The Year of the Lumin (28 page)

              “What?  What are you talking about?  The upper hand on what?”

              “Control of Chiron.  They have vied for control of the kingdom for hundreds of years, never quite having the facilities to overthrow the government.”

              Noir finally replaced his sword to its sheath, though he kept his hand on the handle.  “Come on.  You can't expect me to follow you on this.  What about Jotunar?  The three dragons are peaceful and always help mankind.  Everyone knows that.”

              “You're right.  But Jotunar is lazy, complacent, and longs for little more than peace and minds to bind to.  Peace can be a shroud for impending evil.”

              “I think I've heard enough.”  Noir grabbed the handle of the door behind him.  “I think I'll return to my chambers now.”

              Osarik quickly responded, “Wait, Lumin.  There is--”

              Noir interrupted him.  “Lumin?  Why would you call me that?  I am
not
the Lumin.”

              “You don't think that's just another lie told to you by them?”

              Noir couldn't help but laugh.  “They lied about what?  That I'm the Lumin?”  Noir laughed again and turned to leave.

              “Luxin Noir, there is something else you must hear that they have not told you.”

              Noir opened the door a crack and turned.  “I am going to tell them that you are hiding here in five minutes.  If you are not gone by--”

              “The Chiron army is being sent to destroy Talik, the free town.  You have friends there, yes?”

              Noir froze when he heard the words.  Then he returned the door to its closed position.  Noir's voice was low and hushed.  “What are you talking about?”

              “The Syeters know you would leave to protect them and they want to keep you in their midsts so--”

              Noir spoke harshly, “Enough with the conspiracy garbage!  What of this attack?  Tell me what you know!”

              Despite Noir’s harsh response, the captain looked pleased.  “They have known for two days.  The army leaves the day after tomorrow.  The rebel town finally got clumsy and leaked their position.  Tier will attack as well.”

              “Tier is sending an army too?”  Noir suddenly felt anxious.  “I need to go.”

              “Wait, Noir.  You will never make it on your own.  Both armies will have scouts everywhere.  Go with me and my knights as protection.”

              Noir again grabbed the door handle.  “I don't think that's a good idea.”

              “Well, then enlist to travel with the Chiron guard.  They'll happily accept a Luxin to their ranks.”

              Noir turned with a hand on the door and gave a long look at the man.  He finally said, “Assuming what you're saying isn't completely lies, why would you help me?”

              Osarik lifted the blue hood again over his head.  “Because some of us believe in you, Lumin.”

              Noir looked at the man a moment longer, then opened the door and left.  He quickly walked down the halls of the tower buried in thought.  The metal of his armor clanked together quietly as he walked.  He ignored the looks of the Syeters who passed.

Chapter 38

Growing uncertainty

              The yellow tree symbol flapped on Noir's cloak as he stormed through the main hall of the Syeters.  The majority of them sat cross-legged as usual in the center of the large room around the sleeping dragon.  He walked past them to an adjoining hall that led to Ratt's room and his own room.  As he rounded the corner to the hall, his fast pace almost sent him face first into a young Syeter.  He recognized the man as Syeter Daysik.

              “Whoa, Noir.  What's wrong?  Why the hurry?”

              “Oh, nothing's wrong.  I'm fine, Daysik.”

              Noir tried to go past the blue-robed man toward his chamber when he felt his mind open up and Daysik's sye voice enter his thoughts.  Before the man could start his mentally projected sentence, Noir quickly said, “Stop doing that!  Use your mouth; it's there for a reason.  A person's mind is his own, not to be invaded by some....”  Noir caught himself before saying any more.  He suddenly felt ashamed at his anger.  The Syeter's face was that of shock.

              And then something passed between them through the sye connection.  Something bizarre and frightening.  It was like a mind-shattering blast of images invaded Noir's mind.  Although it only lasted a fraction of a second, Noir grabbed his head and nearly fell over from its intensity.

              Noir barely heard Daysik's caustic voice.  “You will remember to not speak to one of
us
in such a manner.”

              By the time Noir regained his poise, Daysik was nowhere to be seen.

              Noir turned and stumbled on in the direction he had been going.  As he went, the images that had been unintentionally blasted into his mind started to unravel.  They seemed to be fantasies of Daysik's or perhaps the entire sye circle's that had been leaked to him.

              Many showed peaceful towns being ruled by blue-robed men.  Each of these showed various levels of work ranging from slavery to entrepreneurship, always dominated by the Syeters.  Other images were of the Syeters ruling over Chiron.  Others still showed the Syeter-controlled Chiron warring with Tier.

