Tokus Numas (15 page)

“Make no mistake: not all will go on to complete their training. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. We will challenge you, so be prepared. All right. You are here—and at the moment you are not a Numa. Not yet. After your first year, you will be considered a Numa.” His gestures were large and exacting. “You will refer to your instructors as
Agogos
. Here, you will be trained to prosper within the world; for the world only prepares you for survival. The world is cruel—some of you know this, some of you do not, and some of you think you know what cruelty is. Well, you are sure to find out what you’re capable of on a measured and limited scale—enough for a taste, not enough to dispel you from all that is in life. Life is wonderful, but life is not merciful. Life means to struggle, and for good reason—without the struggle to live, one cannot have life.” He paused, staring out at each of the new recruits.

Petro chuckled to himself, thinking this must be a joke of some kind. Vetus Mont was making it sound as if Tokus Numas had everything figured out, and the rest of the world didn’t know anything. Truly, if that were the case, then everyone would be here, wouldn’t they?

Vetus Mont turned around, faced away from the crowd, and spoke. His voice carried easily to everyone. “You will be challenged in three ways.” He turned about, his arms stretched out wide. “One challenge is of your mind.” He paused, letting it sink into the thoughts of the recruits. He took in a deep breath. “Another challenge is of your spirit.” He waited again, letting the effects of his words take hold. “And the last is your heart.” His eyes scanned from the left to the right, all the way to the back, and then to the front. “We will observe you along the way, assessing your will, your hope, your faith, your self-awareness. You will be challenged several times over a period of years in order for us to measure your abilities and track the results.”

Petro could see how focused everyone was on as Vetus Mont while the older man explored the many faces in the room.

“You will be put into a program that matches your abilities—those who have a love for the arts will learn music and composition; those who fancy themselves to have a great understanding of the written word and enjoy formal documents will study law and publication; others will know the land and help to cultivate; and some will take on the disciplines of technical engineering. We have others areas to choose from, and in time you will find your way. If you fail at any time, you will be placed on another path. Every discipline has barriers to cross, so those who truly want or desire a specific field will take on the arduous task of dedication and perseverance. Keep that in mind.”

He pulled from his side a nickel-plated .44 that shone in the light. He held it facing out, so everyone could see its engraved side. “This is for an elite group, with a special function within the ranks of the Numas. Only those who participate in the challenges that press a man to his limits will receive this.”

Vetus Mont put away his gun, adjusted his belt, and then stood still and closed his eyes. Suddenly, without any warning, the lights went out. Then they came back on, and only the new recruits stood about. They all looked at each other and back toward the stage, wondering what was next. Petro scanned the entire room, searching for Adar and Sha. He spotted Adar and made his way over to him, but he didn’t see where Sha was yet. The young men began to speak in low voices at first, and then it grew louder and louder.

Petro tapped Adar on the shoulder. “Any idea what’s happening?”

Adar chewed on a twig held between his teeth. “There you are. I don’t have any idea. I figure someone will tell us sooner or later,” he said and then turned back around and mingled in with a few other recruits.

The noise was getting to Petro, so he covered his ears for a moment to muffle the sound. Then he took his hands off, and the sound rushed up against his eardrums. It was nearly deafening to him, so much so that he started walking to find a place to escape—a doorway, anything—it just was overwhelming to him. His head hurt. Just as he came to a door and reached for it, the door was gone. He was standing in the crowd; Adar, chewing on a twig, had just turned around.
The sight, the precognitive episodes were becoming more random and sudden,
he thought. He was about to open a door, and then he was back here—why? This ability seemed to be worthless.

He pushed through the crowd and went back to the same door as before. He held his hand near it, waiting to see if he might have a sudden headache and find himself still standing in the midst of all those recruits. He tried to remember what he did to cause it, to deduce the steps of what might have led up to it; there must be a way to use this. Petro focused his mind and then grabbed hold of the doorknob; he tried it, but it wouldn’t open. He opened his eyes. He was still at the door, so this was real, and it was pointless. He came to another door not far away and waited a moment, seeing if anything might change, and he grabbed the doorknob. Same thing; it wouldn’t budge. Frustrated, Petro went back to the door they had come through and tried it; it too was locked. There was nowhere to go, and this sound was really getting to him.

Maybe it is a trigger for my visions? No, that doesn’t make any sense, but is there a trigger?
Until he figured out what to do next, Petro decided to stroll over to a corner. He slid down and sat with his back against the wall, looking at all the recruits.

