The Key of Kilenya (30 page)

“Why did you do that?” Akeno whispered.
“Wouldn’t we want to leave it open?”

“Uh . . . I didn’t think that far ahead. I
just didn’t want the Lorkon to know which way we’d come in.”

They turned to survey what Jacob had thought
would be the inner courtyard but might be a room in the castle, as
it was walled off, and there was a roof overhead. Light streamed
through a few windows near the ceiling, making it possible for
Jacob to see a door on the opposite side. Crossing the room, Jacob
put his hand on the doorknob, ready to open it. Thinking better of
the idea, though, he reached to pull his bag down from off his
back. One of the Minyas could make sure there wasn’t anything
dangerous on the other side of the door before he walked through
it.

“Oh, no . . .” he groaned.

Akeno jumped. “What?”

“I still have Aloren’s bag! I completely
forgot to give it back to her!”

“You can give it back to her when we reach
the tunnel. She probably won't need it before then.”

Jacob nodded in agreement, then frowned,
looking around the room. “What was I doing? Oh, yeah.” He opened
his bag and whispered into it. “September, I need you. Keep to the
shadows and see if you can go through the keyhole in this door. If
you can, inspect the area on the other side, then come tell us if
it’s safe to open the door.”

September flitted to the keyhole, and, after
wriggling around, was able to get through. Moments later he
returned to tell them there was a courtyard on the other side of
the door, and no one was there. “There’s also a servants’ entrance
to the castle. I checked the room where it leads, and there wasn’t
anyone in it, either.”

Thanking the Minya, Jacob opened the door and
poked his head through. As September had said, the courtyard was
empty. Motioning for Akeno and September to follow, Jacob ran
across the courtyard and sneaked through the door.

Shutting the door behind them, Jacob
inspected the room they’d just entered. It was a large kitchen and
looked as though it hadn’t been used for quite some time. He ran
across the room to the door on the opposite side, and once again
had September go through the keyhole. September returned to inform
them that the hallway on the other side was empty as well.

Jacob quietly popped the door open, glancing
through the crack. There were many doors leading off the hallway,
and he turned to Akeno. “Where do we go to find the Key?” he
asked.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t really think about
what we would do once we got inside.”

Jacob folded his arms, looking around the
room, trying to decide what to do. “We could always just start
trying doors to see where they lead.” He shook his head. “No,
that’s a dumb idea and would definitely draw attention to us.
Better to get in and out as quickly as possible.”

Just as he said this, he was suddenly
overcome with vertigo. He sank to the floor, feeling feverish, and
blood pounded hard in his head.

“What’s wrong?” Akeno asked.

“I . . .” For a second, it felt as though he
could see another person’s thoughts, similar to what had happened
in the cave, except this time without the emotions. Pictures flowed
into his mind, and he saw the way to the Key. Realization dawned on
him, and his headache began clearing as suddenly as it had come. He
became aware of Akeno hovering over him, and he rubbed his temples.
The headache was mostly gone now, and the dizziness had passed. He
slowly got to his feet and took a deep breath. “Uh . . . I know how
to get there.”

Akeno startled. “You do? How?”

“I don’t know how,” Jacob said. “It just
entered my mind. And we’ve really got to hurry. No one’s around the
Key right now, but I doubt it’ll stay that way for very long.”

“How can we be sure it’s not a trap?”

“I don’t think we can be.” Jacob closed his
eyes and concentrated hard on the images, making sure he had them
memorized.

“What other options do we have?” Akeno
asked.

“We could send the Minyas to find it.”

“That might work.”

Jacob thought this through. “Except, if we
got split up, they might be stuck here for the rest of their
existence. It’s probably better if we stay together.” He frowned.
“We could always just search the whole castle.”

“I don’t want to dig through every corner of
the castle when you already know where to find the Key. That would
be pointless.”

“And there’s no way we’d find it by
searching. This place is huge.”

“So we follow what you saw, then?”

Jacob nodded. “I guess so. It’s our only
choice.”

