The Golden Symbol (Kilenya Series Book 6)

by Andrea Pearson

  Jacob sat on the grass next to Brojan’s grave. “Let’s talk this through. Why do you want to do it?”

  Akeno also sat, but then got to his feet again and paced. “The Makalos are a burden—all of them. I’m running everywhere, trying to make up for where they lack.” He turned to Jacob. “Since training with Onyev, I’ve been surprised several times at how far we’ve fallen.” He gazed down at his left hand. “The power I feel inside me is absolutely amazing. If all the Makalos shared it—if every one of us was able to help in the war—we wouldn’t be a burden. We’d be an asset.”

  Jacob nodded. “I agree.”

  Relief flooded the air around Akeno and his shoulders slumped in relief. “You do? Oh, Jacob, that makes me feel so much better.”

  “But would it work? Wouldn’t they need a lot more time to learn things?”

  Akeno nodded. “They’d never be as strong as me, not having had the sap in their blood since birth. And only four days doesn’t give them much time to learn. But they’d still be stronger than they are now. And then I wouldn’t have to carry the burden all on my own.”

  “I can see your problem—who to talk to about it first. What are you thinking?”

  “I think . . . I think I want to go to my father. He’s my patriarch. And he’s my father. He loves me and would probably be more forgiving than Onyev, depending on how I present the idea.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “Would you please? It would help, knowing someone was on my side.”

  “Of course.” Jacob got to his feet. “Should I say anything, or just listen?”

  “If something pops in your head to help smooth things out, then go ahead and say it.”

  Jacob agreed, and they left Brojan’s grave and headed to the forest near Mendon, where Kenji and his family now lived.

  It took twenty minutes to walk there, and Jacob didn’t need to see Akeno’s emotions to know the Makalo was seriously nervous. It worsened the closer they got to Kenji’s hut.

  Kenji and Ebony were the only ones there—Jaegar and Kaiya were playing with Amberly.

  Akeno stared at his feet, not talking, so Jacob spoke instead. “We need to discuss an idea Akeno has that is potentially dangerous and definitely against Makalo law.”

  Akeno stared at Jacob, mouth open, for several seconds.

  Jacob nudged him. “Just tell them what you’re thinking. You don’t need to preface it with all the stuff you gave me.”

  Akeno nodded and cleared his throat. “Father, I wanted to see what you would think about breaking the law to help fight the Lorkon.”

  Kenji frowned. “In what way?”

  “By . . .” He bit his lips, then continued. “By putting Kaede Sap into the blood of all of the Makalos.”

  Neither Kenji nor Ebony said anything. Their eyes were huge, and the emotion colors flitting through the air didn’t show which emotion they were experiencing the most—anger, curiosity, surprise, shock, excitement, or disappointment.

  Luckily, Kenji pushed aside his negative emotions and had Akeno explain his idea further, including his reasons for thinking it up in the first place.

  “Have you talked to Onyev about this?” Kenji asked when Akeno finished.

  Akeno shook his head. “I wanted to see what you thought first.”

  Kenji rubbed his face, and Jacob wondered if he’d be pulling on curls in his beard if he had one. Brojan always did that. “Well . . . I need to talk with your mother before we make any decisions. Alone. Please wait where you can’t hear us.”

  Akeno and Jacob left the hut and walked around the forest. Akeno tried to show Jacob some of the traps he’d made, but his mind wasn’t in it, and when they’d finished, Jacob had no idea how the traps actually worked. They just looked like a mess of vines, twigs, and spiky things.

  After some time, a Minya flitted to Akeno and told him his parents were ready to speak with him.

  They returned to the hut and went inside.

  Akeno had designed all of the huts to be tall enough for humans to stand comfortably, and Jacob was grateful for that. He leaned against the door frame until Ebony offered him a seat at their table. The wood on it was rough, and it looked like they’d thrown it together quickly. They probably had, since almost everything the Makalos owned had been destroyed when the Lorkon attacked several weeks earlier.

  Kenji got up from his spot at the head of the table and began pacing. There’d been a lot of pacing lately, but Jacob didn’t blame any of them for doing it.

