“Looks like the clouds are leaving,” Akeno said, jumping up and dashing toward the entrance.
“Finally!” Jacob said, following Akeno.
“Wait!” Aloren called out.
They both stopped and looked back at her.
“We need to be cautious. Sometimes he hovers above the southern mountains and watches from there.”
“Aargh,” Akeno said. “I don’t want to be cautious.”
They waited for Aloren to take the lead, then walked toward the exit of the cave, being careful to stay as close to the sides as possible. Aloren paused every couple of feet, peering into the sky.
The first step outside was a little unnerving. There were still a few clouds above the mountains to the south. However, after they had watched for a few long moments, nothing happened, and Jacob relaxed. Aloren smiled in relief.
Akeno pulled out the Minya container and released Early, giving her instructions to send an update to his parents. Rather than waiting for her to return, knowing she’d catch up easily, they started down the mountain toward the trail.
Jacob ached in a few spots where he’d hit the wall, but the pains were easily ignored, and as he walked, those pains started disappearing anyway. Being outside was so refreshing, he found it hard to focus on anything negative.
Early caught up with them. “Jacob’s mother is in Taga Village!”
Jacob turned, his heart skipping a beat. “Really? She is? How’s she feeling?”
“Great! One of the Makalos slipped her Kaede sap while she was in the hospital, and she’s all better.”
Jacob chewed the inside of his cheek, his emotions warring with each other. He was excited that his mom was feeling better, but a fresh wave of guilt rushed over him. He didn’t want to ask how his mom felt about him missing his deadline. About his dad getting tortured, with his sister potentially there to watch.
“Kenji said you’d be traveling near the cottage of the Fat Lady,” Early said. “You need to stop and talk to her. She’ll help you prepare to meet the Lorkon.”
“Where does she live?” Jacob asked.
“On the other side of Ridgewood. Kenji sent a warning—they haven’t had contact with her because she has a lock on her cabin preventing magical visitors. He said to be careful because she might be like Aldo.” Early floated to Akeno, ready to go back in her container.
Jacob started jogging down the trail. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover,” he called over his shoulder. “And we just got in a lot of rest. Time to push forward.”
Aloren and Akeno caught up, and Aloren pointed ahead. “Ridgewood is around that bend. I should warn you—it’s a really weird place, with some of the strangest people you’ll ever come across.”
Jacob frowned. “Strange? In what way?”
“They’re superstitious about Maivoryl City. They do everything in their power to stop people from passing through their town. That’s one of the reasons why I’ve never made it to Maivoryl City.”
Jacob slowed to a walk, realizing they needed a plan. “How do they stop people?”
Aloren tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “By trying to kill them. Last time, they actually succeeded in killing a member of my group. They believe we’re better off dead than continuing on and never returning.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow. How did the members of this town possibly justify murder? “That’s pretty extreme.”
“Not to them,” Aloren said, shaking her head. “They have a law that forbids anyone to go to the city, and the punishment for breaking it is death.”
“That’s ridiculous. How do their laws apply to people who don’t live here? Or who have no say in the making of the law or how it’s carried out? Or who don’t even know about it?”
“I really don’t think they thought about democracy when setting up their rules,” Akeno said.
“That’s pretty apparent,” Jacob said. “All right. Let’s figure out how to get past them.” They reached the bend in the trail and he stared at the town, spread across a large area of land between the lake and the forest. A small river flowed through the place from the mountain.
“Whatever we decide to do, we need to figure it out fast, before they see us,” Aloren said.
Jacob looked at the landscape surrounding the city. “Maybe we could go around? Through the trees on the hill?”
“No, they keep lookouts up there at all times. And before you ask, going through the water is also a really bad idea.”
“Why?”