              The image that haunted Noir the most was of himself being held as a shield against what must have been the might of the world.  He was bathed in white light and blackness buffeted him before the entirety of the sye circle.

              Noir's mind felt overused by the sudden burst of information.  As he realized this sensation, the images were suddenly gone from his mind.  He could remember what he had thought about each one, but could not picture them any longer.

              “What just happened?” he muttered to himself.

              Noir walked the couple halls that would lead to Ratt's converted closet of a room.  He walked in and started to talk, but found it empty.  Somehow, Noir had expected Ratt to be there.  Ratt was always who he had gone to for the last few months whenever he needed to talk about anything.  Where was he now when Noir needed him so much?

              He walked down another hall leading to Steven's much more spacious and elegant chambers.  However, as he walked, his pace slowed.  He couldn't talk to Steven about all of this.  What if he went to the other Syeters with it?  Noir could only guess as to the meaning of the images.  Possibly the worst thing he could do would be to go to Steven with it.

              Noir found himself deep in thought standing in the middle of the hallway.  He flexed the muscles to progress in a direction, but stopped before he moved.  Then he would start in another direction with the same result.  He had no idea who to go to or talk to.  Never before had he felt so alone, lost, and helpless.

              A gentle hand touched and rested on an unarmored part of Noir's arm.  He quickly turned to see Asiada's concerned face.  Her usual defiant and proud stature was missing for once.

              “What's wrong, Noir?  I've never seen you like this.”  She took her hand from his arm and stood in front of him.

              “Asiada...” he hesitated.  Noir realized that he could confide in Asiada.  As innocuous as her presence had seemed before that moment, suddenly Noir was immensely glad to have her with him.  “Asiada,” he started again this time with confidence.  “Can I trust you?”

              She gave him a wry look, the proud stature seeping into her persona again.  “Why?  Usually when people ask that, they're about to ask the other to do something crazy.”

              “No, it's not crazy, just important.  And we need to be away from prying ears.”

              “Well, it seems to me a good place to go would be my room... since you're standing right in front of it.”

              Noir looked at the carved wooden door and realized that he had never known where the girl's room was.  “Yeah, that'll work.”

              Asiada opened the door and Noir followed.  Even though they had only been there for a few weeks, her room was surprisingly well-decorated and adorned with small trinkets and delicate-looking cloth.  As Asiada closed the door behind them, Noir reached up and touched the glow sphere which dangled from the ceiling.

              Asiada grabbed the wooden chair that had been supplied with the room and jammed it under the curved handle to the door.  Noir said, “A little much, do you think?”

              “I've gotten used to doing it here,” she replied matter-of-factly.  “Apparently Syeters don't know how valuable a girl's privacy is.”  She walked over to her perfectly made bed and sat down.  Noir looked around for a place to sit as well, but after seeing nothing, chose a place against the wall.  Asiada acted as though that was what was expected.

              “So what's going on, Noir?”

              “Where do I begin?”  He paused thinking back on all that had happened in the last hour.  “Well, what do you think of the Syeters?”

              “What do you mean?”  She shifted on her bed as if realizing the conversation would be important.

              “Well, you know, do you trust them?”

              “Don't you?  Your uncle's one of them, you know.”

              That fact was a large factor in his doubt over what Osarik had said.  “I know, that's why I'm not sure about all this.”

              Asiada grunted.  “Stop talking in circles!  Sure about what, Noir?”

              Noir quickly told Asiada what had happened with Osarik.  He left out the confusing disagreement that he and Ratt had shared beforehand.  He did attempt to tell her about the images that had seeped to him through Daysik's sye connection, though he wasn't sure how to describe it.  He concluded, “But with all of that, it wasn't the most frightening thing Osarik said.  You know the town that is outside of both kingdom’s rule?  Talik?”

              “The one you guys were with before?  Yeah.”

              “Osarik said that there’s a Chiron army headed to their location.  If that wasn’t enough, there’s supposedly a Tierian force also.”

              Asiada grimaced.  “Oh, that’s bad.  Where those two collide….”

              “Yes, I know.  It won’t be pretty... that is, if it’s true.”

              “Well, it’s easy to find out if Osarik is lying.”  She continued on when she saw Noir's unknowing expression.  “Just go out in the streets and open your ears.”

              “Really?”

              “Noir, if
anyone
knows about it, it’s already in the streets.  We can go ask around tonight.”

              “Okay, then.”  Noir stood up as though he meant to go right then, but Asiada remained seated on her bed.  Noir turned to her questioningly.  “What's wrong?”

