Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (70 page)

Ebony gave cups of water to Matt, Aloren, and Jacob, and put the pitcher on the table.

Dad turned to Jacob, his voice taking on a tone of authority Jacob had never heard before.

“We’ve gone over many things—we’ll review in a moment—but so you know, our main focus, of course, is to get the Shiengols out of August Fortress.”

“August?” Matt asked. “Is it some sort of summer retreat?”

Jacob’s parents laughed. “No, son,” Dad said. “August is an adjective—it means majestic, supreme, grand. Don’t they teach you anything in school?”

Matt snorted. “Yeah. That August is a month.”

He had a point. Jacob chuckled. He’d never heard the word used in any way except when speaking of the calendar.

“All right,” Dad said. He stood and paced. “First, Kenji and Ebony are building as many doors as possible. We’ll place them everywhere we feel we’ll need quick access. The first we’re installing will be at Aldo’s cabin to replace the one that was destroyed. Jacob, you’ll Key Sweet Pea, Jaegar, and Akeno to Macaria today so they can head there.”

Matt’s face clouded. “Jaegar’s really young, isn’t he? Only eleven or something? Wouldn’t it be better if someone else went?”

Kenji chuckled. “I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Makalos age differently than humans. Jaegar isn’t a child, even though by your standards, he would be. In Earth terms, he’s around fifteen or sixteen. And since Sweet Pea and Akeno are basically adults, he’ll have plenty of supervision.”

Matt slowly shook his head. “This is weird. I still consider him to be really young.”

“Yes, well, he’s not,” Kenji said. “Though I don’t blame you for thinking so.”

Dad raised his hand and everyone went quiet. “Jacob, tomorrow after Aldo’s new door is in place, you and the Fat Lady will go through Aldo’s things there. She’s looking for a remedy for what he’s done—”

“Yes, yes! I’m positive it’s reversible,” the Fat Lady said excitedly. “Only a matter of finding out what he did—he had to have left a clue in his cabin. And Jacob, this isn’t going to be easy work—the place is in ruins, from what I’ve heard.” She looked at Jacob’s dad. “Oh. Sorry, Your Majesty. Continue.”

“Friday after school, a scouting group will head to the fortress, camp there overnight, and put up doors in a few locations around the area so we’ll have easy access through Jacob and the Key, should anything go wrong. They’ll get a feel for the valley, then come back Saturday morning.”

Dad grabbed his glass and took a drink, then resumed pacing. “We’ll need time to prepare before we attempt to free the Shiengols—find out everything we can about what we’re facing. For all we know, the Lorkon traps are still active. It’ll be exceptionally difficult to break in. You all know that every member of the group who tried it before died.”

Jacob nodded—then frowned. Come to think of it, he’d never been told what exactly killed Dmitri’s best friend. He’d always assumed it had been the Lorkon, but now he wasn’t so sure. Maybe Kelson had been caught in a booby trap or something?

“What happened to them?”

“Only Aldo knows—he hinted around it, but wouldn’t say.” Dad sat again, then drummed his fingers on the table. “Ebony, Gallus, Akeno, and Jacob, of course, with the Key, will make up that scouting group.”

Matt started. “What about me?”

“And me?” Sweet Pea asked.

“So sorry, Your Majesty, so sorry,” Gallus said, “but I won’t be able to spend this much time away from the shop. I need to focus on providing a living for my family.”

Dad nodded. “That’s fine, Gallus. Take care of your store and family. We appreciate everything you already do.”

“I’ll help wherever,” Aloren said. “Gallus has trained me in many areas—including scouting and tracking.”

“I’m like Aloren,” Sweet Pea said. “Well, not like her, obviously, ‘cause she’s taller, but—”

“
That’s
the only difference you can think of?” Matt asked.

“Well, no—”

“‘Cause I haven’t seen a beard on her yet.” Matt looked at Aloren. “Maybe she shaves her face.”

Aloren looked confused. “Shave my face? Why would I do that?”

Sweet Pea growled, then mock-glared at Matt. “The point is, I can help wherever I’m needed.”

Akeno nodded. “Same.”

“Send Aloren,” Gallus said. “She’s got a brain on her. She’ll find anything I would.”

“Then it’s settled,” Dad said, ignoring Matt’s “No fair!” and Sweet Pea’s “Whatever!” “You’ll leave as soon as Jacob returns from school.” He waved his hand toward Jacob and Matt. “That concludes what we’d gone over before you came. Now we’ll discuss the people in the scented air. We need to pull them out. All of them.” He looked over the group. “How many of you have taken the Malono potion?”

Matt, Sweet Pea, Gallus, Ebony, Aloren, the Fat Lady, and Akeno raised their hands. Jacob hadn’t taken it—as far as anyone knew, he was immune to the traps of the Lorkon.

“Good. That’s enough. This Saturday after the August Fortress scouting group returns, we’re going to do a mass rescue. Those of us who haven’t taken the potion will wake the people outside the scented air. The rest of you will pull them.”

Jacob lifted his hand. “If the people stuck there aren’t marking where the scented air begins, how will everyone know it’s there? Won’t more people get stuck?”

“Good point,” Dad said. “Kenji, will you and Ebony put warning signs together before Saturday?”

Kenji nodded.

Dad took a deep breath. “One other thing we need to discuss—recruiting Wurbies.”

“That’s going to be very difficult,” Gallus said. “They live in Ashay Hills—the most impassible mountains in this part of the land. We don’t even know if the tunnels are still open.”

“True, but it’s necessary. They’re the only ones who can actually help fight against the Dusts.”

Aloren raised her eyebrows. “You’ve been having problems with Dusts? They’re really easy to deal with.”

