The Year of the Lumin by Andrew Ryan Henke Read Free Book Online Page B

here?”
    “I’m not exactly sure.  I was at some holy shrine.  They called it a Lumin shrine, whatever that means.  What is a Lumin, anyway?”
    “Oh it’s religious junk.”  He made a sarcastic noise and said, “Just old stories taken out of context if you ask me.  No all-powerful being will ever come to save us.  We are in control over our own destinies.  If we mess up, no one can bail us out but ourselves.”
    The two continued to talk.  Noir found out more about each of the two kingdoms and also about how this world worked.  Noir stretched and massaged his sore leg.
    Ratt asked about Noir’s leg.  Then he asked where he had come from.  For some reason, Noir felt afraid to talk about where he had come from.  Noir had to choose his words carefully for the ones that would seem to fit into this world.  He made sure not to mention anything about what happened in the cave.
    As they talked, Noir kept getting distracted thinking about Aimee and Steven.  Could they adapt to this world, whatever this world was?  Where were they now?  Were they alright?
    They talked for a long while until Noir felt himself growing tired.  He asked the guard for something to sleep on and he threw in a cloth sack.  It was better than nothing.  Even though his mind was racing with all that had happened to him today, Noir laid down and tried to sleep.  Ratt's deep breathing at the other side of the room was the last thing he remembered hearing.
     

 
    Chapter 7
    A new path
     
                  Noir woke up to the cell door creaking open.  “Captain Grandel wants to see you again,” the man spoke to Noir.  Unlike before, he was unarmored and in simple clothing.  He had a short sword in his belt.
                  “Alright,” Noir said as he sat up and stretched his back.  “If he’ll let me, I want to ask him more questions anyway.”
                  The man led him outside and across the road to the larger building again.  The afternoon air brought sounds of a town at work.  Noir studied the glowing orbs again as he passed into Grandel's building.  Once inside, the guard led him to a different room in the building instead of the one he had been taken to the day before.  The man leading him stood at the door and motioned Noir inside.
                  Captain Grandel sat at a large table that took up the majority of the room.  About a dozen chairs were around it and a large hand-drawn map was laid upon it.  One man and one woman sat at his sides each wearing shining armor and white cloaks.  They were all studying the map until they looked up at Noir as he entered.  When Grandel saw Noir, he said to the two with him, “Thank you Adeel and Kit.  We will talk more on this later.”
                  Adeel and Kit walked around the table and passed Noir while going out the door.  They both looked at him as they passed.  Curiously, the man gave Noir a sharp look.  It was over too quickly for Noir to process and understand the emotion behind it.  Grandel put out a hand toward a chair near him.  “Come and sit.  We have much to discuss.”
                  Noir walked forward hesitantly and sat in the chair that he motioned toward.  Grandel rolled up the map and placed it on a wooden pedestal behind him.  As he turned he said, “I heard your name from your uncle for the short time that I had to talk to him.  Noir, right?”
                  Noir was annoyed that the captain mentioned his uncle, since he had let them be captured.  But he kept his cool since he needed to ask the man questions.  “Yes, that's my name.”
                  Grandel sat down on the opposite side of the table from Noir, facing him.  “I am not sure where you came from Noir, but it doesn't matter now.  You are here and I believe it is fate that brought you here.  I have some important things to discuss with you, but first I believe you