“Yeah, I saw,” Jacob said. “It looked like the whole thing was moving. How do they live so closely? Wouldn’t they constantly be killing one another for invading their water?”
“No. Eetu fish live in relative peace with their own species.”
“Is it possible to kill one?” Akeno asked.
“Yes, but it’s difficult. No average man or woman has been able to defeat them, mostly because Eetus are fast and intelligent. The only safe bet is to outrun them, if that’ll even work.”
“I wish I’d had a rifle,” Jacob said, clenching his fists. “I’m sure a gun would stop one.” He knew he wouldn’t have been able to save Seden on his own, but killing even one would have at least made him feel he’d done something for the man. Instead, he’d been forced to run away like a coward.
Jacob dug his fingernails into his palms, vowing never, ever to run again when he saw a person who needed saving. “What happens if someone takes Eetu water without touching it? If they dip a container into the water and then seal it? Would they be able to use it as a weapon? You know, throw it on someone and have the fish chase that person down?”
“It’s possible, I guess, but it has never happened.”
“Why not?”
“Because no one has been down that far into the lake without getting killed in the process,” Aloren said. “And no one knows about the water in the tunnel except for a few people who live in Macaria, including myself, Gallus, and Seden.”
“How do you know the castle so well?” Jacob asked.
“I live there.”
“That’s cool.” Jacob didn’t say anything else for a minute. He was glad to find that the pain in his heart had faded a bit. Discussing what had killed Seden helped. “Are you from Macaria, then?” he asked, keeping an eye on the water. Even though Aloren said the Eetu never came to the surface while the sun was out, he was still anxious.
“Yes.”
“Do you have any relatives here?”
“No, none.”
“Where are they?” Jacob glanced at her.
She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t have any, except my brother and my father—if they’re still alive.”
“What do you mean?”
Aloren bit her lip, a troubled expression crossing her face. Jacob glanced at Akeno, who shrugged.
“My mother has been dead for a couple of months,” Aloren said. “She and my father were separated years ago by the war, and my older brother went with my father. I don’t remember either of them.”
“I’m sorry,” Jacob said. A couple of months wasn’t a lot of time to get over the death of a loved one. How horrible.
“It’s fine.” She took a deep breath. “Naturally, my mother wanted to be reunited with them. It just never happened. She was always in poor health and unable to travel. For the past few years, I’ve tried to find them by searching this and other valleys. The only place I’ve never been to is Maivoryl City. The groups I’ve gone with always run into trouble before getting there, and each time, we’ve had to abandon our quest.”
“How many times have you tried to get there?” Jacob asked.
“Six times to Ridgewood, but never to Maivoryl City. No one ever makes it to Maivoryl City.”
“Why not?”
“We don’t really know. They never come back.” She took a deep breath. “I know Gallus wants me to settle down, to work for him full time, but I can’t. I just can’t. I get this insane urge to search a different part of the kingdom regularly, and it’s impossible to ignore for long. I miss my mom—I miss her so much. But it was even harder while she was alive. She was so, so sick. I couldn’t leave her side the last year, and it made me feel like I was going insane. I was trapped, and then felt horrible for thinking of my mom as a captor. It was awful.”
Aloren stopped fidgeting with her hair. “My mom is in a better place now—somewhere free of pain. And I vowed I’d find my dad and brother for her. And that, Jacob, is my ‘right motivation.’” Her eyes flashed. “Nothing will stop me from doing it.”
Jacob didn’t doubt her. He’d seen enough of her stubborn side to know nothing could stop her when she wanted something.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Should we go faster?” Jacob asked. “I know we just ran, but walking . . . it’s way too slow.”
Aloren shook her head. “We would only be able to maintain a run or jog for a short while. Walking will get us there faster.”
“Like the tortoise and the hare.”
“Um . . . sure.”
Jacob smiled. He didn’t feel like expounding on what was probably a cryptic response to her. Maybe later, when his head wasn’t pounding so much.
