Eleanor

by S. F. Burgess

  Not a word.

  “You want him to marry you? Why not just ask him?” Eleanor snapped bluntly at Urerla. The woman turned to glare at Eleanor with unconcealed dislike.

  “You are very annoying, child. You are here to translate, nothing more,” she said, her voice cold.

  What did she say?

  She said I’m annoying.

  Wow, Eleanor, that’s impressive – she’s known you all of five minutes…

  “I would very much like to be your wife,” Urerla said, leaning closer still and running her hand slowly up the inside of Freddie’s thigh as Eleanor translated.

  She has a very persuasive argument, Freddie mused.

  Freddie, if you are actually planning on having sex with this woman, I’d appreciate not having to translate the throws of passion.

  Jealous much!

  No, I’m just nauseated.

  “Erm, Eleanor, could you ask her not to go any higher? Also, could you politely decline her offer?” Freddie said as he tried to pull himself up on the sofa and away from Urerla’s questing hand, a task made difficult with his hands tied behind his back. At his words, Urerla looked expectantly at her. Thoroughly irritated with the whole situation, Eleanor glared back.

  “Freddie does not wish to marry you, sorry. Also, he would appreciate it if you removed your hand, as you are making him uncomfortable,” Eleanor said. Urerla glared at her, her lip curled in disgust, giving an ugly aspect to the beautiful face.

  “You are entirely too bold for a child. Perhaps you need to be taught some respect,” she said in a cold voice.

  “Get in line…” Eleanor muttered in English, holding the woman’s suspicious, irritated look. Urerla turned back to Freddie and smiled, then laying her body against his she kissed him savagely. Her many layers of dress covered both of them so Eleanor could not see, but judging from the wide-eyed surprise on Freddie’s face, Urerla’s hand had reached its target. Despite being forced into it, Freddie was kissing her back, Eleanor noticed with mild disgust. She rose to her knees and, standing with difficulty, walked away down to the far end of the garden, towards the exit, wondering how far Freddie would let Urerla go and if he would be given the chance to stop it. She could still feel his presence in her head, and if she concentrated really hard she could vaguely sense his feelings, which were currently amused pleasure. Eleanor had not really considered where she was going, she just did not feel like being witness to Urerla’s desperate attempts to bag a husband. She reached the door they had entered the garden through and, with difficulty, trying to aim by watching over her shoulder, she managed to get her hand round the handle. Unfortunately as her fingers closed over the smooth metal, someone opened the door from the other side and pulled her backwards. With a ‘woomph’ of air from her lungs, Eleanor landed painfully at the feet of Nials.

  “Eleanor? What are you doing here?” he asked, helping her to stand.

  “What Freddie and Urerla are doing no longer requires my services as a translator, so I was leaving,” Eleanor said without thinking. Nials gasped. Eleanor looked at his face and saw the raw fury fill his eyes before he turned from her, searching the garden for them. He heard Urerla giggle in delight from under the willow tree’s branches. His body tensed, and with fists clenched he marched towards them.

  Freddie, Nials has just found out what you’re doing. He doesn’t look very happy about it and he’s heading your way.

  Eleanor felt her mind fill with Freddie’s panic.

  Eleanor, help! Urerla doesn’t understand me and she won’t get off.

  Eleanor ran towards where she had left Freddie and saw Nials draw the tree’s hanging branches apart with such force that for an instant the air around him was filled with long, thin, falling leaves.

  “Urerla!” he yelled, fury making his voice higher than normal.

  Eleanor felt an echo of Freddie’s pain as Nials hit him. Running faster, she arrived in time to see the second blow hit the side of his face. Nials had dragged Freddie from the sofa, pinning him to the ground a knee on his chest, gripping the collar of his shirt he was punching him repeatedly in the face, each blow making his head bounce off the stone beneath him. Urerla watched in horrified despair, tears running down her face, saying nothing and making no move to help Freddie.

  “Nials, stop it, please. He cannot fight back,” Eleanor said.

  “Good,” Nials snarled, hitting Freddie again. “That will make it quicker.”

  “Make what quicker?” Eleanor asked in confusion.

