The Golden Symbol (19 page)

While Sanso was looking around, something happened. The boiling increased dramatically, the ground shifted, and Sanso was knocked from his feet. Molten lava bubbled into the black stuff, turning it bright red. Sanso watched with curiosity.

At this point, Jacob was more than glad it was the Ember God up there instead of him or any of his group. None of them would’ve survived. They probably would’ve been burned to death the minute they climbed out of that hole.

When the boiling calmed down again, Sanso got to his feet and started across the lava. Multiple times, he sank ankle-deep in the stuff and didn’t even notice. Jacob shook his head, watching. The guy was invincible. The only time he looked upset was when he stumbled over something in the lava.

After probably twenty minutes of walking, Sanso approached a place that looked a bit like Stonehenge. A huge male Fire Pulser stepped out from behind one of the stones and held a spear to Sanso’s throat. Jacob’s jaw dropped as he looked at the Fire Pulser. He was even uglier than Lasia. The veins on his neck and face were so big and thick they nearly obscured his features. And he had horns. Those weren’t anything like what Jacob had expected—they poked straight out from either side of his head and curled slightly back.

Sanso waved his hand dismissively, and this angered the much larger man. But instead of stabbing Sanso as Jacob had expected, he pulsed fire.

Obviously, this didn’t bother the Ember God. When the flames subsided, the Fire Pulser stepped back, frowning. He said something, and Sanso shrugged. Then flame erupted from Sanso’s hands and feet. The Fire Pulser snarled, his horns growing longer. Apparently, he knew what Sanso was.

The Fire Pulser suddenly pounced on Sanso, knocking him to the ground. Sanso struggled to get out from under the huge man.

Just then, Jacob heard something. It sounded far off and didn’t make the wrestling men pause. Then he realized it was his name. Someone was calling him! It had to be Gallus or Coren. He pulled from his vision, not sure what to expect. And what he saw was far from anything he had imagined.

Someone was carrying him, jolting him as that person ran. Had they been attacked? Was it a trap?

But then Jacob noticed the cavern was shaking. Massive rocks fell from the ceiling, crashing to the ground with earsplitting sounds.

Jacob twisted—two people were carrying him. Gallus and Coren. The men looked panicked, and he didn’t blame them. This was his first earthquake! Too bad he was dazed from being jerked out of his vision.

They set Jacob down at the edge of the cave and sprinted off, helping others.

Then a huge crack in the center of the cavern opened, lava boiling up and spitting from the new crevice.

Instead of running away like Jacob expected, hundreds of the locals ran
to
the crack, carrying bags and rocks. They dumped the contents of the bags—dirt—over the crevice and stacked the rocks around, stopping the red stuff from flowing into the cavern. Back and forth they went, some forming bucket brigades, others working separately.

Finally, the earthquake ended and the people got the lava under control. They stopped, some dropping to the ground in exhaustion where they were. The crack was now bulging with big rocks, and Jacob could then see why the other cavern had been so riddled with holes—the people probably spent all their time there, chiseling out boulders and crushing dirt.

Thinking about what the people did all day made Jacob curious. Where did they get their food? And what about water? He couldn’t imagine that they drank from that boiling river he’d seen—it had to be too sulphuric.

But maybe they had some sort of filtering system that cleaned impurities from the water. Or maybe they didn’t need water. Maybe they weren’t completely human.

When this thought crossed Jacob’s mind, he looked out at the people as they started getting up, stretching, and wandering off through the huge cavern. He was tempted to keep watching and satisfy his curiosity, but he needed to figure out what happened to Sanso. Hopefully, the Ember God was still alive.

Jacob Time-Saw, returning to the place where he’d last seen Sanso. But he couldn’t find him. Did he die? What happened? Jacob searched all over the Stonehenge-like ruins with piles and piles of rocks stacked everywhere. He was surprised to see that it was completely empty. Where did the Fire Pulsers live?

After realizing he wasn’t going to find anything, Jacob pulled back from his vision. He leaned against the cavern wall and puzzled it over in his mind, wishing he had access to the sun—any sun.

Gallus was sitting near him, wiping his face with a handkerchief. “What’s the matter?”

