“Mydren?”
“This world, this land, is one huge continent, and they call it Mydren. It means ‘blessed’ in their language, a misnomer if ever there was one.” Bitter misery suffused his voice.
“If we shouldn’t exist, why did Conlan create us?” Eleanor asked, confused.
Freddie’s face twisted into a sneer. “He has a lot of half-baked delusions of grandeur. I think he’s trying to make himself feel better about being disowned by his father. I don’t think he has a clue what he’s going to do with this ‘power’ we are meant to provide him with. In the meantime, we’re condemned to this.” A flick of his hand encompassed the cave.
“Why do you stay here if you feel this way?” Eleanor asked.
“Weren’t you listening?” Freddie snapped. “We’re abominations, Eleanor, objects of hate and distrust, hunted like animals. Where would I go?”
Eleanor turned to face Amelia and Will; they were both still, listening, they did not seem surprised. Will was glaring at Freddie, but Amelia just looked sad.
“Is it true?” Eleanor asked.
“He’s entitled to his opinion, but I think he’s being a little unfair,” Amelia said, ignoring the sour look Freddie gave her.
“Conlan gave up almost everything he had to create us,” Will agreed, watching Freddie intently. “And he truly believes what he is doing is right. I, for one, believe in him.”
“What a surprise, always the loyal water boy!” Freddie retorted.
Will sprang to his feet, moving away from Amelia, his eyes wary. Freddie leapt up, the fire blazed higher, spitting sparks. Frightened, Eleanor scrambled out of the way, unconsciously seeking safety with Amelia.
“He’s a spoilt little rich boy with daddy issues, why do you insist on defending him?” Freddie yelled.
“He gave you a new life, at the very least that should have earned him your respect. We’re in this together, Freddie, please let’s not fight about it,” Will said gently. Freddie glared for a moment, his eyes blazing, and then he sprung at Will, punching and kicking as he wrestled the taller man to the floor. Will fought back, but Freddie had the upper hand, and straddling the blond man’s chest he punched at him repeatedly. Will gave Freddie a vicious punch to the side, Freddie arched back and Will threw him off. The two men struggled to their feet again, circling, looking for an opening. Amelia sobbed with each blow Freddie landed, but she made no move to intervene.
“Amelia, we have to stop them,” Eleanor said.
Not taking her eyes off the two men as they fought, Amelia shook her head.
“We can’t get involved, Eleanor.”
“But they are going to hurt each other.”
Amelia nodded, tears running down her face, but she still did not move. Eleanor ran towards the two men, placing herself between them.
“Stop this!” she yelled. “I thought we were on the same side, but you’re behaving like children. You’re upsetting Amelia and you’re frightening me.”
A guilty look crossed Will’s bruised face, but Freddie just shoved Eleanor out of the way, throwing her off her feet, and launched himself at Will again. Eleanor landed heavily on her back, the breath knocked out of her lungs. Amelia ran to her, cradling her head as she struggled to catch her breath. Will glanced worriedly in their direction, but Freddie’s fresh assault forced him back into the fight.
“
Enough
!”
The order was emphasised by a low, menacing growl. Conlan was glaring at them. He stood with one arm wrapped protectively around him, but even beaten, bare-footed and in just his trousers, Conlan’s presence was enough that all four of them froze.
“I need to strengthen the sedative,” Will muttered.
If Conlan heard him, he gave no indication. His cold, hard gaze remained riveted on Freddie. Under its scrutiny the fire seemed to go out of his eyes, the flames behind him damping down. Deflated, Freddie moved from Will’s bruised, angry look, to Amelia’s distraught, tear-stained face, to Eleanor’s pained expression; a look of horror crossed his face.
“What have I done?” He sounded small and broken, and so bewildered that Eleanor’s heart ached for him.
“You lost control again.” Conlan’s voice was hard and flat.
Will moved to crouch at Eleanor’s side. “Are you OK?”
Eleanor nodded, not trusting her voice to hide her fear. Will’s deep-blue eyes looked lovingly at Amelia as he squeezed her hand.
