The Year of the Lumin (4 page)

Chapter 5

Destinies split

Noir fell to the ground on his side.  He fell on his left arm which was still tied to his right behind his back.  A man’s voice said very close to his ear, “Remain still unless you want to be considered an enemy.  We will defend you, just do not move.”

What choice did Noir have but to listen to the man’s advice?  Besides the boulder a year before, Noir had never had his life in danger before, and the idea of one of those armored warriors protecting him sounded like his best option.  Noir wished that he could at least see what was going on. 

Noir heard someone call out, “Arrows!  Shields up!”  Almost immediately, many metal clangs rang out from around him.  Someone to Noir’s left cried out in pain.  The sound made Noir’s stomach twist in a knot.

Noir then heard a group of men yelling up ahead.  Their voices approached and trampling footsteps could be heard.

Metal rang out against metal.  The sound was mixed with aggressive shouts, orders being called about by the captain, and cries of men in pain.

Noir could not stand not knowing what was going on any longer.  He brushed the blindfold against the ground, scraping it up his forehead.  It took him a few tries, and he could feel the dirt scraping the side of his face, but soon he could see grass with one eye.  As soon as he raised his head to peek at the scene around him, a hand pulled the blindfold back down on his face.  Nothing was said to him, but Noir knew he should not try it again.

Within a matter of minutes, the sound of fighting had stopped.  Noir still had no idea who had attacked them, why, or what the outcome was.  He had no idea if Aimee and Steven were all right.

Suddenly, Noir felt himself roughly jerked up to his feet.  The rough motion shot pain through his damaged leg.  Hands grabbed his arms with an iron grip.  He heard an unknown voice scream passionately right into his face, “What do you know of this attack, boy!?  Huh?  What do you know!?  My friend lays dead because of you and your family!”  Noir had no idea how to react.  He was blind during the battle and couldn’t even see this man’s face.  Noir opened his mouth but no words came out.

“Stand down!” yelled the captain’s voice.  After a moment, the hold on Noir’s arms released.  “At present, we have no way of knowing if he was responsible for this attack.”  The Captain’s voice came closer as he spoke.  “Son.  Do you have any idea why bandits would have wanted to take your family?”

Noir’s brain reeled.  They were taken?  Why in the world would someone want anything with them?  They had no clue about anything that was going on.

Noir said in a quivering voice, “I have no idea.  What happened to them?”

Noir heard Grandel’s voice turn muffled as though his back was to him.  “I don't think he's lying.  I would rather something evil to not come to those two if they are indeed innocent.  However, we cannot spare the men right now to hunt down the bandits.”

Captain Grandel’s voice trailed off.  He called out orders as he went.  Soon, Noir was nudged from behind and told to walk.

