Part 5 of The Luminous Citadel

A Taco Tuesday serial

I’m finally back at it! You can find the earlier parts here, if you missed them, or just want to re-read to get back into the story as I took so long away from it.

Wilt felt his jaw drop, and he sat there staring at Helikon for an embarrassingly long time before he managed to close his mouth. His mind had been whirring along too fast for him to think about what he must look like. 

“Virtually nothing. Dr. Sooma... I think he kept many things from us. I didn’t know anyone lived here. He presented it to us as a failed attempt by the civilization on the doomed planet to make a refuge, with a functional but flawed ecosystem, which is my field of study. I came here to study ecology and write my doctoral thesis.” 

Helikon narrowed his eyes. “Some of those words I do not understand. You are a doctor?” 

“No,” Wilt shook his head emphatically. “I am not a medical doctor. I study how plants, animals, and even the soil works together as a system.” 

“Interesting, and potentially valuable to us.” Helikon shook his head. “But you do not fight?” 

“It’s not really a thing where I come from, unless you’re in, like, the military or space forces.” Wilt shrugged. “I’ve never even held a sword.” 

Helikon put one big hand over his face for a moment, and Wilt caught a faint muttering from him. 

Wilt ventured to ask, carefully, “What do I need to know about, er, the Luminous Citadel?” 

“What?” Helikon was back to his usual poker-faced calm. “The Luminous...” 

“That’s what Dr. Sooma said this place was named. The Luminous Citadel of New Atlantis.” 

Wilt was deeply surprised when Helikon threw his head back and laughed from his belly, shaking. 

“That... That is not what we call it.” Helikon gasped and wiped his eyes. “The words, I do not know them. We refer to it as the uncertain place, the place where there is no up, no down, no past, no future.” He sobered, and frowned. “It is Ehrayto.” 

“Oh.” Wilt looked at Dione, who had been following them by looking back and forth as they spoke, but obviously not understanding any of the conversation. “So... There’s a lot I need to know.” 

“Indeed. And I will need to speak with your Doctor Sooma.” 

“I don’t understand this.” Wilt raised his hands and shoulders in a shrug. “Why would he keep all of this from his students? From the university?” 

“Why would he leave his students here?” Helikon countered with his own question. “You are not the first to be brought here and left, in confusion, you must know.” 

“What?!” Wilt shot to his feet. Dione scooted backwards with a squeak of dismay. Her mother made shushing noises, and pulled at Wilt’s hand to get him to sit down again. Wilt subsided back onto the cushion, his mind in turmoil. 

“We also are astonished. We have learned much, from the others, how to speak your lingua, but not this. Not the motivation of the man who brings us young men whom we desperately need.” Helikon made a cutting-off gesture with the flat of one hand. “No longer can we assume good will, when it is clear the truth is a fog between us.” 

“I’ll tell you everything I can.” Wilt promised. “If you will teach me about this place, and why you expect me to need to fight.” 

“The tribe of the dark, they steal our children.” Helikon said, and his shoulders dropped. “Especially the boys, and there are so few boys born to us as it is. We fight them, for the sake of our families whom we love.” 

“So few males born?” Wilt glanced sideways at Dione. She leaned towards him and patted his thigh, smiling slightly. “That’s... huh.” 

“We have few records from before we came here, to live in Ehrayto.” Helikon splayed his hands out, palms up. “But it is clear that it was not always this way.” 

Nyssa stood up, and spoke to Helikon in their language. He raised his eyebrows, and responded briefly. 

“Is everything, er, all right?” Wilt asked as Nyssa left the room, the beaded curtain in the doorway rustling in her wake. 

“Yes, she can understand a little, and thinks she may have something that will help.” 

Dione leaned against Wilt’s shoulder. Helikon’s eyes dipped to her, then back up to meet Wilt’s gaze. 

“She likes you.” 

“Um.” Wilt wasn’t sure what to say about that. He’d known her for less than a day, this was a completely unknown culture. “I like her too?” 

Helikon chuckled and shook his head. “This is a tale older than any story told ‘round the fires. We will see what comes of it.” 

Wilt was saved from having to reply by Nyssa entering the room again, carrying a cloth-wrapped object in her hand. She laid it gently in front of Wilt, and made urging movements with her hands. She obviously expected him to open it. 

It wasn’t long enough to be a sword of any kind. He unfolded the cloth, which was heavy and stiff with wax or oil. The gleam of highly-polished metal appeared first, and then the covering fell away to reveal what was very clearly some sort of weapon. 

“Ah!” Helikon leaned forward, showing a strong emotion of... interest? Intrigue? Wilt wasn’t sure how to categorize it. “This is very old.” 

“It seems to be in good condition.” Wilt didn’t touch it. “What is it?” 

“This is, hm, a thrower of power. I do not have your words for it. The button, here,” Helikon’s large, blunt finger indicated a spot between the grip where you would hold it, if it were anything like the Terran weapons Wilt had seen, and the complex mechanism of the barrel. There was a button which showed wear, as though it had been touched many times. “This when depressed will send forth a ray of great power, as though the solar beams of legend were unleashed.” 

He looked up and met Wilt’s eyes. “I have seen one used, once. It blackened the leaves of the trees at many paces, and the dark tribesman fell, his skin smouldering.” 

“Oh.” Wilt picked it up, carefully not pointing it at any of them. It fit into his hand comfortably. 

Nyssa, smiling, spoke to Helikon. Helikon then translated. “It belonged to her many-generations removed ancestor. She would have you carry it, until you master the sword. It charges in the light, so you will not be able to use it until it has been exposed to the light for perhaps a half-day.” 

“What about nighttime?” Wilt asked. He was realizing that the day had stretched on, and on. It might well have been morning when he arrived, although that seemed very long ago, but the light never seemed to change, the source always overhead, as it were, in this strange place. 

“Nighttime?” Helikon echoed his word. “Ah, the others spoke of this. The sun, the light-giver, is always with us. We are never forsaken.” 

Wilt blinked, thinking about this. “What about sleep? And if there is no night, how can there be people of the dark?”