Encala (35 page)

“
We don’t know. We won’t
until she wakes up,” Chevalier said.

“
And the mark?” Leonid
asked.

“
Still there, it doesn’t
seem to be fading,” Chevalier answered with a hint of anger in his
voice.

“
Are the bands still on her
arms then?

“
Yes, which means whoever
they were for is alive.”

“
Great”

“
It’s not my place, I
understand that, but Chevalier… you need to feed. You are looking
pale, and you have to be very thirsty,” Maleth
suggested.

“
I am not leaving
her.”

“
Then let us bring a donor
in.”

“
To the palace?” he asked.
Mortals weren’t allowed to enter the palace.

“
We will take
precautions.”

“
No, I will go
soon.”

Maleth nodded and pushed his chair back. The
Council slowly left the chambers, and Chevalier went back up to his
room. Kyle was standing outside of the door.

“
The doctor is in there
now,” he said to Chevalier.

Chevalier nodded and opened the door. Both
he and Kyle looked as the doctor bent Emily’s left knee, and pushed
her leg toward her chest. They blurred to Emily’s bed and Chevalier
threw the doctor toward the wall. He crashed against the stone
walls, and Kyle pinned him to the floor.

“
What do you think you are
doing?” he hissed.

“
Stop please! If we don’t
exercise her muscles, they will atrophy,” the doctor said, his eyes
wide.

“
Do what?” Chevalier
frowned down at him.

“
Her muscles can’t go
unmoved for two weeks. I was simply exercising them,” he explained
quickly.

“
Get up,” Chevalier said
angrily.

“
You can read about it if
you wish. I can bring in medical journals. Mortals can’t lie still
for too long, or their muscles weaken and can become useless,” the
doctor explained, standing up slowly.

“
Show me,” Chevalier said,
taking the doctor’s arm roughly and pushing him toward the
bed.

The doctor walked through how to exercise
the major muscles in Emily’s arms and legs, and then changed out
her I.V. and left quickly.

***

“
I’ve turned it off. She
should wake up in a few minutes,” the doctor said, stepping back to
watch her.

“
Be ready to sedate her
again,” Chevalier said.

“
I can’t do that for much
longer. It’s not good for her body.”

“
I don’t care. If she is
still dying, we need to buy more time,” he hissed.

The doctor nodded, “Her eyes are clear, and
she’s slept for two weeks. I think that should be enough.”

Chevalier and the doctor watched Emily in
the quiet room. Kyle was outside of her door still, and they could
hear him pacing nervously.

After a few minutes, Emily began to stir.
She blinked a few times and then opened her eyes. She stared at the
ceiling for a while, and then turned her head to look at
Chevalier.

“
Good morning,” he said to
her softly, afraid to even touch her.

She turned to the doctor and looked at
him.

“
How are you feeling?” the
doctor asked her.

Emily flexed her hands stiffly.

“
You will be a little sore
for a few days, it will pass, I promise,” he told her.

Without any warning, she reached over and
ripped out her I.V.

“
Emily, no!” the doctor
yelled, and quickly turned it off so it wouldn’t drip all over the
floor.

Chevalier chuckled. He was relieved to see a
sign that she was still his Emily.

Emily watched Chevalier
expressionlessly.

“
How are you feeling?” he
asked her, touching her cheek softly.

“
I’m at the palace?” she
whispered.

Chevalier nodded, “Yes, you’re home
safe.”

“
Are you mad?”

He smiled, “No, I’m not mad.”

“
I killed some Encala,” she
said, hoarsely.

“
Some? Yes you did,” he
said, grinning.

“
I had a bag,” she
whispered, her voice not quite working yet.

“
It’s right by you. We
didn’t take it.”

“
I’m thirsty,” she
whispered, and the doctor smiled.

“
That’s a good
sign.”

“
What would you like?
Anything,” Chevalier asked her.

“
Just orange juice,” she
managed to whisper finally.

“
Your voice will clear
soon,” the doctor assured her.

Emily looked at him, and then turned back to
Chevalier. He already had a glass of juice in his hand. Chevalier
slid an arm under her shoulders and helped her sit up. She wrapped
her stiff fingers around the glass and drank most of it at
once.

He laid her back down, and she reached up
and ran her fingers along the bands on her upper arm.

“
Take these off,” she
whispered, frowning.

“
I can’t yet. We’ll get
them off soon, I promise,” Chevalier told her.

“
Why can’t you take them
off?” she asked, pulling at them weakly.

“
I’ll explain later, ok?
Are you hungry?”

Emily nodded.

“
Nothing heavy,” the doctor
said. “Toast is good.”

“
Ok,” Emily whispered, and
reached her hand down to scratch at the runes on her
leg.

Chevalier kept his face even and pulled the
covers back up.

“
How mad are the Encala?”
she asked softly, as her voice slowly started to come
back.

Chevalier chuckled, “I’m not sure mad is
quite the word for it.”

She frowned, “I shouldn’t have done it. I
wasn’t thinking straight.”

“
No one here is mad at you.
We all know what you did, and no one’s sorry about it,” he said,
taking her hand.

When her toast was delivered, she tried to
sit up to swing her legs out of bed, but she wasn’t able to move
them.

“
Why can’t I move?” she
asked, scared.

“
It’s ok, you will just be
stiff for a few days,” the doctor said.

Chevalier put his arm around her again, and
lifted her up, then slid her up so she was sitting beside him. She
took the toast and ate one before speaking.

“
How did I get back here?”
she asked, picking up a second piece.

“
We went to the palace and
brought you back,” Chevalier said. He promised himself that he
would tell her anything she wanted to know.

