Encala

by T. M. Nielsen

  “Emily left three days ago in the Humvee,” he reminded them.

  “She did what?” both Maleth and Chevalier said together.

  “Can you blame her?” Mark said angrily from behind them, and then dropped his eyes. “Sir.”

  “Explain yourself,” Chevalier hissed at the guard.

  “I’m just saying, if I were her, I would have left too,” he explained.

  “Why’s that?”

  “I saw, Sir. I saw it all, and you’re lucky you didn’t kill her,” Mark growled.

  “What are you talking about? I didn’t almost kill Emily.”

  “Slamming her up against a wall isn’t trying to kill her? It may be safe to do that to one of us, but she’s mortal,” Leonid interjected.

  “I didn’t slam her against a wall,” Chevalier hissed, and crossed his arms.

  “I beg to differ,” Mark said, meeting his eyes. “Then Elder Maleth came in and sealed the deal by backhanding her across the room.”

  “I… I did not,” Maleth said, shocked.

  “Who told you we did these things?” Chevalier asked, and took a menacing step toward Mark.

  “I saw them with my own eyes. At least two of them… it was one of the prison guards that saw you throw her against the prison wall. I just got to see you slam her several times into the bedroom wall,” Mark said, not moving.

  “I did no such thing,” Chevalier growled.

  “I didn’t hurt the child either,” Maleth said, hurt.

  “If you two didn’t, then who did? When she ran out of here, she had blood on her and a bruise forming on her cheek and arm. Too many witnesses placed you two as the assailants,” Leonid said, watching them both.

  “That’s insane, and let’s go get her, she can’t be far,” Chevalier said, pushing past Mark.

  “Can’t be far? She left three days ago,” Leonid reminded him.

  “No she didn’t. I was just with her last night,” He frowned.

  Mark shook his head, “She’s been gone for three days.”

  “That’s impossible, I was with her last night,” Chevalier said, to Leonid this time.

  “Three days,” Leonid agreed, and then thought for a moment. “What day is it?”

  “Wednesday,” Chevalier told him.

  “It’s Friday.”

  Chevalier sat down and looked at Maleth, “When’s the last time you saw her?”

  “Yesterday, she was heading down to dinner with Allen,” Maleth said, looking at the guards.

  “Three days,” Leonid said again.

  “I think you are confused,” Chevalier pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed.

  “Em, where are you?” he asked casually, and then frowned.

  “Are you ok?” He winced at her answer and then shut his phone.

  “She hung up on me,” he said, looking at them. “Did I really do those things?”

  Leonid nodded, “I think we need to talk to Kyle.”

  The three elders headed down to Kyle’s cell. He stood up and faced them, “Hello.”

  “Kyle, we have a few questions for you,” Maleth said softly. His mind was still reeling with the thought that he may have hit Emily.

  “Ok”

  “Do you remember your time on the island?” Leonid asked him.

  Kyle shook his head, “I didn’t even know I had been on an island until Emily told me.”

  “When did you see Emily last?” Chevalier asked.

  “Three days ago, right before she left,” Kyle glared at him.

  “Was she upset?”

  “Are you kidding me? You pulled her out of here by her collar and threw her against the wall. She came back down with bruises on her arm and tried to get me to leave with her. So yeah… I’d say she was upset,” Kyle watched him coldly.

  “So it’s true, I did it,” Chevalier said, and he headed back up the stairs.

  “What’s going on?” Kyle asked, as Leonid let him out of his cell.

  “No one seems to remember what they did to Emily. We need to get to the bottom of this,” Leonid said. “Did she tell you where she was going?”

  “No, I told her not to tell anyone,” Kyle told him, not ashamed of what he told her.

  Chevalier was already in the Council’s conference room, deep in thought, when the others appeared.

  They all sat down and Leonid sighed, “As it seems I’m the only one with a clear memory, we need to figure out what’s going on.”

  Chevalier sighed, “She’s gone. I told her that the next time she felt afraid, that I would let her go. I even gave her enough money to buy her own ranch.”