  “His death,” Nials replied coldly as he stood and began kicking at Freddie’s prone body, his foot making bruising contact. Freddie grunted in pain and pulled his legs towards his chest in an attempt to protect his vital organs. In desperation Eleanor moved between them. Nials stopped and glowered at her.

  “I have no wish to hurt you, Eleanor,” he panted. “But I will if you do not get out of the way.”

  Eleanor nodded grimly. “I have no wish to hurt you either, but I will if you do not leave him alone. This was not Freddie’s fault. This is totally down to her!” Eleanor said, giving Urerla a bitter, angry glare.

  “How dare you!” Nials spat out, taking a menacing step forward.

  Listen to me – fix Urerla and Nials up, get them together. They’ve been sneaking lustful glances at each other since we first met them…

  What? Freddie, I don’t understand…

  Eleanor waited for a response, but when none was forthcoming she looked down. Freddie did not look conscious and she felt his energy string slip from her mind. Panicked, Eleanor turned to Nials.

  “Untie me, I have to check him. I need to know he is OK.”

  “I want him dead, how dare he touch Urerla,” Nials said, staring coldly at Freddie’s inert form.

  Exasperated, Eleanor glared at him. “Freddie has his hands tied behind his back, so how can he have touched anything? Urerla has been doing all the touching!”

  “Why would she do that?” Nials demanded.

  “Because she has been told she needs a husband, and like a lot of women she has overlooked the obvious to aim for the unobtainable,” Eleanor said, seeing Urerla raise angry eyes to hers.

  “Why should I not want someone special as my husband?” she asked, sounding very whiny.

  Eleanor shrugged. “No reason. It just depends on what you class as special. You might think you want Freddie because he is an Avatar, because he is different and exciting, but he snores, he has no manners, his sense of humour is deeply twisted and he is probably incapable of fathering children.”

  Urerla stared at her. “He felt very capable to me,” she murmured. Eleanor shook her head, trying to dislodge the rather unpleasant image Urerla had just put into it. Nials raised an eyebrow and glanced from Freddie to Urerla and back again. Freddie’s energy string brushed weakly against her.

  What are you saying? Freddie asked, sounding a little groggy, even in her head. Eleanor gave him a quick translation, relieved he was conscious again.

  I have manners! he said indignantly.

  No you don’t, Eleanor retorted.

  “So if I do not want Freddie, who do I want?” Urerla asked petulantly.

  Eleanor smiled at her. “Well, how about Nials? He seems to be a good man and he came charging over here to defend your honour, however misguided. You could marry him.”

  Urerla dropped her head and sighed. “I have known Nials since we were children. He knows all my nasty secrets, knows what I am really like. He does not want me.”

  “Yes I do,” Nials said softly, a slow grin spreading across his face.

  Good call, Freddie! Nials just told Urerla he wants her, Eleanor said, impressed.

  The way they were looking at each other it was sort of obvious. I think this whole thing with Conlan and I was Urerla’s attempt to make Nials jealous. I guess it worked.

  Urerla looked up at Nials, a stunning smile lighting up her eyes. “Why did you not say something?” she asked in confusion.

  “I thou
ght my feelings would not be returned, I was afraid of being rejected,” Nials said, looking a little uncomfortable.

  What are they saying now?

  Nials says he didn’t say anything because he was afraid of being rejected, Eleanor translated.

  I can understand that, Freddie said.

  Me too, Eleanor agreed. Personally, I think he’s very brave, Urerla strikes me as being a bit of a pain in the arse.

  Yeah, but she’s a great kisser.

  Eleanor glanced down at Freddie still lying at her feet; he gave her a smirk as he pushed his body to sit, wincing in pain as it pulled some of his new bruises. They watched as Urerla stood and walked hesitantly towards Nials. She stopped in front of him, trembling slightly, all the confidence she had shown with Freddie gone. Stepping towards her, Nials took her face in both hands and kissed her soundly. She wrapped her arms around him, and as he gazed down, Urerla smiled at him.

  “I love you, I always have,” she whispered. Nials hugged her tight to him, a look of disbelieving joy on his face.

