The Year of the Lumin

by Andrew Ryan Henke

  “Those creatures can't tell me from one of them,” he thought as he saw the creatures crash out of the brush nearby.

  The man quickly embraced the lux inside him. He forced it into the air around each of the straghs’ hands. Their bodies jerked bizarrely as their arms were held fast in place but their bodies continued forward. Bones snapped from the force. Then the man twisted the air around and drove the long black claws into their owners’ chests. The straghs flailed for a moment, then hung limply in the air dangling from their lux-held wrists now buried deep into their own hearts.

  The man sniffed, released his hold on the straghs, finished changing the appearance of the corpse, then calmly walked away from the scene.

  ~~~

  Captain Grandel sat on a log and looked at the two sleeping boys. It was the first time he had had a chance to sit and rest since his town was overrun. He thought about all the lifeless faces of his friends that he had seen in the last two days. He rigorously scrutinized his tactics and orders for any faults that could have led to this destruction. Grandel had thought himself to be a very calculating, careful man, but there must have been faults to his carefully laid-out town. Only a few hundred straghs had managed to decimate the town’s defenses. He had to have been holes in his defense.

  Unless Elrid and the others were right. Unless there truly was a traitor in their midst. Like hundreds of times before, he scanned through his memory of people in Talik for anything that seemed suspicious. He could think of a short list of people who he didn’t know well or seemed strange for one reason or another, but nothing to warrant treachery.

  Grandel shook his head. It all had gone awry. He had failed these people. But he couldn’t give up. He had to rebuild the town. He couldn’t go back to either of the two kingdoms for hundreds of reasons. These people had pledged themselves to him. He, especially now, could not give up on them. Wifes, brothers, sons, fathers, all dead because of him.

  It was like before.

  Grandel gritted his teeth as his mind recalled all the atrocities he had done in the past. He didn’t remember putting his hand in the pouch that held Kahmi’s gift. He pulled out the small cloth-covered box and turned it over in his hands. His love for Kahmi was peppered with uncertainty. When it came time for them to escape and build the town that they had exhaustingly planned together, Kahmi had refused to go with him.

  Before he left her, she had given him the small package wrapped in cloth and tied with a red string. Kahmi had said that if he ever returned to her with the package still unopened, she would be waiting for him. He wondered if he would ever get the chance to return. Perhaps now that everything had failed....

  He tossed the old thoughts away and said to himself, “I cannot return now, Kahmi. I must first tend to my present failures here before returning to my old ones.” He put the small box away in a small pouch where he always kept it safe.

  “Captain Grandel,” said one of the Talik men. He had not noticed the man come out of the forest around him. “I was out scouting the area like you said and I found something you should see.” He paused. “You aren’t going to like it.”

  “Do not speak in riddles. Out with it. What did you find?”

  A short pause, then “We found Luxin Kit, sir.”

  The Captain’s heart sank in his chest. He knew exactly what the man meant by “found.” Kit was a long-time ally of his. Grandel saved him from becoming a slave when his town was destroyed. Grandel was with Kit the day he left for training with Fafnir, and the day he came back. He had witnessed his first healing and the first time he saved someone’s life by deflecting a deadly attack.

  The captain pressed together his lips and fought off tears for his friend and ally. It was one too many for Grandel to take in stride. “Take me to him.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Grandel followed the man for a few minutes until he stopped and stood aside for his captain to pass. Grandel walked forward and saw a sight that told an odd tale. A man lay sprawled on the ground wearing the Luxin armor and cloak. Grandel’s stomach turned as he saw Kit's frozen face. Oddly, it was not of terror or pain, but of confusion. A small pile of straghs was nearby, each with its own claws buried in its chests.

  Grandel bent down to take a closer look at his friend. A dagger stuck out of Kit's chest. Grandel recognized the craftsmanship of the dagger as that of Gonn, Talik’s blacksmith. Kit had a dagger sheath strapped to his belt, but the weapon was still there, so it wasn’t his. Elrid was indeed right about there being a traitor.

  Captain Grandel studied the scene for a while longer trying to gain more clues about who could have done such a thing. He barely contained his emotions as he tried to imagine the last moments of his Ally's life.

  Grandel wondered how much this traitor had to do with the attack on Talik. It seemed like this traitor could use lux, though he knew of none other than Adeel, Noir and Kit in the town. He also realized the possibility that neither Chiron nor Tier spearheaded the attack since neither kingdom openly used straghs. Many puzzles were now laid out for Grandel to analyze.

  Grandel painfully closed the eyelids of his friend and asked the man who had led him there to prepare the body for burial and take it back to where the rest of the men were. He stood up and walked away from another body of a fallen friend.

  Chapter 18

  A gathering of forces

  Noir awoke on his back looking up at the bottom side of a canopy of trees. From the angle of the sunlight coming through the trees, he guessed it was about mid morning. He looked around him. Two men sat on an overturned tree talking to one another. One of the two he recognized as the man with the wounded leg that he had healed. He did not recognize the other one. Nearby, Ratt lay asleep on his side.