All he wanted right now was something to eat and some rest. He closed his eyes and tried to shut out the voices and the sounds all around him—the laughing, the snickering, the yelling, the joking, and on and on it went. After a long time had passed, it started to quiet down. He opened his eyes from time to time to see the energy had slowed, and the other guys were sitting down, too. More time passed, and he figured it must be at least midnight, yet no one had come for them or told them what was next. It was just like standing in line outside to get his hair cut off, except that he hadn’t known what he was standing in line for—just like now, he didn’t know why he was just sitting here with everyone else. He felt he should be doing something, anything, and so he got up. Gently, he stepped over recruits lying in the walkways and all over the floor, and he made his way to the stage. He started to search the stage with his eyes, looking for something, anything, and then he saw a slight outline in the floor, a hatch of sorts. He wondered if this was a way out. Maybe it was where Vetus Mont went when the lights went out. Down here is where he must have gone. Petro knelt down, opened the hatch, and then he felt someone touch his shoulder. He looked up to see a short, stout boy, near his age, maybe a year older.

“What do you suppose is down there?” he said.

There was a sort of blur, and a young man peered down into the hatch. “What do you suppose is down there?”

Petro’s eyes followed. “Didn’t you just say that?” He did that sometimes, just to check to see if it was happening to him again.

The young man looked at Petro. “Say what?”

“Nothing.” Petro stooped down, ran his fingers around the edges, and tried to get a grip on it; it came open. There in front of them was this hole and a ladder that led down into a dark pit. “I don’t know, but I’m curious to see where it goes,” Petro said. He turned to face the recruit and held out his hand. “I’m Petro.”

“I’m Kad.” They shook hands.

Petro looked around. None of the others were watching, and he was glad for it. Too many of them would just cause more noise, and he didn’t want a lot of noise venturing down here. He crawled down into the hole, and Kad followed, pulling the hatch back over and shutting it. Petro couldn’t see anything; the darkness was too thick. He used his feet to feel the ladder and took it slow, being careful not to slip off or find his feet off the ladder and dangling in midair. He was even more certain this was how Vetus Mont had disappeared when it went dark, and there had to be a floor at the end of the ladder.

Once there was a door that opened at the White Sea. A passing boatman noticed it and entered through it. The door shut behind him, and he was never seen again.

—From
Collection of Tales at Sea
, by the boatmen of White Sea

P
etro’s stomach growled; his arms trembled as he held his weight on the ladder, and he felt weak all over. Down the ladder he went, struggling a little and wondering what was he doing. None of this made any sense. Being back at Dugual and dealing with Sid’s games and the knowledge that everyone else would think less of him if he had decided to stay didn’t seem all so bad at the moment. The toe of his foot touched something solid that was not the ladder. He lowered his foot farther down, putting his heel down. It was the floor, as he had thought, so he must be in an opening. He waved his arms about in the dark shaft, and then Kad stepped on his head. “Hey, watch it,” Petro said.

“Watch what? I can’t see anything,” Kad said. “Move to the side, so I don’t step on you again.” Kad lowered himself down next to Petro. They stood there, hearing each other’s breath. Then there was a light from a small flashlight that Kad held in his hand.

“Where did you get that?” Petro asked. The light blinded him, and he reared his head back and blocked the light with his hands. “Hey, can you point that somewhere else?”

Kad snickered. “Sorry, I was just fooling around. I found it lying about upstairs; no one was using it.”

Petro curled his eyebrows inward. “So, do you want to lead the way? Or do you want to hand over the flashlight?”

Kad reluctantly handed Petro the light. Petro shone it down the corridor, exposing a tunnel with old piping running along the gray walls. He looked behind him to find a wall blocked the way, and there was nowhere else other than straight ahead. “You think Vetus Mont came down here?”

Kad raised his shoulders slightly in the weak light.

“Well, do you?” Petro said again, testier this time.

“I don’t know. Could have, might not have. The lights were off long enough, but I didn’t hear him open a door,” Kad said, scratching his armpit “I was only a few paces away from the stage. If he did go through that hatch, he was quick and stealthy. Like a cat.” Kad raked his hand across the air.

Petro smirked.

They took deliberate steps forward, trying not to make a sound. They looked like they were walking across a thin piece of ice, hoping it wouldn’t break underneath.

