Shackles of Light

by Christopher A. Nooner

  Keezie cleared her throat, “How can we not at least see? It may be the real reason Kaga sent us here.”

  “No. He knew we needed their help to pull the poison out,” Eli countered.

  “What if that’s not the reason?” she retorted.

  “We have too much to do. We need to find out what is going on and why.” Eli pushed down the anger that was building. His head spun. It irked him that he still wasn’t right.

  Ammonih placed a hand on his shoulder, “Joseph and I can do it.” He looked over at Joseph, “That will give you time.”

  Joseph looked sheepishly at his well-worn boots. He glanced up at his companions and back at his boots. “I,” He started. He took a deep breath. “I have to see the council. They need to know Kaga is dead.”

  “There will be time for that later,” Eli stated flatly. He had no patience for the Council and their games of politic. “We need you with us.”

  Joseph shook his head and lifted his eyes to Eli’s. “No, this is my duty. I have to finish my duty to Kaga.”

  Eli glared at him for a moment before his gaze softened. “Fine. I understand.”

  He stepped toward the big man and extended his hand. Joseph gripped it warmly and broke into a big smile. “Meet us at the Way Hut as soon as you can.”

  Joseph nodded, “I’ll be there soon.”

  Usok padded to the big man and hoisted his front paws onto the man’s shoulders. The hound pressed his head against Joseph’s and held him there for a long moment before he dropped back to the floor and circled a spot on the rock on which to lay down. Joseph shook his head and said goodbye to his other companions. He stepped off the rock and sank below the water under the fall.

  Eli stared at the ripples bobbing on the surface of the water for a moment before turning back to Ammonih.

  “What’s your plan?” he asked the younger man.

  Ammonih’s intense eyes stared into his, “I will let the trail lead me to its destination. If only those bricks could talk.”

  Eli blinked and shook his head. He liked the young man, but some things he said made Eli question his sanity.

  Ammonih nodded and gathered his possessions. He threw his pack on and retrieved the clay pot from the cavern floor. He held it out to Eli cautiously.

  Eli hesitated to take the pot from the brave. He didn’t know what to do with it. He could take it to Mamat, but that would require a journey he didn’t really want to make, and it would cost more time. They couldn’t afford to waste any advantage, including time, they might have. Ammonih was right, though, there wasn’t much choice about who should hold onto it. He would just have to take care of it until he could off-load it when this was all over.

  He took the container from Ammonih and secreted it away in one of the hidden pouches around his waist. Ammonih, then, gripped Eli by the arm before he quietly slipped into the pool leading back to the surface.

  “Come,” the sisters whispered in their strange duet of hissing speech. They turned and headed deeper into the cavern.

  Keezie snatched up the light that Ammonih left and crowded by Eli’s side.

  Usok huffed and followed.

  Laugh it up, Eli thought as he shot an irked scowl at the dog.

  There was something extra sensory about the feeling of cold water running down his skin after being granite. The transition was always more intense when coming back to human form. It was a rush of feeling and lightness, a stark reminder of his own mortality. It was the perfect counterpoint to the feeling of invincibility he had when he was stone clad.

  The afternoon was cooler by far than when they had gone into the water. The air finally had the pre-chill of autumn. A chill that carried with it the smell of dry leaves and the promise of snow and ice. A chill that hinted of bare branches reaching into grey skies and a tragic loneliness that accompanied frozen winter days.

  Joseph shook himself and looked around the basin of the falls. It was devoid of hikers, but he could see bottles and cans shoved into the crevices between rocks and plastic bags tossed in the creek. He gritted his teeth and clenched his big hands into fists. It angered him that people abused nature; they never gave thought for anything except their own convenience.

  He almost took the time to remove the garbage and pack it out, but the urgency of delivering his news to the council was too great. They must know about the passing of the eldest. Things would change, he was sure. Kaga had been a tempering force in the ranks of the Elders. He had seen the world in a younger and purer form. He had knowledge and wisdom that could never be recovered. He was the only one with whom Mal’Ak had dealt. The only one Mal’Ak trusted.

  A sudden snap echoed through the forest. Joseph’s head whipped around, his eyes narrowing as he peered into the shadowed trees. He knew it was nothing, but his nerves were frayed. He scowled at himself, locked his eyes on the trail in front of him and began his hike to the lodge.

  His thoughts were disjointed and sharp. He found himself thinking about the last six months as he avoided focusing on Kaga’s death.

  Eli wasn’t what he had envisioned. His whole life he had heard stories of the legendary Mal’Ak, the man who stood against all to protect his people and their legacy. Maybe he did, but what Joseph saw was a very flawed and unhappy man. He was very capable and very deadly, but he didn’t see people as anything but a liability, at best.

  He couldn’t even see the way Keezie looked at him.

  How could you miss a woman like that? The thought baffled him. He shook his head in wonder, and let his thoughts trail off to simple recognition of the sights and sounds of the darkening forest.

  Trees would be bare soon, he noted, and winter would visit with icy fingers and frosted breath.