  Noir felt embarrassed that his exhaustion had gotten the better of him. However, he now felt well rested and ready to continue on.

  Noir stood up and stretched. The two men stopped talking and looked at Noir. Then the man Noir had healed went over and knelt before him. “Luxin Noir. I owe you my life for healing my wounds when you did.”

  The man looked up at Noir as if expecting an answer. Noir felt very odd having a grown man kneel in front of him. Noir said, “No problem.” The man looked like he didn’t understand the phrase. Noir reiterated, “I was glad I could help. Now please stand up. Thank you, but you don’t need to kneel.”

  “As you wish, Luxin Noir.” The man stood up and said, “We should go tell the captain that you are awake. I have no doubt he will want to speak with you.”

  “You mean Captain Grandel?” Noir asked with a gleam of hope. Noir was glad to hear that Grandel was alright.

  “Yes. Wait here and I will go find him.” The man who was on the brink of death only hours before walked swiftly and sturdily off.

  The other man who sat nearby motioned toward Ratt and said, “Your friend there bravely defended you while you slept. He is a good soldier despite his age.

  Noir looked at Ratt. His mouth hung open and a string of drool went from the corner of his mouth to the log he was laying against. “Yes, he is a good friend.”

  Noir asked questions about what had happened while he slept. They talked for a couple minutes until Captain Grandel’s powerful form came into view.

  “Luxin Noir, you are awake. I trust you slept well.” He smiled. “You needed it. Thank you for returning when you did and healing my men.”

  “I just did what I thought was right, but it seems we were a bit too late.”

  Grandel looked down at Noir's leg. “Your leg is better.”

  Noir looked down at his leg as well. He flexed it appreciatively. “Yes. Fafnir is a good teacher.” He looked back at Grandel. “I am glad to see that you are safe.”

  “My life matters not. I would gladly give mine to bring back one son, one husband, one daughter….” He waved his hand in the air as if to dismiss the topic. “We can’t dwell on that now. Our situation is grave. Our town’s location has been jeopardized and lies in ruins. We must co
llect our forces, mop up the rest of the straghs, and find a new place to start fresh. If my people followed protocol, they should be hiding in small groups in the forest surrounding Talik waiting for orders from me. We were waiting for you and Ratt to wake before scouting out further to find more of my people, but I am getting anxious. Wake your friend, please.”

  “Yes, sir.” Grandel walked away and Noir went to Ratt and knelt beside him.

  Grandel turned and said one more thing before leaving. “Thank you for returning. We, as a people, are humbled to have your support.” Noir nodded and Grandel left.

  Noir woke up Ratt. When he was awake enough to walk, they followed in the direction that Grandel had gone. Ratt quickly told Noir about what had happened while he was asleep. They rejoined the captain and saw that he had about fifteen men and a couple scared-looking young girls with him. More survivors must have joined them while Noir had slept.

  The men looked up as Noir and Ratt approached and said in staggered rhythm, “Life without freedom is death!”

  Grandel said, “This is the new Luxin that I spoke of. His name is Luxin Noir and he is already very competent with lux even though he just finished his training. We are fortunate to have him by our side.” The men again repeated their creed.

  Grandel then went on with the plans for the next few days. “We need to traverse the area gathering what forces remain and healing those who are wounded. Talik’s location has been compromised and therefore we need to find a new home location to rebuild. The town needs to be retaken if possible so we can retrieve our belongings and...” he paused, “and do what we must with our loved ones who have fallen.”

  Grandel acted as though he was about to start saying something else when a voice from the group unexpectedly cut in. “But why?”

  The group turned to look at the man who had spoken. He was wearing the same hawk armor as the others. He had a bald head and a short beard. He said, “Why move on? Why keep struggling? All it brings is more hardship. More struggle. More death.”

  Grandel turned his weary gaze upon the man. “You would leave the bodies of our loved ones open on the ground to be fed upon by beasts?”

  “If it means no more dead, then yes,” he almost spat the next words, “Captain Grandel.”

  Grandel sighed in frustration. “Telfa, please not now. We will discuss this in the future if you would like. For now, we need your help.”

  The one Grandel named as Telfa threw up his arms. “Who says I want to help anymore? I saw good men perish last night, and for what?”

  “Keep your voice down unless you want straghs to find us. Grandel growled, obviously containing his anger. “And you are always free to leave.”

  “Are we, Grandel? If we returned to either kingdom we would be interrogated and put in prison or worse. We are not free to leave and you know it!”

  One of the first times that Noir had spoken to Grandel, Noir had interrupted him and seen how Grandel could make his presence ten times larger than any other man. Noir saw him do this again, though this time, while still impressive, he seemed much less confident than before. “We have all lost much!” Grandel rumbled. “I understand your unease about my leadership up to the present. But I must lead for now for I am the only leader we have. So save it for another time, Telfa. That is an order!”

  Telfa said in a quiet and somewhat defiant manner, “Yes, for another time.”

