by Alex Raizman
With that, he pulled the trigger. Theognis threw his hand up to catch the blast, grinning.
That’s when Haradeth noticed Armin’s eyes, a pair of burning eclipses blazing to life.
Theognis howled in pain as the arcwand beam cut a neat hole through the palm of his hand.
***
Armin kept the arcwand trained on Theognis as the Lumcaster clenched his fist. Tendrils of unlight were stretching across the wound. “Don’t move or the next bolt goes through your skull,” Armin said, spitting the words.
Theognis looked up at him, and although his face was twisted into a mask of pure hatred, he didn’t budge from where he was. Every line of his body was tight with tension, and the dark web didn’t stop its progress, but he didn’t move.
“Good. Glad we have an understanding.”
Haradeth was looking at him in disbelief. Synit’s mandibles were hanging open. Even the strange automaton had ceased her attempts to break free of the unlight cage to peer at him with narrowed lenses that Armin assumed must be her eyes, or at least function as them. He couldn’t see Ossman and Aldreda and Lorathor, but he could imagine they were giving him similar expressions. A single question hung over the room, one that no one was saying aloud. “How did you do that?”
Armin really hoped no one would ask it, because the truth was, he had absolutely no idea.
He played back the last few in his head, trying to figure out what had happened.
***
Lorathor didn’t need keys to the other cells. Now that he was more open about how far his shapeshifting prowess could be pushed, it was easy to watch him shove his fingers into the keyholes and let them run like wax before the door unlocked.
“I should go first,” Armin said quietly as the first door clicked open. “Ossman knows you, but Aldreda might respond poorly to an unknown person coming in.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Lorathor said, his voice thick with sarcasm, and he pulled the door open, stepping back to remain hidden behind the wood.
Aldreda screamed and lunged from the room, her fists raised. They hadn’t chained her to a wall. Armin leapt back, holding up his hands. “It’s me! It’s me!”
“Armin?” Aldreda asked, coming to a halt. “How’d you get out?”
“My friend behind the door. We have to move. We need to get Ossman free.”
“Just Ossman?” Aldreda’s eyes narrowed. “What about Guiart? And Clarcia.” Armin tried to find the words, but they were thick on his tongue. He settled for just shaking his head. Aldreda’s face collapsed inwards, like she’d been punched in the gut. “I see. You’re sure?”
“I saw Clarcia’s body,” Armin said. Lorathor stepped out from behind the door and moved to the next cell. He knew the urgency of the situation but let them have their moment in silence.
“Where?” Aldreda asked.
“I’ll…I’ll explain later.” Armin said. Aldreda gave him a sharp look, one that softened when she met his eyes. The horror he felt must have shown through, and Armin tried to suppress it. Don’t burden her with it. Not right now. After we’re done.
Assuming he didn’t get anyone else killed.
Ossman and Lorathor were having a quiet conversation. Armin didn’t hear any rattling chains. It appeared Theognis had spared the only cell with a chain for Armin. Of course he did, Armin thought bitterly. He was probably going to kill them if he ever opened their cells again.
“Any idea where our weapons are?” Aldreda asked.
Armin shook his head. “I’m an absolute failure, it seems. Maybe Lorathor-”
What he had been about to say was cut off. Aldreda stepped forward and raised her hand. For a moment Armin thought she was going to slap him. For an instant, it looked like she thought the same thing. Then she took another step forward and grabbed him by the shoulder. “You develop the ability to see the future when your eyes went weird?” she asked.
Armin blinked at the question and shook his head.
“Then you can’t blame yourself for not predicting the unpredictable. No one I’ve served under would have seen that coming.”
“Thank you,” Armin said. Ossman and Lorathor exited the other cell. Armin met Ossman’s eyes, and saw they glistened in the faint light provided by arcglobes. Lorathor must have given him the details. Everyone keeps telling you it’s not your fault. If you freeze right now, though…that would be your fault. “Alright. Lorathor, do you know where our weapons are?”
“I saw a few thrown in an unlocked cell on my way in. If they’re not yours, they’re still weapons.”
“Good enough. Let’s move. We’ve got a Lumcaster to send straight to the Shadow.”
They were their weapons; a stroke of luck Armin hadn’t expected to get. Re-armed, they followed Lorathor down the hallway towards where Theognis waited.
As they ran, Armin opened his eyes.
It was wrong. He knew that. Mortals were not meant to see the flow of Light. Such things were forbidden, in the same sense that attempting to fly by flapping your arms or breathing underwater or swimming through the ground were forbidden – no actual law was needed to forbid them, because natural laws made them impossible. It was blasphemous, something that perhaps the little gods could do, but not a mortal. Yet Armin could now, and he certainly was not a god. He knew he should keep this power locked away and never utilize it.