  Joseph loved cold air. His big body produced copious amounts of heat and the crisp air of autumn and winter helped regulate it. Still he would find himself, in the dead of winter, kicking off covers and cracking windows. It was partly his size and partly his magic. Sometimes he wished he could spend his life stone clad. No pain, no heat nor cold. He would do it if he could figure out a way to affect the longevity of the magic that kept him changed. Nothing he tried had made an appreciable difference, though, so he saved it for when it was most necessary.

  The parking lot was deserted when he stepped off the trail and through the breezeway of the lodge.

  The old Delta waited as if he had stepped away just moments ago. He pulled the keys out of his pocket and jangled them slightly.

  He started the car and pulled out of the lot. It was miles before he thought again of what he was headed to do and why. Alone, miles from anyone or anywhere, Joseph let tears fall from his eyes, rolling unchecked down his cheeks to soak his thin shirt.

  The overwhelming smell of musk and feces eased a bit as they moved deeper into the cavern. Eli watched the edge of light uncover flowstone and soda straw formations as their steps inched bit by bit through the tunnel.

  Keezie grabbed his arm as Lethia’s giant rattle slid across the rock floor and passed too close for comfort. Her warmth steadied him and brought his mind into better focus.

  It terrified him that the Gneechees poison affected him so intensely. Nothing he had ever experienced was comparable to it. Even now he felt twitchy and slow, his head was cloudy and there were moments he felt as if he were outside his body.

  Eli hoped that the Sister’s revelation was not a waste of time. There were things that needed doing, and if he was right, his time to do them was severely limited.

  He had been on edge since the showdown with Stockman. The Tukchina wouldn’t sit by and let that defeat slide by without retaliation. Lamech would be furious.

  That made him smile a bit. The opportunity to cause that man grief was high on his list of fun things to do in the fall. It was right up there with carving pumpkins and feeding reindeer.

  He glanced at Keezie, her auburn hair sprung with every step. It coiled and straightened with each bob forcing stray drops of water to fling from it like errant raindro
ps on unsuspecting targets. He was constantly amazed at how elegant she was. He was also amazed at her hair’s capacity to retain water. It was almost a supernatural skill.

  He looked away as she swung her head towards him. He could feel her eyes boring into the side of his head as if she could see what he was thinking.

  “Do you think it’s much farther?” she whispered.

  Eli shrugged and looked at the smooth stone in front of him. “I’d guess we’re getting close.” He tapped his nose, “The air is getting fresher.”

  Keezie nodded. “What do you think they have to show you?”

  He shrugged again.

  Her eyes stayed on him for a moment more waiting for him to speak before resuming their vigilant watch of the Sister’s zigzagging tails.

  Their walk continued in silence until the sisters split without warning. Eli took Keezie’s hand gently and pulled her next to him. He cocked his head and locked eyes with her, trying to convey vigilance and caution. She nodded and tightened her grip.

  A red light bloomed in the dark distance, just a pinprick of color, then another and another until the void was filled with warm firelight.

  They shielded their eyes against the sudden brightness.

  As the light mellowed an enormous cavern expanded in front of them. Shelves of books lined the walls and dense rows of cabinets occupied so much of the floor space that Eli wasn’t sure how the sisters could even pass between them. Here and there desks or tables broke the high line of shelves, each piled high with parchments and tablets.

  They stared in disbelief at the centuries of accumulated knowledge. Eli wondered what he could learn; what hidden gems he could discover in this magnificent place.

  Lethia and Velvia appeared on opposite sides of the room and made their way through the rows towards them. Their bodies wove and dodged obstacles with lithe grace, their movements mesmerizing and smooth. They came together and twined in greeting in front of Eli and Keezie, as if they had not seen each other for days or weeks.

  “It is here.” They hissed. “It is near.” They turned and set a winding course through the maze.

  Keezie looked at Eli in question. He shrugged and whispered, “Stay close.”

  The sisters stopped and waited for them to make their way through the shelving before continuing.

  The contents of the shelves they passed were myriad. There was everything from heavy leather-bound tomes to thin rolled parchment. Here and there were tablets of stone or thick reams of metal plates with hammered symbols. He recognized some of the languages, but there were even more that were wild and unfamiliar.

  There were so many.

  Eli wondered where they came from and why they were here; who gathered them and why he had never heard of a collection this large. The sheer volume was daunting. It would take years, decades even, to examine this much information.

  A flash of inspiration seized him, “Is there anything in here on Gneechees?”

  The answer floated back over the sister’s shoulders, “We do not know, Mal’Ak, we do not read.”

  “What?” Keezie blurted. “If you don’t read why did you collect all of this?”

  Lethia and Velvia slowed to a stop and turned to face them, their bodies twisted as if they were preparing to strike. “We did not. Mal’Ak did.” They cocked their heads and looked at him oddly before they spread their arms wide, “This is yours Mal’Ak.”

  They turned and slithered forward, their words and attitude so matter of fact that Eli could tell they felt no other explanation necessary.

  He was stunned. This was his? His mind struggled for a moment, before realizing they could not tell him from any of his ancestors, his camouflaging kept them from discerning one from the other. As far as they were concerned he might well be the one who collected everything in this library. “Where are you taking us?”

