Calil's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

The golden light still poured from Calil's eyes. He could not shut it off. Twin beams swept the ruins with each turn of his head. Al watched him from the wet stone path. "They see you now," she said. "Every step you take, the light points them here." Calil pressed his hands over his face. The light slipped through his fingers. "Then I'll blind myself," he said. "I'll close my eyes." "The light doesn't stop when you close them." Al tapped her staff on the ground. "You can't hide it. You must aim it." A shape crashed through brush below the falls. Then another. Calil's far-sight caught them clear: armed figures climbing toward him, drawn by the glow. His red tiger snarled and set its body between Calil and the path. Its single yellow eye burned in the light. "Aim it how?" Calil said. His voice shook. "It goes everywhere." "Because you look everywhere. You are afraid, so your eyes dart." Al stepped close and gripped his jaw. "Pick one thing. Hold it. Let the rest go dark." Calil's breath came fast. The figures were near now. He heard boots on stone. He turned toward the sound, and the beams spread wide across the whole hillside, lighting every tree. "No," Al said. "Not the fear. Choose." Calil forced his gaze away from the climbing men. He looked instead at the two great trees beyond the ruins. They stood taller than the houses, crowned with huge yellow blooms and heavy clusters of apricots. He fixed on a single flower at the top of the nearest tree. He held it. He did not let his eyes move. The light narrowed. The wide glare pulled inward. Both beams drew to one thin line and struck the flower. The rest of the hillside fell into darkness. The men on the path stopped. Their beacon was gone. Calil heard them mutter, confused. They could not find him in the dark. The light now marked only the tree, far from where he stood. "Hold it," Al whispered. Calil held. Sweat ran down his face. The tiger stayed pressed against his leg, still and ready. Below, the men circled the glowing tree. They fanned out toward the wrong slope, hunting the light where it landed. Calil let out a slow breath. The beam stayed fixed on the bloom. He had done it. He could point the light where he chose. Then his knees gave. He dropped to the stone, and the beam snapped off. Full dark swallowed the ruins. His eyes closed. His body could not hold the power long. Al knelt beside him. "You aimed it," she said. "But you cannot keep it lit. That will fail you when you most need to see." She looked toward the tree, where the armed men still searched. "And they will not stay fooled forever." Calil lay on the cold stone, spent. He had learned to point the light. He had not learned to hold it.