The Light Thief

by David Webb

  “A feast?” Roland frowned. “How many of you are there down here?”

  “Though our numbers are many, we have learned to live on very little. But you will find that the moles that roam these tunnels are somewhat larger than the ones you have encountered in the sectors. You were not far off about the radiation, Roland. At first, the underground rivers sickened us, but our bodies have adapted and learned to rely on the poisoned waters for sustenance. We have found that it gives us more strength than the roots and meat we manage to scavenge, but if we drink too much, it can still kill us. Our bodies do not seem to be as resilient as those of the moles, whose bodies have mutated and grown exponentially after years upon years of exposure to radiation.”

  Roland cocked his head. “Giant moles?”

  “The Great War was ages ago,” Aniya said. “The radiation should have died out a long time ago, along with whatever mutations it caused.”

  “I am sure that is what they told you, what they want you to believe. It is time to open your mind, young one. Tell me, Annelise, who do you think made these tunnels?”

  “Not miners?”

  Salvador gestured to the tunnel around them. “Look at the walls of these tunnels. Do they look man-made to you?”

  “Those are some big moles,” Roland muttered, eyeing the twelve-foot ceiling.

  “Indeed. It took our fighters several deadly trials to learn how to hunt and slay the beasts. At first, we took shelter and did our best to stay out of their way, but occasionally, one would happen on our camp and wreak havoc. Now, the moles have learned to stay out of our way for fear of death.”

  “Why haven’t we seen the giant moles inside the sectors?” Aniya asked. “Wouldn’t they come looking for food?”

  Salvador shook his head. “The Lightbringers have installed safety measures for that very reason long ago. If any motion is detected near the exits of any of the tunnels, it triggers a seismic device that generates a small earthquake in the surrounding area.”

  Aniya looked at Roland, recalling the shaking tunnel during their escape.

  “These tremors scare off most of the moles, sending them crawling back into the tunnels. These machines, buried under each entrance, are the same ones used to cause the cave-ins at the end of the war, employed then in a much more damaging manner.”

  “That’s why only the entrances were blocked and not the rest of the tunnels,” Roland surmised. “You said most of the moles are scared off. But like Aniya, I’ve never seen an oversized mole running around.”

  “Occasionally, a mole digs a new tunnel and breaks through into the sectors. We never knew what happened after that until one of our patrols witnessed it firsthand a few years ago after the Uprising. A mole had dug straight into Ravelta, at which point all power went off in the sector. The sky was shut off, the streetlights, everything. A few minutes later, the Silver Guard swarmed the mole and took it down. They hauled its carcass back to the new tunnel it made and forced another cave-in using a portable seismic bomb. A few hours later, the power came back on. We have seen a few more of these incidents in various sectors, and the procedure seems to be the same each time.”

  “Black Days,” Aniya muttered. “Whenever there’s a perimeter breach, they shut off the power before anyone can see what’s going on. I guess the Lightbringers don’t want civilians to think about anything but their daily routines. But that shouldn’t take them very long. Why do the blackouts last hours?”

  Roland shrugged. “Less time for us to figure out what happened, I guess.”

  “The more they keep you in the dark, the easier it is to control you,” Salvador said. “Ironic, really, given that their rule depends on their ability to provide light.”

  “How do they do it?” Aniya asked. “You must have some idea if you were going to help my brother sabotage them.”

  “Sadly, no. Our scouts went merely to assist him. I am afraid the details of the mission were known only to your brother, who refused to give any sensitive information. But if he was able to shut off the power, he clearly knows enough.”

  “Then it’s more important than ever to get him back,” Roland said. “If he knows something that can be used against the Lightbringers, we can finish what you started years ago.”

  Salvador nodded. “That is my hope as well. When the light is still not back in the coming days, hopefully people will be ready to rise up again. My only regret is that I have not the will to join them.”

  “Come with us now,” Aniya pleaded. “We’re going to need your help if we want to make it into the Hub and back out alive.”

