The Year of the Lumin (11 page)

              She refused to let him get away with it.  She gathered her hatred and forced it through her chakra and into her din.  She felt the power surge once again.  She forced as much heat as she could into the air around her and shielded herself from it.

              Aimee watched the horror on her teacher's face as he realized he had again underestimated her.  The fire engulfed him and the entire area.  He tried to shield himself from the flames with ice, but it was no use.  He was quickly incinerated by the massive burst of energy.

              Aimee wearily stood up from the circle of charred ground around her as three more Din Mage instructors ran out.  She could see them each embracing din preparing to deal with her.

              She shrieked at them, “How many more of you do I have to fry before you tell me how to get home?!”

              They did not respond but looked at each other with mixed emotions.

              “I'm not your puppet!  How many more?!” she screamed again.

              One responded, “Well, listen to what we--”

              Aimee yelled again, “Stop lying to me!  I won't take it anymore.  Tell me the truth or I'll end it all here!”

              The three looked at each other and mumbled a few words that Aimee could not hear.  Then they turned back to the enraged girl and said, “In that case, we may have a proposition for you.”

Chapter 15

Best foot forward

Noir and Ratt spent the next few days continuing to practice and learn.  Noir’s leg functioned as though it had never been damaged.  Fafnir was encouraging Noir to figure out new ways to use lux on his own.  Without any input from Fafnir, Noir had figured out how to solidify the air molecules around Ratt’s weapon and hold it in one place.  However, this took much more of his lux power than simply deflecting the weapon.  He had also figured out that he could make a sudden burst of light to blind his opponent, giving him an opportunity to attack.  Fafnir was very pleased with his developments, but Noir was growing anxious to leave.  He was worried about his cousin and uncle and wanted to go find them.  Captain Grandel had promised him that he could leave the town when he wanted, and he intended on holding him to that promise as soon as possible.

One day, after a long practice session and after Ratt had slumped off to bed from exhaustion, Fafnir called to Noir.  “Noir, my student.  There is another cave tunnel that I have still kept hidden.  I would like to show you its contents.  Follow me.”  She turned toward another bare cave wall and walked toward it.  The wall shimmered and dissipated to reveal another tunnel.  Noir did not see the dragon use lux.  He figured that the power required to do it was not rooted in lux, but something else.  Fafnir entered and Noir followed.

Once inside, the light faded.  Noir harnessed his lux and created a light above his head to see.  He walked forward.  The tunnel led down to the right, and then to the left.  It ended in another cavern room.  This room was small and looked like it was rarely used.  The walls did not have the polished look as the main cave hall had.  Sharp stalactites pointed downwards from the ceiling, and stalagmites on the ground rose to meet them.  Fafnir wove her body through the cave’s obstacles and disappeared into the dark toward the back.  “Come forward, Noir,” her voice called to him.

Noir started forward.  A bright light came from somewhere before him for a moment, then faded.  He climbed over stones and around pillars of rock until he came to Fafnir.  The tall, beautiful woman that Noir had first seen as Fafnir now stood before him.  There was a chiseled stone table before her.  Noir approached and saw that the table had pieces of polished metal armor laid out on it.  Underneath the armor was a hooded white cloak with yellow trim.  On the back and smaller on the breast, there was the yellow tree which symbolized lux.  The armor and cloak looked identical to what Adeel wore, though this was obviously made to fit a man of Noir’s size.

Fafnir smiled warmly at him.  “Kneel, my student.”  He bent down and put both his legs under him and put his hands in his lap.  “Young Noir,” she spoke slowly and steadily as if reciting a creed.  “You have proven yourself capable with the power known as lux.  You have learned all that you need in order to go into the world and help the world as a Luxin.  Do you swear to use this power to protect and help those around you?”

Noir had read about this ritual in
The Three Vigors
.  “I do.  I exhaust my chakra for life and peace.”

“Then I now pronounce you Luxin Noir.  Rise and accept the traditional Luxin armor.”  He rose to both feet again and Fafnir took each piece of armor and attached it to him.  There were pauldrons for his shoulders, a breastplate, two quisse to place over his thighs, greaves for his knees and shins, and two couter for his elbows.  The armor was surprisingly light.  His clothes could be seen at the seams.  Each piece of the armor had the lux tree worked into its design.  Lastly, Fafnir lifted up the thick white cloak, walked behind Noir, and fastened it around his shoulders. 

