Chapter 4. Aldo’s Cabin
“Ow!” Matt said, tripping over a chair near Aldo’s front door.
The inside of the place was dark and dingy. Jacob breathed in a bunch of dust and coughed, hitting his chest to get the dust out.
“Jaegar, can you light up your finger, like Akeno can?” he asked.
“Of course.”
Blue light shone across the walls and sparse furnishings. Aldo wasn’t there, so the group tip-toed into the adjoining room. The sound of snoring came from a lump in the bed, and the boys stood in the doorway, watching the old man sleep.
Jacob frowned. “Maybe we should check outside—figure out how much time we have before the army comes.”
He returned to the front room, Jaegar following. They stepped to a window, and Jacob used his shirt to clear enough of the grime to see out. There wasn’t anything or anyone outside the cabin.
“How do we know the Dusts are coming, anyway?”
Jaegar shook his head. “Don’t know.”
“Okay, I’m going out to check on things. Jaegar, you keep a lookout from here.” It was probably a bad idea to leave the cabin, but he wanted to see how far away the army was.
From the doorframe, Jacob looked in both directions, then dashed to hide behind one of the fruit trees. A slight breeze lifted the hair off his forehead. He glanced back. Jaegar and Matt were both watching from the front steps.
Jacob poked his head around the tree and saw a group of advancing creatures in the distance. Three Molgs, and a ton of Dusts. He ran back into the cabin.
“They’re still really far away, and don’t have Sindons with them. We probably have ten minutes, at least, before they get here.” He pointed to a dirty burlap bag on the table. “Jaegar, how ‘bout you grab whatever you think Aldo will want with him in the village, and Matt and I’ll go get him.”
Jaegar snatched the bag off the table, and Jacob and Matt stepped into the other room.
“Who’s going to wake him up?” Jacob asked. “You?”
“No way, man,” Matt whispered. “You’ve met him before—you do it.”
Jacob grimaced, then shook Aldo’s shoulder. Nothing happened. He shook it again, a little more forcefully. Still no response.
Matt looked at the old man’s body. “Is he dead?”
Jacob leaned over Aldo. “No, he’s breathing. Maybe he’s a heavy sleeper?”
“Amberly’s a heavy sleeper, but she still wakes up when you shake her.”
“I know. Okay, you try.”
Matt grabbed Aldo’s left arm and made an attempt to pull him out of bed. The only result was the old man grumbling something, jerking away from Matt, and curling up in a tight ball. He kept snoring loudly.
“This is ridiculous,” Matt said.
“Aldo!” Jacob said loudly.
Aldo didn’t do anything.
Jacob raised his voice to a yell. “There’s an army coming to your cabin! You need to wake up!”
Aldo mumbled in his sleep and turned over.
Jacob and Matt met eyes. “What About Bob style?” Matt asked, referring to a family-favorite movie.
Jacob nodded. He put his knee on the edge of the bed, using his other leg for support, and grabbed the bed frame while Matt put his hands on Aldo’s shoulder. On the count of three, they began yelling Aldo’s name and shaking him and his bed.
Suddenly the old man leaped up, grabbed Jacob’s arms, and pinned them behind his back. Matt stumbled backward, knocking a picture off the wall.
“What was when?” Aldo asked. “What was when?”
“Aldo, it’s me, Jacob. I came a couple of weeks ago with Akeno—Kenji and Ebony’s son.”
“Why was the little blue bird whistling?”
“We got the Key, and now we have to take you back to the Makalo village. There’s a bunch of Dusts and Molgs coming. It’s not safe here anymore.”
Aldo let go of Jacob, who straightened his shirt. The old man was surprisingly strong for having such a wiry frame. Aldo then crossed to Matt, staring him in the eyes. “When did the green hills and grass sing?”
Matt raised his hands to defend himself in case Aldo attacked, but his face showed he was having a hard time not smiling. Jacob glared at Matt before responding to Aldo.
“That’s my brother, Matt.”
“When home’s story is a butterfly, cats walk on flowers.” Aldo glared at Matt, then picked up the picture that had fallen to the floor and tried to get it to stay on the wall. He giggled. “This parchment has met the sky too once!” It wouldn’t stick to the wall, so Aldo attempted to attach it to Matt’s shoulder. “Once was when they stood on toes. Is it not? Yes?” He frowned, peering at Matt, then tried to brush away the freckles on Matt’s face.
Matt’s smile grew as he nudged the old man away. “Hey, knock it off.”
