Journey to Rainbow Island (14 page)

T
HE HUNTER SEIZED THE DOOR HANDLE
, the Light of Balthazar in his right hand. He threw the door open, sunlight pouring into the cabin, momentarily blinding him as he shielded his eyes from the brightness. Yu-ning walked away from the cabin, heading back toward the tree line and the meadow beyond.

“I said I don't want this light, little girl. Here!” shouted the hunter, hurling the orb high in the air, right in her direction. The orb rose through the morning air, headed straight for Yu-ning. The hunter watched in amazement as the girl paid no mind, not even turning around to look at the approaching orb.

Instinctively, the hunter opened his mouth to shout a warning at Yu-ning. Instead, he froze: the round sphere had stopped in midair and was hovering several feet above Yu-ning. It was like a beautiful Christmas ornament hanging from the sky, attached by some invisible thread. Yu-ning
turned and saw the orb suspended above her in the air. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed, marveling at the floating light.

She looked at the orb, and then at the hunter, who was standing in front of the cabin; he stared at the orb, and then back at Yu-ning. He looked confused, and was about to say something, but stopped. His eyes hardened once again, his look of confusion replaced by irritation. “That's a nice trick, little girl. But you can't fool me with simple illusions!” But rather than walking back into his cabin, he lingered there.

“This isn't a magic trick. I've never seen it do anything like that, hovering in the air.” She looked up at the orb again, still suspended above her head; it was gently bobbing up and down, as if floating on an invisible, airy sea. “Like I said, it is the Light of Balthazar—he is the man who sent me to you.”

“Balthazar,” said the hunter evenly, as if he'd been asked a question and was repeating it back, considering how best to respond. Without saying anything else, the hunter turned around, walked back into the cabin, and slammed the door.

Yu-ning stood there, not sure what to do next. She stood on her tiptoes, extending her hand upward toward the Light of Balthazar, still bobbing and radiating a glittering array of soft yellow lights.

With the tip of her index finger, she touched the bottom of the orb. When she did, it immediately dropped from the air, as if someone had cut the invisible thread holding it aloft. Just in time, Yu-ning caught the sphere before it hit the ground.

She weighed the orb in her hand, looking at it in a new light. Metatron's words came back to her from the night he gave it to her:
It will guide you in times of darkness.
When Metatron told her that, she had assumed he meant it would
serve as some sort of torch or lantern, helping her see at night. But now she wondered if his meaning was something entirely different. She stood for another moment, considering her next move.

Her mind made up, she walked back to the cabin and again knocked on the door. This time, however, she didn't wait for the hunter to answer, but gently opened the door herself. She found a new confidence: whether it was from the orb or from the hunter's reaction to it, she didn't know. But with boldness she held the light before her again, illuminating the interior of the cabin.

Curiously, the cabin looked different than it had even a few minutes earlier. It seemed smaller. She had lost her fear. The hunter was sitting in a large chair in the corner, staring at her with a strange, unknowing look. Yu-ning crossed the room silently, holding the Light of Balthazar in front of the man, offering it to him. He stared at her with an intensity she could not read. He just looked at her, refusing to touch the orb.

“You don't know me, and you have no right to come here and invade my home,” uttered the hunter, his voice thick and deep. Before Yu-ning could respond, he added, “Is this a trick?” Though his expression was dark, a visible change had come over him—ever since she had mentioned the Light of Balthazar to him, his demeanor had changed.

“No,” said Yu-ning, now completely confused. Though she was wise for someone as young as eleven, the emotions the man was eliciting were very
adult-like,
and a bit foreign to her. “I wouldn't make fun of you, sir. Honest, I don't know why the orb did that, or how it happened. You must believe me.” No words were spoken for a full minute, which to Yu-ning
seemed like an hour. The newfound confidence she'd discovered upon entering the cabin the second time was slowly seeping away; she felt out of her depth, unsure what to do.

“What is your name again?” the hunter said finally.

“I am Yu-ning. What's your name?”

“Jacob. At least, that is the name my master, Metatron, called me when I first came to Rainbow Island—many, many years ago. I don't remember much before that—from my life on Darqendia.”

