Eleanor

by S. F. Burgess

  “Two.”

  “Oh.” Eleanor considered this, another question occurring to her. “How can the Enforcers be as powerful as you say they are, but be enslaved to the Lords of Maydrin?”

  “Mydren,” Conlan corrected. “When those with magical talent are found, usually as children, they are forced into an addiction to a drug, the details of which are known only to the Lords. Once addicted, the Lords’ will is their only concern.”

  “How many Enforcers are there?”

  Conlan shrugged. “Several hundred, I would assume.”

  Eleanor paled slightly. “How many Lords are there?”

  “Eighty.”

  “OK then, five of us, two shamans and a warhorse. I think we’re a little outnumbered.”

  Conlan nodded. “Hence my desire to avoid drawing attention to ourselves.”

  Eleanor ignored the rebuke in his tone. “So I’m here to help you communicate with and control the elements by getting this ‘connection’ thing Amelia was talking about working?”

  “That’s the plan,” Conlan confirmed.

  “But I’ve no idea how to do that,” Eleanor said, her voice sounding small again.

  “Join the club,” Freddie murmured.

  “I’m sure it will come to you,” Conlan said reassuringly, but Eleanor saw the looks of doubt Will and Amelia gave each other behind his back. Leaving that huge problem for a moment, Eleanor’s overactive mind spat another question at him.

  “How do you know all this?”

  “Pardon?”

  Eleanor gave him a scrutinising look. “Well, you said that people didn’t remember the past because the Lords hid it from them, so how did you find out about us?”

  “My grandfather used to tell me stories about the Five when I was a child,” he said, returning her look with calm, emotionless green eyes.

  “And how did he know?” Eleanor persisted.

  “That, Eleanor, is a whole other story.”

  Freddie raised his head and glared at Conlan, a bitter edge in his voice as he spoke. “My grandfather used to tell me stories too when I was a kid, but they turned out to be a bunch of fairy tales and hokum, just an old man making up stories to entertain a hyper child. How do we know your grandfather’s stories are real?”

  “You wouldn’t exist if they weren’t,” Conlan snapped.

  “And how do we know that? There could be any number of reasons why we exist that you haven’t seen fit to tell us about, like fools dabbling in black magic for instance!”

  “I’ve seen the portal, Freddie, and the shamans have confirmed certain aspects of my grandfather’s stories.” Conlan’s tone was suddenly very calm, rational, like he was trying to talk a jumper off a roof, but Eleanor knew it was too late. Freddie’s eyes were blazing again; his fist gripped, knuckles white, to the edge of the cushion as the fire leaped and spat. Conlan watched Freddie carefully as he attempted to get himself back under control.

  “Fight it back down, Freddie, control it,” he said softly. Cautiously Eleanor reached for Freddie’s hand. Conlan shook his head fractionally to warn her off, but she ignored him. Freddie’s skin was so hot to the touch that Eleanor almost pulled her hand back, but then he grabbed her. Conlan, Will and Amelia tensed and Eleanor was no longer in the cave, no longer anywhere. She was swept into a swirling orange red inferno, and burning agony poured through every nerve ending of a body that was no longer there. My body isn’t here, she thought over and over. I can’t be burnt.

  This slowly calmed her down and the agony eased off. Why isn’t my body here? Am I dead? Stood before her, enveloped in the inferno, was a figure made entirely of flame, just like a stunt in the movies. The figure twisted and writhed in the conflagration. Freddie? There was no sound beyond the crackling and roar of the flame, but the figure turned towards her.

  Eleanor? I can hear you. What are you doing in my head? Freddie’s agonised voice echoed in a skull she did not have, like Conlan’s voice had when she had died. She looked the figure up and down.

  I have no idea. That must hurt.

  Yes it does, Freddie agreed. But I have to pull the fire back into me to calm it.

  Wouldn’t it be better to just to get rid of it?

  Get rid of it where? If I just let it go I could hurt someone… again.

