Eleanor

by S. F. Burgess

  Amelia paled and Freddie swallowed, eyes wide.

  Frustrated, Eleanor tried to explain. “I…”

  Conlan whipped round. “Eleanor, you’ve said enough.”

  Taking a deep breath, reaching for calm and determined to get her point across, Eleanor tried again. “You can’t just shut me up because you say so, Conlan, just like you can’t just give orders without at least consulting us.”

  “I have more experience, more knowledge and more idea of what is going on than you will ever have, Eleanor. I give orders to protect you, because I alone know the ramifications of our actions, and frankly it is highly insulting having you question that,” Conlan spat out, switching to Dwarfish, Eleanor assumed, so that he could add his deep growl of contempt for her.

  Hurt and embarrassed, Eleanor felt her argument crushed by Conlan’s icy glare.

  “At the risk of getting my head bitten off too, I would also question the assumption that you are always going to know what is right for us, Conlan.” Will’s Dwarfish ended in the gentle, quiet bark that requested calm from a superior.

  Eleanor watched uncertainty flitter across Conlan’s face.

  “Have I done such a bad job so far?” Conlan asked. Eleanor noticed the reasonable tone of his dwarfish with which he addressed Will and envied the respect Conlan was according him.

  “No, Conlan, that is not what I am saying. Neither was it what Eleanor was saying. I simply believe that as we grow and change, we are moving into new territory and we are going to make a world even you know nothing about. There may even be instances when we are better placed to advise you on the outcome of a course of action than you are to advise us. We need to operate much more as a team.”

  Conlan narrowed his eyes, a deep suspicious growl through the dwarfish.

  “And how would we achieve this?”

  “We should vote!” Eleanor blurted out in English, not knowing the Dwarfish word for ‘vote’.

  “Vote?” Conlan asked confused.

  Will smiled slightly. “Not quite what I had in mind, but it will do. We each decide what we want to do in a situation and we agree to go with the majority.”

  “Will, in a fight that could get us all killed.” Conlan looked horrified, the rumbling growl running through dwarfish indicating his level of distress.

  “No, in immediate life-and-death situations you will still have the lead, we will always require your expertise in this area,” Will reassured him. “But we should get some say as to whether we get into that life-and-death situation in the first place, if possible.”

  There was more silence as Conlan considered this suggestion.

  “If this is a discussion that affects all of us, please can we stick to English?” Freddie asked, looking peeved.

  Conlan sighed. “Eleanor and Will were just saying decisions should be made between all of us. We’re each going to get a say in a course of action and we’ll all then follow the majority. We’re going to ‘vote’.”

  “So we get to vote on whether we should drive off the Protectors or run with our tails between our legs?” Freddie asked, ignoring Conlan’s sharp look.

  Will nodded. “However, we can’t vote if we don’t understand what we are voting on, so, Conlan, please could you explain why you think we should leave?”

  Not looking at all pleased with the request, Conlan thought for a moment.

  “There are just five of us. I don’t care how powerful you think you are, we don’t have the connection working and we therefore can’t fight as one – we have weaknesses. Taking on the Protectors now could reveal those weaknesses, which is something I would rather not do. At the moment they have little idea what we are capable of, so hopefully this will make them pause, sap their courage a little, if we find battle with them unavoidable… and I don’t want you to kill, any of you, if it can be avoided. Purposefully taking a life is unpleasant, nasty, it does things to you.” He looked straight at Eleanor, his voice a whisper. “I never wanted that for you.” Conlan looked Freddie, Amelia and Will in the eye in turn as he continued. “As powerful as you believe yourselves to be, you all still have a lot to learn and I can’t afford to take the risk that I might lose one or all of you. We don’t need to fight a battle we’re not ready for, a battle I’m not ready for, so we should leave.”

  Will nodded. “Eleanor, why do you feel we should stay and fight?”

