Eleanor (84 page)

“This is not really satisfactory, Merl. You were given one job to do – get the Five here – and you have failed. Lord Daratus will not be pleased,” Arran said, his voice still calm. The words were some sort of signal, and before he had finished speaking, both Will and Amelia collapsed to the ground, writhing, arms wrapped around their abdomens, sobbing cries filling the cold night air. Through their link, Eleanor and Freddie felt an echo of the paralysing pain.

Will, what’s happening?
Eleanor cried, panicked.

I don’t know, but it hurts, like when Conlan tried to pull my energy but worse, so much worse…
The thought faded as Will’s consciousness began to fade; Amelia was already lying still next to him, her eyes closed. Frightened of being pulled down into black oblivion with them, Eleanor broke the link, dragging her and Freddie’s energy strings free. They looked at each other in horror as Will’s body stopped writhing. He lay still, eyes closed, but the rise and fall of his chest with each breath continued.
 

What do we do now?
Eleanor asked.

Follow the plan,
Freddie replied.
 

Horrified, Conlan knelt at Will and Amelia’s sides, checking their vitals, searching Amelia’s neck for a pulse. Relief in his eyes when he found one, he turned to glare at Merl.
 

“What have you done?” he demanded.

“You are so arrogant!” Merl snapped at him. “The Lords of Mydren have ruled for hundreds of years, do you think they would have forgotten how to deal with abominations?”

“I trusted you, Gregor trusted you…” Conlan said, unable to keep the hurt from his face.

“You and Gregor are fools playing with fire. You have created weapons of unimaginable power, and as I have witnessed time and again, you have absolutely no control over them!” Merl yelled at him.

“As much as this little chat is fascinating, we have two Avatars still to find, preferably before Lord Daratus learns of your incompetence,” Arran said mildly. Merl winced at the word ‘incompetence’ and glared at Arran.

“My father does not tolerate failures, Merl,” Conlan commented.

Merl marched towards him, throwing his first punch before he had finished moving. It was a clumsy attack driven by fury. Conlan ducked it and punched Merl back. The older man staggered onto his back foot, already off balance. Conlan maintained the advantage. Arran did not look interested in getting involved, so Conlan ignored him and focused on Merl. They traded punch for punch for several moments, but while each one of Conlan’s landed punishing blows, Merl’s did not. Conlan dealt Merl a vicious blow to the chin. The older man collapsed, staring up with dazed, hate-filled eyes. Looking bored, Arran flicked his hand. Conlan was flung off his feet and propelled through the air to impact against the trunk of one of the larger trees at the edge of the clearing with a sickening thud. He dropped to the ground, barely conscious. Eleanor gasped, pain twisting her gut. She made a move to get up but Freddie dragged her back down.

We can’t help them if we get caught
, he reasoned.
That’s an Enforcer, and a powerful one if he could disable Will and Amelia; we need to think this through.

There were five of them… five Enforcers?
Eleanor wondered
. I have to help him, Freddie.
 

He’s still alive. If they wanted him dead, Merl would have killed him months ago, Remember the plan, Eleanor, we can’t show ourselves.
Again Freddie was the voice of calm, cold reason. Eleanor froze as Merl struggled to his feet. Wiping the blood dripping down his chin with the back of his hand, he walked purposely towards Conlan, who was on all fours, attempting to stand. Glazed, pain-filled eyes tracked Merl warily.
 

“I shall enjoy watching Daratus tear you apart,” Merl snarled at him, delivering a solid kick to Conlan’s ribs, the force of the blow enough to lift Conlan off the ground and propel him into the tree trunk again.
 

“Have you any idea what you cost me?” Merl continued, with another hefty kick. Conlan curled in on himself, trying to make as small a target as possible. Merl continued yelling and kicking. Eleanor shuddered with each blow.

“I loved her, loved her! Do you hear me?”

Kick!

“She was my world.”
 

Kick!

“She was carrying my child and you killed her, your own mother!”
 

Conlan’s head snapped up, a look of stark despair on his face.
 

“Merl... I…” he choked.

That was as far as he got. Merl kicked him in the head before he was able to say anymore. Conlan fell back, his body twitching then going limp.

Eleanor shoved her hand into her mouth to muffle her gasping sob, her teeth automatically fitting the scars.