“In small groups, yes,” Brojan said, “but the Lorkon have gathered a huge army of them. In the war nearly fifteen years ago, they’d been trained quite efficiently and caused a lot of destruction.”

“Why are the ones I’ve come across so stupid, then?” Jacob asked.

“The Lorkon haven’t spent as much time on tactical things lately,” Brojan said. “And Dusts have really short memories. They forget nearly everything they’ve been taught after five or six months and have to be re-trained. Plus, they only live around five years, so the young ones require instructing.”

Dad nodded. “My guess is that the Lorkon will work directly with them again.” He paused. “The point is, we must have the Wurbies. It’s time to recruit.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll end now. Jacob needs to take Akeno, Jaegar, and Sweet Pea to Macaria, and he and I must begin his sword-fighting lessons.”

Jacob felt his chest expanding. His dad was going to teach him how to fight! He got up and stretched, enjoying the pops in his back. Most of the others didn’t stand right away—they looked somewhat overwhelmed, the colors swirling in the air around them switching between excitement, nervousness, and a little fear. He certainly felt the same. It was going to be a busy week.

Jacob Keyed the three Makalos to Macaria after returning everyone else to their proper homes, then he met Dad in their back yard in Mendon.

“We’ll use wooden swords today,” Dad said. He tossed one to Jacob. “After you’re comfortable with a few of the moves, we’ll switch to metal. I’ll teach you as many of the basics as possible, but you must recognize something—good sword fighters practice hours every day for years. The chances you’ll pick any of this up within the next month—year, even—are pretty slim.”

“Why are we doing this at all, then?”

“Because you’re a prince. And princes become kings. And people don’t respect a king who can’t defend himself, even if he never has to.”

With that, Dad jumped forward, swinging his weapon at Jacob’s head. Jacob barely blocked the blow in time and fell to his knees under the force.

“Hold on! You didn’t tell me we were starting.”

“Rule number one,” Dad said. “Real fighting isn’t like the movies. Your opponent won’t wait for anything. If they’re going for the kill, they’ll take the first opening they see, regardless of how ready you are.”

He attacked again, this time swinging at Jacob’s midsection. Jacob was only partially able to block the attack and he was knocked to the ground again, gasping for air.

Dad circled around him. “All right, get up. Let me teach you a few defensive moves.”

“Shouldn’t that have been the first thing we went over?”

“I needed to see where you are when it comes to this stuff.”

“
Right
.”

Jacob took his time getting up—his side really hurt. When he finally got to his feet, his dad showed him several defensive tactics, each more painful on the hands, wrists, and arms than the one before. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Dad wanted to teach him offensive moves.

“I thought this was going to be fun,” Jacob choked out. He grimaced when he saw the grin on his dad’s face.

“It
is
fun!”

Jacob snorted. “Whatever.”

“Trust me—when you’ve been doing it for a long time and are evenly matched with your opponent, it can be quite enjoyable.”

Jacob rolled his eyes. “I’m sure.”

Dad told Jacob to attack, and attack he did. He’d show his father a thing or two! But Dad stopped him only a couple of moments later.

“You’re breaking two more rules. First, go for the opponent’s
body
, not their
weapon
. Striking their sword will alert anyone watching to the fact that you’re . . . what do you kids call it? A noob?”

Jacob laughed. “Okay, Dad.”

“Next, you’ve got a lot of energy, but if you stream it the wrong direction—flailing around like you just were—you’ll burn out really quickly, giving your opponent the perfect opportunity to strike you down. We’ll focus a lot of time on ensuring you’re channeling your energy into the correct movements. I want to make sure you’re learning this completely.”

They practiced for an hour more—Jacob was positive he’d never regain feeling in his hands and arms again. This was worse than fighting with Sweet Pea! Though, maybe enough time had passed to where Jacob didn’t remember the pain from that anymore.

Finally, Dad called it quits. “We’ll go at it again tomorrow after you finish working with the Fat Lady.”

Jacob groaned, pulling himself inside and up the stairs to his room. He collapsed on his bed and fell asleep before remembering to change his clothes.

After school the next day, Jacob Keyed himself, Aloren, and the Fat Lady to Aldo’s cabin, using the door Jaegar, Akeno, and Sweet Pea had just put in place. The group was there waiting when they arrived.

“‘Bout time,” Sweet Pea said lightly, hands on his hips. “Can we go home now?”

Jacob Keyed the three Makalos back to Taga Village. He was glad Aloren had volunteered earlier to help. The Fat Lady put them to task immediately, and it was hard, messy work. Most everything was covered with debris left over from the Bald Henry’s attack—bits of brick and mortar, wood shavings, glass, etc. Jacob looked around the place, then made a quick decision and Keyed home to get a broom and dustpan, along with several garbage bags.

The Fat Lady insisted on cleaning up the entire cabin. Jacob held in a chuckle—why she wanted Aldo's place clean when hers was always a wreck, he didn't understand. She collected everything that looked remotely important—papers, books, pictures, random objects Jacob didn’t recognize, and even plants and leaves.

Finally, after Jacob didn’t think he could get sweatier or dirtier, she said they were done. She seemed very excited about a book she’d found. Jacob looked at it curiously—it had plant pictures on the front and was full of illustrations.

Jacob Keyed them to her house, and she had the two teenagers go through the salvaged stuff while she went through the papers.

Aldo perked up when they entered the cabin, sitting cross-legged in his usual corner of the room. He grinned at Aloren and held up something he’d made—from where Jacob stood, it looked like several handfuls of grass tied around a bunch of paper.

“I’m free dogs!” Aldo said. He jumped up, knocking over a stack of papers in his excitement to get to the group.