  “I… I just wanted to scare them away, a rockslide or a flood, something that would drive them back, maybe not even let them know it was us…” She stopped, realising how childish this idea was. The Protectors would know it was them, and they would know for certain they were out there, that they were dangerous. Conlan was right, there were possible outcomes here she had not considered. When she failed to speak further, Will filled the silence.

  “OK, everyone gets one vote. Amelia?”

  “I want to leave.”

  Will nodded, a response he had expected. “Freddie?”

  Freddie looked torn, his eyes moving from Eleanor to Conlan. “I didn’t want to turn and run, because it felt like the coward’s way out, but Conlan’s right – we’re not ready for this. We should go.”

  Will nodded again. “I believe we should leave. If we’re going to announce ourselves I’d like there to be a solid strategic reason for it. I’m assuming Conlan that you still want to leave?”

  “Definitely.”

  Will nodded. “Fine, four against one. We’re leaving, Eleanor.”

  “Unfortunately, this little voting thing has taken more time than we had. The sun will have risen by now, we’ll have to hide out here until dark and hope they don’t find us,” Conlan said in a flat, irritable tone.

  Feeling like she had been kicked in the stomach, and wanting nothing more than to be far away, Eleanor backed out towards the exit.

  “I’ll bring Rand further into the cave, so he can’t be seen,” she said, not looking at any of them.

  The tears started falling before she reached Rand. She felt such a fool. They must think her a bloodthirsty, moronic child – not a good combination in someone with the power she carried. She found Rand and gave him an affectionate pat as he snorted his greeting; at least here was a friend who would not judge her. She entered his mind, explaining that she was going to lead him somewhere dark, but that he could trust her. He followed obediently as she felt her way further down the tunnel, stopping as the firelight came into view. She could see the shadows cast by the others, but did not want to join them. Instead she removed the worn, badly fitting saddle and bridle Conlan had cobbled together after Bremen and started giving Rand a good brushing. Enjoying the attention, he relaxed into a doze and time slipped by.

  “Have you finished sulking yet?”

  Eleanor jumped, turning; Conlan sat on a rock behind her.

  She stared at him for a moment. She was not sulking – she was hurt, embarrassed and feeling an utter idiot, but she held no resentment against them for the decision they had made, only anger and disappointment in herself for being so stupid. Unable to explain this, she went back to brushing Rand, ignoring Conlan.

  “I wanted to give you something,” Conlan said eventually, his voice carefully neutral. Taken totally by surprise by this comment, Eleanor turned to face him again.

  “What?” she snapped. “A good beating?”

  Conlan’s eyes hardened. “I have a lot more reason to be angry about what just happened than you do. I’m trying, so perhaps you could meet me halfway?”

  “What do you have to be angry about? You got what you wanted!”

  “What I wanted?! That is just one decision, and while I’m glad the majority voted in favour of the sane choice, I just lost what nominal control over our actions I had. Will has asked for a ‘sharing’ of decision-making responsibility before; I’ve always managed to talk him round, but this time he had you and you played right into his hands.”

  “Is it really such a bad idea allowing us some share in the planning and decision-making process?” Eleanor
asked, once again feeling there was a whole other level of consequences to her choices that she had not anticipated.

  Conlan sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t know how this will affect things, but all my training tells me that leadership by committee will never work.” He looked exhausted, beaten down almost, and Eleanor hated herself for what she had done.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, fighting back the tears.

  Conlan shrugged. “It’s done. Here, this is what I wanted to give you.” He held out a small book to her. Eleanor put down the brush and took it from him; its blue leather binding was soft and smooth. There was no title on the book, just the Dwarfish symbols for ‘C.B.’ stamped in gold in the bottom corner. Carefully, loving the feel of the thick, little book in her hand, Eleanor opened it, turning the pages. In the dim light she could just make out the title page, which declared the book to be ‘A Guide to Successful Campaigns’. Under the title, in tightly flowing, elegant Dwarfish script was an inscription:

  For my beloved son,

  So you may always win your battles.