Yet if he had kept his eyes open, he might have seen the unnatural strands of unlight that signaled Theognis’s presence. He might have known sooner that they were coming.
That was the failure. That was what he could have done differently. He could have watched with his new sight, and if he had, Clarcia and Guiart might still be alive.
Never again would he shut himself off from their flow, and if he was damned to the darkest parts of the Shadow for his blasphemy, he’d accept that torment as a price for saving even a single life.
So, when they’d rounded the bend and seen Theognis closing in on Synit, unlight prisons trapping Bix and Haradeth, Armin had known what to expect. Theognis’s hands were wrapped in a cocoon of unlight, strands of it so densely packed the man’s hands were merely an outline. It was invisible to the naked eye, a pre-cast weaving that would activate if it was triggered. It was how he was absorbing the unlight, and any true light that was sent his way would be twisted into unlight before it reached his barrier and only strengthen it.
Even knowing it wouldn’t work, Armin had pulled the trigger. Pure instinct had driven the reaction. He had to do something, anything. And then he’d felt something. A sensation not unlight the buildup of light when he was charging an arccell, but somehow different. He’d pushed out with that sensation, and Theognis’s barrier had flickered out of existence.
It had lasted only a moment. It had given Armin’s blast all the time it needed. But now Theognis was protected again, and Armin had no idea how to replicate the feat.
He doesn’t know that. Light and Shadow, don’t let him figure it out. “Bring down the unlight cages, Theognis. Now.”
“I have to move if that’s what you want,” Theognis said, growling through the pain. The hole in his hand was now full of unlight.
“I know that’s a lie. You don’t need to use your hand to undo your own lumcasting.”
Theognis gave him a thin smile. “So, you did pay attention sometimes. I’ll admit to being surprised. Yet unlight is different.”
“You’re lying,” Armin said, pushing his finger against the trigger.
Theognis shrugged slightly. “You don’t know. You never studied it, Armin. Unlight requires the motion to undo, as it does to put in place.”
Armin hesitated.
That was a mistake. It gave Theognis a chance to think. “Hmmm…a question, before you kill me?”
“I don’t care-” Armin started to say, but Theognis wasn’t interested in his opinion on the matter.
“If you believe they work the same, then you would believe killing me would end the traps. Yet you chose not to. And now I
’m forced to wonder…why?”
Armin pulled the trigger. Theognis’s hand intercepted the blast, and Armin didn’t feel that pressure this time. The arclight was corrupted into unlight and merged with the barrier. Theognis smiled cruelly.
Screaming in desperation, Armin started to fire again.
In this moment, he was certain this would be the last act of his life.
Chapter 49
The arclight beams hit Theognis barriers. His hand moved impossibly fast, keeping up with each bolt. Armin could see strings of unlight around Theognis’s wrists – he wasn’t moving his hand with his muscles, but instead his mind. He could react at the speed of thought. There’s got to be a way we can use that. “Ossman, Aldreda, hit him from the sides. Lorathor, get behind him!” Armin shouted, keeping the pressure on Theognis. At least Armin’s limited lumcasting was keeping his arccell full – he didn’t need to worry about reloading.
Ossman and Aldreda charged in arcs, circling to hit Theognis from the left and right, respectively. Theognis’s hands snapped to each side, catching Ossman’s unlight ax and Aldreda’s arcblade, then flicking forward to intercept the next two beams from Armin’s arcwand.
Sweat began to form on Theognis’s brow, and Armin felt hope surge again. They were getting through to him! As soon as Lorathor got into position and they had him surrounded, they could land a blow. Theognis was an old man – one solid hit should end the threat he posed.
Then why’s he smiling? Armin asked himself. It was true that even with the injury to his hand, even with the trap surrounding him, Theognis hadn’t wavered in his smug confidence since uncovering Armin’s ruse.
The moment Lorathor was parallel to Ossman, Theognis acted. He stepped forward, into Ossman’s axe range. The handle of the weapon clattered against his forearm and pushed Theognis to the side, taking him out of Aldreda’s strike and Armin’s blast. Theognis ducked down before Ossman could take advantage of the proximity and slapped his hand against the floor.
Unlight rolled out from the point of impact, a wave that sent the three of them tumbling backwards. Armin felt that strange pressure again and pushed. The attack parted before it struck him, but everyone else was thrown to the ground. Haradeth and Bix slammed into the back walls of their unlight cages, and Synit tumbled over and behind and pile of gold coins.
Armin fired as rapidly as the arcwand could stand. Its barrel began to glow with the heat. Yet with no one distracting him, Theognis could block Armin’s attacks easily. “How do you keep doing that?” Theognis snarled, his hands a blur. “How are you unweaving the unlight?”
