The Year of the Lumin

by Andrew Ryan Henke

  Ratt stood and walked a few paces away from the small camp when he heard a voice call out, “Help!” It came in the direction that Noir and Cotaj had gone. Grandel was immediately on his feet with sword drawn. Ratt saw Noir’s figure running toward them. “Help!” Noir cried out again. “It’s Cotaj! Come quick!” Then he turned and ran in the direction from which he had come. Ratt and Grandel exchanged worried glances, and then ran after Noir.

  They ran for a couple minutes and caught up to Noir, who was now standing still. He stood near the edge of a steep cliff with his back to the other two. His head hung low as he pointed toward the cliff. Noir stammered breathlessly, “He’s down there. There wasn’t anything I could…. It happened too fast. I can’t heal because… he’s gone.” Noir then knelt down to one knee and bowed his head, still facing away from Ratt and Grandel.

  Grandel slowly approached the edge of the cliff. Grandel leaned his weight forward and looked down. As he inched forward, something caught his foot, and the large man’s balance was suddenly lost. He grasped for the tree that was near him, but it passed by his hand as he fell forward. Ratt leapt forward and snatched part of the man’s leg armor just as he toppled forward. Due to the man’s weight, Ratt’s boots scraped forward in the dirt a short distance before finding a tree root and stopping.

  Grandel laid against the rock and dirt wall nearly vertical, head first. The leather straps holding the piece of armor in place would not hold for long. Ratt turned his head toward Noir to ask for his help. For a brief moment, Ratt saw a look of intense hatred contorting his friend's face. “Help, Noir! It won’t hold.”

  Noir came forward quickly and grabbed Grandel’s other leg. The two young men pulled up the large man until he could pull himself up and regain his footing. There was no sign on Noir’s face of the odd emotion which Ratt thought he had seen.

  After Grandel stood, brushed himself off, and thanked the two young men, Noir asked sadly, “Did you see him?”

  “I saw a body, yes. In this dull light, I could make no more out than his figure, though I doubt anyone could survive that fall. The banks down there are slabs of granite. Now tell me exactly what happened, Noir.”

  Noir explained exactly what happened. It seemed simple enough. As he told it, Telfa and Borm approached. They had heard a call for help and came searching.

  Noir finished the story. “When I heard him yell, I turned and saw nothing. Then I looked down and there he was. There was no time to use lux, and I didn’t know what to do, so I ran to find you two.”

  Silence fell for a moment. The men looked at each other with plain, sad faces. Grandel grunted and said sadly, “We cannot leave him there for the night. His body will attract vermin.” He grunted again, obviously perplexed. “I have some rope, though I don't think it's long enough to reach the bottom.”

  Noir said, “With patience, I can use lux to get down there safely. Go get me his bed cloth and Grandel's rope and I will wrap his body. I will bring him away from the water to where we may easily get him tomorrow morning.”

  Grandel put a hand to his beard and toyed with it for a moment. Then he nodded and said, “Ratt, go and fetch Cotaj’s cloth and bring it here.”

  Ratt took a step forward and put a hand on Noir’s arm. He seemed startled by the touch. Ratt with concern, “Are you alright?”

  Noir responded in an uncharacteristically curt way. “Yeah. I will be fine.” Then he softened his tone. “I just wish I could have done something to prevent this.” Ratt nodded, then walked off to retrieve the sixth bed cloth that he had laid out.

  When Ratt returned, he handed the balled-up cloth and rope to Noir, who was standing next to the cliff looking into it. The rest were sitting nearby talking sadly about their lost companion. They were talking about how fast it had happened. None of them could have ever guessed he would go that way.

  Noir took the cloth and rope and turned to the rest. “Do not worry about my descent. Now that I am calm, I should have no problem reaching the bottom and coming back up.” With that said, he slowly walked backward toward the cliff edge. A small light appeared above him, cutting the night’s darkness. Noir looked behind him and seemed to concentrate. Then he leaned back at a ninety-degree angle, defying visible physics, and walked backward down the cliff face.