  Your loving mother.

  “Your mother gave you this?”

  Conlan nodded.

  “I can’t take it,” Eleanor stammered, shocked by his generosity.

  “I want you to have it – I think you’ll find it interesting, and if you truly wish to share the responsibility for making decisions, you need a more advanced knowledge of strategy than you currently have,” he insisted.

  She clutched the book to her chest, touched that he would want to give her such a valuable gift after what she had done and so very grateful that he was still interested in helping her. She wanted to cry again, but fought it back down. Finding her voice, she marshalled a response. “Thank you.”

  A warm, genuine smile filled his face, a smile that demanded a response that she was only too happy to provide. Standing, Conlan picked up Rand’s brush and continued what Eleanor had started. Rand sighed in contentment.

  Running her fingers over the book, still a little stunned, Eleanor watched the attention he lavished on his beloved horse and felt a strong surge of adoring affection for the man.

  “What was the music you were humming earlier?” Conlan asked, eyeing her over Rand’s back.

  “What music? When?” Eleanor asked, confused.

  “You were humming something while you brushed Rand, I thought I recognised it.”

  “Oh… that.”

  The music, as if summoned by Conlan’s interest, pounded to the forefront of her mind. Slowly, haltingly, she began to hum along to its beautiful, mournful melody. As she moved into the chorus again, a low voice joined her humming – deep, resonating, perfectly pitched and flawlessly in tone, singing lyrics that went with the melody, that told the story of Dwarves mining for diamonds that would one day change the world. Eleanor did not understand all the words, but Conlan’s soft voice as he sang had an intimacy and heart-stopping beauty to it. It gave her goosebumps from the bottom of her feet to the top of her head, making her scalp prickle. He noticed her staring at him and the song came to a stuttering halt. Eleanor continued to stare, until Conlan shrugged uncomfortably.

  “It’s a song my mother used to sing. Where did you hear it?”

  “That was awesome,” Eleanor said, amused as Conlan blushed. “I don’t know where I’ve heard it; Will thinks it came from the book, somehow.”

  “I told you this world had music,” he said quietly.

  Several things clicked through Eleanor’s head. “Conlan, where do the Dwarves live?”

  “I’m not sure; deeper into the mountains somewhere, they keep to themselves. I’ve never met one, why?”

  Eleanor smiled. “I think the book is telling us we need to find them.”

  Diamonds and Dwarves

  They travelled north, which took them further into the mountains. With every mile they covered, the air became colder. It was as if they were moving back in time, moving back into winter. They were also climbing higher, the altitude making the air thinner. Freddie had asked Conlan how high the mountains were and what they were called, he had shrugged; apparently nobody had ever measured them. He was amused to discover that every mountain in Freddie’s world had a known height and that many of them had names.

  They had travelled for over a week, the altitude and Rand’s difficulty with the terrain making it slow going. With every step Eleanor felt her satchel and sleeping blanket get heavier. She was beginning to regret telling Will she was happy to help him carry some of his medical supplies. They trudged on in near silence, walking and breathing requiring their full attention, and when they made camp each evening they could barely keep their eyes open long enough to eat dinner before they fell into exhausted sleep, only to start all over again as the sun rose the next day. Eleanor knew their food stores were getting low. Will had rationed them almost from the start and hunger pulled constantly at her stomach, but what they had was not going to last much longer. Even Rand was having difficulty finding enough to eat as there was precious little foraging available in the snow-topped peaks and stony valleys they now crossed. Here, winter had permanent control.