“Whenever you’re here, I’m happy,” Aldo said. He smiled broadly at Matt, showing his messed-up teeth, and put the picture down. “Time to clear the smoke.” He strode from the room, and Matt let out a laugh.
“Wow. He’s really crazy.”
“Knock it off,” Jacob said. “It’s not funny.”
Aldo called from the front room. “Try it out for a try. See how it spins. Upside down, side to side. Whee!”
Then Matt really lost it, and Jacob couldn’t hide his grin anymore.
“Okay . . . okay . . .” Matt wiped his eyes. “Time to get him out of here.”
The two brothers walked into the front room, where Jaegar had just finished stuffing things in the bag.
Aldo snatched it from him. “Old women and old men love shoes.” He put the bag under one arm, glaring at Jaegar. “Squirrels are here for the taking.”
The doorknob jiggled.
Jaegar ran to the window. “They’re here!” he said, looking back at Jacob, a panicked expression on his face.
“How’d they get here so fast?” Jacob asked.
Something banged hard on the door. It pushed inward, and Jaegar and Matt jumped to hold it shut. Another bang, and one of the hinges broke off.
“The woman has brown hair!” Aldo shouted. “Facts and non-facts! Now!”
Jacob ran to a tall bookshelf and tried to push it in front of the door, but it didn’t budge. “Aldo!” he yelled. “Come help me!”
Surprisingly, the old man ran to obey him. Together they pushed and pulled the shelf. It started moving, but not fast enough.
A deafening roar split through the air. Was that Lirone? Jacob didn’t remember the sky monster roaring. If not, what in the world made a sound like that? Jacob looked to Jaegar, suddenly wishing Akeno were there. He’d know.
Then every glass object in the room shattered—the windows, the cups, the glass in the picture frames—and the people in the cabin were pelted with shards. Aldo began howling and stomping his feet.
“A Bald Henry!” Jaegar screamed. “We have to get out of here now!”
Dusts started climbing through the window frames. Another deafening roar.
Seconds later, every metal object in the room pulverized, including the hinges on the door. Little fragments were all that remained, and the air was full of metal dust.
“He’ll target another material next!” Jaegar yelled. “We have to use the Key before the door gets destroyed!” He and Matt pushed the Dusts and Molgs back out the windows while Jacob searched for a way to escape.
The shelf was partially blocking the door, and Jacob wasn’t sure he could get everyone through before the group outside forced their way in. Dusts were already using their hands as knives, cutting through the wood.
Another roar as Jacob spun around, heading to the door to Aldo’s room. Every brick was destroyed, showering them all with rocks and mortar. The boys called out in pain, and Aldo shrieked like he was being murdered.
Jacob and his friends were exposed to the army outside. The Molgs and Dusts froze, staring at them. Then they surged forward, climbing over the rubble that used to be Aldo’s walls.
Jacob whipped out the Key, his hands shaking, while Jaegar and Matt beat off the Dusts and tried to keep the Molgs away. The Molgs were too powerful, though, and Jacob had to push one away from Jaegar before he was able to face the door again. There wasn’t a keyhole.
He panicked. “There’s no hole! There’s no hole for the Key!”
“Put it closer to the door!” Jaegar yelled, wrestling three Dusts who had knives for hands. “It’ll come.”
Jacob held the Key near the door and shouted with excitement when a lock appeared. He shoved the Key into it and yelled, “Kenji’s house!” He then popped the door open, grabbed Matt, Jaegar, and Aldo, and pushed them through. He kicked several Dusts away, shoved a Molg—causing it to fall backward—and jumped into Kenji’s front room. Another ear-splitting roar. The wooden things around them splintered and shredded, and he slammed the door shut. He held it tightly. It vibrated for a moment, then stopped.
Jacob slid to the floor, panting from the exertion. His ears rang, and he hurt all over.
The group of Makalos in front of them had frozen in shock. Ebony’s mouth hung open, Brojan had a bunch of books in his lap, Kenji’s held a towel, and Akeno was mid-step, heading toward the back room.
Aldo broke the silence—apparently he recognized the Makalos. “Pearl!” he yelled, rushing to Ebony, grabbing her shoulders, petting her head. Then he saw Kenji and ran to him. “Apples and flies!”
He turned to face the room, an excited expression on his face. “Stars? And moon?” He ran to a window, looking out. He paused, then hurried back to Kenji. “Stars? And moon!”
“I think he recognizes us!” Ebony burst into tears. “Oh, he must recognize us. He’s not gone.”
“You might be right,” Kenji said, watching Aldo. The man picked up a chair and looked at the underside of it, repeating his question about the stars and moon. “But he doesn’t seem to have all his faculties with him yet.”