  Ratt had never seen him use lux in that way. He figured that Noir was hardening the air behind him to support his weight, but it was still very odd looking.

  After Noir had descended down the wall, Grandel instructed Ratt and Telfa to move the campsite to their current position. They walked off together to gather up the bags and other belongings that the group had placed there.

  During their task, Telfa talked to Ratt, though Ratt did not know much of what to say back. “Cotaj had been with Grandel for years. He has no family back at Talik, so that is one plus. He was always a good help and a good soldier, though he has been oddly distant the last few weeks. Perhaps he was beginning to share my views about Grandel’s vain efforts to create an independent town.”

  Ratt had nothing to say back, so they finished gathering up the supplies, hoisted the bags onto their shoulders, grabbed the horses’ reins, and walked back to the others. When they arrived, Noir was back up from the valley. He spent the majority of the night looking off into the night seemingly lost in thought.

  They debated about what they should do with the body. The group had no shovels, so they couldn’t dig a deep enough grave to keep the animals away. Thus, they decided to take the body of their friend with them for the time being.

  The group made no fire and ate the bread they carried with them. Grandel discussed their new fabricated story in case they were questioned. They were transporting one of their departed friends from Kuli to his home town of Hess’erabi to be buried alongside his already deceased wife. They would need to build a hasty sled to carry the body on. Grandel, Telfa, and Borm worked on building it as Ratt laid down to rest.

  Noir was sitting away from the rest facing the wilderness. Something was wrong. Ratt kept a wary eye on his friend for as long as he could until eventually sleep took him.

  Chapter 24

  Ghosts of the Past

  By the time the others woke up Ratt, Noir had already retrieved the body of Cotaj from the valley, though Ratt had no idea how. The body lay on a roughly made cart with branches for skis. It had two ropes attached to the saddle of Borm’s horse.

  The group was packed and ready to go as the sun rose in the east. It illuminated a tall row of threatening clouds to the west. The five men searched the eastern side of the small valley for a place that was not too steep to climb down. It did not take long, and soon Ratt found himself carrying the bottom half of the body while Noir took the top. Noir had insisted on taking the upper portion as they carefully stepped down the dirt and rock-covered slope. It was odd. The body was not quite as heavy as Ratt would have expected a large man like Cotaj to be, and his body was very stiff and hard.

  They waded easily through the stream, each leading their horse behind. The water was wide and shallow, only reaching up to their knees. Once on the other side and up the slope, they placed the body back on the wooden sled, dried out their clothes as best they could, mounted their horses, and continued on their way.

  Ratt was still keeping an eye on Noir. He couldn’t shake the image from the night before out of his head. Had he really seen that hateful look on Noir’s face, or was it caused by an overactive imagination in dim lighting?

  Soon after they started, the sun became hidden by darkening clouds. Ratt hoped the main part of the storm would miss them. Thunderstorms were fun under a roof, but walking in one didn't appeal to him.

  As the group traveled, Noir rode next to Grandel and chatted. Ratt listened in on the conversation.

  “You never told me much about Luxin Kit, Grandel.”

  “What do you want to know? He was a Luxin for me for many years. He did not catch on to lux as fast as you did. And you have already proven your worth to my cause almost as
much as he did.”

  An odd mixture of emotions seemed to pass across Noir’s face, then he spoke slowly, “Why am I so much better?”

  “Well, I never said better, necessarily. You are more eager to help. And there were a few in Talik who thought ill of him. I never saw any reason to distrust him, though my opinion was not always shared.”

  “You mean Elrid?”

  “Yes, among others,” Grandel said. “I knew Kit since he was first taken as a slave by Chiron, and I was the one who freed him.”

  “You freed him?”

  “Yes, in a sense.”

  There was a pause in the conversation, then Noir said, “Tell us what things you had to do as a general for Chiron. I think we all would like to know.”

  Grandel looked flatly at Noir like he had just gone where he shouldn't have. He said sternly, “Why the sudden interest in my past? Of what concern is it to you?”

  “We would just like to know, Grandel,” Noir said unwavering.

