“Amelia, Will…” Eleanor started, wanting to explain, but Amelia’s eyes moved to hers and glared at her with such fury that she stopped speaking.
“Shut up, Eleanor!”
Stunned into silence, Eleanor stared at her.
It was Freddie who broke the silence. “How did Will get into Trey’s head? I thought Elves had shields around their energy?”
“Trey doesn’t have a shield,” Will muttered without raising his head.
“Why not?” Eleanor asked.
“I have no idea, Eleanor, I never got the chance to ask him,” Will said, his voice hard, flat and irritated. He raised his damaged face to hers, and she could see his anger.
What did I do?
She looked from Will’s ice-cold blue stare to Amelia’s furious, brittle, slate-grey eyes.
“OK, shutting up now,” she murmured, sitting back heavily on her bed, her churning mind desperately trying to work out how she had managed to make both Will and Amelia mad at her. Amelia sat down with Freddie behind Conlan and continued to glare at Will. Silence followed.
“Are they finished? What were they arguing about?” Sarina asked Conlan.
“Trey’s accusation,” Conlan said mildly. Sarina raised an eyebrow at him, which made her distorted face look a little less damaged for a moment. She clearly felt there was more to the argument than that. Conlan stared calmly back at her but did not elaborate.
“Very well,” Sarina said, sounding a little annoyed. “The accusation that Trey makes is a very serious one. There have been very few of our number with the ability to enter minds, and even then there are only a few minds they are able to enter. We have laws to prevent such intrusions, but no law covers what the Avatar did once he had entered Trey’s mind. Destroying memories… this was a horrific abuse of power. This crime makes the Avatar a ‘marked’ man. He will be considered a criminal until he submits to the Elf council for judgement. We will not be handing the wand over to a criminal, even if you did have something to trade for it,” Sarina said solemnly.
“So either we hand Will over for judgement or we leave empty-handed?” Conlan asked.
“
He
is not leaving here alive,” Trey snarled. Will raised his head and looked at the Elf. Eleanor could see the resignation – he was not going to fight this, he knew he was guilty and he would give himself up for judgement, accepting whatever they said. He would give his life to atone for what he had done.
“What judgement does the council deliver?” Conlan asked calmly, ignoring Trey’s outburst.
“This is a new problem for us, so we wish to know what Trey would consider a suitable punishment,” Sarina said, looking at Trey.
“I want his head, you can keep the rest of him!” came the snarling reply.
“No,” Conlan said without hesitation. “What Will did was wrong, but there are mitigating circumstances. He was a newly formed Avatar; he had no idea who he was, where he was or what he was capable of. He was frightened and confused. Trey tried to kill me and Will defended me. He made a mistake, but not one he should have to pay for with his life.”
“Is this true, Trey? Did you attack this man?” Adra asked. Trey glared at Conlan, but he nodded.
“Then the Avatar’s reaction is understandable, although his actions are still not justified. Conlan Baydon is correct, he does not deserve to pay for his crime with his life,” Johan said firmly. Eleanor watched every muscle in Trey’s body flex as he jumped to his feet; he stood over them, glaring down, his fists clenched. Eleanor felt his fury batter against her, filling the tent.
“And what of my justice? He took my child from me, all I had left.” The grief in his voice gave it a hollow, echoing quality.
“What would be acceptable to you, Trey?” Sarina asked. Trey moved to pace backwards and forwards across the tent. He seemed to be thinking but it was hard to tell, as the sagging folds of his face made him look like he was perpetually frowning. He stopped pacing. Turning back to them, there was a twisted attempt at a smile on his face, but Eleanor saw the malicious cunning in his eyes and shuddered.
“This abomination attacked me to protect you,” Trey said in a slow, cold, bitter voice, looking down at Conlan. “So he will pay if I make you suffer. He took my child, so you will swear an oath to give me your firstborn child in replacement.”
A deep, horrified silence pushed against the tent walls. Eleanor stared at Conlan. His face was blank, eyes empty. Eventually, Johan broke the silence, his voice a hoarse whisper.
