Encala (4 page)

“
What’s going on?”
Chevalier hissed as he saw the doctor and Kyle sitting on the bed.
He couldn’t see Emily behind them, but knew she was
injured.

“
We’re taking her to the
city. She’s going to need surgery to fix that,” the doctor said,
standing up.

Chevalier grew furious when he saw her
ankle. He growled and blurred to her side. Kyle stood up and
allowed the Elder to take his spot.

“
Emily?” he asked, taking
her hand. He wiped the sweat from her forehead and cringed when she
didn’t respond.

“
She’s medicated, I had to
stop the pain,” the doctor said, looking at Chevalier
nervously.

“
What happened?” Chevalier
asked Kyle.

Kyle turned to Bill, “Tell us.”

The heku stepped forward, “It was one of the
recruits, Sir. We could tell from the start that he didn’t like
Lady Emily, and first thing, they got into a fight over his spurs.
He knocked her to the ground, and we were ready to kill him, but
she let him off with a warning.”

“
He touched her, first
thing?” Kyle asked, angrily.

Bill nodded, “Then, as she was showing him
to his horse, we heard her tell him to let her down. When I rounded
the corner, he had her lifted above him by her arms, shaking her,
and then he dropped her. That’s when her ankle broke.”

“
Where is he?” Chevalier
hissed.

“
Dead, we took care of
him,” Bill said, proudly.

Pat came back in, “The helicopter is
ready.”

Chevalier picked Emily up. He hated the way
she was limp in his arms.

“
Kyle, come with me. You
three, go talk to the recruits, this won’t happen again,” he
growled at them. The three cavalry members bowed and headed out the
door.

As Kyle and Chevalier got into the
helicopter, the pilot spoke, “We have an ambulance waiting at the
helipad.”

Chevalier nodded and fastened the seat belt.
He took Emily’s head and held it against his shoulder. Her foot had
grown larger and the bruise was traveling up her leg.

“
How long until we get
there?” Kyle asked the pilot, as he saw the city beneath
them.

“
Only a few more minutes,”
the pilot told him, and he was soon bringing the helicopter down
onto the helipad. As promised, an ambulance was standing
by.

The paramedics took Emily from Chevalier
after Kyle reminded him that he had to let her go. Kyle crawled
into the front of the ambulance with the driver, and Chevalier got
into the back with Emily. He watched as the paramedics braced her
foot. Even with the medication, she groaned with the pain and
Chevalier hissed as his eyes narrowed. They worked on her the
entire way to the hospital, and by the time the ambulance pulled
into the garage, Emily had an I.V. and several ice bags on her
swollen ankle.

As the EMT’s wheeled the gurney into the
hospital, a nurse came and started asking questions, filling out a
small form.

“
Name?”

“
Emily Russo,” Kyle said
when Chevalier didn’t.

“
Age?”

Kyle did the math in his head, “She’s
27.”

“
What happened?” the nurse
asked, still writing.

“
She got bucked off of a
horse,” Kyle said, noticing Chevalier glanced at him.

The nurse quit writing when the doctor came
in and shook Chevalier’s hand.

“
Let’s see, what have we
here?” he asked, before picking the ice packs off of her ankle and
frowning.

“
She got bucked off of a
horse,” Chevalier told him, following Kyle’s story.

“
Ok, let’s get an x-ray and
then I’ll know more. Erm… why is she unconscious?” He raised an
eyebrow.

“
There’s a doctor on my
staff. He gave her pain medication,” Chevalier said, not noticing
the way the doctor cocked his head to the side, curiously, when he
mentioned that he had a doctor on staff.

“
Both of you, out,” another
man said. He came in and placed a heavy lead apron over Emily. Kyle
and Chevalier stepped out as he took x-rays of her foot. Kyle had
to hold Chevalier back when they heard Emily groan as the tech
moved her foot slightly for a different angle.

When the x-rays were done, the two heku
returned to Emily’s side as a nurse put medicine into her I.V.

“
What is that?” Kyle asked
her.

