The Golden Symbol (8 page)

The hospital in Denver called Mom on her cell right after she and Dad returned from the airport a couple days later. Myler was ready to be discharged.

“So soon?” she said. “It’s only been two days. I would have thought with his broken ribs and other symptoms, he’d be there much longer.”

“What disease did they say he had?” Jacob asked.

She shook her head. “Some type of lung disease. But obviously, it wasn’t something terribly serious.”

Dad shut the fridge, holding a gallon of milk. “Not necessarily. Just because he’s over it so quickly doesn’t mean he wasn’t truly sick.”

Mom set her purse down. “But what about his broken ribs?”

“So long as everything else is functioning correctly, there isn’t really anything they can do about those. They have to heal on their own.” Dad poured a glass of milk, then put the gallon away. “Myler’s obviously a fighter.”

Mom nodded and sat at the table next to Jacob. She looked at her son. “I’ll have you Key me back to the hospital to pick him up. I’m not about to go to the airport for the third time today.”

Jacob agreed, and they left a couple of minutes later. When they walked into Myler’s hospital room, he was sitting on the bed, dressed in American clothes. He looked up and smiled at Jacob.

“I owe you a lot,” he said.

Jacob shrugged. “Onaly, Aloren, and Gallus helped too.”

“Yes. But I think it was your idea.”

Jacob looked at his feet. He was kind of glad Myler knew, but he didn’t want to take all the credit.

A male nurse entered the room, taking away Jacob’s need to respond. He talked to Mom about Myler’s post-hospital care. After making sure Mom knew which medicines Myler would need and when, he reached out to shake Myler’s hand.

Myler stared at the hand for a full second before shaking in return. Jacob hid a smile. He’d forgotten that on Eklaron, a handshake wasn’t as common as in America.

“Normally they would wheel him out to the car,” Mom said, glancing through the blinds out into the hall, “but they’ve been really, really understaffed this week.” She smiled at Jacob, ignoring the wheelchair the staff had provided. “Better for us, since there isn’t a car, huh?”

Jacob grinned, then opened a link to Trunt’s house in Taga Village. Trunt had volunteered a room for Myler to use until he was well enough to be on his own again, and Jacob was sure Trunt would take good care of him.

Jacob and Mom helped Myler into bed, Mom tucking the blankets all around the man. After making sure Trunt would let Mom know if anything happened or if Myler needed her for any reason, she and Jacob Keyed home.

They’d only been home a couple of minutes when a Minya approached Jacob.

“Azuriah says to be ready to leave for Renforth’s world in an hour.”

The Minya floated away, and Mom put her hand on Jacob’s arm. “Your father wants you to talk to Eachan about Lasia. See if you can find out where she ended up. Would you do that before you go with Azuriah? The conversation shouldn’t take too much time.”

Jacob agreed. He also needed to check up on Akeno before leaving and decided to do that first, since Akeno had already been with Onyev for several hours that day. Actually, Akeno had been with Onyev a
lot
lately.

It took him a while to find the two. In fact, Jacob wandered Onyev’s palace for at least twenty minutes before remembering he could Time-See.

Even Time-Seeing, it still took him ten minutes to figure out that they weren’t even in Gratitude City. No
wonder
they didn’t light up! He found them way out in a village of sorts—somewhere that had recently been almost demolished. Probably by the Lorkon of Onyev’s time, though maybe even by Akeno during his practice. Jacob half-smiled, thinking about that. What sorts of things would Akeno be learning?

He Keyed himself to the village, taking care not to use a door within sight. He didn’t want to startle the Makalos, just in case. He approached cautiously.

“Yes, caution is wise right now,” Onyev said, noticing him. “The next few lessons will be held here. I don’t want to risk the safety of the Makalos in Gratitude City by having Akeno learn his battle powers there.”

“Makes sense,” Jacob said. “Do you want to keep going, or is Akeno ready for a break?”

Onyev looked at Akeno. “It’s up to you.”

Akeno frowned, folding one arm across his chest and tapping his cheek. “I think I’d—”

“Whoa! Akeno!”

Akeno dropped his arms. “W—what?”

“You’re blue! And I mean really blue. Like Onyev. It’s so cool! And weird!”

