“You did that to Will, tore his soul from his body?” Eleanor asked, unable to keep the horror out of her voice.
“Yes.” Conlan’s’ voice had the hollow quality to it that made Eleanor shiver. She wanted to ask more questions but she was frightened of the painful memories she might drag up, so she just stared at him.
“It’s OK, Eleanor, I got over it a long time ago. Finish the story, Boss,” Will said.
Conlan nodded. “After several failed attempts at pulling souls through this way, Alaric decided to try to learn the other world’s language so he could talk to the souls, convince them to let go of their bodies voluntarily. Watching the portal he studied hard and learnt what he could, and then finally he was ready.”
As the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place, understanding dawned on Eleanor. “You didn’t speak his language, that’s why you had to drag Will here. You couldn’t ask him.”
“I didn’t have access to the portal, so I had no way of learning and I rushed into something I didn’t understand,” Conlan said, regret plain in his tone.
“Why? Where was the portal?” Eleanor asked.
“If you let me continue, I’ll get to that.”
“Sorry,” Eleanor said, falling silent again.
“Alaric could now talk to the soul he needed. So he searched for a soul that was appropriate and explained to her what he wanted. To his surprise she said yes; she told him she was dying and was happy to enter a different world where she would be well again. When she awoke, she was the living, breathing Avatar of elemental Earth. Overjoyed with his success Alaric set about creating the other three Avatars. At first they seemed disorientated, confused, but as they got used to their surroundings they began to feel the elements around them, taking on more of their attributes, and as they did so, they became more adept at controlling them. They calmed the world and showed Alaric the five noble virtues, which all men should hold dear: compassion, courage, wisdom, truth and duty. As the Avatars learnt to control their elemental connection, the land became more inhabitable and the people began moving out from the city they had cowered within. They crowned Alaric king, and the Five ruled the land and it flourished. As they grew old the Avatars died and new ones were created, watched over by descendants of Alaric’s line who were raised from birth for the important task of ruling the land and communing with the elements. As the old Avatars died, their souls merged with the elemental energy and the people took to worshipping this human energy, giving it the new names Talukki, Paivina, Ethrel and Rana.”
Talukki… that’s what that Protector called me
, Eleanor thought, another question occurring to her.
“So who’s who?” she asked.
“Pardon?” Conlan said, not even trying to hide his irritation at being interrupted again.
Eleanor ignored his tone. “Well, I’m the Avatar of Earth and apparently the Goddess Talukki, so the other gods and goddesses, which ones are which?”
Conlan snorted. “You’re not a goddess, Eleanor. There are stories about the gods and goddesses that embodied the noble virtues, and if the person requesting contact was pure of spirit then Paivina of Fire, Ethrel of Air and Rana of Water may well take corporeal form to communicate with them.”
“Can you tell us those stories too?” Eleanor asked.
“I’m having enough problems telling this one. May I continue?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Everything was fine in the land for many thousands of years, but over time others became greedy for the power Alaric’s bloodline held, and eventually the king was betrayed and the bloodline was lost. Furious battles raged for the crown. The winner was an evil man who knew nothing of virtues, only wanting the power for himself. Once he got it, he destroyed the existing Avatars and made new ones – Avatars like him; mean, power-hungry and vicious. This man ruled the land with terror and menace, demanding the people worship him as a god. His demands became too much and a resistance was formed. The resistance went to the Elves and begged them for help. For a very steep price the Elves provided help by showing the resistance the secret to creating more Avatars. The resistance used this knowledge to create an army of elemental Avatars, but they did not have time to plan and were forced to rip the souls from the bodies on the other side of the portal, in some cases before they were actually dead.”
Eleanor saw Will shudder.
“The Avatars they created were driven mad, and they became mindless killers with devastating power. Battles were fought for hundreds of years, following which human beings were almost wiped out. When the dust settled, a new order was in charge. The Lords of Mydren were seen as defenders of the people; they built a tower around the portal and eventually denied its existence.”
“So if the portal is hidden, how did you bring our souls through it?” Eleanor asked.