The group fell into silence for a moment, and remembering his earlier vow to get to know Akeno better, Jacob began asking the Makalo questions.
His first was about the loud, gun-like noise he’d heard when the Rogs had been converging on him and Aloren. “What exactly was that?”
“I used Rezend to make a loud noise.”
Jacob laughed quietly, grateful for the attempt at humor. It felt good to have a different emotion rushing through him. “I would never have guessed.” He smiled. “Seriously. How did it knock the Rogs out?”
“Well, I concentrated on them while creating a sort of shockwave that targets ears. The shockwave was powerful enough to knock almost any living creature out. If used too frequently, it isn’t as effective.”
Jacob took a drink of water out of his canteen, then stared at it, really noticing it for the first time. Even though Gallus had given it to him, it seriously looked like something from Walmart. He smiled to himself. This planet was weird. No electricity—that he’d seen—no cars, technology, nothing like that, and yet, they had stuff from Walmart.
“What other things can you do with your Rezend?” he asked.
Akeno’s face turned thoughtful, and he took a moment to answer. “You’ve seen that I can use it as a light. Rezend is centered in my left ring finger, which is why it’s where the light comes from. My magic can also control electricity and particles to an extent. Water too. Plumbing, lighting, etc.”
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
Akeno chuckled shyly. “I can’t fly. And I can’t turn invisible. There are a lot of rules to remember—like, it’s dangerous to shrink people more than once or twice—but Makalo magic gives us control of things at the level of the atom.”
“What happens when you touch the trees? How does it tell you when there’s danger around?”
“When a Makalo comes in contact with something that’s alive, we’re given a sense of what’s near us. Basically, we see what they see, but not in a visual way.”
Interesting. “Why do you read trees? Why not me or Early? We’re living things.”
“Theoretically, you’re similar, but not similar enough.” Akeno paused, a slight frown on his face. “There’s a lot of history behind it—I’ll give you all of it someday, but for now, what you need to know is that hundreds of years ago, Makalos were completely tied to trees. We lived in them and through them—they fed our Rezend. A good Makalo leader took us from them, but then our magic started to wane with each generation. By doing that, the leader saved us, but he also doomed us so our children would be born with less magic than us. We still maintain a connection with the trees, but it’s not the same.”
Akeno sighed. “The Makalos were the most powerful people in this world, and their magic was not outdone by any, including Shiengols. I can’t even imagine that—the stories I’ve heard of Shiengols . . . they’re so powerful. But we’re weaker than almost anyone now.”
“You mean, Makalos in general are weaker. I’ve been told you’re more powerful than most.”
Akeno flushed, but he didn’t respond to Jacob’s comment. “The greatest Makalo city was located not far from here. The Kaede trees, from what we know, are still standing. Seeing that city in its prime must have been amazing.”
He turned to Jacob. �
�You’ve probably noticed that my finger is blue even when I’m not using my magic—the Rezend which flows through my body creates a brilliant silver-blue glow, and a Makalo’s body shines when at his or her fullest magical ability. The Rezend flows through their veins, filling their blood. It’s pretty cool.”
“And a little weird,” Jacob said.
Akeno frowned and took a minute to answer. “I guess I can see why you would feel that way. I’ve known about it my whole life, so it’s normal to me.”
“It wouldn’t be weird to you to walk up to someone who was blue all over?”
“It’s not a berry blue. You would barely notice the shade until you got close to the individual. It was more like a silvery blue glow around them.”
They fell silent for a moment, and Jacob felt his heart warm at how much Akeno had opened up to him. The warmth felt good—it broke through some of the fog surrounding him.
If Aloren or Akeno missed Seden—and he suspected they did—they didn’t let on. He knew they wanted to protect or prevent him from feeling guilt. Too late. Seden’s death was his fault, and he’d never forgive himself for causing it and whatever torture his father would experience. Jacob shuddered, forcing himself to put his dad from his mind. Thinking about it wouldn’t help him get there any faster.
