Eyes of the Sun (Kilenya Series, 5)

by Andrea Pearson

  Jacob jumped to his feet. “We have to go find him. Now!”

  Azuriah shook his head. “He isn’t the only one unaccounted for, and you’ll anger Lirone further. He’ll cause even more damage to those remaining outside.”

  Jacob dropped to the ground, recognizing the sense in what Azuriah said. “This sucks.”

  Akeno sat next to Jacob. “I’m sure Sweet Pea is okay.”

  Jacob realized he should be comforting Akeno. “I’m sorry—you’re closer to him than I am.”

  “We both care about him.”

  Jacob nodded, swallowing hard past a lump in his throat. He had to change the subject before he cried. “Did you ever find out who his girlfriend is?”

  Akeno chuckled. “Yeah. There are only three eligible girls in the village anyway, so it wasn’t too difficult.”

  Jacob leaned against the cave wall. “What’s she like?”

  Akeno shrugged. “I don’t know. Cute, I guess. Her name is Juri.”

  “Juri? That’s weird.”

  “It’s a Japanese name. Mine and my dad’s are also Japanese.”

  Jacob frowned, head tilted. “Why do you guys all use names from Earth?”

  “I don’t know. Why shouldn’t we?”

  Jacob laughed. “Okay, so back to the girl. How did she and Sweet Pea end up together?”

  Akeno lowered his left hand, relaxing it on his knee, his ring finger shedding light around Jacob, Dad, and Gallus. The Shiengols had their own light source—their eyes.

  “Apparently, she’s been interested in him for a long time. He flirted with all the girls for the past couple of years before calming down. But Juri has always liked him. She went to all his fighting sessions with Ebony.”

  “Do you think they’ll get married?” Jacob asked.

  “Probably. Who else would he marry?”

  Jacob laughed. Good point. “What about you?”

  Akeno shrugged. “I’m not sure. Aside from the newest babies and a couple around Kaiya’s age, there are only two other Makalo girls. I guess I could go for one of them, but there are four other guys besides Sweet Pea and me. I might never find a companion. There simply aren’t enough available.”

  Jacob didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say to that.

  The cave hummed with quiet chatter and he leaned against the wall, impatient with having to wait for Azuriah to give the go-ahead.

  After fifteen or so minutes had dragged by, almost everyone rushed out of the cave. Dad and Jacob helped Gallus to the entrance, and then Gallus had them lower him back to the ground.

  “Go find Sweet Pea,” he said.

  Jacob made sure the man was comfortable, then he, Dad, and Akeno ran down the hill, calling out Sweet Pea’s name.

  “Where was he last?” Dad asked.

  “I think he and Aloren were on the west side—closest to Ridgewood,” Akeno said.

  Early was flitting near Jacob and he stopped her and asked her to help find the Makalo. Then he started down the hillside.

  He felt bad for passing injured Shiengols, but others were following him and would be able to care for them, and he was too worried about Sweet Pea to do much of anything to help. He was shocked at how many bodies and injured people were strewn around.

  Jacob’s fists clenched. What had gone wrong? He wanted to ask Azuriah while in the cave, but the Shiengol’s obvious anger and frustration made it apparent that if he asked then, he’d probably lose his head.

  Jacob had to jump over and around several gaping pits. He made the mistake once of looking into one and saw a severed arm. He couldn’t see where the rest of the body was, but the arm was too long to be Sweet Pea’s. It didn’t surprise him that most of the casualties were Shiengols—there hadn’t been many humans or Makalos.

  Dad and Akeno were closer to the lake. Jacob finished searching the area he’d chosen and joined them, calling Sweet Pea’s name.

  Right as they got to the water’s edge, Jacob thought he heard an answer. He grabbed Dad and Akeno, stopping them. “Shhh. Listen.” Then he called out Sweet Pea’s name again.

  A faint reply sounded back from the other side of a pile of shale rocks.

  Jacob scrambled around the rocks, followed by the other two, and dropped to his knees next to a shirtless Sweet Pea. He felt a tingling sensation at the back of his eyes. He was not going to cry—but Sweet Pea was alive! He was alive. Oh, thank goodness.

  “Water,” the Makalo gasped, reaching.