He opened the door again, peering both ways
down the hall. It was still very quiet. He took a few cautious
steps, being as silent as possible, like a mouse, then scurried
down the hall and into another room. There was a set of stairs on
the opposite side, which he took two at a time. It felt weird to be
so sure of the way, as though he’d been here before, aside from the
foreign feeling of the thoughts that had entered his mind. He
pushed open a heavy door and, hearing someone coming, hid behind a
curtain, motioning to the others to follow. A dark figure strode
past them, turning a corner. Jacob couldn’t tell if it was human or
not.

He waited a moment, finger to his lips, then
walked past an alcove to a door behind another curtain. He put his
hands against the rough wood. “This is where we’ll find the
Key.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Jacob said. “Stick close to
my side. Let’s just run in, grab the Key, then get the heck out of
here.” He looked up. “September, get in my bag again, just in case.
I don’t want anything to happen to you guys. If we die, you’ll need
to get back to Aloren somehow.” September flew down and joined
Early in Jacob’s knapsack. After securing his bag over his
shoulders, Jacob opened the door a couple of inches and glanced
into the room, verifying it was empty before pushing the door all
the way open.

The room looked nothing like he’d
anticipated—his vision had shown a magnificent, white throne room
lined with paintings and bas-relief statues. The walls in this room
were covered in thick drapery—there was no throne or artwork. There
was, however, a simple table in the center with a beautiful box on
top. Warmth struck Jacob in the chest, and he knew this was where
the Key was kept. The box was intricately designed in silver, and
he could have sworn there was a slight glow around it. He’d never
seen anything like it before. He walked to the table, motioning for
Akeno to follow him.

Jacob couldn’t be sure, but he thought he
heard a quiet strain of music. He looked around, trying to find the
source. The heavy draperies made it obvious the sound hadn’t come
from outside. Focusing his attention back on the box, he could now
see for sure that it was glowing, and there was light coming from
under the lid.

Jacob drew the box across the table. It
wasn’t very big, maybe four inches long and only two or three
inches tall. The silver was shaped into ivy, roses, and
flowers.

Jacob opened the box and got a brief glimpse
of the Key before he was nearly blinded by a beautiful radiance
that filled the entire room—warm yellows, light pinks, greens and
blues all together—the happiest and most peaceful colors he had
ever seen.

Accompanying the glow was a beautiful melody.
Joy and melancholy hit him simultaneously as he was reminded of all
the happy times he’d had with his family—laughing with his little
sister while playing dress-up, throwing a football or playing
basketball with Matt, camping with his dad, talking to his mom. A
pang of homesickness hit Jacob hard in the stomach, and he wished
his family were here to feel the joy as well.

“Wow,” Akeno whispered.

His eyes adjusted to the sudden light, Jacob
lifted the box and reached in. The moment his fingers brushed the
Key, warmth filled his entire body and he stood still, overcome by
feelings of joy and happiness. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he
tried to make the moisture go away while allowing himself to revel
in the moment. He hadn’t realized how much pressure he’d been
under, or how stressed and frustrated he’d been, until now. It felt
as though the sun had broken through the clouds of a storm that had
stayed for several weeks.

“We’ve got the Key—let’s go now,” Akeno
said.

Jacob held up his finger. “Just wait.” After
a moment, the wave of emotions subsided, and he pulled the Key out
to inspect it. The melody stopped as soon as the Key was removed
from the box, and the glimmer faded away. He put the Key back to
see if the music and the glow would return, and they did.

Jacob brought the box closer to his face. The
Key was silver, delicate, and several hundred years old, judging by
the scratches and wear. It looked as if it would break with the
least amount of applied pressure. The handle was intricate, and
diamonds lined the shaft. Two of the diamonds were different from
the others, giving off a rosier sparkle.

“It is beautiful, isn’t it?” a rough, deep
voice said from the left side of the room.

Jacob stiffened and dropped the box, causing
the Key to fall onto the table. The glow and the melody ceased, and
the room was once again bathed in eerie light from the windows.
Jacob put the Key into the box and shut the lid, then turned to the
voice.

The heavy curtains that had covered that side
of the room were now drawn back, showing the throne Jacob had seen
in vision and the large, cloaked figure that now sat there.

“Though, I must say, it never gave off that
light and music until you arrived.”