We both wish I knew, Armin thought.
Theognis snarled at his nonanswer and sent a beam of unlight shooting out of his eyes. The pressure rose again, and Armin undid the beam as it streaked towards him.
It still almost killed him. There was a backlash that tore through his head, feeling like an icepick shoved into his tear duct. Armin screamed and dropped to one knee, the motion saving him from a follow-up blast from Theognis.
Theognis gave Armin a curious expression, raising his eyebrow. The look was so familiar. Where had Armin seen it before?
As the pain faded, clarity replaced it. He remembered a lesson, long ago, in Theognis’ class.
“Light comes from a lumwell in strands,” Theognis said. Armin fought to keep his head from nodding again. He’d get in trouble if he fell asleep in class. It was so hard though. The room was hot, the weather was beautiful outside, and Theognis spoke in a low drone that threatened to force him into sleep. “These are called Rays. A successful lumcaster is able to bind those rays to their soul, which serves as a prism. They can redirect that energy as they wish.”
Armin furrowed his forehead, and Theognis focused his gaze on him. “Ah, Armin. It appears that a thought has crossed your mind, as unlikely as that seems. Since that’s such a rare occurrence, perhaps you should share that with the class? I’d hate for everyone to miss such a beautiful moment.”
Armin flushed as the class tittered. “Uh. Yes. Sorry, Master Theognis. I was just wondering…if rays of Light come from the lumwells, what happens if something intercepted those rays?”
And that was when Theognis gave him the look. The sneer combined with a quirked eyebrow. “If fish can breathe water, why can’t you, Novice Armin? If you had the most basic grasp of what I was teaching, you’d know such questions were folly. I fear you’ve wasted the classes time-”
“Master Cordwein could do it!” Armin objected.
This got another round of laughter from the class, and a withering glare from Theognis. “Master Cordwein was a myth, Armin. Warriors cannot leap thirty leagues like Kornar the Mighty, Dragons cannot melt mountains like Sjarix, and Lumcasters cannot cut off light.”
Armin’s cheeks were so hot, they threatened to ignite. “I just…Master Cordwein is in the history books. Those other two are from children’s tales.”
“I’ll have to inform Master Olerian you aren’t paying attention in history either, Novice Armin. There was a Lumcaster in the Cardomethi Empire known as Master Cordwein, that is true. However, the tales attributed to him are greatly exaggerated. Unless,” and to make Armin’s humiliation complete, Theognis laughed along with the class at the last sentence, “you propose there is a way to drink a drop of the sun?”
Except there was, wasn’t there? Armin had done that. He was cutting Theognis’s Lumcasting off from the source of its power. Wherever unlight came from, Armin was blocking the rays before they could reach Theognis.
And now that he knew what he was doing, Armin was sure he could do it again. It had been a reflex before, but now…
…now it was too late. That last blow had almost knocked him out. Even though Theognis was tiring, he was readying to cut Armin down with the next unlight blast. As soon as he did, it wouldn’t matter that Theognis was too weak to create more unlight cages. Ossman was groaning on the floor, his arm bent at an awkward angle. Aldreda was rising to her feet, but her vision was unfocused, and she had to pause to throw up. He’d cut them down without even needing to manifest more unlight, and then Lorathor would be…
…would be…
Why had Theognis trapped Haradeth? Or Bix, for that matter? Light and Shadow, Armin had seen the carnage – he must have trapped Bix before even starting the fight. Why?
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me how you’re doing that before you die, Armin?” Theognis asked, his teeth gritted in pain.
“Yeah,” Armin said. It was hard to focus enough to talk. Yet he made himself do it as he felt for that pressure again – felt for it and found it. “In fact…I’ll even show you, Theognis.”
Theognis quirked his eyebrow yet again. “Oh?”
“Absolutely.” Armin held out his hand towards Theognis. “Watch closely.”
Armin snapped his fingers. The pain was even worse this time. Armin couldn’t hear himself scream over the pain that lanced through his brain. He lost vision. He collapsed forward, shaking.
As his vision cleared Theognis stared at him and sighed. “You’re wasting my time. Goodbye, Armin. I hope that it helps to know you died as you lived – a failure.”
Right before the beams fired from his eyes, something impacted Theognis’s back and sent him flying forwards. Unlight beams flew from his gaze and scored the ceiling of the cavern. Theognis whirled at impossible speeds to face his attacker.
A three span tall automaton grinned at Theognis, her metallic eyes alight with something akin to rage. “Heya. I’m Bix. You put me in a box. Eye-boy over there opened it. Guess what that means?” She surged forward, the arms on her back extending in unison.