The World Below Stories

My palms are sweaty and what little confidence I had disappears when Mandor enters the room. Why he could not have slipped in without disturbing me I’ll never know.

‘I am sorry, Eleanor,’ Professor Xanith says. ‘I invited Mandor because I thought he might have something unique to add to a discussion on the blight, but I am rather regretting I did now.’

Oh, he will have some unique criticisms, the voice in my head says. ‘It is…’ I suck in a breath. ‘It is all right.’ I smile politely.

It is not all right though. I want to ask Mandor to leave, but I do not. If I want to be taken seriously I have to put him out of my mind, make like he is not there.

I take a moment to unroll the map I have been working on, and Professor Xander has Mandor and Elias pin it to a board.

‘Tell me what I am seeing here,’ the professor says,

‘I have plotted the blight reports from the four regions, and have coloured each incident by year of occurrence.’

I wipe my sweaty palms down my skirt before I continue. ‘You can see that the blight is expanding exponentially, and the source appears to be—’

‘The doors we closed to the World Above,’ Mandor says, slipping past me to study the map.’ He turns to me and pins me with his dark brooding eyes. ‘Are you sure this is accurate?’

I puff my chest and am about to tell him of course it is, I do not do shoddy work, but his gaze slides from me to the professor.

‘This is illuminating. We have been searching for the source of the blight and it has been right under our noses all this time.’

Professor Xanith nods. ‘We need to send someone to inspect the gates immediately and report back their findings.’

The professor and his star student start planning their expedition and I am forgotten again. This time though, rather than making me feel insignificant, I am angry. This is my research, not their’s, and I will not let them push me aside.

‘The blight started appearing a little over ten years ago, the gates were closed over a hundred years before that. Our first job should be to find out whether the blight is something coming from the World Above, or whether it is because we did something when we closed the gates.’

The two creatures turn and look at me, and for the first time I think Mandor really sees me, not some young girl Princess Petunia befriended.

‘And we should do this because?’ the professor asks.

‘Because the blight has not been recorded around the two gates we left open to the World Above. That would suggest closing the gates may have something to do with the blight.’

Professor Xanith taps his index finger against his lips as he stares into the distance. ‘Perhaps it is time to study this from a different angle. We have been trying to find a cure for the blight, one that will help creatures afflicted with it, but also one that will stop it spreading. Our focus on that has perhaps blinded us to another alternative, finding the source and cutting it off.’

The professor’s eyes glazed over. We three stood waiting for him to show us our next step. Finally his attention returns to the room and he says, ‘I need to think on this some more, and perhaps we need to pull the whole team together to debate what we should do now.’

Mandor nods his agreement.

Professor Xanith turns his bright eyes to me, ‘Welcome to the team, Eleanora of the Wyld Woods.’

My face heated as I stuttered, ‘Does…does that mean you will mentor me?’

‘Of course,’ Professor Xanith say.’And you, Mandor, you shall be he student counsellor. Now, I have a class.’ 

The professor rose to his feet and Elias took my arm. ‘That’s our cue to leave.’

I am still dazed. On the one hand I’m excited to be working with Professor Xanith. On the other I’m not sure about having to work with Mandor. 

I reach up to unpin the map, but the professor says, ‘Leave it there for the moment, I want to study it a bit more.’

‘All right.’ Elias elbows me in the ribs. I glare at him, and he nods towards the professor. ‘Oh, and thank you for taking me on.’

The professor’s eyes crinkle into a smile. ‘I am sure it will be my pleasure.’

Elias leads the way out of the room. I am still in a daze, but a floaty kind of daze. I have my field of study and a professor who will not worry about my lack of magical powers.

My internal celebration is cut short by a tap on the shoulder. ‘Ah, Eleanora, can I have a moment of your time.’

I look to Elias, who shrugs. ‘I will wait for you by the door.’

Turning back to Mandor, I fold my arms across my chest and wait for him to speak.

‘Um, I think I owe you an apology,’ Mandor says.

‘For?’ I prompt, not yet ready to let him off the hook.’

‘I was perhaps a little rude the first two times we met.’

‘A little rude? Try condescending and boorish,’ I tell him.

His face freezes with surprise. ‘I was not that bad.’

‘Really?’ I narrow my eyes, wanting him to feel as uncomfortable as he had made me.

‘All right. I was perhaps a little cool, but you cannot blame me for that. I had no way of knowing how comprehensive your knowledge was, or that you were a serious scholar.’

There was genuine sorrow in his eyes, and his smile would melt an iceberg. I was about to forgive him when my head kicks in as I realised the subtext of his words.

‘Hold on, if you thought I was not serious about my studies, what did you….You thought I was trying to get your attention because…’ 

I shake my head. He thought I was trying to get him interested in me, me as a female, a potential wife?

I turn on my heel ready to storm off, but Mandor grabs my arm.

‘I am sorry. I have had a few students try to…I thought…if you could see things from my point of view.’ He let go of my arm.

I tilt my head to the side. When he says nothing, I ask, ‘And your point of view is?’

His mouth twists into a crooked smile and my treacherous heart does a flip.

‘I realise now that telling you might paint me in even a worse light.’

I cannot help myself I smile back, ‘It must be bad then.’

He laughs, ‘Damned if I speak, damned if I stay silent.’

My heart is racing and it is taking all my self control not to lean into Mandor. The only thing stopping me is the thought I would be like all those other girls. That and the fact Elias is striding towards us, a worried look on his face.

‘Ellie, we have to go. Drow sent a messenger to tell us Percival’s trial as been set for two o’clock today.’

‘But—’

‘We have no time for buts, not if you want to talk to him before he appears.’

‘Go,’ Mandor says. ‘Your friend is more important than whatever this was.’

As I pass him on the way back to our room he says under his breath, ‘We can finish this later.’ And it sounds like a promise.