Swallowing several times, Jacob couldn’t
respond. Finally, he asked, “Who are you?”

“Do you even need to ask? You know who stole
the Key.”

“A Lorkon?” Jacob tried to keep his voice
from cracking.

“Of course,” the Lorkon said, and then
laughed. Jacob’s stomach churned in response to the sound, and he
was aware of how close to him Akeno stood. On either side of the
Lorkon, two huge, black shapes moved, and then two pairs of green
eyes fixed on him. With a start, Jacob realized these were the
wolves that had been following them for most of the trip. “You may
refer to me as Your Majesty,” the Lorkon said. “I am king here. Now
activate the Key.”

“W—what?”

“Come on, child. It was deactivated, and only
you can activate it.”

“Me?”

The king laughed. “Did they not tell you? You
don’t know any of it? What a delightful surprise! We were starting
to wonder why you hadn’t come yet. It never occurred to me you
weren’t even aware of our presence!”

Jacob stiffened. “What are you talking
about?”

“‘Jacob,’ they call you, right?” The Lorkon
shifted on his throne. “We got tired of waiting for you to come,
and so we devised a means to get you here. Het and Isan, of course,
were able to chase you to the Makalo village, but stealing the Key
of Kilenya seemed the best way to make the Makalos want you to
enter Eklaron. Their prize possession couldn’t be gone for long
before they would want it back.”

Akeno trembled at Jacob’s side. “You know we
kept it to prevent it from falling into your hands,” he spat. His
voice quivered—whether from panic or anger, Jacob couldn’t tell,
but he grabbed the Makalo’s arm, trying to keep him from doing
anything they’d regret.

“Besides,” Jacob said, “I already knew you
were using the Key as bait. You don’t even need it, so why ask me
to activate it?”

“Oh, we do need the Key. Very much. We
realize how powerful it can be and how much good it would do us.”
The king leaned forward, stopping just shy of the light streaming
in from one of the windows. “Of course it isn’t anything without
you.”

“Get on with it!” a voice said from behind
Jacob. “Enough chatter!”

Jacob whirled to see three Lorkon step
forward from the curtains behind him. They were just as shrouded in
shade as the first.

“You would do well to hold your tongue,” said
the king, almost standing from the throne. “How dare you speak out
in my presence? This is none of your concern. I will deal with it!”
The two large wolves arose and lumbered past Jacob to encircle the
Lorkon on the opposite side of the room.

“Forgive me.” The voice was full of
bitterness, and the three Lorkon stepped back again.

The king stood. “As you can see, Jacob, we
have grown impatient in our wait for you.” He paused, then strolled
across the room.

Jacob straightened, his hands forming fists
at his sides. The Lorkon king stopped right in front of him,
towering over Jacob by three feet, at least. Then he bent until his
face was close to Jacob’s. He sneered at Jacob—as if he only stood
this close because he had no other choice.

Jacob’s stomach curled at the close-up sight
of the Lorkon’s crimson face. It was just as Kenji had
described—black hair, eyes the color of blood with bright green
irises. He drew back when he saw the creature’s chafed and peeling
skin.

“You are disgusted by my appearance, are you
not?”

“Yes, I am.”

The king straightened to his full height.
“And yet, you control your fear well.” He reached to Jacob, who
took a step back. The hand was just as revolting as the Lorkon’s
face—scabby and peeling, with blood on the fingers. Jacob’s stomach
clenched, looking at it.

The hand stopped short of touching Jacob’s
face, and Jacob wondered why the Lorkon ignored Akeno. The group
behind them shuffled their feet.

“What do you want with us?” Jacob asked
through clenched teeth.

“Nothing from the Makalo.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Many things,” the king said, then reached
his hand out again. This time he didn’t stop, and his finger made
contact with Jacob’s forehead.

Jacob felt as though he’d been punched in the
face and chest simultaneously. The wind was knocked out of him, and
he fell to the floor. Bright flashes of light burst through the
room, and he closed his eyes, trying to block them out. His blood
was on fire, burning every inch of him as it coursed through his
veins. He rolled onto his side, his body convulsing in pain as he
gagged, trying to get enough air. His muscles cramped, and tremors
ran through his body.