Jacob stared at the ceiling of the cavern. It was heavy-looking, and he was surprised it hadn’t caved completely during the earthquake. “I can’t find Sanso anywhere. It’s like he disappeared. And not only that, but I can’t even see any Fire Pulsers. The entire place where Sanso went is empty. It doesn’t make sense.”

Gallus took a breath and released it evenly, trying to stay calm. Jacob could tell by his emotion colors that he was really struggling. “We shouldn’t have trusted him.”

Jacob nodded. “What if he’s been in communication with them all along?”

“It’s possible, but for what purpose?” Gallus turned to face Jacob. “What does he gain by coming here? What plan does it further?”

Jacob didn’t know. He gazed out across the massive cave, not sure how to answer Gallus’s questions. “There might be another explanation.”

“Like what?”

Jacob leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “What if the Lorkon taught the Fire Pulsers how to hide from the vision of a Shiengol?”

Gallus frowned. “But you could see some things. Doesn’t that Lorkon potion prevent you from seeing anything?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Jacob hesitated. “For all we know, though, the Fire Pulsers have learned other methods and techniques.”

“I guess we’ll find out.” Gallus stretched his legs in front of him. “My question for you, Your Highness, is how long do you want to wait before we leave?”

Jacob slumped. He’d considered leaving before Sanso returned, but hadn’t really thought through the implications of doing that. If they did, they would be going without the blood. And without the blood, they couldn’t possibly cure and defeat the Lorkon.

“I don’t know.” Jacob saw Gallus’s disapproval from the corner of his eye, and he understood why. He was leading this expedition—he needed to be confident. He needed to make decisions and stick to them. He wiped his palms on his pant leg. “Fine. We’ll leave in two hours.”

Gallus nodded, his disapproval melting away. He got to his feet, brushing himself off. “I suppose I should go tell the others.” He turned and left.

Jacob welcomed the silence and alone time. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy being around Gallus—the man had definitely warmed up—but he needed not to feel in charge, even for just a minute. He needed to feel like a normal, basketball-playing teenager once more.

He sighed. Small chance that would ever happen again.

Jacob watched as the fire-world people went about their business. After a moment, he noticed a pattern. Men and women walked to the far side of the cavern and held leather or cloth bags to the wall. They stood that way for a while, then returned to the main village area. They were collecting water—he could see little drops of it falling from seams in the bags as the people drew close.

The village itself wasn’t what Jacob had expected. Apparently, the people slept in shifts. The beds weren’t really beds, but holes in the cavern wall where they folded themselves. He couldn’t imagine getting enough rest sleeping like that.

One thing he thought was interesting at first, until he realized he was being silly—they had no fires of any sort, nothing to use to cook food. But he saw several cooking over the many lava cracks crisscrossing the place. Several small groups of people held chunks of meat over the steaming crevices. Did they not eat plants? It didn’t appear so. And where did they get the animals?

After an hour or so, the bald man approached Jacob, bowing, and offered him a plate of meat. Jacob accepted it and the man was about to leave, but Jacob stopped him. He needed to know if the guy had a name. Constantly thinking about him as “the bald man” was getting old.

Jacob pointed to himself. “Jacob.” Then pointed to the man. Then he pointed at himself again. “Jacob.” Then again, he pointed to the man. This felt like a scene from the cartoon
Tarzan
, and he tried not to laugh at how silly he felt.

The man smiled and said, “Jacob.”

Jacob grinned. “That’s right. What’s your name?” He motioned to himself again, saying “Jacob,” then back to the man.

The man said, “Maldok.”

Jacob tilted his head, saying the word slowly and pointing to the man. “Maldok?”

Maldok nodded, then grabbed Jacob’s shoulder, looking him in the eye. “Jacob,” he said, then left.

Jacob remembered his plate of food, picked it up, and studied it from every angle before he tried it. It looked like beef, so he wasn’t too hesitant. But right away, he noticed a huge difference—the meat crackled in his mouth, popping and sizzling as he chewed. How was that possible? Was it from the cooking process?

Deciding he wanted to find out more about this world, Jacob jumped to his feet, holding his plate. Before leaving, he Time-Saw above ground, searched for Sanso—still couldn’t see him—then went to find Maldok.

He pointed at the plate and held up one hand in what he hoped the man would interpret as a gesture of questioning.

Maldok appeared confused for a moment, then understanding entered his eyes. He smiled, beckoning Jacob to follow.

