A Light on the Far Shore by Tace Samoset - Volume 6

When a young boy discovers a light signalling him from an enemy island he must choose between tribal loyalty or hope.

Tales From Netherün Volume 6 - A Light on the Far Shore

 

It was dark. Lucian watched the pinprick of light flicker on the other isle. He shifted in his hammock and glanced down at the base fire. The full-growns had become laughing shadows around it. They mustn’t have seen. They wouldn’t be laughing if they had. He squinted back across the void at the floating island. He could see their tribal fire too. The tiny flickering light was some way from it. Faint, small … alone. The light flashed again and blinked out, waiting. It was certainly a signal. 

But for what? And for who?

Lucian looked round the upper tier of the bower. The other little-uns were asleep in their hammocks, hanging like soft fruit from the tree branches. He was the only one who had seen it.  

He should wake someone and tell them. Lucian bit his lip. He lay perfectly still for a long moment, thinking of the flickering light. Lucian groaned to himself. He never did what he [i]should.[i]

He toppled out of his hammock and slid into his red moccasins. To one side of the bower where the little-uns slept, a brazier with a clutch of glowing coals gently smouldered. He gathered up a thick curl of bark and in a moment was scaling away from the lights and the fires to the darker side of the island with a coal clutched inside it. 

He knew every twist and turn of the path. Every rock and pebble. Every tree and bush. Everyone did. Eyrie was small, and the tribe had lived on it for as long as history. Lucian knew no different. It was small, but it was enough. 

It had to be.

It floated a full mile over the ocean. He had never seen the mainland, but they had a map which showed Midar to the north, Riparia to the west and Ranya to the east. The map showed the other isles too and on a clear day, he could see them hovering like sky bergs far off, but there was only one floating isle he could see with any clarity. It was a strange one. It wasn’t on the map and didn’t have a name. The elders all agreed; it didn’t deserve one. Those on Eyrie had a rolling list of slurnames they made up for it. Whenever someone came up with something new, a communal snigger would follow and something warm would flow through all the Eyries. Without fail, they would feel closer and more akin than before. 

Of course, the slurnames were fair. Everyone had seen the indistinct figures of the other tribe, big ones and small ones; all of whom liked nothing better than standing on the airshore in full day to shout and spit at them across the void. They’d been the first to cut the rope bridge over the void. No one remembered the time when it had stood whole. Lucian wondered if it had ever been whole. That was why the signal was so strange. 

Lucian stopped and sat across from the dark space on the other island where the flashing light had been. Perhaps whoever had made it was sick of waiting and had left. Perhaps they were staying to see if a fool would signal back, only to slingshot a pebble at them.

He sighed and peeled open the bark. He was just that kind of fool. The coal inside sat warm and dull. With a shaky breath, he blew. The coal glowed. He blew again and the coal burst into light. He shielded the coal with his hand, then pulled his hand away, copying the strange flashing rhythm he’d seen earlier.

All was dark on the other shore. Then the light flashed again. He waited for a stone to whistle through the air at him. None came. Instead, the strangest sensation filled him, like too much air in his lungs, a lightness in his head, a tremble that started at his scalp and trickled all the way to his toes. 

This was something new.

Fumbling and clumsy with the tremble that still echoed in him, he clasped the coal tight inside the bark and scrambled up the path. Coal back in the brazier and bark tossed into the dark, Lucian lay in his hammock battling to quiet his breathing. This was too big to keep secret. He glanced over at the gentle sway of his friend’s hammock. Tomorrow he would tell Nyx.

 

***

‘Nyx,’ Lucian grabbed his friend by the base fire, ‘I have to show you something.’

Nyx shrugged. ‘Sure, make it quick. The ceremony is starting soon.’

‘Oh, fling me off the void.’ Lucian’s shoulders slumped. ‘I forgot about that.’

Nyx slapped Lucian on the back. ‘Don’t worry. You’ll be better than last time. Think of how much you’ve practiced.’

Lucian hadn’t practiced nearly as much as he’d hoped, and now his time was up. He glanced at Nyx. Everything about him looked right; looked Eyrie. From the dark hair that slid in a neat braid down his back, to the solid strength in his chest and arms, to the tan leather moccasins he wore on his feet. Lucian looked at his own lanky arms. In comparison, it looked like he’d been made up of all the bits of boy no one else wanted; just like the red moccasins. 