  Dad pulled his bag down from his back, got out his canteen, and poured some of its contents into Sweet Pea’s mouth.

  “My leg . . . my leg is gone.” Sweet Pea motioned to where he’d draped his shirt.

  Dad lifted the shirt and Jacob looked away, his stomach turning. Sweet Pea was right. His leg had been blown away by one of Lirone’s explosions. There was a lot of blood.

  Acting as if nothing was wrong, Dad took charge. “Let’s get you back to the village,” he said. He turned to Akeno. “Enlarge a door.” Then he looked at Jacob. “Be ready to open the link as soon as the door is situated.”

  Akeno rummaged through his knapsack. Jacob got to his feet as Aloren joined them, out of breath, speaking rapidly.

  “Azuriah needs Akeno to start enlarging doors and for Jacob to create links.” Her gaze dropped to Sweet Pea’s leg and she gasped. “Oh, no, Sweet Pea. Oh, no.”

  Sweet Pea gave a weak smile. “At least my biceps are still here.” He tried to flex his arms, but didn’t have the strength.

  “Keep as still as you can,” Dad said. “We’ll get you to the village soon.”

  Akeno enlarged the door right next to Azuriah who was helping up an injured Shiengol not far away, and Jacob jumped to create a link to Taga Village. He Keyed to the meadow, via the door in the tree, then stepped back so the injured people could go through first.

  But the moment he’d moved aside, a Makalo he didn’t know rushed through from the village. He must’ve noticed the open door. “We’re being attacked! Hurry! Someone help!”

  Azuriah and Jacob dashed through the link, then froze when they entered the meadow.

  Molgs, Dusts, and humans were demolishing the village. Jacob’s stomach dropped. What had happened? How did they get through the entrance?

  Dad, Aloren, and Ebony ran past Jacob and jumped into the middle of the fighting that was happening just feet away. Akeno stayed behind, helping Sweet Pea eventually get to the door by Sonda Lake. Jacob knew better than to join the fight—he wasn’t skilled enough and would add to the mess.

  Azuriah called back through the link, but only a couple of Shiengols joined him in battle. Why had the others stayed behind? Then Jacob realized they were exhausted and injured. Fighting in that condition would make things worse.

  Not sure what else to do, he closed the link, then opened the door again and rushed up the stairs of the tree where he watched from the windows of the fourth floor. Suddenly remembering Early, he pulled out her container.

  “Go tell Mr. Coolidge to send people to help,” he said, wondering why the noise hadn’t already drawn them.

  She disappeared with a flash, then came back a couple of seconds later.

  “He already has—all those who can fight are fighting.”

  Jacob pressed his face against the window and stared down. Things didn’t look good. The Makalos were falling back from the army, and there were barely any people fighting for them.

  This was the Lorkon army . . . so where were the Lorkon? Jacob looked everywhere, but they weren’t in the village. He Time-Saw and spotted them just outside Fornchall. Good—they weren’t an immediate threat.

  He returned his sight to the village, then leaned his hands against the glass when he noticed a flurry of action near the entrance.

  A man was there, sword fighting from behind the entire battalion. And from the looks of it, he was causing a lot of damage to the Lorkon army. Jacob pulled the telescope over and focused it on the guy. It was Myler! He’d come back! He hadn’t been killed by
the Argots. Jacob felt gratitude rush over him, not only because Myler was alive, but because he was on the good side.

  And man, could he fight! His sword was only a flash of metal here and there, causing Molgs, humans, and Dusts to fall to the ground before they’d even raised their weapons.

  The enemy quickly figured out that its weakest point was being attacked. Half of them turned to fight Myler, leaving their other side exposed to Azuriah, Dad, Aloren, and Ebony.

  As Jacob watched, a huge group of Dusts poured from the forest. His heart dropped. But then—no, those were Wurbies! They attacked the Dusts with energy, their hands turning into whatever weapon probably felt the most comfortable to them.

  Jacob would have laughed if he weren’t so stressed. Some of the Wurbies’ hands had changed into brooms and blankets. But even then, they were still pushing the Dusts back.