She then walked in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders.  She looked into his eyes and smiled.  “Luxin Noir.  You have completed my training.  Go forth and protect those you love.  Continue your craft and live life in peace.”  She then gave him a delicate hug.  Noir did not feel as though he was hugging an ancient powerful dragon, but a woman whom he truly cared for.  He hugged her back.  This was truly a friend and he knew she would forever be an ally.  Surprisingly, she felt delicate and small in his arms.

~~~

The next morning Ratt and Noir got ready to leave.  Noir had sent his horse home with Adeel and Elrid, so he and Ratt would have to walk back.  They packed cloth bags with food that they had prepared earlier.  They both had their weapons that Fafnir had given them.  Noir had the gold-hilted sword on his belt along with the short sword that Gonn had given him in Talik.  Ratt wore his large axe on his back.  It hung in a leather loop lose enough for quick removal.  They had sharpened the metal back to pristine condition with the help of Fafnir.  Their sparring had marred and chipped the metal in places.

The three were outside the cave opening.  Ratt and Noir had their cloth sacks packed and ready to go.  The skies were dark with clouds that threatened rain.  In her normal dragon form, Fafnir stood in front of her lair’s opening.  “I searched your path from the air this morning.  The path to Kuli is clear.  You should meet no resistance on your journey for at least today.”

Noir said, “Thank you Fafnir.  Thank you for everything.”

Ratt said with a smile, “It was fun.”

“You two were very good students.  Noir, you are one of the most powerful and fast-learning Luxins that I have ever trained.  Use your abilities with wisdom and kindness.”  She smiled and looked into Noir's eyes.  “Good luck in the future, Luxin Noir.  I will see you again.”  Then she turned and went back into her cave.  Her long tail was the last thing they saw, slowly flowing in long curved lines in the air.  The entrance of the cave shimmered and turned into what looked like solid rock.

Ratt said, “Well, that is that, I guess.”

Noir turned away from the cave toward the route they were going to take.  “I hope you know the way, Ratt.  Fafnir described it to me, but it would help if you remember it from when you came.”

“It has been a while, but I’m sure I’ll remember as we travel.”

“Well friend, let’s go.”  The two slung their cloth sacks on their backs.  Noir was still getting used to the armor and cloak.  He often had to fuss with its various straps in order to get it comfortable.

Ratt and Noir started on their way.  They traveled down hills and hugged cliff walls on narrow paths.  The rain never came and soon the dark clouds pushed off toward the rising sun.

As they walked, they talked about all that had happened since they met each other.  They joked and laughed about many things.  However, they were still aware of their surroundings and did not let the noise get too loud.  As they had learned, straghs were nearly silent creatures, and the louder they were, the harder it would be to detect the monsters.

By the early afternoon, Noir started recognizing the landscape.  He noticed the place that he had first seen the straghs.  The memories of the battle flooded back to him.  It seemed as though only days had passed since he was last in that place, though it was closer to a month.

Noir thought about how much he had changed since he last traveled this road.  He remembered riding on his horse thinking of movies and heroics.  The truth of this world had sunk in since he had seen a real battle and learned so much.  There were evils out there that would not think twice about killing him.  Even though he had learned so much about lux, he still had no idea what to do if he encountered an enemy Syeter again.

Noir wondered if he should try to find Aimee or Uncle Steven first, since they had most likely ended up in the separate kingdoms.  He thought about each of them and how they would react to this place.  Steven would probably love it, learning about anything and everything he could.  And if he could use sye like Grandel said he could, then he would probably be neck deep somewhere reading books on it.

Noir was not sure how Aimee would deal with this place.  She had changed so much recently that he wasn’t sure if he really knew her anymore.  He knew that as long as his uncle had ended up in a decent place that he would be fine.  So he should try to find Aimee first.  But since Tier seemed like such a volatile place, he wasn’t sure if he was ready for it.  In a way, Noir was glad for the long walk.  It meant he did not have to make a decision about this for at least a few days.

As Ratt and Noir walked, the terrain steadily became smoother.  The mountains loomed behind them.  When there was a clearing in the trees, they looked out on rolling hills before them.  The sun sank down the sky and they had grown very weary of walking, so they set up camp for the night.

As Noir and Ratt sat beside their fire and ate the food that they had brought with them, they talked.  After Ratt finished a story about his childhood home, he said, “You have never talked much about your home.  You’ve said you came from a village, but you never talk about it.  You’ve never even told me the name of the town.”

Noir had been evading that topic for a long time.  He didn’t feel like he was ready to tell Ratt yet.   However, he knew Ratt deserved the truth.

