Rise of Keitus (Kilenya Series, 4)

by Andrea Pearson

  Were they being tortured in there? Or were tests being performed on them? Jacob suspected it was testing. Keitus was trying to turn them into Lorkon, but for some reason was failing. What made it successful later?

  Jacob returned to the present, realizing he wouldn’t be able to figure things out on his own. Deciding to risk interrupting Dad, he Keyed to his work.

  Dad looked up in surprise from his desk where he was going through huge stacks of papers. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah.” Jacob shut the office door behind him and plopped on a chair by the desk. “I’ve been Time-Seeing—” He hesitated. “Is it okay to talk here?”

  “Should be. I don’t get many interruptions on Mondays.”

  “Okay, well, I’ve been Time-Seeing, trying to figure out how the Lorkon become Lorkon, and there’s this part where I can’t follow them—they go into a room that keeps me out completely. And Keitus is having people sent to that place, and those people are leaving all messed up or dead.” He leaned forward. “I think they’re being experimented on, but the tests are failing.”

  Dad nodded. “Sounds like it.” He raised his arms above his head, stretching. “Have you talked to any of the others about this?”

  “Not yet. I needed a break and decided to come see you.”

  “We should have a meeting. Why don’t you gather Mom, Kenji, Ebony, and Azuriah, then come get me? I was planning on eating lunch in ten minutes anyway.”

  Jacob jumped from the chair, glad to have an assignment that wasn’t impossible. He did as his dad asked, making sure everyone knew what the meeting would be about.

  Dad started as usual, but turned the time over to Jacob to explain what had happened and what he’d discovered.

  Jacob started with how he had followed the Lorkon in reverse. As expected, both Mom and Dad were disturbed to learn that the Lorkon had been in Maivoryl City for several months before kidnapping Arien. Jacob continued with his narrative, telling them about the road the Lorkon took, as well as the Sindons. As he spoke, Ebony and Kenji pulled out maps, trying to follow Jacob’s descriptions.

  “Wait a second, Jacob,” Dad said, frowning. He pointed to the map. “Show us the exact path as you remember it.”

  Jacob did so, even indicating where the Lorkon had left the Sindons.

  Dad straightened, yellow swirling around him—surprise. He looked at Jacob, jabbing the map with one finger. “You’re sure it was right here? You’re sure it was this city?”

  Jacob nodded. “Yeah. They stayed there for several years, in the castle. That’s where they turned into Lorkon.”

  Dad shocked Jacob by jumping to his feet and grabbing Jacob’s shoulders. “Did the Lorkon attack and kill the royal family there? Did they destroy the city and the people?”

  Jacob shook his head, trying to get out of Dad’s tight grip. “Not from what I saw. I mean, they looked comfortable. Like they’d lived there forever. But two of the Lorkon—Het and Isan—”

  Mom and Dad both gasped, and the blood rushed out of Dad’s face. He slumped in his chair, his head in his hands, and Mom rushed to his side, putting her arms around him.

  She looked up at Jacob. “Those are the names of your father’s older brothers.”

  Jacob felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. “They . . . the men were familiar. The way they walked and talked and their coloring.” He looked at his dad, realizing why it seemed he’d known the two men before. They were related to Dad. Which meant . . . they were Jacob’s uncles!

  Jacob sank lower in his seat, rubbing his eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Azuriah spoke. His back was to the group, arms behind him. “It seems the Lorkon have a vested interest in this family for a reason.” He glanced over his shoulder to Dad. “They are family.”

  No one said anything for what felt like an eternity. Jacob was busy trying to digest this new piece of information, and he was positive his parents were having a hard time with it as well.

  Finally, Ebony broke the silence. “Troosinal—who would have ever guessed the Lorkon originated from Dmitri’s home country.”

  “We don’t know that for a fact,” Azuriah said. “These Lorkon, yes. But Keitus learned everything from somewhere. There must have been Lorkon on Eklaron in the past.”

  Jacob’s mind couldn’t focus on what Azuriah had just said—he was still shocked about the identity of the Lorkon. How was it possible that he was related to them? The most vile, disgusting creatures he’d ever known or heard about—including on TV—and they were his relatives?