  Why can’t love always be that easy? Freddie asked, and Eleanor felt a strong wave of his unhappiness. She dropped to her knees in front of him so she could look him in the eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Freddie,” she whispered.

  He gazed at her, then leant forward and kissed her. Hot, soft lips pushed into hers. For a moment Eleanor was too stunned to respond. Freddie took this as a sign to continue and pushed harder against her, his tongue running along her lips and parting them, entering her mouth, urgent, forceful. It was the metallic, copper taste that brought Eleanor back to herself. Freddie’s mouth tasted of blood. She gasped, pulling away out of his reach.

  He grinned at her. “Sorry,” he said, but he sounded anything but. “You were just so close and I wanted so much to know what it felt like.”

  “And has your curiosity been satisfied?” Eleanor asked tartly.

  “If I said ‘no’, would you let me try again?” Freddie asked with a sly grin.

  Eleanor glared at him and Freddie’s confidence slipped.

  “Please don’t be mad at me, Eleanor.”

  “Promise me you’ll never kiss me like that again without my permission,” she said coldly, angry that he thought he could just push himself on her and it would not matter.

  “I promise, I’m sorry.” This time he actually sounded sorry. Feeling bad for hurting him again, Eleanor smiled, knowing she was sending him mixed messages but not caring.

  “So who is the better kisser, me or Urerla?” she asked, giving him the chance to joke it off.

  “A gentleman never kisses and tells,” he said pompously. “See, I do have manners,” he added with another wicked grin. Before he could say anything further, Nials appeared at his side. Stooping, he helped Freddie to his feet and then helped Eleanor up.

  “Please tell him I am sorry,” Nials said. Eleanor translated and Freddie smiled his acceptance of the apology.

  “Thank you,” Urerla said. “Thank you for pointing out what I could not see.”

  Eleanor smiled at the woman, who suddenly looked so much calmer and happier. “It was Freddie who noticed Nials was in love with you.”

  Urerla arched an eyebrow. “A truly remarkable man,” she said softly, coming to stand in front of Freddie. He smiled at her and she kissed him gently on the forehead.

  Freddie sighed. “Let me guess, another woman who just wants to be friends?” he mumbled.

  Eleanor nodded. “It’s your own fault for being such a wonderful friend.”

  Freddie rolled his eyes at her.

  “I came here to tell you that Laurice wishes to see you,” Nials said, his arm unconsciously wrapping round Urerla’s waist pulling her closer. She melted into his body, sighing softly.

  “Who is Laurice?” Eleanor asked.

  “My mother, she leads our tribe and will decide what to do with you,” Urerla replied.

  “What is she likely to decide?” Eleanor asked as fear made a sudden grab at her. Nials and Urerla looked at each other with concern. Eleanor swallowed hard.

  “She might decide to help you and direct you towards the tribe that holds the ‘Heart’, or she might just decide to have you escorted to the edge of our borders, or she could decide to have you executed,” Urerla said. Eleanor blanched; execution was something she did not want to face.

  “Urerla, you might want to talk to her before she makes her decision. We want to be your friends, your allies. Conlan is going to be King of Mydren, and an alliance with him would be beneficial to you, but if you try to execute us we will defend ourselves. We have allowed you to restrain us, allowed you to lock us up, but that was our choice. If you try to kill us we will destroy you,” Eleanor said, seriously worried that these people might try something very ill-advised if she did not warn them. Nials snorted. The look he gave her was one of patronising amusement.

  “We outnumber you four hundred to one, you would have no chance,” he scoffed. Eleanor gave him a small smile.

  “Actually, I could destroy every living soul within a hundred miles of here all by myself and there are four of us with that sort of power,” she said. Turning her head and drawing a small amount of energy from the earth, she aimed it at a large palm tree in a big pot in the centre of the garden.

  A loud cracking, splitting gunshot noise echoed around the courtyard and the tree and pot exploded. Disintegrated pulp expelled forcefully in all directions. From twenty feet away the air displaced by the explosion caused a shockwave and small pieces of tree and earth to patter against them.