“There are many different varieties of fish in the lake, besides Eetu, and most will destroy you if given the chance. The Eetu fish start coming closer to the surface to feed in the evening, and you already know what will happen if we encounter one of them.” Aloren looked at the lake. “We tried it once. A member of the group was attacked and severely injured before we realized what was happening. Three men tried to help her while the rest of us swam to shore as fast as we could. None of those four made it. When we got out of the water, the people of Ridgewood were waiting for us.”
Jacob frowned, glad he hadn’t been there. How horrible. “What happened next?”
“After interrogating us and keeping us in prison for more than a month, they made us promise never to try going to Maivoryl City again. Now they’ll just kill anyone who attempts it.”
“So, we can’t go through the water on the south, and we can’t go through the forest on the north,” Jacob said. “And we can’t very well go under the town. What else can we do?”
“Well,” Akeno started, “I could shrink both of you and have Early transport you to the other side of the city.”
“What about you?” Jacob said. “How would you get across?”
“Use the trees, of course,” he said, pointing up at the forest.
Aloren gave Akeno an incredulous look. “I just said it isn’t possible to go that way.”
Akeno gave a mischievous smile. “But when was the last time a Makalo attempted it?”
Chapter Thirty
“I’ll have the trees hide me,” Akeno said, “and, if necessary, lift me and carry me across their branches. No one will see me, and it won’t take any time at all.”
Jacob watched Aloren as she thought it through. She bit her lip. “Okay, we’ll try it,” she said. “But let’s get it done as soon as possible. I want to travel by sunlight as long as we can.”
“Okay, ladies first,” Akeno said.
He had Aloren stand a few dozen feet away, then took Early out of his knapsack and explained what she was going to do. Once both were ready, Akeno reached out, squinting one eye. Aloren disappeared, then reappeared on Akeno’s palm.
After making sure she was okay, Akeno had Early pick her up. Aloren was a little smaller than the Minya, and it didn’t look like Early struggled with the girl’s weight.
“Fly her over the city,” Jacob said. “Make sure you stay high.”
Early flitted off and reappeared a few minutes later, and it was Jacob’s turn. He ran down the trail to where Aloren had stopped, then turned to face Akeno. One second, he was being pinched around his waist, and the next, he stood in Akeno’s hand. Early picked him up, and before he’d adjusted to being held by a Minya, they’d landed on a huge rock next to Aloren.
Jacob asked Early to make sure Akeno didn’t need help, and to send word if anything went wrong. She left, and Jacob and Aloren sat on the rock to wait.
They were alone for the first time, and Jacob felt self-conscious. He racked his brain, trying to think of something to say, and grabbed the first thing that came to mind. “You have a dimple in your cheek,” he said. He paused, then blurted out the rest. “Did you know that dimples are tissue defects?”
She gave him one of those looks only a girl can give.
“Um, not that you’re defective or anything.” He scrambled for words, and then gave up. A skeptical expression crossed Aloren’s face, and he felt his cheeks redden. Idiot. He kicked himself mentally, wishing he’d just kept his trap s
hut. He breathed a sigh of relief when Akeno and Early arrived.
Akeno returned them to their normal size, and they started out again, reaching a small path that led through the tall grass a few minutes later. A cabin sat in a meadow about four hundred yards away from the main trail. A clothesline hung to the right, and they could see a paddock behind the cabin to the left.
“I’m guessing this is it,” Jacob said.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to call her ‘fat’?” Aloren said as they approached the cabin. “I mean, who likes to be called fat?”
Jacob ran his fingers through his hair. “I say we just not use her name unless it’s necessary.”
They arrived at the cabin, and Jacob knocked.
No answer. He knocked again.
“Go away,” a woman’s gruff voice shouted.
“Can we talk to you?” Jacob yelled through the door. He heard someone moving around, but no one answered the door. “We were told to stop here!”
“I’m sure you were. Go away!”
“No,” Jacob said. “Kenji sent us, and we’re not leaving until you open this door.”
“And why should I believe you?”
Jacob turned to Aloren and Akeno. “She’s not going to open it.”
