Rise of Keitus (27 page)

The king led Jacob into what were apparently his private quarters. It didn’t seem that the royal family cared about having servants in their rooms—probably because servants were so far below them.

The king put the package on a table and turned to Jacob. “Stay. I have other tasks for you.”

Jacob’s hands started sweating. Was he about to enter the king’s workroom? Was he going to become a test subject? Was he ready? Could he avoid it even if he weren’t?

Just then, Dmitri’s older brothers entered the room.

“Father, I can’t tolerate him any longer. He’s an arrogant jerk!”

“Who?” The king waved to Jacob to help him remove his jacket.

Jacob jumped to do so, completely lost, not knowing how to do anything. He slid the jacket from the king’s shoulders, then folded it over his arm.

“No, no—put it away,” the king said, motioning to a huge wardrobe on the other side of the room.

“You
know
who,” the son said. “
Dmitri
. Your favorite.” He spat the words; the expression on his face murderous.

“Shut your mouth. This man you hate so much will be your king one day.” Ramantus held his hands out and raised his head. He looked at Jacob, obviously expecting something else. “My tie, boy. Remove it!”

Again, Jacob hurried to comply, wishing he’d been trained in this sort of thing. But how was Bekett to know Jacob would be doing this?

The brothers argued with their father about Dmitri and his virtues—how he’d never change into what the king wanted, and how Ramantus was wasting his time. Het and Isan then took turns numbering all of Dmitri’s faults.

Jacob did his best to ignore them, but as soon as they brought up Dmitri’s group of followers, his hands started shaking. By that point, he’d taken off the tie and clips in the king’s shirt and was in the process of removing the king’s shoes.

The older son said, “We’ve found where they’re meeting tonight, and Father, I swear, we’ll wipe these insolent people out of Troosinal. They’ll be visited with your fury!”

The king smiled. “Very well. I’m pleased you’ve found the meeting place. Go ahead—if Dmitri is there, bring him back to me. We’ll see how a few days in the dungeon will affect his desire to rebel.”

Jacob felt sweat drip down his back and temples. He wiped his face, jumping when the king asked him to find a favorite pair of slippers. The king then had him help change his shirt. The only thing Jacob could concentrate on, however, was getting out as soon as possible so he could warn his friends.

Finally, Ramantus no longer required assistance. Jacob bowed, exiting as quickly as possible without drawing suspicion to himself. He had to find a way to get hold of Dmitri! The safety of too many innocent lives depended on him.

His breath coming in short gasps before he’d even started running, Jacob tossed all rules out the window as he rushed to the prince’s quarters, barging in. But Dmitri wasn’t there. Jacob Time-Saw through the castle, searching. But no luck. Realizing the prince had probably left for the meeting already, Jacob tugged on his hair, trying to think of what to do.

Wait. Hadn’t Kelson worked in the stables at one point? Jacob remembered both Mom and Aloren saying something about that. Maybe he still did! Jacob dashed from the prince’s quarters and rushed through the castle, and outside.

Praying Kelson hadn’t also already left for the meeting, Jacob hurried through the huge building, searching every room and stall, passing several servants. Finally, he grabbed one—a boy about eight or nine. “Does Kelson still work here?”

The boy nodded, an expression of fear on his face. Jacob jerked his hand away, realizing he was scaring the boy. “Show me where he is.”

The boy rushed down the hall and Jacob followed. They stopped outside a huge, ornately decorated stall.

“Kelson—someone to see you.”

The boy dashed away and Kelson stepped around the horse he was brushing.

“Thojac! I didn’t expect to see you here.” He continued to curry the horse, his motions jerky and rapid. “I’m late—should have left fifteen minutes ago. But the king will allow only
me
to touch his horse. I’m leaving for the meeting as soon as I finish up here. Would you like to join me?”

Jacob shook his head. “Het and Isan found out about the meeting tonight. They’re on their way already.”

Kelson dropped the brush, his mouth popping open. “That’s why they had their horses saddled so quickly.”

He ran from the stall, not closing the door behind him. Jacob raced after, catching up as Kelson flung a saddle onto his horse. “Come as soon as you’ve changed your clothes.” He looked at Jacob. “Or perhaps it would be best if you remained here.” He kicked the sides of his horse and spurred out of the stables.

