Luky and the Birdmen

Luky could bet his left paw that this girl was a lady, maybe even a princess. But what definitely got him curious was what she had just told him. She...and this repulsive...guide...were after a secret.

Now, that’s how you get a sindur’s attention.

“What’s the secret you’re looking for?” he asked.

Instead of responding, she kneeled down and started adjusting his clothes! Under normal circumstances, he would have scratched her as he had Ezra, but he was too curious.

“Tell me!” he begged.

Aurielle cleared her throat, then briefly looked down like what she was about to say made her very sad.

“My kingdom...Vanhaui...” She paused. Did she call it her kingdom? She must be a princess! Or maybe that’s just how Hauians spoke. “It’s complicated, but we are under the threat of war. And maybe, just maybe, what I’m looking for could prevent it.”

“Threat of war? Who’s threatening you?” Luky frowned. What did war have to do with a secret?

“Rallis.”

“Rallis?” Luky had maybe heard of Rallis once but had forgotten everything about it. Still, something about the name gave him the chills. Something buried in his memory.

Aurielle frowned, too, as if she’d expected Luky to know about Rallis. “Rallis is the desert that borders Vanhaui.”

“A desert is threatening you?”

Aurielle chuckled and shook her head. “No, Rallis is also an empire. It is the empire of the sithrax.”

Sithrax. That word brought more than chills, and it was like a thorn prickling Luky’s skin. An image burst in his mind as the word entered his ears.

Teeth.

He almost didn’t dare to ask, but Luky’s curiosity won the fight. “Who are the sithrax?”

“Bloody disgusting lizards, I can tell you,” Ezra injected as he went back to lean against the ship’s railing. “The sithrax are war machines, and they’re the reason why I’ll never set foot in bloody disgusting Rallis again.”

“Have you heard of the Barrier?” Aurielle asked Luky.

He shook his head. Everything they were telling either sounded new or like an ancient memory he couldn’t remember.

Which was strange because he was just eleven years old. How could a memory feel ancient?

“The Barrier is a magical wall erected at the end of the Age of Rise to separate Vanhaui from the scourge of Rallis,” Aurielle explained. “But the Barrier is weakening, and the sithrax are building an army as we speak.”

Luky wondered why the sithrax would want to attack Vanhaui. The Age of Rise was more than a thousand years ago. Even if that Barrier was coming down, why would they want war in the first place?

It was as if Aurielle had read his thoughts. “The sithrax have always believed that Vanhaui possessed one of their most prized items. An artifact that defines their history. They want it back, and if we don’t comply, they will invade and crush us all.”

Aurielle didn’t look sad anymore. She sounded scared.

Luky had one pressing question for her. “And do you have that artifact?”

She sighed. “Vanhaui believes it doesn’t, but I have evidence that it once did, which is why we’re here.” She looked to Ezra, who stood still with his arms crossed. “If there is one lost item in the world, Ezra is the one who will help me find it.”

This Ezra figure wasn’t just a guide. Now that Luky could take a closer look, Ezra definitely resembled an eccentric historian or an antique dealer. Or maybe both.

“Where do you think the item is now?” Luky wondered.

“I’m not sure. The only clue Ezra was able to find is that the artifact, at some point in time, left Vanhaui and made its way south. So, we’ll start in Indus-Kali, and we’ll see from there.”

“That sounds like a long shot,” Luky said.

Ezra hid his snicker with his hand, but Luky saw it. “That’s what I told her.”

Aurielle’s blue eyes moved past Luky. Something distant had caught her attention. She stood again, slowly, and gazed ahead.

Luky peered over his shoulder, and all he saw was a distant island that covered the horizon. A line of sand-colored cliffs with rounded peaks further away that touched the sky.

If he could see those mountains from here, they must be enormous.

Ezra also noticed the island, then both he and Aurielle looked at each other and back at Luky. Luky couldn’t decipher the look they had on their faces.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Both seemed too hesitant to answer. “Is this Indus-Kali?”

Aurielle breathed in deeply. “Not quite,” she said, her voice soft. “Luky...this is Ailura, the sindur’s home. Your...home.”

Luky’s jaw dropped slightly. He rushed to the handrail just to get closer to this land he’d never seen and only heard of.

It looked so peaceful from this distance. His father had never told him much about it, only that it was lost. And he’d change the subject every time Luky would ask about it.

How could it be lost if it was standing right there?

“Do you...know about Ailura?” Aurielle asked Luky. She still hesitated, like she was carefully choosing her words.

He shook his head. “I just know the name.”

“Your parents never told you about it?” Now, she sounded a little surprised.

Aurielle had just made Luky think of something he’d always avoided. The question of his origins, where he came from.

His father never talked about it, but that was because his father simply couldn’t. His father didn’t know much about Luky’s origins because he wasn’t his real father.

He was the human soldier who had adopted Luky upon his ninth birth, the beginning of Luky’s tenth life.

Sindurs, like cats, lived nine lives, a cycle of eight rebirths. Luky’s final rebirth was the entire mystery that surrounded him. That he was granted an extra life was something no one could explain.

Just like no one had ever explained the circumstances of his last death.

Just like no one had ever told him what had happened to Ailura.

Luky stared at the island covering the horizon. Once, long ago, his ancestors had lived there, bold and proud.

A society of noble men-lynx, fond of art and ancient scriptures. That was all Luky knew about them. Much like he didn’t know about his own death, Luky knew nothing of the fall of Ailura.

A moment of silence passed before multiple shouts crossed the deck. Luky turned around, looking at the ship’s crew striding back and forth. Ezra and Aurielle both seemed curious to know what was going on.

Ezra intercepted one of the crewmen, a young man with bronzed skin who looked alarmingly worried. “What’s happening?” Ezra asked.

The young man cleared his throat. “Storm,” he replied with an accent.

“What kind of storm?” Ezra pursued.

The man ignored Ezra’s question and hurried to the central mast.

Luky headed toward the forecastle. He wanted to see the storm and assess the situation himself.

Aurielle and Ezra followed, and when they reached the front platform of the ship, they noticed the mass of dark clouds whirling ahead, the thunder going wild.

They could feel the wind picking up. Out there, the ocean was no longer deep blue; it was black.

“What the...” Ezra murmured.

“That’s no regular storm!” Luky exclaimed.

“Raise the mainsail!” a man shouted behind them. He addressed them directly next. “Go to the lower deck and sit tight. We must brace for the storm.”

Luky had no time to examine the man in uniform, who hurried away to the rest of the ship’s crew. Ezra rushed to the stairs, Aurielle following him. Luky first trailed behind, but he picked up the pace and caught up to them.

As they drew closer to the storm, a powerful wave struck the ship’s side. Luky struggled to keep his balance. He peered over his shoulder one last time, and the rain began to fall in a wild and sudden downpour.