  Then . . . another piece of information clicked into place.

  He cleared his throat. “If two of the Lorkon were brothers,” he swallowed, “Dad’s brothers, does that mean that Keitus is . . . is their father?”

  He felt like shrinking in his chair when everyone’s eyes turned to him. “While I was stuck in August Fortress, Time-Seeing to when Mom was kidnapped, Keitus said something about Het and Isan being his flesh and blood . . .”

  Dad nodded. It looked like he was struggling to say something, but couldn’t get the words out of his mouth. Finally, he croaked, “Yes . . . yes, I believe so.” After another pause, he started talking again, much stronger this time. “I knew they were evil—they did everything they could to find corruption and spread it. But to fall to this level?”

  He blinked several times, shaking his head. “I just can’t believe it.” He turned to Mom. “What sort of testing were you talking about? Do you remember? It was before we were married—you mentioned once to me that my father was performing tests in his dungeons to me once, but never said exactly what you’d heard.”

  Mom’s face blanched. “Forcing people, even women and children, to be filled with contaminated potions—substances from other humans. Oh, Dmitri, it was awful. I can’t even begin to describe the rumors—all that I heard.”

  Dad got up to pace. “Why was I so blind? I knew my father was evil—that he’d killed many innocent people. He’d tortured before. But to this extent?”

  Mom grabbed his arm as he strode by, forcing him to look at her. “You did everything you could to stop him. Never forget it was the choice of the people to keep Ramantus as their king—please, please don’t blame yourself.”

  “But I deserted them when they needed help the most! I could’ve stopped him! I should have done everything in my power to put him away.”

  Kenji steepled his fingers. “I sense a change in subject would be helpful. If it’s all right with you, Your Majesty, we need to figure out why Jacob couldn’t enter that room, and why his vision blacked out.”

  Dad sat down again, keeping Mom’s hand in his own.

  Azuriah leaned against the wall, folding his arms. “It’s easy enough. The Lorkon know about Shiengols and their ability to Time-See. They put a protection around that room, preventing a Shiengol from entering magically. Unfortunately, since Jacob is part Shiengol, their powers stopped him too.”

  “So that’s why my vision kept blacking out?”

  Azuriah shook his head. “No, Jacob. It was because you were there. You were physically in that hallway. That’s the only reason a vision ever fades away.”

  Jacob nodded, feeling the blood leave his face. Whoa.

  Then what Azuriah said seemed to sink in with everyone in the room at the same time. Mom’s reaction was the strongest. She gasped and reached for Jacob, pulling him to herself, knocking several cups over in the process. “My boy was there? In the castle with Keitus?”

  Azuriah nodded. “Somehow he gained enough of Keitus’s trust to be there when they changed themselves.”

  Everyone stared at Jacob and he held one hand up, still trying to get away from Mom. “Hey, don’t look at me. I have no idea how I did it.”

  “But you will,” Ebony said.

  Mom’s arms started shaking. “I can’t agree with this. There’s no way I’m allowing him to go back in time and work directly beneath Keitus himself.”

  Dad put his hand on
Mom’s arm. “Especially since Keitus is really Ramantus. He’s too unpredictable. Too violent.”

  Azuriah sighed in annoyance. “It’s the only way we can defeat the Lorkon. And it’s obvious we came to this exact conclusion before. We knew Jacob would have to be right there with Keitus. Why else was he there in the first place?”

  Jacob nodded. “And it means I’ll get back safely.”

  Azuriah shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. You don’t know what the outcome will be—you can’t possibly comprehend. For all you know, this is the last thing you do and you get killed doing it.”

  He swirled his robes as he moved out from behind the table. “There are no guarantees—not ever. You get injured while in the past, it’ll pull you to the present and you’ll die here.”

  “Die?” Mom asked. She stood. “Die? My boy won’t die! I won’t allow it!”

  “Mom,” Jacob said. “Why is this bothering you so much? You’ve knowingly allowed me to do other things that were just as dangerous, if not more.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t know Ramantus, Jacob. He is much worse than you think.”

