Encala (33 page)

She finally fell back against the velvet
wall when her strength gave way, but a new found anger hit her. The
anger that she was being forced to leave Allen without a mother,
and she drew more emotions from it and continued her assault on the
Encala.

The sounds all stopped. Her rapid breathing
was all that she could hear. There were no more shouts, no more
pleadings, and the silence was eerie. Emily fought against the
binds on her wrists, but was unable to free them. She ran her head
along her arms and pushed the blindfold off of her eyes. She looked
around the room, and felt an enormous sense of relief. All she
could see were the ashen remains of the Encala. The Elder’s chairs
were empty except for the swirls of ash. She scanned the rest of
the room and nothing moved, nothing made a sound.

Emily felt the pounding in her head as she
waited for more Encala to come. She would wait for death. The world
was still spinning and the blood continued to drip down her lips.
An alarm sounded from far away and she knew the deaths had been
discovered. They would come for her now. She was ready for death.
The pain in her head was growing worse and her injured shoulder
sent painful stabs down her back and arm.

She suddenly looked up at her hands. The
pain was causing her to sweat and the binds were slipping. She
pulled and wiggled her wrists and was finally able to free them.
She fell against an Elder’s chair and got to her knees. She quickly
looked through the piles of clothes, and found a small bag. She
scooped up the ashes on the chair of the Ancient, and then took
small amounts off each of the Council’s chairs. She then attached
the bag firmly to her wrist.

Emily got unsteadily to her feet and walked
out of the great hall. Her bare feet were covered in the ash of the
Encala. She used the wall for support as she scanned the long
hallways of the Encala’s palace. The entire palace was quiet. The
only thing she could hear was the far away siren. Her hands ran
along the blood-red walls as she walked along the corridors. Her
bare footsteps seemed noisy in the silence.

A door slammed off to her right, and she
heard heavy footsteps fill the palace.

“
Find her,” she heard a
strange heku order, and she turned toward the sound. She wasn’t
going down without a fight.

Emily put her hand against the wall to
steady herself. The pounding in her head became stronger and she
shut her eyes for a second, trying to regain the control. She wiped
the blood off of her lips with a curtain, but a steady stream
continued to flow. She felt a tickle in her ear and found blood
forming. She knew this was it. The attacks on the Encala were going
to kill her.

“
Looking for me?” she
yelled, and the sound of her voice echoed off of the walls. She
heard the footsteps stop.

“
I killed your Elders… I
killed your Ancient,” she screamed, ignoring how it made her head
spin.

“
I did it in the name of
the Equites… if you don’t like that, then I dare you to come and
get me,” she roared, and smiled when the footsteps came
closer.

She braced herself for one last fight. She
felt the anger in her again as she thought of her home at the
palace. She saw the shadows of the approaching heku and readied
herself to fight them. She knew it would be the last time, they
would kill her.

Emily gasped when she saw the green capes of
the Equites. She frowned, her mind whirling with confusion as a
hazy cloud covered her thoughts. She watched as over fifty heku in
green stopped and stared at her, their eyes wide. She saw someone
pushing toward the front, and took a step back when Chevalier and
Kyle appeared from the gathered crowd. Her mind tried to grasp why
they joined the Encala.

Chevalier had heard her yell, and
immediately changed course to find her. As he pushed through the
guards, he froze and looked at her. Emily was leaning against the
wall. She was pale and her eyes were dazed. There was blood
dripping down the side of her neck and from her nose. She looked up
at Chevalier, and the whites of her eyes had turned scarlet.

Kyle held out his hand to hold back the
guards.

“
Don’t move,” he whispered.
“She’s confused. We don’t need her turning us to ash,
too.”

“
Emily,” Chevalier said
softly, not moving toward her.

“
Are you here to kill me?”
she asked, her words slurred.

Chevalier shook his head, “No, Emily, we’re
here to help.”

“
Why then… why would you
join the Encala?”