  “Akeno, while we’re not opposed to your idea—we do believe we’ve come to a point where this sort of thing may be necessary—we don’t know that you’ve thought through all of the possible consequences.”

  Akeno didn’t say anything, and Kenji continued.

  “For example, Onyev changed our laws in the first place because Makalos were taking too much onto themselves, and instead of focusing on their families, they were worried about ruling everyone else.”

  Ebony nodded. “Before we can even consider making the change, there would need to be some serious boundaries set in place.”

  Jacob bit his tongue, not wanting to interrupt, but would they have time to set and learn boundaries before the Lorkon came? He didn’t think so.

  “This is, of course, assuming the Makalos survive the war,” Kenji said.

  Jacob started at the negative tone in Kenji’s voice. “But that’s just the thing.” He couldn’t help it—he wanted them to see things from the right perspective. “None of us wants the Makalos to die—it would be horrible if that happened. By doing this, you won’t be as helpless. You’ll be stronger. You’ll be able to fight for yourselves.”

  “Yes, we’ve considered this.” Kenji sat down with a sigh and put his head in his hands for a moment. “We’re leaning toward saying yes . . . but to make it a personal choice.” He looked at Akeno. “You need to understand that this will not only be difficult for us to digest, but we don’t even know how the new Makalos will feel—”

  “New Makalos?” Jacob asked, head tilted. Had he heard Kenji correctly?

  Kenji and Ebony grinned, and Jacob was shocked when their thoughtful, contemplative emotions switched drastically to excitement.

  “He hasn’t heard,” Kenji said.

  Ebony’s smile broadened even farther. “It makes sense—he was gone when Trunt told us.”

  Jacob held up his hands. “Okay, okay. When Trunt told you what?”

  Ebony turned to Jacob, her eyes shining. “We’re not the only remaining Makalos.”

  Jacob’s jaw dropped. He blinked several times. “Wha—How—” A proper question refused to assemble itself in his mind.

  “He’s speechless!” Kenji laughed.

  Ebony patted her husband on the shoulder. “So were you, if you’ll recall.” She sighed happily, then looked at Jacob again. “Trunt told us about a group of Makalos he found a few years ago living about two hours away from Tadrys.”

  Wow! “You’re absolutely serious? This is so awesome!”

  Kenji nodded excitedly—this was the happiest Jacob had seen him in a long time. “We contacted them right away via Minya, and they want to join us! They want to come live in Taga Village! As soon as Dmitri is crowned and we clean up the village and make it livable, we’re setting off for Tadrys to bring them back.”

  Jacob shook his head slowly. “This is so cool.” Then the other part of what Kenji said entered his brain. “And yay! You’re going to be back in the village again!”

  Akeno, whose emotion colors showed he was still somewhat nervous about the Kaede Sap conversation, sat at the table by Kenji. “Guess what else?” he asked Jacob, then glanced down at his hands. Red flushed over his cheeks. “Um . . .” He cleared his throat. “They, uh, have a lot of Makalo youth my age. Girls, even.”

  Jacob pumped his fist in the air. “Yeah! That’s fantastic!”

  “It really is.”

  Jacob bit his lip, thinking. “But who’s going to be patriar
ch?”

  Kenji rubbed his face, suddenly looking exhausted. “I will. They don’t have one—haven’t for many years. They said they were waiting for Letist, a former patriarch, to return. They had no idea three patriarchs had died in the time since Letist left to fight the war.”

  Ebony put her hand on Kenji’s arm. “But they accepted Kenji without any hesitation.”

  He blew out a breath of air and swallowed. “And so . . . you can see why this topic of introducing sap into the blood of Makalos again is such a delicate one.” He looked at Ebony. “We’d have to bring it up with the new Makalos after they come—not before.”

  She nodded. “And we don’t want to force it upon anyone, nor do we want to become rulers over Eklaron again.”

  Kenji took a drink from his cup, then held it with both hands, staring at the wall. “If we make it optional, then ask that families stay together, we think it’ll work.”

