Encala (38 page)

Chevalier followed him back into the holding
cells. The officer left as Chevalier looked into the cell. Emily
was in a cell alone, and the three heku were in one together.

“
This is becoming too
common, Emily,” Chevalier said, looking at her.

She stood up, not quite sure what to
say.

“
Should we just start
reserving a cell for you?”

“
Where’s Kyle?” she asked,
sitting on the hard bed.

“
Whose blood is on your
shirt?” he asked.

Emily shrugged, “I don’t know. It’s not mine
though… I called for Kyle.”

“
He’s getting your Durango
from the bar. A fight, seriously?” Chevalier asked into the cell
with the guards.

They were standing at attention and Silas
finally spoke, “Sorry, Sir. It was… unavoidable.”

“
We’ll see about that… come
on, let’s get out of here,” Chevalier said. He growled when he
smelled alcohol on all four of them.

“
In the front,” Chevalier
hissed, when Emily tried to crawl into the backseat with the
guards. She swallowed hard and moved to the front seat.

Chevalier put the Humvee into drive and
drove out toward the palace.

It was quiet for a few, tense moments.

“
There better be a good
explanation,” Chevalier said.

“
There is, Sir,” Frank
said. “We were just having some fun and…”

“
Drinking,” he
snapped.

Frank sighed, “Yes, drinking. This mortal
came and wanted to dance with Emily, and she said no, but he
grabbed her hand.”

Chevalier’s hands tightened on the steering
wheel. Emily sat, quiet and still, and watched out the window.

“
She pulled it back and the
guy left, we thought it was over,” Frank continued. “Then when she
was coming back from the ladies room, he pinned her against the
wall. We had to do something about that.”

“
How did you end up in jail
then?” he asked, glancing at her.

She sighed, “It was five on three, and it
didn’t seem fair so… well...”

“
So she jumped on the back
of the guy hitting me from behind,” Silas said, trying not to
grin.

“
Emily…” Chevalier
growled.

“
How fair is that? Five on
three, and that guy was just hitting Silas while he was fighting
with another guy,” Emily said, frowning.

“
Five on three is not a
fair fight, you are right,” Chevalier said. “Three heku guards
should be able to take out close to thirty mortals at
once.”

“
We didn’t know she joined
in, honest, until the bouncer pulled her off of the guy’s back,”
Nelson said.

“
Well I saw the bouncer
touch Emily and then…” Frank sighed, “I had to take care of him,
too.”

“
I see,” Chevalier
said.

“
How mad are you?” Emily
asked him.

“
Are you injured?” he asked
her, still watching the road.

“
No”

“
Not at all?”

“
No,” she said, watching
him.

“
I’m pretty mad,” he said,
turning into the city’s gates. He was waved in by the front
guards.

He pulled over at the guard’s barracks,
“Report to Kyle first thing in the morning.”

The three nodded and stepped out.

“
How drunk are you?”
Chevalier asked, pulling back onto the road.

“
I’m not drunk,” she
answered, irritated.

“
I smell alcohol,” he
said.

“
I didn’t say I didn’t
drink… but I’m not drunk,” she said, watching out the window, “And
I don’t appreciate the feeling that I’m about to get grounded or
sent to the principal’s office.”

“
How much did the guards
drink?” He ignored her comment.

“
I’m not their mother, I
don’t know,” she said. She knew he’d be mad if he knew how much
those three had put down.

“
How much did you drink?”
he asked, pulling into the garage.

“
I don’t know, Daddy,” she
scowled at him. She looked over and saw her Durango parked in its
spot.

She pulled the keys from her purse and
walked toward the Durango. Chevalier appeared between her and the
door before she could get the key ready.

“
Where are you going?” he
asked, sternly.

“
I’m going to get the other
three, and we’re staying in a hotel tonight,” she said, trying to
push him out of the way. She growled in frustration when he didn’t
budge.

“
No”

“
No?”

“
That’s right… No.” He
crossed his arms.

“
You can’t tell me no. I’m
not one of your stooges.”

“
I can tell you ‘no’
because you’ve been drinking, and I don’t want you driving,” he
said, pulling the keys out of her hand.

“
Do you want a fight? Is
that it? We haven’t fought in a while, so you’re picking one now?”
she asked, moving toe-to-toe with him.

“
You two just calm down,”
Kyle said, walking up to them.

Emily spun and slapped him before he could
react, “I told you not to tell him.”

“
Yeah and I’m more afraid
of him than I am of you,” Kyle said, shrugging. “How drunk are
you?”

“
None… of… your… business,”
she said, pushing him with each word.

“
You should ask how drunk
your guards are,” Chevalier said, stepping toward them.

“
My… my guards… they were
drinking?” Kyle asked, shocked.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, and when they picked
a fight, Emily joined in because it was five on three… and that
wasn’t fair.”

“
They didn’t pick the
fight! Those mortals did,” Emily corrected, furiously.

“
I told them to report to
you in the morning,” Chevalier told him.

“
To hell with that! I’m
going to get them tonight,” Kyle said, heading for the
door.

He stopped when he felt a hand on his arm,
“Leave them alone.”

“
This is none of your
concern,” he told her, and pulled his arm away from her
grasp.

“
It is because this is my
fault. I picked the bar instead of a restaurant. I’m the one that
got pushed around by some mortal. They did nothing wrong,” she
said, angrily.

“
They drank. I don’t care
about the bar fight, though I am concerned that you felt the need
to jump into it,” Kyle said, stepping toward her.

“
I told them to drink. It
was an order,” she said, crossing her arms.

“
Oh really?”

“
Yes”

“
Well the order not to
drink came from the Elders, and that’s higher up than you are,” he
blurred from the garage.

