Chapter 18. Sacrifices
Jacob leaned back from the table and patted his stomach, completely satisfied for the first time in days. And not only because he’d just eaten a delicious meal, but also because he was back home, with all the people he loved most. He sighed. Everyone—the entire group—was waiting in the next room.
“Ready, son?” Dad asked from the kitchen doorway.
Jacob nodded.
“All right. Let’s get the meeting started.”
After Jacob escaped the fortress, Mom and Ebony insisted that Akeno shrink Jacob and put him in a Minya container. It took him a little over a day to heal. He’d only been awake for an hour, and everyone had been hanging around, impatiently waiting to hear what had happened.
Apparently, Early was unable to deliver messages once Jacob got the window worked out of its frame. He’d kept her too busy. Jacob felt bad—his family must’ve gone completely crazy with worry. He could only imagine how stressful it had been for them—unable to do anything, not knowing what was going on.
And speaking of Early—he hadn’t seen her since coming back. How was she? Where had she gone? Probably off to take a break from being ordered around. He smiled to himself. The poor Minya.
He got up from the table and entered the living room, aware of all eyes on him. He felt a flush race across his cheeks and took his seat next to Dad and Mom.
“Start from where you were separated from the group,” Dad said.
Jacob explained being knocked unconscious and Keitus trying to force him to find the Key of Ayunli. He briefly described escaping. Aloren interrupted to say he was crazy for going back to get his sword, but Dad laughed. He’d have done the same thing at Jacob’s age. Jacob then filled them in on everything he’d learned, deciding not to tell them he’d almost joined Keitus.
Mom gasped when she heard about Keitus trying to turn Jacob into a Lorkon. “We would never have known!”
The Fat Lady, who had been quiet up until this point, nodded. “The process is very painful and takes a long time.” She looked at Kenji and Brojan. “It’s a good thing both of you had the idea to put Rezend in him. Sounds like that really fouled Keitus’s plans.”
Brojan nodded. “Yes, it’s a huge relief to know this, actually.”
Jacob glanced at his dad. “Is it all right if I ask a bunch of questions?”
“Of course. And we’ll answer the ones we can.”
“Azuriah said I inherited things that didn’t come from Rezend or the Lorkon. What did he mean?”
Dad laughed. “You ask the question we can’t answer without permission from Azuriah.” He settled into his chair. “What did he tell you?”
“That the abilities were more pure, more intelligent or something.”
Dad nodded. “And he’s right. We can’t expand beyond that, however. You’ll have to wait until Azuriah deems it appropriate for you to know.”
Jacob rolled his eyes. “Which means I might not ever find out. He’s super, super temperamental.”
“Yes, he can be difficult—but you’ll get used to that. I’m sure he plans to teach you everything eventually. Next question?”
“What happens now with the Shiengols?”
Aldo motioned out the window with his hand. “They’ve already left to recruit more of their kind from the other parts of Eklaron. They plan to come back and help us fix things here.”
“Not Azuriah, though,” Mom said to Jacob. “He’s going to be training you when he returns.”
Jacob wrinkled his nose. He wasn’t sure he’d enjoy those training sessions. “Oh, speaking of recruiting, have we heard from the Wurbies yet?”
Gallus shook his head. “No, not yet. We’ll touch bases with Fubble over the next few days.”
“And what happens now? With the Lorkon?” Jacob hesitated. “Do you think they’ll keep trying to get at me?”
Mom took a long breath. “We’ve been worried about this.”
“The short answer is yes,” Ebony said. “We feel Keitus was bluffing about destroying you.”
Jacob snorted. “He sure made it believable.”
“Well, of course he would. He needed you to think he was telling the truth.”
“The point is,” the Fat Lady said, “until Keitus gets his hands on the Key of Ayunli or Key of Kilenya—both of which require your help—he’s pretty much stuck.”
“Unless he finds a way to get the Key of Ayunli without Jacob,” Aloren said quietly.
Jacob shivered at that thought. “Is that a possibility?”
Aldo nodded. “Of course. I was unsuccessful at finding the Key, but that doesn’t mean Keitus will be. For all we know, he has access to a lot more information than we do.”
Jacob rubbed his face. “Okay, what happens now?”