“What?” said Yu-ning in shock. “Are you saying you used to live on Rainbow Island? That is where I live, and I am also a student of Master Metatron.”

“Yes, I figured as much, since you carry the Light of Balthazar—I didn't recognize it at first, though it looked very familiar. It wasn't until you mentioned its name that I knew for sure where you have come from. There is only one such orb. When I was a boy on Rainbow Island, Metatron would talk about his old friend Balthazar. Sometimes he would bring out the Light of Balthazar and show it to the Rainbow Children.”

“If you knew I was from Master Metatron and Rainbow Island, why did you ask me if my visit was a trick?” asked Yu-ning.

“I have been alone for so long, and strangers are an uncommon occurrence on Palova,” Jacob explained. “One can't be too careful. At first, I thought it might be some sort of trick—someone sent to harm me. But when I realized you carried the one true Light of Balthazar, I knew that your visit was no accident, nor malicious. That you were sent here for a reason.”

“But how did you end up here? Are you alone?”

“I live alone, but there are others on the island. I keep to myself, though. After my mother died, I was brought to Rainbow Island,” he continued. “I never knew my father, and the people of my village thought it best that the teachers of Rainbow Island take me in—along with my twin brother, Joshua. So, when I was four years old, we went to live there; Metatron became our teacher—he was the only father we ever had.”

“How did your mother die?” asked Yu-ning, still in shock from these latest revelations.

“Our mother was from Darqendia,” Jacob said, deflecting the question. “My father was a Darq Render. Do you know what that is?”

“Yes, I do,” answered Yu-ning, but saying no more for the time being.

“Our mother had a secret, and someone found out about it. The man who found out came for my mother—but she refused to give up the secret. So this man killed her.”

“And what is the secret?” said Yu-ning.

The second the words left her mouth, she wished she could bring them back. She must have blushed, because Jacob said, “It's a fair question. And it seems that today is a good day for sharing answers,” he added, deciding in his mind to trust Yu-ning.

“My grandfather, like my father, was a Darq Render. He was a great archer, and fought alongside the Renders of Darqendia against the dragons that invaded our island. Though my father died in the war, my grandfather survived,” added Jacob. He looked at Yu-ning, making sure she understood his story.

Jacob explained that after the war, the Darq Renders were scattered, their numbers decimated by the obsidigons
and their warlock masters. Though they won the war, it all but destroyed their clans. Jacob's grandfather, Corain, was one of the only surviving Darq Renders, and his most prized possession was the bow he had carried with him as a warrior and had used against the obsidigons. Before his grandfather died, Corain had given the bow to Jacob's mother for safekeeping. The evil warlock Hobaling feared that bow, because it was the only one remaining after the war—the only one capable of killing an obisidigon.

Though the obsidigons were destroyed, Hobaling was searching for an obisidigon skull, with the intent of creating another obsidigon army using his Darq magic. Rumor from one of his many spies must have reached him, however, that one last obisidigon bow yet existed. And so terrified was he of that bow that he hunted for it until finally his search paid off, and he tracked it to Jacob's family on Darqendia.

After Jacob's grandfather died, Jacob's mother, Calia, was left alone to raise her young sons. One night Hobaling broke into their home, confronted Calia, and demanded she give up the bow. Unwilling to tell the warlock where the bow was hidden, she was seriously wounded by the sorcerer's blade. Though Hobaling tore apart the house, he did not find the bow. The next morning, townsfolk found Calia clinging to life and the young twins hiding under a bed in a back room. Before she died, Calia told her cousin, Silas, where the bow was hidden: inside a compartment beneath the floorboards of the house.

The mother urged Silas to take the boys to Rainbow Island to be raised by the teachers, and to never tell a soul about the hidden bow—unless one of the boys were to return to claim it for his own. It was better to leave it buried and
hidden from the world than to risk its being discovered again by the warlocks. Silas was the only person who knew where the bow was hidden, and he kept an eye on the house to make sure it was left undisturbed.

“And so,” Jacob said, “when Joshua and I turned eighteen, we left Rainbow Island and sailed back to Darqendia to visit the home we left as children. It was then that we visited our old village and were welcomed by Silas, who by that time was a very old man. He took us to our old house and led us inside. He told us about my mother's death, and then showed us the secret compartment hewn into the floorboards of our home. And buried within was my grandfather's bow and his quiver of arrows.”

