Rise of Keitus (6 page)

The next month passed swiftly. Jacob was busy with homework from Mr. Coolidge and Time-Traveling and studying with Azuriah. He’d barely translated a page of Shiengol language. Azuriah also had him memorizing the various political factions that had popped up and disappeared in Eklaron since pretty much the beginning of recorded time. It was boring.

The Shiengol slowly increased the amount of time Jacob spent in the past, along with how far back he Traveled. Jacob found that if he was in the past for ten minutes, ten minutes also passed in the present. His body simply disappeared and reappeared ten minutes later in the same spot. He wasn’t sure how it worked, but knowing this was helpful since it would most likely prevent problems later.

Gallus was working hard in Macaria, trying to help the people there patch up their city. Kenji and Ebony were busy further orchestrating work and living quarters for the Wurbies and humans, as well as the Shiengols who’d started arriving. Taga Village was filling out, and even though there were acres and acres at their disposal, things were getting tight.

Meetings didn’t happen often—everyone was too distracted with work, study, and winter. When Jacob asked if they’d be getting the Molg tunnel map soon, Dad told him they were waiting for warmer weather. This worried Jacob—the Lorkon weren’t waiting. What if they attacked?

A couple of weeks before Christmas, Shirley, the annoying girl from school, came for a visit. They sat on the couches in the living room. Jacob played with a pillow, trying not to seem too eager to have her there. But even though he really didn’t enjoy her company, he found himself prolonging her stay, trying to get as much information from her as possible. She didn’t give a lot, though, and when she left half an hour later, he was depressed and discouraged. Why hadn’t Tani come? Seriously—Shirley’s crush on Jacob had lasted since the third grade, but Tani and Jacob had been
best friends
since preschool.

It crossed his mind that maybe Tani was waiting for him to do something. He dismissed that idea quickly—Tani didn’t wait for other people. She took charge and made sure things went her way. Maybe she was dating someone. Well, if that were the case, good for her. And by now, she’d definitely found a new group of friends. But he still missed her.

Because of the influence the Makalos had on nature in and around Taga Village, spring came earlier there than it did in Mendon. In February, the trees started blossoming, flowers bloomed, and the village became really beautiful.

One day in mid-February while Jacob was practicing Time-Travel, Kenji dropped by Azuriah’s fortress in a complete state of panic.

“Emergency meeting! Now!” he said. “Jacob, go get Gallus, the Fat Lady, and your parents.”

“Dad’s at work.”

“Get him anyway. This can’t wait.”

Jacob blinked. Kenji was never snappy or impatient—something was wrong. He jumped up and Keyed himself from Azuriah’s fortress, gathering everyone to Kenji’s home.

As soon as they were all in place, Kenji started the meeting.

“The bugs—the larvae
and
the bugs—left the gardens for a reason,” he said, his words stumbling over themselves. “They’ve found the Kaede trees! We started the early spring harvest this week to replenish our stores, and the sap that came out was red—like blood! It’s completely unusable, and it’s so wide-spread that nearly half of the Kaede trees are permanently diseased. We don’t know what to do.”

He slumped in his seat, looking like he was about to cry.

Dad rubbed his chin. “What have you tried so far?”

“Everything we can think of—sprays, healings, potions, cleansing. Nothing is working or slowing the progression.”

Gallus leaned forward, palms on the table. “I noticed that the bugs in Gevkan were only found on Kaede trees. They attacked everything else but moved on quickly, seeming to settle in with the Kaede. We haven’t tried to harvest the sap, but I wouldn’t doubt the results would be the same since the trees are withering, even though it’s winter.”

Kenji dropped his head onto his arms. Ebony rubbed his back, her eyes welling up with tears. “You realize what this means, right?” she said to the others.

Everyone nodded. Jacob felt out of breath, and he didn’t need to hear what Ebony said next to understand how awful the situation was.

“Without Kaede trees,” she said, “Makalos will become completely useless. Without the trees around us to sustain us, our Rezend will leave. It won’t fade through generations, but will be gone in a few months, maybe a year, if we’re lucky. And without the trees, there will be no way for us to become magical ever again.”

Chapter Four: Village Bells

No one said anything—they all looked as solemn as Jacob felt. How would things be for Makalos without their magic? Even though the Makalos weren’t very strong anymore, they still greatly relied on their powers to keep Taga Village hidden from Earth, to help grow the gardens, and to provide water and electricity for the village.

