Chapter 70: Chapter 70

At 9 o’clock sharp, I was in front of the castle entrance waiting for my teacher with the thirst to do battle. In the end, I woke up in great shape, all excited at the idea of starting my apprenticeship. I intended to show him the extent of my powers and hoped to impress him. I saw him arrive with Sonia. All dressed in black, she approached me, her gait light, contrasting with her determined look. Her eyes stared at me with penetrating attention as she performed a simple bow, leaning her upper body without taking her eyes off me.

“I’m delighted to know you, my Queen,” she said in a clear voice.

“Call me Everliegh, please,” I said immediately. “You were very impressive when recruiting the Guard.”

“I bet it’s nothing compared to you.”

Henry ushered us into a jeep heading to our practice area. We shot through the paths lined with vines, and while Henry concentrated on the road, I took the opportunity to make conversation with our new recruit.

“I heard your brother joined the Six.”

“Yes, indeed,” said Sonia.

I understood by reading her sad features that this situation was very difficult for her to accept.

“Why didn’t you join them? He’s your brother, everyone would understand that.”

“Actually, I still don’t understand what got into him,” she replied, a hint of anger in her tone, her eyes drifting to the floor. “A few months ago, we were in Oran, with our parents. A friend came to visit us, after attending the ball, in honour of Carmichael’s return. It was on this occasion that my father learned of the existence of the Six. The man told us the legends of the Egeria family and his words echoed in my father’s worried mind. He told us everything: how they had reigned over all the castes in their time, how and why Egeria had poisoned them all, preferring to murder her own family than to see them destroy the human race. From there, my father kept swearing that they were gods of our race, that we should worship them. And my brother listened to him more attentively than I would have thought.”

Sonia’s misfortune could be read in her eyes and in her voice. We could guess, however, from her look and her posture, the fighter who was hiding in her. I could sense her disappointment at the choice of the rest of her family, which went against every single one of her beliefs.

“How do they live with the fact that you have chosen our side?” I asked as the Jeep pulled up to a gravel road.

“My parents don’t talk to me anymore. But my brother… I think he’s now a prisoner of his decision.”

“Carmichael told me you heard from him.”

“Yes, the day after your coronation. He was terrified. He had just witnessed the extermination of an entire city.”

“One can hardly imagine a worse sight.”

“He now knows all the power of Althea,” said Sonia as she got out of the car, whose obvious concern sent a shiver up my spine. “He told me of the screams of people sinking underground, of the children… then of the silence of death. I’m very worried about him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Samir. Samir Akhem.”

“We will do everything to save Samir, I promise you.”

“This is why I’m with you, my Queen.”

“Everliegh, please,” I reminded her, smiling.

“Ah yes… sorry,” she said in a modest burst of laughter, while my words seemed to have somewhat reassured her.

Henry cleared his throat as if our conversation was tiring him. He placed himself between Sonia and me, to make us understand that it wasn’t time to chat, but to practice. He took a very stony dirt track and took us to the end of the road. And it was a long way, so I didn’t regret my sporty outfit, because we had to walk almost two kilometres in the scrubland before arriving in front of a vast clearing. The dry vegetation of this late winter mingled with the limestone rocks, bordering a horizon devoid of buildings and people. Henry went to sit on a large rock and watched me.

“This is where the lesson begins. Queen or not, you’ll have to learn patience, effort and determination. You’ll have to anticipate and know how to recognize that the shortest paths don’t always lead to success.”

“Okay,” I said, worried when his moral lesson would end and the action would begin. “So what do I do now?”

“Listen to me first.”

Pfft! I thought. I realised that I was indeed going to have to be patient. Henry was obviously going to give a lecture, so I decided to sit on a rock facing him.

“Are you tired already?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, no,” I said sheepishly as I stood up and Sonia stifled a giggle.

“Have you ever been hit?”

“Oh yes!” I replied while remembering the impact of the right fist of my late best friend Olivia, and my jaw still remembers it!

“You couldn’t defend yourself?”

“No, I was drugged.”

“Apart from this episode, have you ever been touched in a way that made you vulnerable?”

“Yes, when a caste grabbed me by the neck once. It was at the beginning when my powers revealed themselves. I managed to get away with a well-placed kick to his crotch.”