“
I don’t remember
that.”

“
That doesn’t surprise
me.”

Emily absentmindedly scratched at the runes
on her thigh again, and ate another piece of toast. Her juice had
been refilled, and she reached for it and took another drink.

“
Where’s Allen?” she looked
around the room.

“
He’s with Sam. We’ve been
trying to keep him away. Seeing you asleep upset him,” Chevalier
said.

“
How long?”

“
Two weeks.”

She frowned, “I slept for two weeks?”

“
We kept you sedated. I’ll
explain everything when you feel better, ok?”

She nodded and scratched at the runes again.
She pulled up her nightgown and looked at her thigh.

“
What’s that?”

“
Something else I will
explain later. We’re still working on getting it off.”

“
It won’t wash
off?”

“
No.” He pulled her
nightgown back down. He felt fury rising in him at the sight of
it.

“
I hate that I can’t
remember anything after… the…” she said, and sighed.

“
It may come back to you
later. I’m not sure,” the doctor said to her, and then bowed with a
smile and left the room.

“
Can I get you something?
Anything you want, just ask,” he said smiling.

“
I want on your lap,” she
said, turning toward him. He lifted her gently and sat her on his
lap. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she leaned against his
shoulder, and he smiled.

***

“
I don’t like it,”
Chevalier said. “She’s only been awake for four days.”

“
Stop talking about me like
I’m not here,” Emily said, scowling. “I’m doing it.”

“
I’ll be there,” Kyle
said.

“
I said I wanted Emily at
the interviews so you could get a feel of how they handle her,” he
said angrily.

“
She wasn’t available. I
interviewed them… it will be ok,” Kyle assured him.

“
Get this off of me,” Emily
growled, pulling hard at the bands on her upper arm.

“
You can’t pull them off. I
told you that,” Chevalier said.

“
Why not? You keep saying
you’ll tell me later… it’s later…” she looked at him.

“
Tonight, ok? I promise.”
He smiled at her. Chevalier had been dreading when he would have to
tell Emily about the runes. The arm bands, he wasn’t so worried
about. He knew they would come off, but so far, no one could figure
out how to remove the runes.

“
Sure,” she said, and
whistled. Ford came running out of Allen’s room and Emily turned to
leave.

“
Just… be careful,”
Chevalier called after her and Kyle as they headed down the
stairs.

The first thing Emily did when she got to
the stables, was to check on Patra. She stepped into the stall and
wrapped her arms around the mare’s neck, “I missed you.”

She smiled and kissed Patra on the nose, and
then slipped a bridle on her.

“
There have been some
changes,” Kyle said, looking to see if the recruits were
coming.

Emily stepped out of the stall, leaving
Patra inside and shut the door.

“
What kind of changes?”
Emily asked, walking slowly down the long row of stalls.

Kyle moved with her, “First of all, you no
longer have a personal guard.”

“
Really?”

Kyle shook his head, “Nope.”

“
Ok… what else?” Emily
stopped and looked at him.

“
So the thirteen current
cavalry members won’t be here, they will be on normal duty,” Kyle
explained.

“
Stop it,” Emily said,
batting behind her as she felt a horse smell her hair.

Kyle grinned, “This will be our last round
of recruits for now, seven of them. I hand-picked these ones,
except for one.”

“
Stop it,” Emily said
again, and swatted the nose of the horse that was nibbling on her
hair.

Kyle had to fight to keep from laughing.

“
Which one?” she
asked.

“
Frank is going to be team
lead on this one.”

Emily smiled, “Good, at least one of them
won’t be afraid of me… Excuse me!”

Emily spun as the horse kept picking at her
hair. She put her hands on her hips when she saw it was Chevalier’s
pesky Arabian.

“
When did he get here?” she
asked, irritated.

“
Two weeks ago,” Kyle said,
laughing.

“
And Damnit?”

“
Two stalls
down.”

Emily heard the recruits coming up to the
stables, “Go do your thing. I have business with this horse.”

Kyle chuckled and walked out of the stables
to start the training.

Emily could hear him greeting the heku, and
she grabbed a bridle and went into the stall with the huge Arabian
Stallion.

“
Line up,” Kyle said, and
watched as they followed his order.

“
I want to go over a couple
of rules again… first is, of course, you listen to Emily. I don’t
want to hear any ‘she’s a mortal’ crap. She’s in charge of these
horses, and you will listen to her and obey what she says,” Kyle
said sternly.

The recruits all looked nervously into the
stables when they heard a loud crash followed by Emily’s,
“Damnit.”

“
Eyes back here. She knows
what she’s doing,” Kyle said, fighting not to laugh.

“
No touching. That rule
applies even in situations where you may find it polite to do so.
Nothing will get you killed faster than laying a finger on her.
Understand?” Kyle continued.

The new recruits all nodded.

“
You sonofabitch,” they
heard Emily scream, followed by another loud crash.

Everyone looked into the stables again when
they heard a stall door slam open. Emily was leading the Arabian
out of the stall. He was bridled and saddled. The stallion yanked
his head back quickly, and she almost fell into him, but caught
herself. She used all of her body weight to pull back, and the
stallion finally followed her.

The heku cringed when they smelled a trace
of fresh blood, and Kyle turned to them quickly and glared, not
saying a word. The new recruits all fell back into formation, eyes
on Kyle. He turned to look at Emily and shook his head. She had
blood on her right arm that was dripping down to her elbow.

“
You ok?” he
asked.

“
Manners… that’s what he
needs,” she hissed, and walked past them. They watched as she
tethered the Arabian to a post. He reared back and she dodged just
as he tried to kick her.