Jacob definitely wouldn’t be staying behind. He looked down, not sure what Kelson meant about his clothing. Oh! He couldn’t go dressed as a castle servant. That would definitely draw attention to himself. He ran back into the castle through the servants’ entrance, nearly knocking over several people who shouted at him. He didn’t care—his best friends were in danger!

He knew nothing bad would happen to Dmitri and Kelson, but that security did not extend to Matt and Aloren.

Finally, he reached his room, flung the door shut, and pulled off his clothes, quickly putting on the old ones he hadn’t worn in a couple of days.

Jacob pulled the Key out of the pocket of his footman pants and secured it to a loop on his traditional peasant garb. Then he ran back to the door, holding the note with directions to the meeting in his other hand.

He put the Key in the hole that appeared, called out the name of where he was going, then turned the Key and created a link between his room and the meeting place.

Chapter Seventeen: White Box

Jacob stepped inside, immediately overwhelmed by the chaos and mayhem that greeted him. The king’s men were everywhere, attacking, swords clanging, people screaming and falling to the ground. Het and Isan were in the middle of the mess. Where was Dmitri? And Matt and Aloren?

No longer caring if anyone saw or recognized him, Jacob stepped around the bodies, searching through the overturned furniture, trying to stay out of the way of the king’s men.

“Jacob!” someone—Matt—called.

Jacob spun and saw Matt poking his head around the side of an alcove. He dashed that way, joining his older brother, relief flooding over him so intensely that it made his throat choke.

“You’re all right?” he asked. “Aloren?”

“She needs a doctor,” Matt said. “We have to get her home right now.” He moved away from Aloren—he’d been crouched over her. She was pale, unconscious. And Matt didn’t look any better, aside from being awake. The blood had drained from his face, his shirt torn and red in several places.

“No, no,” Jacob said, moaning. They should never have split up. He might have been able to prevent this! “There’s Kaede Sap at the shelter. We need to take her there.”

“Hey, you!” shouted someone from behind.

Jacob turned and ducked as a soldier swung an ax through the air. It clanged against the stone wall, sparks flying. He kicked the man in the shin, but the soldier didn’t even notice. He raised the ax again. Just then, someone flung the door open, banging it against the wall. Kelson!

Aloren’s dad jumped into the fray, sword flashing, attacking, and the soldier raced to fight him, apparently thinking Kelson was more of a threat than three teenagers. Dmitri joined Kelson and they fought back to back.

Jacob turned to Matt. “Can you walk?”

“I—I think so.”

“We’ve got to get you two out of here.”

Matt nodded and Jacob helped him to his feet. Just then, Jacob noticed a gaping wound on his brother’s head. He flinched—Matt was much worse off than he’d thought.

Together, they lifted Aloren. Her head flopped forward, hair dangling in front of her face. Her feet dragged as the brothers pulled her out of the alcove.

“Over there.” Jacob pointed to a door. He’d Key them to the shelter.

Just as they reached the door and Jacob put the Key in the lock, the same soldier spun and caught sight of them.

“Stop those children!” he called.

Several soldiers dashed forward, but Jacob had already created the link. He and Matt stumbled through and slammed the door shut.

Matt fainted, pulling Aloren down with him. Jacob nearly fell himself—he was still holding on to her. He checked that both were breathing, then rushed to the table and their supplies. He tossed things to the floor, searching for the package of Kaede Sap. Shortage of sap or no, he wasn’t about to lose Aloren and his brother.

Then he remembered he’d hidden the sap under a brick in the room. He fell to his knees, pried the brick up, and pulled out the sap. It took him precious seconds to mix everything together—this was his first time doing it, and he hoped it didn’t require anything special.

The sap ready, he rushed back to Matt and Aloren, pouring some liquid over Matt’s head wound. He checked Matt’s stomach and chest—the wounds there were all superficial and would heal on their own. Jacob turned to Aloren. Blood was everywhere, her breathing very shallow. He’d never seen someone so pale.

The worst wound was on her stomach, and another on her arm. Jacob poured sap over both, then forced some into her mouth. He dripped the rest of the mixture into Matt’s mouth.