“Good reflex!”

“Thanks.”

“We’re going to work on your reflexes. Sonia will charge you, you’ll have to retaliate without using your telekinesis.”

“Without?”

“Yes, without. If the Six can invade your mental barrier, and I think they will at some point, you’ll only have your physical strength to get out of it.”

“But can I break theirs?”

“That’s a question we can’t answer yet, but it will be useful to know if we want to have a chance of winning.”

No sooner had he finished his sentence than I received a violent blow to the ribs. Sonia tackled me, and I fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Shame! I hadn’t seen it coming, and I was literally biting the dust.

“Get up,” said Henry without a shade of tone. “You have to be ready for any eventuality.”

“I’m sorry, Everliegh,” apologised Sonia, who had taken her role very seriously, I thought.

“After having knocked me down as you did,” I said, touching my stomach, “I finally think you can call me Eve.”

I smiled at her before rushing forward. She dodged and twirled around to find herself behind me. She pushed me and I fell miserably again. Henry stood up from his rock and smiled!

“To me now.”

What?! I’m in the process of being beaten and he’s adding difficulty!

Without my telekinesis, I was like a lamb surrounded by two bloodthirsty wolves. I realised, instantly, how much my life depended on my powers. Henry lunged at me in a matter of milliseconds. I felt the touch of his fingers on my body as my swinging arms tried to land a punch. One of his hands stopped near my throat without my being able to see it coming.

“I’m not strong,” I said, out of breath and aware of my defeat.

“If you are telekinetic, then speed is an integral part of your powers. Strength too. You don’t need to have any other gifts than the one you master most easily.”

“But I’m not fast and I’m not strong!”

“You can be by multiplying your abilities.”

“How?”

“You have to concentrate. When you’re ready to fight, you have to mentally gather all your strength into your muscles. Your speed and the impact of your blows will thus be able to save you from inconvenience when your telekinetic barrier isn’t enough.”

“The last time I confronted Althea in the Pomona room, I felt my shield wouldn’t hold and I was exhausted.”

“You haven’t managed your strengths. Close combat will allow you to relax the intensity of your mental protection a little, and your strength will come back to you more easily than if you keep it erect for a whole fight.”

“I don’t know if I would be able to.”

“One never suspects the potential of one’s potential, unless one experiences it during a fight. You have a good foundation because I see that you have already practised martial arts.”

“Sam made me take lessons when I was a teenager.”

“It will be useful to you, we are going back to it now.”

I tried to put Henry’s advice into practice. I threw an angry fist in the direction of his face. He halted my attack without moving a finger and knocked me to the ground as fast as the many times that followed. I found it unfair that he could use his telekinesis to subdue me when I could only use it to protect myself. But when I finally understood how I could increase my physical strength tenfold, the power changed sides. I imagined myself transmitting energy through my entire being, the same energy that I used when I lifted an object by thought or when I erected my protective barrier. I felt it in my veins when I closed my eyes, focused and fully determined to defeat my opponent. It was like feeling my muscles heat up and radiate from within, causing a vibration throughout my body, a searing heat rising up to my face before delivering the killing blow. Filled with power in my limbs, I literally rushed at Henry, who narrowly avoided me. He grabbed my arm with lightning speed, but I dodged him just as quickly and spun around so my hands were around his neck. But he managed to free himself and sent me a fist in the stomach, which I countered with my hand. Grabbing him, I couldn’t control my strength anymore when I threw him a few metres behind me.

“Bravo Eve, that was superb!” rejoices Sonia.

“That wasn’t bad,” Henry agreed, dusting off his suit, “we’re going to attack you as a duo again. You have the right to use your mental barrier when you want to avoid thrown objects, but not before. Sonia and I wouldn’t be able to touch you otherwise, and I want to test your reflexes.”

“Okay,” I say, adopting a fighting posture.

They both threw themselves on me. Sonia was slower than Henry and my concentration had to be optimal for me to be able to master both, especially since I saw the Englishman’s hand coming at dizzying speed, and I didn’t have time to re-energize my muscles. I was on the ground in less time than it takes to say.

“Concentration, Everliegh,” Henry kept telling me. “Concentration!”