Akeno’s cheeks darkened and Onyev smiled. “It’s been happening gradually over the past few months. Of course, battle magic requires more concentration, and this causes the blue to become much more noticeable in a shorter amount of time.”

Jacob couldn’t stop staring at his Makalo friend. It was a good thing Matt wasn’t around. The guy would probably tease Jacob about having a new crush. But seriously—this was awesome!

“I think I’d like to go home and practice for a while. Without anyone watching. Um . . . including you, Onyev.” Akeno turned to the patriarch. “I mean . . . is that all right?”

“It’s completely fine. But don’t get too comfortable that way. There are many distractions in war.”

Akeno nodded and motioned to Jacob. “Let’s go, then.”

Jacob took them back to the present, where they ended up near Trunt’s cabin. He turned toward the door so he could Key to Eachan’s place, but Akeno stopped him.

“I’m not going to need a lot of time. Would you mind taking me back to Onyev before you leave for Renforth’s world? That’s happening today, right?”

“Yeah, but we’re leaving in thirty minutes. Will that be enough time?”

“It will—he only taught me one step. And I’d rather spend as much time learning with him right now as possible.”

Jacob wished he could watch Akeno practice, but he looked at his watch. He only had twenty minutes before needing to meet with Azuriah. Besides, the Makalo obviously didn’t want an audience, and Jacob would respect that.

***

Eachan wasn’t in the town hall when Jacob got there. And he made sure to search the entire place—upstairs, front porch, kitchen, backyard area, and cellar. He Time-Saw through the city and every part of the Lorkon castle he could still see. Eachan wasn’t anywhere.

Jacob figured the man was probably in a place that had the anti-Shiengol potion smeared on its walls. He had no choice but to return home. He and Azuriah were leaving in five minutes, and he had to get his things together still.

He Keyed home, grabbed the bag he’d laid out the night before, and ran to the kitchen, throwing dried fruits, beef jerky, and cheese inside. Azuriah said there was no need for pretty much everything else Jacob had planned to take. He even told Jacob to leave Early’s container home—she wouldn’t be able to go to Renforth’s world without permission, and Renforth had only approved Azuriah, Jacob, and Gallus.

Jacob didn’t like the idea of not having his Minya with him. He was bringing seeds so he could call her anytime he needed while still on Eklaron, but once they got to Renforth’s world, he’d be completely cut off from her and his family.

He
really
didn’t like that.

After stuffing his backpack, Jacob Time-Saw and found Akeno. The Makalo was waiting near Azuriah’s door. Good.

Jacob Keyed himself to Aldo’s cabin—who wasn’t there—and quickly took Akeno back to Onyev’s time. He didn’t wait to see where his friend went, but returned to the present as soon as possible.

While waiting for Gallus, Azuriah checked with Renforth once more to see if he would consider lifting the ban on magical entry to his world. Of course he wouldn’t, so Azuriah would have Jacob Key them to an old city that used to be inhabited by Shiengols. The gateway to Renforth’s world was in that city.

“It doesn’t have a name anymore,” Azuriah said when Jacob asked what it was called.

“Why not?”

“No one can remember it.”

Jacob thought that was silly. Why hadn’t someone given it a new name? Judging by the expression on Gallus’s face—who’d just arrived—he felt that way too.

But Azuriah continued, answering Jacob’s unspoken question. “Usually, when that happens, it’s because there’s a curse on the city. Nothing sticks, and trying to force the place to have a name would curse whoever was doing it.”

Oh, great. Just great. Going to a cursed city? Totally not what Jacob wanted to do.

“Key us to—”

Gallus put his hand up. “Why was the city cursed?”

Azuriah glared at Gallus and motioned for Jacob to continue with the Key. “The Shiengol leading it must have broken a law. That’s the usual reason.”

Gallus grunted. “You should have warned us ahead of time. Is the curse going to affect us?”

Azuriah didn’t respond. The colors in the air around him showed he was annoyed. Jacob was on Gallus’s side, though. A warning would have been excellent.

Without further interruption, Jacob Keyed them to the city. It was weird, not knowing the name of the place. He ended up saying, “The cursed Shiengol city where Renforth’s link is located,” then crossed his fingers, hoping that would work.

It did. He pushed the door open cautiously. The first thing he noticed was that the sun wasn’t nearly as bright there as back in Mendon. He didn’t say anything about that, though, figuring it had to do with the curse.

