Encala

by T. M. Nielsen

  He turned to the Cavalry, “Mark, Bill, Pat… come with me… you other three get the horses put away and get this cleaned up.”

  Kyle blurred into the palace, followed by the three cavalry members. He set her down on the bed and looked at her ankle. He could see a bone protruding against the skin and her foot was swelling and bruising a dark blue.

  “Mark, get Chevalier. Pat, get the doctor,” he ordered.

  The doctor appeared in the room and his eyes grew wide when he saw her ankle. He sat down quickly and pulled a syringe from his bag, filling it with a clear liquid.

  “What’s that?” Kyle asked.

  “Pain meds, we need to get her to a hospital,” he said, quickly giving her the shot.

  “Why can’t we do this here?” Kyle asked, surprised Emily didn’t complain about the shot. He realized she was in too much pain to argue with the doctor.

  “I don’t have an x-ray machine, and she may need surgery to re-set the bones. Then she’ll need a cast and crutches.” He was feeling her foot for a pulse.

  “Pat, go get the helicopter ready,” Kyle growled, and the heku ran off, almost running into Chevalier, who was just coming through the door.

  “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.

  A
s 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.

  Emily finally made it to the stables and watched as the six remaining recruits brought their bridled horses out to stand in line with them. Emily smiled when one of her guards brought out Patra.

  Emily moved to her mare’s left side and looked at the stirrup. She thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to mount the horse, when she felt hands on her waist lift her up. Once in the saddle, she turned and smiled at Kyle.

  “Thanks”

  He nodded at her and then turned to the new guards. “There are a few new rules. None of you six are to be alone with Lady Emily at any time.”

  Emily cringed, but the guards nodded.

  “I’m also reinforcing the no touch policy. Any infraction will be dealt with directly by the Chief Enforcer, Damon. That doesn’t apply to the seven cavalry members. They have their own rules, and they may assist Lady Emily if she gives permission.”

  Again they nodded, and she couldn’t help but blush.

  “I’m watching you carefully,” he growled, staring them down. “Listen to her, do what she says, and don’t give her any lip.”

  He turned and winked at her, and then fell back behind her.

  The training followed the same pattern as the previous one, as it seemed to have worked out well. The only difference was that this time, Emily remembered to tell them not to stand behind a horse and she was confined to horseback.

  After the training with the paint ball guns, Emily headed back into the castle. She was more adept at her crutches now and didn’t need carried up and down the stairs. As she stepped into the palace, she felt tension in the air and an eerie silence.

  “What’s going on?” she asked her guard.

  “Valle and Encala Elders are here,” he told her, looking around the silent entryway.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, Ma’am,” he said.

  Emil
y headed for the council chambers instead of up to her room.

  “I don’t know if you’re supposed to be in there,” a guard said to her.

  “I’m going anyway,” she said, matter-of-factly, and her guards followed her nervously.

  When the door to the council chambers opened, all eyes fell on her. The Valle and Encala Elders and their escorts hissed and moved as far from her as they could. Emily made her way to the stand with the Equites Council, and shuffled up the stairs. The heku sitting to Chevalier’s left stood and offered her his chair. She sat down and blushed when she noticed they were all still staring at her.

  “What are you doing here?” Chevalier whispered to her.

  “Keeping the peace,” she said, and smiled.

  “Is this a threat?” one of the Valle Elders said.

  Chevalier just smiled at the Valle, “She’s not here to threaten you. She’s here to make sure we all remain civil.”

  “This is unacceptable! With her in the room, you have an advantage,” one of the Encala snapped.

  “So it was ok when you outnumbered us two to one, but now that we have a slight advantage, it’s unacceptable?” Damon hissed.

  The Valle and Encala Elders looked at one another nervously and then turned back to the Equites, “Proceed.”

  “It’s good that Lady Emily has joined us anyway, as this concerns her,” Maleth said, smiling at her.

  Emily frowned and looked at Chevalier, but he didn’t turn toward her.

  “The proposition stands. Either you share the Winchester blood or we attack the Equites and wipe the faction off this planet,” the Encala Elder said, looking at Emily.

  “Excuse me? What do you mean share the Winchester blood?” she asked.

  Chevalier leaned toward her and whispered, “They each want a baby girl from you.”

  Her eyes grew wide, “No.”

  Chevalier turned back to the opposing elders and smiled, “You heard her.”

  “I don’t see as though we should be giving her a choice,” the Valle Elder said.

  Emily stood up and put her fists on the table, “You do realize I can ash all of you at once, right?”

  The Elders and their faction members all shrank back some. Normally, Chevalier would calm Emily down, but he was enjoying the look on their faces.