Noir told Ratt exactly that.  “The village story isn’t quite the truth.  But the real truth is unbelievable.”  He looked at Ratt and said, “I know it sounds weird, but I’m just not ready to talk about it yet.  I’m not sure what it means or if it is even real myself.”

Ratt seemed very confused.  He took a bite of meat and chewed while thinking.  He took a big swallow then said, “That’s all right.  I understand.  Some things are hard to talk about, you know?  But just know that you can trust me with anything.”

Noir nodded and said, “I know that.  Thank you.”

The two changed the subject and finished their meal talking about other things.  They put out the fire and went to sleep in their temporary shelters.

The next day they would reach Kuli.  Noir looked forward to the comfortable bed at the Chauffeur’s Inn.

Chapter 16

The scarred man's omen

              Ratt and Noir walked the entire day without incident.  They talked and joked about many things.  Noir realized how much he had learned about this world from Ratt and their conversations and was again thankful that he was there with him.

They stopped once to eat a quick lunch and rest.  Noir longed for something else other than dry bread and berries.  A candy bar, gummy bears, anything else.  He sighed and ate nonetheless.

After their bland lunch, they continued on until sundown.  Soon after the twilight faded to a black sky, they saw the small yellow lights of Kuli in the valley before them.  It would have been a welcoming sight if not for their last visit.  Elrid and Adeel had acted like there was something strange going on there.  Also, the horror of the dream he had in the inn still felt fresh in his mind even though that was almost a month earlier.

Noir debated with himself about going there at all.  It would probably be better to stay in the woods again that night.  But something was drawing him.  If there was a Syeter there, he had to learn if there was a way to counter their mental attacks.  Fafnir had told him to try to continue learning and experimenting with lux to find new abilities with it.  Also, he wanted to make sure Adeel and Elrid had safely passed through weeks prior.

They continued on toward the town.  They were soon passing fences, livestock, and plowed fields.  Since it was nighttime, they did not pass anyone until they reached the center of town.  The few people that walked along the main road gave Noir wide-eyed looks.  Last time, Noir had seem that same expression when they saw Adeel.  He felt proud of his armor and what it meant and unconsciously sat up a little straighter in his saddle when someone stared at him.

They arrived at the Chauffeur’s Inn and opened one of the large front doors.  Unlike last time, the lobby was empty.  There was no one behind the counter either, but there was a small hand bell.  Ratt walked up, shook it loudly, then sat down on one of the stools at the bar.  A minute or so passed before they heard slow, heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

The thin body of Assai, the young innkeeper that they had met last time, came into view.  He walked slowly and with a slump as though a heavy burden laid on him.  When he saw Noir, he stopped in mid-stride.  His face looked like he had seen a ghost.

“A Luxin!” he said.  His face seemed to be a mix of excitement and fear.

“What is it?  What’s wrong?” Noir asked.

The man quickly stepped up to Noir.  Ratt spun on the stool to face him.  He said with odd pauses in his speech, “My mind, it was… it was not mine.  I remember meeting you before, but you….  I saw through my eyes but could not act….  My body was not mine.”

That sounded exactly what it had been like for Noir when he was being controlled with sye.  Noir placed his hands on the man’s elbows gently.  “Slow down, Assai.  What are you talking about?”  Despite his question, Noir had an eerie feeling he already knew.

Assai spoke more slowly and deliberately.  “Back when I met you the first time, my mind was being controlled.  I felt another person in my head and I couldn’t resist it.  It must have been sye.  It must have.”

Noir pulled out one of the chairs at a table.  He said calmly, “Sit.  Tell me everything.”

“No,” the man said as if he just realized something new.  “There is no time for sitting.  They are going to Talik.  You must go.”

“Who?  Who is going to Talik.”

The man then put one hand on the back of his head and looked at the far wall.  “My father was a supporter of Captain Grandel.  He told me about him and about Talik.  I felt the Syeter reading my mind.  He searched through my memories for weeks until he found what he wanted.  Though I tried, I could do nothing to stop him.”  He dropped his hand and looked in Noir’s eyes.  “I saw glimpses of his mind as well.  His lord has a large band of straghs and he’s sending them to Talik.”

Ratt stood up from his stool and put his hand on his axe’s hilt as a reflex.  Noir looked at Ratt and then back at Assai.  He spoke with haste.  “When was this?  When is he sending the straghs?”

The man collapsed in the pulled out chair.  “That was yesterday.  No one would believe me.  They all thought I was mad, so I eventually kept it to myself.”  He looked up at them with hope.  “But I knew you would believe me when I saw you.  Please, you must go and warn them that they are coming.  Take two of the horses from out back.  They are fast.  You must go.  Now!”

