freedom. No more being treated like a child. You are an adult, you
don’t need a babysitter. We offer you free reign of our entire
kingdom, every heku at your command. No more being restrained or
forbidden, no more tricks, or deceit.”

“
You seem to know a lot
about this,” she said, skeptically.

“
I know more than you can
imagine. You are Encala by blood. It’s your destiny to return
home,” he said, watching her.

Emily frowned, “What do you mean Encala by
blood?”

“
Lies, Emily, they have
been lying to you from the start. Your father was Encala, an Elder
actually.”

“
My dad was mortal,” she
corrected him.

“
No, he was, in fact,
Encala. Allen was your mother’s husband, but you were conceived by
means of an Encala Elder. One that became smitten with your mother…
she didn’t know it. He had the ability to erase her
mind.”

“
You’re lying,” she snapped
at him.

“
I’m not, I am telling the
truth. After you were born, he became drawn more and more to her
blood until… well sadly… he couldn’t stop. We were saddened when he
took the life of your mother and your brother, but you stopped him,
and we knew for certain that you were Encala.”

“
I don’t have a brother.
You obviously have the wrong person,” she said, still watching
him.

“
Don’t you ever wonder why
your abilities are so strong? It’s because you have the blood of
two heku running through you... the original of Lord Ulrich, and
then your father’s blood.” He stayed still and watched her, never
taking a step or moving at all.

Emily’s mind whirled. Things from her
childhood began to make sense and it infuriated her.

“
You belong with your
family. We won’t lie to you as the Equites have. It’s a shame that
even your husband lied to you about such things. Of course, bonds
are easily broken.” He smiled warmly.

“
Chevalier knows?” she
asked, mostly to herself.

The Encala nodded.

“
Come with me,” she said,
turning Patra back toward the city.

The Encala hesitated, “They will kill me the
second they see me.”

“
No, they won’t, not if I
tell them not to. If they try, I’ll ash them,” she said,
angrily.

The Encala smiled. He knew he’d gotten
through to her, “As you wish then.”

As they passed into the city, there were
shouts and gasps from the houses and stores when they saw Emily on
horseback and the Encala walking calmly at her side. By the time
they reached the palace, the city had been shut up tightly. Emily
was glad no alarm was sounded. She wanted to be able to walk
through the palace without being surrounded by guards.

She slipped off of Patra and took Allen by
the hand and held her other hand out for the Encala. He looked at
her hand, then to her eyes.

“
It’ll be easier for me to
control,” she said. He nodded and took her soft hand in
his.

Emily approached the front door guards as
they crouched low and hissed.

“
Stand back, he’s with me,”
she said, and they looked at each other, shocked.

It was easier than she thought to get
through the palace. All she had to do was threaten any Equites she
came to, and they backed down. It was obvious to her, that
Chevalier had given them orders to obey her at all costs. When she
got to her bedroom, she stepped inside and all eyes fell to
her.

“
Welcome back,” Chevalier
said. He froze and crouched when an Encala walked in casually
behind her.

“
He’s with me,” she said
angrily at the Equites who were crouched and ready to
attack.

“
Sam, take Allen,” she
said, and Allen walked over to him. Sam picked him up and hurried
from the room.

“
If you attack him, I’ll
ash you before you touch him,” she said, shutting the door behind
her.

“
Emily…” Kyle said, still
crouched, his voice turning into a hiss.

“
Stop it,” she yelled,
glaring at them.

Chevalier was the first to stand back
straight, but his eyes didn’t leave the enemy standing in his
room.

“
Are you going to explain
about your… friend?” Chevalier asked, motioning for the others to
stand down.

Emily stood in front of the Encala
protectively, and faced Chevalier, “Who is my father?”

“
Emily, I can explain,”
Chevalier said, but she held up her hand.

“
Who is my father?” she
asked again.

His shoulders fell, “I don’t know who he
was.”

“
I do, he was an Encala
Elder,” she said, growing angrier.

“
Allen was your Dad. He
raised you and loved you,” Chevalier whispered.

“
How did my mother die?”
she asked, taking a step toward him.

“
She was killed by the
heku,” Chevalier sighed. He knew this would only drive a wedge
further between them.

“
And my… my
brother?”

“
Same.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me?”
she asked, balling her hands into fists.

“
It wasn’t important. You
know who your family is.”

“
You lied to me.” Her eyes
were hurt.

“
That was in Colorado. I
had forgotten about it.” He tried to convince her. His heart ached
at the pain in her eyes, the betrayal, and he noticed the Encala
standing behind her looking calm and relaxed.

“
What else are you keeping
from me?”

“
Nothing, I honestly had
forgotten about that. Colorado was hectic, and we were just getting
to know each other.”