Encala

by T. M. Nielsen

  Kyle nodded, “You’re right, I’ll let them out on good behavior.”

  “Now what to do with Emily. I wonder if she’s back to trusting us,” Chevalier wondered out loud.

  “I guess only one way to find out,” Kyle said. “I’ll go yell at her for shocking me and see how that goes.”

  “I’ll have Damon ready,” Chevalier chuckled.

  “Yeah I guess you’re right. I don’t feel like spending my day smoking,” Kyle said.

  “I’ll go, and see if she trusts me yet,” Chevalier said, standing up.

  Kyle followed the Elder as he went to the kitchen to grab lunch for Emily. He walked up the stairs quietly and stopped outside of her door. He sighed when he found the door locked, and he knocked.

  It opened only about an inch, “What?”

  “Em, I have your lunch,” he said, holding out the tray.

  Chevalier heard her limp over and sit on the bed. Taking that as a sign to enter, he walked in and sat the tray down on the table. He turned to her and saw she was sitting cross-legged on the bed, watching him accusingly. Her eyes were still red from crying.

  He walked over to the table, “It’s a hamburger and fries, your favorite.”

  Emily said nothing and watched him.

  Chevalier turned to her, “I didn’t poison it, come eat.”

  Emily moved ever so slightly, and Chevalier noticed she had the cattle prod gripped in her hand.

  “Are you going to electrocute me?” he asked.

  “If you get too close, yes,” she said, seriously.

  “You’d be better off ashing. The cattle prod only works for a couple of seconds,” he suggested.

  Emily screamed and grabbed at her right thigh.

  Chevalier was heading for her side when she held up the prod, “Get back.”

  “Is it the runes?” he asked, stopping.

  Emily jumped out of bed and walked on the sides of her feet as fast as she could, and went into the bathroom. Chevalier cringed when he heard her groan from the pain.

  She emerged a short time later, her eyes were furious.

  “Are you ok?” Chevalier asked from across the room. When he heard her coming, he’d moved far away from the bathroom.

  Emily ignored him, grabbed the cattle prod, and headed out the door.

  “Where are you going?” he asked from closer behind her, and she spun to face him.

  “Stay away from me,” she said, gritting her teeth.

  He put his hands up and backed away, knowing Mark would follow her wherever she was going. She used the railing to take some weight off of her feet as she went down the stairs.

  “She’s going to the prison, do I let her?” Mark whispered into the air.

  “Yes,” was the response.

  Chevalier blurred down into the prison, motioning for the guards not to make a noise that he was there. He watched as Emily walked up and down the aisle of prisoners looking for Vaughn. When she found him, she stopped and turned toward his cell.

  “Get it off of me,” she demanded.

  Vaughn stood up and smiled, “Is that for me?” He motioned to the cattle prod.

  “No, it’s for the nosy heku following me around,” she said, glancing toward Mark and Chevalier.

  “Damn,” Chevalier whispered and stepped toward her.

  “Get it off, now,” she said again.

  “No, it will come in handy when I get out of here and need you,” he said, smugly.

  Emily narrowed her eyes at him and watched as he screamed and fell convulsing to the floor.

  “Emily, stop,” Chevalier said from beside her. She turned to him and he was barely able to dodge out of the way of the cattle prod.

  Vaughn stumbled to his feet, “I demand that you do not do that again!”

  “You demand?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Vaughn fell to his knees, gripping his chest and groaning with pain.

  Vaughn fell against the floor, panting. After a few moments, he got to his feet shakily, “If you do that again, I’ll never get you out of this hell.”

  “What hell are you referring to?” she asked, suspiciously.

  “The one you’ve been in since you stepped through my enchanted wall. Everything’s calm now, but wait, you disobey me and it will all come back.”

  Emily took a step back, “What?”

  “Just a minute,” Chevalier growled.

  “You don’t seriously think everything’s safe for you now, do you? That corridor is just out of reach. In an instant, I can bring it back, and all of the terror with it,” Vaughn chuckled.

  “Keys,” Chevalier demanded of the guard, and immediately began opening the cell door.

