The Year of the Lumin (13 page)

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 collect 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 focused 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

Noir's fall

              The ninety men pressed themselves against the town’s outer rock wall.  Noir was on the right side of the gate with half of the soldiers.  The other half were on the left side.  Noir stood next to Gonn Holdark, the town’s blacksmith.  It was the first time Noir had seen him since he first left Talik.  He held a huge, man-sized sword in front of him, its tip resting on the ground.  His face was stern and his eyes seemed to be looking into nothingness.  Noir had his own sword in his hand ready for the order from Grandel to charge.  Ratt was behind him with his axe and Adeel was on the other side of the gate.  She would protect the left half of the forces, and he the right.  That notion send his stomach churning. 
Lives
were depending on him.  He wanted to go home.

Captain Grandel stood in front of Adeel’s group behind the wall by the gate.  It had previously been flung open and broken.  They were waiting on a younger man who had been sent past the gate to view the situation inside.  He had slowly crawled on his belly through the tall grass a few minutes ago.  Then he came into view crouching low.  He moved quickly to Grandel’s side and stood up beside him, now protected from view by the wall.  He spoke to Grandel quickly and too quietly for Noir’s ears to pick up.  Grandel nodded a few times, then looked at the men facing him in Noir’s group.  He gave a stern face and nodded in approval.  He did the same toward his own men behind him.

Grandel made several quick hand signs to the other group and then did the same back at his own.  The front three men from both sides came forward with large, man-sized shields.  The six stood ready to go whenever word was given.  Grandel then broke the silence with a loud voice, “Fight well, men.  In honor of those who died defending our ideals, our land, and our freedom, we
will
reclaim what is rightfully ours.”  His voice rose to a climax.  “The Lumin guides your swords.  Life without freedom is death!”

Then, the battle began.  The six shielded men came together to form a line as wide as the gate.  They walked swiftly and confidently forward.  Both groups of men filed in after them protected by the front six’s large shields.  Noir moved forward around the corner of the wall and climbed over the broken gate. 

Noir was not ready for the sight that lay before him.  Hundreds of straghs swarmed the destroyed town.  Many were crouched over lifeless bodies.  Corpses were strewn about haphazardly.  The dead bodies looked unnaturally thin as though they had been drained of their liquids.

Finally, the straghs noticed the approaching force, though Noir did not know how they saw with pale skin covering where their eyes should have been.  They sprung up and turned to meet their attackers.  Noir saw with horror Straghs withdrawing long spikes that protruded from their wrists from the bodies of the fallen.

              A series of thumps came from behind Noir and a barrage of arrows sailed over his head.  When landed, straghs stumbled and fell.

The men marched forward as the straghs started to fling themselves toward them.  Some ran on all fours while others ran upright.  The beasts looked plump like the others that they had killed earlier.  Noir feared he now knew the reason.

Another volley of arrows were fired from behind.  Many straghs were slain by the archers’ arrows, but the ones who fell were replaced by more blank faces scrambling over the bodies.

The men around Noir had started yelling loudly and defiantly.  They started to move faster and Noir was soon jogging.  The groups neared each other and Noir suddenly had an idea.  Fafnir had told him that new and innovative ways to use lux would come to him the more he used it.  He knew he could harden air into hard, invisible objects in order to hold weapons in place.  He had done it to Ratt many times in their sparring matches.

Noir embraced a large portion of lux.  He forced it into a long line of air in front of the charging feet of the enemies.  He pushed it forwards toward the straghs.  Nothing could be seen of his efforts directly, but the effect was obvious.  The front line of charging straghs all suddenly tripped over the invisible line of hardened air.  They were flung into the dirt and tumbled wildly.  Then the next line did as well.  It took extra effort for Noir to keep the air solid each time it struck something.  After a few rows of tripped straghs, Noir could feel his use of lux draining him.  He remembered what Adeel had told him about overusing his lux and released it.

The men yelled even louder, emboldened by this new sudden advantage and within moments were upon the writhing, pale-skinned creatures.  Many were immediately slain by swinging weapons where they lay on the ground.  The ones that were still stampeding leapt over their fallen counterparts and pounced the charging men.

Noir deflected the attacks that were aimed for exposed flesh.  It was hard to see and react so quickly with so much going on.  He saw Adeel’s light barriers being flung up on her side of the men.  Noir made attack after attack rebound back at its attacker.  Metal sliced and pierced the straghs’ pale flesh.

Then Noir made his first mistake.  A stragh brutally pulled a soldier's shield away and buried its other claw in his face.  Noir did not catch it in time and the man screamed and fell.  He wanted to stop and curse himself, but the attacks kept coming.

As he fought, Noir made a mental note of every injury that occurred to the fighting men.  He swore to himself to heal them as soon as possible.

Despite a few wounded, the men were progressing effectively.  The straghs were being pushed back and their numbers thinned.  It seemed to be going well.  Most straghs were dispatched by the men in front of Noir, but he still had to slay a few with his own sword.

Noir was in the middle of thinking that he was going to make it through his first large battle successfully when the ground beneath them started to shake.  Under a group of men near to Noir, the soil suddenly shot upwards in fragmented pillars.  The men went flying in different directions.  Noir nearly lost his balance from the nearby force.

The men looked stunned, though the front few kept fighting.  Noir knew what the earth upheaval meant.  There was a Din Mage with the band of straghs.  He had never encountered a Din Mage before and a shiver of fear ran through him.

Another tremor went through the ground and another patch of men started upwards.  This time, however, it did not go more than a foot before it was stopped by something.  Noir saw a trail of yellow light going from Adeel’s hand to the disrupted ground.  The ground glowed yellow and Noir could tell how Adeel was using lux to hold the ground in place.  She looked strained, so he funneled some of his own lux into holding the ground steady.  It became calm and the energy pressing against his lux faded.