“Let me try,” Akeno said. “Kenji is my father,” he yelled through the crack.
“Right. As if that’s the truth.”
“No!” Jacob yelled. “He’s serious! Kenji said we needed to stop by the Fat Lady’s cabin, and she would tell us what we need to do to face the Lork—”
The door swung wide open. “Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?”
The group of travelers took a step back, looking up. The woman standing before them was huge—at least six hundred pounds, maybe more, and well over six feet tall. Nothing like the Fat Lady in Harry Potter. She smiled at them, showing an odd assortment of teeth. The top, which were mostly missing, were blackened and crooked, while the bottom teeth were straight, smooth, and pearly white. She wore massive earrings, and the holes in her lobes were stretched out. Her hair was light brown, piled in a knotty-looking mess on top of her head. Her lids were puffy, making her eyes look tiny.
She reached out with a large hand and pulled the three inside, slamming the door shut and pushing them in front of her into the main room of the cabin. “So, tell me,” she said. “What news do you bring from Taga Village?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Jacob and his friends exchanged glances.
The Fat Lady let out a booming laugh. “Cat got your tongue, eh?” Plopping into a large, furry-looking chair, she propped her feet up on a table in the middle of the room. “Sit, sit,” she said, motioning to a couch that was surrounded by piles of paper and junk.
Jacob was the first to move. He knew Akeno wouldn’t sit on the end of the couch closest to the woman, so he did.
“Tell me who you are,” the Fat Lady said. “Never seen anyone as big as me, have you?”
Aloren shook her head and glanced at Jacob, who wasn’t sure what to say.
“Speak up, speak up!” The Fat Lady pointed her finger at Aloren. “You first. What’s your name, where’re you from.” It came across more as a demand than a question.
“My name is Aloren. I’m from Macaria.”
“Ah. It’s been quite some time since I traveled that far. I usually only get ten feet in front of my cabin before giving up and going back home.” She laughed again and pointed at Akeno. “I’m assuming you’re the one who claims to be Kenji’s son.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Akeno said, his voice shaking. “I’m his eldest. My name is Akeno.”
“It has been several years since I last saw your parents.” She picked up a vial from the table, put a drop of the contents on her finger, then rubbed her bottom teeth. She jerked her finger toward Jacob, who almost jumped up until he saw she was merely pointing. He’d thought she was going to smear some of the stuff on him. “And you? Who are you, and who do you belong to?”
“My name is Jacob. My parents are Lee and Janna—I mean, Dmitri and Arien—”
The Fat Lady squealed loudly, slamming her hands on the armrests. “Oh, I’ve been expecting you!” She laughed, wagging her finger at him. “Didn’t think you were gonna hear me say something like that, did ya?”
He expected pretty much anything to happen here, but he decided not to say so and ruin her fun.
She jumped to her feet and strode to a cabinet on the other side of the room, dodging the junk and stacks of papers placed randomly on the floor.
“Oh, and call me Fat Lady,” she said. “It’s the password to enter my house, and I won’t answer to anything else.”
Walking back to the couch, she handed a vial to each member of the group. “Akeno and Aloren, drink this now. Jacob, wait to take yours. It won’t do to have you seeing things you shouldn’t see right now.”
What was she talking about? And what would the potion do to him? Jacob looked at the corked vial in his hand. The glass was swirled brown and blue, full of a dark, runny liquid. Akeno and Aloren’s potion was different, more of a rose color.
“I really didn’t expect you to bring others, so it’s a good thing I thought to make those up just in case,” the Fat Lady said. “Can’t say I blame ya, though. You know this trip will be extremely dangerous, I’m sure. All your lives are at risk. But who cares these days? As long as the job gets done, right?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the Lorkon castle. “Do you know anything about that city?”
Jacob met eyes with Akeno before looking at the woman again. “Not really, no.” He knew hardly anything about Eklaron. Or the Lorkon, for that matter—besides what they looked like.