  “I cannot, child. My people have learned to survive despite these extreme conditions. We have moved on and found a new way of life. I have an obligation to keep it that way, and I take that responsibility quite seriously. When we lost the war, I had time to reflect on my brash actions, and I made a vow that I would protect my children at all costs. I have lost body parts in the fight against the Lightbringers, but I will not suffer to lose any more of my flock.”

  Roland nodded toward Salvador’s hands. “Speaking of body parts, did they really . . .”

  For the first time, Salvador removed his gloves. He brought his right hand into the light, and Aniya noted that his little finger was almost completely gone—reduced to a tiny stump on the end.

  “This reminds me of the cost that comes with fighting them. I am not afraid to suffer for my people, but I would never forgive myself if they suffered for me. I have my men train fighters, but they are for defense only, in the event of an emergency. As I said, I am more than happy to give you supplies, what little we have. If, perchance, you succeed, a land of plenty awaits us somewhere in the Web once the Lightbringers are gone. Tamisra, go with Annelise and give her some supplies. Ensure that her pack is retrieved and restored unto her.” With that, Salvador’s eyes twinkled. “Roland, if you will, I must speak with you alone.”

  Roland turned, his brow furrowed. “What for?”

  “I need to talk with you about your family.”

  18

  Aniya shifted uncomfortably as Tamisra’s wild, sparkling eyes examined her from head to toe as if the cave dweller had never seen another girl before.

  “A shame,” Tamisra said, smirking. “You would have made a tasty treat.”

  Aniya backed away, her stomach turning.

  Tamisra laughed. “Relax. I was never going to eat you. Though I would like to nibble on your friend.” She winked and licked her lips. “He is just a friend, right?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t think you’re his type,” Aniya said, but then realized that she had no idea what Roland’s type actually was.

  “Not his type?” Tamisra held a hand to her chest and stuck out her lip. “He doesn’t like pretty girls? Or am I too vicious for him?” She bared her teeth and laughed again.

  Too uncivilized, maybe.

  Aniya didn’t say it, but it seemed like Tamisra caught on when she hesitated.

  “We can’t all be prissy city girls like you, Annelise,” she said, sneering and drawing out her name as she rolled her eyes.

  Now Aniya laughed with genuine mirth for the first time in days. “We live in the poorest sector in the Web. I wouldn’t call myself a city girl just because I wear actual clothes and not . . .” She waved her arm at the girl’s strange outfit. “Whatever that is.”

  “Do you like it? I made it myself.” Tamisra twirled.

  “I can tell.”

  To Aniya’s surprise, Tamisra smiled warmly.

  “I like you.”

  “Why?”

  Tamisra shrugged. “Maybe because you’re different. In here, they all wear the same clothes, talk the same way. It doesn’t help that they treat me like royalty because of my dad. I can’t tell if they respect me or they’re scared of me.”

  “I can’t imagine why.” Aniya smiled back at her. “You can call me Aniya. I never cared much for Annelise, but that’s how your father knows me.”

  “Aniya it is.” Tamisra nodded and w
aved for her to follow. “Come on, I’ll show you to our supplies.”

  They walked down the tunnel and approached a large steel door with a keypad in the center. Tamisra pressed six buttons, and the door slowly opened.

  “How do you have power to operate an automatic door?” Aniya asked.

  “We siphon off power from the sectors to a backup generator we have hidden in the tunnels. We can’t afford to use the power for much, but this is the only defense we have against the Silvers. There’s an early warning system at each tunnel entrance, which is how we knew you were inside, but this is what actually keeps the Lightbringers at bay.” Tamisra gestured for Aniya to enter. “Welcome to Refuge.”

  Aniya stepped through the entry and into a massive cavern, lit floor to ceiling by various candles and torches. On the floor of the cave were hundreds, perhaps thousands of tents, laid out with no discernible pattern other than making room for the dirt roads that curved throughout the cavern. Each tent bore the same symbol, painted in black on the canvas: a four-fingered hand.