  Akeno tried to hide his emotions, but Jacob knew better. He was relieved. Akeno looked at his parents. “Should we ask Onyev about it?”

  Kenji and Ebony both shook their heads.

  “Why not?” Akeno asked.

  “Because it isn’t his choice to make,” Kenji said. “This is a problem of our time, for our time. He isn’t our patriarch, and his decision wouldn’t affect us in the here and now. Not only that, but he’s already biased, based off his own experiences.”

  “So we don’t tell him at all?” Jacob asked.

  “I vote no,” Ebony said. “You don’t even know if you’ll be able to bring it up, anyway.”

  Jacob nodded, and a part of him was relieved. He didn’t want to let Onyev down. The patriarch was a very understanding person, but Jacob felt he wouldn’t understand this decision.

  Akeno got to his feet. “Should we begin? I think we should.”

  Kenji raised an eyebrow. “This brings up another point. We don’t have untainted Kaede Trees—we wouldn’t even have enough sap now, let alone before the Lorkon arrive.”

  A mischievous smile spread across Akeno’s face. “You don’t have enough Kaede Trees, but I do.”

  Ebony put her hand on Akeno’s shoulder. “Are you serious?”

  “Yup!” Akeno opened the door. “Follow me, and I’ll show you.”

  His parents eagerly went with their son and Jacob trailed behind, not wanting to interrupt their moment together, but wanting to be around in case he was needed.

  Akeno’s trees had grown to nearly ten feet, surprising Jacob. Hadn’t he said they’d need at least twenty years to become mature? The adult Kaede Trees he’d seen weren’t much taller than these.

  Akeno showed his parents around the orchard, a huge grin on his face. Jacob was content to sit near the mouth of the garden and stare in awe at the trees. How had they grown so tall so fast?

  After a few minutes, the Makalos finished exploring the grove and returned to the entrance where Jacob waited.

  “How long until we can use the sap?” Kenji asked.

  “We can use it tonight, but only a tiny bit,” Akeno said. “The trees won’t reach maturity for many more years—”

  “Wait,” Jacob said, holding up his hand. “They’re huge already. Do you mean they’ll be bigger than this?”

  Akeno shook his head. “Not by much. They grow quickly during the first few weeks, especially when encouraged by a Makalo. But then they build exterior defenses—extra-thick bark and trunks and many more branches and roots.” He turned to his parents. “I planted enough for every Makalo alive, with several extra. So long as each Makalo picks his or her own tree, and we only give them the sap from that tree, we’ll have enough to get things started.”

  Kenji’s eyes filled with tears and he put his arm around his son’s shoulders. “I’m proud of how much you’ve learned, Akeno, and of how well you’ve applied yourself.”

  Akeno didn’t say anything, but just nodded, and Ebony hugged him.

  Kenji coughed and wiped his face, then turned to Jacob. “Is your Minya nearby?”

  Jacob nodded. She’d returned from trying to avoid the Eetu fish not long ago, saying it was one of the most fun times she’d ever had. Jacob smiled, thinking about how excited she’d been.

  “Good. Have her start at the other end of the forest and tell all the Makalos to come this way. We’ll do the same with Brojan’s Minya.”

  Kenji and Ebony left, and Jacob raised an eyebrow at Akeno. “Brojan’s Minya? Don’t Minyas usually choose another owner after theirs dies?”

  Akeno chuckled. “Yes, usually, but this one is extra stubborn. He hardly ever leaves Brojan’s grave—it gets annoying, actually. At least he’s willing to help out sometimes. It’s more than I can say about September.”

  “Where has September been, anyway?”

  Akeno shook his head. “We don’t know. He was always very particular, but he felt betrayed by my dad asking him to go with us when we stole back the Key. He’s never gotten over it. Really stupid, actually.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Jacob pulled his backpack off his shoulders—it felt like it was a permanent addition to his body—and got out his seeds.

  Early appeared five minutes later, sucking honey off her fingers. She was still excited about “playing” with the Eetu fish.

  “It never even came close to me!” she said. Then she noticed Akeno and landed on his head, messing around in his hair.