Nothing of the city remained except heavy, dark stone ruins—ancient buildings that had once stood tall, given the amount of debris around them. Some were still three and four stories high. How long ago had this place been inhabited? Hundreds of years had passed, it seemed. But impressions could be deceiving. For all he knew, the place had only been cursed for twenty years, but things had gone downhill quickly.

Jacob got a creepy feeling looking at everything. It was almost like the ruins were looking back at him. Dead moss covered the north-facing walls. The huge trees had died years ago. In fact, there wasn’t
anything
living in the city.

They walked down some streets that were covered with dead vines, and at first, Jacob and Gallus tripped several times. Then they adjusted to the awkward footing and kept up with Azuriah’s brisk pace. They entered a section of the city where the vines had been pushed to the sides of the roads. The thought occurred to Jacob that the Shiengols had made the vines grow across the streets on the outskirts just to discourage visitors. He smiled to himself. That would be a very Shiengol-like thing to do.

Azuriah led them deeper and deeper into the city. Why hadn’t he asked Jacob to Key to a door in the middle?

They’d been walking for half an hour when Jacob realized Azuriah was grumbling.

“Stupid idea—mine is better. A reminder to the people.”

“What’s that?” Gallus asked.

Azuriah flipped his robes back. “Nothing.”

It looked like Gallus was about to question him further when Azuriah suddenly stopped and whipped around. “Jacob, your father is stubborn. Very stubborn!”

Jacob took a step back, surprised at Azuriah’s intensity. “About what?”

“The stone waterfall. He wants to rid the land of it completely, but it needs to stay! At least part of it. Humans fall so easily into evil. They
need
the reminder.”

He continued forward, but Jacob wasn’t about to let him drop the conversation.

“What’s your idea?”

“Turn it into a magnificent arch over the road to Maivoryl City. Give everyone who died in it proper burials and etch their names into the stone of the arch.”

Jacob immediately thought of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He and his family had gone there a few years ago, and he’d never forgotten the strong emotions behind that wall. So many names. “What happens to the rest of the stone?”

“We scatter it across the land—bury some of it, drop some into Sonda Lake, place several sections in Ashay Hills. Put sections in prominent places where they’ll be seen frequently.” He flipped back his robes again. “Because trust me, you humans will soon enough be looking for ways to gain power.”

Jacob didn’t respond for a moment. He agreed with Azuriah. Right now, the people were humbled. Most everyone—except for those from Ridgewood—were excited to have a good man for their king. But it wouldn’t always be that way.

“I like your idea.”

Azuriah didn’t respond.

“Let Dmitri think it over for a while,” Gallus said. “After we’ve taken care of the Lorkon, you can bring it up again. I’m sure he’ll be more open to it when he’s not under as much stress.” He crossed a tree that had fallen into the road. “Speaking of cleaning things up, what do you propose King Dmitri do about the air in Maivoryl City? It can’t possibly stay the way it is now.”

“No, it can’t, and Dmitri won’t personally be able to do anything about it. Only a Shiengol can clear it.”

“How?” Jacob asked.

“Same way we removed Lirone. We’ll cleanse it, using the sun.” Azuriah motioned to Jacob. “Except this time, only you, me, Pambri, and Britt will need to be present.”

“That’s good—it would be frustrating to always have to get Renforth.”

Azuriah grunted. “Don’t worry, he won’t be coming again.”

No one responded, and Jacob’s thoughts drifted as they walked forward. The Shiengol had said earlier that after everything was finished with the Lorkon he, Pambri, and Britt planned to live in two locations—the fortress in Taga Village, and their old house in Maivoryl City.

Jacob wondered what would happen with August Fortress. He grinned when he realized the Shiengols were so protective of it that they’d probably keep the Argots there, just to make sure no one intruded.

After half an hour of walking, Jacob felt someone watching them. He looked to his left—a shadow, almost a whisper of a man, seemed to be staring at them. Jacob made eye contact, and the man disappeared. A couple of minutes later, he felt it again, and this time it was a woman glaring through a window. Again, she disappeared as soon as Jacob looked. A child ran alongside them soundlessly, but then the boy turned into smoke which drifted away.

This continued to happen until Jacob
knew
he wasn’t imagining it. The city was dark and creepy, but presences
did
fill it.