“No, Trey, what you ask is not the answer, what you ask is unthinkable.”
Trey laughed, a grating sound. “No, not unthinkable. There is precedent.” Trey’s words knocked into Eleanor’s memories, sending a domino effect through her head.
“For a very steep price the Elves provided help by showing the resistance the secret to creating more Avatars,” Eleanor whispered, reciting Conlan’s words from memory. “The steep price was that you took their children. That was when your bloodline became corrupted, when you brought human children into your tribe. Why did you want them?”
Johan turned to look at Eleanor appraisingly, then sighed. “Not a bright moment in our history, but we were desperate at the time. There were not enough Elves to continue, and we were slowly dying out. We never considered the effect that our use of magic would have on a mixed bloodline. We dealt ourselves as heavy a blow as did the humans who gave up their children. The humans never forgave the deal we forced them to make; we ended up moving into the desert permanently for our own safety, in turn cultivating the belief that we were cruel, merciless monsters in an attempt to protect ourselves. We made a mistake, and it is not one I am in a hurry to repeat.”
“This is what I demand. If I cannot have the Avatar’s head, I will have Conlan Baydon’s firstborn child,” Trey said, his voice flat and final.
“He can have my head,” Will said quietly, looking at Conlan.
Horrified at the choice, Conlan shuddered and ignored Will completely. “Is the council going to enforce Trey’s request as judgement?” he asked, turning to Sarina.
“Johan is right, this is not a decision we would take lightly, but given the rather unique circumstances, it is very likely that the council will uphold Trey’s demands for justice,” the woman replied.
This news deepened the horrified look on Conlan’s face. “Adra, do we have any appeal, any hope of forcing Trey to make another choice?”
Adra looked thoughtful for a moment. “There are some, like Johan, who will disapprove of this judgement, but there will not be enough to sway the council. If you want the wand, you must make a choice – one I do not envy you.”
Conlan nodded and looked at Trey. “I do not have children… I may never have them.”
Trey sneered at him. “Elves are long-lived, so I can wait. If you do not have children, then that will be my loss, although more yours I suspect. But if you do, you will honour your vow and hand over your firstborn to me within a month of its birth.”
Conlan stared at the Elf towering over him. Eleanor felt her heart ache for him; he looked so small, so trapped.
“I need some time,” he said, his voice bleached of emotion.
“Of course,” Johan said, rising to his feet. “We will leave you, food will be sent. Call for us when you have made a decision.”
The four Elves left the tent and a deep, dread-filled silence moved out from Conlan to cover them all.
“So, is someone going to tell us what’s going on?” Freddie asked quietly. Eleanor opened her mouth to answer the question.
“Someone
other
than Eleanor,” Amelia ordered. Hurt, Eleanor snapped her mouth shut again.
“We have a choice: we can leave without the wand, we can kill every Elf in this camp and take the wand or we can submit to the Elf council’s judgement. Trey has made demands, he wants Will’s head; if he can’t have that, he wants me to hand over my firstborn child,” Conlan said in the same emotionless voice, not taking his steady gaze off the sand in front of him. Amelia gasped, starting in horror from Will’s miserable expression to Freddie’s shock.
“You’re not going to let them have Will’s head, are you?” Amelia whispered, fear pulsing through her trembling voice.
Conlan turned to glare at her. “I don’t know, Amelia; clearly you think me capable of it.”
“What are you going to do?” Freddie asked.
“What am
I
going to do? What happened to voting?” Conlan snapped.
“This decision is yours, Conlan; we’ll do whatever you want… I’ll do whatever you want,” Will said quietly.
Conlan slowly shook his head. “So much for sharing the responsibility. I need to think.” He pulled himself to his feet, walking towards the tent’s exit. As he pulled back the flap a sword tip hovered in front of his face.