  “But I do know Keitus. I’ve spent a lot of time with him.”

  “He’s got a point, honey,” Dad said. “But we can talk about it later.” He rubbed her arm, made sure she was okay, then said, “We need to decide if we should place scouts and spies there.”

  “If we do, we should definitely send Ebony,” Kenji said. “She’s excellent at spying.”

  Dad shook his head. “Makalos don’t exist in Troosinal. She’d be killed on the spot, or turned in to the king. The people of Troosinal show little mercy for those who are different.”

  “Ah, yes,” Kenji said. “I remember how awkward you were around me when we first met.”

  “Who, then?” Ebony asked.

  Dad turned to Jacob. “How many years passed from the time Ramantus and the rest turned into Lorkon and when they came to Gevkan to kidnap your mom?”

  “Several—I didn’t count exactly.”

  Dad leaned forward in his chair, thinking. He spoke again, but slowly. “There was a time when my father invited many people from all over the world to visit him. He’d never opened his castle to visitors before, and I never figured out what was going on. Did you see any of this?”

  Jacob nodded. “Yeah, there were all sorts of people coming and going.”

  “Good.” Dad half smiled. “Well, not good, but it means I was still in the kingdom around or just before the time Keitus turned himself.” He rubbed his jaw. “I formed a group who helped protect the innocent and tried to save the city. Many of our members were your age, and even younger. Some were older—dignitaries and royalty, though not many.” He looked at Jacob. “You should take Matt and join up with my group. That’ll give you access to the castle, which you will obviously need.”

  “Sounds good. And since I can take two people with me, should we pick another person?”

  “What about Gallus?” Kenji asked.

  Dad shook his head. “The only older members of the group were a small handful of important people in the city. Gallus is too old—he’d stand out.”

  “I vote only Jacob and Matt go,” Ebony said.

  “Would it be bad if Aloren came?” Jacob asked. “I mean, she’s really good at sneaking around and scouting and getting into tough places.”

  “That might actually work,” Dad said. “She’d have to be incredibly careful and not get too involved. But if she spent more of her time with the women, she could follow gossip and such and gain access to the city that way.”

  Azuriah got to his feet. “Okay, you all finish completing the details. I’ve got things to attend to.”

  He left Kenji’s place and everyone turned to Dad, who smiled. “I’ve known him for a long time, but his abruptness still amuses me.”

  Mom chuckled. “Imagine having him as a relative.” She looked at Jacob. “I’m so glad you know now—it’s much better being able to talk openly.”

  Jacob rolled his eyes, but decided not to bring up his earlier frustrations regarding his heritage. “And it’s great understanding more about who I am and why.”

  Dad took a drink from his cup, then set it down. “We need to take care of some other things in Gevkan. For example, we need to destroy the Molg tunnels—as many of them as possible. It’ll cripple the Lorkon, since I suspect they’ve been using them to travel. Plus, it’ll help prevent Molgs from being as useful to Keitus.”

  “Who will do this?” Ebony asked.

  “Akeno, definitely,” Kenji said. “With his new abilities, he’ll be the best to figure out how to get in and out of tight situations.”

  It took some time, but after much discussion, everyone agreed that Gallus, Sweet Pea, and several Wurbies would accompany Akeno, along with a few of the humans who’d been pulled from the scented air.

  Ebony seemed excited about asking the humans to help. “A lot of them are really anxious to get started and will appreciate an assignment.”

  “Okay, perfect.” Dad leaned back in his seat. “Next, we need to scout out Fornchall. I have a feeling something more is going on there than we know. I volunteer myself to head up that mission, and Ebony, I’d like you to accompany me, as well as Aldo, if he’s able. We’ll approach from Aldo’s cabin, crossing the fields.”

  Ebony agreed to go, then stood. “Give me a second.” She left and returned moments later, holding the Molg tunnel map. “Aldo and I have gone over this many times, and we found out there’s a tunnel that leads to Fornchall through the mountain. We think the Lorkon have been using it. If that’s true, it would be wise for another group to reach Fornchall that way. For all we know, it’s the only way to access the city.”