“
Come on, Em, upstairs,”
Chevalier said, taking her arm.

She tried to pull away, but his grasp was
too tight.

“
Stop it, right now,” she
said.

He turned to her.

“
You have no right to treat
me like this. I can go out drinking every night if I want. I can
get sloshed off my ass and dance until my feet bleed. You can’t do
anything about it!” she yelled.

“
Fine,” he roared, and
blurred into the palace.

She walked in, scowling, and went up to her
room. She pulled on an old t-shirt and went to bed.

Emily woke up when Sam took Allen down for
breakfast. Her head hurt a little, so she took a few aspirin, and
got dressed quickly. Today was the day off of cavalry training, but
she still wanted to see the three heku from last night. She threw
her hair into a high pony, and ran out of the palace and into the
stable.

She slipped a bridle on Patra, and jumped up
onto her, bareback, kicking her into a gallop. She had to stop and
ask directions twice, but finally saw the barracks. She slid off of
the mare and tied her to a post, then stood outside of the
barracks. She wondered if she was allowed inside, and then shrugged
and opened the door.

All eyes turned to Emily when she entered.
She looked around with wide eyes. The entire barracks was one large
room. There were no beds, just chairs with stacks of books and
armor in various stages of repair.

“
What do you want?” a guard
asked her, irritated.

“
I’m looking for Frank,”
she said, feeling uneasy at the way he looked at her,
loathingly.

“
He’s not here.”

“
Where is he?”

“
None of your business,” he
hissed.

Emily advanced on him, “Do you have a
problem with me?”

He turned and faced her, “Yes, I do.”

Emily stopped right in front of him, and she
felt the guards surround the two of them. She saw out of the corner
of her eye that the path to the doorway was now filled with angry
looking heku.

“
Then get it out… come on…”
she said, pushing him with both hands.

“
Yeah, like I’m going to
talk bad to the wifey of an Elder. Do I look stupid to you?” he
asked, high-fiving another guard.

“
I don’t see him around
now, have at it,” she said, scowling.

“
So you can turn me to ash?
No way, Tiny,” he said, grinning down at her.

“
I don’t have to turn you
to ash to kick your ass,” she said, balling her hands into
fists.

The heku laughed at her, “Pretty scary for a
mortal.”

Emily ran up to him and drew her hand back,
but someone grabbed her wrist as she was about to punch him.

She turned angrily, and then screamed when
Mark threw her over his shoulder, “I’m calling general quarters,”
he yelled at the guards.

They grumbled and blurred, disappearing to
somewhere Emily couldn’t see.

“
Put me down,” she
ordered.

“
No,” Mark said, walking
out of the barracks.

It infuriated her when he got onto Patra,
still holding her over his shoulder. He hoisted her off of his
shoulder and laid her across the mare, then kicked her into a
gallop.

She struggled to get up, but his strong
hands held her down, “Let me up.”

“
No,” he said, maneuvering
through the city streets toward the palace.

“
I’ll ash you,” she
screamed.

“
No you won’t.”

Kyle watched as they approached the stables
and his eyes grew angry, “What do you think you’re doing,
Mark?”

Kyle helped Emily down, and Mark jumped off
of the mare, “Saving her life.”

Kyle frowned, “How so?”

“
She was in the barracks…
picked a fight with Kenneth,” Mark said, taking Patra back to her
stall.

“
Is that his name? He’s a…”
Emily began, but Kyle cut her off.

“
In the barracks?” he asked
her, shocked.

“
Yeah”

“
You shouldn’t be in the
barracks, Emily,” he said, sternly.

Emily turned on her heels and headed into
the palace mumbling, “Don’t do this, Emily. Don’t do that, Emily.
Kiss my what, Emily?”

Kyle stifled a grin and turned back to Mark,
“Was she actually inside the building?”

“
Yes, she was looking for
Frank,” Mark said, coming back out of the stable.

“
She could have been
killed,” Kyle sighed.

“
I know. That’s why I took
extra precautions to get her back here safely,” Mark said, watching
him.

Kyle nodded, “Thank you, and get Kenneth
into my office.”

Mark nodded and blurred away. Kyle went
inside and knocked on Chevalier’s office door.

“
Enter,” he
said.

Kyle stepped in and sat down, “For someone
that can’t get one, I’m sure starting to get a headache.”

Chevalier chuckled, “The guards acting up
this morning?”

“
Guards? No… your wife
though…”

Chevalier sighed, “What did she do now?”

“
She decided to go into the
barracks.”

“
Wait… inside?”

“
Yup, then she picked a
fight with Kenneth,” Kyle sighed.

“
I swear, I’ll kill her
myself,” Chevalier said, angrily, and blurred from his office. He
felt Kyle follow him up the stairs to his room. He slammed open the
door and looked around, but the room was empty.

“
What did you do with her?”
he asked Kyle.

“
Nothing, she stormed away
from the stables and into the palace,” Kyle said, looking
around.

“
Sir!”

Chevalier spun when the guard yelled from
the door, “What?”

“
Lady Emily, she’s locked
herself in a cell,” the guard said, frantically.

“
Let her out and bring her
up here,” Chevalier hissed.

“
We… well… we can’t,
Sir.”

“
Why not?” Kyle
asked.

“
She has the only keys and
won’t give them back,” the guard said, looking at the
floor.

“
She’s a mortal!” Chevalier
yelled. “How did she get the only keys away from you?”

“
She… threatened us, Sir,”
the guard said, embarrassed.

“
Leave her there then. If
she wants to be in jail so badly, we’ll see how she likes living
alone for a few hours,” Chevalier said, throwing a vase hard
against the wall.