  Eleanor considered this problem. Her mind spat out all sorts of solutions, but Freddie did not comment on any of them. Maybe he can’t see my thoughts – I can’t read his mind, so I guess he can’t read mine. That seemed like a theory to consider later, when Freddie was no longer in pain.

  Can it be grounded, like electricity? she said, more to herself than to Freddie.

  Send it into the earth? Freddie asked.

  Eleanor nodded and then realised how futile the gesture was as she currently did not have a head.

  Yes, she said. After all, you throw earth over a campfire to put it out, so let the earth absorb the fire when you can’t.

  There was a pause.

  I can’t push my energy into the earth, it just bounces back.

  Wanting to help, Eleanor reached out for him, as if she had arms with which to smoother Freddie’s flames. She felt a strong glowing heat burst through her and the inferno dropped back to the comforting warmth of the campfire.

  Her eyes were open and she was lying on her side staring into the fire’s glowing depths, her head resting in Amelia’s lap. Conlan was kneeling stiffly next to her, concern creating a deep frown between his eyes. Will had dragged Freddie a little distance from her, crouching behind him and holding a restraining arm across his chest. The silence was deafening. Raising her head so she could look Freddie in his now calm black eyes, Eleanor smiled.

  Freddie just stared at her.

  “Wow!” Was all the acknowledgment he could manage.

  “What happened, are you alright?” Amelia asked.

  Conlan looked from Freddie to Eleanor and back again, his look of concern changing to surprise and then to an almost religious zeal.

  “You connected, didn’t you? I didn’t even have to get close, you did it all by yourselves.”

  “Eleanor did it, Boss, and it was so much more powerful than anything we’ve managed before. I didn’t just feel her, we spoke, in my head – she took the fire away,” Freddie said in awe. Conlan stared at Eleanor, again that strange penetrating look that made her wonder what he was thinking.

  “Could you do it again?” he asked.

  “Again?” Eleanor asked incredulously. “I have no idea how I did it in the first place.”

  “Try.” There was something alarming about this fevered insistence in a man she associated with cold, calm restraint. She cringed back, but her voice was strong.

  “No.”

  “Let her be, you’re scaring her,” Amelia said, her tone a little too high-pitched.

  I’m not the only one who’s frightened, Eleanor thought.

  Conlan took a deep, frustrated breath. “OK, but will you try again for me tomorrow?”

  Eleanor felt the bone-deep exhaustion that was crawling through her body pushing her towards total collapse. Whatever she had done had practically drained the life out of her. She was not sure she could have done it again straight away, even if she had wanted to, and she needed time to understand what had happened, but perhaps she could use this to get Conlan to take some rest.

  “No,” she said, trying her best to look determined.

  “Why not?” Conlan asked, seeming genuinely surprised.

  Eleanor smiled. “Will says you need to rest and heal; if you don’t spend at least the next week…”

  “Two,” Will said, trying to hide his treachery in a cough. Conlan glared at him.

  Without missing a beat Eleanor continued, “… two weeks in bed, I’m not going to try to ‘connect’ to anything ever again.”

  The chagrin in Conlan’s face was almost comical. “You’re blackmailing me?”

  “Yep!” Eleanor nodded. “Go to bed, stay in bed, get better. The world has waite
d seven hundred years to be saved, I’m sure two more weeks won’t be the end of it.”

  “She’s got you, Boss, just admit defeat gracefully and go back to bed,” Will said, unable to keep the grin off his face. Still looking extremely annoyed, Conlan nodded and allowed Will to help him to his feet. They watched him walk stiffly back to bed.

  “You are either unbelievably brave or really, really stupid,” Freddie commented, shaking his head.

  All evidence to the latter.

  Eleanor looked up into Amelia’s gentle, smiling face. “Amelia, I don’t feel so good.”

  “What’s the matter, sweetie?” concern replacing Amelia’s smile.

  “I’m so exhausted. I’ve never felt this tired before,” she whispered.