Noir gave in to despair.  He had no idea what to do.  His family had been taken by, what,
bandits?
  The severity of his situation was truly sinking in as he blindly stumbled forward.  He wanted to go home.

~~~

Noir walked on with the group of warriors for hours.  His damaged leg ached more and more as they went and he couldn't help but slow down.  As he walked, he thought about his uncle and cousin.  Where were they being taken?  What would bandits want with them?  Where was this place that there even
were
bandits?  Noir also thought about his home.  He missed his parents and wished that he really had gone fishing that day instead of investigating the cave.  How long would it take for the rest of the family to start searching for the three of them?  If they went to the cave, would they get… sucked into this world as well?

The sounds changed from that of an open field to the closeness of a forest.  Birds sang around him and twigs broke underfoot.  After a while, they stopped and Noir could hear Captain Grandel somewhere in front of him talking to a new voice.  Then Noir was nudged forward again from behind.  The grass and twigs underfoot changed to hard dirt.  The sounds changed again, this time from wilderness to the sounds of a town.  People greeted the soldiers around Noir as he walked blindly by.  A hammer clanging against metal rang out to his right.

Finally, Noir was told to stop.  He felt the blindfold lifted off of his face.  He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the sudden light then looked around.  He was in a very small room that was closed in on all sides with no windows.  The walls and ceiling were made of hardened clay and dirt.  He turned around to see one wall was made of vertical bars going from the ceiling to the floor, with a metal door hinged on them.  A man in armor closed the door and turned a key.  Then he sat down in a chair across the hall from the prison cell.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” thought Noir.  “I’m in prison?!”  He looked around the room again and noticed another young man who was sitting in the corner leaning against the wall.  He looked to be a couple years older than Noir and had light blond hair with dark, tan skin.  The shade of his hair was actually lighter than his skin and gave the boy an odd, foreign look.  He was looking at Noir with a questioning look.

“Uh, hi,” said Noir.  The young man looked even more confused.  “Where am I?”

“In a prison, dummy.”

Noir shook his head in frustration.  “I can see that.”  He sighed.  “What town is this?  Who are you?”

“My name?  I’m Ratt,” the other boy said very cautiously.  “You must be from Chiron with those clothes.”

Noir replied, “I don’t even know what Chiron is.”

Ratt stuck his head out from his shoulders, furrowing his brow looking even more confused than before.  “You have got to be kidding me.  Where are you from?  How do you not know about one of the two kingdoms in the entire world?”

Noir thought, “What does that even mean?  Only two kingdoms?  What have I gotten myself into?  And even more, what have I gotten Aimee and Steven into?”

Noir said, “So you never said where this is.”

Ratt said mockingly, “Do you know
anything
, bud?”

Noir replied, “Hey, you’re in a prison cell too you know.  You can’t be that well off either.”

Ratt let out a laugh at that.  He finally looked like he was loosening up.  “It is a long story.”  Ratt stood up from where he was sitting and walked over to Noir.  He held out his hand and said, “Ratt Delloview.”

Odd name, but Noir took his hand and shook it.  Ratt smiled warmly.  Noir smiled back, but it felt forced.  He was too scared of what would become of him and his family.

Chapter 6

The captain

              As they shook hands, the cell door creaked and swung open.  “Hey new kid.”  A man in armor pointed at Noir.  “Come with me.”

Noir looked at Ratt and said, “Well, that didn’t last long.  Nice meeting you.”

Ratt brushed his hand through the air and said, “Don’t sweat it, kid.  They’re just going to see if you are attuned to one of the three vigors.  They do it to everyone.  They’ll have you back in our
wonderful
jail cell in no time.”

That stuff about three vigors made no sense to Noir, but the man beckoned him sharply so he followed.  Another armored warrior followed up behind Noir.

They led Noir down a short hall to which a couple other rooms connected, then out the door of the structure.  He saw the town for the first time.  The small structure with the prison cells seemed to be on the edge of the town.  Behind the prison was a small stone wall and a dense forest.  Looking the other way, Noir saw a village made mostly of very small clay structures stretched before him.  The road was dirt and it dodged between tree stumps.

The soldiers led him across the dirt road to a larger structure built of roughly made bricks.  The front door had a glowing sphere on either side like the ones he had seen at the structure that was outside of the cave.  He stared at them as he walked past, wondering how they worked.  The men led him inside and down a short hall to a door.  The man who led opened the door and motioned Noir inside.

Noir walked to the center of the room and the door closed behind him.  Captain Grandel and the soldier who had had the glowing white device earlier were sitting at a wooden table to one side.  The device that he had from earlier was sitting on the table not glowing as it was before.  “Cairn, let’s see if he is as we suspect.”

The second man, whom Grandel had referred to as Cairn, stood up.  He picked up the device from the table and walked to Noir.  He held the device up in front of Noir and manipulated it.  It slowly started to glow with a dull yellow.  It grew brighter and brighter until all three of them were squinting and averting their eyes.

“My word!” exclaimed the Captain.

Cairn said, “This must be a mistake.  Let me reset the luxsyedin and do it again.”  He squinted at the device and manipulated it until it again became dark.  He then repeated the process which resulted in the same blinding result.  “This is amazing,” said Grandel.

Noir spoke up.  “Sirs, if I may ask.  What does this all mean?”

Cairn walked back to the table, twisting and poking at the device so it again became dark.  Grandel said, “Well son, you are quite special.  You are attuned to lux; and very strongly might I add.”

“What is lux?”

Both men looked at Noir with the same confused look that Ratt had given him earlier.  “You lived in a hole all your life, son?”  Noir did not answer so he continued, “Lux is the defensive side of the three vigors.  I am amazed that you have lived as long as you have without anyone discovering your power until now.”

The other man with the device said, “I think he’s the strongest I have ever seen, save Fafnir herself.”

Noir shook his head and said, “I don’t understand any of this.  You’re saying I have some sort of powers?”

“Well no,” Grandel replied.  “Not yet, at least.  You just have great potential to learn.”  He then called loudly, “Gojen, Ryojek!”  The room’s door swung open and the two warriors who had escorted Noir to the room appeared outside.  “Take this young man back to his cell.”