Nyx frowned. ‘Come on, what did you have to show me? Best be quick about it.’

‘This way.’ Lucian led the way along the path he’d followed the night before until he stood across the void from the patch of ground where he’d seen the signal.

He pointed. ‘Last night, I saw a flashing light just over there. I made a coal glow just like it and the light answered back. I think someone from the other island is trying to signal us.’ 

Nyx didn’t respond.

Lucian turned. ‘Nyx?’

His friend was staring away from the void at a cave mouth. ‘Why did you bring me to the wellspring?’

‘What?’

‘You know we shouldn’t come anywhere near here. The elders say it’s dangerous.’

Lucian sighed. He was forever ignoring those kinds of edicts. He squinted at the cave mouth. It didn’t seem dangerous. No one could even get inside it. Histories ago, the elders had filled the cave’s mouth with rocks until it looked like a wall.  

‘It’s a small island Nyx, it’s hard to avoid.’

‘The rest of us manage. Why can’t you?’

Lucian shrugged. ‘I wanted to show you something else�"�"’

A horn blew in the distance. The ceremony was being called.

Nyx frowned at the cave, picked up a stone and shoved it into a small gap in the rocks. ‘We should go. They will come find us if we don’t, and I, for one, don’t want to be found [i]here[i].’  

 ‘Very well,’ Lucian sighed.

The tribal leaders were already waiting on the shoreline when they filed down to the edge. Nyx nudged a rock with his toe. It rolled to the edge of the island and dropped into the nothing beyond. 

Lucian imagined it disappearing through the low clouds long before it reached the water. He leaned closer to his friend. ‘What would it be like to be that pebble, do you think?’ 

Nyx shook his head. ‘The things that go through your head, Lucian. Honestly! Sometimes, I think you’re�"�"’ 

He didn’t finish. One elder raised his arm and all the full-growns and little-uns went quiet. ‘As you know, this is a testing time for us.’ 

Murmurs rippled through the folk of Eyrie and some booed at the hulking island across the void.

‘We are facing a time of struggle beyond that ever known in our history. Our foes are more in number than we.’

Lucian squinted against the glare. ‘I can only see two of them today,’ he whispered to Nyx.

Nyx rolled his eyes.

‘They have a larger island …’ the elder went on.

Lucian frowned. ‘Looks exactly like ours, no bigger, no smaller. It even has the same number of hillocks.’

‘Hush!’ Nyx shoved Lucian away. 

‘The elders have noted a visible increase in hostility from,’ here the elder paused trying to find the right word, ‘these [i]others[i].’ He gestured across the void. ‘From history, we know that there are ways they can invade and take what we have.’

 ‘How?’ Lucian mouthed to Nyx.

‘Shut up and listen.’

‘We must show them we will not cower!’ 

The elder’s voice trembled and rose as the murmurs and cries of assent from the tribe grew around him.

‘It is time we show our strength, show what we stand for, show that we�"are�"Eyrie!’

All joined in stomping and chanting. ‘Eyrie, Eyrie!’ And each bent to pick up a stone. 

Lucian joined in. ‘Eyrie, Eyrie!’ He too had a stone in his hand and felt the thrill of heat that pulsed through them with the chant.

Nyx smiled at him and raised his arm. ‘Watch this!’ he mouthed and flung his stone. It sailed through the air, a beautiful arching throw. 

The Eyries cried in jubilation and soon hundreds more were thrown at the other island.

At last, it was over, and Lucian and Nyx slumped on the ground, laughing.

‘That’ll show them!’ Nyx shook his fist at the island.

The elder who had spoken on the shore patted Nyx on the shoulder as he passed by on his way to the base fire. ‘You’ve a fine throw there, son.’ 

Nyx’s face shone. ‘Did you hear that?’ he flexed his arm.

Lucian sniggered at him.

‘How far did yours go?’ Nyx asked.

They both stared at Lucian’s hand. The stone still sat in it. 

‘What is wrong with you?’

‘I … just forgot.’

Nxy shook his head in disbelief. ‘You idiot.’

‘I know.’ Lucian grinned.

They both slumped back on the dirt and stared up at the sky. 

‘You think that if I keep practicing, I could ever hit their island?’ Nyx asked.

Lucian shrugged. ‘I don’t think anyone’s ever managed that. Not yet, at least.’

‘I’ll be the first, then. No, I’ll be more. I’ll be the first to throw a stone and hit one of [i]them[i]!’