“I am going for a walk and she is coming with me,” he said, pointing back to Eleanor without looking at her. “If you need permission from Johan or Sarina for this, fine, go get it, otherwise get out of my way.” Seeing the look on Conlan’s face, the owner of the sword nodded, letting him pass. Surprised at his desire for her company, Eleanor rose painfully off her bed and followed him out of the tent. The night air was cold and pleasant against her skin. She took a couple of slow, deep breaths, feeling the clean air take away her desire to be sick and removing some of the sting from her headache. The tent was a good distance from the main Elf camp and Conlan walked further away, up over the sand dunes, not checking to see if Eleanor was following him. One of their guards tailed them at a discrete distance. On the other side of the dune Conlan stopped and sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest and staring out at the night-shrouded sand that stretched on forever like a silver-black sea.
“I need help, Eleanor,” he said in English, his voice a pained whisper as he stared at the horizon.
“How can I help?” she asked, sitting next to him. Her heart jumped, hoping desperately that she would be able to assist him, even as she felt guilty for her pleasure at being asked.
“I need to understand my choices. I want a logical assessment, not emotion. Can you do that?”
“Yes. OK, let’s start with the basic options. One – we could forget about the wand for the moment and leave. Two – we could attack the Elves, kill most or all of them and take the wand. Three – we give them Will’s head – and four – you agree to hand over your firstborn child. These are your choices, yes?” she asked.
“Yes,” Conlan agreed. Eleanor nodded, letting her mind run through these options for a moment and stack up the possible outcomes. Taking a deep breath, she gave Conlan her conclusions.
“Option one. We forget about the wand. This would be the logical choice, as it continues the status quo and nobody has to die or give up their unborn children. However, while I don’t believe we need the Talismans to get the connection working, great pains were taken to hide them, so I believe they’re important. Simply walking away at this point might be the safest choice, but I’m unsure of how well we would be received by the Elves if we were forced to return for the wand at a later date. It is also worth mentioning that Trey is a wildcard, in that the Elves may let us go, but there is nothing to stop him following us.”
Conlan nodded but said nothing, so Eleanor continued.
“Option two. We kill the Elves. This is the option with the most risk. It is also the most morally reprehensible choice. While I believe that Dal is right, that we’d be strong enough to win a fight, heavy losses on our side would be likely, and Conlan I don’t think we want to turn our energy on innocent women and children. Plus, if we killed them, we would be losing potential allies. I’m beginning to see a pattern in where the Talismans have been hidden. I think, if we are careful, we will make allies with all the holders of the Talismans. These allies have significant forces positioned out of the Lord of Mydren’s reach, and I think this was done on purpose.”
“How is the dragon going to be an ally?” Conlan asked, amused.
“Well, I’m not sure about the dragon but maybe we’ll find out when we get there. Option three. We let them take Will’s head. This would require us having to return to Millar’s Forest so you could make a new Avatar of Water, which could take us quite a few months. There would also be the collateral damage to consider. Amelia’s response is unlikely to be accepting, and I think that she would either kill herself or kill you – possibly both. Right now, if you made this choice, Will would accept it. He hates himself for what he did, but it really wasn’t his fault, he had no clear idea what he was doing or that he was capable of doing it. Losing one Avatar would set us back months, losing two would set us back years and losing you would stop this thing dead. So, emotion aside, this is a poor choice.”
Conlan nodded again, and not able to see his expression in the dark, Eleanor kept going.
“Option four. You agree to give up your firstborn child within a month of its birth. This is actually the best choice. The chances of you surviving this ‘adventure’ you have us on and getting the chance to have children are not great. However, should we somehow succeed and you find some poor woman who is willing to put up with you, giving your child to the Elves would be a brilliant way to strengthen a friendship with them, if you do it right.”
“I didn’t realise there was a ‘right’ way to give up a child,” Conlan commented, his voice brittle.
Eleanor winced. “Let me rephrase that. If you make this choice, then do it in good faith. You’ve seen the way Adra protects and cares for his son, and you’ve witnessed the depths of Trey’s grief over his daughter, they clearly love their children. I believe Trey would love yours. Make this a positive thing and make friends with Trey, don’t hold a grudge. Make your personal loss a meaningful gain for your people and get the Elves onside. Think like a king, not a man.” There was silence. Eleanor sat next to him, letting him think.