Kilenya Series Books One, Two, and Three (73 page)

“I don’t know. Why would plants have emotions?”

“I can’t see anything but their natural colors,” Aloren said.

Akeno stopped walking. “That’s it. I can’t stand it anymore. I have to know what’s around us.” He stepped to a tree, putting his left ring finger on it. A shocked expression crossed his face.

“What is it, son?”

“We’re surrounded. Completely surrounded!”

Jacob started, his heart pounding, and looked into the bushes. “By what?”

“Tarri!” Aloren yelled, jumping to Ebony’s side. Akeno did the same and Jacob followed suit, not sure what was going on, but wanting to stick to the others.

Ebony drew her sword. “Get your weapons out.”

Aloren pulled two long knives from sheaths on her thighs, and Jacob found himself wishing he was wearing his father’s armor. At least he had his sword. Though, with only two lessons, he wasn’t sure how effective it would be. “What are tarri?”

“There’s one.” Aloren pointed.

Jacob turned. The thigh-high bush moved, and he gasped.

It rolled, unfolding tons of branches that surrounded a dense circle in the center. A face with two sets of eyes and sharp teeth appeared in the middle of it. A moment later, the branches finished unfolding, and Jacob’s mouth popped open. Arms! They were arms! How many did it have? At least fifteen, maybe more, coming out on all sides.

The creature paused and glared at Jacob and his friends. It spoke something unintelligible and the entire forest around them shivered, then stirred. Jacob squeezed in closer to the others as hundreds, if not thousands, of bushes moved.

He
knew
he’d felt eyes watching!

The first tarri spoke a few more garbled words, and Jacob shifted his grasp on the hilt of his sword.

“Everyone, backs to each other!” Ebony yelled. “They’re extremely dangerous and fast. Make sure to use your water!” She pulled out her canteen with the hand not holding her sword.

Water?

All at once the tarri attacked, rushing forward and surrounding the group. Jacob yelped when a branch—an arm—whipped him across the knees, and he knocked the creature away. It was surprisingly light, even with all the branches. As soon as it was gone, two more jumped at him. He tried kicking them too, but one of the little beasts grabbed his ankle, causing him to stumble into Aloren. He struggled, finally getting out of the thing’s grasp.

Jacob swung his sword back and forth, swiping at the tarri. He found himself wishing he had daggers like Aloren’s—his sword was too long, and he almost hit the others several times.

“Your water—use it!” Ebony called.

He heard splashes and Ebony yelled in rage, her sword making swishing sounds through the air. Tarri all around them hollered in pain, more garbled screams issuing from their mouths.

Jacob pulled out his water bottle, then knocked a tarri away from Aloren, who was busy with her daggers. “How?”

“Pour it on them,” Ebony said.

Akeno growled, scrambling to get away from one of the tarri. “I thought plants like water!”

“Not these!” Ebony shrieked.

Jacob undid the top of his bottle, then shook water on the nearest tarri. It hissed, two of its brown eyes turning black, and backed off. Several more took its place, and Jacob sprinkled them as well. They dashed off.

The rest of the group did the same, Jacob noticed, with similar results. But it didn’t seem to matter how many creatures got wet—there were hundreds more streaming in.

“I’m out of water!” Aloren called.

Jacob used the rest of his on some of the beasts near her, then yelled that his was gone too.

Aloren stabbed at one of the tarri, then swung around, attacking several near Jacob. “We can’t hold them off any longer!”

Jacob yelled when one of the creatures bit him on the arm. He shook it off, then drop-kicked it away. “This isn’t possible! There are too many of them!”

“To the fortress!” Ebony shouted. “Fast!”

The group rushed forward, kicking tarri out of the way, prying the things off each other’s backs. Akeno tripped and fell and Jacob turned back to grab him, throwing the Makalo over his shoulder. Several tarri clung to the boys, whipping both of them with their long, branch-like arms, getting in bites wherever possible.

Akeno called out in pain and swung his legs and arms wildly, beating the creatures off as best he could.

Jacob caught up to Aloren and Ebony and joined them in forcing a path. He swung Akeno from his shoulder, using the leverage to fling off the rest of the tarri.

Then, just as quickly as the attack started, it stopped.

The group fell to the ground panting, watching. The creatures were behind them, speaking angrily, trying to rush forward. But something was stopping them.

“Why aren’t they coming?” Jacob asked.