The ground had just settled when a ball of fire arced from behind one of the destroyed homes.  Its bright orange glow caused long shadows to extend behind every man on the battlefield.  Noir quickly drew upon as much lux as he could handle and formed a large light barrier in the path of the fireball.  He saw Adeel’s barrier form at the same time as his.  Hers was as wide as Noir’s barrier, but it was much less thick.

As Noir watched the fire hurl through the air toward his barrier, he wondered if the smaller barrier was all that Adeel could create.  Was she just making a backup barrier if his failed?  No, because they went up at the same time.

The fireball hit his barrier and spread out along its flat surface.  Noir could feel his lux strained even further as its energy and heat beat upon his barrier.  Adeel’s would not have possibly held back that attack.  He couldn’t be
more
powerful than her, could he?

Noir kicked the thought from his head and focused on the Din Mage.  He could not counter many of these powerful attacks before he would be exhausted physically from the overuse of lux.  The fireball had come from behind a small house past the straghs.  Noir thought if he could get past a few straghs to his right, he might be able to get to where the Din Mage was.

As if Elrid could read his thoughts, he was suddenly before him, sword flashing through the straghs in his way.  The path was made, and Elrid then turned on another group.  He looked at Noir and gave him a quick nod as if knowing what he was about to do, then proceeded to battle.

Noir burst into a run and leapt over the still dying stragh bodies.  He ran around the side of the group of remaining straghs.  They were too focused on the battle in front of them to notice.  Noir ran toward the house at a full sprint.

The first thing that Noir saw of the man was his dark cloak blowing gently in the wind as he stepped out from behind the house.  His cloak was mostly black, but flecks of red and blue in decorative sinuous lines caught the light.  The man stepped out and Noir was suddenly standing still, though he never remembered stopping.  The image that confronted him was chillingly familiar.

The man’s face was shrouded in shadows under the hood of the dark cloak.  On its breast, the symbols for sye and din shown in their respective colors.  The dream that he had had a month earlier flashed through his mind.  He remembered Adeel’s desperate face crying out to him as the blade plunged toward her throat.

Though Noir had no idea how to combat this foe, he raised his sword and took a step forward.  He had no idea where this bravery had come from.  The darkly clad man raised his hand and Noir watched long spears of ice form out of the moisture in the air.  Noir embraced lux and prepared to create a shield while still moving forward.  As the ice spikes hardened and took form, the ground beneath Noir’s feet moved sharply.  He used the lux that he had prepared for the shield and channeled it into the ground to keep it steady.  As soon as he did, the ice spikes flung forward.

Noir had never attempted to channel lux into two different actions at once before.  He mentally panicked as he watched the long, transparent spikes fly toward him.  Panicked, he tried splitting the lux that was already holding the ground in place.  As soon as he did, the ground started to shake violently, so he abandoned the effort.  Instead, he quickly dug inside himself and embraced lux again, as if repeating the original process over again.  He had a new flow of lux that he could control independently of the other, though he could tell his chakra was being drained at an alarming rate.

He used the second flow of lux to put up the light barrier in the path of the ice projectiles.  The majority of them shattered on impact, though Noir could feel the extent of his lux stretching.  More ice pounded on the barrier and Noir could not hold it.  Two arm’s length ice spears pushed through.  One flew past him harmlessly while the other hit Noir’s right shoulder pauldron.  It showered ice splinters on him and sent him spinning to the right from the force.  Noir was immediately aware that his shoulder felt numb from the blow.  It throbbed with sharp pain.  He inwardly thanked Fafnir for the armor.  If he had not had it, he would probably have been run through.

Noir turned back toward his assailant.  He still felt the pressure against his lux that was holding the earth still.  Noir walked forward deliberately.  He stepped off of the area that was afflicted by the din ground attack and released his lux hold on it.  The ground immediately heaved up in tall chunks behind Noir.

As Noir approached, he could see the bottom portion of the man’s face under the hood.  He had the same large, eerie smile that he remembered from his dream.

“Young Noir,” a voice boomed in his head.  “Come to me, my pet.”  But it was impossible for one person to be able to use two vigors!  Noir put his obviously flawed learning aside and braced himself for the mental onslaught that he was sure would come.  He braced and readied his lux in preparation.  In a desperate effort, Noir focused lux on his mind, encasing it in lux energy.  He had no idea if it would work.

Then the attack came.  Noir could feel his mental barrier furiously pounded at by an unseen force.  The amount of lux that it required to keep this assailant out was incredible.  His lux pulled and was stretched thin.  He knew that he could not withstand this for more than a few moments before he would be passing out from exhaustion.

Noir gripped his sword hilt tightly and sprang forward.  The dark form was only a few strides away.  The mental assault continued and Noir raised his sword to strike at the figure.

The man’s smile grew even larger.  He tossed his head back to flip the cloak hood off.  Noir looked on his face for the first time.  The man was completely hairless.  His skin was stretched in odd ways from what looked like large burn scars.  The scars covered his face and contorted his features.

The scarred man drew out a long silver sword from inside his cloak.  As soon as it was in view, it started to glow red with heat.  Noir knew the man must have been channeling din into the blade to create heat.  This meant for sure that the man was wielding din and sye at the same time; something that he had been taught was entirely impossible.

Noir swung his sword at the scarred man and the two metals collided together.  The red heat from the opponent’s blade shot red sparks to the ground.  Noir fought quickly for fear of his lux giving way to the mental attack.  He flowed between the different sword forms that Fafnir had taught him.  He struck at his foe time after time meeting the glowing blade.  While they fought, the man kept his smile and stared directly into Noir’s eyes.  Noir had a sense that he was not using his full swordplay potential, skipping attack openings in Noir’s defensive form.