  “I’m the only one that can help you, Emily. I’m the only one that knows how to end it. If he kills me, he’s only killing the enchanted image of me, and then you’ll be alone. No way out,” Vaughn said, watching her.

  “Chevalier, get out,” she said, quickly.

  “Don’t listen to him, he’s lying,” Chevalier said from inside the cell.

  “Get out before I ash you,” she said, and Chevalier felt the slightest bit of burn start in his chest.

  “Turn him to ash, Emily. Do it and show me your loyalty,” Vaughn smiled.

  Chevalier backed out of the cell and the burning stopped. He turned to her, “He’s lying. You have to trust me.”

  “Emily, listen to Chevalier,” Mark said, stepping out of the shadow.

  “If I let you go, will you let me out?” she asked Vaughn.

  He nodded, “Come with me. I hold the key to the runes. You can’t resist it forever. Soon you’ll come when I call.”

  “I’ll worry about the runes later, just let me out of this corridor,” she said, begging.

  “Emily, you can’t let him go,” Chevalier said, and touched her hand softly. She screamed and jerked away from him, landing on her back on the floor. She crawled backwards way from him, frantically.

  Emily scrambled to her feet and ran up the stairs, ignoring the pain from the gravel cuts. She disappeared into the upstairs foyer.

  Chevalier growled at Vaughn, “How dare you.”

  “Have fun with her now. She’ll come running to me soon enough,” Vaughn said to him.

  “Unless you’re dead first.”

  “You can’t kill me. Code says you have to keep me until a release is negotiated. I’m the only Elder the Encala have,” he said smugly, and sat down.

  “So you’re an Elder now?” Chevalier asked.

  “Yes, when all three Elders died, I was the only council member to take their place,” he explained. “When Emily comes to me, she’ll sit at my side as the second… well… after she’s given me a female child and we turn her into an immortal, of course.”

  Mark held Chevalier back and whispered into his ear, “Just wait, we’ll get him.”

  They headed back to the door and Chevalier turned to the guards.

  “I don’t care if she threatens to ash you. If I catch her down here, you’ll wish she had,” he growled and walked up the stairs.

  “Where is she?” he asked at the top of the stairs.

  “Stable,” he heard a voice say from far away.

  “Kyle,” Chevalier said, and Kyle blurred to his side. Chevalier stood and looked out the window to the stables as Mark filled Kyle in, word-for-word, on what had just occurred.

  “How did he even know?” Kyle asked, baffled.

  “It has to be a connection through those runes,” Chevalier said.

  Chevalier’s eyes narrowed as he saw the silhouette of a figure on top of the stable roof, “What is she doing?”

  Kyle looked out, “I’m not sure.”

  “Dad!” Emily called into wind.

  Chevalier frowned.

  “Help me,” she whispered softly, and sunk down into her protective ball and rocked.

  “We could sedate her and bring her in here. We can keep her here until we figure out how to convince her,” Mark said.

  Chevalier shook his
head, “We aren’t going to earn her trust by betraying it.”

  Damon walked up and looked out the window, “Just leave her. She’ll figure it out on her own. You all indulge her too much.”

  Chevalier growled at him.

  Damon looked over at him, “I just mean… she’s not hurting anyone out there but herself. When she decides to see logic, she’ll come down.”

  “She’s up there because our ancestors scared her to death,” Kyle snapped at him.

  “She’ll live,” Damon said. He shrugged and walked off when the other heku glared at him.

  Chevalier turned around and gasped just as Emily jumped off of the roof of the stables. Chevalier, Mark, and Kyle blurred to the other side of the stables, prepared to find her dead on the ground. Instead, she was lying on her back on a loose pile of straw that stood taller than the heku. When they saw her crawling out of the straw, they scattered quickly and joined up back in the palace.

  “I didn’t…” Kyle said, and Chevalier cut him off.

  “Don’t say it,” he said.

  “But I…”

  They watched as she dusted straw off of herself and went into the storage room.

  “Tell me if anything happens,” Chevalier said, disappearing into his office.