  “We just need to figure out what happened and then let her know,” Maleth said, he looked at his hand. He couldn’t imagine hitting a mortal, especially not Emily.

  Damon stepped into the chambers and sat down, “You called for me?”

  “When’s the last time you saw Emily?” Leonid asked him.

  “It was three days ago, just before she left,” Damon explained, and looked around the table.

  “Seems there’s a memory problem in our midst,” Leonid told him. “Neither Kyle, nor the Elders, remember assaulting her.”

  “She shouldn’t have slipped her guards and gone into the prison,” he said, calmly.

  “That’s no reason to be beaten,” Chevalier hissed at him.

  ***

  Sam handed a small bag down to Emily, “I got you something.”

  She looked up from the bathroom floor, “I don’t want anything.”

  He pulled out a small box and handed it to her.

  Emily looked at the box, and then up to Sam, “It’s the flu, Sam.”

  “There are some crackers and 7up on your bedside table,” Sam said, shutting the door.

  Emily leaned her head against the cold wall and looked at the box. She hadn’t even considered this to be anything but the flu. She turned the box over in her hand several times, and then threw it against the wall.

  She heard the cell phone ring in the bedroom and Sam answered it.

  “This is Sam.”

  “No, she can’t come to the phone.”

  “None of your business.”

  “She released me from having to obey you.”

  “Yes, I will tell her.”

  She heard him click the phone shut, “Are you ok?”

  “Yes,” she said, finally managing to get to her feet.

  She came out from the bathroom and lay down on the bed, “Feed Allen, I’m going to nap.”

  “Did you do it?” he asked, picking Allen up off the floor.

  “No, it’s the flu,” she said, and shut her eyes.

  ***

  “There has to be a connection. It’s no coincidence that those of you closest to Emily were the ones affected,” Damon said, leaning on the table.

  “An Encala or Valle attack maybe?” Maleth suggested.

  “This did pit the Elders against one another for a few days. It could be that,” Leonid said.

  “Or their goal was to get Emily out from under our protection… and it worked,” Chevalier said, and sighed.

  “I agree,” Damon said.

  “The question is… how did they do it?” Chevalier asked.

  “And do they have her?” Kyle asked, looking at Chevalier.

  “I don’t know. I’m not getting anything from her,” he said softly.

  “Have any Encala or Valle been spotted in the city?” Leonid asked Damon.

  “Not since the mortal that Emily knew, but that was a long time ago,” he replied.

  “Tim?” Chevalier frowned.

  “Yeah, him.”

  “A mortal couldn’t do this.”

  “Not alone, no.”

  “Bring him up here,” Chevalier ordered the guards. The Council’s conference room was quiet while they waited for the guards to bring him up. Tim came in, cowering from the guards, and sat down on the end chair.

  “You… you called for me?” Tim asked, looking around at them.

&
nbsp; “What did you do?” Chevalier asked, pounding his fist on the table.

  Tim jumped, “What?” he asked quickly.

  “We know you did something… something that made us do things to Emily to drive her off,” Leonid said, watching Tim carefully.

  “I didn’t do anything,” he whispered.

  Chevalier brought his fist down on Tim’s hand, and everyone in the room could hear the bones crush. Tim screamed.

  “Try again,” Chevalier said, sitting back down.

  “I didn’t… I swear,” Tim cried, cradling his hand.

  Chevalier began to get up, but Damon beat him to it, “Wrong answer.”

  Damon quickly reached out to Tim and pulled his arm out of the socket. It dangled limply at his side as he screamed again.

  “It’s not me… I promise… it’s the Encala,” Tim said, crying.

  “What are they doing?” Leonid asked him.

  “I don’t know. They sent me in to see who was closest to Emily... That’s all I know,” he said, as tears streamed down his face.

  “So you are in on it. Who do you report to?” Damon asked, and purposely bumped his limp arm.

  “Stop, stop, I’ll tell you everything.” Tim said, groaning.