  “You used your Avatar abilities to connect with Freddie,” Will said, sitting at her side. “We aren’t human anymore, but our bodies are very similar and they carry more power than they were meant to. Our Avatar energy and our physical energies are linked. When we use our Avatar energy it drains our physical bodies; conversely, if we overtax our physical bodies we drain our Avatar energy to compensate. The balance takes a bit of getting used to, but it will get easier.”

  “I really am different,” Eleanor murmured. Against her wishes, her eyes closed and she slipped into empty black sleep.

  Trial and Error

  Conlan’s two weeks’ enforced rest passed quickly for Eleanor. Freddie became her constant companion, and in-between chores he showed her the mountains’ secret wonders. They walked across a lake, frozen to several inches by the winter’s icy breath, in the bowl of a mountain top. Stunningly beautiful, Eleanor loved the way the sunlight made the reeds on the bank sparkle like gems in their frosty jackets. They sat on the high bluffs watching eagles swoop and scream. Freddie showed her how to track the hare- and weasel-like creatures that lived around the lake, and he pointed out the tracks left by a frighteningly large cat that he said looked like a puma.

  The more time she spent with Freddie, the more Eleanor was able to gauge his moods. When she felt the fire rising within him, she would reach out and smother the flames. This was not like the involuntary connection she had made before, as this required effort, thought and control. It felt like she had a ball of energy in her stomach, and if she closed her eyes she could picture it as a ball of glowing green light. If she pushed hard enough she could force strings of green light out of the ball, sending them sparking off in specific directions. To begin with she had to do this with her eyes shut to keep control, imagining the glowing, pulsing green arcs. With practice she found she could stretch a string towards Freddie and absorb the fire that raged within him, but it was difficult and required a delicate touch. The first time she tried it she knocked Freddie off his feet and exhausted herself so much that she collapsed. Nevertheless, the more she practiced, the more control she acquired, and eventually she was able to push an energy string out to Freddie without having to close her eyes. Through trial and error she discovered a small drip-feed of effort worked the best, just enough to keep the edge off the flames, but not so much that Eleanor could not function afterwards. After a few days, her touch had become so light that Freddie barely noticed her constant small adjustments, although he was enthusiastic about the results, offering Eleanor a gift in return – anything she wanted that was within his power to give. Terrified at the thought of having to face the Protectors, or even worse an Enforcer, Eleanor had asked him to teach her how to fight.

  It was early when Freddie woke her. In the soft, wavering light of the guttering candle Amelia liked to have lit at night, Eleanor could see the other three still sleeping soundly. Grinning at Freddie she silently pulled on her boots and jacket, following him out into the crisp, sharp, dark world outside. She was still not fully awake when they reached the frozen lake, and she nearly lost Freddie completely as he deviated off their normal path and had to run to catch up with him.

  “Freddie, where are we going?” Her voice sounded muted, muffled by the snow. Freddie did not turn round, but pointed to a black cave mouth at the bottom of the valley they were entering.

  Dawn’s sunshine was beginning to pour into the valley as they reached the cave’s entrance, but its thinner winter light did little to reveal the interior. Eleanor shivered as a strange and very strong primeval fear gripped her. Freddie laughed.

  “You’re the Avatar of Earth Eleanor, it’s just a cave; you’ve nothing to fear.”

  It’s not the earth I’m worried about, Eleanor thought, images of animals, all teeth and claws, ripping through her mind. Freddie smiled reassuringly and grabbed her hand, leading her into the dark. Once they had gone a few feet, the dark began to fall in around them.

  “Eleanor, you know that thing you’re doing? Stopping the fire getting too high?” Freddie said.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, could you stop for a moment?”

  “Yes, why?” Eleanor asked, as she visualised pulling the string back into the green energy ball.

  Freddie pulled something from his pocket. Eleanor saw the sparks as he hit two pieces of flint together, making glowing spots in her eyes that she could still see after the darkness had reclaimed them. Eventually he lit a candle and sat for a moment staring at it.

  “Freddie, what are you doing?”

  “We have to walk some distance and the candle won’t stay lit. The air keeps blowing it out, but if I concentrate on the flame and let the energy build a little, I can see in the dark.”