  Not long after, Dad and Azuriah’s group forced the army toward the previously blocked entrance while Myler stepped to the side, allowing the enemies to run past him. He joined Dad and fought from that end. Jacob’s jaw fell as he watched Azuriah use his pole, dropping enemies like flies. Azuriah was strong and fast enough to fight two to three people at the same time. It was incredible.

  Jacob finally understood why Azuriah had wanted him to learn the pole. The Shiengols combined their magical abilities with the speed of the weapon. They created shields that their poles could pierce without destroying, but which the weapons of the enemy couldn’t harm.

  If only every single Shiengol were there, this battle would have been super awesome, and over really fast.

  Then the village was clear and Jacob raced down the stairs.

  Dad, Aloren, Ebony, and Azuriah came down the hill, totally winded. Dad and Aloren were supporting Myler, who’d been injured. That didn’t surprise Jacob—the man had fought the same number of people as Azuriah, and without special weapons or magic.

  “They won’t be attempting that again anytime soon,” Azuriah said. He turned to Jacob. “Go get your injured friends. We have much to do.”

  Jacob jumped to comply—the Shiengol was clearly frustrated, and Jacob didn’t blame him. The entire day had been a disaster. Azuriah had been wrong about Lirone, and no one had even suspected that Taga wasn’t a safe place. What would happen now? Would they have Jacob re-do the seal on the entrance? His hands throbbed, thinking about it, but he would do whatever was needed.

  When he got back to the lake area, Jacob and Akeno tried to help Sweet Pea up, but the Makalo could barely move. Instead, they found a plank of wood, and with Aloren’s help, strapped Sweet Pea to it while Dad assisted Gallus.

  It took over an hour to get everyone through the link back to Taga Village.

  Sweet Pea and Gallus weren’t Jacob’s only friends who’d been injured in the two skirmishes. Ebony had scratches across her face. Kenji had multiple arm wounds. Sweet Pea’s parents were nowhere to be found and Jacob suspected they’d been killed. Jaegar was unscathed, but he was covered in blood anyway. Jacob was proud of his little friend after hearing that he had taken on the Dusts by himself until the Wurbies arrived to help.

  “But if it weren’t for him,” Jaegar said, pointing at Myler, “all of us would’ve been slaughtered.”

  Jacob felt his heart warming as he thought of Myler. He’d been right about the man! He smiled, lowering Sweet Pea to the ground with Akeno’s help. His smile left as he watched Sweet Pea’s expressions of agony. What an awful situation for the Makalo. It made Jacob’s stomach churn with pity and anger and frustration again.

  Ebony dropped her sword and strode forward. “Is it still bleeding?” she asked Akeno.

  Akeno put a rolled-up shirt under Sweet Pea’s head. “Yeah, it is.”

  Ebony nodded. “I’m going to have to cauterize it. I hope he hasn’t lost too much blood. Either way, he’ll be pretty sick for a while.” She looked at Dad. “Too bad we can’t take him to a hospital on Earth. He’d draw too much attention.” She turned back to the others and started issuing commands.

  Pretty soon, Sweet Pea had been laid on several clean blankets, she’d cleansed his stub, numbed it, then using a long-stemmed lighter, cauterized it. Sweet Pea was unconscious through most of the procedure, thank goodness.

  An hour after starting, Ebony put a blanket over him then had Akeno watch the Makalo and get him anything he needed when he woke up.

  After everyone made sure Sweet Pea would be okay, Jacob brought up Myler’s situation with Dad.

  Dad looked troubled, however. “This is very suspicious, you realize.”

  “Why? He saved lives! He fought against the Lorkon!”

  Dad shook his head. “Still—how did he know?”

  Jacob bit down his retort. Would nothing convince these people that Myler was on their side? “We need to have a meeting. And soon.”

  Dad sighed, straightening. “Agreed. Go get Mom and Matt. Then bring everyone here.”

  Jacob looked around, about to ask why they weren’t going to be meeting at Kenji’s house. But the entire village in the canyon crevices was smoldering and smoking. Jacob’s shoulders slumped. So many memories in this place. He clenched his fist and took a deep breath. The Lorkon would pay for it.

  Dad grabbed his shoulder. “There’ll be time for those emotions later. Get going.”