“It’s over, Amelia, it’s OK.”
Unhappy grey eyes looked back. “Over for now, but what about the next time?”
Conlan walked stiffly to Freddie’s side and took his arm. Freddie cringed away from him.
Conlan led Freddie into the side cave he had used for sword practice earlier, speaking in a soothing voice. “It’s OK, Freddie, you’ve nothing to fear.”
“What’s he going to do to Freddie?” Eleanor asked, watching them go.
“Conlan will talk to him,” Will said, glancing at her, his attention mostly on Amelia’s frightened face. Eleanor did not think ‘talking through stuff’ was one of Conlan’s strong points. Will must have seen her doubt.
“This wasn’t Freddie’s fault, Eleanor. Conlan knows that, he’s not going to hurt him,” he assured her.
Eleanor shook her head. “He attacked you, Will, with very little provocation; how is that not his fault?”
“He’s the element of fire. Fire is a very destructive and unpredictable force. Since there is nearly always a fire blazing somewhere around him, Freddie feels its pull far more than we feel the pull of our elements. It’s a very difficult element to control and can flare up with very little effort.”
“I’m surrounded by earth all the time; I haven’t lashed out,” Eleanor said, confused.
“No, your temper takes far more to bring it to the surface, like the slowly grinding pressure that creates an earthquake – and like an earthquake I imagine it would be just as devastating. Don’t be too hard on Freddie; he really does try hard not to let his nature get the better of him.”
Will and Amelia were busy in the kitchen preparing food when Conlan came out of the other cave. Intent on what they were doing, neither of them noticed him. Eleanor, having returned to her seat by the fire, took one look at Conlan’s face and felt buried under his exhaustion, pain and misery. She felt hot tears spilling down her cheeks. He noticed and with effort smoothed his face into its normal hard, expressionless guise. Staring at him through her tears, Eleanor wondered how he managed to hide so much.
“I’m going to dress,” he said, softly announcing his presence. “Then we should eat.” Will glanced back at him and nodded absently before returning to his chopping. Conlan walked stiffly back towards the bedroom. Eleanor noticed, with another twist of her stomach, the long, thick, raised red scar tissue. They ran in haphazard, horizontal lines across his shoulders and down the length of his muscular back.
He said the Protectors had flogged him before
, Eleanor thought in horror, wondering at the courage it took to face something like that when you had been through it before. Conlan paused at the entrance to the bedroom, and without turning round he added in a sinister tone, “And Will, if you ever drug me again without my permission, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
“Ungrateful sod,” Will muttered, but there was no real venom in his retort.
Will and Amelia, still organising food, left Eleanor sat by the fire. Before long she began to feel sorry for Freddie.
How awful must he be feeling?
He had not emerged from the other cave and Eleanor’s curiosity got the better of her. Getting to her feet she walked over, but at the entrance she stopped, unsure if she should enter. Freddie sat against the far wall, his head in his hands, and he was sobbing softly. She walked over and sat down at his side. Freddie did not raise his head. Not knowing what to say, Eleanor placed a hand on his shoulder. Freddie struggled to get his sobbing under control. When he finally spoke, his voice still sounded broken.
“I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“That’s OK, you didn’t really do any damage,” Eleanor said quietly.
He raised his head, eyes full of hope. “You forgive me?”
“Of course I forgive you, Freddie. You didn’t mean it,” Eleanor said, meeting the grateful, relieved smile that spread across his face with a friendly grin of her own. “I think we’re going to have a meal, are you going to join us?”
Freddie’s smile fell, replaced with uncertainty. “Do the others want that?”
Eleanor shrugged. “I want it, would that be enough?”
Freddie considered this for a moment and then nodded. Helping Eleanor to her feet, he took her hand and she led him back to the fire. Conlan and Amelia looked up from their food as they sat down, but they said nothing, Will carefully spooned food onto a plate and handed it to Freddie.