Lucian went quiet. 

‘What’s wrong?’ Nyx asked. 

‘Sometimes I worry,’ Lucian said at last.

‘What about? Being an idiot?’

Lucian gave a wan smile. Some of his worries felt too dangerous to make into words. If any of the elders were to know them … but Nyx was his friend. He swallowed. ‘Well, we don’t grow rocks, do we?’

‘You [i]are[i] an idiot,’ Nyx muttered.

‘All we have is the island. We don’t want any of it taken from us, do we?’

‘Never,’ Nyx growled.

‘But every time the tribe gathers for the rock throwing, all of us take some of the island and�"�"’

Nyx sat up and loomed over him blocking out the sky. ‘Shut up!’ he shouted.

Lucian blinked at his friend’s quivering face.

‘Shut up, shut up, shut up!’ Nyx was on his feet, stalking away.

 

***

That evening, when Lucian went to sit by his friend at the base fire, Nyx stood up and left.

 

***

Every night after that, Lucian waited for all the little-uns and the lads his own age to fall asleep. Then he crept off with a small coal and sat on the edge of the island, to signal the other side. Night in and night out, the answering light was ever faithful. It never told him to shut up or stop being an idiot. It just winked quietly in understanding.

Two more ceremonies passed, and at each Nyx threw the first stone. All remarked on the rightness of his aim, the strength of his arm, and how much potential he had. A true Eyrie if ever there was one and the older folk whispered, ‘Eldership material’ whenever Nyx walked by. 

Lucian never asked Nyx if he knew what they said about him. The two didn’t talk anymore, but there was something in the way Nyx held himself that suggested to Lucian that perhaps he did. 

Lucian found his feet wandering down to the secluded part of the island more and more often, even during the day. He would sit by the rocked-up cave and watch the far shore as though waiting for something to happen. Sometimes he would even pull a stone away from the cave to peer inside at the dark. 

Why had it been sealed up? 

He was old enough now to know that such questions could only be wondered inside his head, never voiced out-loud. Nyx had taught him that.

He turned his silent questions into the flashing rhythms of light he sent across to the far shore every night. The answers would blink back, wordless yet comforting … until the day the stranger came.

He was sitting by the cave, gazing across the void, when he heard a scratching sound behind him. He turned to see a trickle of pebbles run down the wall of stones blocking the wellspring. One rock slid out of it, as though pushed from behind. It teetered and fell with a thud. A moment later, he heard the scratching again, but this time it came along with a sound of heavy breathing and huffing. Another stone dropped out of the wall and a small rumble followed. There was an almighty gaping hole at the top now and out of it grappled a dusty hand. Lucian clambered up and peered in.

‘Would you help me, please?’ called a voice.

Lucian stood, eyes wide, mouth open for a full five seconds. Inside the darkness stood a stranger. His face was streaked with sweat and dust, and it carried an expression which looked kind and fearful at the same time. 

It took a long moment for Lucian to un-stick his tongue from the roof of his mouth and mumble nonsense. In the end, he made better use of his hands, by scrabbling away at the rocks, pulling them down from the hole until the man could take hold of his hand and pull himself out. In the end, he rolled down the pile of rocks and lay sprawled at the bottom.

The man was tall and thin and looked like he had dug his way through a mountain, such was the dirt that covered him. Lucian handed the man his water flask. The man drank it dry and wiped his mouth before he stared at Lucian.

‘Thank you,’ the man said at last. ‘That was kind.’ 

‘Where have you come from?’ Lucian asked in a whisper.

The man’s face went pale. ‘I came from … over there.’ He said with a curt nod across the void at the other island. 

Luca’s mouth dropped open.

‘I don’t mean you any harm!’ the man said in a rush. ‘I’ve been hoping to make contact for seasons now. And … I hoped�"�"’

‘Wait!’ Lucian blinked and stared at the man. ‘Have you been sending flashing signals?’

The man’s face broke into a smile so full of relief that a tear trickled down his face, leaving a single clean streak. ‘I have,’ he gasped.

Lucian sank to his knees beside the man. ‘I too,’ he said, suddenly shy.

 ‘What is your name, boy?’

‘Lucian.’