  In the very center of the cavern was a large shack that stood four stories high, a tower that reached more than halfway to the ceiling of the cavern and stood tall above the rest of the town. The shack seemed to be made entirely of sheet metal, but a few uncovered spots revealed a stone frame underneath.

  “How is it so big?” Aniya realized her mouth was hanging open as she surveyed the huge cavern, but she didn’t care. The sight was beautiful. Even the uppermost parts of the cavern, where no one could reach to place a torch, were lit with a shimmering green glow.

  “When these tunnels were mines, the Lightbringers needed bases to work out of. This was one of them, and for the longest time, their most important one. Taking this cavern was a great victory to the rebels during the Uprising.”

  Tamisra took Aniya’s hand and held on slightly tighter when she tried to pull away. “Trust me.”

  Aniya hesitated, but surrendered and let Tamisra lead her through the camp. As they walked, she couldn’t help but gape at the people stepping out of their tents to watch.

  All of them—men, women, and children—were emaciated, but they otherwise seemed perfectly healthy. While the children waved at Aniya, the men and women looked on cautiously. But as they broke Aniya’s gaze and noticed her hand joined with Tamisra’s, they would look back up again with softened expressions, some of them bearing smiles.

  “We don’t get many visitors,” Tamisra said. “At least not many that don’t end up dead before they ever see the camp.”

  Aniya began to realize the privilege she was being granted, and she smiled, waving back at the children and nodding toward the adults.

  “Before we caught on to the Lightbringers’ game, we lost dozens of people to their spies. It took us a long time to let anyone inside Refuge again, and even now—well, you know the trial they have to pass.”

  “Do many people come here?”

  “People have started to figure out that the tunnels never caved in completely. We’ve sent spies of our own into the sectors to spread rumors so that people can seek shelter here away from the Lightbringers.”

  “Won’t that convince the Lightbringers to come here also? You’re stealing away their citizens. They can’t be too happy about that.”

  Tamisra shrugged. “What are they going to do? It’s not like they can step foot inside the tunnels. They know how dangerous it is for them. All they can do is send spies and hope that we don’t kill them. Even then, they’ve pretty much stopped bothering. In sectors where it’s a bigger problem, they just tighten their grip further. It’s not pretty.”

  “How have I never heard of this? Haven’t you sent spies to the Hole?”

  “The Hole?” Tamisra frowned.

  “Holendast.”

  “Ah. That’s the most dangerous sector, actually.”

  Aniya laughed. “You wouldn’t think so if you’ve been there. They don’t really care about us.”

  “You’d be surprised. My dad said that after the war, most of the surviving rebels were exiled there. The Lightbringers wanted to keep them all in one place to keep an eye on them. If we went in there now, we’d be picked up by their surveillance immediately. We can’t confirm it, but we’re pretty sure that a lot of the citizens of Holendast are actually undercover Lightbringers.”

  “I don’t get it,” Aniya said. “Why bother keeping them alive? Why didn’t they just kill all the rebels?”

  “I really don’t know. The only thing that makes sense is that you’re still valuable to the Lightbringers somehow. After all, if they had killed all of the rebels, they’d have lost thousands of workers.”

  “Which means hundreds lost for relocative servitude.”

  Tamisra nodded.

  “Do you have spies in the Hub? Do you know what kind of work they do there?”

  “We don’t dare go inside the Hub. We have an understanding. This is our territory, and the Hub is theirs. Besides, there’s only one tunnel inside that we know of, and they collapsed it right after the incident with your brother.”

  “Now what?”

  Tamisra muttered under her breath, “Now nothing. My father made it sound like he agreed to help your brother. But you should have seen him when he found out about it. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen him so mad. The team that ran off with your brother did it without telling him because they knew he would never approve such a mission. In the end, he made peace with it only because William said he knew someone inside the Hub willing to help. When our people came back without their heads, he swore up and down that it was the end of his fight with the Lightbringers.”