Akeno broke the silence by asking Jacob questions about his family. He was curious about their relationships, and it was a good distraction.
After several minutes of discussion, Jacob realized that Aloren was paying close attention to what he was saying. He looked at her, uncomfortable when he noticed there were tears in her eyes. She glanced at him, then away, but not before Jacob saw the tears spill over.
Jacob fidgeted with his hands, racking his brain, trying to figure out what his mom would do if she were here. Probably make Aloren a cup of hot chocolate. That wasn’t possible . . . but there was food in the knapsack Gallus had given him. He swung it off his shoulder and pulled out some apples. He tossed one to Akeno, kept one for himself, and gave another to Aloren. She accepted and took a big bite, not meeting his eyes.
Jacob replaced his knapsack and ate his apple, looking at the countryside, surprised to see how far they had walked since leaving the city. The sun was getting very hot as it started heading west. Clouds were building in the sky to the south.
“It looks like a storm’s coming,” Akeno said.
“Storm?” Aloren glanced up with a dismayed expression.
“Yeah, see it?”
“Yes,” she said. “Storms aren’t good here. Lirone lives in them. And Lirone is dangerous. He’s a sky-dwelling monster.” She looked relieved after inspecting the clouds. “Doesn’t look like it’ll come for a couple of hours. Let’s keep going.” She glanced at Jacob. “Before you ask tons more questions, the myths surrounding Lirone say that when he’s near, he can sense if people are thinking about him. I’m always skeptical about myths, but the witch one turned out to be correct, and I’d rather not push our luck.”
Jacob nodded. He definitely agreed, but he hated not knowing what could be coming.
“Speaking of the witch,” Akeno said, “she was really pretty.”
Jacob couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud at that. “Got a crush on her?”
Akeno blushed. “No, definitely not. But I remembered something my parents mentioned a long time ago. They said the Lorkon are almost always male, and that it’s very rare to come across a female. Apparently, there are huge differences between the two genders.”
“Like what?” Aloren asked, obviously as intrigued as Jacob.
“You both already know this, but the males are disfigured and hideous. What we never really talk about—because they’re so rare—are the females. They’re beautiful. They have talents and abilities that come with that beauty. They are captivating.”
“You’re saying the woman in the forest was a Lorkon?” Jacob asked.
Akeno paused and looked at him. “I believe so.”
“It makes sense. She was all those things.” Jacob picked up a fist-sized rock and started tossing it in the air as he walked. His feet were seriously aching after the day and a half of constant motion, and he needed a distraction.
Something grew hot in his palm, and he stumbled, nearly falling.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jacob looked at his hand. “Whoa!”
“What’s wrong?” Akeno asked.
Jacob held out the rock, staring at it in wonder. “It got warm! Like at Gallus’s place.”
An expression of excitement spread across Akeno’s face. “Really? Can you mold it? Isn’t that what happened last time?”
“I don’t know.” He held the large stone between his thumb and forefinger and watched it. Nothing happened—it didn’t change shape. Maybe it needed a little help.
Jacob began rolling it between his palms. After only a couple of passes, it increased in heat dramatically. Again, he nearly dropped the rock in surprise—it was so weird! Instead, he raised and inspected it.
“It’s changing shape!” He held it to Akeno. “Check it out.”
Akeno did so, then shrugged, handing it back. “I wouldn’t notice a difference anyway.” His eyes lit up. “Do something cool with it, if it lets you.”
Jacob grinned and rolled the rock into a perfectly shaped ball. Then, with some work, he flattened it until it was nearly translucent and floppy. Finally, he tried to shape it into a box, but the stone began cooling and nothing he did got it to warm up again.
He shook his head. “I can’t believe it. How is it possible that I’ve got magical abilities?”
“Easy. Magic might not exist on earth, but it does here. And you’re from here.”
