Encala : Book 3 of the Heku Series

by T. M. Nielsen

  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.

  Emily 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.

  “Just calm, Child. We can discuss this,” the tallest Encala Elder said.

  “Start discussing,” she snapped.

  “We can pay you, anything you would like, for a female infant,” he said, smiling.

  Emily laughed some, “No.”

  “Consider it, Child. It would bring peace back to the factions.”

  “Call me child again and you won’t get another breath.”

  He stepped back behind his guard, “No offense.”

  “If it’s peace you want, then why would I give you a weapon?” she asked him.

  “To even things up.”

  “It’s out of the question. As it stands, the Equites have me and I am in control of my abilities, which makes me the peace keeper.”

  “Still unfair,” the Valle Elder said.

  “I’m pregnant now… which of you gets the baby?” she asked, and sat back in the large chair.

  Chevalier looked at her oddly and secretly smelled her. Her smell was not off, it was normal, and he turned back to them and grinned.

  “Is that true?” the Encala asked Chevalier.

  He nodded, “Yes.”

  Emily watched as the Encala and Valle Elders began to bicker. Soon, their arguments turned into pushing and then a fight erupted with the Equites Council watching.

  “Enough!” Maleth yelled, and the fighting heku looked at him. “Lady Emily is not with child, but she has proven to us that you do not have the ability to control one of the Winchesters, as you can’t even control yourselves.”

  “It is only fair that we have equal powers to you!” the Valle yelled.

  “We will get a Winchester… even if it causes another war,” the Encala said, sternly.

  “Over my dead body,” Emily yelled, watching them.

  “That is all we will say about it. You haven’t proven to us that you ca
n handle a Winchester in your faction,” Leonid said. He then stood and exited out the back door, followed by Maleth and most of the Council.

  Chevalier and Emily sat and watched as the opposing factions scowled and left the room, bumping shoulders angrily with Emily’s guards.

  “They are going to try to get me aren’t they?” Emily asked, looking over at Chevalier. She saw her guards move in closer to them.

  “Yes,” he scowled.

  Emily looked over at her guards, “You ready for this?”

  One of them smiled, broadly, “They won’t get past us… Wow, we really are guarding a Winchester!”

  Chevalier stood up, “I need to talk to the Council alone.”

  Emily nodded and stood up with help, “That’s fine. I’m going to take Allen down to the kitchen for some dinner.”

  Chevalier appeared in the Council’s conference room and saw all were present before he shut the door, “Interesting.”

  “Yes, very. Each faction having a Winchester would cause an immediate war. Each thinking they could obliterate the other,” Maleth said, as his fingertips pressed together.

  “Emily was right. She is more of a peace keeper to us… their fear of her keeps them at bay,” Leonid said. “If they had the same ability, it would most surely cause conflict.”

  “Not to mention, Lady Emily made it very clear she wasn’t going to give each of them a baby,” Damon reminded them.

  “It’s different with mortals. They are extremely attached to their offspring. There’s no way she would willingly give up a baby,” the Chief of Finances explained.

  Chevalier nodded, “Now, though, we need to be ready for attacks. If the Valle and Encala team up and attack, it is not going to be a pretty fight.”

  “How many can Emily take care of at a time?” Damon asked.

  “I wasn’t there, but Kyle said she took out 13 in quick succession, and over a two-hour period, turned 83 to ash.”

  “That’s not enough to protect us against a combined attack,” Leonid said, looking around the Council.

  “It also begins to wear on her. At first, as you saw previously, she could turn them to ash in less than a second. The more she does, the longer it takes,” Chevalier said, leaning against the table.

  “We cannot let them get a Winchester,” Damon said, icily.

  “So what do we do? Take her out of the palace to an undisclosed location?” Maleth asked.

  “That’s risky,” Damon said. “Here she is well guarded. If we send her out, she’ll have what? The Elder and maybe 30 guards? If her location was discovered, it would be easy for them to take her.”

  “I could take her back to the Island. The pier is the only way in and there are a thousand heku living there,” Chevalier said, deep in thought.

  “That’s one of the first places they would look for her,” Damon said.

  “Is it a practiced skill?” Leonid asked. “I mean, if she practiced would she get better at it? Maybe able to do a hundred at a time?”