  Jacob laughed—she hadn’t done that in a long time. “Early, I don’t think Akeno wants honey in his hair.”

  “He doesn’t?” She looked concerned, like there was something wrong with him.

  Akeno laughed. “No, I don’t.”

  She flitted out of his hair and hovered in the air, staring at him in shock.

  Jacob grinned, then explained the details of this next assignment. His Minya was the best ever.

  She disappeared with a flash and Akeno and Jacob sat down, waiting for the Makalos to start coming.

  Chapter Fifteen: The Manor

  They arrived in families—the men looking over their shoulders frequently, the women holding on to their small children like they would never see them again. There were only a handful of the very elderly. Akeno nodded when Jacob pointed this out.

  “They’re scared to do this. They probably think it’s the worst thing they’ve ever heard.”

  Jacob understood that. He tried to think of a law in his country that was as important to his people as this law was to the Makalos. Maybe murder? He didn’t know—he’d never really felt the things the Makalos did, so he couldn’t fully understand.

  As soon as they stopped trickling in, Kenji decided it was time to begin. He’d only asked the Minyas to mention that they’d be addressing the law, not what the decision had been, so as he presented the idea, many of the Makalos had questions.

  Jacob and Akeno listened, neither interrupting nor adding to the meeting. It was interesting to see how the Makalos addressed their concerns—in a very orderly, top-to-bottom fashion. He smiled, thinking about how OCD Akeno was. This compulsiveness was definitely an inherited trait. The Makalo had been learning to hide it, especially from Matt and Sweet Pea, but Jacob knew better.

  Finally, Kenji told everyone the choice he’d made, then invited those who’d like to proceed with that decision to step forward and the rest to return to their huts. He let them know that there would be no backlash, regardless of the decision they made.

  That definitely calmed a lot of fears, and the majority of people ended up staying.

  Jacob frowned. The majority was so much smaller now than it had been a year ago. Thank goodness for Akeno and his idea! This would help them out so much.

  Kenji, with Ebony and Akeno’s help, would be administering the sap. Only a small amount would be introduced to their blood—Akeno was worried about permanent damage to their circulatory system if they gave them too much.

  The group started at the beginning of the orchard and made its way through as each person was introduced to his or her new tree.

&n
bsp; Jacob noticed that Akeno had already transplanted the trees apart from each other—originally, they’d grown really close together. Kaede trees now filled a large section of the forest around Jacob’s home in Mendon. This made him happy—he would always have Makalos as a part of his world.

  Akeno harvested a tiny amount of sap from each tree, Kenji put the sap into the Makalos’ left ring fingers, and Ebony bandaged their fingers.

  The moment the Kaede Sap went into the Makalos’ blood, Jacob sensed their powers strengthen. The first time it happened, it made him gasp, and several Makalos looked at him.

  He apologized, wondering what was going on. Then he remembered that he had the symbol on his face. It had to be strengthening his ability to sense power in other creatures. So cool!

  It took several hours to get through all the willing Makalos. Akeno asked Jacob if he wanted to go home and to bed, but he didn’t want to miss such an important part of Makalo history. This decision would affect generations and generations of Makalos, just as Onyev’s had. It was pretty awesome to be a part of something so huge.

  Sweet Pea insisted on being the last Makalo through the line—wanting to let others have the opportunity first. Only moments after Kenji put the sap in his finger, Sweet Pea’s eyes widened in wonder.

  “My leg!” He looked down. “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

  Akeno smiled. “That’s wonderful. Kaede Sap does heal.”

  Sweet Pea nodded. “It’s not going to hurt to walk anymore.” He lifted his pant leg, and Akeno and Kenji who were nearest him, gasped in surprise.

  “Whoa!” Sweet Pea said.

  Jacob jumped to his feet to get closer. “What’s going on?”

  Sweet Pea pointed, and Jacob looked closer. His eyes popped open. It looked like the wooden leg was melding with Sweet Pea’s stump, becoming a part of him.

  Sweet Pea dropped his crutch and stood on the wooden leg without support. “No pain!” He took a step forward, and to everyone’s delight, he didn’t limp.