  “What do you think she’s doing?” Mark asked.

  Kyle shrugged.

  “Erm… does she… no way,” Mark said, watching Emily walked toward the palace.

  “Yeah she does,” Kyle said, frowning. “Kind of weird things to have.”

  “Should we move back?” Mark asked, disappearing into the shadows, followed by Kyle.

  Emily walked into the palace. She had a 9mm tucked into the back of her jeans, and a shotgun in her hand. She ignored the fact that the door guards were gone, and stepped into the foyer. Without stopping, she made her way to the prison entrance and walked down the stairs.

  “Damn,” Kyle said, following her.

  The guards looked at her fearfully when they saw her, “You can’t come down here, Ma’am.”

  “Yes I can. Hand me the key to Vaughn’s cell.” She held out her hand.

  “No, Ma’am, strict orders from the Elder,” he said.

  “Don’t make me ash you, just give me the key.”

  The two guards looked at each other nervously, “No, Ma’am.”

  “Fine,” she said, and Kyle watched, shocked, when both of the door guards turned to ash. Emily went through their pockets and pulled out the keys.

  “I… I… can’t believe… she did that,” Mark stammered.

  “We’ll call Damon in a sec. Let’s find out what she’s doing first, before we raise the alarm,” Kyle suggested, and they moved to the dark shadows around Vaughn’s cell.

  “Hello, my bride,” Vaughn said, standing up.

  Emily opened the shotgun and loaded two shells of buckshot into it. She cocked it back.

  “You can’t kill me with a gun,” Vaughn chuckled.

  “I’m not looking to kill you, just hurt you,” she pushed the shotgun through the cell bars. Kyle and Mark covered their ears less than a second before the first shot rang out through the palace. The second shot came a few moments later, and she sat the shotgun down by her feet.

  Vaughn was moaning in his cell, but healing quickly from the small pellet wounds. Emily unlocked the door and pulled out the 9mm. She pointed it right at Vaughn and quickly shot off 16 rounds into his head. Blood covered her and the walls of the cell and Vaughn screamed in agony.

  “We should stop her,” Mark said, and leaned back against the wall.

  “Yup, we should,” Kyle agreed, watching.

  Emily stepped inside, lowering the 9mm down toward Vaughn. She aimed directly at his groin and fired off another 9 rounds.

  “Ouch,” Mark whispered.

  Kyle cringed.

  “Still wanna get it on?” she asked, and emptied the rest of the clip into him. She hit a button and the clip fell to the ground. She pulled another out of her pocket and jammed it into the gun and leveled it back at Vaughn.

  “Ready to take the runes off?” she asked him.

  Vaughn just groaned. He was healing, but not fast enough to alleviate the pain.

  Damon, Maleth, Leonid, and Chevalier blurred into the corner with them.

  “Who is shooting a gun in my palace?” Maleth growled.

  Mark pointed at Emily.

  “Ok,” Emily said, and emptied the second lip into the heku.

  “That has to hurt,” Kyle said.

  Mark nodded.

  Chevalier raised his eyebrows.

  Emily stepped out of the cell and dropped the 9mm on the floor, picking up the shotgun. She grabbed the barrel and slammed the stock of the gun into Vaughn’s head. The sickening crack was followed by a splash of new blood onto Emily and the walls.

  “We were talking about how we should stop her,” Kyle said, leaning back against the wall.

  “Yeah I guess we should,” Mark nodded.

  Emily screamed and continued to smash Vaughn with the stock of the shotgun relentlessly. Blood was dripping from the walls, and she was covered with pieces of flesh and blood. She started at his head, and moved down to shatter both of his legs. His screaming had turned to gargles as he fought to breathe through the blood in his mouth.

  “Did you want to stop her or should I?” Kyle asked casually.

  “Doesn’t matter to me,” Mark answered.

  “We really do need to stop her,” Damon said, concerned.

  “Want to remove it now, Child?” she asked, standing over him.

  He tried to get his hands under him, but Emily smashed the butt of the shotgun down on the back of his neck, crushing his vertebrae. He fell limp to the ground.