~~~

Noir and Ratt rode the horses as fast as they could in the direction of Talik.  Noir had to create a light above their heads to see the path ahead of them.  It was now past midnight and both young men felt the dullness of exhaustion creeping into their consciousness.

Adeel had given Noir very specific directions on how to find his way back to the hidden town.  They had already broken away from the main road and into the wilderness.  Adeel’s directions consisted of a series of small landmarks leading them through the forest.  They would arrive at Talik in a few hours as long as they did not get lost and the horses did not give out on them.

At one point, as they allowed their horses to walk for a few minutes, Noir looked behind at Ratt and saw him slumping in his saddle with eyes closed.  Ratt's horse was following his own, so it posed no problems.  “Let him have a quick nap.  I fear he will need his energy in a short while.”

They rode on like this for a while.  Noir kept an eye on Ratt to make sure he did not fall from his saddle.  He would wake up every couple minutes and make an obvious attempt to stay awake before his chin would fall to his chest again.  Then, a hauntingly familiar sound drew his attention to the road in front of him: the faint sound of running bodies and claws digging into the earth.  Branches snapped and twigs broke underfoot.  They were approaching quickly.

“Ratt, wake up!”

The axe seemed to be in Ratt’s hands even before he was aware of where he was or what was going on.  He looked at Noir, blinking.

Noir said quietly but intensely, “Ahead.  Straghs.  It's gotta be.”

Then Ratt said with speech slightly slurred from just waking up, “Well, kill the light then.  That’s how they’re seeing us.”  Noir realized Ratt was right so he stopped the flow of chakra into it and it fizzled out.  Noir had no idea how those creatures were able to see
anything
with that pale skin that covered the area where their eyes should be
.
  With the lux-fueled light extinguished, they were suddenly in complete darkness.

“Leave the horses,” Noir whispered.  “I have a plan.”  They both dismounted from their animals and Noir slapped the hindquarters of his animal, making it run forward loudly.  Ratt did the same.  Then Noir ran off to the right of their path and whispered for Ratt to do the same.  “They'll go after the horses.”

“Good idea, but some of our supplies were on them.”  Ratt was right.  Noir's second sword, the one given to him by the blacksmith Gonn, was strapped to his saddle.  Other supplies such as food were also attached.

The two walked to the right for a few moments and then forward in the direction they had originally been going.  They thought this new path would take them around the side of their enemies.

Then they heard a series of disturbing noises from ahead and to the left.  The horses whinnied and cried.  Noir hoped the creatures only desired to kill them and not the horses, though he had a feeling they would kill whatever they desired... if those creatures
had
desires.

Ratt said, “They must have found the rider-less horses.”

Noir replied, “Yes, they’ll be searching for us now.  Let’s go.”  They moved forward as quickly as they could without making any sound.  To their left, they could hear the cracking of sticks under the feet of the straghs.

The quietness of the creatures was eerie.  Then Noir noticed noises coming in their direction, so he pulled Ratt down to the ground.  He whispered, “Wait here.  If they get close, close your eyes.  I'll blind them, then we'll attack.”

Ratt chuckled nervously, “Heh, they’ve already been closed.”

The sounds drew closer in the darkness.  It was odd hearing no breathing or noises from the creatures other than footsteps and brushing past leaves.  Noir knew the straghs would stumble on them soon, so he closed his eyes and embraced the lux within him.  He then focused as much lux as he could into a light in the direction of the straghs.