  “Start talking, Boy,” Maleth hissed.

  “They have a mind controller… but they needed to know who she was closest too. I was to tell them when she left, so then they could pick her up,” Tim said, watching the floor and speaking through sobs.

  “Did you do it? Did you tell them when she left?” Damon asked.

  Tim nodded, “I had to, or they would kill me.”

  “Who did you tell?”

  “The Encala Elders.”

  Damon blurred behind Tim and wrenched his neck to the side, easily killing him. Tim’s body fell to the floor of the conference room.

  “Call the Encala Elders here, tonight,” Chevalier said, slamming his chair against the wall as he stood. “Kyle, call Alec, see if Emily is there.”

  “She won’t go back there. She knows we would check,” Kyle said, deep in thought.

  “Then where else can she be?” he asked.

  “You gave her the money to buy a ranch, maybe she has it already,” Kyle suggested.

  “No, I put more money in there last week and the full amount was there. It takes time to buy a ranch.” Chevalier narrowed his eyes, “Let me see how much is in there now.”

  “You promised her…” Kyle said, and then stopped.

  Chevalier dialed a number and after a few minutes hung up, “The full amount is there, so she’s not at a hotel unless she has money elsewhere.”

  ***

  “Sam,” Emily called from the bathroom floor.

  “Yes, Emily?” he asked, opening it slowly.

  “Here’s your damn test,” she told him, throwing the blue plastic stick to him. He caught it and looked at it for a few seconds.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and tossed it into the trash.

  “I don’t need this right now. I don’t need to be pregnant while I try to set up a new life,” she told him, slipping down the wall onto the floor.

  “I know,” he whispered, and watched her. He sighed when the phone in his pocket rang. For the past few weeks they had been in Kyle’s house, it had gone off several times a day

  “Let me have it,” Emily said, reaching her hand out. She hadn’t spoken to anyone from the palace since Chevalier’s first call, so she thought she’d give Sam a break. He handed the phone to her.

  “What?”

  “Emily?” Chevalier asked, surprised.

  “Who were you expecting?”

  “You sound like something’s wrong, tell me,” he said, concerned.

  “Why did you call?”

  “You have to listen to me, Em. We were being controlled by the Encala. We didn’t hurt you, I swear. Kyle is out of jail too, that wasn’t him,” he spoke as fast as he could, before she could hang up.

  “Nice try, don’t you get it? I’m tired of it… the attacks, the bites, being watched, and chastised like a child when I need to get away,” she explained.

  “I know, but we can work it out.”

  “It’s too late. Do you know how many times I’ve been hit since I left? None… and how many times someone’s bitten me since I left? None.”

  “Please, Emily, I love you.”

  She squeezed her eyes together, “I know,” she said, her voice cracking, “But it’s over. I can’t do it anymore.”

  “We can change,” he said, desperately. She clicked the phone shut and leaned her head back. Sam left quietly and went out to the living room to play with Allen.

  Emily came out a short time later with crackers. She handed one to Allen, and then sat down on the couch to eat the other one.

  “We could get rid of it,” Sam said, watching her.

  “What?” she asked, looking at him.

  “The baby.”

  She sighed, “I can’t do that.”

  “I figured.” He then turned into a cat and pawed at Allen playfully.

  ***

  “We don’t know what you’re talking about and are offended by the idea of it,” the Encala Elder said. They sent only one Elder and three of his guards.

  “We already know you did it. Your weak mortal pawn told us that. What we need to know is how,” Damon said, looking down at him.

  “I won’t stand here and be insulted.” The Encala Elder turned for the door.

  “You do realize you aren’t leaving here until we get what we want,” Damon said, as the room filled with the Cavalry.

  He spun toward the Council, “You can’t hold me here.”

  “We can. You broke all rules when you controlled us to gain access to the Winchester,” Maleth told him angrily.

  “Oh? Is she gone then?” the Encala Elder smiled.

  “No, we stopped her, but we know what your plans were,” Damon told him.