The man’s face turned from open curiosity to confusion in a moment. ‘Lucian?’ He blinked as his eyes traced down the boy’s face until they stopped at his red moccasins. He gasped and covered his mouth and when he dropped his hand away his expression had turned inscrutable. Finally, he nodded to himself, ‘Of course,’ he whispered. 

Lucian frowned at him. The man’s expression had a sadness greater than Lucian could understand. ‘What is wrong?’ he asked.

The man wiped his hands down his leather britches and turned to gaze at him with new intensity. ‘We have little time and there is much you need to know.’

‘What do you mean?’ Lucian asked.

‘A ceremony has just been called, hasn’t it?’

Lucian squinted at the beach. The man was right. He could see the tribe gathered. A horn must have blown while he was shifting the rocks. ‘How did you�"�"?’ 

‘It doesn’t matter. When you don’t come, they will look for you and find me.’

Lucian felt the blood drain out of his face. ‘Get back inside the cave. You have�"to�"go! Now!’ 

The man shook his head. ‘Listen. This is important. Everything you know about that island,’ he nodded in its direction, ‘is [i]not[i] true.’

‘What?’

But if the man answered, Lucian only heard a cry behind him from the shore. He swung round. The rock throwers had stopped. Someone was pointing at him. Nyx. Heads were turning. ‘Please, you have to go. Now!’

 The tribe on the shore was scattering. The sound of feet hurtled along the path.

The man heard it too and took both of Lucian’s shoulders in his hands and leaned in. ‘What they see is just … themselves. [i]Their hate[i]. Understand?’

But Lucian didn’t understand.

‘You are different.’ Here, the man put his hand on Lucian’s heart. ‘You see something else.’

The thudding feet scuffed to a halt around them, bodies and fists and stones and the shrill cries of ‘Eyrie! Eyrie!’ throbbed in his head.

Powerful hands clenched around the man’s arms, their nails bit into his skin. For a moment everything blurred, all Lucian could hear was his heart beating under the warmth of the man’s hand. 

‘Listen, Lucian,’ the man whispered through the noise. ‘Don’t let them change how you see.’

Then, they dragged the man away.

‘Wait!’ Lucian screamed.

But the crowd was gone, and the dust and noise of thunder and chanting had moved down the path to the shore. He ran after it, oddly weak and light-headed. Three times he fell and had to pick himself up. He ran past the base fire out towards the beach just as the main elder, who always ran the ceremony, led the man to the very edge of the island. The chanting rose brutal and ugly.

Lucian clutched his ears to block it out. 

The man glanced up to where Lucian stood alone, behind the crowd. His eyes were soft and sad. The elder flung the first rock, it slammed into the man’s chest. He stepped back into nothing�"�"and fell.

 

***

The tribe filled in the hole in the cave’s wall and the seasons came and went. Every night, Lucian crept to the dark edge of the island with a coal hidden inside a curl of bark. No answering signal came back.

 

***

It was another rock throwing ceremony. Nyx, tall and strong, had grown and now was an elder. No one could throw the first stone like he did. Lucian had tried to be part of it, but the Eyrie chant no longer thrilled him through as it once had. Now, it was all labour and toil to try and reach the fever pitch of the others, and something about the throwing of the stones always made him turn away. 

Ilia sat on the edge of the beach. She was one of the little-uns, but no one expected her to throw a stone. Something about her hand had gone wrong, ‘or right’, as Lucian liked to think. She clutched it to her body, but it was clear to all that she couldn’t throw a stone with it. 

He walked away from the throng and sat by her on the edge of the shoreline.  

‘Why don’t you throw like all the other full-growns?’ she asked. 

He shrugged. ‘I’ve never been good at it.’

She grinned and clamped her shrivelled hand under her arm. ‘You know, if they keep at it, there’ll be no island left, and then where will we be?’

He pinched his lips tight to keep from smiling.

She was quiet for a long time. ‘They speak about you, you know.’

He turned to look at her. ‘Who does?’

‘Elders.’ She shrugged. ‘Well, everyone, I guess. They don’t notice me listening.’

Lucian sighed. Not from shock, but from its opposite; a kind of relief. He’d suspected as much for a long while. They had probably started talking about him the day they found the man at the cave. Possibly even before that. He picked at a small grass flower growing between the rocks. ‘What do they say?’

‘They said you aren’t a [i]true Eyrie[i], whatever that means.’

‘What am I then?’

‘A [i]problem[i] that needs fixing.’