Aldo grinned, put the chair down, then stood on top of it. “Numbers were planting babies. Oh, what a way.”
Matt and Jacob exchanged glances. Maybe Aldo recognized the adults, but he was still crazy.
Then Kenji turned to the boys, his face red. “What were you thinking, trying to get to him on your own? I heard that roar. A Bald Henry was part of the army, and if you’d stayed around here even a minute longer, you would’ve known that!”
“And they’re bleeding!” Ebony said, rushing forward. She grabbed Jaegar’s arm. “This is going to take some time to fix. All right, the three of you, to the table this instant.” She led them to seats, then pulled out a pair of tweezers from a drawer near the sink and began plucking debris out of their arms.
Kenji paced in front of them. “Bald Henries are extremely dangerous. If you hadn’t gotten out of the cabin when you did, you wouldn’t have made it. The next thing it would’ve targeted is flesh. They follow a pattern. Glass, metal, rock, wood, flesh.”
Jacob winced as Ebony pulled a particularly large piece of glass from his wrist. “But I looked and didn’t see anything.”
Kenji sighed and sat down, rubbing his face. “Of course not. They’re invisible. No one even knows what they look like.”
“Where did they get the name ‘Bald Henry?’”
“The legend says that several hundred years ago, a person traveled through a link to your world and encountered a king named Henry, who was particularly atrocious and bad-tempered. There isn’t a specification anywhere as to whether or not he was bald, but everyone started referring to Bald Henries that way, and the name stuck.”
“Why haven’t they destroyed everything in sight?”
“They’re usually peaceful creatures. They avoid other animals, stay in the same location. And their roar only has a range of perhaps five yards. The Lorkon brought them and used them a few times during the last war. We learned a lot.”
Aldo traced the silver lines in the wall. He grinned at the group, and Jacob wondered if the old man had lost another tooth. There seemed to be a larger gap on top.
“What are we to do with you, Aldo?” Ebony asked. She’d mixed together Kaede Sap to heal the boys’ cuts, and was wrapping Jacob’s arms.
Aldo beamed at her. “You’re not here with that old bag. The disconcerting books hate Friday.”
She looked at him thoughtfully, then wrapped Matt’s arms. “We could have him stay in the tree until we find a permanent residence for him.”
Kenji nodded. “That’ll be perfect. He seemed fine alone in his cabin.”
Brojan stood and excused himself, leaving the house.
Jacob had almost forgotten the patriarch was there, he’d been so quiet. And—Jacob noticed with surprise—Akeno had slipped out of the room too.
“Where’s September been?” he asked. “Only Early comes now.”
“He doesn’t spend much time around Taga Village, and he only obeys Kenji now,” Ebony said.
“He always was a very temper mental Minya,” Kenji said. “Don’t worry about it—he goes through phases like this all the time.”
Jacob waited for Ebony to finish up with Aldo’s wounds, then Keyed the elderly man to the tree.
When he returned, Ebony looked up from where she was working on Jaegar’s arms. “I wonder what Brojan thinks of the Molgs being part of the armies. This means they’re out of their caves.”
“And that’s bad, right?” Jacob asked.
Kenji got to his feet and began pacing. “Yes. Very.”
Ebony finished with Jaegar’s bandages. “It’s too dangerous to have them wandering around.”
Jacob’s mind returned to the experience in Aldo’s cabin. “Why didn’t the Key get destroyed when all the other metal objects did?” Jacob asked.
She shrugged and walked to Jacob, unwrapping his bandages and throwing them into a box in the corner of the room. “Magic.”
Jacob nodded. That’s what he’d guessed. Then he remembered something else. “Weren’t we going to have a meeting tonight? About getting Aloren back?”
Ebony paused. “Yes, we were,” she said, then looked at Kenji.
“We decided to put it off,” Kenji said, “due to the army’s attack on Aldo.”
Jacob shook his head. “I’m not waiting anymore. We need to put a plan together.”
Ebony looked at him. “It would be best if you boys rested first.”
“No, we can rest later. This is more important.”
Ebony and Kenji met eyes.
“Please?” Jacob asked. “We can’t leave her there any longer.”
“Then you’d better go get the Fat Lady,” Ebony said, “so we can have our meeting.”
“I’ll send a Minya to tell her you’re on the way, and another to call Brojan,” Kenji said and left the house. He returned moments later, indicating it was okay for Jacob to head to her cabin.
Kilenya Series Books 1, 2, and 3 Page 54