  “You are not a child,” Urerla whispered, fear in her voice. She cringed against Nials’ chest as he looked at the remains of the tree and back to Eleanor in horrified amazement. Not wanting Urerla to be frightened, just wanting her to understand, Eleanor smiled gently at her.

  “No, I am not a child – I am the Avatar of Earth. I do not want to hurt you. We want to be your friends. Please tell your mother, please try to convince her that helping us would be a good thing.”

  The sound of the tree exploding brought running feet to the garden. Several men, including the guards they had seen on the door earlier, rushed into the garden from different directions with panicked faces and weapons drawn. They converged on Freddie and Eleanor. Rough hands grabbed their arms and sword points poked into flesh.

  “I was assured they had been searched, that they had no weapons on them!” one of the guards snapped in a strange voice which was far too high for a man and sounded a lot like he had swallowed a squeaky dog toy. Still looking a little shocked, Nials nodded.

  “They are not carrying weapons, Harnlyn, they are weapons,” he said flatly.

  “Then how do I disarm them?” Harnlyn asked with an expression of fearful distrust. Nials shrugged.

  “You cannot and you might as well untie them and release them, as they are only tolerating their bonds because they wish to be our allies.”

  Harnlyn stared at Nials and Urerla, then back to Freddie and Eleanor. “If they are such a threat, would it not be safer to kill them?” With a shudder, Eleanor realised it was a serious question. Nials looked a little horrified.

  “You see that tree?” he asked, pointing to the mess in the middle of the garden. Harnlyn nodded. “She did that,” Nials continued, nodding at Eleanor. “From over here. She did not touch it, she just looked at it; it took no effort. What do you think would happen if she turned that power on you?”

  Eleanor dropped her head in shame as images of Perry’s body exploding flashed through her mind.

  Harnlyn’s panicked gaze oscillated between Nials and Eleanor. “Do they all have this power? Or is it just the child? Is there no way we can kill them?”

  “We do not need to kill them, as they wish to be our friends. Just let them go,” Urerla said pointedly.

  Harnlyn controlled his mounting panic enough to flash Urerla a very patronising look. “How gullible you are – they say they can be trusted and you believe them!”

  Nials and Ha
rnlyn began to argue over what action should be taken; Eleanor tuned them out, hoping that Nials would win, otherwise she was going to have to kill again.

  Are you OK? You look upset… What are they saying? Freddie asked.

  Nials is telling this guy, Harnlyn, what I’m capable of doing. They’ve no idea, Eleanor replied, sending Freddie her feelings of self-loathing for the monster she knew she was. To her surprise Freddie sent her a memory, the memory of torching the three men who had hurt Amelia. As it played in her head, Freddie sent her all his feelings that went with it. His pain and grief over what had happened to Amelia and his strong desire to make someone pay for it burned brightly. There had been delight at finding the men and letting his power loose on them – how dare they hurt someone he loved?! Yet, as the men had staggered around the camp in burning, tortured agony, Freddie had felt guilt crash down on him. He had no idea why the men had attacked them. Did they have families? Had he mindlessly killed a young child’s father? His previous existence had been about saving people from suffering the kind of death he had just unthinkingly inflicted. Then he had felt Eleanor pull her hand from his, the look of disgust on her face as she walked away from him. Watching the memory, Eleanor found herself playing back her own memory. Had she been disgusted? Yes, she had. Freddie’s feelings of guilt and misery had intensified when he realised that even Eleanor did not believe his actions were justified.

  You’re not the only monster here, Freddie whispered as the memory came to an end.

  I’m sorry I made you feel so bad; I had no right to judge.

  Despite the men standing around them and the swords digging uncomfortably into their torsos, Freddie took a step towards her so that his body could touch hers.

  “Do not move!” Harnlyn squeaked loudly in Freddie’s surprised, uncomprehending face. “Nials and Urerla have vouched for you, but if you do anything I do not like, you will regret it!”

  “He does not understand you,” Eleanor said quietly.

  Harnlyn glared at her warily. “Why not, is he stupid?” he sneered.

  Eleanor bristled. “No, he just does not speak Dwarfish.” This man is an idiot.