  Dad nodded slowly, probably digesting this information. “Yes, good idea.” He tapped his lips with his fingers. “But we’ll need more people.”

  Kenji refilled his cup with water. “We’ll ask people pulled from the scented air to help. They’ll add to your group, giving you enough to make two separate groups. There are plenty who are eager to get more involved in the political side of things.”

  Mom touched Dad’s arm. “So, how is this going to work? When will all of these groups leave?”

  “I think it’ll take a month to prepare, at least. We’ll want to be well out of winter and into spring.” He motioned to Jacob. “You’ll need to Key everyone to their starting positions and then return from the past frequently to check on the groups. If something bad happens, we may need a quick exit.”

  Dad made sure everyone was on the same page, then he closed the meeting and had Jacob return him to work.

  Jacob still couldn’t believe he’d been in Keitus’s actual castle. Freaky. He snuggled in his blankets, deciding to think about all of that later.

  Chapter Eleven: Dungeon Visits

  Jacob took Akeno to visit Onyev one last time—they’d be taking a break while Jacob learned more about Troosinal and Akeno focused on preparing his part of the task in destroying Molg tunnels.

  As it turned out, Onyev needed time to travel, so it worked well. He promised to think about the problem with the bugs and see if he could come up with a cure. Perhaps Akeno wasn’t powerful enough just yet or the Lorkon had given the bugs extra energy, but nothing Akeno had done so far reversed the issue with the flying earwigs.

  Mom called Mr. Coolidge and arranged for a pause in Jacob’s studies. Jacob was grateful for that—he was still studying with Azuriah, on top of preparing for his trip to Troosinal and watching the Lorkon, and the extra few hours a week would be beneficial.

  Jacob started hanging out with Dad at work. In between work projects, Dad gave Jacob new things to figure out and understand when it came to the mannerisms of the people who lived in Troosinal, then he’d quiz Jacob. It took a few days of this until Dad felt Jacob was ready to go there in person.

  Dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. “Your next task will be to Travel to Troosinal—in the past—and find a plac
e where you, Matt, and Aloren can stay.”

  Jacob’s first trip to Troosinal—actually Traveling to the city, not just Time-Seeing—was scary. Dad had him memorize several different maps, each detailing a different area of the place, and he’d even made Jacob promise to keep one with him all the time. But none of that completely prepared Jacob for his experience.

  And it was just his luck to end up in one of the worst, dirtiest parts of the city.

  The abandoned building he Traveled to stank like sewage and vomit. The windows were boarded over and the smell was so strong, Jacob felt like he was about to lose his lunch. He couldn’t see anything and tripped over several soft, mushy things of varying sizes on the floor. He didn’t want to know what they were.

  Finally, he found his way to an external door. A woman was outside, crouched in a pile of garbage.

  “Ya wanna spend some time with me?” she asked, grabbing his ankle.

  He jerked away from her, backing against the opposite wall. Rather than reply, he took off at a run, heading in what he hoped was the right direction. He couldn’t believe what she’d just asked him. Wow. So gross.

  He wandered for a full twenty minutes before discovering he was in an area of Troosinal called Dog. Each section of the city was named after an animal. The place where Dad said they’d be able to stay without raising suspicion was named Cow. Jacob paused on a busy street corner in an area that bordered Dog and Chicken and studied his map, trying to find the easiest, fastest way to Cow. He felt silly, thinking about a city in these terms, but they didn’t have north and south directions, or even street names in most cases.

  According to Dad, the areas he, Matt, and Aloren needed to avoid were Dog, Chicken, Mouse, Bird, and Cat. Areas that were safer—though not completely safe, since Troosinal was such an evil city—were Horse, Cow, Pig, Rat, and Rabbit.

  Realizing he didn’t have a lot of time before someone else attempted to talk to him, Jacob tried to get his bearings quickly. The road that divided Dog from Chicken was crowded, and should be safer than the quieter streets that led through the areas. Trusting his instincts, he followed this road until it led him to Pig, which he walked through as fast as he could. He knew it was one of the safer areas, but it looked far too similar to Dog and Chicken for him to relax.