“This is not helping us find the other Avatars,” Arran observed. Merl looked back at Arran with flat, vicious eyes, a sneer curling his lips.

“Eleanor!” Merl yelled. “I know you can hear me. Give yourselves up or Conlan will suffer. Our orders were to bring him in alive, but there was no requisite that he be undamaged.”
 

Eleanor pushed her hand further into her mouth, tears filling her eyes. Freddie kept a firm grip on her arm. For a moment there was silence. When there was no answer, Merl grabbed the back of Conlan’s collar and the waist of his trousers and dragged him back into the light. Eleanor desperately wanted to blast him, but Conlan was too close. Merl resumed his savage kicking. Every blow sent needles of sympathetic pain through Eleanor’s body.
 

“How much of this do you want him to take, Eleanor?” Merl asked, looking at the darkness around him, panting slightly from the exertion. Arran did not seem inclined to stop Merl’s abuse and Eleanor could take it no longer.
Reason be damned. Plan be damned.
Fighting off Freddie’s attempts to restrain her, Eleanor walked into the open, pulling free the sword at her waist. Using her energy to seek out the Enforcers she tried to blow them up, but they had a shield around them. It was far weaker than Amelia’s, she would get through it eventually, but she did not have the time. Leaving the Enforcers for a moment, Eleanor concentrated on the three Protectors, killing them instead and hating the fact that incapacitating them was not an option. Then she brought her focus to Merl.

“Leave him alone,” she snarled, her body poised for battle. Merl threw his head back and laughed at her, the hard, nasty sound echoing around the clearing. Eleanor watched, eyes bright with anticipation, as Merl stepped away from Conlan. He stepped towards her, just far enough away that she could blast him. She began drawing energy from the earth, but then a strange sensation hit her. It felt like someone had ripped open her stomach, forced their hands deep inside, grasped her vital organs and were now trying to yank them out. Pain shot up her spine, exploding through her head. Black spots swarmed across her vision. She dropped to her knees, her sword falling from nerveless fingers as she gasped for breath. Through half-open eyes she saw Freddie run towards her. Merl saw him and quickly retreated to Arran’s side. Freddie wasted no time and Eleanor watched as the torch flames shot higher and Freddie released his energy at Merl and Arran, only to watch in frustration as it dissipated against a shield in front of them, brilliant flashes of red and orange lighting up the clearing. Eleanor’s pain-fogged mind recoiled back as the trees and shrubbery around them began to blaze.
Why’s he setting things on fire?
Then she understood – the bigger the blaze, the more energy he could draw from it. Freddie was trying to get through the shield. Eleanor forced her addled brain to concentrate and work out what was going on. Freddie fought on at her side and fire flared around them.
 

Freddie, over there… the other Enforcers…
Eleanor instructed, pointing in the general direction she had last seen the four figures.
 

Freddie turned his attention from Arran’s shield, and the trees and bushes on the far side of the clearing exploded into a raging inferno. Eleanor felt the pain coursing through her body recede slightly. Freddie cried out and staggered in an attempt to stay upright, fighting off sudden obvious pain and continue his attack.
 

How are they doing this?
Eleanor wondered.

Abruptly the agony was gone, leaving her shaking and weak. Freddie groaned and toppled over, clutching at his stomach.
 

Freddie, how can I help you?

There was no response, but Eleanor felt the dark shadow of his pain, his desperation to stay conscious, to keep protecting her. She stroked his hair as his eyes rolled in his head.

Eleanor, RUN! Get away!
he managed before the pain intensified and he uttered a few last sobs before lying silent, his energy string slipping away from her.
 

She reached for his neck, checking for a pulse. It was there. Free of the debilitating agony for a moment, Eleanor crawled forwards.