Lucian’s throat turned dry as dust. ‘How do you suppose they’ll do that?’ he rasped, still looking at the delicate flower in his fingers.

 ‘How would I know? All they ever do is throw rocks.’

Lucian lifted his gaze to the shore where a child threw the last stone. It sailed out into the nothing and disappeared through a cloud. Nyx was standing back from the crowd, watching him.

A cold prickle spread along the back of his neck and down his arms. ‘Here,’ he opened out her good hand, ‘for you,’ he dropped the flower into it and got to his feet. 

It was time to go.

He had been thinking of leaving since the light had flashed back again. No, even before that. He’d been thinking of it since he discovered the secret of the cave. It wasn’t the leaving that was hard. It was looking like he wasn’t in any hurry to. 

He poked at the fire, gathered wood for the pile, and glanced around to see if Nyx was watching. It wasn’t until the afternoon when he saw his opportunity. Another elder had beckoned Nyx over. As soon as he turned his back, Lucian sidled off onto the path that led to the quiet side of the island. 

The tribe had spent days and days piling rocks against the opening to the cave, and Lucian only had a few hours before they noticed him missing. He was covered in sweat and his hands were scratched and knocked and bleeding by the time he made a small hole in the wall. 

No [i]true Eyrie[i] would ever open the cave. If they found him now … he knew what would happen. He heard feet thudding down the path, and before he had a chance to think, pushed himself through the hole, scratching in the rubble, pushing with his elbows, edging through on his knees until he had crawled through the space and found himself filthy and bruised inside. 

Outside came angry shouts. Hands thrust through the hole and pulled rocks away. He clambered to his feet and ran until the sounds faded behind him and all he could hear was his feet slapping against the ground and all he could feel was his heart slapping against his chest. A tiny glimpse of light flickered ahead like a signal through the night. 

He slammed into a rock wall and fell to the ground. When he shook himself awake, he saw above him a tiny chink of light. He clambered up a pile of rocks and pushed away the stones, making the chink into a gap and the gap into a hole. Sunlight poured in on him. He shielded his eyes with his hands.

Something indistinct hovered in the light and he blinked until his eyes adjusted. A boy outside was staring at him. 

Lucian’s strength was almost spent. If the boy could pull stones away from the hole, Lucian might just be able to clamber out.  ‘Would you help me please?’ he asked the child.

 For a long moment, the child said nothing. Then, he shook his head, mumbled something inaudible before pulling away at the pebbles. Finally, the hole was big enough, and the child reached in and clasped hands with him. Lucian pulled his way through and tumbled down the rock pile where he sat panting and weak on the dirt.

The boy unbelted his water flask and handed it over. Lucian drank it down like it was life itself, wiping his hand across his mouth.

‘Thank you,’ Lucian said. ‘That was kind.’ 

‘Where have you come from?’ the boy asked in a fearful whisper.

Lucian felt the blood drain from his face. This was still dangerous. ‘I came from … over there.’ He gestured with a jerk of his chin at the island that used to be his home. 

The boy’s mouth dropped open in alarm.

‘I don’t mean you any harm!’ Lucian said in a rush. ‘I’ve been hoping to make contact for seasons now,’ he stammered, ‘And … I hoped�"�"’

‘Wait!’ the boy blinked. ‘Have you been sending flashing signals?’

A wave of relief rolled over Lucian and he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. ‘I have,’ he gasped.

The boy sank to his knees beside him. ‘I too,’ he said, touching a hand to his small chest.

 Finally! Lucian wiped a hand over his face and found it wet with tears. ‘What is your name, boy?’ he asked huskily.

 ‘Lucian,’ the child said.

 ‘Lucian?’ He blinked. No! It couldn’t be? His eyes traced down the child’s face. It was small, his eyes were thoughtful, his arms and shoulders�"�"lanky and thin. He let his eyes trail down to the boy’s feet.

He was wearing red moccasins.  

Lucian gasped and covered his mouth. He glanced from the child to the island across the void. Indistinct figures moved about on it, too far away to see clearly. That was [i]Eyrie[i]. Or was it? The island looked just like the other that had no name and no place on any map. 

Realisation slapped into him�"�"like a rock thrown against his chest. He nodded to himself. ‘Of course.’ 

The child frowned at him. ‘What is wrong?’ he asked.

Lucian wiped his hands down over his leather britches and turned to gaze at the child. ‘We have little time and there is much you need to know.’