Jacob glanced at Brojan, then at Akeno. Would it affect Akeno, too, even though he was supposedly more powerful than the others?

“Not only that,” Ebony continued, “but our supply of Kaede sap is in serious jeopardy. We used quite a bit of it in the past few months—gallons and gallons more than we have in previous years.”

Kenji finally lifted his head. “We’ll be rationing what remains. We must.”

Brojan twirled a curl in his beard around his finger. “Kenji, Ebony, and I have decided what constitutes a need for sap. We’d like to present it to you for a vote, since it affects everyone.”

He lifted a sheet of paper from the table in front of him and proceeded to read out loud from it, stopping occasionally to make sure everyone understood.

Basically, the seriousness of the injury would determine how much sap was used, if any. If a person would heal in three months or less, no sap would be used. This covered nearly every kind of broken bone, except for compound fractures and thigh breaks. If someone was mortally wounded and giving them Kaede sap wouldn’t stop them from dying, no sap would be used to ease their suffering.

Jacob felt sick, thinking about all this. He prayed no one in their group would be injured until the issues with the trees and bugs were resolved. The chances of that happening, though? Not very good. Everyone who’d gone out to fight so far had been injured at some point or another.

Brojan finished by saying, “The stores of sap must last until we find out what’s going on with the Kaede trees—it’s possible that the sap we’ve got will help us heal the trees.”

Dad took over the meeting by asking everyone to vote on what Brojan had just presented. It was unanimous, but the shades of blue coloring the air around the table showed serious discouragement and depression.

Dad rubbed his balding head, then looked at the Fat Lady and Aldo. “How would you two feel about teaming up with Kenji, Ebony, and Brojan to try to figure out how to stop or slow the bugs?”

Both nodded. “That won’t be a problem,” the Fat Lady said. “We’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Aldo steepled his fingers, his eyebrows knitted. “I’m sure most of you, if not all, have figured out that the Lorkon started this.”

Several people nodded, Jacob included. “And that’s probably why Lirone didn’t attack us while we were in Macaria,” he said. “I saw him looking at us, but he deliberately threw his bombs in other directions. I’ll bet the Lorkon wanted to make sure one of us brought the bug back with us.”

Aldo pursed his lips. “This means they’re not overlooking the importance of the Makalos anymore. They’ve finally wised up to the benefits of Rezend and how much of an edge it has given us.”

Jacob rubbed the back of his neck, thinking about that. He figured he, above and beyond the others, understood how little the Lorkon had thought of Makalos. If it hadn’t been for their arrogance concerning the small creatures the first time Jacob had come in contact with Lorkon, they would have taken control of him.

“Would it help if I moved to Taga Village?” the Fat Lady asked. “That way I’d be closer.”

Aldo immediately shook his head. “No, you can’t, or all the protections and spells on your cabin will be lost. And don’t feel like we’re using you, but that location is too convenient.”

She nodded. “Well, dang. Let’s get this figured out! The sooner, the better.” She looked at Jacob. “I s’pose you’ll be Keying us back and forth a lot so we can work together.”

Jacob shrugged. “Fine with me.”

“While we’re all here,” Dad said, “there’s another thing we need to discuss.” He motioned to Ebony. “Tell everyone what you said to me about the humans.”

She frowned. “We’re going to need a lot of help. About half of the humans pulled from the scented air are figuring out who they are. Some want to stay, but others want to go find their families. With several hundred of them, it’s been very confusing trying to sort things out. If anyone has extra time to help, it would be greatly appreciated.”

She leaned forward. “There’s a problem. At least half of them don’t speak English, and we haven’t been able to find translators. We have no idea what they’re trying to say, and they’re getting impatient. We don’t know what they remember about themselves, since they can’t communicate.”

Jacob cocked his head. “They don’t speak English? Weird.” Everyone he’d met so far from Eklaron spoke his language, and it had never occurred to him that there were people who didn’t.

“It’s not uncommon,” Aldo said. “English became the main language spoken in the bigger cities—August Township, Maivoryl, Macaria, Troosinal—around a hundred years ago. The smaller villages—some of which have disappeared since the Lorkon took over—maintained their native tongues.”