  Grandel looked long and hard at Noir, as if seeing him for the first time. Then he looked to the sky and said, “I did some atrocious things before I could get out. I did what I had to do in the situation that I was in. Now nothing more will be said of this.”

  ~~~

  Since it was all he could do, Noir listened to the conversations of those around him. The light was mostly blocked by the brown cloth. For the hundredth time since the night before, he struggled against his captor’s lux hold on his body. It was amazing how much it could hurt to be forced to keep one position for hours. He had to flex his muscles to keep the blood circulating to his unused limbs.

  Noir desperately wished that someone would check on the body. If they only uncovered his head and saw him, they would realize what was going on.

  The chakra inside Noir was drained from use. He had tried to channel lux away from the device around his neck, but each time it absorbed the power. It reminded him of the siphon that Fafnir had used in his teachings, but this device forced him to channel into it.

  Noir was unsure of how it was done, but his chest barely rose and fell. He felt slightly starved for air and his anxiety level did not help. He could sense the constant flow of lux required to keep his body still.

  The scene from the night before played through Noir’s mind again. The process that this lux user had gone through to change his appearance to Noir’s was horrifying. The man had woven lux into his skin and bone structure at a phenomenal rate. The man’s body slowly twisted and contorted, his features going from those of Cotaj, to a grotesque mass of flesh, then to a perfect likeness of Noir. He grunted and jerked as if in pain during this horrifying transition. The speed and way that the man used lux made it so Noir could not tell how it was done. Fafnir had taught him that sometimes Luxins would discover they were uniquely gifted at some special use of lux, but Noir had not expected it to be so drastic.

  Noir had no idea what the man’s motives were. He had said he wanted to kill Noir in front of Grandel. He had said, “Since you’re such a precious asset to him, he should watch helplessly as I destroy you.” He seemed to have a great hatred toward Grandel. Why?

  The cart went over another bump, jarring Noir’s stiffly held body. Despite his efforts, despair overtook Noir. He tried to scream, but the lux controlling his lungs denied him control.

  ~~~

  A slow rain with large drops had started, and thunder could be heard rolling in their direction. The horses shook their mains and jostled nervously as they walked.

  “Tell us some war stories, Grandel.”

  Grandel looked forward. “We finished this discussion earlier,” he said sternly.

  “No, you cut it off. Why won’t you tell us? What evils are on your conscience, Grandel?” Ratt was astonished at Noir’s bold actions. This was not the patient, self-conscious Noir that he knew.

  Grandel stopped his horse in its tracks and yelled, “You will check your tone with me, boy!”

  The imposter stopped his own horse a few paces ahead and dismounted. He flung his arms out, palms up as he loudly said, “What do you have to hide? If it’s in the past, then you wouldn’t mind telling us. Tell the others what horrors you have brought to innocent villages! Tell them about the women and children you ordered to be slaughtered, ordered into slavery! Tell them!” Lightening cracked overhead and the rain thickened.

  Grandel’s body hardened. He slowly and carefully dismounted as he said, “What ghost from the past are you to come forth now? I have paid for my crimes and have done nothing but try to rectify them since.” As he spoke, Grandel pulled out a device which Ratt recognized as a luxsyedin. It glowed a bright yellow. He looked at it and said, “Lux, not sye? What is going on here?”

  Ratt thought, “If Noir isn’t being sye controlled, then what the heck is happening? Where is the Noir I know?” The answer suddenly came to him, though he was not sure how it was possible.

  Telfa and Borm had dismounted and were focused on the dispute between Grandel and who they thought to be Noir. A sudden crack of thunder overhead spooked the already nervous horses. The horse pulling the sled broke free and ran off, and the others whinnied and pulled away from their masters. Ratt had not yet dismounted and he pulled on the reins, but the animal ran at full speed after the other horses, taking Ratt with them. The frenzied sprint jostled Ratt in his saddle, and soon his feet and hands lost their hold and Ratt fell off the side to land hard in the mud.