Jacob paused, gathering his thoughts. “Silas urged us to stay, but it was too painful for us; we wanted nothing to do with Darqendia and all its sad memories. So we left again, traveling for nearly a year as first mates on a merchant ship called the
Paragon.
One day the
Paragon
docked in one of the bays here on Palova, and without saying a word to anyone other than Jacob, I took the few possessions I owned, including my grandfather's bow, and slipped off the ship late one night, never to return to life at sea. I was weary of the ocean, and just wanted to be alone. Joshua remained on the ship, but agreed to return to Palova within a year's time. That was twenty-one years ago . . .”

A silence hung between the girl and the hunter, and neither spoke for a while. Yu-ning sensed great sorrow in Jacob, but she didn't know what to say. She had never had a brother of her own, though she knew how sad she would feel if she weren't able to see her friends on Rainbow Island for so long. That made her think of Romeo, and tears came to her eyes.

“In my heart I know Joshua is safe, and I am sure that one day I will see him again,” Jacob said, breaking the silence. “I just don't know where he is now.”

Yu-ning collected herself and had another thought. “Are you . . . are you a Darq Render, Jacob?”

“No, I am not. Neither is my brother. Though my father and grandfather bore the mark, we do not. My mother was not a Darq Render, and we took after her kin,” added Jacob. He looked at Yu-ning with a sharper gaze. “How do you know about Darq Renders, Yu-ning? Few folk speak of the old bloodlines these days.” Yu-ning didn't say anything but slowly rolled up her left sleeve, revealing the new red scar on her arm and the large, undisturbed bow-shaped birthmark in the center. It had been years since Jacob had seen the Darq Render mark.

“I was sent by Master Balthazar,” said Yu-ning. “He believed that the bow still exists, and that it might be found here on Palova. There is a growing darkness in the land, Jacob, and Hobaling, the man who killed your mother, has successfully conjured another obsidigon. So far, we only know of the one, but there might be more. We just don't know.”

Jacob looked concerned. “If Balthazar and folk as far as the Grey City have heard rumors of the bow, it means the enemy will soon hear the rumors as well. The bow is no longer safe here, Yu-ning. You must take it for safekeeping and seek the protection of those who can help you use it against the obsidigon.”

With that, Jacob rose and disappeared into a back room. In a moment, he returned carrying the most beautiful bow Yu-ning had ever seen. It seemed twice as large as her Rainbow
Island bow and was made of a beautiful blond wood, polished to a fine sheen. Jacob handed the bow to her, and she whispered, “Lightcaster.”

“Yes, this is Lightcaster—the last remaining obsidigon bow. With it, a Darq Render wields something strong enough to stop an obsidigon.
You
are a Darq Render, Yu-ning—which means you have the ability to wield this bow. If, of course, you have the proper missiles.”

“Missiles? Oh, you mean the special arrows?” queried Yu-ning. “Don't you have the arrows for the bow?”

“No, I don't. My brother, Joshua, took the quiver and arrows, and I kept the bow. We each wanted something of our old life by which to remember our family. When we parted ways that night on the
Paragon,
little did we know that we wouldn't see each other for two decades . . .”

Yu-ning asked how she might be able to track down Joshua, but Jacob did not know. “Yu-ning, these past two decades have been sad ones for me. I have become more and more isolated on this island—in this cabin,” he said, sweeping his hand outward at all the trophy heads on the walls. “I typically only come out at night to hunt, and rarely see the light of day. I have so many dark memories . . . so many years of killing. It seems it's all I know any longer.” Remorse hung on Jacob with great weight.

Tears of both surprise and joy sprung to Yu-ning's eyes. She had truly doubted if the light would still be able to reach this troubled soul. “It isn't all you have ever known. You remember the light—when you were a boy. Your mother was in the light; you saw the light—and not just this orb here,” Yu-ning said, holding the Light of Balthazar in front
of Jacob. “I can take you to the light you once shared with your mother and your brother. You can leave all this darkness behind.”