Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

“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.

  “Oh that’s it!” she yelled, and flew past the guards into the small store room in the stable. She came out with a long metal stick.

  Kyle frowned, he couldn’t imagine her having one, let alone using it. The training was unexpectedly halted as they all watched Emily. She stormed to the Arabian and stared him in the eyes.

  “You want to mess with me?” she asked him, gritting her teeth.

  The stallion reared back again, but dropped and whinnied loudly when Emily stuck the stick against his chest for a split second.

  “Try again, Boy, I dare you,” she hissed.

  The Arabian shied away from her, obviously not happy. She walked back to the new recruits a little calmer.

  “Hold this,” she said, handing the stick to one of them and went into the storage room again.

  She turned suddenly when she heard a loud thud, and saw the recruit lying flat on the ground. She walked over to him and knelt down, immediately breaking the no touching rule, and took his face in her hands.

  “Are you ok?” she asked him.

  He scrambled nervously to his feet, “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “What happened?” she asked, picking the stick up off of the ground.

  Emily turned when she heard Kyle laughing behind her, “Electricity, Emily… he wanted to know what the stick did.”

  She turned, “The cattle prod dropped you?”

  He nodded, embarrassed.

  “This?” she asked, touching it to her leg. She didn’t even wince as she was shocked slightly.

  He nodded again, even more embarrassed.

  The recruit standing beside him was laughing hysterically. Emily walked to him and touched the cattle prod to his bare arm, then watched as he hit the ground.

  “Hmmm,” she said, looking at him.

  He got to his feet slowly, no longer laughing.

  “I have to try this on Damon,” Emily said, running for the palace. She was lifted off the ground as Kyle wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up, taking the cattle prod out of her hand.

  He carried her back to the stable, “Let’s not.”

  The recruits were watching, eyes wide. They knew the orders were that no heku was to touch the Elder’s wife, yet Kyle not only touched her, but picked her up and took something from her.

  Kyle set her down and put the cattle prod on a high ledge.

  “Damon better hope I don’t find him when I have that,” she said, smiling sweetly, and then she turned to the recruits.

  “Hello, I’m Emily,” she said, and reached her hand out for the first in line. He looked at her, nervously, and then glanced at Kyle and nodded to Emily.

  “Good to meet you, Ma’am.”

  Emily went to Frank, “Did you get the no touching lecture?”

  He nodded and smiled.

  “I’ll bet you dinner, that half of you will break that rule by the time training is over,” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

  The recruits gasped and nervously stepped back.

  “Not me!” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’ll find you donors… geesh.”

  Kyle leaned against the stable shaking his head.

  “Deal?” she asked Frank.

  “Deal,” he said, grinning.

  “Ok, first rule, never stand behind a horse,” she told them, pacing in front of them. “If you want me mad, the easiest way is to mistreat your horse, understood?”

  They nodded.

  “I will issue you each a horse based on your height. You will be responsible from here on out for taking care of it. That means brushing, feeding, and watering.” She went to the first recruit.

  “You first, come on,” she said, reaching for a bridle. The bridle got stuck on the high nail and she jumped to free it, and then lost her balance when she landed. She felt a hand on her back, steadying her, and then a frightened gas
p.