“The Lords may claim the portal no longer exists, but it’s still there, and those sensitive enough, like the shamans, can feel it. Despite the tower around the portal, things can still be pulled through it,” Conlan said.
“OK, so the soul is pulled through, but isn’t it trapped in the tower?” Eleanor wondered.
“Your soul is energy, so it’s rather hard to trap and it can’t be destroyed – it just has to be guided out. Can I finish?”
Again Eleanor felt confused, but she nodded.
“The portal was hidden, it’s existence denied, and people were told that Avatars were evil and to be feared, so that no one would be tempted to create one. Effort was made to control naturally occurring elemental magic, and anyone who displayed the talent was murdered or enslaved.” The raw grief in Conlan’s voice made Eleanor look up, but he coughed and continued. “The Lords slowly and insidiously expanded their rule, and where once were free-states or towns, there were now Lord-protected, tax-paying, ground-down people. Now almost the whole land is theirs. It’s been seven hundred years since an Avatar walked in this world, and all that really remains in the minds of the people are the names given to the ancient Avatars they worshipped as elemental gods.”
Conlan stopped, looking into the fire. The others also seemed caught up in their own thoughts, even Freddie was quiet. Eleanor slowly processed the story, trying to figure out how she now fit into this new life.
“So that’s why you brought us here, you want to be king?” she asked after some thought.
“Yep, delusions of grandeur,” Freddie muttered.
Conlan glared at him. “No, that’s not the reason you’re here, Eleanor.”
Will flashed him a wicked grin. “Come on, Boss, admit it – some part of you is totally into being king.”
Conlan shot Will a warning look and then sighed. “It would make a change from people trying to kill me,” he murmured.
A thought occurred to Eleanor and it was out of her mouth before she considered if it was a good idea.
“King Conlan... sounds like a giant ape!”
Next to her Freddie dissolved into such a paroxysm of laughter that the dying fire danced and jumped with his guffaws. Will, a small, tight smile trying to move across his face, made no sound, but his whole body shook with the effort. Amelia had her hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes full of mirth as she fought to contain her own giggles. Conlan looked bewildered from one to the other and then back to Eleanor, who gave him her best wide-eyed innocent look.
His eyes narrowed. “A giant ape?”
Eleanor nodded, still doing her best to look innocent.
“She’s talking about a movie character called King Kong. He was a giant ape, a very large version of those little tree climbers we saw in Pendover,” Amelia said, slightly quicker than the others to get a hold of herself.
Understanding showed in Conlan’s eyes. “Movies, television, moving pictures on a screen… entertainment in your world.” Amelia nodded in confirmation; clearly they had had this conversation before. He looked back at Eleanor and for a brief moment she caught a glimpse of the tiger whose tail she had just pulled. He said nothing, made no move towards her, but Eleanor felt the threat as fear turned her skin to ice.
“And what happened to this giant ape?” he asked her softly.
“He was killed, trying to save the woman he loved,” Eleanor said, annoyed by the slight tremor in her voice.
Conlan nodded, an amused grin finally showing. “An honourable giant ape...”
Eleanor smiled, relieved he had seen the joke. “If you don’t want to be king, what do you want?”
“I want to restore the connection with the elements, before they destroy us all,” Conlan said.
“The elements are going to destroy us?” Eleanor asked in horror as images of earthquakes, tsunamis and forest fires ran through her head.
Conlan nodded slowly. “They have been left on their own too long, they’re distant and becoming restless. They remember what it felt like to stretch their powers, and the further the link with man fails, the more they move back to that wild state. The Lords pass the storms, flash floods and forest fires off as freak weather conditions, one-off incidents, using their enslaved Enforcers to hold back the worst, but this can’t work forever. The shamans have been recording these ‘events’ for generations and they are getting stronger and more frequent.”
“So who, exactly, are the shamans?” Eleanor asked.
“Some of the last free practitioners of elemental magic in Mydren. They use magic in direct violation of the law; they have risked everything to help me,” Conlan said.
“How many of them are there?”
“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.