“We prepare to defend ourselves—the Lorkon are on the offense, and they’re not going to wait for us. They’ll do everything they can to move forward with their plans.”
Dad made a steeple with his fingers, tapping them on each other. “We need to figure out what our plan will be.”
Aldo nodded. “Azuriah’s instructions were explicit. Jacob must finish learning his abilities. He’ll have to act as spy for us, and if he isn’t in complete control, he’ll put all of us in unnecessary danger.” He smiled apologetically at Jacob, then continued. “Also, in due time, we need to find out what’s going on in Fornchall. We can save that topic for a later time.” He turned to Dad. “Have we discussed everything on the agenda?”
“Yes, we’re about finished here.”
“Good. ‘Cause it’s about time I got home.”
Dad chuckled. “What’s left of your home, you mean?”
“Oh, no. I’ve moved into the Makalos’ farming area to oversee the humans there. Many of them will be ready soon for the upcoming war.”
Aloren wrinkled her nose. “And we’re sure there has to be one?”
Gallus knitted his eyebrows, looking at Aloren. “Not unless you can see another way to get rid of the Lorkon.”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
“The Lorkon won’t go away peacefully. I’m afraid things will be pretty ugly.”
Dad took a deep breath. “Well, this meeting is adjourned. Jacob, go ahead and take everyone home.”
Jacob stood up, motioning for the rest to follow. He took Gallus and the Fat Lady back first, then Aldo and the Makalos. He was about to return home when Kenji stopped him.
“Ebony and I need to talk to you about something.”
“Oh? Okay.”
Jacob looked at Kenji, but couldn’t tell by the Makalo’s emotion colors what he was thinking. He Keyed them from the tree to their house. It was dark inside and Kenji touched the wall, lighting up the stream of silver in the stone. The Makalos motioned for Jacob to have a seat at the table. They joined him, colors finally starting to swirl around them. They were nervous. Why?
Kenji leaned forward, clasping his hands. “We’ve spent a great deal of time over the past little while discussing something with Early.”
Jacob raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“We were hesitant to bring it up with you at first, knowing how your father feels about Minyas, but Early was very insistent.”
Ebony laughed. “And persuasive.”
“About what?”
“She has decided to call the Makalos her owners no longer. She wants to belong to you.”
Jacob’s mouth popped open. “Really?”
Kenji nodded. “And once a Minya has chosen an owner, you can’t change their mind.”
Ebony hurriedly put her hand on Jacob’s arm, and her words rushed out. “Do you want to keep her? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. We told her not to expect anything. And she won’t be too much of a bother—we made her promise not to annoy you—”
“Of course I want to keep her! It would be so awesome! How cool!”
Ebony’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah! I mean, she’s been like my best f
riend for the past several days and all. I wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for her.”
“So, that settles it, then,” Kenji said. A grin spread across his face. “She’s yours to keep.”
Just then, something zipped through the air so fast, Jacob wasn’t sure what it was until it hit him in the side of the head. Early, of course.
“Oh, Jacob!” she said. “Thank you, thank you! I have a new owner! I get to stay with you forever!”
Jacob beamed at her exuberance. He could see her extreme colors of happiness out of the corner of his eye as the Minya hugged his face.
Suddenly she stopped. “I’m gonna go tell September. He didn’t think you’d want me!” With a flash, she disappeared.
Jacob laughed. “Wow.”
He couldn’t believe his luck—he had his very own Minya!
Kenji and Ebony grinned. Their eyes met, all signs of nervousness gone.
Jacob stopped smiling, realizing something. He couldn’t take care of another pet—Tito and the chickens were hard enough as it was. “What does this mean, though?” he asked. “How do I take care of her?”
Kenji shrugged. “It’s not hard. She’ll feed and entertain herself. It just means she most likely won’t answer so quickly when we call for her, but that she’ll check up on you all the time—it might even get annoying with how frequently.” He stood. “Like Aloren’s Hazel, Early may choose to have a permanent Minya container placed in your room for her to sleep in. She’ll go everywhere with you, unless she wants to do something else.”
Jacob nodded, his smile broadening again.
Early flitted back to him and nestled in his hair. Kenji chuckled, and Ebony gave Jacob a hug goodbye. Jacob let himself out, deciding to walk to the tree and Key home from there.