  ~~~

  The group of men pushed their way through the forest. At Captain Grandel’s orders, no one spoke more than a whisper. He said this was so they could use all of their senses to search the area and so they would not be as easy to find by enemies. Straghs were nearly silent killers, and even a quiet whisper could cover an approaching attack. Two men carried the cloth-wrapped body of what Noir had learned was one of Talik’s two Luxins. His name was Kit and Noir remembered seeing him once before on one of the first times he had spoken to Grandel. He tried to ignore the haunting feeling of having roughly his equal carried dead along with them.

  As they walked, they found small groups of people from Talik who had found each other and hidden. There were some older women and children with these groups. They traveled at the center of the group surrounded by men and also some of the younger women who had some skill with and were not afraid to carry a sword.

  Multiple times they came upon groups of straghs slinking about the area, but they were easily dispatched with the help of Noir creating light barriers between their claws and the flesh of his companions. At one point, Ratt whispered to Noir that he had slain seven straghs by then. He seemed proud of it.

  Telfa, the man who had spoken against the captain, walked in the very back. Noir kept an eye on him as they walked. He did not speak to anyone and walked with his head down as if lost in his own thoughts. However, when straghs appeared, he did help in the battle. Noir did not know what to make of him. Perhaps seeing good men die for a cause that he didn’t believe in anymore was weighing heavily on his mind.

  The sun came down through the trees in angled beams of light. It was around mid-afternoon when they met up with a larger group of Talik refugees. Their numbers were close to Grandel’s party. Noir saw Elrid and Adeel approach Grandel from out of the new group. Grandel give Elrid a quick, friendly hug. He smiled at Adeel and she smiled back. Then they embraced in a warm hug. It was obvious they had been worried about each other. Ratt and Noir walked forward to greet them as well. It had been about a month since they had last seen them.

