Free Eleanor by S.F. Burgess

themselves… Did they go mad first?”  

    Amelia glanced at her, then turned back to concentrate on the path. “I imagine you’ve got to be a little disturbed to kill yourself. Why do you ask?”

    Eleanor shrugged. “I just have this strange feeling, this bizarre energy; I should be dead on my feet, but I feel like I could run a marathon.”
    “Well, you’re the element of Earth, so your body was made from the soil you’re walking on – soil and Conlan’s blood. The Earth gives you energy.”
    Eleanor stopped. Amelia had just given her more information in five seconds than Conlan had managed since she had met him. She blinked rapidly, her mind spinning again. Amelia stood by her side, not hurrying her, letting Eleanor come to terms with this new information in her own time, grey eyes watching her thoughtfully.  
    Eventually Eleanor found her voice. “So I’m not human anymore?”  
    Amelia smiled. “Yes and no. You’re flesh and bone, with a heart, mind and soul, but you were created, not born.”
    “From dirt and his blood?” Eleanor nodded in Conlan’s direction, unable to keep the revulsion from her face.
    “He’s a good man, Eleanor. He tries so hard to do the right thing,” Amelia said.  
    Eleanor glared at her. Amelia noticed her expression and smiled, as she set off again up the path she called over her shoulder. “I told you, he likes you. Freddie’s first week in this world, Conlan broke his arm!”  
    This news did nothing to quell Eleanor’s anger. Sighing, she trotted after Amelia until they were side by side again.  
    “So how did this creation thing happen?”  
    Amelia shook her head. “I’ve no idea. Conlan goes alone to the shamans in Millar’s Forest.” Giving up his blood doesn’t sound very pleasant.  
    “Does it hurt him?”  
    “Creating us?” Amelia shrugged. “Again, I don’t know. He usually comes back exhausted. That’s why we came to meet you, in case he needed help, but this is the first time he’s come back half-dead and being chased by Protectors. It’s a good job Freddie insisted we come armed.” Amelia glanced at her curiously. “What have you two been doing?”  
    Eleanor sighed. “It’s a long story and it’s mostly my fault, hence why Conlan nearly kill me.”  
    Amelia stopped again, turning towards Eleanor, her face hard. “Is that what you think? If Conlan had wanted to kill you, you’d be a corpse. That was just his idea of discipline. There are some really dangerous things in this world, Eleanor, and he’s one of them, but he would never have done you any serious damage.”  
    Remembering the look of fury and menace in Conlan’s eyes, Eleanor was not convinced, but Amelia seemed sincere. As they set off walking again, Eleanor’s mind, rapidly processing information, came up with another question.  
    “Are you an element too?”  
    Amelia nodded. “Air’s my thing. You should see how hyper I get when it blows a gale up here.”
    “How do you make a body out of air and blood?” Eleanor wondered aloud.
    “Don’t know, I never bothered to ask.”  
    “Freddie and Will?”  
    “Freddie is fire, Will is water and they tend to clash quite a bit,” Amelia said with an unhappy look on her face.
    “But Conlan wasn’t created?” Eleanor asked, relieved to have finally found someone to answer some of her questions.  
    “Yes and no,” Amelia answered after thinking a moment. “He wasn’t created, he had parents, was born, but he’s the centre, the spirit that holds the four of us together and directs our focus. He’s as much one of us as you are.”
    “How does he ‘direct our focus’?”
    Amelia shook her head, and snow flew off in a fine powder. “I’ve no idea; we’ve never got it to work.”
    “Got what to work?” Eleanor asked, confused.
    “The connection between us.”  
    “And if we do get this connection turned on, what happens? What does Conlan plan to do with us?” Eleanor asked.
    Amelia stopped