  Jacob nodded, took another deep breath, then left. Minutes later, everyone stood in awkward circles around Gallus and Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea was no longer unconscious, but was now sleeping, and Gallus had dragged himself until he was leaning against the outside of the tree.

  Mom put her hand to her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes. “So much death. So much destruction.”

  Dad opened his arms and Mom stepped into them.

  Aldo took a deep breath, turning to Kenji. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know,” Kenji said, shaking his head. “I was washing dishes when the alarm bells sounded.”

  “How many Makalos have been killed?” Dad asked, a worried expression on his face.

  “About thirty.”

  Mom gasped, backing out of Dad’s arms. “No. Oh, that’s horrible.”

  Kenji looked down, picking at the bandages Ebony had used to cover his wounds. “It seems like this might be the end of the Makalo race. There are only fifty remaining Makalos, most of whom are elderly or too young to defend themselves.”

  Ebony patted his arm. “We might survive yet.”

  “But without the protection on the entrance?” Kenji rubbed his face. “We’re doomed.”

  Jacob had never seen such despair in a Makalo before. It hurt his already aching heart. And he couldn’t even imagine his life without Makalos in it. He refused to acknowledge that. He looked at Sweet Pea, who’d awakened again and was grimacing from what Jacob imagined was a ton of pain.

  Jacob looked on, ignoring the stinging at the back of his eyes. This was a serious blow—so many Makalos dead, and Sweet Pea being one of the only true fighters. How would they survive another attack without him?

  Sweet Pea must’ve felt Jacob’s eyes on him. “I’ll be fine—it’ll grow back.”

  Jacob knew it wouldn’t, but he did have an idea. He looked at Azuriah. “Is it possible for me to take Sweet Pea to the past with me—to Onyev’s time—and have him get healed there?”

  “Theoretically, yes, but transporting him would probably kill him. It’s never advisable to take an injured person back and forth.”

  “But I did it with Matt and Aloren.”

  “And they were injured in the process.”

  “No, they were—”

  Mom put her hand on Jacob’s arm. “We didn’t tell you—we didn’t want you to feel bad. But the reason they were in the hospital so long was because of your ability. They would’ve been released after two or so days otherwise.”

  Jacob’s mouth popped open. “You should have told me! Why didn’t you?”

  “Because you were already so very upset, and what you were doing was more important. We couldn’t ri
sk you losing focus.”

  Jacob glared at the ground. “That’s stupid.”

  The Fat Lady cleared her throat. “Regardless of what’s stupid and not, we need to decide what we’re going to do about everyone who’s been injured.”

  Kenji took a deep breath. “We’ll use the rest of the Kaede Sap.”

  The Fat Lady shook her head. “What if it’s required to cleanse the trees of the Lorkon insects?”

  Kenji shrugged. “Then we won’t have any more sap.”

  Jacob stood. “No. Onyev said he was sure there would be an antidote of some sort to use against the Lorkon. It’ll work on the trees.”

  Kenji smiled, a little light entering his eyes. “If Onyev thinks that could work, then I’m sure it will.”

  Jacob nodded. He didn’t want to say that Onyev hadn’t even mentioned the bugs where the antidote was concerned, but that didn’t matter. He was positive his theory was correct. Once they found the Lorkon antidote, they’d be able to use it on the bugs and trees.

  “Okay, so let’s heal everyone, then,” Aldo said. “We simply can’t afford to have our entire army die.”

  Kenji motioned a Makalo over and had him go to the Kaede Sap storage area and bring everything out. While waiting, Ebony checked the bandages on Sweet Pea’s leg stump.

  Jacob paced. “We have to keep this from happening ever again. I’ll reseal the entrance. We’ll do everything we can to protect the Makalos.” He looked down at Sweet Pea. “Especially since so many of our fighters are injured.”

  Ebony chuckled bitterly. “There were only a few of us in the first place. Makalos always relied on their magic to protect themselves. We’re not strong, physically. And we don’t have time to train those who remain.”

  “Which makes having a sealed entrance even more important,” Jacob said.

  Azuriah shook his head. “Won’t work.”

  “Why not?” Jacob demanded.

  “Because they already know how to break through your magic.”

  “Azuriah is correct,” Dad said. “We can’t protect the village that way anymore.”