  Adeel saw them coming first. She smiled firmly and said, “Oh, Luxin Noir, is it? I see you completed your training.” She gave him a short, respectful bow. “Well done. Most Luxins, myself included, take months to finish all that Fafnir asks.”

  Noir returned the short bow and replied, “It is good to see you again, Luxin Adeel.” Elrid greeted Noir and Ratt as well with greetings and handshakes.

  Grandel asked, “Elrid, how many does your group number?”

  Elrid turned and spoke to his captain, “Nineteen men able to fight, sir. Eleven women and children.” He gave a sideways glance at Adeel. “No offense counting you in with the nineteen men.” She gave him a comically angry look before he turned back to Grandel. “I have had scouts covering the area extensively. There seems to be a large group of us in the forest on the other side of the town. They did not want to move until they received orders from you, sir.”

  Grandel mumbled and looked at the ground, but Noir caught his words. “Their trust in me may be their greatest mistake.” He looked up and said more clearly, “Let us take the western path around the town and meet up with them. Tell your men to fall in with us, Elrid.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  The group traveled on adding the newcomers in their proper places in the group. It was becoming a fairly large party. They resumed their strict silence policy, though, despite their efforts, the sound of feet breaking twigs and general rustle created a fair amount of noise. Eventually others started to whisper around them. It was not as loud as the rustling of feet, so Noir and Ratt started to tell Adeel and Elrid about all that had happened since they parted at Fafnir’s lair. Noir told about how they had gone to Kuli again and how they learned about the attack on Talik. Elrid and Adeel had stayed in the wilderness all of the nights on their trip back because they had such a bad feeling about the inn. Grandel's ears got perked at their conversation and came to hear the story as well. He listened intently and said in hushed tones, “A hostile Syeter is a very dangerous enemy. This is grave news. Be careful, Luxins.” Then he walked ahead and whispered with another soldier.

  They were not attacked by straghs again. Adeel said it was probably because they all had gone to the town to feed. Noir was afraid of what she meant by “feed,” so he didn't press the matter further.

  They traveled to the northwest and then to the north. They found more small groups of people as they went and added them to the group. A few needed healing. This was a duty which Noir and Adeel shared. Each time, Noir studied her as she fo
cused the yellow light through her hand. He studied as she manipulated lux to forge together once broken tissues and bones.

  By the time their numbers were nearing one hundred, the evening was growing old. Finally, they came upon the large group that Elrid had mentioned. They were hiding among the trees much as the other groups had. The two groups merged and estranged friends and family members greeted one another. There was a great deal of solemn news to relay about friends and loved ones. Many were crying. There were around 170 people in all, Noir estimated. This was a little over half the original population of Talik. A small amount of horses, perhaps twenty, had been saved as well.

  Captain Grandel was talking to Elrid and two more men that seemed to be of the same rank. Adeel, Ratt, and Noir listened in. They were discussing battle strategies for retaking into the town. One of the men said they had scouted the town and that it was swarming with straghs. Despite different opinions, Grandel remained firm that they had to recapture the town. He said that they should attack after sundown to cover their approach.

  Hearing the men speak made Noir realize that he was truly a crucial part of this group and this battle. Many things revolved around him and Adeel.

  After it seemed like they had basic plans laid out, Adeel turned to Noir and said, “I assume you have never been in a large battle before. Since there are so many men to protect, you cannot possibly deflect every attack that will be thrown their way. Your chakra and mental faculties will be drained in minutes if you try to do that. Instead, focus on only blocking attacks that look like they are going to connect with flesh. Allow the warriors to block what they can. They are well-trained, and most attacks will meet shield or armor.” She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled, though her eyes showed sadness. “Rest well now, while you can. When that sun sets, you’ll have your biggest test as a Luxin yet.”

  Chapter 19