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walked away.
                  “What the heck does that mean?”  Noir thought.  “None of this makes sense.”
                  Suddenly a voice was heard from ahead of the group.  “Halt, friends!” it called out.  Noir hadn’t noticed anyone ahead of them before.  All of the men that were walking stopped and looked forward.  Noir leaned aside so he could see the newcomer.  He was dressed exactly like the men he was walking with.  He again said, “Halt.  You have travelers with you that we do not recognize.  We must scan all of you for sye control.”
                  One of the men from the group yelled out, “Yeah Halat.  We know the procedures.  You don’t have to bark them at us.”  All of the men laughed except Halat.
                  Captain Grandel called to Halat, “Scan well.  We have at least one sye user here.”  Halat ordered two men forward.  Each held a blue object in their right hand.  The object had ornate metal workings designed to look like it was flowing around their hands.  The two men went to each person in the group, one by one, pressing the odd devices to each person's forehead.  When one of the men came to Noir and held up the device in front of him, he got a closer look at it.  The metal that looked like it was flowing actually was!  It slowly moved in sinuous lines over the man's hand.  The metal shined and caught reflections as it crawled on his skin.
                  “All clean!” called one of the men with a blue device.
                  “Blindfold our guests,” Captain Grandel said.
                  Noir asked incredulously, “What?  Why?” A man approached him with a dirty cloth.
                  “Because we can’t have you telling either Tier or Chiron where our town is.”  Noir allowed the piece of cloth to cover his eyes.  He had no other option.  Before the blindfold went on, he saw men doing the same to Steven and Aimee nearby.
                  The group walked for a while with Noir stumbling over rocks, sticks, and uneven ground.  An unseen hand would catch him when he started to fall. 
    The guards talked while they walked.  Noir could only understand some of what they said.  They used words that were completely unfamiliar to him.  They talked about Tier and Chiron, which Noir could only guess were cities or countries of some sort.  Also, they said something about there being more tension since the “year of the Lumin” was upon them.  Nothing made sense.
    Noir began to feel lost and insecure.  Was it his fault that his uncle and cousin were now in this situation?  How long would it take for them to get home?  Could they even get home?  Despite his resignation to the fact that it was his fault that they were there, Noir was glad that his older cousin and uncle were with him.  He didn’t think he would be able to deal with any of this if he was alone.
    As that thought passed through Noir’s mind, someone near him shouted, “We’re under attack!”  He heard the metal sound of swords sliding from their scabbards as he was pushed to the ground.
     

 
    Chapter 5
    Destinies split
     
    Noir fell to the ground on his side.  He fell on his left arm which was still tied to his right behind his back.  A man’s voice said very close to his ear, “Remain still unless you want to be considered an enemy.  We will defend you, just do not move.”
    What choice did Noir have but to listen to the man’s advice?  Besides the boulder a year before, Noir had never had his life in danger before, and the idea of one of those armored warriors protecting him sounded like his best option.  Noir wished that he could at least see what was going on. 
    Noir heard someone call out, “Arrows!  Shields up!”  Almost immediately, many metal clangs rang out from around him.  Someone to Noir’s left cried out in pain.  The sound made Noir’s