Eyes of the Sun (21 page)

Azuriah stopped before they reached a bend, and Jacob figured it was because the cave led to the Molg headquarters deep in the mountain. No sense engaging in war on both sides of the tunnel.

Dad and Jacob helped Gallus lie down on the floor of the cave, and together they pulled out the wood chunk, then tied a tourniquet around the man’s leg. They needed to get him to a hospital as soon as Lirone stopped throwing bombs.

Not long after, Jacob’s hearing returned. Apparently everyone else’s did at the same time because the cave erupted in chaos—everyone talking at the same time, crying, shouting.

Azuriah hit the side of the cave, causing the walls to shake and dirt and debris to fall on the people. The noise in the cave died. Jacob needed to figure out how to do that.

“That’s better,” Azuriah said.

Gallus moaned, motioning to his bag. “Herbs . . . I’ve got herbs. For my leg.”

Jacob rummaged through Gallus’s knapsack and grabbed a pouch full of green plants that had been squashed up.

“Add water,” Gallus gasped.

Jacob did so, then together, he and Dad applied the poultice to Gallus’s wound while Akeno watched. Gallus moaned with relief and fell back against the ground.

“Are you . . . are you going to be okay, Gallus?” Jacob asked. Would the man bleed to death? Would he get lots of infections?

“Will be soon—herbs remove pain.”

“But don’t heal,” Akeno said.

Gallus shook his head.

Jacob looked up—Azuriah was approaching. “Do you have your Minya?” he asked Jacob.

Jacob nodded, opening his backpack and pulling out Early’s container.

“Tell her to go to the other caves and figure out where everyone is and who’s missing. Have her report back as soon as possible.”

Jacob’s whispered instructions to Early echoed through the long tunnel.

Azuriah returned to his family and sat by his wife, head in hands. He pounded the floor with his fist, yelling something that Jacob was sure wasn’t nice. Jacob looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to see Azuriah like this.

It took Early several minutes to return. But soon, they all started getting an idea of where the others had hidden.

Ebony was with a large group of Shiengols in another cave, along with Renforth and the rest of Azuriah’s children. Aloren was in a third cave. Several Shiengols weren’t accounted for. And Sweet Pea was missing.

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.