“
Antibiotics, we’re
prepping her for surgery,” she said, smiling at Kyle.

“
Surgery?” Chevalier asked,
as the doctor walked in.

“
Yes, her ankle’s pretty
bad,” he said, as he brought her x-ray up on a computer screen. He
pointed out the multiple breaks.

“
We’re going to have to pin
those to get them to set correctly. The surgery shouldn’t take more
than a few hours. Ahh, Dr. Phillips…” the E.R. doctor said, shaking
the hand of a man that walked in.

Dr. Phillips bent down and studied the x-ray
as the other doctor spoke, “Dr. Phillips is an Osteopathic Surgeon.
He’ll be doing the surgery.”

Chevalier watched as Dr. Phillips turned to
Emily and moved her foot around. She moaned slightly and Kyle again
had to restrain Chevalier.

“
Ok, let’s get her in
there. If it swells any more, it’ll be harder to set,” he said. Dr.
Phillips wasn’t friendly, but the nurse assured them that he was
the best. Chevalier kissed Emily’s forehead as they wheeled her
toward the operating room.

An orderly came and took Chevalier and Kyle
to an empty waiting room, and offered them both some coffee. Kyle
smiled up at her and told her they were fine.

“
How are the new recruits
picked?” Chevalier asked Kyle, after a few minutes of
silence.

“
They apply for the
position, and then Commander Castel picks them based on years of
service and ability,” Kyle explained.

“
Do they know the training
involves Emily?”

“
Yes, they do, it’s one of
the first things they are told.”

“
So this one… he planned on
confronting her,” Chevalier said, watching Kyle.

Kyle shrugged, “That’s all I can think of.
It hadn’t even been two minutes into the training when he first got
into an argument with her over the spurs.”

“
From now on, you interview
them first. Have Emily in the room with you and see how they react
to her.”

Kyle nodded. The rest of the wait was in
silence, and when Dr. Phillips came into the room, the heku stood
up.

“
Everything went well. The
ankle is set and as soon as she comes out of anesthesia, she can go
home,” he explained.

Chevalier nodded and shook the doctor’s hand
before he left.

A short squat nurse came in a few minutes
later and smiled at them, “You can come in now if you want.”

Both Kyle and Chevalier followed the nurse
into post-op and took the chairs by the bed. Emily’s lower leg and
foot were in a pink cast and propped up on a pillow. She was still
asleep, deeply asleep Chevalier figured, because her I.V. and
oxygen were still intact.

As Emily began to come out of the
anesthesia, Chevalier took one of her hands and Kyle took the
other, wrapping his other hand around her I.V. She blinked a few
times and looked around the room.

“
Where am I?” she asked,
her voice cracking.

“
You’re in the hospital
because they had to do surgery on your ankle,” Chevalier said,
touching her cheek lightly.

“
It hurts,” she told him,
and shut her eyes again.

Chevalier reached over and pushed the call
button and waited for a nurse to come. When she did, he asked for
more pain medication, but the nurse explained that they couldn’t
give her any yet and then left. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt
uncomfortable in that room.

It was only a few minutes before Emily
opened her eyes again. Kyle released her hand and she reached over
and rubbed her upper arm. The hospital gown pulled up and showed
the dark bruise in the shape of a hand. She heard Chevalier growl
deeply and covered her arm again.

“
How long do I have to stay
here?” she asked, looking down at the cast on her leg.

“
You get to come home
today, as soon as the doctor comes in and releases you,” Chevalier
said, still holding one of her hands.

Emily quickly removed her oxygen cannula
with her free hand and was reaching for her I.V. when Kyle took her
hand again.

“
Can I still work with the
guards?” she asked Chevalier.

He sighed, “We’ll talk about that
later.”

“
He hated me,” she said to
Kyle.

Kyle nodded.

“
Do the others?”

He smiled, “No, and if they do, they
wouldn’t show it now.”

Emily sighed, “My guards killed him didn’t
they?”

Kyle nodded and was shocked when she didn’t
complain.