Ebony got to her feet, pulling out a cloth. “Looks like that’s the end of the trap—that’s as far as the Lorkon want them to go.” She wiped her face with the rag, then cleaned her blade. Then she got out a Kaede Sap package and treated everyone’s wounds.

After she finished, she put her blade and the leftover sap away. “Why didn’t we smell them? I would’ve known they were near if I’d smelled them.”

Aloren nodded, glancing up from the journal where she’d been taking notes. “Good point.”

“They stink?” Jacob asked.

“You wouldn’t miss their stench. It’s incredibly overpowering. Like sewage mixed with the smell of old socks and rotten eggs.”

Jacob stopped watching the tarri and wiped off his sword, then re-sheathed it. “I’m betting it’s another trap of the Lorkon.”

“It would seem so,” Ebony said. “In fact, I still can’t smell anything.” She rolled back on her heels, an intense expression on her face when the rest mentioned they couldn’t, either. “Jacob, the fact that you can’t smell them shows for certain you aren’t immune to these Lorkon traps.”

Jacob thought over that, then considered what else the traps meant. He got to his feet and paced. “I’m not sure if you guys realize it, but this is important. Five senses. Two gone: taste and scent. Three remain.” He counted them off on his fingers. “Sight, sound, touch.” He looked at Ebony. “Should we continue? We have to recognize that losing one of the other senses would be extremely dangerous.”

Ebony’s face clouded up as she apparently thought through the matter. “We would probably be fine without touch, assuming it’s next.”

Jacob shook his head. “No. Imagine if we got attacked by something. You wouldn’t feel the pain. You wouldn’t even know that something had touched you—you’d just keep going until you bled to death. And if you can’t feel your sword, or pain, or anything else, you’re as good as dead.”

“Good point,” Ebony said. “Taste and smell aren’t as strong as the others, yet the Lorkon exploited them well. We can expect the rest of the traps to be just as dangerous—if not more so.”

As if in reply, Jacob heard a roar, loud and ferocious enough to challenge any living creature.

Akeno looked at him, and Jacob saw fear in the Makalo’s eyes. “That sounded like a T. rex,” he said.

Jacob couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. “How would you know what a Tyrannosaurus rex sounds like?”

“I’ve watched the movie
Jurassic Park
too, you know.”

Jacob laughed. “That’s fiction. People were guessing how they’d sound.” A chill went up his spine, even as he chuckled at Akeno’s reaction. A dinosaur? Here? Was it possible? And would they have to face it to get the Shiengols?

Ebony took a deep breath. “We’ve gone far enough. Let’s put a door here. Akeno, set up a couple of huts for us to sleep in. Make sure nothing can get through them, even yoons. In the morning, we’ll do as much scouting as we can to the left and right—without advancing—then go back home.”

Akeno nodded, pulled a door out of his bag, and enlarged it. Jacob and Aloren went to work disguising it with branches and vines in a section of underbrush. Jacob could tell Aloren was watching the foliage closely—he didn’t blame her. As long as eyes didn’t appear, though, they’d be fine, right?

As soon as the huts were complete, the group entered them, saying goodnight to each other.

The sun hadn’t even set yet, but Jacob didn’t want to be out in the open anymore. He thought over a conversation he’d had with his dad the night before regarding Kelson’s death. Aldo had witnessed it. He’d nearly been sobbing fourteen years ago when he told Dmitri what had happened.

What were Jacob and the rest up against?

Chapter 4. Discombobulated

A
fter breakfast the next morning, the group returned to Taga Village, somewhat somber. Matt, Amberly, and Jacob’s parents were just arriving, entering the meadow when Jacob, Aloren, Ebony, and Akeno stepped through the door of the tree.

“How did it go?” Jacob’s dad asked.

Akeno shuffled his feet and Ebony gave a half smile. “Not good,” she said. “The Lorkon traps are just as strong. We think there are five, possibly more. We came across two: poisoned reca flowers exploiting our loss of taste, and tarri you can’t smell. Dmitri, we need people who are experienced with the area.”

He sighed. “That would be Aldo.”

“What about Mom?” Jacob asked. “She was there too.”

Mom shook her head. “They kept me blindfolded and tied the entire time.”

Kenji joined the group, carrying a bunch of knapsacks. “Is everyone ready? I just sent Early to the Fat Lady, letting her know we’ll be coming soon.” He observed the group. “Doesn’t look like things went very well. Is everyone okay?”