              “Noir, this may not seem like the right time, but you promised to tell me about the other world that you came from.  Remember, back when we were meeting with Jotunar?”

              Noir remembered saying that he would.  “Asiada, the urgency of our current situation....” He trailed off.  “Can we talk about it another time?”

              Asiada stood up from the bed and nodded.  “You're right.  Another time.”  She walked to the door.  “Let's go.”

              As she opened the door, Noir realized that he had not left the tower since they had first arrived.  If the Syeters really did think that he was the Lumin despite what Jotunar had said, then they might not allow him to leave.  He also realized that the images he had seen gave him new fortuitous insight into their possible motives.

              Asiada turned and started to lead Noir out the door, but he did not follow.  “I don’t think I can leave, Asiada.”

              She stopped and turned.  “What?  Why?”

              “I don’t think they’ll let me.”

              She cocked a hip to the side.  “Why?  Because there’s some conspiracy to keep the
oh-so-important
Noir from leaving?  Come on.  A little big-headed, don't you think?”

              “No, Asiada.  This is something that I need to seriously consider.”  He ignored her scoffing and continued, “I need you to go find out about what Osarik has said.  Find out if it’s true.  But for now I need to play with my cards face down.”  The girl’s confused expression reminded him that they probably did not have playing cards in this world.  “I mean, I need to be careful not to let on that I suspect anything.”

              Again Asiada started to interject, but Noir spoke over her.  “
If
there is anything to suspect.”

              That seemed to satisfy what she was going to say.  “Can you do that for me?  They don’t care if you come and go.  I am who they want to keep here.”

              She rolled her eyes, obviously thinking he was full of himself again.  “Yeah, I’ll do that.  You owe me though, Mister Big Shot.”

              “Make sure you are back tomorrow morning.  We need to finish Ratt’s armor before we do anything.  And the army is supposedly leaving the day after that.”

~~~

              As the girl walked away, Noir was sure that he could trust her to do what he asked.  He was also surprised how he had been so confident with her.  He never remembered talking to anyone like that in his own world, especially a girl.

              Noir dismissed the idea.  Now to find Ratt.  Noir had no idea where he had gone.  He often liked to wander out on his own in the tower, but Noir never really asked where he went.

              Noir was nervous about seeing any Syeters, but he had to search for Ratt.  He headed back toward the main chamber.  He worried if there was some sort of unknown sye trick to let the Syeters know if he was trying to leave.  If the Syeters really were trying to keep him in the tower, they hadn’t shown any signs of it yet.

              Nor thought, “I’m probably only going to be able to leave once.  If I come back, they’ll be more careful about making sure I can’t leave.”  As he rounded one of the hall corners, he realized what he had said under his breath and shook his head to himself.  “That is, if any of this is true.  Osarik could be lying to me to fulfill his own agenda.”  But deep down, Noir felt that it was true.  Osarik’s explanations seemed to fit into the holes too well.  Plus, he had known about the digital camera.

              Thinking about the camera brought Noir’s thoughts to his uncle.  He really should tell him at least about the camera.  Perhaps it might enlighten him to the possibilities of the other Syeters holding information from him.  But Noir’s heart sank when he realized what leaving would mean.  He
knew
Steven would want to stay at the tower.  He was far too enveloped in his studies there to leave.  Steven might leave with him if he told all that he knew.  But he might also go to the other Syeters with the information thus causing Noir to never be able to leave.

              Noir came to the door of his converted closet and went inside.  He removed the cloth straps of his Luxin cloak and laid it on his bed.  “All of this is so not going the way it was supposed to.  I was supposed to find Steven and Aimee and just go home.”  He sat on the bed.  “Now Talik could possibly be destroyed and I don’t even know where Ratt is or what’s going on with
him
.”  He sighed and started to remove the pieces of armor so he could go to bed.  However, he knew his thoughts would keep him up for a long time.

~~~

Noir was awoken as his door flung open.  Before his eyes could focus, he immediately embraced lux and put up a light barrier while grabbing the sword that was propped against the headboard of his bed.

Asiada bounced into the room and closed the door behind her.  Noir sighed, released his grip on the sword and his light barrier.  He let his now wide-awake head fall back onto the lumpy pillow.

She came in oblivious to Noir’s reaction and sat on the edge of the bed by Noir’s feet.  “Man, Asiada.  Can't you knock?  I almost attacked you like a stragh.”

“Oh, you’ll live.  Anyway, Osarik wasn’t lying about the attack on Talik.”

That reminded Noir of the situation that had arisen yesterday.  He was now focused and sat up again.  “So it’s true,” he said to himself.  He pulled his legs up to him and sat cross-legged.