“Eh, it’s probably better that way,” she said, picking up a dirty towel that had been crumpled in the seat of her chair. She shook it out, causing a cloud of dust to fly in the air, then tossed it on the table and sat with a thump. “Knowing too much can cause a lot of problems, you know.”
Was she crazy? “I disagree,” Jacob said. “It’s better to know as much as possible before doing anything that might be dangerous, since—”
“Yes, you would, wouldn’t you?” the Fat Lady said, peering down at Jacob. “It is, after all, second nature to you.” Her voice changed to a more businesslike tone. “Knowing as little as possible in this case is in your best interest, though.”
How would she know what was second nature to him, and what was in his “best interest”? He’d never met her before in his life. Jacob scowled and looked at Akeno, who still fingered his vial.
The Fat Lady also glanced at the Makalo. “Boy, you’d better drink that! You’ll wish you were dead if you don’t!”
Akeno didn’t move to drink it, instead looking at Aloren, who shrugged. “Bottoms up,” she said, emptying the vial into her mouth and swallowing. “Wow, bitter!” she gasped.
The Fat Lady guffawed, slapping her knee. “What were you expecting? Fruit juice?”
Akeno also swallowed his, with much the same reaction as Aloren.
“Why do I have to wait to take mine?” Jacob asked.
“Because theirs were designed to prevent reactions, and yours was designed to control reactions. If you drink it too soon, we’d have problems. And if we were to prevent your reactions, we’d all be in trouble, wouldn’t we?” She smiled her odd grin.
Jacob just stared at her, not sure what to think or say.
“Oh, come on—tell me you’ve noticed that some things affect your companions that don’t affect you.”
Jacob blinked. “Not really.”
“Well, get this. They aren’t going to be affected by those things any more now that they drank the potion.” She put her legs on the table again.
He was so confused, he didn’t even know where to start or what to say. Should he contradict her? “What about me?”
“What about you?”
“What does the potion do to me?”
“Well, you’re a special case. If you take tha
t potion now, you’ll be really messed up, and the potion would be diluted by your blood, taking away its effectiveness. Then, when the thing happens that is supposed to cause your reaction, it’ll most likely kill you. Either that, or turn you evil. So, thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather you take the potion when you need it. Oh, and the time to take it is when you feel you have no control over your body. Have them help you,” she said, pointing at the other two.
“What—when I feel like I have no control?” Jacob asked. Was she purposely being vague, or would he really be in danger if he knew more?
“But of course!” she said. “You know, when your body goes haywire, and you don’t know what’s going on anymore? I have no idea when it will happen. Figure it out yourself.”
Her demeanor changed again and she stood, looking intently at Jacob. “When you get the key, come straight back here. No detours, no stopping for breaks, and no trying to figure out how to use the key until you’re here. The spells that allow only you to activate the key aren’t triggered unless you’re close to my cabin. It won’t even function until you’re near here.”
“I have to get my dad and little sister. That’s my biggest goal. I’m not coming back until I have them.”
The Fat Lady stared at him. “Your father is in Maivoryl City? Why would he do a stupid thing like that? And with a child, no less?”
Jacob scowled. “He’s not stupid. The Lorkon kidnapped him and my sister.”
“Not stupid? And he let himself get kidnapped? Heaven help us—our king is an idiot.”
Jacob’s jaw dropped. He was about to start yelling at her or throwing something, but she rode right over him.
“Get the key first—without it, chances of you getting home are zero.” She gripped his face. “Do you understand? Get the key, get your dad and sister, and come here. Then you can activate the key and go home.”
“Okay,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief when she released him.
The Fat Lady turned to Akeno and Aloren. “Don’t let the Lorkon touch you. The potion might prevent bad reactions, but it’ll be worthless against their blood.”
Forsaken Prince (Kilenya Chronicles Book 1) Page 12