  Emily took a second to catch her breath, and then brought the shotgun up again. She brought it down toward Vaughn’s back, but he rolled out of the way, grabbed her foot, and she slammed into the ground.

  The Equites reacted quickly. Mark and Kyle tackled Vaughn while Chevalier grabbed Emily under her arms and pulled her out of Vaughn’s grasp.

  “I’m not done!” Emily yelled, trying to crawl back into the cell.

  “I think he’s had enough,” Chevalier told her, grabbing her waist to stop her from going back inside. He lifted her up to her feet.

  She was dripping with blood and pushed her hair off of her face to see Vaughn better. Kyle and Mark managed to pin him against the ground, he was almost entirely healed.

  “Take it off,” she glared down at him.

  “No,” he growled.

  Emily ran forward and kicked. Vaughn screamed when her foot connected with his lower jaw and broke it into several pieces.

  Chevalier pulled Emily back out of the cell, chuckling.

  “Impressive, for a mortal,” Damon said, leaning against the wall and laughing.

  Maleth and Leonid disappeared up the stairs.

  “Guess I better go bring back the guards,” Damon said, and walked over to the two piles of ashes by the door.

  Emily tucked the 9mm into the back of her pants and picked up the bloody shotgun. She looked at Vaughn in the clutches of Kyle and Mark, and walked toward the door. She glared once at the one revived door guard and moved slowly up the stairs to the foyer. Chevalier followed her, keeping a slight distance.

  Emily stopped at the bedroom door and turned to Chevalier, “Where’s the money from the sale of my ranch?”

  He frowned, “It’s in an account in your name.”

  “I’ll need to get at it,” she said, turning toward the door.

  “Emily, if you need something, all you have to do is ask,” he said, following her.

  “Just give me the account, and I won’t have to ask permission for anything.”

  “I didn’t say you had to ask permission, but I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “As long as I ask for it,” she said.

  “That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” he said, sitting down.

  “What I need is
a laptop with an Internet connection and that account information when I get out of the shower… add in some privacy, and I’ll be good,” she walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

  Emily had to take a very long shower to get all of the blood off of her and out of her hair. She dried off and threw on a long t-shirt and jeans, then went out into the bedroom. She nodded when she saw the laptop and a debit card sitting beside it. She grabbed her cell phone and made the call.

  A few hours later, Emily was done. She went out to find Chevalier and finally found him and the other Elders in the game room. She stepped in just in time to catch the end of the conversation.

  “We’ll find a mortal soon. We have to be selective,” Maleth said.

  “A mortal for what?” she asked, and they turned to look at her.

  Chevalier glared at Maleth when he stepped forward, “We need a mortal’s blood to seal the door forever.”

  “No,” Chevalier hissed.

  “That’s all you need? A mortal’s blood?” she asked, skeptically.

  “Emily, no,” Chevalier said to her.

  “Do it then,” she said, and walked forward, holding her wrist out.

  “I said no,” he growled.

  “Oh sure, then what? Let Allen walk through there?” she kept her wrist out to Maleth.

  “There is another way,” he said.

  “Not fast enough,” she said to Chevalier and then turned to Maleth. “Do it.”

  Maleth grabbed Emily’s hand and watched Chevalier as he stormed out of the room, “Just a bit, Emily.”

  She nodded, “Do it quickly.”

  Leonid began to chant in an ancient language, and Emily watched as the doorway began to glow. She felt the sting on her wrist as Maleth pressed the tip of a dagger into the soft flesh of her arm. He held her arm out toward the door, and as the blood dripped onto it, the doorway began to collapse into a swirl of black clouds.

  Emily watched, wide eyed, as the doorway showed, for one moment, what was on the other side, and she had to fight the urge to run. There was a loud clash of thunder and a flash of light when the door sealed.

  Emily stepped forward and touched the wall, running her fingers along the solid wall. She fell to the floor suddenly, crying out in pain when her thigh began to burn.

  Maleth leaned down beside her, “Breathe through it, Emily, take deep breaths.”

  Leonid watched them, helplessly.