When he got back, Mom and Dad were waiting for him in the living room. The expressions on their faces said they had something serious to talk about, and Jacob quickly put thoughts of Early out of his mind. He decided to tell his dad about her later.
“Honey,” Mom said, motioning for Jacob to have a seat next to her, “your dad and I have been discussing a few things. Well, one in particular.”
Jacob didn’t like her tone of voice. Not only that, but the colors swirling around her indicated discomfort. His heart beat sped up. “Yeah? About?”
“You—your future. You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. Azuriah made it clear that he expects to train with you for several hours a day.”
Jacob thought he could see where this was going. “I’ll be really stressed, I know. I’ve been thinking about it, and I know I can’t overdo things. I figured out really quickly while in the fortress that pressure and Time-Seeing don’t go together.”
“Not only that,” Dad said. He looked uncomfortable. “But . . .”
Jacob swallowed. “Okay, just spit it out. You’re making me really nervous.”
Dad took a deep breath. “We’ve been thinking about pulling you out of school and hiring a tutor.”
Jacob’s jaw dropped. “But . . . that means . . . basketball . . .”
“You’d have to quit JV,” Dad said, nodding. “Which is important to you. This, however, is more important.”
“I don’t understand—I did everything fine before, when we were getting ready to rescue Aloren.”
“Honey, we know,” Mom said. “But it’s much different—this time, almost everything depends on how you handle things. We don’t want to over-stress you, and your dad and I feel that if you had one-on-one time with a teacher a few times a week, it would be better than having you gone several hours a day.”
Jacob felt his eyes smart—he wasn’t about to cry. Not in front of his parents. “But I’ve worked so hard!”
Mom put her arms around him. “You have. You really have. Think about it this way—if things go smoothly, you’ll be able to register again your junior year. You’ll make it on varsity easily.”
“I can’t just drop out! I’ve never not been on a team! And everyone will think it’s because I didn’t make varsity.”
“Think it over,” Dad said. “We’ll give you some time to adjust to the idea.”
Jacob stood. “I—”
He couldn’t continue the conversation. He had to be alone. He quickly walked out of the room and ran up the stairs to his bedroom, shut his door, then fell on the bed. Without basketball, he wasn’t sure where he’d be. He needed it! It helped him concentrate and feel good and . . . and . . . it wasn’t fair! Why didn’t anyone else have to sacrifice like this? Why weren’t they telling Aloren she couldn’t go to school? Or Matt?
Jacob jerked to his side, answering his own question. Because they didn’t have “special abilities.” Well, curse his gifts! He didn’t ask for them and he didn’t want them!
He scowled at the wall, feeling the bitterness creep across him. A part of him recognized that maybe, if he threw a big enough fit, he’d be able to continue playing basketball at the school. He let those emotions rush over him—getting his way. Pushing other people around.
Then he took a deep breath—that wasn’t how he was, and he didn’t want to hurt his family.
He rolled to his back again. But then . . . the only thing he could do was to go along with his parents.
Jacob covered his face with his pillow.
An hour later, someone knocked on his door. Matt didn’t wait for the go-ahead to come in, but did so anyway, then grabbed Jacob’s desk chair, spun it around, and straddled it.
Neither said anything for several moments.
Finally, Matt cleared his throat. “Mom just told me what’s going on.”
Jacob nodded, putting the pillow aside.
“I’m sorry—I know how much it sucks.”
Jacob nodded again. He didn’t need to respond.
“I’ve been thinking, though.” Matt paused. “You’re working toward getting on varsity, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And you don’t have to stop playing ball just because you can’t be on the team anymore, right?”
Jacob took a deep breath, then sat up. He hadn’t thought of that. “I guess so.”
“Well, look at it this way. We’ll all help you keep up on your skills. You won’t fall behind—you were already way ahead anyway. And not only that, but I really do believe what Aldo said about the Lorkon intending to come and destroy everything. We can’t just stay here, ignoring them. It will happen eventually.” He paused again. “So . . . by dropping out for a while to work on your abilities and figure things out in Eklaron, you’re actually working toward making varsity. ‘Cause if we don’t stop the Lorkon, there won’t be a varsity team in a couple of years anyway.”