Dr. Phillips came in, “How are you
feeling?”

Emily shrugged, “Like my leg got run over by
a truck.”

He smiled, “I’m sure it does.”

The doctor turned to Chevalier, “Keep her in
bed today and then she can get up and around on crutches. I’ll send
some pain pills home with her. If it starts throbbing, prop it up
above her heart.”

Chevalier nodded and took a stack of papers
from the doctor.

“
Can I still ride?” Emily
asked, and the doctor smiled.

“
Yes you can. It’ll keep
you off of your ankle, so I’m good with that. The nurse will be in
in a second to bring some forms for you to fill out, and then you
can go home. She’ll get you some crutches too.” The doctor walked
out, still writing in her chart.

“
That’ll be fun, lots of
stairs in the palace,” she said, and sat up on the edge of her bed
before pulling out the I.V.

The fat nurse came back in and smiled
warmly, “Oh good, I see the doctor took out your I.V.”

Emily blushed and nodded.

She handed a form to Chevalier, “Just sign
here that the doctor gave you instructions. If she gets worse, or
the pain gets too bad, there’s a number to call at the bottom.”

While Chevalier filled out the forms, Kyle
went to get a taxi to take them back to the helicopter. The nurse
insisted that Emily be wheeled out in a wheelchair, even though
Chevalier offered to just carry her. He finally relented and
grabbed her crutches, then followed them out to the cab. Chevalier
picked her up and sat her in the backseat, then crawled in next to
her. Kyle took the front seat with the cab driver.

Once they were situated in the helicopter,
Chevalier pulled out the bottle of Vicodin the doctor had given him
and held one out for Emily. She hesitated, and then decided her
ankle was hurting, so she took it and sat back to wait out the
ride.

Chevalier carried Emily into the palace and
soon found himself surrounded by the Cavalry.

“
How is she?” one of them
asked.

“
She’ll be ok, just on
crutches for a while,” he said. Chevalier was torn, he was glad to
see that her guards immediately took care of her attacker, but that
also meant that he, himself, didn’t get to torture him.

All but two cavalry members turned away as
Chevalier took Emily into her room and laid her down. The Vicodin
had kicked in, and she was dazed. He watched over her until she
fell asleep and then returned to the council chambers.

Emily woke up alone and her leg was propped
up on a pillow. Her mind was still foggy from the narcotic, but she
felt it starting to clear. She glanced at the clock, it said 7am.
Slowly, she sat up and swung the casted leg out of bed and stood up
shakily. Her crutches here right by her bed, so she grabbed them
and went into the bathroom.

Someone had laid some clothes out for her, a
t-shirt and a pair of pants that were modified with a zipper up one
leg to accommodate the cast. Emily dressed quickly and hobbled back
out into the bedroom. She saw a tray on the small table, and lifted
the dome to grab a piece of toast before heading out of her room.
It was time to go to work.

“
Good morning, Lady Emily,”
the guards said to her.

“
Good morning.” She hobbled
past them. The crutches were going to take some getting used
to.

“
Where are we headed this
morning?” one of them asked.

“
Training, it’s almost
8am,” she said, looking toward stairs.

“
I’ll call them together.
We didn’t know if there would be any today,” one of them said,
disappearing quickly down the stairs.

Emily set her crutches down one step, and
awkwardly stepped down. She accidentally put too much pressure on
her injured ankle and cringed.

“
Ma’am?” the guard with her
asked.

“
Yes?” she whispered, as
she tried to catch her breath.

“
May I have permission to
assist you?” he asked, cringing as he watched her try to get down
to the next step.

Emily thought for a moment, “Will Chevalier
get mad?”

“
No, Ma’am. He said if we
got permission, we can help.”

“
Then by all means.” She
just finished her sentence when the guard lifted her up, cradling
her in his arms. She held onto the crutches and felt herself being
blurred down the stairs. He set her down gently when he reached the
ground floor.

“
Thank you, that would have
taken all day,” she said, and hobbled out the door toward the
stables.