Ebony put her arms around her husband, looking like she needed a hug. “No, we’re fine. It’s just going to be very difficult to get to the fortress.”

Early hovered up next to Kenji. “The Fat Lady needs assistance at once. Aldo is going crazy.”

“‘Crazi
er
,’ she means,” Matt whispered.

Kenji slung his bags over his shoulder. “We’re on our way.”

Jacob Keyed the group to the Fat Lady’s place. As soon as he opened the door, he could tell things were out of control. Aldo and the Fat Lady were heard down the hall, screaming at each other.

Dad dashed forward, his sons on his heels. They entered the living area, and Jacob nearly bust up laughing. The Fat Lady had Aldo in a headlock, and the old man was trying to run away—his legs were moving while his upper body stayed put. Dad grabbed Aldo's arms, pulling him away from the Fat Lady.

The Fat Lady rubbed her arms. “He just freaked out.”

As soon as Aldo saw the group, he relaxed. He grabbed Jacob’s cheeks, his eyes glowing.

Jacob chuckled, trying to get the man’s hands off him. “Hi to you too, Aldo.”

The old man let go, then pushed past Matt to fling his arms around Dad. “Damitini!”

Jacob and Matt met eyes. Damitini? Must be trying to say Dmitri.

Aldo rushed to Jacob’s mom, nearly knocking her over in his excitement to hug her. “Arla!”

Jacob was surprised to see tears in her eyes.

“He remembers me!” she said. “He has to.”

Aldo sighed happily. “Time taking time!”

The old man hugged Ebony as well, then sat on the couch, crossing his legs and arms, smiling up at the group. He patted the seat next to him and then pointed at Jacob’s parents. They joined him, Mom still wiping away tears. Aldo then pointed at Jacob, motioning to his other side. Jacob sat reluctantly. He didn’t have the relationship with the man that his parents had.

“I can’t believe it,” the Fat Lady said. “He was all over the place just a moment ago, nearly trying to kill me to get out.”

“When did you administer the remedy?” Dad asked.

“About half an hour ago.” She picked up an empty vial. “He was calm for at least twenty minutes afterwards. Hadn’t really said anything. I tried to get him to open up—telling him what we were doing, our projects, and about the group that went to scout out August Fortress. That’s when he went out of control.”

Aldo growled when she said August Fortress. “No good. No good.”

Dad appraised his friend. “It seems he was trying to warn the group not to go there.”

Aldo jumped to his feet. “Yes! No good!”

Matt frowned. “Does he mean, it’s no good to try to rescue the Shiengols, or the fortress itself is no good?”

Aldo made some motions with his hands and arms, but they didn’t make sense. He slumped to the couch, exhausted.

“He needs to sleep,” the Fat Lady said. “We don’t want to kill him while trying to get him better.”

She helped Aldo to his feet. He resisted at first, then calmed when Mom promised they’d still be there when he woke up.

When the Fat Lady returned, Dad indicated it was time to pull people out of the scented air.

He divided everyone into teams of two. Jacob ended up with Akeno, and Aloren and Matt were paired with each other. Jacob sighed in resignation. He was glad to spend time with Akeno, but he . . . Aloren . . . He stopped that train of thought. No sense pining for someone who wasn’t interested in him.

They walked to the scented air and got to work. It was long and hard, and the group pulled out person after person. Jacob and Akeno went through their section quickly, pulling out the younger, lighter people first. Then they teamed up with Aloren and Matt to get the heavier individuals in the two sections combined.

Jacob knew Jaegar was standing guard, watching the forest and the sky, but he decided this area would always make him jumpy—he still thought about Lirone from time to time. The sunlight only partially comforted him, especially since the sun was about to set.

After another forty-five minutes, it got really dark. Still, they continued. Hazel and Early flitted around, delivering messages.

After a while, Akeno volunteered to stand and hold his finger up, lighting the area considerably. Jacob hadn’t realized it, but the previous times he’d seen Akeno use his finger as a light, the Makalo hadn’t put all of his energy into it. The light he cast now was so bright, it hurt Jacob’s eyes.

Jacob and Matt paused to take a break, Matt wiping sweat off his face. He motioned to Akeno. “He’s freakin’ awesome.”

Jacob nodded. Akeno and Aloren were talking—they were just far enough away to where Jacob couldn’t understand what they were saying. “Yeah. He’s got some really neat abilities.”