“I didn’t hear it open, either, even when I opened it. There was too much going on around us. The senses pick up on what they need to process, not what they don’t. No one heard the door open or shut. They were too busy processing the dark when the lights went out. It probably happened too close to each other, the hatch opening just as the lights went out. Given time, someone might have heard it, but it was too close. The eyes still wanted to see.” Petro recalled one of his lessons from a master on the senses.

Kad scratched his head and crept along behind Petro. “Where’d you learn all that?”

“From school,” Petro said. He didn’t want anyone to know he was a ward or to find out about the prophecy. He didn’t want anyone to know he could see the future.

“Sounds like bull,” Kad said.

Petro become worried—did Kad already know about him? “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know; just sounds like you made it up is all. You know, sounds like bull,” Kad said and gently shoved Petro in the back.

Petro flashed the light behind him into Kad’s eyes.

“Hey! Watch it!” Kad said and blocked the light with his hands. He backed away and stumbled, falling flat on his butt.

Petro came over and helped Kad up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Petro said.

“Sounds like bull,” Kad said and let out a light chuckle.

The two crept down the hall, unsure of what to expect, half wondering if they should just turn around and go back up, but their curiosity was getting the better of them down here. Petro had explored plenty of places around Dugual, but nothing quite like this. His jaw was open slightly, and he was taking in slow, deep breaths to keep his calm. The two of them looked at each other with both excitement and anticipation over what lay behind the door at the end of the corridor where, at its bottom, light poured out. Petro glanced over to Kad, and Kad gave him that same old noncommittal shrug. Petro put his ear up against the door.

“Shouldn’t you two be upstairs?” a deep voice said from behind them.

Petro fumbled with the light and then shone it in the direction of the voice. It was Vetus Sepher.

“You shouldn’t be down here. Upstairs is where you belong.”

Petro was a little out of his mind from being hungry and thought it would be funny to play a trick on Vetus Sepher with the flashlight. He brought the light and shone it into Vetus Sepher’s eyes, but he was met quickly with the older man’s hand; he took it from him in a snap. Vetus Sepher shone the light back toward the two, who squinted. “You like to play? Hmm. Here, take this light. I want you to go and find me an object—it will be past that door behind you. Find it and let me know.”

Petro took the light. “What sort of object?”

Vetus Sepher’s cloak swished as he turned about and headed back down the dark corridor with no light to lead his way. Petro could only watch until he was too far away for the light to help them distinguish him from the surrounding gray walls.

“Object? What object? Find an object, and let him know,” Kad said. He was scratching his chin.

Petro stood in silence. He was thinking about what Vetus Sepher had said, wondering what he was asking for; was it a sort of riddle? He couldn’t tell, and the request seemed a little odd.

“He didn’t give a description, didn’t even tell us where, except that it was past this door. How are we supposed to know?” Petro tapped the door behind him. “You know, maybe we should just go back upstairs. I think he was just testing us to see if we would go off on some wild hunt because of some vague request.”

“Give me the light,” Kad said, and Petro handed it over. Kad ran the light up and down and around the door, looking it over. “Aren’t you curious about what’s on the other side?”

Petro had been, but not so much now. It had been fun for a while, but now all he wanted was to lie down and close his eyes—forget about eating. “Nah, let’s go back.”

Petro started off, and Kad pulled him back. “Why? If we go back up, we’ll just be bored. There’s nothing up there for us. Come on. Let’s just take a look and see. Can’t hurt anything. All we need to do is open the door, peer inside, and see what’s there. Then we can go.”

Petro looked at Kad with his bone-tired, spent eyes and said, “Then we can go?”

“Cross my heart,” Kad said and marked his heart with the sign of a cross.

Petro felt exhausted. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, opened them, put his hand on the doorknob, turned it, he swung the door inward. The room was maybe fifteen square meters. The far wall was covered in viewers the size of dinner plates, and each one showed a different video feed. Petro stared at the screens, trying to see which of the images he might recognize. He saw one showing the other recruits moving out of the large auditorium. Petro turned quick to Kad, his eyes as wide as they’d get with sleep ever pressing. “We’ve got to get back upstairs. Everyone is being moved to somewhere else,” he said.

Kad looked at the viewers. “What is this place? Some kind of security monitoring?” He went up to another viewer and put his finger on it. “I think this is the outside of the building we came in,” he said.