“
We’re still Equites. We
came to get you,” he explained.

“
But I killed your
Elders.”

“
She’s not making sense,”
Kyle whispered.

“
Too much killing,”
Chevalier sighed softly.

“
Emily, listen to me. We’re
here to take you back to the palace, to Allen,” Chevalier tried
again.

“
This is mine!” she
growled, holding the small draw-string bag in her hands.

“
We won’t take it from
you,” Kyle said.

Emily turned and stumbled away from them.
She knew she had to get away. She couldn’t clear her mind enough to
ash any more. They were going to kill her, but she had to at least
try to run. How could Chevalier and Kyle join the Encala? She was
mad at them for it. Mad that they would bring Allen here to live
after she died. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned.

“
Emily, we’re not going to
hurt you,” Chevalier said, and he put a hand against her back to
steady her.

“
How could you? How could
you join the Encala after what they did?” she asked, as a bloody
tear spilled from her red eyes.

“
Emily, we’re Equites,” he
said, and wiped the tear off of her cheek.

“
I’m an Equites,” she
whispered, looking toward the other heku gathered.

“
I know.”

“
So we’re enemies now,” she
mumbled, her words still slurred.

He reached down to pick her up, but she
jerked backwards against the wall.

“
I won’t marry Vaughn, just
so you can lay a claim to me,” she hissed.

“
You don’t have to,” he
said softly, trying to catch her eyes and lock her gaze.

“
You can kill me if you
want… but I’m dead anyway… I die an Equites,” she whispered, and
ran her fingers through the blood coming out of her ear.

“
We have to get out of
here,” Kyle whispered, too softly for Emily to hear.

“
Come on Emily,” Chevalier
said, walking backward down the hallway. “Come on… follow
me.”

She frowned and took an uneven step toward
him, “You’re a traitor.”

“
I know, now come,” he
said, sternly.

“
You’re all traitors,” she
yelled, scanning her bloody eyes across the green cloaked
heku.

“
Keep coming, come on,”
Chevalier said, holding his hand out toward her.

Emily pressed her hands against the sides of
her head, “I can’t think.”

“
She’s pretty bad off. Do
you think she can still ash us?” Kyle whispered softly.

“
I don’t know,” Chevalier
said, watching as Emily walked slowly toward him, leaning against
the velvet walls of the Encala palace.

As they stepped out into the sunlight, Emily
saw the large helicopters sitting on the lush green lawn. She felt
the cool grass on her feet and looked down to see bloody ash caked
on them. She looked up at the heku again and wiped the last of the
blood from under her nose. She saw the heku begin to pile into the
massive helicopters and wondered how they could leave the ground
with that much weight.

“
Keep coming, you’re almost
there,” Chevalier said when she stopped moving.

He stepped up into the helicopter and
reached down for Emily, “Give me your hands.”

Emily looked up at his hands and took them.
She felt her feet leave the ground and reached her foot up to step
into the helicopter as Kyle grabbed her around the waist to help
her. Her exposed leg faced Chevalier, and he looked at her outer
thigh and glared, then pulled her the rest of the way inside.

Emily sat in the chair and looked around,
confused. She couldn’t remember where she was. The cloud on her
mind was stopping her from remembering. She felt hands buckle her
in, and she fought against the restraint.

“
Leave her, she’s too weak
to get out,” Chevalier said, as one of the heku guards tried to
take her hands.

“
Get us out of here,” Kyle
ordered, and the helicopters took off up above the Encala
city.

Emily eventually leaned her head back
against the seat and shut her eyes. She was suddenly feeling
extremely tired.

During the ride back to Council City,
Chevalier was able to study her. Other than the blood he noticed
before, she looked ok. His eyes were continually drawn to the signs
the Encala had put on her to ensure their claim.

“
Did you see her right
thigh?” Kyle asked.

Chevalier nodded, “I did. It’s not enflamed.
I think it might be ink.”