  “To the book,” they answered.

  Keezie gave him a questioning look. I don’t know, he mouthed at her.

  Velvia turned to the left to circle a table and exposed the brilliant light of a nearby torch to Eli’s eyes. The directness of it caused him to squint. His legs melted from beneath him and sent him stumbling into the table before they deigned to once again obey.

  Keezie rushed forward and grabbed his arm.

  “That was no fun,” he muttered.

  “Are you all right?” she asked. Her mouth so close to his ear sent shudders down his spine and made his eyelids half close.

  “I’m fine,” he sputtered.

  An especially large tome rested on the table and caught his eye. It was bound with ancient leather, the light tan had become brown from years of the oily touch of hands. The leather thickened as it moved in from the spine and edges toward the center. In the middle was a round indentation about three inches across and half an inch deep.

  “It is here,” Lethia pronounced, pointing at the book.

  He reached out and ran his hand over the smooth leather, his finger traced the rim around the sunken void. He snatched his hand away as a small bolt of energy snuck up his fingers into this arm.

  Keezie looked at him in question. “What?” she asked simply.

  Eli shook his head and looked up into the expectant faces of the sisters. “Thank you,” he muttered.

  Smiles spread on their dirty faces. They bobbed a synchronized nod and wandered off into the books pleased with themselves and their fulfilled mission.

  Eli’s head sunk as he rested his forearms on the table. “We have to get out of here. This was a waste of time.”

  Keezie placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure? We haven’t even looked at anything yet.”

  “Can you read any of this? Cause I can’t.” He motioned tiredly around the room. “Even if there was something I could read, how would I find it?”

  Keezie shrugged. He felt it even though he couldn’t see her. They had to get going, but he was so tired he couldn’t find the energy to move.

  He closed his eyes and felt a heavy wave of sleepiness course through him. He gathered the silence to him and his head fell closer to the cold surface of the table.

  Lightning arced in the sky. The jagged bolt jumped from cloud to cloud and barely vanished before the deafening crash of thunder shook the air and trees.

  Eli was exposed in the white-hot light as he stood atop the temple mound. He watched and waited, unafraid of the army that mulled beneath him between the great rises of earth and timber.

  He was ready to die.

  If he did, he would take the location of the device and calendar stone with him. That would suit him just fine.

  Another bolt flared across the sky. In the seconds that the world illuminated, he saw Stockman emerge from his tent into the throngs of slieth and baykok that pooled in the spaces between the mounds.

  Dread gripped him then. This man served The Mahan.

  “Eli,” Keezie’s urgent whisper cut through his dream.

  He blinked heavily and tried to steady his head with his hands before he realized he was being shaken.

  He pushed himself up and blinked rapidly to clear the fog from his eyes. “What is it?” he growled, a little upset at himself for dozing and a little irritated at being woken.

  Keezie was pointing at the tome on the table when she resolved in his vision. “I think it’s for your amulet,” she explained.

  He stared at her and then at the massive book. “What?” he asked stupidly.

  The corners of her mouth pulled tight in frustration. “I think your amulet fits in the top of the book.” She jabbed her finger toward the table to emphasize her point.

  He wanted to care, but he couldn’t quite manage. He would just sleep a bit more and then he would look. He leaned on the table again.

  White pain exploded in his leg and rocketed up to his skull. He jumped back and searched for the source of agony.

  Usok sat back on his haunches and lifted one eyebrow then the other as he stared at Eli.

  Eli looked down at hi
s leg. There were teeth marks but no blood. He glanced back at the dog. The beasts tongue lolled out of his mouth making him look like an innocent bystander.

  A muffled burst of air brought his head around just in time to see Keezie, hand over mouth, turn and look down a long line of books away from him.

  He rubbed his calf and glared at the two. “Jerks!” he snapped.

  He focused his attention on the book.

  She was right. It did look as though his amulet would fit in the indentation. He felt a little thrill of excitement and an equal splash of dread. He pulled the warm silver amulet from its place on his chest, slipped the cord over his head, and pulled his braids through the loop. He pulled it off the chain and held it loose in his hand.

  He leaned over the table and set the amulet on the void. It sat just over the top until he twisted it slightly to the left.

  The silver circle and tree slipped smoothly into the space. He left his fingers on the metal for a moment as it clicked into place savoring the feeling of unlocking a mystery.

  He looked up at Keezie, his grin mirroring her own. He opened his mouth to tell her she was brilliant when the world fell away, and the sound of his own screams were all that was left.

  Torrents of heat and pain traveled through his hands, up his arms and washed over every muscle and nerve in Eli’s body. Sweat burst from his pores. The intensity of feeling forced him to his knees and shattered his kneecaps on the stone. He felt them knit back together before the recoil of the impact bounced him up. Each piece and parcel that he possessed was stripped and rebuilt. Stronger and more resilient than at any time in his long life.

  A lifetime of abuse was carried away like gravel in a flash flood. There were wounds he had forgotten, poisons that coursed through him, even scars from improper healing. He heard the Gneechees scream as the last of them were scorched from their hideaways deep inside his body.