Noir had so many questions to ask and it seemed like Captain Grandel was a pleasant enough man.  So Noir said, “Please sir, do not make me go yet.  You seem to be a reasonable man.  May I please stay for a few moments more and ask you a few questions.”

Grandel looked at Cairn, then back to Noir.  “All right, but make it fast.  Do not waste my time.”  He motioned for the two men outside the door to return to their posts.

The first question he wanted to ask was a simple one.  “Where are my uncle and cousin?”

Grandel shifted in his chair as if made uncomfortable by the topic.  “The bandits that attacked our scouting group seemed to target your uncle and cousin.  We were
also
wondering if you had any answers about that.”

Noir said, “Why should I know.  I don’t know anything about bandits, or battles, or anything.”

Captain Grandel squinted his eyes as if studying Noir’s words.  “I think you speak the truth.  Then we are left with as many questions as before.  The only theory we have is that the bandits may have seen how strongly the luxsyedin reacted when we found you and wanted to pawn your powers off to the highest bidders.”

“Pawn?  They want to sell Aimee and Steven to someone?  But they don’t have the powers, right?  I do.”

“Actually, the luxsyedin reacted the first time to all three vigors.  It glowed white showing that all three were present.  Just now it glowed yellow for you since you are attuned to lux.

“They
have powers too?”  Noir thought that none of this could be real.  It was stupid.  No one had special powers.  Lux?  Vigors?  Questions about that he could save for later.  “So what actually
happened
to them?”

“They both were carried off by the bandits.”  Even though Noir had guessed at this, hearing it as a fact made his heart sink.  “I am sorry.  We could not risk any of our men to follow and recapture them.  After all, we don’t even know who….”

Noir cut him off, “You
lost
them?”

Grandel stood up so sharply that the chair he was sitting in fell backwards.  He slammed his hands on the table and leaned forward.  The Captain’s presence in the room was suddenly so huge and powerful that Noir unintentionally took a step back and looked at the ground.  “Do not speak to me in such a way, boy!  Unless you desire to feel the blades of my men!”

A few moments of silence went by until Noir said, “My apologies, sir.  I did not mean….” Noir trailed off.

Grandel then barked, “Gojen!”  Again the room’s door opened.  “Take him back to his cell.”  He came into the room and motioned Noir out the door.

As Noir was leaving Grandel said, “Maybe when you learn a little respect, I will let you speak to me again.”

With the guards behind and in front, Noir walked down the hall and then outside.  His heart beat in his chest because of the confrontation.  As he walked back through the town, he thought, “If Aimee and Uncle Steven have been captured, will I ever see them again?”

Once Noir got back to his cell, he started asking Ratt about all that he had been told.

Ratt responded to one of many questions, “So, he said they were taken by bandits because they can use vigors?  That’s pretty crazy.  That means one is attuned to sye.  They will probably take whichever one can use din to Tier and try to sell him or her as a Din Mage slave.”

“What is din?”

Ratt shook his head.  “You really are clueless, aren’t you?  It is the destructive side of the three vigors.  They can manipulate fire, ice, the ground.  Stuff like that.  Sye is like mind control and mental combat.  The most powerful Syeters are said to be able to read minds and control thoughts.  I’ve heard that they can also use their minds to move things.  They’ll probably try to sell the sye user to someone in Chrion.  There are other powerful Syeters there.”

Noir could hardly believe this.  “This is impossible!  People actually can use these powers?!”

Ratt furrowed his brow and gave a wry look.  “Yeah, duh!  It is pretty much what the world works on.  There are even a couple Luxins in this very group of people.”

“So that’s what I am,” Noir said out loud.  “A Luxin.”  Noir spoke slowly over these words as if trying them on, “I can use the lux vigor.”

“You can?” Ratt said excitedly.

“That is what they said.”

“No way!  You’ll probably be taken to see Fafnir, then.”

“Who is Fafnir?  Someone else said that name when I was being tested.”

“Heh,” Ratt laughed throatily.  “You’ll have to see for yourself.”  Ratt waved his hand as if brushing away the topic.  “These people will probably want you to work for them now.”

Ratt then asked one of the questions that he wanted to ask Captain Grandel.  “Who are these people anyway?”

“They are a group of people who live outside the two kingdoms of this area.  I’ve heard rumors of them existing, but no one knows exactly where their hideout is.”  Ratt motioned toward the walls of their cell.  “Although we seemed to be able to find it easily enough.”  He shook his head as if putting aside the joke.  “I heard that their numbers are only a few hundred.  I also heard that they have a secret ally.  She is the lord of lux and awakens lux within people.  Most who can use lux have met her at some point.”

“This Fafnir person?”

“Right.  Anyway, this group seems harmless enough.  They stand for good things.  I got sick of how the people are treated in Tier, so I left.  That’s how I ended up here.  I was hiding in the woods and they found me and brought me here.  I agreed to join them a couple days ago.”

“So why are you in prison?”

“They caught me stealing from the town blacksmith… which is wonderfully smart of me because they told me later that anyone living in Talik is free to have anything they want from the smithy if they truly need it.”  Ratt laughed half-heartedly.  “So how’d you end up here?”

“I’m not exactly sure.  I was at some holy shrine.  They called it a Lumin shrine, whatever that means.  What is a Lumin, anyway?”

“Oh it’s religious junk.”  He made a sarcastic noise and said, “Just old stories taken out of context if you ask me.  No all-powerful being will ever come to save us.  We are in control over our own destinies.  If we mess up, no one can bail us out but ourselves.”

The two continued to talk.  Noir found out more about each of the two kingdoms and also about how this world worked.  Noir stretched and massaged his sore leg.

Ratt asked about Noir’s leg.  Then he asked where he had come from.  For some reason, Noir felt afraid to talk about where he had come from.  Noir had to choose his words carefully for the ones that would seem to fit into this world.  He made sure not to mention anything about what happened in the cave.

As they talked, Noir kept getting distracted thinking about Aimee and Steven.  Could they adapt to this world, whatever this world was?  Where were they now?  Were they alright?

They talked for a long while until Noir felt himself growing tired.  He asked the guard for something to sleep on and he threw in a cloth sack.  It was better than nothing.  Even though his mind was racing with all that had happened to him today, Noir laid down and tried to sleep.  Ratt's deep breathing at the other side of the room was the last thing he remembered hearing.