DARKLIGHT

- 30 -

Far earlier than I expected, the lights in the men's bunks switched on, filling my ears with an electronic buzz. "Good morning, sunshine," a familiar voice called mockingly.

I didn't bother opening my eyes, but I heard someone sit up and catch the man's attention. "Corvan?" There was a brief pause and more blankets shifted.

"Hey, I didn't know that dealing with you dolts would be part of the job," Corvan teased.

"As if you signed up for it," the other man shot back.

Corvan sighed and his footsteps crossed the room. "Come on, sleeping in doesn't help anyone," he said in a sing-song tone, addressing the rest of us. I sighed and got up, ducking just in time to avoid hitting my head on the upper bed, and stared out into the sea of bunks. Kaces's form caught my eye. He seemed to still be asleep, and he was facing towards the wall, completely oblivious to his surroundings.

It took me a moment to register who Corvan was. He was wearing the same gray and white uniform as everyone else in the base, but his bright red jacket and smirk of superiority gave him away. He'd sat down on an empty lower bunk near the middle of the room and was observing the room with a passive, parental air.

It seemed that Corvan had noticed Kaces at about the same time I did. After seeing that he wasn't stirring, Corvan stood, rolling his eyes to a small chorus of chuckles. I gulped, not wanting to get involved but equally concerned about what Corvan was going to do. He stopped right in front of the bed. After watching Kaces lay motionless for a few more seconds, he kicked the bed frame with a deafening clang and hollered with his hands cupped around his mouth, "Good morning!"

Kaces startled awake in a blind panic and swiped his symbol, screaming, "Valkon!" A faint sphere of Dark magic expanded outwards from his arm, but didn't get very far. The red shifter disc was still there, and even more black scales had developed on his arms and face overnight. As he sat up fully, he hit his head on the bunk above him.

Corvan stared at him in sheer disbelief. "Kaces?"

Kaces looked up tentatively, massaging his scaly forehead with one hand. "Corvan," he breathed.

Corvan was speechless. "What happened to you?" he stammered as Kaces broke the standstill by sliding the blanket off and reaching for his shoes and cloak.

"Plenty," he muttered in reply. "You can blame the half-call on Lionel, though."

Corvan chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit. You still call him that?"

"What else would I call him?"

"Dad." Kaces gave him a dirty look, and the early morning shuffling that had just begun again slowed to a halt. "You never liked telling people who your father was."

"Now that I think about it, I never liked you either," Kaces snapped.

"Why was that?" Corvan asked, ignoring Kaces's remark.

"Well, it kept me out of situations like this," he said, standing and throwing his cloak behind his back. Everyone in the room was watching the two of them now.

"You're the striking image of him, you know."

"There's no need to rub it in."

Corvan uneasily looked behind him at the crowd of wide eyes and loose jaws. "Get going," he ordered with a swish of his hand, sounding a little deflated. The men and boys looked to one another in mixed amazement and confusion but did as they were told.

I stood and approached Kaces and Corvan while the room emptied. "I can't imagine why the Councilor didn't tell me who you were," Corvan was saying. "Wasn't he happy to see you?"