  “So that’s it?” Aniya scoffed. “He’s done just like that?”

  “I wouldn’t say just like that. He was done a long time ago. Right before the war ended, the Lightbringers executed my mother and brother in front of him. I wasn’t even born yet, but I was far enough along that your friend Gareth managed to save me after they killed my mother. But that was the day my father was done with the war. When I heard about William’s mission, it felt like we had a chance for a better life, but my father couldn’t have been angrier. Then our scouts returned dead, and he was crushed. There’s no way he’d try anything now. He’s convinced he’ll lose me too.”

  Aniya fell silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was low. “I can’t say I blame him for wanting to protect you. I know how he must have felt.” She cleared her throat and brushed hair away from her eyes. “And what do you think? I take it you don’t agree with him.”

  “I used to not care. This life is the only one I’ve ever known. But the more people I see come in from the outside . . . the hurt, the abused, the oppressed—to see them finally smile again after joining us is like nothing I’ve ever felt. But it only makes me hurt more for those still in the sectors. I’m ready for things to change. My father is as well, don’t get me wrong. He’s just no longer willing to let his people die to see his dream come true. I don’t think he understands that they’ll willingly die for him and his dream.”

  Aniya glanced at Tamisra’s face. The girl’s eyes were burning again, a fire that blazed with a hunger that Aniya realized went beyond mere bloodthirst.

  They arrived at the large building at the center of the cavern, and Tamisra opened the door for Aniya.

  The first floor contained dozens of crates and barrels, watched over by one man sitting at a table.

  The man looked up, and his eyes opened wide.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Corrin.” Tamisra snickered.

  After clearing his throat, Corrin shook his head and replied, his voice bearing a nearly imperceptible shake. “It’s nothing. What do you need, Tami?”

  “My father asked me to make sure our visitors have supplies before leaving tomorrow. Can you give my friend Aniya the standard three-day package, same for her companion? Use the packs we confiscated and Xander brought to you.”

  “Aniya?” Corrin picked up two rucksacks from the floor
and scanned Aniya’s eyes. “Is that short for something?”

  “Annelise,” Aniya said, frowning. “But I prefer Aniya.”

  The man only nodded and looked away.

  “Let’s get you settled, Aniya.” Tamisra tugged on Aniya’s arm. “Our cots are not the best, but it’s better than sleeping on the floor.”

  “A moment, Tamisra.” Corrin raised a finger, and the girls turned around. “My sons wanted you to stop by when you get a chance. They said that the brisket is ready.”

  Tamisra laughed loudly, a screech that made Aniya wince. “Malcolm must have said that. I can’t imagine Xander being that morbid.” She turned to Aniya. “Follow me. We’re going to go have some fun.”

  Her curiosity piqued, Aniya followed Tamisra out of the building, down a different path and out of the camp, stepping into one of the many tunnels that branched off from the cavern.

  “Who was that?” Aniya looked back toward the main building.

  “That’s Corrin. He’s my dad’s second-in-command, but he also monitors the supplies for the time being because the last guy . . .” Tamisra shook her head. “Besides, there’s not much to do around here. Except for—well, you’re about to find out.”

  They walked down a long tunnel, which was lit only by a few scattered torches and the same green glow that Aniya had noticed when she first entered the tunnel with Roland.

  She was about to ask about the strange light when a particularly nasty growl came from the distance.

  “What was that?”

  Tamisra said nothing, but her eyes twinkled as a hint of a smile spread across the girl’s face.

  The growl grew louder, and a new sound came from down the tunnel, a pattering noise that intensified into a thundering tumult that shook the ground beneath Aniya’s feet.

  Tamisra stopped, and her smile vanished.

  Then, from around a bend in the tunnel came running a large animal at least four feet tall and wide. It bore down on them with an impressive pace, and Aniya instinctively backed away, tripping on a rock and falling backward. She couldn’t turn away from the terrifying sight, her eyes drawn to the creature’s long nose, then down to its large, gnashing teeth.