Jacob thought on that for several moments, then nodded. “Maybe you’re right.” When put that way, it made sense. There wasn’t any way the Lorkon would let Jacob continue playing basketball if they took over his life.
“Cheer up, Jake. This isn’t the worst thing ever. Other people have had to make bigger sacrifices.”
Jacob looked his brother in the eye for a moment. “I know. But it’s still really dumb.”
Matt agreed and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. He played with the rungs in the back of the chair, possibly giving Jacob time to think.
Jacob ran his hand through his hair. What Matt said really hit him—sacrificing. If it meant saving his family and loved ones and even basketball, he could sacrifice his biggest goals for a season. It was a noble thing to do—putting the needs of other people ahead of his own. He’d already had a lot of practice doing that, and had even considered joining Keitus to save his family.
He took a few deep breaths. “I’ve got so much to do. I don’t know how I’ll get everything done.”
Matt sagged in the chair. “Yeah, I’m glad I’m not in your spot.”
Jacob reached over and playfully slugged his brother on the shoulder. “It would’ve been better if you were—you could’ve figured everything out by now.”
Matt shook his
head. “Nah. You’ve done a really good job.”
Jacob looked at his hands. “Thanks.”
“Wanna play a game of one-on-one?”
Jacob looked up and snorted. “Why? So you can lose?”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I practiced while you were gone. I’m even better than before.”
Jacob laughed. “I doubt that.”
“Oh! A challenge! Game’s on!”
The brothers jumped up to leave the room, Matt’s colors switching from concerned to cheerful. He paused before they headed down the stairs. “I’ve only got one request.”
“What’s that?”
“Hurry up and save the world so I can still be captain of the football team.”
Jacob snorted. So much for Matt’s talk about sacrifice.
They raced outside and into the snowy weather to play ball.
Jacob won. He always did.
###
Note from the author:
Thank you!
About the Author (August Fortress Version)
Andrea Pearson is a reading and outdoor enthusiast who enjoys playing the piano and viola. She loves hiking and biking with her husband, oil painting, drawing, watching movies (especially ones with Rifftrax), spending time with family and close friends, and thunderstorms.
Andrea and her husband are expecting their first and are eager to welcome a future artist/author to their family.
Connect with her online:
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Twitter
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Website
Join her email mailing list
(She doesn’t sell or misuse email addresses or send long, frequent emails)
Books by Andrea Pearson:
The Kilenya Series:
The Key of Kilenya
The Ember Gods, Kilenya Series Book Two
August Fortress, Kilenya Series Book Three
Rise of Keitus, Kilenya Series Book Four
Eyes of the Sun, Kilenya Series Book Five (coming soon)
Kilenya Series Book Six – title and book coming soon
Kilenya Romances:
Samara: A Kilenya Romance
For information on the above books, click here. (https://www.andreapearsonbooks.com/p/my-books.html)
This book is available in print at most online retailers.
Acknowledgments for August Fortress
I’d like to start by sending a big hug and kiss to my husband for our many productive brainstorming sessions, and for his patience and loyalty. I love you! I’d also like to thank my family (especially Mom, Dad, and Josh, for acting as beta readers), and my two great friends, Jenni James and Tristi Pinkston, for their support and devotion.
Tristi, who is also my professional editor, deserves a huge thanks for her patience and hard work on this project, along with James Curwen, my cover designer and illustrator, and BJ Rowley, my typesetter. I really appreciate the three of you!
My invaluable beta readers, Lon Pearson, Jaclyn Weist, and Sarah Kammer (along with the rest who helped with portions here and there) each deserve millions of dollars and lots of respect for keeping deadlines and providing excellent feedback.
I also owe gratitude to Jon Schmidt, Steven Sharp Nelson, and the rest of the Piano Guys for providing music that helps me get into my writing mode. Thanks for the beautiful and inspiring songs!
A big hug goes to my Wattpad readers and fans, especially Paco, Chris, and Sarah, for their enthusiasm and encouragement.
And last, but perhaps most important, my readers! Thank you for your letters, artwork, friendship, and for continuing Jacob’s journey with me!
Kilenya Series Books 1, 2, and 3 Page 125