Then he grabbed their hands, being careful not to burn them in his rush, and returned to the present time. They appeared in Jacob’s room.

“Mom! Mom, come fast!”

Jacob didn’t wait for a response from her, but flung the bedroom door open, pulled the Key out, and hopped across the hall to the bathroom door. He created a link to Kenji’s place with that door so Mom would be able to follow.

Jacob grabbed Aloren under the armpits and dragged her across the hall. Just then, Mom dashed up the stairs and gasped.

“Oh, no!”

“Help me!”

She grabbed Aloren’s ankles and they lifted the girl, carrying her the rest of the way into Kenji’s home. The Makalo had already jumped up from his usual spot at the head of the table. He helped Jacob and Mom get Matt.

The three of them got to work right away. Kenji mixed Kaede Sap while Jacob and Mom did their best to clean the wounds.

“I wish Ebony were here,” Kenji said. “She’s so much better at this than I am.” He brought a small bowl to the table where Aloren had been laid. Mom disappeared into one of the back rooms and returned carrying strips of cloth.

Kenji used up the Kaede Sap, applying it to Aloren’s wounds, cleaning with the cloth Mom had brought. He was only able to cover a very small part of her stomach wound with the sap they had.

“Not enough, not enough,” he said. He turned, his face a slight green shade. “We’re not going to be able to help them. They won’t make it through the night without a full amount of Kaede Sap to heal their wounds, and we don’t have that much.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Mom asked.

“They need to be hospitalized.”

She nodded. “All right.”

Jacob grabbed her arm. “We can’t just take them to the hospital. They look like they’ve been in a knife fight, and things like that don’t happen in Mendon.”

Mom wrung her hands. “You’re right. It’s way too suspicious.”

“We’ll Key them to a hospital in a much bigger city—like Chicago or Detroit or something.”

“Okay. You decide where. We’ll keep working with them.”

Jacob raced through the open link to his house and the family computer. He did a quick search for hospitals in Chicago and picked the first one that came up, then returned to Kenji’s.

“Sorry, Kenji—you’re going to have to stay behind.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Jacob grabbed Aloren and lifted as best he could, pulling her arm across his shoulder. Aloren’s head flopped to the side.

Mom did her best to pick up Matt, but wasn’t able.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Jacob said. “Help me with Aloren—we can return for Matt.”

He closed the link to Mendon and opened a new one to the hospital he’d found, specifying an empty bathroom closest to the emergency room. Mom and Jacob stepped through the link, then followed the posted signs to the emergency room. Jacob was relieved when the woman behind the registration desk rushed around to help.

“Oh, dear, what happened?”

Aloren groaned, and Jacob and the woman put her into a wheelchair.

“Gang attack,” Jacob said. “We’ve got one more.”

He and Mom returned to Kenji’s. They each took one of Matt’s arms and pulled him into the hospital, Jacob grabbing the Key and closing the link behind them.

Because Aloren was in such bad condition, the nurse checked her in right away. Matt they took back next—almost everyone else in the emergency room was there for something less severe. And though people looked annoyed at being bumped, some of them glanced sympathetically at Matt and Aloren.

A lot of the people stared at Jacob and he winced, realizing he still wore traditional Troosinal garb. How ridiculous that would appear to normal people in America.

Mom and Jacob weren’t allowed with Matt and Aloren, so they paced the lobby. Jacob jumped every time a nurse called someone back, hoping for an update.

Finally he couldn’t tolerate it anymore. “What have you heard from Dad lately?”

Mom shook her head. “Nothing—Early was due for a report soon.”

“Can I—”

“Yes. Go back and find her. We need to let everyone know what happened.”

Jacob nodded and turned to go, but Mom took his arm. “Take Dad’s cell with you. I’ve got mine—I’ll let you know when they update me.”

Jacob nodded. He returned to the bathroom and Keyed himself home.

His carpet had blood on it. That weirded him out and he wondered if they’d have to replace it, since no one would have time to clean it for a while. Gross. He grabbed his bag of seeds, calling for Early.

As soon as she arrived, he asked for an update.

“Your dad is out of prison now. And he met with the people in charge at Fornchall. They’re trying to come to an agreement, but something has come up that your father doesn’t know what to do about yet.”