He was starting to piss me off with his remarks. I thought I was a disappointment, he didn’t have to add to it! But I had to swallow my honour for a moment and attempted a save when he lunged forward like a cat, then grabbed my leg to tip me over. Sonia came behind me, but I blocked her attack and grabbed Henry by the waistband, kicking him out with one leg before he managed to pull himself out of this mess. My strength amazed me. He charged again, and I instinctively erected my mental barrier, as Sonia had just hurled huge boulders in my direction. Holding my shield and fighting Henry at the same time was proving impossible. Surrounded on all sides, I almost took Sonia’s fist in the ribs, while the Englishman was saying to me now that I had confidence, that it would quickly seem natural to me and, that with the training I would soon no longer have the feeling of making the slightest effort to control my attacks, and my defences too. And I have to admit that after a few hours, lots of beatings and lots of bruises, I finally felt that the telekinesis instilled in my muscles became easier to control. After a while, it was easier to combine my abilities, and at the end of the day, I got the better of my two adversaries.

Sonia and Henry hadn’t yet gotten up after an impressive fall. Breathless, covered in dust, they faced me and smiled. The surrounding rocks and the leaves of the trees, dried up by the coldness of winter, swirled around me in a hurricane of dust. My hair whipped into my face as I smiled back at them, feeling stronger than ever.

“Not bad,” said Henry Capshaw, his voice ringing with his usual disdain. “You learn quickly. Very quickly.”

I took his words as a compliment and gave him a courtesy which amused him before he immediately resumed his seriousness.

“Don’t rejoice too quickly, you’ll still have to practice a lot. My powers combined with those of Sonia are nothing compared to those of the Six.”

“I’m aware of that.”

And so ended my first training. Covered in bruises, my ribs vibrating with pain, my complexion dusty and fatigue coming on, I nevertheless returned to my apartments, a smile from ear to ear. Not lost on Carmichael, who was waiting for me with a glass of red wine in each hand. He handed me one.

“I see you haven’t spared your efforts,” he commented, observing my crumpled appearance.

“Henry is a torturer who likes to see me suffer in the dust. But according to him, I’m not bad. So I should be satisfied, I guess.”

“You guess right.”

Carmichael chuckled, and the vibration of his laughter transported me.

“I must continue my training until we leave for New York, and beyond. He’ll teach me how to handle a dagger, to know how to defend himself, to know how to manage multiple attacks, and use my environment. Anyway, Sherlock Holmes isn’t done with me.”

“Sherlock Holmes?!”

“Yes, with a broom in his behind!”

“Henry is far from having a broom up his ass,” Carmichael said, laughing but suddenly very sympathetic to his friend.

“Yes well, I still can’t imagine him as a hooligan and a football fan, hanging out in pubs and drinking beer, sorry. He’s a devious and stuck-up torturer!”

Carmichael smiled, and his perfect teeth lit up his face. His green eyes sparkled, and his sudden mood flashed through me like a limpid, delightful, intoxicating image. I took off my dirty clothes and dropped them on the floor. Naked, I didn’t take my eyes off him, and walked towards him with a confident step.

“My ribs hurt.”

“Here?” Carmichael asked in a teasing voice as his hand brushed my breast and slowly moved down to the red marks on my rib cage.

“And my neck hurts.”

This time, Carmichael moved the back of his hand up to the back of my neck, then gently stroked the base of my throat, which had seen Sonia and Henry’s hands gripping it earlier.

“And I’m dirty, too.”

This time, Carmichael pulled his hands away and lifted me into his arms.

“A bath would certainly make you happy.”

“You read my mind,” I said, smiling.

To reach the bathroom, you had to cross another adjoining living room, then another where the fire was crackling in the fireplace, the warmth of which further reinforced my playful mood, despite my harassing fatigue.

“Carmichael, my King,” interrupted Marion Stanton, his assistant. “I can come back later with these files if you want?”

Frightened, and naked in Carmichael’s arms, I watched the intruder with my round eyes. I couldn’t think of anything better to say than:

“Holy shit!”

I then tried to hide what could be hidden and squirmed in Carmichael’s arms to escape him.

“That will be perfect, Marion, good evening,” said my stoic husband. “And you are not moving.”

I let him take me to the bathroom. Besides, that night, I let him do what he wanted with me.