  “Really?”

  “You think I’m a freak.”

  Eleanor smiled. “No, I think that’s awesome. Seriously, worthy of Spider-Man or Batman or something. I wish I had a power.”

  Freddie relaxed suddenly and laughed. “You got Conlan to stay in bed for two weeks, that’s power right there!”

  “Some power – he’s going to wait two weeks, jump out of bed and beat me to death!”

  “Don’t worry, Eleanor; I wouldn’t let him do that.” Freddie had tried to make the comment light, but Eleanor heard the dark edge to his voice. “OK, I can see now, let me guide you.”

  Freddie took her hand again, leading her forward. They walked for a while in silence, the darkness so thick it was almost a living thing. Eleanor was finding it difficult to keep her breathing and heart rate under control.

  Eventually Freddie stopped, letting go of her hand.

  “We’re here. I’ll light a fire. Stand still, OK?”

  Eleanor jumped a mile at the sound of his voice and was profoundly grateful when she saw the sparks fly again as he struck the flints together. They quickly caught, and as the kindling began to burn, the light illuminated the cave around her. It’s a big space, she thought, looking round, almost as big as the main cave back home… Home? She had not been consciously aware of it before, but she realised that she did indeed think of their cave as home. Guilt stabbed at her as she realised she did not really miss her old life; her memories of it had taken on the strange, half-remembered quality of a dream.

  “Freddie, do you miss home? The one from before you died?”

  “Sometimes I still miss my family and friends, but I’m not homesick anymore.”

  “How long did it take you to stop being homesick?”

  “I’m not sure, about six months, why? Are you missing home or someone special?”

  “No, that’s just it. I’ve been here less than a month and I hardly think about before,” Eleanor said, unable to keep the guilt out of her voice.

  “Maybe your mind is just making it easier for you to adjust. Don’t be too hard on yourself, everybody reacts differently to change and frankly you appear to be handling this whole insane mess far better than I am,” Freddie said.

  The fire was now a roaring blaze. Freddie had lit several candles, and looking around Eleanor realised that the cave had been set up to be lived in – there were blankets, cushions, supplies and wood for the fire already stacked up against the wall.

  “You’ve been here before.”

&
nbsp; “I was thinking about hiding away for a while, see if I could get a handle on this fire business.” Freddie shook his head. “I used to be a fireman, but now I’m fire itself.”

  “I was working in a jewellery shop.” Eleanor shuddered as a dark shadow passed across her mind and strong feelings of shame, guilt and regret rose through her, but she shoved them back down. “But I was saving up to study Geology at university; I’ve always been fascinated by the Earth.”

  “I guess that passion is what drew Conlan to our souls in the first place,” Freddie said thoughtfully.

  “Or maybe this was always our destiny,” Eleanor mused.

  “You really think so?” Freddie asked.

  “Maybe coming here is my reason for being; maybe helping Conlan will allow me the chance to actually make a difference.” Or to atone, she added silently.

  Freddie looked at her, his dark eyes glittering, and Eleanor realised his energy was getting dangerously high; she reached out to smother it, staggering slightly at the effort required to do it. It did not take long for her to recover though, as control was getting easier and easier.

  Freddie started her first lesson in unarmed combat; he said it reminded him of the karate he had once taken. They went slowly and carefully to begin with, but as the days went by Freddie pushed her harder and harder. Eleanor discovered that she enjoyed fighting, and she particularly liked the feeling of her body getting stronger and fitter. Freddie was an excellent teacher – steady, patient and knowledgeable – he set up a punishing regime of stretches and core strengthening exercises before each practice, always pushing her that little bit further. As the lessons progressed, Eleanor realised that the more effort she put into it, the more she got out of it.

  “You’ve been doing really well, but your concentration is all over the place today,” Freddie said, handing her a cup of water.

  It was mid-afternoon and they were taking a five-minute breather. Eleanor could feel the sweat running down her back, but even the energising feeling of pushing her body to the limits could not totally distract her.