Dad put his elbows on the table, clasping his hands. “Once they’ve learned English, we’ll help them figure out who they are and where they come from. When we get to that point, we may need to assign a group of us to help them find their families. After that, those who wish to remain here and assist in the upcoming war will need to be taught to fight. Ebony, Sweet Pea, and probably Gallus will do the training. I’ll help with the sword.”

Everyone agreed, and Dad started to dismiss the group, but Aloren stopped him.

“Your Majesty,” she said, “I have a question. And, well, it’s a sensitive subject, so I understand if you have to tell me no.”

Dad wrinkled his forehead. “What’s that?”

She jumped from her chair and opened the door, motioning to someone outside.

Kevin walked in.

Jacob’s jaw dropped. He looked at Mom and Dad, wanting to see what their reaction would be. Neither seemed fazed, however, and none of the other adults seemed to care. Mom even smiled at Aloren who had a silly grin on her face. Why was no one else taking this seriously?

Aloren pulled Kevin forward. “We’re wondering . . . well, we’d like to know if it would be all right for Kevin to come help out in the village. Ebony did say they need volunteers . . . and I was thinking they’d appreciate
all
the help they can get.”

Kevin nodded. “Yeah. And their stress makes Aloren . . .” He shot a glance at her. “Also stressed, and uh . . . a little grouchy.” He stepped away from her before she could smack him, and her hand hit the air instead. They laughed and hugged.

Jacob rolled his eyes. He was glad he didn’t have to be around them all day at school anymore—things had been easier since he’d started doing school at home.

Kevin continued. “Her happiness is important to me. And this place is really cool. And I want to help as much as possible.”

Mom and Dad’s eyes met. “We need to talk this over,” Dad said. “Would the two of you please wait outside?”

Gallus, the Fat Lady, and Aldo said no. Ebony and Kenji were quick to give their approval. Mom surprised Jacob by saying she thought it was a great idea, and Dad didn’t really care either way. He turned to Jacob.

“Can you tell how sincere Kevin actually is where this is concerned?”

Jacob nodded. “His emotions show that he’s serious—he really does want to help out. And . . . he likes Aloren. A lot. I don’t think he’ll do anything to hurt her, including giving away any secrets.” He paused. “He already knows everything that’s going on. And it’s obvious we need the extra help.”

Everyone stared at him for several seconds before saying anything. Jacob blushed and looked away, avoiding eye contact. Why were they staring? Was it that weird for him to voice his opinion? No—he did it all the time. Whatever. Adults were hard to figure out sometimes.

Gallus sighed. “Well, I suppose it would be fine.”

The Fat Lady and Aldo nodded, though the Fat Lady grunted. “We’re spoiling that girl, you realize. She gets everything she wants.”

Jacob bit his lip. Unfortunately for him, she wanted Kevin.

“Then it’s settled,” Dad said. “Ebony and Kenji, we’ll leave you in charge—keep the boy busy.”

Ebony grinned. “We will. We’ll have him start teaching English.”

Just then, the alarm bells in the village sounded. Everyone at the table froze, then jumped up, knocking chairs to the floor as they all rushed out of Kenji’s house.

As they ran along the trail, weaving around the houses, Jacob could hear screaming and shouting from the meadow. They reached the ledge and Jacob’s jaw dropped. An Ember God was there, flames flying, swords flashing, swinging at the Makalos and Wurbies who were unsuccessfully trying to stop him by throwing things and using their hands as ropes. The long grass around him was smoldering and the tree was on fire.

Ebony and Sweet Pea exchanged glances and rushed off—probably to get their weapons. Gallus flung himself over the side of the canyon wall, and Jacob and Matt both leaned forward to watch as he landed unharmed and dashed forward, pulling out his three-bladed sword.

Ever since the attack on Macaria, he’d been wearing his hardened leather armor and carrying his sword everywhere he went. Jacob had wondered if it was a bit much, but now put aside any thoughts of the black man being over-prepared. There was no way to be too ready for something like this.

As soon as Gallus joined the fight, the Makalos and Wurbies backed off and began putting out fires with buckets of water, starting with the tree first. Jacob and Matt watched as Gallus and the Ember God parried. Neither seemed to gain the upper hand, and Jacob had a feeling that the Ember God was holding back. But why?