“Thank you,” Freddie whispered, not able to look Will in the face. Will then gave Eleanor a plate of food from her personnel ‘non-meat’ pot and for a while they sat in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Eventually Eleanor’s constantly churning mind began throwing questions at her again.
“Conlan, you promised that when we were safe you’d tell me what was going on. I’m feeling fairly safe right now, so spill.”
Green eyes glared at her. “Do you
ever
stop asking questions?”
Amelia sniggered, and beside her she saw Freddie struggle to keep his face straight. Keeping her expression neutral, Eleanor waited, watching him, until he nodded, sighing heavily.
“OK, where would you have me start?”
Eleanor thought about it – there was really only one place he could start.
“Start at the beginning.”
He stared at her for a moment. “The beginning?”
Fairy Tales and Hokum
Eleanor snuggled down into the cushions as Will took the empty bowls away. Conlan was staring thoughtfully into the fire. His voice was so quiet when he began that she had to strain to hear.
“In the beginning, when the world was new, the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – held sway. They moved with great force, but no purpose. Great earthquakes shook the mountains, tsunamis crashed against the land, violent winds sent storm clouds racing across permanently grey skies and lightning caused raging fires that incinerated all in their path. And into this terrifying cataclysmic world a portal was opened, a hole from other worlds.”
“What other worlds?” Eleanor asked.
“Think of it as parallel universes; all these worlds sit in the same physical place, where earth is, but they exist on top of each other – they are there, but not there,” Amelia said.
Eleanor did not quite get it, but asking more questions was probably not going to encourage Conlan to keep talking.
“May I continue?” Conlan asked patiently. Eleanor nodded.
“Thank you. The portal was opened and through it came all manner of creatures, including Dwarves, Elves and eventually men, only realising, once they had come through the portal, that it worked one way and they could never return. Fearing the world around them, the different races put aside their differences and worked together, building a city in which they could feel safe. The Dwarves brought law and a common language, the Elves brought weaponry and magic, and man – man brought purpose.”
“Your snarly, growling language… that’s the Dwarf’s language?” Eleanor asked, surprised.
“Yes.” Conlan paused, waiting to see if she was going to interrupt him further, but Eleanor snapped her mouth shut and he continued.
“Man brought purpose. One man in particular, Alaric, saw the terror in which everyone lived and felt it his duty to ease their suffering. He went out into the wilderness to find a way to help his people. Wind buffeted him, floods tried to drown him, fire chased him and the earth shook beneath his feet, but after many years in the wilderness he began to understand the elements around him and he tried to communicate with them. He stood on the beach letting waves crash upon him, sat on mountain tops as the wind raged around him, buried himself in dirt and even let fire burn him. He found he could hear the elements’ voices but they were too far removed to hear him. All his attempts to reach the elements failed. Exhausted and broken, all his defences gone, Alaric crawled into a cave thinking only of sleep and eventual release of death. But as he slept, Earth heard his dreams and saw this fragile being resting within her, afraid and alone. Compassion filled her, and seeking to help him she entered his dreams. She told him how he could communicate with the elements; she told him how to create Avatars – beings, in human form, created from the elements themselves, held together by his blood, his passion, but controlled by a human soul.”
So I’m an Avatar,
at least that’s better than an abomination.
“Awakening from his dream, Alaric set to work. Using soft earth and his own blood he fashioned a human shape, but where to find a human soul? Taking his half-finished Avatar with him, Alaric returned to his people, but in their eyes he was a dirty, unkempt mad man, raving about needing to take souls. They destroyed his Avatar and chased him from the city. Alone and bereft he wandered, finding himself in front of the portal. As he watched the other world through it, the thought came to him. Here were souls he could use. He made another Avatar from blood and earth and tried pulling a soul into it. He chose a soul at the moment of its death, believing it to be the more humane option, but the soul was very hard to pull through and the Avatar remained nothing more than blood and dirt. With effort Alaric discovered that it was possible to drag the souls from their bodies, but this caused them untold suffering.”
“Untold suffering? That’s a rather mild term for what you put me through, don’t you think?” Will commented drily.