Aloren took the rock from him, examining it. “Practice with it—see if you can figure out why and how it does that.”
“Good idea.”
Jacob picked up more rocks, filling his pockets with them, then worked on them one at a time as they walked. Some of them molded and some didn’t. There didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason to it. He tossed them aside as they continued.
“I think we need another cooked meal for dinner,” Aloren said. “It’s been a rough day.”
Her voice hitched on the word “rough,” and Jacob wished there was something he could do to help them all feel better. Half of him wanted to rest for several hours, but the other half—the side that he wanted to win—urged him not to stop, not to walk, but to run. He had to get to his dad and sister! He pushed that aside for the time being, though, knowing that what Aloren had said earlier was correct. If they pushed themselves too hard, they’d never make it. And getting there at all—getting Amberly out of the castle—was more important than pushing themselves to death.
“Good idea,” Akeno said. “Any requests? I enjoy cooking and will take care of it.”
“Steak and eggs,” Jacob said promptly.
Akeno laughed. “Any requests for food we actually have?”
Jacob frowned. “What do we have?”
The Makalo started pulling food from his pack as he walked, handing it to the others to hold. “Eggs, potatoes, bacon—salted and cured, doesn’t need cooking—carrots, and hey! Even some dried beef.” He grinned up at Jacob. “You might get what you want after all.”
Jacob rubbed the back of his neck. “Man, if we’d known you still had that much food, we could’ve skipped going to Macaria.”
Akeno shook his head. “This is all I have. It will last us maybe two meals. Unless we want to go on severe rations, which I don’t recommend.”
Everyone handed the food back, and Akeno packed it up, putting his knapsack over his shoulders again. Jacob found himself wishing they’d taken advantage of Akeno’s cooking talent a lot earlier. He also wished they’d been given more time by the Lorkon.
Speaking of the Lorkon, would they let him know through one of those beetle things when he missed the deadline? Jacob had a few more hours to go. The Lorkon castle was still a long way away—he couldn’t even see it anymore,
due to the thick trees around them.
He sighed. Their detour into Macaria had cost so much precious time.
Jacob finished with the rocks and shoved his hands in his pockets, keeping pace with the other two. He wanted to ask Aloren about her parents, especially now that he knew what her “right motivation” was, but he didn’t want to pry. How would she respond to personal questions? Probably not well, given how she’d reacted earlier.
Jacob rolled his eyes at himself, pushing aside his hesitations. Who cared if she snapped at him?
“Aloren, how did your parents get separated?” he asked.
“I don’t really know. My mom had some memory problems that she got from an injury. I’ve always had the feeling it was a very traumatic experience for her.”
“What were your parents like?”
“My father wasn’t anyone really important, socially. I think he was one of many who worked in the stables at the castle. And I think my mother was a lady-in-waiting for a rich family in Maivoryl City. She spoke frequently about the woman she worked for, but was never clear about the details.”
“What about your brother?” Jacob asked. “What do you know about him?”
“Only a few things my mother told me. He was a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy with dimples. He was a tease, even though he was only two or three.”
Aloren had been so annoying from the beginning, but at least now he understood why. She was a girl on a mission hiding a broken heart. “Why do you believe he’s in Maivoryl City?”
“Because it’s the only place I haven’t looked for him. No one has left or entered the city for so many years—it would make sense if he was there.”
“If no one has been able to leave it, how do you know for sure that people are still there?”
“They were when my mother left.”
“But how do you know any of them are still alive?”
Akeno shot a warning glance at Jacob, probably wanting him to back off with the questions.
“I guess I don’t know,” she said. “I just feel the need to go search the city. Please, Jacob, try to understand. If you were in my place, and your only sibling was lost, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to find them?” She growled in exasperation. “I already know the answer to that, and so do you. You would do anything to protect someone you care about.”
Forsaken Prince (Kilenya Chronicles Book 1) Page 9