Page 9 of The Sunlit Man

Nomad snarled and raged against the chains. His attention was finally drawn away from his predicament, however, as several officials led a few ragged captives up to the podium ship. Glowing Eyes seized each of them in turn by the throat, and they seemed to wilt, their skin growing ashen. When he tossed them aside, they were corpses, and the ember in his chest grew brighter.

The crowd cheered, and then that cheering built as another captive was dragged to the podium ship. Two guards in white coats accompanied her, one carrying a long spear, while the other had a rifle. Glowing Eyes didn’t grab this captive, but instead raised his hands to let the crowd yell.

Nomad’s eyes lingered on that rifle. It was the first modern weapon he’d seen here. Were those rare? He inspected this latest captive and realized it was the woman who had done so well avoiding capture. The one it had taken two ember people to catch.

“That woman…” Nomad said. “She was one of the better fighters—or at least, better dodgers—in the arena earlier. Perhaps because she fought well, they’re going to reward her?”

Glowing Eyes gestured to the woman, and the crowd roared. He slapped her on the shoulder in an almost congratulatory way. But then the captive woman started to struggle harder, and Nomad got a sinking feeling.

Not my problem,he thought to himself.

Glowing Eyes waved to the side, and one of the guards handedhim the spear. Glowing Eyes removed a sheath, revealing that the spearhead itself had a glowing ember at the tip—so bright that it left a trail in Nomad’s vision.

The captive screamed.

Glowing Eyes rammed the spear into the woman’s chest.

Nomad had just the right angle to see what happened next. Glowing Eyes yanked out the spear, leaving the ember behind. The officials scattered in a panic, though Glowing Eyes remained, unconcerned. The agonized captive fell to her knees, her screams intensifying as searing heat flared at her core. Sparks and jets of flame sprayed out, like from a stoked campfire, individual motes scoring the skin of her arms and face—leaving streaks that continued to glow even after the central fire in her chest subsided.

The woman finally slumped to the side, although her eyes didn’t close. She lay there, staring sightlessly, the quiet flame in her chest illuminating the podium floor.

Well,Auxiliary said,I guess now we know where those ember people come from.

“Agreed,” Nomad said, feeling sick. “My guess is they choose the most agile captives to be elevated. After all, the ones he fed upon were some of the weaker captives.”

A stretch, perhaps, but logical enough.

Nomad took a deep breath. “That might give us an opportunity. You think we could absorb whatever powers those spears? Maybe get enough BEUs to escape this planet?”

No, I’d say it isn’t powerful enough for a Skip,Auxiliary said.Hard to say without more information, but I’d guess a spear like that has a couple thousand BEUs—maybe ten to twenty percent Skip capacity at most. More than enough to give you a Connection to the planet,though. You’d finally be able to understand what people are saying, and have a reserve left for healing or powering me up.

As the guards returned to drag off the newly made ember woman, Glowing Eyes strode back onto the podium, and someone approached with two more spears. Glowing Eyes took one and whipped its sheath off, revealing a second glowing tip—like metal heated white-hot, yet somehow never cooling. The crowd shouted and cheered even louder.

“I’ll bet,” Nomad said, “he’s going to use one of those on me. He tried to get me killed, but his people failed. So now he’s going to try something else.”

Ah, the hero says with a sense of understanding. Yes, that’s reasonable. Why isn’t he worried that you’ll turn against him once you’re given powers?

“I suspect he counts on the freezing bracers to control the others, and he just proved to himself they work on me.”

Seems dangerous.

“Agreed,” Nomad said.

In this case, the situation wouldn’t play out as Glowing Eyes expected. If he touched the spear tip to Nomad, he’d be able to absorb the power from it. It was one of the few useful aspects of his Torment. Nomad had gained an unusual ability to metabolize nearly any kind of Investiture, although he sometimes required Auxiliary’s help.

Right. But why are there two spears?

“They’ll want to do me last,” Nomad said. “As the big finish. So I assume there is another poor captive to be…”

He trailed off as they pulled a second person up onto the podium: the gap-toothed man who had helped Nomad earlier. As soon as hesaw the poor fellow, Nomad realized it made sense. He’d just been theorizing that they turned the best fighters into ember people. This fellow might be a little overweight, but he’d managed to elude capture—and had even gone out of his way to help Nomad, who was aggressively being targeted.

The man’s grit had earned him a terrible reward. The crowd cheered as Glowing Eyes raised the second spear. The poor captive screamed a piteous sound, pulling against his captors.

Not my problem,Nomad told himself, closing his eyes.

But he could still hear. And somehow, in shutting out the light—there within the blackness of his own design—he felt something. Something of the person he’d once been.

Words once spoken. In a moment of glorious radiance.

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