Conlan’s breath was shallow, his face pale and a number of bruises were blossoming. The steady trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth was enough to make her worry about the internal injuries Merl might have caused. She stroked his face, knowing she could not leave him, would not run. She would die with him, if that was their fate. With no warning the agony overtook her senses once more. She pitched forward into the dirt. This was the most intense pain she had experienced, and in a flash of clarity Eleanor understood why. The Enforcers were pulling her energy out, just as Conlan had tried to do to her all those months ago; the pain was familiar, as Will had said, only much stronger. Once Freddie had been drained of energy, all five of them must have moved on to her. Now she understood what was happening, Eleanor searched out their strings. There were only four.
Four Enforcers pulling energy.
Not sure how to counter the effect, she tried to pull the energy back, gripping onto their strings and pulling with all her strength, eyes screwed tight in concentration. The pain dropped slightly. It was having some impact, and as Eleanor became more comfortable with what she was doing she opened her eyes. Four black-robed figures stood around her, Arran stood in front of her with Merl at his side, smug and confident. Arran’s hood had fallen back to reveal his features. He was younger than she had expected, in his late teens perhaps. His face still held some of the softness of a child, with the sharper angles of the chin and cheek bones that would make him a handsome man beginning to show through. There was something very familiar about him. His short hair was shocking white, making the hazel-coloured orbs of his eyes seem disproportionally large in his face. Eleanor shuddered at the cold cruelty in his expression, his eyes showing suffering well beyond his years. Investigating the four energy strings, Eleanor realised that one was weaker than the others and was not pulling as hard. Holding the tension in the other three strings, Eleanor concentrated on the weaker string and put all her remaining strength into ripping the energy from this one Enforcer. To her left, one of the black-robed figures swayed on his feet, staggered back and collapsed, all resistance to her pulling on his energy disappearing as he did so. Eleanor knew she was killing the man and shuddered as freezing, black despair seeped into her heart. Undeterred, she pulled out the remainder of the energy he had, feeling his shield flicker and fade, his heartbeat stuttering and stopping. She shifted her concentration and used the energy she had stolen to strengthen her grip on the other three strings. Two of them faltered at the shock of seeing their comrade fall.
Maybe I can still win this…
The thought gave her hope and she selected another energy string to focus her efforts on. As she concentrated, she realised the closer to their shields her energy string was pulled, the more pain roared through her body. If they managed to pull her energy through their shields, the pain was the horrific. Using as much of her remaining energy as she dared, Eleanor felt another of the Enforcers start to fail and sway on his feet.

Arran raised a thin, white eyebrow at her. Merl stepped forward, grabbing a handful of her hair tight to the roots, intent on dragging her to her knees. Seeing an opportunity, Eleanor surreptitiously slipped her hand into Conlan’s boot, her fingers tightening around the handle of his knife. As Merl pulled her upright, Eleanor let out a scream of fury, and wrenching the knife free, plunging it to the hilt into the inside of Merl’s thigh. Merl roared in pain. Eleanor gave the knife a violent twist. She knew she had succeeded when the gush of warm blood ran down her hand and arm. As she yanked the weapon free she felt the blood splatter warm across her face; she had hit a main artery. He would die.

Moving her attention to attacking Merl had left her open to the ongoing attack on her energy, and the haze of pain intensified as her energy was shredded through the remaining Enforcers’ shields. As she struggled to take back control of the situation, Eleanor watched Merl stagger, then fall, landing heavily on his back. He gasped and groaned, his hands clasping his leg. Raising his head, he glared at her with murderous fury.
 

“
Drallup
!” he hissed, cold, hard and vicious. Eleanor realised she had heard this voice before. This was the voice Berick had been talking to in Meran’s memories. Merl had killed Laurice’s husband and Yatt, Millice and Osser just so he could get close to Conlan and gain his trust. Merl’s head dropped back and he lay still.
Another death on my hands.
Eleanor turned away to find Arran’s hazel eyes scrutinising her. So very familiar. The pain became excruciating as the Enforcers got over their initial shock. No one moved to help Merl. Now she understood what was happening, Eleanor moved her remaining effort into fighting back and pulling at their energy, but she was weak and could not keep up the fight much longer.
Need to finish this before I pass out.
 

“Arran, she killed Karnos – are you going to help us?” one of the other hooded Enforcers asked, his voice strained and panicked and his eyes flicking to the body of his dead comrade. Arran sighed, as if this request for assistance was beneath him. Crouching down he reached out a hand and touched Eleanor’s forehead. An immense jolt of pain shot through her. She jittered and then collapsed. It was like a version of Will’s energy release, but without the potency. Not understanding, Eleanor’s mind swirled under the increased assault from the three remaining Enforcers.