Chapter 38
Normandy, France
On the sandy beach, which bordered the wide Atlantic, Eleanor showed Derrick how to skip stones. For the boy... being so near so much water at once seemed a marvel... and the thought of making stones skip across the incoming waves seemed a game that was at once new and yet strangely familiar.
Carefully he selected the flattest stones as she showed him and holding them level between his thumb and forefinger... attempted to sling them forward until instead of dropping into the water... the flat stone would bounce and hop as hers did.
Derrick had not felt so relaxed and happy in days.
As if she too were but a child... Eleanor clapped her hands and jumped up and down beside him when he finally got the hang of this new activity. Then... sensing an immortal's approach she backed away from him slightly thinking that Methos had come down the cliff path to join them.
But it wasn't Methos.
Approaching along the beach was a dark-haired woman in a long black trenchcoat that blew about her in the wind. Her long dark hair blew about her head and she gazed at Eleanor coldly... haughtily.
Eleanor stuffed her hands into the pockets of the overlarge jacket she wore and glanced about the beach for other signs of activity. On the cliff above... from the direction the woman immortal had came, Eleanor saw for one brief instant the glare of sunlight on glass. Binoculars? Watcher? Eleanor slowly approached the woman... attempting to stay firmly between her line of sight and Derrick.
"Carmen Mendoza," the stranger said flatly. She peered over Eleanor's shoulder. "Raising a child? Or a future lover?" she grinned with a leer, then her voice changed harshly, "Or a sacrifice?"
Eleanor remained quiet. "Show nothing! Say nothing! Gather your resources to move at the last moment! Betray nothing of who or what you are!" Methos' and Phillip's teachings rambled in her mind. Derrick was the first priority here. Getting him away from this woman safely was what Eleanor had to focus on... not the woman's taunts. She still wore the reflective aviator sunglasses that she'd put on earlier in the day, but she had replaced the auburn wig with a baseball cap... her dark hair tucked up under it. In jeans, sneakers, and the oversize jacket... she could pass as a boy at a distance. But up close? Carmen Mendoza had already determined Eleanor's true sex.
"Quiet aren't you? Perhaps I shall raise the boy when I've taken your head. Or perhaps I'll just kill him and move on..." Carmen's voice was teasing... but it had a dark undertone that told Eleanor that the woman was serious. "Or use him... as I was used... as I was taught." The final words were clipped, filled with pain and betrayal.
Eleanor took a deep breath. "This is neither the time nor the place for a confrontation." She backed away from the female... closer to Derrick who she could still hear behind her... still intent on his rock skipping.
"Oh... let me guess... He has no idea what you are? Then he will learn and learn now!"
"People could see us here."
"Who? I walk here daily... I never see anyone about!" She gestured up and down at the empty beach.
"Then you are a fool! Even now someone watches you from the cliff." Eleanor moved again... still attempting to stay between Carmen and Derrick. Behind her Derrick was suddenly quiet... he had to have noticed Carmen. Eleanor pulled one hand from her jacket pocket and put it behind her... motioning with her fingers for Derrick to be careful and to stay back... away from her... not to approach her. Then she motioned for him to start carefully toward the path... but to stay behind her. Already she was warming up... a thousand small stretches that would let her move suddenly and without warning.
"And you are a liar! There is only us... and I'm in the mood for a little dance." Carmen drew her sword... a Spanish dueling sword... suitable for her tall lithe frame. She cast off her coat with a shrug... revealing a dancer's lithe body as she stepped lightly back and forth... from one foot to the other.
"Dance?" Eleanor breathed and smiled. Eleanor knew many dances... and small as she was... she could dance very well. She continued to shift... hoping that Derrick was still behind her... that he had gotten the message. She did not dare look away from this woman... and the Watcher... if that is what it was... on the cliff worried her. How much could he see?
Suddenly, as if suddenly realizing that the boy was nearing the path... Carmen shifted her own position and pulled a throwing dagger. Expertly she balanced it for only a moment... feinted to her right and then threw the dagger at the form of the retreating boy.
Reading her perfectly... Eleanor launched herself into the path of the dagger... feeling it enter her chest above her heart and bury itself deeply into her left lung. She coughed as she fell and rolled... spitting up blood. She had always healed slowly when injured... as if her long life before ever having taken a quickening had rendered her vulnerable... but she knew if she passed out... if she died even if for only a moment... Derrick would die... and she would lose her head.
With a determined motion she pulled the knife from her chest and stood up... she could still taste blood and a red haze seemed to cover her eyes.
"Ellie!" Derrick called from behind her.
"Stay back!" she managed to get out before coughing blood once more and stumbled. "Never let your opponent see your true ability! Always show weakness until you strike!" The knife fell from her numb fingers. She straightened as Carmen lunged at her with a feral grin.
Swiftly Eleanor shifted her weight and turned so that she was for a moment back to back with the other immortal. She leaned into her and locked her left arm... despite the wrenching pain... around Carmen's sword arm and pulled... nearly falling into the darkness that passed before her eyes. Only her determination to protect Derrick kept her moving. With that pull... Carmen faltered and her grip on her sword loosened. Eleanor jumped into the air... dragging the other with her and completed the turn... so that the sword flew out of Carmen's hand and into Eleanor's right.
As she turned... she had a brief glimpse of Methos pulling Derrick into his arms and turning his back to the women to shield the boy. He was safe!
Unable to stop... submitting to both motion and gravity, Eleanor finished the turn and the downward movement of the sword. It was with a sense of surprise that she felt the slight resistance across Carmen's neck as the dancer's head was severed.
Carmen's body fell. Eleanor wavered on her feet a moment and then let the pain and darkness of her injury take her... Derrick was safe. That was the only thing that truly mattered. Her knees buckled and she collapsed onto the sand. Her last conscious sensation was the crackle of the quickening as it overwhelmed her... filling her and reviving her. Within her mind she saw the short and sad life of Carmen Mendoza... killed by a jilted lover... mistreated by a monstrous teacher who took delight in killing her for sport... in raping her for his own pleasure. Carmen had been lost and alone in a life that did not seem to offer any respite. It was only chance that she had escaped him recently. Perhaps a final death was all the dancer had truly wanted... an end to the horror of her all-too-brief life. Eleanor wanted to weep.
***
Methos... having finished his phone call was about to descend to the beach when he had sensed Carmen's approach. Pell mell he had raced down the path but had arrived only in time to shield the boy from the sight of the beheading. As the quickening rose and crackled along the beach... blasting some sections of sand into glass forms, Methos could just see a figure about a half mile away... watching. Had the Watcher recognized him? Perhaps not. As the lightning faded he ran to Eleanor and scooped her into his arms. "Follow me now!" Methos called to the boy as he began to race up the path toward their car.