  Chevalier shrugged, “I’m not sure. She won’t do it though. The only way to practice would be to turn a heku into ash.”

  “So we agree she’s safer here?” Maleth asked them all.

  When no one disagreed, he turned to Chevalier, “Will she abide by strict rules?”

  “That would depend on the rule. She’s not unreasonable, but sometimes the seriousness of the danger eludes her,” Chevalier explained.

  “We have to consider that they may try to take Allen as a means to lure her to them,” Damon said.

  Chevalier was surprised he hadn’t thought of that, and was glad that Damon was made the Chief Enforcer. He was sharp and missed nothing.

  “What rules shall we enforce then? She has 2 guards on her at all times, and so far hasn’t skipped out on them,” Maleth said.

  “She promised not to, for that, she saw the need,” Chevalier said.

  “I say we up it to four and two on Allen,” Damon suggested, and the rest of the Council agreed.

  “No more horseback riding through the city,” Maleth suggested.

  “Can we keep her confined to her room then?” Leonid asked.

  Chevalier grinned, “No… we cannot. She’s mortal, they aren’t known for their patience, and when Emily gets bored, she gets into trouble.”

  “Can we confine her to the palace?”

  He shook his head, “She’ll fight against that.”

  “So she is unable to sit in one location for long?” one of the council members asked.

  “That’s common for most mortals,” Chevalier said, smiling. He knew Emily was actually worse than most.

  “So is there nothing we can do more than four guards for her and two for Allen?” Maleth asked, frowning.

  “What about the Cavalry training? She’s not going to want to give that up,” Chevalier said.

  “I say she keeps training. During that time, she is with no less than thirteen guards at once,” Leonid said, and smiled slightly.

  “Alert her guards, I don’t care what it is, if anything suspicious happens around Emily, they are to dispose of the culprit,” Damon said, sternly.

  “Just please, don’t let Emily know that,” Chevalier said.

  “Will you please ask her to be more careful about where she goes? Maybe stress the importance of not slipping her guard, though it shocks me that a mortal can elude two heku,” Damon said, baffled.

  “You just don’t know Emily,” Chevalier replied.

  “There’s one more thing…” It seemed like Maleth was hesitating.

  “Yes?” Chevalier asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “Allen is almost 3, is he not?”

  “Yes”

  “Were there plans for another?”

  “No, Emily doesn’t want more,” Chevalier told them.

  Maleth gasped, “So the Winchesters will die off with her?”

  Chevalier nodded, “It’s not my place to insist on another baby. She’s the one that has to carry it, and go through labor, and she doesn’t want to.”

  “Those powers though, we can’t let them disappear,” Leonid added.

  “I don’t think she cares about the powers. She’s been attacked her entire life, including when guarded, and she may not wish to pass that on.”

  “Ask her, please. See if she will consider having a girl,” Maleth asked.

  “You realize we don’t get to choose the gender.” Chevalier gave half-grin.

  Maleth nodded, “Still, please try.”

  “I will ask, but I know already what the answer will be.”

  “How is it being prevented?” Leonid questioned.

  “Pills… mortals have made a pill to prevent pregnancy,” Chevalier said, and then grinned. He still thought that was funny.

  “Replace them with something… something that looks the same,” Maleth thought out loud.

  Chevalier frowned, “I will not. I’m not going to trick her into a baby.”

  “No, no, I didn’t really mean that. All we can ask is for you to try.”

  Once the preparations were made, the Council adjourned for the night. Chevalier met Emily and Allen back up in their room. There were already four guards posted by the door.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he said, watching as Emily and Allen cuddled by the T.V.

  Emily shushed him with her finger, and he noticed that Allen was asleep in her arms.

  Chevalier picked Allen up and laid him down in his bed, kissing his forehead lightly. He came back out and shut the door.

  “I see I got more guards,” Emily said, sitting down on the bed.

  “Yes, the Council is worried about the coming attacks,” he said, joining her.

  “Are you?”

  “Yes,” he said, seriously.

  “Is that it? Four guards?”

  “Four for you and two for Allen.”

  “And?”

  “That’s it for now, though they asked that you not horseback through the city anymore. The Council would feel better if yo
u would stay in the palace, but I’ve told them that won’t happen.” He took her hand in his.