Corvan watched in silence as the man rolled up his map and the outlined rectangle representing the library of Kadir vanished. How could the man be planning to poison all the Rakash when they were simply men and boys who had made the mistake of eating a lumien seed? They didn’t deserve to die, even if the man believed the Rakash were their enemies and about to invade Kadir or take over his settlement.

  Tying a leather thong around the scroll, the man returned it to one of the cubby holes along the wall. As he returned to the table, he studied Corvan’s face. "You might be thinking that once we are rid of the Rakash and we replant our lumiens back in Katay Alba, that our own youth will start eating our lumien seeds and our city would be lost once again." The man looked to a lumien hanging over the table with a proud smile. "But we have now solved the age-old problem of the desire to consume lumien seeds." Reaching up, he caressed the globe that was hanging from a metal hook, and it began to glow. "We have developed our own lumien and we have successfully cloned it. A hybrid that will finally end the desire for the seeds. Go ahead and touch it."

  Corvan cupped the soft skin of the light in the palm of his hand. The power within instantly aroused the familiar desire. The man was wrong. People would still want to eat the seeds of his reinvented lumiens.

  The man came around the table. "I can assure you that you will feel a similar desire, but the flesh will not satisfy your hunger and the seeds . . ." He stood directly before Corvan and pointed across the main hall. "The vines you passed through to get to our colony - do you know what they do to people?"

  "I was told they burn you," Corvan said.

  "That is true, and once the burning begins, it does not stop until there is no living tissue left, only the bones.”

  “I saw some of those bones under the vines on our way inside. The little lizards held the vines apart so we could get in.” Corvan said.

  “Did they now?” There was a puzzled expression on the man’s intense face as he looked towards the exit that Tsarek and his old mentor had left from. “They must have thought you were one of the boys that is still missing from that unfortunate incident.” He nodded as his features relaxed. “You have seen first-hand what the vines can do to any of the Rakash who get too close to our front entry. My counterpart has carefully studied those vines and after many long experiments, she has successfully grafted those same vines into our lumien plants." Corvan immediately released the lumien and stepped away.

  The man took hold of the swaying light and steadied the light, smiling to himself, and nodding. "It won’t you to touch it. The lumien skin protects you, but the result is a lumien seed that nobody wants to eat. Eating the fruit won’t kill you but it is bitter and makes you nauseous. The smallest nibble of the seed, however, is certain death. Eating it will destroy your body from the inside out. " A shadow of sorrow darkened his face. "We lost a few of our more foolish young men to an agonizing end before the rest learned their lesson and abandoned any thought of ever eating one of our new lumien seeds, or any seed for that matter. It’s impossible to tell the difference when they are planted together.”

  The man released the lumien and it swayed back and forth across the table, casting mottled patterns of light over the smooth surface.

  "You don’t think the Rakash will figure it out and destroy the poisoned seeds you plant out there?" Corvan asked.

  "We have considered that possibility. We know we cannot replant the city of Katay Alba with our hybrid lumiens until we first eliminate all the Rakash. It took her a long time, but she was finally able to distill a potent poison from our own hybrid plants. One vial is all it will take to poison that pool of elixir in the library and kill them all.” He stared intently at Corvan. “That is why we need you. You have proven you possess the ability to work in the darkness, and you are also small enough to make it through the drainage shafts that lead into the library."

  Corvan broke his gaze and pointed at the lumien. "But how do you know the poison will affect the Rakash in the same way as other humans? The elixir has changed their bodies. What if your poison just makes them stronger?"

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The man looked at him a long moment, then put a hand on Corvan’s shoulder. "I had not considered the possibility that the Rakash might be able to mutate the poison within their bodies.” He made a sour face. “She doesn’t tell me everything she is working on. I will need to ask about that. Please come with me.” He turned from the table and someone coughed behind them.

  The girl Corvan had rescued from the young Rakash had stepped out of the shadows. Her hair had been crudely shorn and she wore a drab brown tunic that was much too large for her. It was bunched up and tied around her waist with a coarse red rope that hung down in a loop, then up to where it was tied to something that was cupped in her hands. She gave him a faint smile. Her all-dark eyes reminded him of the rabbits behind the Barron's store that would watch him from their wire cages as he passed by on his way to school. Knowing the fate of those rabbits, he had always wished he could set them free.

  The man turned back, brushed past Corvan, and strode toward the girl, talking in a soft gentle voice. The girl's eyes went to the floor, and she mumbled, "to thank him." The man took her hands in his and moved them apart. A metal ball fell to the floor and bounced away with clear bell-like tones until it reached the end of the cord tied off around her waist. Taking her by the shoulders, the man turned her around and pushed her gently away. Her shoulders drooped as she melted into the shadows behind the pillar, the round metal ball following her on its red cord and bouncing out a random tune.

  The musical ball and rope must be her punishment for going out into the dark cavern with those boys. She was now a prisoner in her own home, an example to the other teens. She glanced back, tears falling freely from her dark eyes onto her tunic. His grandfather’s note had said something about not trusting those with all dark eyes, but the girl seemed nice enough. Corvan raised a hand to wave good-bye, but the man stepped between them and Corvan quickly dropped it to his side.

  "Teeka wished to express her gratitude for saving her from the Rakash,” the man said. “It is good of her to be thankful, but during her time of punishment, she is not allowed in the great hall. It would not go well if the community, or with me as a member of the council if found out she was here." He sighed and pointed to the partially painted faces overhead. "As the ancients taught us, at times we must be cruel to be kind." He tried to smile at Corvan but the concern in his eyes betrayed a conflicting emotion.

  Turning around, the man led Corvan under the balcony, then down a short corridor. Reaching the end he unlocked the door, stepped inside, then unlocked a second door with a red colored key. Light poured from the open door into the hall, momentarily blinding Corvan's sensitive eyes, as he followed the man inside, squinting at his surroundings.

  The inside of the room was set up like the power station in Anamir but on a much smaller scale. Three elongated lumiens were tied over a circular stone table, their restraining bonds terminating in three metal bowls of fluid. A woman in a long blue coat sat on a stool before a shelf cut into the wall, carefully measuring vials of liquid on a scale. When realized they were in the room, she jumped from the stool, then whirled towards them, her gaunt face so intense that both Corvan and the man stopped in their tracks.

  "Even you are not allowed to bring unauthorized people into this place," she snapped at the man.

  He pointed to Corvan. "I have found a replacement who can take your potion to the Rakash.”

  The woman stalked over to stand close to Corvan, her eyes searching his. "All the others of his sex have failed and given in to the temptation. They lack the discipline to carry the power. Teeka is the one I have chosen."

  "I do not agree." The man's voice was tense. "Our daughter is too easily swayed by her emotions. We saw it again with those boys convincing her to steal the key to your test pits at the back entry. This one will not fail. He hates the Rakash as much as we do."

  "Why?" The woman leaned in until her nose was almost touching Corvan’s. "What have the Rakash done to you?"

  "They . . . they are holding my father prisoner in the library building with the pool of elixir." Corvan stammered.

  She stepped away and turned to the man. "I can see he tells the truth, but you can also see that he . . ."

  The man cut her off. "Yes, I also see the strength in him. That is why I believe he has what it will take to save his father's life and fulfill the mission."

  The woman frowned and pulled the man to a corner of the room. Corvan couldn't make out the words but twice he heard her the name of their daughter, Teeka. The man became more subdued as she talked. When she stopped, she pointed to the door and the man shuffled out without saying a word to Corvan.

  The woman closed the door, pulled out her red key and locked it.