  “She’s not here.” He grinned, “We are watching her closely.”

  “That’s a lie,” Chevalier said. “If you know where she is, you would have her already. You wouldn’t stand by and watch her.”

  “Believe what you want,” he said. The Encala turned to leave, but was stopped by the strong hands of the Cavalry.

  “Let us know when you are ready to talk,” Damon said, and nodded. The Cavalry roughly forced the Encala out of the room and into prison cells.

  “After the interrogation room, flood light into their cell. I don’t want them seeing darkness,” Chevalier ordered, and then stood up and left the room. He hadn’t been back to their bedroom yet, and he hesitated outside of the door.

  As he walked in, he noticed how quiet and cold the room seemed. Emily’s things were scattered around the room, her suitcase, half packed, was still sitting on the bed. He picked up her sweater and held it in his hands, feeling the softness of it and he could pick up a trace of her scent.

  Sitting on the bed, Chevalier reached out for her and again felt nothing. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t tell how she felt, but the silence was foreign to him and he growled.

  ***

  “Emily, I brought you some breakfast,” Sam said, walking into the dark room.

  “I’m not hungry,” she said from under the covers.

  “You haven’t gotten out of bed in four days. You can’t hide.”

  “Just leave,” she said, and sighed when the phone rang again.

  “Sam here,” he said, answering.

  “Emily,” He turned to her, “It’s Kyle.”

  A hand shot out from under the covers and he handed her the phone, “When will you stop calling us?”

  “Emily, are you ok?”

  “Yes”

  “You sound sick.”

  “Thanks”

  Kyle paused, “Chevalier is telling the truth. Remember when I told you in the prison that I couldn’t remember the island? It also happened to him and Maleth.”

  “Even if I believed you, it wouldn’t matter. I can�
��t live with the heku anymore. I can’t be trapped, and watched, and monitored.”

  “We’ve talked about that, and it will be different, I promise.”

  “You say that now, but the next time I’m attacked, it will all come back. Don’t you realize how much easier life at the palace will be without me?”

  “I know how boring it will be.”

  “Good-bye, Kyle,” she said, and hung up the phone. She felt guilty. She was in his house, using his money, and couldn’t even tell him where she was.

  “Emily, I’m going into town for some supplies. Do you need anything?” Sam asked.

  “Yes, I need some shoes. I still don’t have any… and some clothes. I can’t keep wearing Kyle’s shirts around,” she said, sitting up, “We need to start looking for a ranch.”

  Sam smiled, he was glad to see her out of bed, “I’ll take Allen. He’s getting cabin fever.”

  She nodded and headed in to take a long, hot shower. When she got out of the bathroom, she saw new jeans and t-shirts on the bed. She slipped into them and went downstairs, where Sam was looking through the paper.

  “Find anything?” she asked, sitting down with a glass of 7-up.

  “There’s some ranch property in Montana,” he said, looking up.

  She shook her head, “I don’t want memories, no Montana, no Maine, and no Colorado.”

  Sam frowned, “Morning sickness still bad?”

  “Yeah, I guess, same as last time. What about Texas?”

  He thumbed through the newspaper, “Wow, there’s a lot of property for sale in Texas. What’s our price range?”

  “I don’t really know. I can call and find out,” she said, grabbing the envelope from the table and pulling out a bank card. She called the number, entered more numbers, and gasped. She hung up the phone and disappeared into the bedroom.

  “Mommy’s crying,” Allen said, looking at Sam.

  “Come on, let’s go look through those toys we got.” Sam took Allen’s hand.

  ***

  Chevalier stood outside the strange ranch house and looked around. The house was quiet, and there was a black Dodge pick-up outside by the garage. He heard hoof beats as someone rode toward him. He turned and watched the boy on the horse. He was a teenager with black hair and green eyes.

  “Who’re you?” he asked, stopping his horse at Chevalier.

  “Are you Allen?”

  “Yeah.” The boy looked at him curiously.