“
They had enough time for a
tattoo,” Kyle said, making sure not to look at her for too
long.

“
We’ll find out later,”
Chevalier growled.

“
How is Damon taking being
called a traitor?”

“
He’ll get over it,”
Chevalier said, he couldn’t help but smile. “I think her loyalty
impressed him.”

Kyle just nodded and watched as the
helicopters parted. Most landed on the outskirts of the city, while
theirs circled the palace and landed on the helipad.

The helicopter engines fell silent, and
everyone looked at Emily as she slept.

“
Is it safe to pick her
up?” Kyle asked, raising his eyebrows.

Chevalier shrugged, “I have no idea… if she
ashes me… just… revive me quickly.”

As Chevalier’s hands touched Emily, her eyes
jerked open, and she grabbed the bag on her wrist.

“
This is mine,” she yelled,
and then glared at him.

He continued to pick her up, and jumped out
of the helicopter, landing softly on the roof of the palace.

The doctor was waiting by Emily’s bed when
Chevalier stepped into the room. He watched, concerned, as Emily
was laid gently on the bed. She was gripping the covers tightly and
panting. Her red eyes were watching everyone around her.

The doctor reached down to take her pulse,
and barely brushed against the leather bag. Emily grabbed it and
sat up, “This is mine.”

The doctor nodded, “I won’t take it from
you.”

He looked curiously at Chevalier.

“
She’s not making sense,”
he whispered, too softly for Emily to hear. “She’s confused, almost
in a daze. The original Winchester died by killing too many heku at
one time and Emily has her record beat,”

The doctor nodded and whispered back, “This
will be easier if we can sedate her.”

Maleth and Leonid walked in and ordered all
of the extra heku out of the room. They looked at Emily and forced
a smile.

“
How are you, Emily?”
Leonid asked her.

“
I won’t join you. I’m an
Equites,” she hissed at him. “How could you join the
Encala?”

The doctor was quickly preparing a strong
injection.

Leonid frowned.

“
I don’t care what you say.
I won’t marry Vaughn,” she said, trying to get up, but Chevalier
held her down.

Emily screamed when she felt the pinch of
the needle, but jerked away too slowly. The doctor was able to
administer the full amount.

“
How could you?” she asked.
Her words were soft and garbled.

As soon as she was sedated, Chevalier pulled
her skirt away from her thigh and bent down to look at the runes.
The other Elders hissed when they saw it and grew furious.

“
My God,” the doctor said,
taking a step back.

“
I think it’s ink. I don’t
think they were able to tattoo it yet,” Chevalier said. He brushed
it with his finger, but it didn’t come off.

“
It may have to wear off
over time,” Kyle said, bending down to look.

“
Arm bands, too,” Maleth
said, touching the coiled serpent around Emily’s upper
arms.

Chevalier nodded, “That’s easy enough to get
rid of.”

He reached over and slipped the leather
pouch off of her wrist and opened it, “It’s full of ashes.”

Kyle frowned, “That’s it? Ashes?”

Chevalier nodded, “It’s important to her.
I’m guessing it’s the Ancient.”

The doctor stood up after he examined her,
“There’s no physical damage. No one knows enough about the
Winchester powers to know what affect this will have on her in the
long-term.”

Chevalier sighed, “So we wait, see if she
dies?”

The doctor nodded, “I’m sorry, that’s all I
can say. We can’t take her to the hospital.”

“
I know,” Chevalier said,
taking her hand. “Ulrich’s first daughter, Elizabeth, died by
killing a few hundred heku. There had to have been close to a
thousand in that one room, then the servants and
guards.”

Kyle nodded, “The entire palace was turned
to ash.”

“
The reports have come
down. Emily also wiped out over half of the city,” Maleth said,
softly.

“
Leave us. I have to get
her out of these clothes, they disgust me,” Chevalier said, picking
her up. He cradled her limp body in his arms and carried her into
the bathroom.