  The late afternoon sun cast a weak, shadowless light down on them from a grey, rain-laden sky. It was going to pour it down again. Eleanor hated it when it did; her clothes still held the chilling damp from the storm they had walked through two days before. Her nose and cheeks were numb from the biting wind, which had found its way into her clothing with icy fingers so that her teeth chattered uncontrollably. She had been so impressed with the intricate detail of the clues in the book that she really was hoping that somewhere in this barren, cold world there would be more. She and Conlan had worked out that the strange symbols around the picture of the diamond in the book were a way of writing music – it was the song playing in her head. As soon as the concept had registered with her conscious mind, the song had ceased its endless playing. It had been a relief, and now she was concentrating on the mountains before them, looking for something else to help them. She trudged next to Freddie as they followed Rand. Breathing was uncomfortable; it made her feel dizzy and added to the misery of her cold body and grinding stomach. It left her feeling tetchy and irritated. This was a bad idea. Next to her she heard Freddie’s stomach rumble. She gave him a sympathetic smile.

  “Hope we find the Dwarves before we starve to death,” Freddie muttered. Eleanor watched him march ahead. Should we turn back? Her thoughts were interrupted by Will’s energy string brushing against her. She pulled it in as she followed Freddie.

  Freddie has a point, Eleanor, we can’t stumble around blindly for much longer; we’re going to starve to death.

  Can I help?

  Will pushed an unspoken request into her mind.

  Eleanor paled. You want me to call some poor rabbits to their death.

  I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important, you know that, but this is truly us or them. You can talk to animals – I’ve seen you talk to Rand. Just find them, call them to me and get them to stay still. I’ll do the rest.

  Eleanor’s heart twisted. You want me to betray them… to their deaths… to use their innocence against them?

  Please, Eleanor, we’re going to starve, we’re getting dangerously low on supplies. I don’t think we’ve enough to get back anymore, even if we did decide to turn round. Conlan and I haven’t eaten in the last two days in an attempt to make our supplies last longer, but we can’t continue like that.

  Eleanor felt guilt buzz through her mind – she had not known it was so bad. Alright, but I don’t want the others knowing, I don’t want them thinking this is like ordering pizza!

  Fine, we’ll do this quietly, on our own.

  They made camp early that evening, finding a spot out of the biting wind against the mountain wall, an overhang offering some protection from the steady drizzle that had been falling for hours. Eleanor had asked Amelia if she could get rid of it, but she had smiled apologetically, saying that sometimes it just had to rain. She had off
ered to create a shield, but Eleanor had declined, knowing how much it drained her. Will casually suggested they split up into groups and forage for food. Conlan and Freddie were to go in one direction, he and Eleanor the other. Amelia would stay to watch Rand and the fire.

  Eleanor moved through the crags following the path of a long-dead stream, Will following her. She could hear his strained panting; the altitude was having more of an effect on him than it was on her. Not wanting him to suffer, she headed for the nearest high spot she could see – a large flat plateau not far from the camp. Once they reached the summit Will stopped, leaning over, hands braced on his knees. He took a couple of heavy gulping breaths and coughed. He eventually managed to get his breathing down to a steady pant and stood up again, looking round. Eleanor walked as close to the edge of the flat rock as she dared, staring out at the mountains and valleys before her as the sun set behind red and gold clouds to her left. The view was stunning and she took a moment to appreciate the beauty around her before dropping to sit on the ground. Closing her eyes, she felt the fading sun on the left side of her face at the same time as she felt the night’s biting cold on her right. The power of the moment tingled through her as she opened her mind to the world around her. A large grin spread across her face, she took slow, deep breaths before pushing her strings out into the rock and earth below her. Questing tendrils of energy emanated out from her in an ever-growing radius. She was immediately struck by how little life there was out here. However, because there was so little of it, what she did find pulsed like a lighthouse in the darkness. Moving slowly she located and called three large hares to her. She had spent quite some time searching for a fourth when several of her energy stings found the same thing at once. Life, massive amounts of it, in the distance, deep in the mountain directly in front of her, maybe a day’s travel away. She concentrated, focusing on the area, investigating. The Dwarves? It had to be. She was too far away to feel individual life forces, but the huge pulsing mass in the distance was like a bonfire to her senses. Excited and relieved, she began pulling her energy back so she could tell Will.