Jacob glanced over his shoulder, wondering if he should have Gallus or Coren go with him. But they were far away, hanging out with the rest of the group, and he decided it wouldn’t hurt to leave for a moment. He could tell by Maldok’s eyes and emotion colors that he didn’t mean any harm.

Jacob put down his plate and followed. They walked toward the village of leather tents, then around a corner. Soon, snuffling and shuffling sounds filled the air. Maldok dropped to his knees, and Jacob did the same.

When the guy crawled forward, Jacob followed as quietly as he could. Maldok gazed on whatever it was that shuffled ahead of them, and Jacob intently stared through the dark, trying to see what Maldok saw.

A sudden burst of flame freaked Jacob out and he almost shouted in surprise, but Maldok held his hand out, reassuring Jacob. The flame had come from along the back of a huge animal. Very huge, and surrounded by other, similar creatures. They walked on four feet and had no visible fur or hair. Flames licked up the ground from their hooves, and their heads were similar to a rat’s. That was weird.

Jacob looked at Maldok, wondering if he should be afraid. But Maldok was completely calm, and Jacob figured it was because these animals were peaceful, but startled easily. Which would explain why Jacob and the man had approached cautiously.

Jacob’s theory proved correct when one of the creatures spotted them. It reared back on two legs, opened its mouth, and screeched so loud and high-pitched, Jacob had to cover his ears. It sounded like a huge bird of prey mixed with the squeal of a rat.

All the animals turned and fled, their backs flaming. When the spots of fire became little pinpricks, surprising Jacob with just how huge these caves were, Maldok got to his feet and helped Jacob up, then led him back to the village.

Jacob waved good-bye to Maldok, and returned to where he’d been sitting near Gallus.

“Where did you go?” Gallus said as Jacob approached, the colors for irritation surrounding him.

“Maldok, the guy who was talking to Sanso earlier, took me to see their livestock.” Jacob felt like smacking himself on the forehead when he realized he’d left his food back by Maldok. His stomach grumbled in complaint.

Gallus’s frustration melted away. “Really? What was it like?”

“The trip, or the animals themselves?”

“The animals, of course.”

Jacob smiled. “They’re ugly, and their backs burst into flame.”

“Fascinating.” He sat next to Jacob. “Were they dangerous? Predators?”

“No—they seemed gentle. They spooked when they saw us. One of them screamed and they all ran away.”

“I heard that sound and saw that you were gone.” Gallus glared at Jacob. “Next time, let me know before you leave.”

“I will.”

Gallus fidgeted with a strap on his armor. “I’m tired of waiting. Any sign of Sanso?”

“I checked earlier and didn’t see anything. I’ll look again now.”

Jacob Time-Saw back to the surface. The Stonehenge place was still vacant, but just as Jacob was pulling away, he saw motion near the hole Sanso had climbed. He zoomed in. Yes, there—Sanso was coming back down, followed by a female Fire Pulser. Jacob shook his head—this wasn’t going to go over well.

He returned from his vision. “Sanso’s on his way back—he’ll be here in just minutes. And Gallus, he’s bringing a Fire Pulser.”

Gallus jumped to his feet. “Let’s get everyone together.”

Jacob followed the black man to where the others sat, about thirty feet away. Maldok noticed their activity and approached, a questioning expression on his face.

Jacob wasn’t sure how to mime that Sanso and the Fire Pulser were coming. He tried to do something that would show fire blowing from his hands, but the man obviously didn’t understand. Jacob bit his lips, trying to think of something else, but it turned out to be unnecessary.

“Hello?” Sanso called from the end of the cavern. “I’ve brought a visitor.”

Jacob joined Gallus and Coren, and Maldok followed, seemingly curious. It wasn’t until then that Jacob realized he was the chief or captain or the “whatever” of this group of humans. Of course he’d be interested in everything that happened.

Sanso continued, “She wants to make sure none of the humans touch her. Jacob, will you ask them not to?”

Gallus shook his head, then shouted, “Tell them yourself—you speak their language.”

“Technically, I don’t. It’s very similar, but—”

“Sanso!” Gallus yelled. “Just do it!”

“All right.” Sanso spoke in that weird language, and Maldok stiffened. He shook his head vehemently and backed off, waving his hands.