To Noir's closed eyes, his eyelids glowed red from the sudden bright light.  The sound of frantic flailing came from just a few feet away.  He quickly let the light die down so he and Ratt could see.  “Now!” he yelled to Ratt.

Noir drew his sword and charged forward.  Ratt was right beside him with his axe raised toward the grotesque straghs.  The two pale-skinned beasts had their clawed hands to their faces.  They never had a chance to see the two young warriors coming toward them before they fell to the ground.

The forest erupted with motion around them, some near and some far.  Sounds of many other straghs crashing through the underbrush rushed toward them.  Ratt said between gritted teeth, “Crap.  Can you make some sort of distraction?”

Noir thought fast and created another bright flash of light near where he heard some more straghs.  The sounds from that direction stopped moving toward them.  He made another flash in the opposite direction which produced the same result.  From the sounds they heard, the straghs seemed to be running in random directions.  “Now's our chance,” said Noir quietly.

The two clambered on in the dark in the direction of what they thought to be Talik.  The stragh cries started to be heard from farther behind them instead of all around.  Soon, Noir felt safe enough to create a small light so the two could find their footsteps in the forest.

They walked on until all sounds of the straghs could no longer be heard behind them.  They found the next couple landmarks and eventually found the small, nearly invisible path that was to lead them into the town.  However, they didn't walk directly on the path for fear of it being patrolled.  They walked to the side of it in the trees and underbrush, cutting through foliage with their weapons when needed.  They proceeded as fast as they could without tripping on roots or getting scraped by brier patches.

After few more minutes of walking, Noir heard something near them.  He grabbed Ratt's arm to stop him and let his light fade out.  He heard it again.  “Life without freedom is death.”  It was a whisper coming from in front of them.  Noir recognized the phrase as the people of Talik's creed.

Noir repeated the words back to whoever said it.  Then the voice replied at a normal volume, “Who is it?  I don't recognize you.”

Noir embraced his lux and put it into a light in front of him.  He saw three men clad in Talik armor squinting at him through the light.

Noir said to them, “I am Luxin Noir,” Noir noticed that this was the first time that he had called himself that.  “And this is my friend Ratt.  We are returning from training with Fafnir.”

One of the other men said in an accent that he did not recognize, “You’re that Luxin boy!”

The third said, “We have heard of you, Luxin Noir.  Captain Grandel told some of us about you.  He said that you would make the difference for us.”

The first man spoke again.  “But now it seems that you are too late.”

It felt like Noir’s stomach dropped when he heard those words.  Ratt spoke up.  “Why, what has happened?”

Noir said, “We heard from a man in Kuli that a band of straghs was headed this way.  We met some a ways back.”

“Talik was hit without warning at about nightfall.  There were too many for us to hold the town walls, so we abandoned them.  Town protocol says to stay near and destroy the enemies in pockets when we can with the hopes of thinning their numbers and meeting back up with the rest of Talik later.”

Ratt said, “So Talik is... destroyed?”

The man with the accent said, “Might as well be.  What we saw of it was overrun with the monsters.”

The first man spoke again.  “We have two injured if you would grace us with your gift, Luxin Noir.”

It took Noir a moment to realize that he meant he wanted him to heal them with lux.  “Yes, show me where they are.  I will do my best.”

The man signaled him to follow.  Noir started forward and noticed that he had to blink multiple times before things came into focus.  The lack of sleep was getting to him.

The man walked them to a place nearby.  Two men were lying on the ground.  One wore the hawk crested armor that most from Talik wore and the other wore normal cloth clothes.  The one with armor was passed out and had a long dark gash on his right leg.  It looked horrible.  The other was on his side moaning and coughing through gritted teeth.  He had a series of punctures in his side which probably was piercing his lung.  The man coughed, “Do him first, Luxin.  I am fine for now.”

Noir nodded then knelt down beside the armored man with the cut first.  He embraced his lux and proceeded to heal up the wound as he had done with Ratt's cut arm weeks ago.  This man's leg wound was much worse than Ratt's arm, but it was still done much the same.

As Noir worked, he could feel the effort of using his lux draining away the last of his chakra and physical strength.  He fought to not pass out from exhaustion while he worked.