“Come on, Kad,” Petro said and started for the door.

Kad grabbed Petro by the sleeve. “Why the rush? We’re supposed to find an object, remember? Help me look at the screens,” he said.

Petro was hesitant, thinking it was just a game that Vetus Sepher was playing with them both. He felt the urge to jerk away and leave down the hall, but then Kad would be left without his flashlight. Maybe he could make it without it; it was pretty much a straight shot, and he could feel along the wall until he made it to the ladder. He relaxed his shoulders, turned toward the viewers, and started to search them. One showed the High Mountains in a sort of twilight. The optic lens appeared suited for night viewing. Another one showed the entire village of Tokus Numas. Nothing stirred outside among the trees, the benches of the courtyard, or the buildings that surrounded it. There was the center steeple, but no one was out there, not even a guard. It was as though the place were deserted. Petro scratched the top of his head.
This is not going anywhere
, he thought.

“Hey, take a look at this,” Kad said. His finger pointed at what looked like the interior of a cavern. Petro’s eyes peered at the image, and then he saw something that glimmered for a brief moment and then disappeared, like a spark that burned out. He watched on and saw it again.

“You think that’s it? Whatever it is?” Petro said, turning to look at Kad. His eyes went wide when he saw Vetus Mont standing just behind Kad.

Petro tapped Kad on the shoulder, nodded in the direction of the man, and Kad slowly turned around.

“You two should not be in here. You need to go back upstairs with the others,” Vetus Mont said. The faint light caused his facial features appear to be set like flint.

“Yes, sir, I mean, Agogos,” Petro said and slid by the man.

Kad was right on his heels. The two made their way down the darkened corridor once again. The light beamed out in front, piercing the blackness. Nothing was said. They just went along, one step after the other.

Petro wondered why he was even here.  Was it to trounce around underneath this wooden village up in the mountains—for what? He’d be better off in Dugual, learning how to defend her, working his way up the ranks in security. What would Dia think of him if he up and left and went back home? Would she forgive him? He thought she would, and it made him feel better, so he cooled his temper. Then he thought of having to put up with Sid constantly reminding him of what he had done; and as Sid got older, it would only get worse—he knew that much. His temperature rose, his teeth clamped together. Queen Lilith would be disappointed, but he knew she would forgive him within moments of his return and would make him feel welcomed back. King Amerstall would not be so pleased, and that bothered Petro. Of all the people—not Dia, not Queen Lilith, not even Sid or Silda or King Amerstall for that matter—it was the Father who mattered, and somewhere inside, Petro felt he needed stay in Tokus Numas and to find a way he could help protect all those he loved in Dugual.

“I can’t go back,” Petro said out loud.

Kad looked confused. “What was that?” He came closer to Petro.

Petro kept his eyes forward, never looking over at Kad. “Nothing. I was just talking to myself.”

Kad smacked Petro on the back; Petro stopped and gave him a curious look. “Ah, it’s all right,” said Kad. “I talk to myself sometimes too—mainly in my sleep, I’m told. But hey, I’m here if you want to talk to someone else.” He tapped his head. “Keeps you sane, you know, to talk to others and get out of your own head. You stay too long in that noggin, you’ll go crazy.” Kad swirled his finger around the side of his temple and crossed his eyes.

Petro shook his head, turned back to the task at hand, and kept on moving. Soon they were at the ladder, and the light was going dim. Kad took it. “Hey, you ran the batteries nearly out,” he said.

There was a noise behind them, and Kad brought up the light, but it was too weak now, and he could not see anything down the corridor. They heard footsteps now, and they both were wide-eyed and completely still. Again the footsteps came; it was more like they were scraping across the ground now. Was it Vetus Mont? Or Vetus Sepher? The sound changed from footsteps to a pattering on the floor, and then more scraping. The light grew dimmer and dimmer until it had burned out.

Kad pushed Petro to the side, and then Petro grabbed Kad and pulled him backward to get in front. Kad grabbed Petro and pulled him back, got one hand on the ladder, and jumped up two rails. Petro was underneath Kad, shoving him to move quicker, while his hands trembled at the sound, which was getting closer by the moment. Kad had finally gotten some distance, and Petro grabbed hold of the ladder, yanked himself up, and heard the sound under him. He scrunched up as much as he could and hoped his feet were high enough to keep the thing in the dark from getting them.