  The man with Noir's visage yelled at Grandel, “Lux can do more than just protect!” He raised up his hand toward Borm and Telfa whose bodies suddenly went rigid. Their jaws dropped and they made choking sounds as the Noir look-a-like approached them. He slowly drew out Noir’s golden-hilted sword. Grandel quickly drew his own sword, but was stopped mid-stride when Kit raised his hand.

  “Watch, General Grandel, as I destroy your loved ones as you destroyed mine so many years ago.”

  Another bolt of light streaked across the sky reflecting off of Noir’s stolen blade. The man plunged the sword into Borm’s gut. It stuck out the other side, red with blood.

  The man pulled his sword from Borm’s gut and plunged it in again into his chest. Then he released the lux hold on Borm and let him slide off the blade to the ground gasping and writhing.

  Ratt crawled back through the mud trying not to be seen. Over the storm, he heard a man’s screams coming from the group as he approached. Ratt went forward as fast as he could, while keeping an eye on the man who looked like Noir. He didn’t seem to have noticed Ratt’s approach yet. It was an eerie sight seeing someone who looked exactly like Noir when he knew it was not him.

  The man turned back to Grandel who was still held in place. Grandel said, “It can’t be. I saw you dead in the forest. And why? I saved you from slavery in Chiron.”

  Ratt reached the sled holding the wrapped shape and peeked at the action behind it.

  The man responded through gritted teeth, “You know why.” His words were partly lost in the torrent of rain that was now falling.

  The others seemed oblivious to Ratt’s presence, so he took his chance and grabbed the cloth wrapped around the body’s head. It came undone from behind and fell down to the side. As Ratt had guessed, he looked down at his friend Noir. He was alive but unmoving except for his eyes. He wore Cotaj's clothes. His brow was furrowed as if dealing with some great strain. Ratt looked back at Grandel and the man. They were still distracted.

  “Kit, I never wished harm upon your village. I was as much a prisoner and victim in my position as you were!”

  “Shut up! You were no victim! You commanded the raid that destroyed my village.”

  Ratt looked back down at his friend. Noir was repeatedly moving his eyes downward toward his chest. Ratt followed his eyes to an odd-looking metal necklace that he had never seen before.

  “And killing hundreds in Talik is your answer?”

  Kit spat out the words with hatred and glee, “Watching you suffer is my answer!”

  “But why now,
Kit?” Grandel called out. A few flashes of lightening illuminated the land.

  “I had to bottle up my hatred for years. Now that you’ve stepped down from being captain, I saw my chance to enact vengeance for your crimes from so many years ago.”

  “You don’t understand, Kit. A life of servitude to Chiron is one worse than death. Slavery! Beatings! Rape! I saw these things and did not wish it on anyone. The ones who were not strong enough to survive these things, I saved them from a life of misery.”

  “You killed!” He raised his sword up, tip downward as he stepped in front of Telfa. “Over and over! My family, my friends!” His sword pierced downward into Telfa’s shoulder. “You did not give them a choice! And for that, Grandel, you and all whom you love will die.” A crack of thunder rang out above their heads.

  Ratt grabbed the odd-looking necklace and pulled it quickly over Noir’s head. Suddenly, Kit’s attention shifted from Telfa to the wrapped body.

  Noir embraced all the lux he could handle and flung it at the solidified air holding him in place. It bent and then shattered, allowing Noir to sit up and fling the cloth from his body. In one fluid motion, Noir ripped the axe from Ratt’s back and started walking steadily and deliberately toward his doppelganger.

  Unseen to the other men present, Noir and Kit flung lux at each other. Each tried to get a flow past the other’s defenses. Noir sent attack after attack at Kit’s lungs, attempting to harden the air inside them as he had done to Noir the night before. Within a few steps, Noir could tell that Kit could not keep up with the frenzied assault, and the attacks got closer and closer to meeting their mark.

  Finally, an attack broke through. Noir solidified the air around Kit’s body and forced it into his lungs, throat, and mouth, causing his jaw to drop and stay there. Noir blocked the last few lux attacks and raised his axe for the kill. He ignored the bizarre feeling of raising a weapon to what looked like himself. A jagged line of lightening reflected off of the axe before it started its descent.